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----------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------- ----------------------------------- ------------------------------- --------------------------- ----------------------- ------------------- --------------- P-Screen and Rob W. Smetana by P-Screen and Pro~Formance Professional --------------- ------------------- ----------------------- --------------------------- ------------------------------- ----------------------------------- --------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------- P-Screen (tm) (Programmers' Editions) ** Version 4.2 (11/91) A Major Update ** Use Ram-Man to turn this into a Pop-Up quick reference guide. For details on Ram-Man, see the last few pages. Or use our Multi-Print program to print it with 2-4 pages per sheet of paper, on LaserJets, Toshiba -or- Epson printers, in booklet form -or- left-to-right -or- portrait mode. Sophisticated screen management support for programmers. P-Screen and P~F Presents (another of our programs) are a very powerful combination. See the section on P~F Presents for details. Copyright (C) 1988-1992, Rob W. Smetana. All Rights Reserved. ============== Here's a brief overview of P-Screen. ============== * Design screens; save them, compressed, to Screen Libraries, executable COM files, ASM files or to Ascii uncompressed files. * Display screens from your programs, f-a-s-t, easily, with lit- tle code. We include subprograms to handle the details for you. * It's fast and easy with: mouse support, pull down menus and fast keyboard hotkeys. * P-Screen "Pro" even writes your QuickBASIC programs for you! * Now supports QuickBASIC 3.0 - 4.x, BASIC Professional (PDS). * Add P~F Presents and you can create: Desktop Presentations, Program Demos, Program Prototypes, Tutorials, Marketing Aids, Training/Development Programs, Management Presentations, etc. ===================== WHAT'S NEW THIS VERSION ===================== Bright Background, You can now create dazzling, bright-background Changed Commands, screens. Alt-D now means Draw lines -or- boxes. "ASM" screens Alt-X now means Delete Line (this was Alt-D). You can now create ".Asm" screens that you link with programs, then CALL to display! Mouse Support, A mouse speeds up screen creation by 100-200%. Pull Down Menus, Menus are fast and friendly. Use them alone, What you see.. or in combination with keyboard hot keys. You'll now see what boxes, lines, shading, painting, etc. look like as you go. PDS 7 Support We added support for Microsoft's BASIC 7. Ruler.Exe We replaced the "internal" ruler with a TSR. More Extensive Press F1 (Help) then choose a topic you'd like Help help with, or browse through the Quick Reference guide -- which you can customize! ======================== ABOUT THIS MANUAL ======================== This manual is used by all versions of P-Screen: P-Screen Profes- sional, P-Screen Plus, and user-supported versions. It's formatted with 60 lines per page (most pages). To print it, at the DOS prompt, type: copy p-screen.doc prn <cr>. To avoid printing it, use our Ram-Man to view it while using P-Screen. NOTE: We normally avoid "high Ascii" characters in our manuals -- since some printers can't handle them. But we in- luded some here (see the sections on F10 Options and Big! Font). If your printer can't print high Ascii characters, edit this manual with your word processor. Replace the "high Ascii" characters (with Xs or ?), then print it. OR, use our Multi-Print program to print this. It's FOUR internal fonts handle most every ASCII character. ============ FOR INFORMATION OR SUPPORT, CALL OR WRITE ============ Rob W. Smetana 132 Alpine Terrace San Francisco, Ca. 94117 Phone: (415) 863-0530 (10-5 Pacific time please) We welcome your feedback, suggestions and comments. Copyright (C) 1988-1992, Rob W. Smetana and Pro~Formance P-Screen, it's manual and supporting materials are protected by U.S. and International Copyright Laws. All Rights Reserved. P~F Screen Design, P-Screen, P-Screen Professional, P~F Presents, PFP, Pro~Formance, and P~F are Trademarks of: Rob W. Smetana & Pro~Formance ========================== DISCLAIMER ============================ This product is provided "AS IS" without warranty of any kind. The entire risk as to the results and performance of this product is assumed by you. We warrant only that any disks we sent you are free from physical defects and workmanship under normal use and service for a period of 90 days from the date shipped. Our entire liability, and your exclusive remedy, as to the disk shall be to, at our option, either (1) return the purchase price; or, (2) replace disks which don't meet our limited warranty. * Since you can try "user supported" versions of our programs before ordering them, we offer no other warranty beyond that stated here. We'll gladly replace defective disks. But no refunds or credits can be issued. Neither Pro~Formance nor RWS & Associates, nor any of their officers or employees shall be held responsible for: failures of this program to satisfy any needs, damages due to using P-Screen, or any effects this program has on you, your business or operations. P-Screen, its manual and its support files may be modified/changed from time to time. They may contain operational inaccuracies or typographical errors which may be corrected by future versions, if any. Registered users may be notified of available updates. ======================= LIMITED LICENSE ======================== P-Screen is NOT public domain or free software. P-Screen is a copyrighted work, which is distributed as "user-supported" software (also known as "shareware"). Unregistered users of this software are granted a limited license to "try out" the user-supported version, on a private, non-commercial basis, for the express purpose of determining whether it suits your needs. At the end of this trial period, you must either register your copy or stop using it. * Running P-Screen 15-20 different times should allow you to decide if it's going to be useful to you. Therefore the "trial period" is set at 20 P-Screen sessions. =============================================================== WARNING: You MAY NOT USE this program in any organization or in the conduct of any business activity without a prior pur- chase or license arrangement. Screens created using this program MAY NOT be used or included in any business, for-profit or for-money activity without a prior purchase or license arrangement. This includes all types of screens, and all types of activities the purpose of which is to derive compensation or income (whether realized or not, including shareware programs). =============================================================== What does all this really mean? It's really very simple. Try it. Then either pay for it, or stop using it. * If you use this program, then you should pay for your copy. P-Screen is NOT free, and we're not giving away free copies. We are giving you the chance to try it before you buy it. * Paying for this software allows us to stay in business and provide you with support, enhancements and updates. And : : : continued . . . +--WHEN YOU REGISTER : : :----------------------------------------+ | | | We appreciate the support and honesty of those who register. | | To "say thanks" in return, when you register you'll receive: | | | | 1. P-Screen\+ with new features we're adding right now: | | | | - The option to create executable "Com" screens! | | | | - Cut & Paste (Paste sections across screens), Repeat, Re- | | Color, Center Block -- all supported by REGISTERED users. | | | | - Increased BIG! Font support (ALL characters, MANY fonts) | | | | 2. The ability to create Screen libraries with ten times the | | capacity. P-Screen\+ stores up to 100 screens per Library. | | | | 3. Enhanced screen restore routines to display any size screen.| | | | 4. Two extra programs to save you enormous amounts of time: | | | | - PF-Cap: a TSR program to capture screens from any ap- | | plication, then load, edit and store them in P-Screen. | | | | - Manager: a program letting you create screen libraries | | with screens from other libraries -- in any order. | | Manager also makes it easy to add screens you captured | | using PF-Cap to your screen libraries. Finally, Manager | | is also the only way to delete screens from screen | | libraries. | | | | 5. Phone support and more . . . | | | +---------- Or, register for P-Screen Professional ---------------+ | | | For even greater power, you can also register for P-Screen | | Professional. It'll write your data entry programs for you! | | And it comes with several other subroutines to make your | | life even easier, and save you time & money! | +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ ======================== To REGISTER : : ========================= A registration form is at the end of this manual. To register, send your name, address, registration fee and your comments and suggestions to: Pro~Formance 132 Alpine Terrace San Francisco, Ca. 94117 ============ DISTRIBUTORS OF "USER-SUPPORTED" SOFTWARE =========== Bulletin board Sysops, clubs and shareware distributors may copy and distribute shareware versions of P-Screen, provided: *** Your company name IS NOT: California Freeware *** American Freeware US Freeware (or any other firm, group or association with "Freeware" in its name, literature, promotions, etc.) which companies are PROHIBITED from distributing ANY products by Rob W. Smetana, Pro~Formance, RWS & Assoc. or their officers, staff or associates. *** Your company or group DOES NOT include among its staff, *** officers, associates, consultants, members, or directors RONALD CHORDIGIAN, members of his family or his assigns. *** Your adds, literature and company name DO NOT include: *** "free software," "freeware," "free" or other such terms which misrepresent "user-supported" software. (1) It is distributed in completely unmodified form. (2) You charge nothing other than a "disk distrubution fee" of up to $8.00 to cover distribution and handling. (3) You state YOUR fee is NOT payment or registration for OUR software. (4) You clearly encourage registration by stating that con- inued use justifies sending contributions to the developer. (5) You include all files mentioned in ReadMe.BAT including: P-Screen.(Exe/Doc/Psl), LoadScrn.Obj, *.Bas, rsLodBin.Obj, rsCmpRst.Obj, PS_Demo.(Bas/Qlb) and ".PSS" files. ==================== P-SCREEN IN A NUTSHELL ====================== P-Screen and P-Screen Professional are among the most sophis- ticated screen management systems available. * Designing help, menu, data-entry screens, etc. is a snap. * Big! Font lets you easily add large-character messages. * Save screens in libraries or as Ascii, "Asm" or "Com" files. Screen libraries compress screens saving disk space and RAM. "Asm" and "Com" screens are also compressed. And to display "Asm" screens from your programs, just CALL them! * Load screens from screen libraries, or Ascii or BSAVE files. Registered users even receive a TSR program letting you "capture" and edit screens from other applications. * Display screens from your programs -- f-a-s-t, easily, with little code, and with no "external screen loaders." We in- clude subprograms to "Link" with QuickBASIC 3.0 - PDS 7 programs. * P-Screen Professional even writes your data entry programs for you, and includes separate subroutines to get user input, val- idate it and format it for you, and handle field calculations. * Use P-Screen to create: - Menus, help screens, data entry, program demos, prototypes, etc. - Ascii files for any purpose (word proc., database, batch files). Features: ......... * Easy screen design: boxes/lines/join/text/repeat/clipboard/Big! Font/any Ascii character/paint/copy/move/erase/WalkAbout/Undo. * Supports 25, 43 or 50 line screen modes. * Save to or Load from screen Libraries or Ascii, COM or ASM files. - Libraries store up to 100 "compressed" binary screens. Compressing screens saves disk space and RAM. - Libraries store full or partial screens (sub-screens). - Change your screens without having to change your programs. - Save full-screen Ascii or ".Com" files for any purpose. * Easily display screens from your programs. F-a-s-t! - "Indexed" libraries plus assembler routines = fast access and display. Display 20-100 screens a second on a 16 mz PC! - External screen-loaders not needed (or welcome) continued . . . P-Screen: ......... * Makes screen design easy, logical and as painless as possible. * Eliminates lots of text from programs (help screens, menus, data entry screens, etc.); keep programs small and fast-loading. * Eliminates the disadvantages of keeping screens on disk: load and display screens f-a-s-t! * Organizes screens in libraries (not separate Ascii, or BSAVE files), save disk space, ease distribution, eliminate errors. * Eliminates the need for external "screen-loaders." It reduces dependence on others: you manage everything from your program. An unabashed plea for help .......................... Your screens (libraries or Ascii) could be used from any program. But the fast screen display routines we provide currently support QuickBASIC programmers. (QB 3.0 or later). * To display your screens from Pascal, C, Assembler, dBASE or other languages, 1-2 small routines would have to be converted. * These conversions shouldn't be difficult, but we don't have the expertise. If you can work with us on this, let us know. ==== ABOUT SCREENS, SCREEN LIBRARIES and SCREEN COMPRESSION ==== With P-Screen you can: * LOAD screens (from disk) from Libraries, or Ascii or BSAVE files. * SAVE screens to Screen Libraries or to "Com," "Asm" or Ascii files. PF-Cap also lets you capture and save BSAVE files. - "Com" files are compressed, "executable" files. Run them as you would any program. They pop up instantly -- complete with colors, lines, boxes, shading and text. They're great to start programs (while the main program loads), in batch files, for menus, and to start P~F Presents presentations. - Ascii files are saved just as you see them -- without color. Use them in batch files, word processing, databases, etc. - Display ASM screens by just CALLing them (eg., call myscreen). Advantages of screen libraries over separate Ascii or BSAVE files. .................................................................. * Libraries store up to 100 screens in compressed, binary format. - Compression saves you 20-80% -- of disk space and RAM. On average, screens are 40-50% smaller after compression. - Screens are never uncompressed -- they're displayed as-is. - NOTE: Newer versions of P-Screen CAN display uncompressed screens from older versions. But older versions of P-Screen CANNOT display the new compressed screen images. - Also note that ONLY P-Screen's display routines will work. * Libraries store full or partial (sub) screens. Pop them up right where they were when you saved them, or change locations. * Libraries keep screens together, avoiding separate screen files. * Libraries are "indexed" for fast retrieval and editing. This lets you quickly and easily find any screen, then pop it up right where you want it. - The first 4000 bytes of a library stores the screen index. DON'T edit libraries outside P-Screen; you may destroy them. * To display library screens from your programs, just CALL 2 of the routines we supply. We find the right screen, then load and display it. No hassles. (You can change where it's displayed if you like.) * Libraries store 1-8 letter screen names, PLUS descriptions. Just press F9 for a "directory" of screens in a library. Have you ever tried that with a multi-screen BSAVE file? * Have you ever tried to load one screen from a multi-screen BSAVE file, edit it, and put it back right were it was? It's easy with P-Screen -- it's all done for you. * P-Screen displays screens THE SAME WAY YOUR PROGRAMS will -- using the same routines. Press F1 while in P-Screen to see how full screens would be displayed; press Alt-F10 to see how subscreens would. Speed & performance should be similar. The section "Performance Hints" shows ways to maximize speed. ========================== CONTENTS ========================= IMPORTANT: Improvements we made may have significant impli- cations for you. Please read the next 3 pages carefully! Compressed Screens: Implications ......... a Announcing: P-Screen Professional ........ b P~F Presents ................. d Conventions, Requirements, Installation ... e Getting Started ........................... f Loading/Saving Screens - Keyboard or Mouse. h QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE: Menus & Hot Keys .. 1 Pull Down Menus ......................... 2 Summary of Menus ........................ 4 Summary of Keyboard Hot Keys ............ 5 Tips on Using a Mouse ................... 6 DESIGNING SCREENS ......................... 7 Colors, Drawing Symbols, Other Options .. 8 Boxes, Lines, Joining, Copying, Moving, Text, Centering Text .................. 9 Centering Blocks, WalkAbout (drawing with any character), Low/High Ascii Characters 11 Insert/Delete Characters/Lines, Re-Color 12 Repeat, Cut & Paste ..................... 13 P-SCREEN PROFESSIONAL (which writes programs for you) Alt-F: Formatting screen fields ........ 14 The Field Format Window ................. 15 Field Names, 13 Field Types ............. 17 Decimal Places, Format Strings .......... 18 Editing Format Strings .................. 19 Range (Validating input), Help Screens .. 22 Formulas ................................ 23 Fine-Tuning programs PS Pro Writes ...... 24 FUNCTION KEY OPTIONS: Help, A Word About "Paths" .............. 26 Saving Full or Sub/Partial Screens ...... 27 Loading or Printing ..................... 28 "MakeMono," Library Directories ......... 29 continued. . . ==================== CONTENTS (continued) ==================== FUNCTION KEY OPTIONS: (continued) Big! Font ............................... 30 Tips on Using Big! Font ................ 31 Creating Big! Fonts .................... Appendix I PF-CAP & MANAGER - two separate programs .. 36 DISPLAYING SCREENS FROM YOUR PROGRAMS: QB 4.5 or PDS (See Appendix II for QuickBASIC 3.0) Adding our Routines to your Libraries ... 39 Assembling and Displaying ASM Screens ... 40 When to Manually Draw Screens ........... 42 Displaying Library Screens .............. 43 The Display.Screen FUNCTION ........... 44 The Alternate Way ..................... 45 Restoring Screens to Different Locations. 48 A Directory of Library Screens .......... 48 PERFORMANCE HINTS: Displaying Screens .... 49 Appendices ========== Creating Big! Fonts ....................... I Displaying Screens with QuickBASIC 3 ...... II Error Messages ............................ III Other Programs by Pro~Formance ............ IV REGISTERING/ORDERING ...................... Last Page(s) -a- SCREEN COMPRESSION: Advantages and Implications for You! When you save screens to screen libraries, P-Screen compresses them -- about 30-60%. P-Screen also compresses screens you save to "Com" or "Asm" files. To display these screens from your programs, use OUR screen- restore sub-programs. ONLY our subroutines can display P-Screen's compressed screens. * If you use earlier versions of P-Screen, replace rsScrRst.Obj with rsCmpRst.Obj included here (reg. users: CompRest.Obj). * If you use other screen restore routines, they won't work. Instead, use rsCmpRst. It's a small, fast, assembler routine which can display ANY text screen -- compressed or not. You can use it for ALL your screen-restore needs. As you're developing screens, save them to a "scratch" library. Then store the final version in the library you ultimately want to use. Why? Compression might prevent you from ADDING things to a screen you're working on. Here's why. * One of P-Screen's most powerful features is its ability to load screens from screen libraries, then let you edit them and put them right back where they were. * But say you create a large, empty box and save it. Because it's empty, P-Screen compresses it a lot. If you then add lots of text or other boxes and save it again, P-Screen can't compress it as much. The amount of library disk space now required may exceed the amount P-Screen reserved when you first saved the screen. When this happens, P-Screen tells you "screen exists in smaller form, save it using another screen name." To minimize the impact of this: - Save screens, when you first create them, to a "scratch" library. Later, save the final version to the library you want. - Or, if you plan to add lots of stuff to a screen you're creating, fill blank areas with random garbage, save it then delete the garbage. This might waste a little disk space -- but not as much as would be wasted if you have to save 2-3 versions of the same screen. -b- =============== ANNOUNCING: P-SCREEN PROFESSIONAL ============== We designed P-Screen Professional (PS Pro) to save you enormous amounts of time. PS Pro does this in several ways: by writing programs for you, by offering several subroutines you can use as-is in any program you write, and by letting you "capture" screens then easily load them into P-Screen. To give you an idea of the power of this, look at the two demo programs we include with P-Screen: ToOrder.Bas and Employee.Bas. These programs were written ENTIRELY by PS Pro -- in 2 seconds each! P-Screen Professional: * Writes your data entry programs for you! Just tell PS Pro where each field is and its "field type." Then press a key. * Supports 13 field types. Choose a field type and P-Screen formats printing and editing for you. Field types include: string, upper case, proper name, date, phone number, Zip Code, Social Security number, numeric string, integer, long integer, single precision, currency and double precision. * Comes with several subroutines you can use in any program to: - handle ALL user input (text, extended keys, printer codes) - format text and numbers for easy editing or printing - print with assembler speed - convert all lower case text to "proper name" format * Includes a separate TSR program letting you "capture" screens from other applications then load them into P-Screen for editing or storing in screen libraries. * Includes "P-Screen Library Manager" -- a separate program letting you create screen libraries from screens in other libraries. It's also the only way to delete screens from screen libraries. Here's a summary of the subprograms we include with PS Pro. These are included in PS_Demo.QLB and BC7Demo.Qlb (your Quick Libraries). Registered users receive separate files to add to their own libraries or link directly to their programs. Name Purpose ============ ================================================== rsMinput Handle ANY type of user input: A single key (like a menu choice), a full line (80 columns) of text, function keys, cursor pad keys, file names, anything! - "M" means Mask. rsMinput will format data entry using a mask you supply. For example, for Phone Numbers, use a mask like (...) ...-.... rsMinput accepts input where "." appears, and automatically skips over parentheses, spaces, hyphens, etc. - You specify the Length of each field (# of charac- ters) and which keys are Valid (eg., numbers only, A-D for 4 menu choices, upper case for file names). - You can ask rsMinput to exit on "extended keys," and report which one was pressed. This might include function keys, cursor pad keys, Alt-key combinations, etc. - P-Screen uses rsMinput to handle every key you press! continued . . . -c- Announcing P-Screen Professional (continued) Name Purpose ============ ================================================== OneKey Gets one key from the user -- a menu choice, cur- sor pad or function keys, etc. You specify which keys are "valid." Mask & Used by rsMinput for "formatted input," you can StripMask also call Mask directly to print formatted text. FormatUsing Converts a number into a string for editing or printing. It includes ALL of BASIC's "Print Using" options to insert dollar signs, commas, decimal points, etc. -- at your option. ProperName Type "john smith" or "san francisco" and ProperName returns it properly capitalized (ie., it returns "John Smith" and "San Francisco"). Speeds typing. rsQprint Assembler routine to quickly print text on the screen. You just tell it where to print (row & column), which color to use, and which string to print. Exists A QuickBASIC function to tell if files exist (before you try to open or write over them). Helps eliminate the need for "On Error." StripTail Strips any character from the end (tail) of strings. StripTrail is particularly useful for striping Null characters (Chr$(0)) from file records or fixed-length strings. We urge you to run and study the demo programs Employee.Bas and ToOrder.Bas to see these subroutines in action. Run each in QuickBASIC 4.x / PDS 7 loading Quick Library PS_Demo / BC7Demo. Also see Routines.Doc for further details. -d- ================ ANNOUNCING: P~F PRESENTS (PFP) ================ P~F Presents is a desktop presentation system with 3 programs. With P-Screen you: .................. * Design screens (or "slides"). * Save screens tp libraries (or Ascii or "COM" files). With PFP you: ............. * Create presentation agendas ("slide shows") which can include: - Menus which "branch" to various parts of your presentation, depending on the option your viewer selects. For example: -- Which product do you want information on? -- Which topic (in a tutorial) do you want to review? - Timed slides (PFP pauses, then automatically shows the next) - Special effects: sound, "wipes," exploding windows, gosubs * Display your presentations, or let others do it by themselves. And see the "use monochrome" option below. - Or use PFShow, a smaller program, to display presentations. Possibilities: .............. * Program demos or prototypes * Program tutorials * Sales presentations * Management/Staff briefings * Training programs * Highlight product information * Customer information * Tourist guides * Restaurant guides * Directories (Names, phone #s) And on and on and . . . You can also: ............. * Display full screens or sub-screens. Sub-screens (a single character, a line, a box, anything) are useful for many things -- like animation or "building slides" on-screen a section at a time. "Here's point A." "Here's point B." "Here's point C." etc. * Create self-running presentations that cycle back to the beginning when someone finishes (or asks to quit). - Called "locked" presentations, these need a "key" to exit. * Load any Ascii file, then dress it up with color, boxes, etc. Other Features: ............... * P~F Presents uses "text mode" of your PC (not graphics). That means presentations may be viewed on any PC, on any monitor. * A "use monochrome" option lets you create 1 version of your presentation, then let the viewer choose whether to view it in color or monochrome (if they have a mono/composite monitor). - This eliminates the "unreadable text" problem on some monitors when text is displayed on colored backgrounds. - It also eliminates the tedium of having to create 2 or more versions of presentations: one in color, one black & white. * P~F Presents includes all of P-Screen's features to create dazzling screens in minutes. -e- =============== CONVENTIONS WE USE FOR CONVENIENCE =============== <cr> Press Enter (Return) Esc or <Esc> Press the Escape key Alt-key HOLD DOWN the Alt key, then press another key <R> Options supported by and sent to REGISTERED users Hot Key / Menu To select options, you can press keyboard "hot keys" or choose from menus. Whenever we discuss an option, we'll show you which hot key AND which menu you'd use. For example, to draw a box: Alt-D / Draw - Box ^ ^ Press the Box "hot key" --| | Or choose the "Box" option from | the "Draw" menu ---------------------| ====================== SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS ======================= Computer: IBM PC, XT, AT, PS/2 or compatible Memory: 256k DOS: 2.1 or later (required) Monitor: Any Disk: Hard or RAM disks are fast, floppy disks are fine Printer: Any P-Screen writes directly to the screen. It's fast, but can snow older CGA monitors. Set up DESQview or Windows accordingly. -f- ====================== INSTALLING P-SCREEN ======================= Copy "Required" files to a "working disk" or hard disk directory. REQUIRED (Design/Display Screens) OPTIONAL (not needed to run) --------------------------------- ------------------------------- P-Screen.Exe P-Screen itself ReadMe.Bat Introduction P-Screen.Psl Help screen library P-Screen.Doc This manual *.Fnt Big! Font font files *.Bas QuickBASIC demos Ruler.Exe TSR Ruler PS_Demo.Qlb QB 4+ Quick Library PF-Cap.Com \ Sent to regis- BC7Demo.Qlb PDS 7 " " Manager.Exe / tered users QB3-Demo.Exe QB 3.0 User Library Routines.Doc Explains subroutines in PS_Demo/BC7Demo. BrightBG.Obj Toggle bright backgrounds on/off LoadScrn.Obj \ To display screens using rsLodBin.Obj ) QuickBASIC 4.0 or higher. rsCmpRst.Obj / See "Displaying Screens from Your Programs" CompRest.Obj <--- registered users only LdScrn-7.Obj To display screens using PDS 7 Also use QB 4.5 routines listed above. QB3PScrn.Obj \ To display screens from QuickBASIC 3.0 programs QB3LdScr.Obj ) See "Displaying Screens from Your Programs" QB3RstPl.Obj / <--- registered users only ================================================================== To design screens you need just 2 files: P-Screen.Exe & P-Screen.Psl. To use the Big! Font feature, you also need the font files with the extension ".Fnt." We currently have about 11 dif- ferent Big! Fonts we send registered users. To display screens from your programs, see "Displaying Screens." To print your manual, at the DOS prompt type: COPY P-SCREEN.DOC PRN. Be sure to use a fixed spaced (not proportionally spaced) font. -g- ========================= GETTING STARTED ======================== Sample Programs ............... We urge you to begin by running the sample .BAS programs. Two of them demonstrate how to display screens from your programs -- PS_Demo (QuickBASIC 4.0+ or PDS 7) and QB3-Demo. Two others were written entirely by P-Screen Professional: Employee.Bas and ToOrder.Bas. In all cases, you need to load one of P-Screen's User/Quick libraries: * PS_Demo, Employee and ToOrder require PS_Demo.Qlb or BC7Demo.Qlb (for QB 4.x or PDS 7, respectively). * QB3-Demo (for QuickBASIC 3.0) requires QB3-Demo.Exe Running P-Screen ................ At the DOS prompt, run P-Screen by typing: P-Screen <cr>. P-Screen starts with an intro screen showing your major options. "User-supported" versions also display some other information. Press any key to clear the screen. We urge you to load and print two screens: QuikRef1 and EditHelp They're 1-page summaries of screen design and text-editing commands. * Press <F4> Load. Then press <L>ibrary (load from a library file). * When asked for the Library name, type "P-Screen <cr>" . * P-Screen then displays the names of screens in P-Screen.Psl. Use cursor keys to highlight QuikRef1 or EditHelp. Press <cr>. * When the screen loads, press <F5> Print. Screen Types ............ P-Screen LOADS 3 types of screen files. All must have the appropriate extensions. Libraries 1-100 compressed screens stored in a library with a ".PSL" extension. Ascii Any Ascii file with a ".PSS" extension. BSAVE BSAVEd text files (NOT graphics) with a ".BSV" extension. P-Screen SAVES four types of screen files--with different extensions. (NOTE: Registered users also receive a RAM-resident program letting you "capture" ANY text screen and save it to disk in BSAVE format.) Libraries 1-8 character names, plus ".PSL" (eg., P-Screen.Psl). Ascii 1-8 character names, plus ".PSS" (eg., MyScreen.Pss). Com 1-8 character names, plus ".COM" (eg., PS.Com) Asm 1-8 character names, plus ".ASM" (eg., PS.Asm) -h- ======== LOADING/SAVING SCREENS: Keyboard or Mouse? ========= When you ask to Load a screen, P-Screen asks whether you want to load a screen from a Screen Library or whether you want to load an Ascii or BSAVE screen from disk. Press L, A or B. Once you've made your choice, P-Screen asks you to type in the name of the screen (or file). Instead of typing it in, you can press <F2> to choose from a directory. When you ask for a directory, P-Screen displays all files in a window that looks something like the following. Note the top line ("<- Page ->") and the references to a Mouse at the bottom. +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | ======================== <- Page -> ========================= | + ------------------------------------------------------------- + | | / / | | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | Cursor Keys/Mouse = Highlight it <cr>/Double Click = Accept | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ To choose a file using: * The KEYBOARD: Press cursor keys to move the highlight to the file you want. Press <cr> to accept it. * A MOUSE: Move the mouse cursor to the file you want. Then "double click" the Left mouse button to accept it (ie., press the Left button twice in quick succession.) If you asked to load a screen from a library, P-Screen then dis- plays the names of all the screens in that library -- using the same window. Highlight the screen you want and press <cr>. NOTE: If more files/screens exist than will fit in one window: * Using the KEYBOARD: Press the Right cursor until the next column of files/screens is displayed. Press the Left cursor to go back. * Using a MOUSE: Move the mouse cursor to the "Page" line. Click the Left mouse button on either the right or left side of "Page" to display either the next or the last page. The process of saving screens is about the same: * Choose a type of screen (Library or Ascii, Asm or Com file). * Type in a screen name -or- press <F2> to choose a name from a directory of existing screen names. Please read "A Word About Paths" for further details. 1 ==================== QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE ======================= This is a brief summary of P-Screen's options and commands. For speed, convenience and flexibility, you may: Use the keyboard -or- a mouse in almost any combination. Use "pull down menus" -or- keyboard "hot key" commands. Using a Mouse (Read "Mouse Tips" for further details) ======================================= A mouse can cut the time needed to develop screens by 1/2 or more. If you don't have a mouse -- and plan to develop more than 10-15 screens -- please consider getting one. They're available for as little as $30 - $40 and the investment can save hours or days of time. Press the LEFT mouse button to: * Pull down the menus. * Choose options from menu (to "click on" an option). * Choose options in "dialogue boxes" (eg., click on "Y" to choose Yes, "N" for No, or "Esc" to cancel.) * Mark areas of the screen for drawing, copying, painting, etc. Press the RIGHT mouse button whenever you'd press the Esc key to: * Exit P-Screen, or exit the menus without making a choice. * Cancel an action you started (eg., to change your mind about drawing a box). P-Screen doesn't use the middle button on 3-button mice. The F-a-s-t-e-s-t Way to Most Things ==================================== Use any combination of mouse/keyboard or menu/hot key options that "feels right." We've found the fastest approach to many things is a combination of keyboard "hot keys" (using one hand) and a mouse (using the other hand). For example, to draw a box: * With your mouse in one hand, move the cursor to the upper left corner of where you want a box to begin. * Press Alt-D with your other hand. ("D" for Draw). * Using the mouse, quickly move the cursor to the bottom right corner. Press the LEFT mouse button to say "I'm done." * Your box is drawn -- taking about 2-4 seconds! Compared with using the keyboard only or a mouse only, this left/right hand combination of keyboard and mouse SPEEDS UP screen development by about 200 - 300 percent! 2 ======================= PULL DOWN MENUS ========================== Choose options using either pull down menus or keyboard "hotkey" commands. For example, to draw a box you could press the Alt-D (Draw) hotkey, or pull down the "Draw" menu and select "Draw." To bring up the menus, press: The "/" key on your keyboard -or- the LEFT mouse button. P-Screen has 6 menus, each with several options. When you press "/" or the Left mouse button, the following line appears at the top of your screen. File Draw Block Edit Options Help (F1) To move among the 5 main menus using: * The KEYBOARD: press the Left/Right cursor keys. * A MOUSE: move the cursor along the top line until it's on one of the 6 options. Click the Left button to select it. NOTE: You can press F1 almost anytime to get help (you needn't pull down the menus). When you press F1, the Help menu will drop down. Just highlight a "Help Topic" and press <cr>. Whenever you call up the menus, the last menu you used drops down. If you haven't used the menus yet, the 1st menu ("File") will drop down. It looks like this: File Draw Block Edit Options Help (F1) +--------------------------+ | Save Screen F2 | | Save Partial Screen F3 | NOTE: On the right, next to |--------------------------| each option in a menu, | Load Screen F4 | is the "keyboard hot key" |--------------------------| you'd press to invoke | Print F5 | that option. For example, |--------------------------| press Function Keys F2 | New Screen / Clear F6 | or F3 to Save a screen, |--------------------------| F4 to Load one, or Esc | Library Directory F9 | to exit P-Screen. |--------------------------| | Quit. Exit to DOS. Esc | +--------------------------+ 3 Pull Down Menus (continued) To select options from menus using: ................................... * The KEYBOARD: - Highlight the option by pressing either Up/Down cursor keys or the 1st letter of the option you want. If two or more options begin with the same first letter, keep pressing the 1st letter until the choice you want is highlighted. - Press <cr> to accept it. * A MOUSE: - Move the cursor to the option you want; press the Left button. - Or, hold down the Left button and drag the highlight to the option you want. Release the Left button to accept it. Press Esc / Right button to exit the menus without making a choice. Here's are some notes on P-Screen's menus. The next page has "snapshots" of each menu. We'll explain all options later. * FILE - Save or Load full or partial screens. - Print a screen. - Prepare for a new screen: clear it, choose 25/43/50 rows. - Get a "directory" of screens in a screen library, including the names and descriptions you gave them. - Quit. Exit P-Screen, return to DOS. * DRAW - Draw boxes or lines. - Pop up the "Join" window letting you select: -- characters to join lines and boxes. -- low / high Ascii characters not found on your keyboard. - Select "WalkAbout" to "draw" with whatever character your cursor was on when you invoked this option. * BLOCK ("Block" means a rectangular area of your screen) - Block commands let you move, copy, center, erase, paint or shade areas. - The Block menu also includes "Cut & Paste" -- a quick way to copy sections from one screen to another, or from one area of the screen to other areas (using a Clipboard). * EDIT Enter regular or Big! Font text, Insert/Delete rows. * OPTIONS - "Colors/Lines/etc." lets you choose: -- foreground and background colors to draw, paint, etc. -- which of 6 line/box styles, or 3 shading styles to use -- how many rows on your screen (25, 43, 50) -- how sensitive your mouse is (very fast to very precise) - UNDO helps correct mistakes. - Re-Color lets you change everything in one color to another. - MakeMono duplicates P~F Present's "Show in Monochrome" option. - Demo shows how quickly partial screens can be displayed. 4 Menus ..... Here are snapshots of all 5 menus. The next page lists the keyboard "hot keys" in a different form. For a handy "Quick Reference Guide," print this page on one side of a sheet of paper, then print the next page on the other side. FILE DRAW +--------------------------+ +----------------------+ | Save Screen F2 | | Boxes/Lines Alt-D | | Save Partial Screen F3 | |----------------------| |--------------------------| | Join " J | | Load Screen F4 | |----------------------| |--------------------------| | WalkAbout " W | | Print F5 | +----------------------+ |--------------------------| | New Screen / Clear F6 | |--------------------------| | Library Directory F9 | |--------------------------| | Quit. Exit to DOS. Esc | +--------------------------+ BLOCK EDIT +--------------------------+ +----------------------+ | Format (PS Pro) Alt-F | | Text Alt-T | |--------------------------| |----------------------| | Copy " C | | Big! Font F7 | | Move " M | |----------------------| |--------------------------| | Insert Row " I | | Paint " P | | Delete Row " X | | Shade " S | +----------------------+ |--------------------------| | Center " A | |--------------------------| | Erase " E | |--------------------------| | Cut to Clipboard " K | | Paste from Clip. " L | +--------------------------+ OPTIONS HELP +--------------------------+ +----------------------+ | Colors/Lines/etc. F10 | | Summary of Commands | |--------------------------| |----------------------| | Undo Alt-U | | Text Editing Commands| |--------------------------| |----------------------| | Repeat " R | | Using a Mouse | |--------------------------| |----------------------| | Re-Color " N | | PS Pro Writes Program| |--------------------------| +----------------------+ | MakeMono F8 | |--------------------------| | Demo Alt-F10| +--------------------------+ 5 Here's a summary of P-Screen's keyboard "hot keys." For a 1-page quick reference guide, print either this page or the screen "Quickref" in P-Screen.Psl. ====================== FUNCTION KEY Options ====================== Function keys are used mainly for: Getting Help, Saving, Loading, Printing and Clearing screens, and Choosing Options. Here's a summary; we'll describe each option later. F1 Help F2 Save a Full Screen (or a full or partial ASM screen) F3 Save Sub-screens (partial screens) F4 Load a screen F5 Print the current screen F6 New/Clear. Start a new screen, choose 25/43/50 rows. F7 Big! Font. Add Big! Font messages, load or alter a font. F8 View in monochrome. Press a key after you hear the beep. F9 Review. Get a directory of screens in a screen library. F10 Options. Here you select: Colors, Line/Box drawing styles, Shading styles, # Rows/Lines on the Screen, etc. TO EXIT P-SCREEN: Press Esc or Alt-<Q>uit (or use the File menu). TO UnDo MISTAKES: Press Alt-U (or use the Options Menu). UnDo works for all major things (Move, Erase, Copy, Paint, Text, etc.), and some minor things. ========================= ALT-key Options ======================== (hold down the Alt key; press the key listed below) Use Alt-key options to design screens. Most options are intuitive. For example, press Alt-D to Draw Lines or Boxes, Alt-M to Move something, Alt-P to Paint, etc. Here's a summary of your options. Add Hi/Low Ascii Characters, -or- Draw Boxes Join Lines Text Walk- UnDo Quit or Lines & Boxes Enter/Center Cut/Paste About ..................................................................... U Q D J T / C K / L W ---------- Block options --------- Delete / Format Copy Move Erase Paint Shade Center Insert Row Repeat ReColor (PS Pro) ..................................................................... C M E P S A D / X R N F 6 ========================== MOUSE TIPS =========================== To use a mouse you must first install a "mouse driver." * Do this by including a line in your "config.sys" file, or run- ning a mouse program. Consult your mouse manual for details. * P-Screen should work with mice compatible with Microsoft mice. It's also compatible with other mice: for example, the inex- pensive Genius mouse run in "Mouse System" (or Microsoft) mode. * If P-Screen can't seem to access your mouse (and it IS connec- ted), either your mouse driver isn't installed, or P-Screen and your mouse/driver are incompatible. NOTE: If you try P-Screen with a mouse, please, when you regis- ter, let us know whether P-Screen DID -or- DID NOT work with your mouse. Tell us: the manufacturer, the model #, if it's a serial or bus mouse, and the date and version # of your mouse software. Mouse Sensitivity ................. If the mouse cursor moves around too quickly (or slowly), you can change the sensitivity of your mouse. To do so: * Select Options (press F10 or select Options/Colors, etc.) * Press <M>ouse Sensitivity, then press Left/Right cursor keys. * Each time you press the Left/Right cursor, the "mouse sensitivity" changes by 5. The range is 5 to 100. - Lower numbers = LESS/SLOWER mouse cursor movement. - Higher numbers = MORE/FASTER mouse cursor movement. WalkAbout ......... WalkAbout is a convenient way to draw or erase with any character on your screen. It's also a handy way to "mend" broken lines. * When in WalkAbout mode, fast-moving mice can "spray" charac- ters around your screen. This may or may not be what you want. * When mending broken lines, cursor keys may be more accurate. 7 ======================= DESIGNING SCREENS ======================= Designing slides with P-Screen is very easy. Most commands are intuitive and easy to remember. Design screens using Alt-key options; use Function Keys to load or save screens, select options or get help (or use the menus instead of either). The Basics ========== P-Screen displays your full screen at all times. There's no com- mand or option line taking up real estate (Press F1 for Help). * Some find P-Screen's blank screen intimidating. But, start designing and you'll enjoy having access to the full screen. - Remember, if you need HELP, press F1, or press "/" to bring down the menus (then press Left/Right cursor keys until the "Help" menus are visible). * When you begin most Alt-key options, P-Screen marks where you started with a highlighted, flashing symbol: "M" = Move, "E" = Erase, "P" = Paint, etc. * Run and use Ruler.Exe if you need to know where you are. Press Ruler's hotkey (Ctrl-Esc), note the row/column you're on (and the colors or character on the screen), then press Esc. Change the number of rows on your screen (25, 43, 50) by pres- sing F6 New or F10 Options. Be careful: F6 clears your screen! Press F10 then <R>ows to redraw the screen with a different # of rows. (NOTE: Presentations should include ONLY 25-line screens.) Use cursor pad keys or a mouse to move around the screen. NOTE: Insert and Delete keys work a little differently. They Insert a space or Delete the character at the cursor, shifting everything to the right (insert), or the left (delete). Be careful with Insert. You can loose characters in column 80. All Options (F10 / Options - Colors, Etc.) ........... When you add text, draw boxes or lines, or shade or paint areas, P-Screen uses the "active" symbol sets and colors. To change these, press F10 Options. P-Screen displays a window like the one on the next page. continued . . . 8 Options (continued) +----------------------------|Options|------- <cr> or Esc = All Done + | | | Color: Sample Text: ABCabc123@#$ +----Bright Background is OFF----| | Up|Dn = Foreground ( 7 ) | 0 16 32 48 64 80 96 112 | | Left|Right = Background ( 0 ) | 1 17 33 49 65 81 97 113 | | | 2 18 34 50 66 82 98 114 | | 0 Black 1 Blue 2 Green 3 Cyan | 3 19 35 51 67 83 99 115 | | 4 Red 5 Magenta 6 Yellow 7 White| 4 20 36 52 68 84 100 116 | | | 5 21 37 53 69 85 101 117 | | <F1>=Toggle Bright/Normal | 6 22 38 54 70 86 102 118 | | <F2>=Toggle Blinking On/Off | 7< 23 39 55 71 87 103 119 | | <F3>=Toggle Bright Background | 8 24 40 56 72 88 104 120 | | | 9 25 41 57 73 89 105 121 | | <F9>=Line/Box Character Now: (┌) | 10 26 42 58 74 90 106 122 | | Options: (┌╔╒╓█▐) | 11 27 43 59 75 91 107 123 | | | 12 28 44 60 76 92 108 124 | |<F10>=Shading Character Now: (░) | 13 29 45 61 77 93 109 125 | | Options: (░▒▓) | 14 30 46 62 78 94 110 126 | | | 15 31 47 63 79 95 111 127 | | <R>=# of screen rows (25/43/50) +--------------------------------| | | | <M>=Mouse Sensitivity (100) Click left button on <> or Color | | | +------ Press: Cursor keys, R, M, or F1, F2, F9 or F10 --> ------+ NOTE: Press any key in brackets (e.g. <R>), or click the mouse on it. COLORS: P-Screen starts with colors set to White (7) on Black (0). A blinking arrow in the "color window" ("<" above) shows the active color. "Sample Text" shows how it'll look. Click the mouse on any color, -or- * Press: Up / Down cursor keys to change FOREGROUND colors. Left / Right cursor keys to change BACKGROUND colors. * Press: F1 to toggle Bright foreground On/Off. F2 to toggle Blinking On/Off. F3 to toggle Bright Backgrounds On and Off. The next page has important details on bright backgrounds. Once you select colors, everything you draw, or any text you add, appears in these colors -- until you change colors again. BOXES & LINES: Press F9 to toggle among 6 different line styles. You'll see the expression "Now: (┌)" change to reflect the "current" line draw set. SHADING: Press F10 to toggle among 3 shading symbols (Ascii characters 176-178). The expression "Now: (░)" will change. continued . . . 9 Options (continued) SCREEN ROWS: Press <R>OWS to switch to 25, 43, or 50 line screens. If your monitor dislikes your choice, an error message appears. * Switching to MORE rows WON'T destroy your screen. P-Screen changes modes, then redraws your screen, giving you more rows to work with. * Switching to FEWER rows might blow away the bottom of your screen. Caution. Alt-U (undo) CAN'T undo this. For example, switching from 50 to 25 rows would leave you with just the top 25 rows of your 50-row screen. MOUSE SENSITIVITY: Press <M>ouse to change how quickly (and far) the mouse cursor moves around when you move your mouse. Then press the Left or Right cursor keys to change the sensitivity. * Each time you press Left or Right cursor, the "mouse sensitivity" changes by 5. The range is 5 to 100. - Lower numbers = LESS/SLOWER mouse cursor movement. - Higher numbers = MORE/FASTER mouse cursor movement. BRIGHT BACKGROUNDS: Once you press F10 (Options), you can then press F3 to toggle "bright backgrounds" on or off. Bright backgrounds can help you create stunning, dazzling screens with colors often not seen on PCs. But please understand that: * Bright backgrounds are actually achieved by using BLINKING FOREGROUND colors, and then telling the PC to display blinking as bright backgrounds. This means that: - You CANNOT mix blinking foregrounds and bright backgrounds on the same screen -- they're mutually exclusive. - You CAN, however, mix bright and normal backgrounds. * If you display a screen with bright backgrounds on Hercules or monochrome monitors, you'll get BLINKING INSTEAD. Bright backgrounds can ONLY be displayed on color-capable monitors. Finally, to display bright-background screens from your programs, you must "enable" your PC to do so. We include an assembler module, BrightBg.Obj, to help you do this. Please see "Display- ing Screens From Your Programs" for details. * If you use bright backgrounds on the main screen, any sub- screens you display on top of it must be created with bright ON. * Sub-screens CAN have normal backgrounds, but bright MUST be on. 10 ============== DESIGNING SCREENS: ALT-key OPTIONS ============== Most options work the same way. We'll discuss a few in detail, then highlight a few others. In all cases, Esc = Cancel. In most cases, when you press Alt-key, P-Screen "marks" your start- ing spot with a highlighted, flashing symbol: "E" (erase), "M" (move), "P" (paint) or the "active" line/box or shade character. Drawing Boxes & Lines Alt-D / Draw - Box/Lines ..................... Move the cursor to where a box or line should begin. Press Alt-D (we'll "mark" the spot with a blinking box corner). Now move the cursor. WHAT we draw depends on WHERE you move. If you: * Move left or right on the same row, we'll draw a horizontal line. * Move up or down in the same column, we'll draw a vertical line. * Change both rows and columns, we'll draw a box. Press <cr> and you're done! Your line or box is drawn in the style and colors you chose by pressing F10 (Options). Joining Boxes & Lines Alt-J / Draw - Join ..................... To "Join" a line to a box you drew, move the cursor to a line/ box intersection. Press Alt-J. A window pops up showing the drawing symbols. It also has many other Ascii characters (see "Ascii Characters" for details). Move to the character you want and press <cr>. Go to the other intersection and do it again. Erasing or Painting a Block Alt-E, Alt-P / Block - Erase/Paint ........................... It's just like drawing a box. Move to the one corner. Press Alt-E (or Alt-P Paint). A blinking "E" (or "P") marks the spot. Move to the opposite corner. Press <cr>. Copying or Moving a Block Alt-C, Alt-M / Block - Copy/Move ......................... Just like examples above -- with one more step. Move to one corner. Press Alt-C (or Alt-M Move). A blinking "C" (or "M") marks the spot. Move to the opposite corner. Press <cr>. You've now marked what you want to copy or move. Now move to where you want the block to appear. Press <cr>. Adding / Centering Text Alt-T, Alt-C / Edit - Text ....................... You can enter text in 2 ways: press Alt-T, or start typing. Move to the spot where you want to begin. Press Alt-T or just start typing. P-Screen "respects" your lines and boxes. You can enter text up to the 1st line/shade character it finds (or, if none, the right side of the screen). P-Screen scoops up any text it finds, highlights it, then lets you edit it. Press: Alt-C to center text, <cr> when you're done, Esc to cancel. 11 Those are the basics. Remember, press <cr> to complete an action, Esc to cancel it, and Alt-U (Undo) if you don't like the result. You can "draw" or "mark" things to copy/move/center/etc. by in almost any direction. But "Pasting" from the "Clipboard" and Big! Font always "overwrite" moving right and down. Here's a summary of other P-Screen features. Auto-Joining ............ When you draw horizontal or vertical lines, P-Screen "joins" the line to every line draw character in its path. It does this by trying to guess what you're trying to accomplish. Most of the time P-Screen's correct, and this speeds things up tremendously! * This only works when symbol sets are the same. * If our "guess" is wrong, use Alt-J to fix specific spots. - Press Alt-J and P-Screen displays a window showing most low/high Ascii characters. Use cursor keys to move to the character you want. Press <cr> to accept it. Centering a block <R> Alt-A / Block - Center ................. Press Alt-A to center a block on your screen (a box, lines, Big! Font text, normal text, etc.). (We already used Alt-C for Copy. So "Alt-A" was arbitrary.) * Press Alt-A and P-Screen displays a blinking left/right arrow. * Move to the opposite corner. Press <cr>. WalkAbout Alt-W / Draw - WalkAbout ......... Alt-W (WalkAbout) copies the character your cursor's on -- letting you draw (or erase) with ANY character on the screen. WalkAbout is handy to "patch" broken lines. And if you don't see a character you like, press Alt-J. A window pops up with most low/high Ascii characters. (See the next section.) * Move to a character you want to walk around with. Press Alt-W. Nothing seems to happen -- Alt-W is "screen silent." Most Alt-key options show where you are on the screen. Not Alt-W. But, press cursor pad keys, and P-Screen starts copying the character (with its color) around the screen. * Move around using your cursor keys (or Home/End/PgUp/PgDn). Press Esc or <cr> to stop, you'll return to where you started. * Use WalkAbout to erase as you go -- just start on a blank spot. Ascii Characters: Arrows, "Bullets," Other Characters Alt-J ...................................................... To enter any keyboard character, just press the key. But your PC can display many other characters not on your keyboard. Called Low or High Ascii characters, these include the line draw characters used for boxes and lines. They also include many other symbols including: arrows, dots and small boxes useful for "text bullets" (sub-points), foreign language letters, etc. * To use these, press Alt-J, move to a character, press <cr>. * Now, if you want, use Alt-W (WalkAbout) to "draw" with it. 12 Inserting / Deleting CHARACTERS Insert or Del keys ............................... * To insert or delete CHARACTERS, press Insert or Delete keys. - Insert adds a space at the cursor, pushing everything right. - Delete deletes what's at the cursor, shifting everything left. Inserting / Deleting LINES Alt-I, Alt-X / Edit - Insert/Delete .......................... * To insert or delete LINES, press Alt-I or Alt-X. - Alt-I inserts a blank line at the cursor. All lines at the cursor and below move down. Anything on the last line is LOST. - Alt-X deletes the line your cursor's on, everything moves up. Re-Color (or New color) <R> Alt-N / Options - Re-Color ....................... Re-Color lets you change everything on your screen that's in one color to any other color. It leaves all other colors alone. Re-Color is a very fast way to test different color combinations. For example, suppose you drew a box and several lines in Yellow on Blue. You change your mind and now want them in White on Red. * You could press F10 Options, choose White on Red, and then use Alt-P Paint to paint each line. * But a much faster way is to press Alt-N. Choose Yellow on Blue as the color you want changed. Then choose White on Red as the color to change it to. - When you press <cr> your colors change instantly. - Everything on your screen that was Yellow on Blue is now White on Red. This includes boxes, lines and anything else. Press Alt-N and P-Screen displays the top half of the Options window -- the part containing the color window. * It then asks you to choose the color you want changed. - Use cursor keys to choose a color (ie., move the blinking arrow to a color). Press <cr>. - BE SURE to choose the proper Intensity/Brightness at- tribute. For example, Bright White is a different color than Normal White. Press F1 to toggle Bright on/off. * P-Screen then asks you to choose a new color. - Use cursor keys to choose a new color; press <cr>. NOTE: If you choose a new color and nothing happens, the Intensity/Brightness attribute was probably wrong. Try it again, but this time press F1 to toggle Bright/Normal. 13 =========== REPEAT and CUT & PASTE (REGISTERED VERSIONS) ========= Repeat <R> Alt-R / Options - Repeat ...... Repeat can save you dozens or hundreds of keystrokes. When you begin an Alt-key design function (ie., box, line, copy/move/ erase, etc., but NOT Function key options or UnDo), P-Screen records your actions, then repeats them when you press Alt-R. For example: * You create a box. You then move the cursor to a new loca- tion and press Alt-R. P-Screen draws another box in the new location -- same style, same size, same colors. * Or suppose you want a grid (a series of horizontal lines). You draw the first line. You then move the cursor down 3 lines and press Alt-R. P-Screen draws another line for you. You move down 3 more lines and press Alt-R again; then again, and again and.... You can Alt-<R>epeat something as many times as you like. But, as soon as you begin the next Alt-key option, P-Screen starts recording your actions again. If you then Cancel it (ie., press <Esc>), you may have to start over. Cut & Paste <R> Alt-K, Alt-L / Block - Cut/Paste ............ Cut & Paste also saves enormous time. They let you easily: * copy a section of one screen to a different screen * copy a section to other locations in the same screen To copy a section of a screen, move to the one corner of an area and press Alt-K. Move to the opposite corner; press <cr>. * P-Screen copies the portion of the screen you marked to a "clipboard." Your existing screen is unchanged. * It may seem that nothing happened -- the clipboard is "invisible." But, just press Alt-L and P-Screen "pastes" the block back on your screen. You can now clear the screen, load another one, or move to a different location. Press Alt-L to "paste" the clipboard con- tents onto the current screen, starting wherever your cursor is. * In other words, you can paste the contents of the clipboard anywhere on your screen -- not just to it's original location. * If you don't like the way it looks, press Alt-U (undo), then move the cursor and press Alt-L to paste it somewhere else. * NOTE: "paste" ALWAYS pastes from wherever your cursor is down and right (regardless of how you "marked" the block). So, before pressing Alt-L, ALWAYS move the cursor to the top left corner of where you want the clipboard contents pasted. Like Alt-R, you can press Alt-L (Paste) as many times as you want. Each time, P-Screen pastes the contents of the clipboard onto your screen at the cursor. Alt-R and Alt-L can serve the same purposes. 14 =========== FORMAT P-SCREEN PROFESSIONAL (PS PRO) ========= Press Alt-F to "format" fields on a screen and ask PS Pro to write your QuickBASIC data entry programs for you. Overview ======== PS Pro lets you define up to 100 separate "fields" on each screen. That's a lot. But if you need more, just edit the ".BAS" file PS Pro creates; duplicate or add as many as you like. Most data input screens have, basically, two types of fields. * Input Fields Fields we fill out: Date, Name, Phone #, Social Security #, # of Hours Worked, etc. * Calculated Fields Examples: Total Wages (Normal Wages plus Overtime), Purchase cost (Quantity times Price), Sales Tax (Subtotal times tax rate). - You can create virtually ANY calculated field using standard BASIC equations. - These equations often (but don't have to) use data entered in Input fields. The distinction between "Input" and "Calculated" fields is im- portant. First, the programs PS Pro writes let you enter information in Input fields but not in Calculated fields (edit your ".BAS" files to change this). Second, you can supply "format strings" to format: 1) how input fields are edited (using rsMinput); or, 2) how calculated fields are printed (using FormatUsing). rsMinput and FormatUsing use format strings differently. We'll discuss these differences shortly. Logically, here are the steps you follow to format a screen and have PS Pro write your programs for you. For each field: 1. Mark the beginning and end (press Alt-F at the left side, move to the right side and press <cr> -- like painting it) 2. Give it a name. That's the minimum you have to do. But, to take full advantage of PS Pro's power and the subroutines we provide, you can also: 3. Choose a field type (String, Date, Integer, Currency, etc.). 4. If appropriate, tell PS Pro how many decimal places it has. 5. Enter a "format string" to format editing or printing. 6. If you want PS Pro to "validate" user input, tell PS Pro the Minimum and Maximum values to accept. 7. If you want a help screen attached to the field, tell PS Pro which screen library it's in, and what its name is. 8. If it's a calculated field, enter a formula. Then, when each field on your screen is formatted, just press a key to ask PS Pro to write your program for you. We'll first discuss the general procedures for formatting fields. We'll then present an example. 15 Alt-F Format (continued) The Field Format Window ======================= Suppose the first field on your screen was Date. To format it: * Move the cursor to the left side of where we want to begin entering a date. Press Alt-F. A blinking "F" appears. * Now move the cursor right to the end of the field; press <cr>. NOTE: ALWAYS move Left to Right for begin formatting fields! * A "Field Format" window pops up. It looks like this. +-Field #: |-------------------|Row: Column: Length: -+ | | | +-----------+ +--+---------+ +----+ | Name | | Field Type | | | Decimal Places | | | +-----------+ F10 = Menu +--+---------+ (0 - 15) +----+ | +------------------+ +------------------+ | | Range | | --- | | | | +------------------+ +------------------+ | | +------------------------+ +--------+ |Format | | Help Screen Library | | | +------------------------+ +--------+ | # (###) ### - #### for phone #s Screen Name | | | +--------+ +Formula -----------------------------------------------------------+ | | +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ |F1 = Help F6 = Name (Formulas) F8 = Dup F2 = Save Esc = Quit | +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ The field format window has 3 basic sections: Top Line, Bottom Line, and the "Middle Boxes" which tell PS Pro how to treat fields. TOP LINE: * Field # The number of the field you're formatting (1-100) * Row & Column The row and column of this field on your screen * Length The width of the field (# of columns you marked after pressing Alt-F). Length governs how many characters users can enter in this field. BOTTOM LINE: * F1 Help To get help with filling in any box, move the cursor to that box and press F1. * F6 Name Used only when entering Formulas. More later. * F8 Dup Once you enter a name for a field, press F8 to duplicate OTHER information from fields you already formatted. This is useful to copy format strings, formulas, etc., ensuring consistency and accuracy across identical fields. * F2 Save After you've defined all fields on your screen, press F2 to ask PS Pro to write your program. - The program name is the screen name, plus ".BAS" - Be sure there's AT LEAST 15k bytes of free disk space on the CURRENT drive before you begin formatting a screen. * Esc = Quit Press Esc to return to your screen. 16 The Field Format Window (continued) MIDDLE BOXES: * Name The name of this field. Each name MUST be unique. * Field Type One of 13 different field types: String, Proper Name, Date, Zip Code, Currency, etc. * Decimals The number of decimal places to use for Single or Double precision numbers or Currency. * Range If you want PS Pro to validate user input, enter the Minimum and Maximum values for a field. * Format "Format strings" are used to both format editing and print calculated fields. * Help Library/ To link a help screen to any field, just supply Screen a library name and a screen name. * Formula Create calculated fields by entering any valid QuickBASIC formula, using any combination of field names, constants or intrinsic functions. CAUTION ....... Once you format a screen, BE SURE to press F2 Save from the Field Format window BEFORE you load another screen or press F6 New/Clear. Clearing the screen or loading another one (even a sub-screen) re- initializes the field format process, erasing any work in progress. You CANNOT edit the information on the Top Row. But you CAN change the Length of a field. Do this by returning to your screen and moving to the same row/column and pressing Alt-F. Move the cursor right and press <cr>. * Each time you format a field, PS Pro checks to see if you've already defined a field starting at this row/column. * If you have, PS Pro beeps, and displays any information you already entered for this field. You'll see that Length changed (assuming you marked a different # of columns). Here's an example of how to format a screen. This example uses the screen "Employee" found in P-Screen.Psl. It's the basis for Employee.Bas, one of your demo programs written entirely by PS Pro. +---- xyz Corporation Salary Summary ----+ | | | DATE: | --------------------------------------------------------------------- |Social Sec.|Hourly|# Hours Worked| Wages * | Name | Number | Wage |Normal O'Time|Normal O'Time| Total -------------+-----------+------+--------------+-------------+------- | |$ | | | -------------+-----------+------+--------------+-------------+------- | |$ | | | -------------+-----------+------+--------------+-------------+------- * Overtime wages are "time & 1/2" Totals:| (1.5 times Normal wage rate) +--------------------- 17 Alt F: An Example (continued) "Employee" is a simple weekly salary summary for the xyz Corp. When we fill out this screen, we'll enter certain information (Date, Employee Name and Social Security #, Number of Hours worked, etc.). The formulas we create handle the rest. Formulas calculate Wages (Hours Worked times Hourly Wage), Total Wages for each employee, and Totals for all employees. Run Employee.Bas in QuickBASIC 4.x to see this in action. Field Name .......... The first step in formatting a field is to give it a name. This is required before you can enter anything else. Since DATE is our 1st field above, we enter "TodaysDate" as our field name. * Field names can have 1-13 characters. They'll become variable names in a USER TYPE that PS Pro creates. * All field names must be unique (up to you, PS Pro WON'T check) * Field names should: - NOT be QuickBASIC reserved words. For example, avoid things like "Name" or "Date." We used "TodaysDate." - NOT contain any punctuation. Use ONLY letters or numbers. Upper or lower case is fine. * To cancel the formatting of a field, press Esc before you've entered a field name. Three sections of the Format Window are highly related: Field Type, Decimal Places and Format. Your choice of Type and Decimal Places affect Format. Please read the next 3 sections carefully. Field Type .......... PS Pro supports 13 field types, shown to +--------------------+ the right. Your choice of field type | 1 String | governs how PS Pro formats a field, and | 2 Upper Case | which keys it will consider "valid." | 3 Proper Name | * The default field type is "string." | 4 Date | String fields are not formatted, and | 5 Phone Number | users will be able to enter any keyboard | 6 Zip Code | character -- ALL characters are "valid." | 7 Social Sec. # | | 8 Numbers Only | * The field type you choose affects which | 9 Integer | keys PS Pro will consider "valid" when | 10 Long Integer | users edit that field. For types 1-3, | 11 Single Precision| any keyboard character may be pressed. | 12 Currency | Field types 4-13 are "Numbers Only" | 13 Double Precision| fields: users may press 0-9 and "-+.$" +--------------------+ You may choose a field type in two ways. * Press F10 wherever you are on the Format Window. - A small window pops up like the one shown above. - Use Up/Down cursor keys to highlight your choice. Press <cr> to accept it. Press Esc to cancel. * The second way to choose a field type is to move the cursor to the Field Type section and type in a number from 1-13. * Either way, PS Pro displays the number and name next to "Field Type." 18 Alt F: An Example (continued) In our example, we choose the "Date" field type for our first field. When we did, PS Pro printed "## - ## - ####" in the Format box. This "format string" will be used by rsMinput to format editing. * PS Pro automatically "formats" certain fields types. When we choose one of these, PS Pro prints a "format string" in the "Format" section of the Field Window. * We'll come back to format strings shortly. Decimal Places .............. If a field type is Single Precision, Currency or Double Precision, you can specify the number of decimal places (0 - 15; Decimal Places is ignored for other field types). For example, you would normally specify 0 or 2 decimal places for Currency. Format ...... Format strings are used by both rsMinput and FormatUsing. They are essential to PS Pro's advanced features. * rsMinput uses them for "formatted editing," making it easy to correctly enter things like Zip Codes, Dates, etc. We refer to this as "masked input" -- input using a mask. * FormatUsing uses them to format numbers for printing. A format string is something like a BASIC Print Using string. Pound signs (#) indicate where numbers or text will appear. Other characters (parentheses, commas, etc.) help format them. Here are some examples, based on which subroutine uses them. * rsMinput If you choose certain field types, PS Pro will offer "masks" like these: Date (## - ## - ####), Social Security Number (### - ## - ####), Phone (# (###) ### - ####), or Zip Code (##### - ####). - When entering data in one of these fields, users will be able to enter numbers only where a "#" appears (actually, rsMinput replaces "#" with more discrete dots). rsMinput automatically skips over spaces, parentheses, hyphens, etc. - You can edit these masks. Delete them if you prefer that data input not be formatted. Or delete the spaces if strings are too wide for the field you defined. Or add any Ascii characters you want to suit your preference. - If rsMinput finds a mask for a field, the mask (not Length) will govern how many characters users can enter in a field. * FormatUsing If you format a field as a Single or Double Precision number or as Currency, PS Pro will suggest a mask something like "######.##" (assuming you specified 2 decimal places). Later we'll discuss adding dollar signs (for Currency), commas, etc.. 19 Alt-F Format (continued) Format strings are essential to some of PS Pro's advanced features. * Without input "masks," rsMinput can't format data input. * And without format strings, FormatUsing can't right-justify and properly format numbers for printing and editing. * But using them or not is your option. If you prefer none, just move to the format box, and delete them (press Ctrl-Home). You may edit format strings to serve your needs. Here's how. Guidelines for Editing Format Strings ..................................... First, please understand that PS Pro changes format strings whenever you change the Field Type and the number of Decimal Places. So, be sure the Field Type and Decimal Places are correct before you invest time customizing the format string. Also understand that rsMinput's "mask" subroutine works differ- ently than FormatUsing. As a result, format strings for "input" fields must differ from those used for "calculated" fields. Why would you want to edit format strings? * To create a custom format string if PS Pro suggests none. Example: An Invoice Number ("P~F ### - ####") * To add dollar signs or commas to calculated fields. Example: For Currency fields, PS Pro might suggest a format string like "#####.##" (note NO $ or comma). - Using this format string, a number like "1234.99" prints just as it looks. - But edit the format string like this "$####,.##" and the same number prints like this "$1,234.99." Note "$" and "," in BOTH the format string and number. * To shorten (remove spaces) or customize a format string. Example: Date "## - ## - ####" shortened to "##-##-####" Example: Change Phone or Zip Code formats for non-U.S. situations. "### - ###" for Canadian Mail Codes. Editing format strings for "input" fields (ie., for rsMinput) ............................................................. * Press "#" where you want to enter text or numbers. * Add other characters like spaces, hyphens, and parentheses for "visual formatting." - rsMinput skips over these characters during editing. - Do NOT add periods to Number-Only fields like Currency. The Mask routine can't handle them properly. When editing fields like Currency, we'll print them properly, but you must enter the period manually. NOTE: When you press <cr> or Esc to exit rsMinput, we strip the mask from whatever you're editing. For example, suppose you were entering a phone number. On the screen it looks like (123) 456-7890. When you press <cr>, rsMinput returns 1234567890. continued . . . 20 Editing Format Strings (continued) Editing format strings for "calculated" fields (for FormatUsing) ................................................................ * Use any character that's valid in BASIC's Print Using state- ment. Please consult a BASIC manual for complete details. * "#" represents each digit position. If the number to be printed has fewer digits than the number of positions spec- ified, the number is right-justified in the field. * "$" causes a dollar sign to be printed at the far left of the field (eg., "$ 12345.00"). "$$" causes a dollar sign to be printed to the immediate left of the number (eg., "$12345.00"). "$$" also adds another digit position. * "." prints a decimal point. * A comma just left of the decimal point causes a comma to be printed to the left of every third digit left of the decimal. NOTE: You can add "$", "," and other format characters in two ways: 1) Replace one of the "#" in your string 2) Add them to the string (ie., lengthen the format string) Adding format characters widens your format string. This may cause numbers to expand beyond the boundaries of the field you defined. Printed results may be unpredictable. So we urge you to experiment -- enter the largest possible numbers, then press F9 Calculate to see how results print. Here are some examples of how FormatUsing formats the same number (12345.99) differently depending on your format string. FormatUsing Format String Returns Please Notice: ============= =========== =============================== ######## 12346 NO decimal; 12345.99 is rounded ######.## 12345.99 $######.## $ 12345.99 The space after "$" $$######.## $12345.99 Two "$$" and NO space after "$" $######,.## $12,345.99 The comma every 3rd digit left of the decimal point. 21 Editing Format Strings (continued) Final notes on format strings (in general) ............................. * Format strings may up to 24 characters long -- because BASIC'S Print Using (and therefore FormatUsing) returns an "Illegal function call" error if the number of digits exceeds 24. Final notes on format strings (Input fields, rsMinput) ............................. * Some types of fields should be right-justified before calling rsMinput. PS Pro uses RSET to handle this for you with fields like Phone #. Here's why RSET is important. - Phone # format strings look like: "(###) ### - ####" Notice the 10 "digit positions" in this format string. - But suppose you enter only 7 digits and leave the area code blank. When these 7 digits are RSET in a 10 character string, rsMinput prints them properly: (...) 123 - 4567. If they were NOT RSET, rsMinput would print (123) 456 - 7... - On the other hand, Zip Codes should NOT be RSET. - To decide whether to RSET or not, you must decide which part of the field is "optional" and which is "mandatory." -- If the FIRST part of a field is optional, RSET it. In Phone #s, the area code (the 1st part) is optional. -- But in Zip Codes the 1st part is mandatory and the extension is optional. So we don't RSET Zip Codes. * If rsMinput finds a mask for a field, the number of "#" found in the mask (not the variable "Length") will govern how many characters a user can enter in that field. NOTE: We mentioned earlier, and we emphasize here that rsMinput strips masks from whatever you're editing, returning only the characters entered. When entering phone numbers, you'll see "(123) 456-7890" on the screen. But, rsMinput returns 1234567890. When entering Zip Codes, you'll see "12345 - 9999" on the screen. But, rsMinput returns 123459999. rsMinput returns the "real" value; the mask is used only to help format editing. Final notes on format strings (Calculated fields, FormatUsing) ............................. * FormatUsing always rounds numbers as necessary. You control this by the number of digit positions in your format string. * If you ever see "%" printed in front of a number means an error occurred -- the number was too large for the format string or field you created. Usually this occurs because: - You designed a field too narrow for the number we found. - Or, you added dollar signs or commas to a format string which caused the number to expand beyond the limits of the field you defined. * If your format string has too few digit positions, or if your field is too small for a number, the field may mis-print. 22 Alt-F Format (continued) We'll now discuss the final three areas of the Field Format Window: Range, Help and Formulas. Range ..... If you want PS Pro to validate user input, you must enter BOTH Minimum and Maximum values next to Range. If either is blank, PS Pro will skip the validation. * For string fields (String, Proper Name, Upper Case): - The minimum value might be "1" or "A" -- the smallest or "lowest" alphanumeric value (in most cases). This would catch situations where users enter nothing when something is required. - The maximum value might be "zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz" or any "value" that logically users should not exceed. * For numeric fields, enter the lowest and highest numeric values you'll accept. PS Pro evaluates any "numbers only" field as double precision numbers -- so 9 or 10 digit numbers like Phone Numbers or Zip Codes won't cause "Overflow" errors. Adding "Context Sensitive" Help to your Programs ................................................ If you want PS Pro to link a help screen to a field, just enter a Screen Library Name and a Screen Name. * The programs PS Pro writes use F1 to call help screens. To use a different "Help Hot Key", just edit the program. * Each time F1 is press, the program PS Pro writes checks to see if the screen library exists on the CURRENT drive (by CALLing the subprogram "Exists" that we supply). - You could edit the program to "CALL Exists" at the beginning of your program. Then, if the screen library doesn't exist on the current drive, either abort or ask the user to specify the path to the screen library. If you enter a screen name that doesn't exist, when you run your program and press F1, your program will just beep and return to the editing routine. 23 Alt-F Format (continued) Formulas ........ Enter any valid QuickBASIC formula in the Formula box. Enter NOTHING but formulas in the Formula box. If ANYTHING is in the Formula box, we'll treat that field as calculated (can't edit it). * Results of formulas are printed according to the field type and format string for this field. * PS Pro-written programs display results of formulas either: - When users press F9 (the "calculate key" of many spreadsheets). - Or, after users edit the last "input" field. - Edit these programs to change when calculations occur. * Formulas can include "qualified field names," constants, and any QuickBASIC intrinsic function (eg., VAL, trigonometric functions, INSTR, etc.). - "Qualified field names" MUST include the Screen name, a period, then the field name. That's because PS Pro creates a USER TYPE defined as the screen name plus individual field names you assigned. - In Employee.Bas you'll see a formula something like this: Employee.TotalWages = Employee.TotalWage1 + Employee.TotalWage2 where: TotalWage1 is the total weekly wages for person 1 TotalWage2 is the total weekly wages for person 2 TotalWages is the sum of both of these NOTE: It can be tedious to constantly type "ScreenName." as part of each variable in a formula. But, you DON'T have to. Just press F6 when entering formulas and P-Screen inserts it for you. Here are some sample formulas from the demo program ToOrder.Bas. ToOrder.Total1 = ToOrder.Quantity1 * (the price) * For each product someone orders, the total price is the number of that product they order (Quantity1) times its price. * If product #1 cost $45 per unit, and they ordered 3, ToOrder.Total1 = 3 * 45 (or $135) ToOrder.Tax = (ToOrder.SubTotal * .065) * INSTR("Y", ToOrder.Taxable) * ToOrder.Bas asks us "Is this sale taxable?" (ToOrder.Taxable) If it is (the person ordering lives in our state), we press <Y>es. We use this response to help calculate Sales Tax. * Assume the sales tax rate in our state was 6.5% (.065). * To calculate sales tax (ToOrder.SalesTax), we first multiply the subtotal by the tax rate (.065). We then multiply the resulting product by INSTR("Y", ToOrder.Taxable). - If we had pressed <Y>es (this IS a taxable sale), our INSTR statement would return 1. One times Sales Tax equals Sales Tax. - But if we had pressed <N>o (this is NOT a taxable sale), our INSTR statement would return 0. Zero times Sales Tax equals 0 -- or NO sales tax. 24 =========== FINE-TUNING THE PROGRAMS WRITTEN BY PS-PRO =========== Feel free to edit the programs PS Pro writes to suit your needs or programming preferences. And there may be several ways you can "tighten them up" (make them more efficient). Subroutines ........... PS Pro's programs include several GOSUBs to handle important chores. Depending on options you chose, you may or may not need them. Delete those you don't need. Suboutine Purpose -------------- -------------------------------------------- DisplayHelp Displays your main screen and help screens. GetColor Determines the color at each field location. Supplies rsMinput with two colors: HiLite (the highlighted color during edit) and Colr (the original color to restore on exit). - If these colors never change, use constants in rsMinput, or assign them at the beginning of your program. Delete references to GetColor. ConvertNumber For numeric fields, determines the length of the temporary edit variable -- based on either the Length of your field or the Format String. Validate Validates user input. If valid, assigns values to your field variables. DoCalcs "Executes" your formulas, prints results. Help / Calculate ................ * Help screens (if any) are displayed when users press F1, the industry-standard help key. * PS Pro's programs "execute" any formulas you created either: - When F9 is pressed (standard among many spreadsheet programs) - Or, when the user move past the last field you defined. You may change F1 and F9 to any key you prefer. Two screens in P-Screen.Psl (CursAlt and Function) can help you identify the extended key codes for different keys. These screens help set up rsMinput (to edit Exit$ according to your needs). 25 Fine-Tuning Programs PS Pro Writes (continued) Improving Efficiency: User Type Variables .......................................... * In programs it writes, PS Pro creates a user TYPE consisting of the name of your screen plus the name of each field you defined (eg., ToOrder.SubTotal, EMPLOYEE.TodaysDate). * In this TYPE, each field is treated as a separate entity. - For many fields this is appropriate. - But some fields may be identical to others. For these, you might want to create a separate User TYPE or array. Then handle identical fields in a separate FOR...NEXT or DO...LOOP section. * For example, Employee.Bas has two nearly-identical fields -- representing two people. This program might benefit by handling these identical sections of our screen in a different way than we treat other fields. Improving Efficiency: Other Ways ................................. * PS Pro handles data input within a DO...LOOP. At the beginning of the loop, we initialize several variables. - Some of these variables MUST be initialized each time. They're needed by rsMinput, which changes them on exit. These include RetCode and Exit$. - Other variables like LibName$, ScreenName$, Msk$, Minimum$ and Maximum$ are set to Nul (""), then reassigned as needed for each field. - If some of these latter variables never change, it would be more efficient to assign them before (rather than inside) the DO...LOOP. Examples might include: -- LibName$ If you have NO help screens, or if they're all in the same screen library. -- Minimum$/ If you didn't ask PS Pro to validate user Maximum$ input, you may delete these variables, and also delete the few lines of code at "Validate:" where input is validated. Final Comments on Alt-F ....................... To emphasize, we urge you to make sure your screen is a "finished product" before you begin formatting a screen. * Formatting screens can take some time. If you later change the screen, you may have to re-format it all over, or edit the ".BAS" file PS Pro created. 26 ======== FUNCTION KEY OPTIONS: HELP, LOADING/SAVING SCREENS ======== F1 = Help F2 = Save F3 = Save Sub F4 = Load F5 = Print F7 = Big! Font F8 = Mono F9 = Review F10 = Options We discussed F10 Options under "Some Basics." Please refer to that section to understand how to change: line/box draw or shading characters, colors, # of lines on your screen, etc. Help (F1 / Help) .... Press F1 to call up the Help Menu. Help screens are stored in P-Screen.Psl (which is required to run P-Screen). * A menu drops down. Pick the topic you want help with. Saving and Loading Screens: A word about Paths ............................................... P-Screen was designed to save and load screens to the "current path" -- the drive and directory you're on when you start P-Screen. We recommend you stick with this, it's simplest. * But, you can "activate" a different path -- another drive or directory. Once you do, P-Screen will load and save screens from/to that path, until you change the path again. * To "activate" a different path you have to LOAD a screen from that path. But, how did it get there? You copied it there. * Press F4 Load. Then press L, A or B to tell P-Screen whether you want to load a screen from a Library, or load an Ascii or BSAVE file (NOT graphics). P-Screen displays this window: +---------------------------------------------+ | Load Which (Library or Screen)? | +---------------------------------------------+ | | | ........ | | | + <Esc> = Cancel F2 = Directory -----------+ - Notice the line above "........" is blank. This means P-Screen is using the "current" drive/directory. - Press F2 Directory. P-Screen asks "Which Drive?" Press A, B, C, etc. It then asks "Which Directory?" Type in a directory name and press <cr>. - P-Screen scans that path for screens/screen libraries. It then displays a menu with all screen (or library) names. Highlight the one you want; press <cr>. - P-Screen loads your screen, or displays another menu showing which screens are in the Library you chose. 27 A Word About Paths (continued) Now, the next time you Save or Load a file, the line above "......." shows the path you chose. All saving/loading will be to that path. Sound complex? It's much easier to do than read about. Try it. But, you'll simplify things if you store your screens and screen libraries on the drive/directory you keep P-Screen itself. Saving Full or ASM Screens (F2 / File - Save) .......................... Press F2 to save screens. If you're saving an ASM screen, BE SURE that, before you press F2, you move the cursor to the top left corner of the area of the screen you want saved. With ASM screens, you can save anything from 1 character to the whole screen. Press F2 and P-Screen asks if you want to save a screen to a library or save an ASM, Ascii or executable ".Com" screen. Press L, A or C or M. ("Com" screens, registered users only.) * To save an Ascii or "Com" screen, enter a file name. Ascii screens are saved as "FileName.PSS." Executable screens are saved as "FileName.COM." * To save ASM screens, move the cursor to the bottom right corner of the area you want saved,. Press <cr> then enter a screen name. * When you save a screen to a library, P-Screen asks you for: 1) A Library name. If the library doesn't exist, P-Screen asks: "Want to create it?" Press <Y>es or <N>o. 2) A 1-8 character screen name 3) A 1-15 character description (optional but very helpful) Saving "Sub" or "Partial" Screens (F3 / File - Save Partial) ................................. Subscreens are partial screens -- a single line, box or rectangle. They're fast, efficient ways to display menus, help screens, or any partial screen. They use less disk space, and load faster (there's less to load). And they pop up right where they were when you saved them. (You can change where they're displayed.) You can save them to Libraries only. Press F3 and a blinking diamond appears marking the top left corner of your subscreen. * Move to the bottom, right corner. Press <cr>/Left mouse button. * Enter a library name, a screen name and a description. * Whether you call up a subscreen from within P-Screen or in your program, it appears where it was when you saved it. In your programs, you can change where it appears by changing the screen location you restore it to. See "Loading Screens from Your Programs" for details on doing this. 28 Replacing Library Screens (or, No Duplicate Names Please) ......................... When you save a screen to a library, P-Screen checks to see if the screen name already exists. If the screen name DOES exist, P-Screen checks to see how large the original screen was. * If there's enough room to save your screen in the same place, P-Screen asks if you want to replace the existing screen. Say No, and P-Screen starts over, letting you enter a different name. * If there's NOT enough room, P-Screen asks you to start over and enter a different name. Why? If you added screens with the same name, you'd never be able to access the 2nd, 3rd, etc. Loading Screens (F4 / File - Load) ............... See "A Word About Paths" on the last page. Press F4 and P-Screen asks whether you want to load a screen from a Library, or load an Ascii or BSAVE file. Press L, A or B. * If you chose Ascii or BSAVE: - Enter a 1-8 character file name (extensions must be ".PSS" for Ascii files, or ".BSV" for BSAVE files). - Or press F2 for a directory. When asked "Which Drive?" press <cr> for a directory of the drive/directory you're on. Or, enter a new drive/directory. Highlight a screen, press <cr>. * If you chose to load a screen from a screen Library: - Enter a 1-8 character Library name, or press F2 for a directory. Libraries must have ".PSL" extensions. - P-Screen looks for the library on the "active" drive/di- rectory, then displays the names of all screens in that library. Highlight the screen you want. Press <cr>. - If you load a subscreen, it appears in the spot where it was when you saved it, overwriting anything that was there. Printing Screens (F5 / File - Print) ................ When you ask to print, P-Screen asks: "Translate, or Print As is?" * Press <A>s is if your printer CAN print the line draw, shading and low/high Ascii characters on your screen. P-Screen prints everything you see (except the colors). * Press <T>ranslate and P-Screen translates the line draw characters into characters any printer can handle (+-=|). Most low/high Ascii characters print as "#" or blanks. You can print Ascii screen files in several ways. Copy it to your printer (eg. "copy myscreen.pss prn"). Or, load one or more into your word processor, then print them. 29 We're taking two options out of order: F8 MakeMono and F9 Directory. These topics are brief; but the next one, F7 Big! Font is not. Viewing Screens in Monochrome (F8 / Options - MakeMono) ............................. The "View in Monochrome" option was added primarily for use with P~F Presents (PFP). PFP has an option which lets those viewing your presentations view them in "monochrome." This option is helpful to those with laptop computers or composite monitors -- which can render colored text unreadable. P-Screens MakeMono option lets you anticipate how screens will look when converted to one of 4 combinations of black and white. It also helps you spot areas of screens that aren't converted correctly -- because you painted only parts of areas, moved or erased things, etc. When you press F8, P-Screen beeps then displays your screen 4 times, each time re-mapping the colors to a different combi- nation of white and black. At the bottom of your screen, it tells you which option is being used. In PFP, you select which monochrome version you want by using the label "Mono #" where "#" is 1, 2, 3 or 4 (or 0 to display colors). These options are more fully described in PFP's manual. Press a key to move from screen to screen. Press Esc to quit. When you're finished, P-Screen restores your screen as it was, letting you continue editing it. Review/Directory (F9 / File - Directory) ................ Press F9 to review the names and descriptions of screens in a screen library. * Tell P-Screen which library to review. * P-Screen then clears the screen and shows screen names and descriptions side by side. Press any key to return to your screen. For a printed list of screens and descriptions, press Shift-PrtSc. * BE SURE your printer is ready (we won't check for you). * Press Shift-PrtSc as each "page" of screen names is displayed. 100-screen libraries could need 3, 25-line "pages." 30 Big! Font (F7 / Edit - Big! Font) ......... ██████ ████ █████ ██ ███████ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ █ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ █ █████ ██████ ██████ █████ ██ ██ ██ ████ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ████ ██ ██ █ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██████ ████ █████ ██ ████ █████ ██ ██ ████ ▐▐▐▐▐▐ ▐▐▐▐ ▐▐▐▐▐ ▐▐ ▐▐▐▐▐▐▐ ▐▐ ▐▐ ▐▐ ▐▐ ▐▐ ▐▐ ▐▐ ▐▐ ▐ ▐▐ ▐▐ ▐▐ ▐▐ ▐▐ ▐▐ ▐▐ ▐▐ ▐ ▐▐▐▐▐ ▐▐▐▐▐▐ ▐▐▐▐▐▐ ▐▐▐▐▐ ▐▐ ▐▐ ▐▐ ▐▐▐▐ ▐▐ ▐▐ ▐▐ ▐▐ ▐▐ ▐▐ ▐▐ ▐▐ ▐▐ ▐▐▐▐ ▐▐ ▐▐ ▐ ▐▐ ▐▐ ▐▐ ▐▐ ▐▐ ▐▐ ▐▐ ▐▐ ▐▐ ▐▐ ▐▐ ▐▐ ▐▐ ▐▐ ▐▐ ▐▐ ▐▐▐▐▐▐ ▐▐▐▐ ▐▐▐▐▐ ▐▐ ▐▐▐▐ ▐▐▐▐▐ ▐▐ ▐▐ ▐▐▐▐ It you printed this and your printer CAN'T print the "high Ascii" characters, the phrase BIG! Font above is probably a mess. Sorry. But if you're reading this on your pc, or if your printer CAN print the high Ascii (line draw) characters, you can see how powerful P-Screen's BIG! Font option can be. To print the 2 lines above, we just pressed F7 and typed BIG! Font. We pressed F7 again, then pressed F1 to "Alter the Font." We chose a different Ascii character, then typed in Big! Font again. What is BIG! Font? ================== Normal size characters are fine for many things. But to get someone's attention, or create an even more impressive display, it sometimes helps to create unique, bold characters. * Creating these characters manually is very tedious and time consuming. Big! Font eliminates that chore. * With Big! Font, just press F7, type a message, then watch as P-Screen instantly translates it into larger characters -- based on the font file you've loaded. Big! Font is especially useful to users of P~F Presents (PFP). PFP is a desktop presentation system that works in text mode, not graphics. Because you create screens in text mode, your presentations can be viewed on ANY pc. * But one advantage of graphics presentation systems is their ability to display messages in large, dramatic fonts. * Big! Font now gives you the same type of ability in a text- based system (graphics monitors not required). You can easily and quickly create introductions, titles, transitions and other bold, impressive screens for your presentations. 31 Big! Font (continued) And kids love Big! Font. They enjoy typing large letters and altering the fonts to see what happens. Add Big! Font screens to P~F Presents presentations to create games and exercises. Finally, P-Screen's Big! Font feature lets you: * Use as many different fonts as you want. Registered users receive several different fonts. And you can create your own fonts to achieve the effects you want. * Customize fonts in seconds. Select most any Ascii character from a chart and P-Screen transforms your font into a dif- ferent one. * Quickly load any font file. Use several fonts per screen. BIG! Font Files =============== P-Screen comes with several Big! Fonts (one in "user supported" versions). We created each using standard Ascii characters that ANY pc can display (graphics monitors are NOT needed). Font files must have the extension ".Fnt" BigFont1.Fnt Complete, bold and tall (7 lines high). Has almost all keys found on standard keyboards. *.Fnt Capital letters A-Z only. Several different font styles, differing in strength and size. BigLogo.Fnt Not a font but a demonstration of how you can create symbols or special effects, then add them to your screens by pressing 1 letter! It contains 3 "symbols" you add to screens by simply pressing A, B or C. When you run P-Screen, it looks for BigFont1.Fnt on the "current drive." If P-Screen finds it, you'll see "Loading BIG! Font" as it's loaded. If P-Screen can't find BigFont1.Fnt on the current drive, you'll see a message, and the Big! Font option won't be available until you press F7 then F2 to load a font file. Using BIG! Font =============== To use Big! Font, move the cursor to the top left corner; press F7. Characters will print right and down, and Big! Fonts over- write everything. So if a font is 7 lines high (as BigFont1.Fnt is), 7 lines of your screen will be overwritten. Remember Alt-U! NOTE: Registered users can enter messages with ALL keyboard characters (upper & lower case, numbers, punctuation, etc.), as long as those characters are included in the font currently loaded. User-supported versions support upper case letters (not lower case, numbers, punctuation or other keyboard characters). 32 Using Big! Font (continued) Press F7 and P-Screen displays a window like this. The "current" or "active" font is demonstrated in the top part of the window. You type your message in the bottom part -- where the dots are. +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ | ██ ██ █████ | | ███ ███ ██ ██ | | ███████ █████ █████ █████ █████ ██████ █████ ██ | | ██ █ ██ ██ ██ █ █ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ | | ██ ██ ███████ █████ █████ ██████ ██████ ███████ ██ | | ██ ██ ██ █ █ █ ██ ██ ██ | | ██ ██ █████ █████ █████ ██████ █████ █████ ██ | |-----------------------------------------------------------------| | | | Enter your text below -- 1 to 10 characters. | | | | ................. | | | +-F1 = Alter Font F2 = Load Font Esc = Cancel-------------+ When you press F7 you have 3 options: * Enter a message. - P-Screen "estimates" how many Big! Font characters will fit between where your cursor is and either: 1) the right side of the screen; or 2) the first "high Ascii" character it finds (a box, line, Big! Font character, etc.). - When you enter a message and press <cr>, it appears instantly on your screen. If you don't like it, Alt-U restores the screen. * Alter The Font (F1) - Alter Font is a quick way to customize a font. It works WELL with BigFont1.Fnt and BigLogo.Fnt, but POORLY with BigFont2.Fnt. - Alter Font changes every non-space character in a font to another character you choose. - Press F1 when the Big! Font window is displayed and P-Screen displays the same screen it does when you press Alt-J (Join). - Use cursor keys to choose a new character; then press <cr>. P-Screen converts the font then redraws the window above so you can see how your new font looks. If you don't like the result, try again using a different character. * Load A Font (F2) (Registered Users only) - Press F2 to load a new font. P-Screen displays it's normal file window. Type in a 1-8 letter file name, or press F2 to choose from a directory of font names. 33 ==================== TIPS ON USING Big! FONTS ==================== Alter Font (F1) ............... When you customize BigFont1.Fnt, try these characters. We found they work well. We've listed the Ascii codes below. When you press F1, P-Screen displays a window of many Ascii characters. The cursor is blinking under one of them. In the upper right corner of the window, you'll see the character and it's Ascii code. Try these with BigFont1 (may be unreadable if printed). 220(▄) 223(▀) 221(▌) 222(▐) 176-178(░▒▓) 254(■) 240(≡) (or 7/22/249) If you alter BigFont2.Fnt, you may render it unreadable! To restore it, press F7 and load it again. Remember Alt-U and Alt-K (Clipboard). If you enter a Big! Font message but don't like the way it looks, just press Alt-U to restore the screen. Alter the font, or try a different position. And if you're concerned about overwriting part of your screen, you could save your screen, then press F6 Clear. Experiment with different fonts. Then use Alt-K to copy the message to the clipboard. Now load your screen again and press Alt-L to paste your message in. (Alt-K/Alt-L are available to registered users.) ====================== CREATING Big! FONTS ====================== You can create as many Big! Fonts as you want. Refer to Appendix I for details on how to do so. CREDITS: Big! Font was inspired by BigPrint by Michael J. Himowitz. Michael graciously encouraged others to use the font (and routines) he offered. We're grateful to) Michael, and to Barry Simon and Richard Wilson whose BigEcho was the basis of BigPrint. 36 ====== PF-CAP and MANAGER: INVALUABLE P-SCREEN ASSISTANTS! ====== P-Screen's registered users receive two additional programs. This section explains how to use each. Also see Ruler.Doc. PF-CAP ====== Description ........... PF-Cap is a small, RAM-resident (TSR) program to take snapshots of TEXT screens (with color) and save them to disk in BSAVE format. Once on disk, load them into P-Screen, then edit and save them. PF-Cap's a handy way to grab screens from other applications. * PF-Cap automatically detects the number of rows on your screen letting you save 80 column by 25-, 43- or 50-row screens. * PF-Cap saves screens in BSAVE format (with '.BSV' extensions). To Use PF-Cap ............. * Log onto the drive/directory where you want PF-Cap to save screens. PF-Cap ALWAYS saves screens to the drive/directory you were on when you first run it! This is handy. - We often log onto a RAM disk and then run PF-Cap. - We save many screens to the RAM disk, then later load them into P-Screen and save them to screen libraries on disk. - This way we don't fill our disks with unneeded BSAVE screens. * Run PF-Cap by typing: PF-Cap <cr>. It consumes 8k of memory. To unload it, type: PF-Cap /u <cr>. ("/u" = unload) * To "capture" a screen, press Ctrl-Space. - By default, PF-Cap sequentially numbers each screen, starting with SCR-0001, then SCR-0002, then SCR-0003, etc. - Press <cr> to accept these names, or edit them to create more descriptive names (leave the numbers so we can properly increment them). DON'T add an extension. We add ".bsv" so P-Screen can recognize them as BSAVE files. * To load these screens into P-Screen, press F4 Load, then press <B>save when P-Screen asks what type of screen to load. Changing PF-Cap's Ctrl-Space Hotkey ................................... We chose Ctrl-Space as a hotkey because few other programs use that combination for internal purposes. At the time this manual was written, we hadn't developed a version for you to change hotkeys. Look on the disk we sent for a file called PF-CAP.DOC. If it's there, it'll tell you how to change hotkeys. If not, call us. We may be able to tell you how. 37 MANAGER ======= Description ........... Manager is a small program to help you easily build screen libraries by copying screens from one or more other libraries. * You can mark the screens in the order you want them saved to the "output" library. This is particularly useful if you use P~F Presents. It lets you group related screens together, mak- ing it easy to add them in "clusters" to presentation agendas. * Manager is the only way you can "delete" screens from a library. Actually, you don't delete screens. You mark the screens you want to save, save them to a different library, then delete the old library. BEFORE Running Manager, Do Two Things ..................................... 1) Get a directory of screen names/descriptions in input libraries. - When you tell Manager which library to read from (which "input library" to use), it shows you a list of 1-100 screen names. This list of screen names won't include descriptions. With up to 100 screen names visible at once, it may be hard to remember which screen is which. - So, before running Manager, you might want to run P-Screen and get a "directory" of screen names. Press F9 and give P-Screen a library name. The directory displays screen names AND descriptions. Press Shift-PrtSc to copy the list to your printer (first be sure your printer's ready). Or, jot down the names of those screens you want. 2) Check there's enough free disk space. The screen library (or libraries) you want to read from (the "input" libraries) must be on the CURRENT drive/ directory. And Manager will write "output" libraries to the SAME drive/ directory. The amount of free disk space must equal or exceed the size of the input library. Using Manager ............. * Run Manager by typing: Manager <cr>. * You'll work in a screen that looks like this: +----------------P-Screen Screen Library Manager----------------+ |Input Library: Output Library: Confirm: Esc = Exit| |----------------------------------------------------------------| | +-------------------------------------+ | | | Enter INPUT/OUTPUT library name | | | |-------------------------------------| | | | | | | | --------.PSL | | | | | | | +-<Esc> = Cancel <F2> = Directory --+ | | | +----------------------------------------------------------------+ 38 Using Manager (continued) * Manager asks you 3 questions: 1) Which library do you want to read from (ie., what's the name of the "input library")? 2) What name should I use to create an "Output Library?" 3) Do you want to Confirm each screen? Press <Y>es or <N>o. - Manager always displays each screen before compressing it and storing it in the output library. If you said you want to confirm, Manager will pause and ask you if you want this screen saved. Press <Y>es or <N>o. * Answer these questions, and Manager displays ALL screen names in the input library (1-100) and highlights the first one. Press: Cursor Keys To move the highlight to another screen Alt-V To view the screen that's highlighted Space Bar To mark a screen for inclusion (or to UNmark it) <cr> To indicate you're all done marking screens, and want Manager to create the output library Esc To abort - If you want ALL screens added to the output library, press <cr> BEFORE you mark any screens. * Mark the screens in the order you want them saved. Just: - Move the highlight to the first screen you want saved and press the Space Bar. "1" appears next to the screen name. - Move to the next screen and press Space. "2" appears. - Continue this until all screens are marked. - Press <cr> and Manager creates your output screen library. * To UNmark a screen, highlight it and press the Space Bar. - However, once you use a number it's used and gone. Why? Suppose you mark 10 screens, then unmark #1. If you then mark another screen, Manager numbers it #11 -- since it can't know if you want it to be #11 or #1. * After all input library screens have been added to the output library, Manager returns to the initial screen. - If you want to add screens from another library to the same output library, just begin the process again -- specifying a different input library, but the same output library. * NOTE: Once you press <cr>, Manager begins adding screens to your output library (asking for confirmation if you requested this). Once this process begins, you can't stop it. If you realize you made a mistake, let Manager finish, then start again. To avoid this, use P-Screen to get a list of screen names and descriptions, and use Manager's Alt-V (View) option frequently. 39 ============= DISPLAYING SCREENS FROM YOUR PROGRAMS ============= P-Screen offers you two ways to display screens from your programs. We'll first explain how to display ASM screens. We'll then describe how to display screens from screen libraries. Regardless of how you'll display screens, you must LINK one or more of our subprograms to your programs. The easiest way to do that is to add our subs to your LIB and Quick Library files. We'll explain how below. You'll need our "screen-restore" module in all cases. If you'll display screens from libraries, you'll also need 2 other modules. Finally, if you want to display bright background screens, you'll need BrightBG.Obj. P-Screen includes these subprograms to display screens from your programs. (See Appendix II if you use QuickBASIC 3.0.) Name (.obj) Format Purpose ----------------------------------------------------------------- LoadScrn QuickBASIC 4.x \ Open library, find screen. LdScrn7 PDS 7.x > Call rsLoadBin to load it. / Report errors (if any). rsLodBin Assembler Quickly load screens into array. rsCmpRst " Display screens (shareware ver.) CompRest " Display any size screens (sent to registered users) BrightBG " Enable bright background screens, ----------------------------------------------------------------- Step 1: To create (or add modules to) your library files: .......................................................... QB 4.x --> Lib MyLib + LoadScrn + rsLodBin + BrightBG+ rsCmpRst; PDS 7 --> Lib MyLib + LdScrn7 + rsLodBin + BrightBG + rsCmpRst; (registered users, replace "rsCmpRst" with "CompRest") To create a QuickLibrary file: .............................. QB 4.x --> Link /q/seg:256 MyLib.Lib, MyQuik, nul, bqlb45; PDS 7 --> Link /q/seg:256 MyLib.Lib, MyQuik, nul, qbxqlb; Notes: * Replace "MyLib" or "MyQuik" with your own names. * Notice that we "Linked" MyLib.Lib into MyQuik.Lib. This ensures QB libraries and Quick Libraries are consistent. We also find it easier than specifying lots of ".obj" files. But, you must specify ".Lib" as in "MyLib.Lib" or Link will assume MyLib is an obj file. 40 Once you've added our "screen display" modules to your libraries, just add a few lines of code to your program to display screens. The two simplest ways to display screens are: '...display an ASM screen Call MyScreen '...display library screens with a function we'll create below ErrorCode = Display.Screen (LibName$, ScreenName$) Displaying ASM Screens From Your Programs ----------------------------------------- To display an ASM screen, you just CALL it! That's it. But for this to work, you must first: * Save a screen to an ASM file. * Assemble it (using either MASM or A86, a shareware assembler). * Then LINK both your screen and our "screen-restore" module to your program. * You can also add your assembled screen and our screen-restore module to your quick libraries so you can display screens while developing programs. Please note that ASM screens "call" our screen-restore module to do the actual work! That means that once you add the screen- restore module to your LIB/Quick Library files or to your programs, you can use them for many different things: display ASM screens, display library screens, display normal screens you've saved. Here's how easy it is to create and use ASM screens. 1. Create a screen in P-Screen and save it to a screen library. We urge you to ALWAYS save screens to libraries so you can easily edit them later. 2. Save your screen to an ASM file by pressing <F2> them <M>. - Note: before you press <F2> move your cursor to the top left corner of the area you want to save. - After you press <M>, move the cursor to the bottom right corner and press <cr>. - Now give P-Screen a screen name. Do NOT include hyphens or numbers in your screen name. Neither MASM nor A86 will accept names that begin with numbers or contain hyphens. Use the underscore if you need a separator (e.g. my_scrn). - Let's say you saved a screen named "myscreen." continued . . . 41 3. Exit P-Screen and assemble your screen with A86 or Masm: masm myscreen; -- note the semi-colon -or- a86 myscreen.asm +o -- no semi; +o means .OBJ file, not .COM Note: Masm assumes you're assembling an ".asm" file and doesn't require the ".asm" extension. But with a86, you MUST specify the ".asm" extension. 4. Add one line to display your screen: call myscreen 5. Finally, LINK your screen(s) to your program and run it. bc myprog /o; link /noe myprog + myscreen,,nul,bqlbxx; (or qbxqlb;) Editing ASM screens ................... As long as you save screens to screen libraries, you can always call them up and edit them. You can also edit some parts of ASM screens themselves: you can edit WHERE they're displayed; and you can also choose which screen-restore subprogram you'll be using. You can't easily edit the screen itself, since it's repre- sented as a mass of integer data statements (eg., 4036, 4057,3872). While this data is theoretically editable, we urge you NOT to edit it. If you disturb P-Screen's compression coding, you'll destroy your screen. To edit WHERE screens are displayed: Near the top of each ASM file are screen coordinates that will look like this: TopLeftRow DW 1 These describe where your screen TopLeftCol DW 6 will be displayed. They indicate BotRhtRow DW 25 the top left corner (1,6 here) and BotRhtCol DW 75 the bottom right corner (25,75). To display your screen elsewhere, simply change the numbers. But, BE SURE you're displaying the same number of rows and columns! At the bottom of ASM files you MAY see two Options sections. They affer two different ways to display screens. The second is able to "mask" colors to let you display colored screens on mono- chrome or Hercules monitors. As of this writing, the second option is not available. We added it for use in our P~F Presents program. IF the second option is available (and you choose it), you must also change the "external" declaration near the top of ASM files. * Look for the line: Extrn CompRestPlus: Far * Change "CompRestPlus" (or "rsCompRest" in shareware versions) to Extrn rsScrnRest2M: Far. 42 =============== A Final Word About ASM Screens =============== ASM screens are terrific! They're v-e-r-y fast and easy to use. And since we use one screen-restore routine for everything (library, ASM and normal screen save/restores), using ASM screens adds very little overhead to your programs. But it's sometimes not obvious when, in your programs, one should: 1. Draw a screen by simply adding code to your program to do it. 2. Use an ASM screen. 3. Or display it from a library. Here are some guidelines we're developing in our own programs. 1. First, while we're developing programs, we always display most screens from screen libraries, preserving memory for code. When we compile the program, we simply comment out the CALLs to the library screen display routine, and un-REM the CALL below it to our ASM or in-line screen display routine. For example: displayscreen ("mylib", "myscreen", errcode) -- from a library 'myscreen -- ASM screen 2. Screens that are critical to our program must be IN our program. This includes menus, dialog boxes, warnings or error messages and mandatory help screens. We display ALL other screens from screen libraries (help screens, introductions or farewell). 3. If a screen must be in our program, which is more efficient, drawing it or using an ASM screen? When a screen is simple, it's often most efficient to draw it manually in your program. * Examples might be a window with just a few lines of text. * This also gives you the flexibility to simply change your code to change colors, text or positions. But with complex screens, it's often more efficient to use ASM screens. That's because complex screens require so much code to vary colors, patterns and textures and locate and print text. In this case, it might be more efficient to CALL, say, a 2000 byte OBJ screen than to create it with code. Replacing ASM Screens in Libraries .................................. Suppose you create an ASM screen, assemble it, then add it to your LIB file. You then decide to change the screen. So you call it up from the screen library, edit it, then save a new ASM file. Assemble it, then replace the version in your LIB file like this: Lib MyLib -+MyScreen ("-+" means "replace" or "delete then add"). 43 Displaying LIBRARY Screens From Your Programs --------------------------------------------- For examples on how to display library screens, run PS_Demo.Bas (QB 4.x and PDS 7) or QB3-Demo.Bas. Be sure to load the appropriate Quick/User Library like this: ** QB 4.0+ ** qb ps_demo /l ps_demo.qlb <cr> ** PDS 7 ** qbx ps-demo /l bc7demo.qlb <cr> ** QB 3.0 ** qb qb3-demo /l qb3-demo.exe <cr> You can display library screens in several different ways. The easiest way to display screens from a library is with a FUNCTION -- like the one we'll create below. This function will display sub-screens in the same place they were when you saved them. We'll later show you how to display sub-screens in different places. Defint a-z Declare FUNCTION Display.Screen (LibName$, ScreenName$) LibName$ = "MyLib": ScreenName$ = "MyScreen" '...Display.Screen returns 0 (all is OK), or an Error Code. If Display.Screen (LibName$, ScreenName$) then Print "An error occurred.": Beep: End Else '...... continue with your program. end if An error could occur if: 1. Your screen library wasn't found (Error code = -1). 2. The screen you wanted isn't in the library ( " " = -99). 3. There wasn't enough memory to create an integer array to load your screen into. ( " " = -88). The Display.Screen Function is on the next page. As you review the code in that function, notice how we: * Test to see if we should "turn on" bright backgrounds. * CALL rsLoadScrn, which returns several variables we then use to display your screen in the correct place. 44 Here's what the Display.Screen Function might look like. Defint a-z ' '--------------------------------------------------- FUNCTION Display.Screen (LibName$, ScreenName$) ' Display a screen it it's original location. '--------------------------------------------------- '... assume NO error Display.Screen = 0 '... Test to see if there's enough memory for an array big ' enough for your largest screen. ArraySize = 2000 '2000 for 80 columns by 25 'rows. Use 4000 for 80 x 50. If Fre(-1) < ArraySize then '... if there's not enough Display.Screen = -88 ' memory, abort to caller Exit Function end if Redim Array%(ArraySize) '... dimension from element 0 Call rsLoadScrn (Array%(), LibName$, ScreenName$, Desc$, _ TopRow, LeftCol, BotRow, RhtCol, ScrnSize, ErrCode) '... a positive or 0 ErrCode means everything went ok. If ErrCode >= 0 then '... If the first element (0) returns NON-Zero, this is ' a bright-background screen. So CALL BrightBG. If Array(0) then Call BrightBG (1) '... Display our screen --- from element 1 (NOT 0). CALL rsCompRest(TopRow, BotRow, Seg Array%(1)) '...registered users would use: : : CALL CompRestPLUS(TopRow, LeftCol, BotRow, RhtCol, Seg Array%(1)) else '... an error occurred; return it to the caller. Display.Screen = ErrCode end '... clean up memory (don't need the array any more) Erase Array End Function 45 General notes: (All QB versions) ................................. The general logic of displaying a screen is to: * Assign your LibName$ and ScreenName$ variables, and initialize an integer array. * CALL rsLoadScrn to load your screen from a screen library into the array. If an error occurs, take appropriate action. * If rsLoadScrn tells us this is a bright-background screen, CALL BrightBG (1) to enable it. - If NONE of your screens will have bright backgrounds, you needn't LINK BrightBG.Obj to your programs, and you can ignore references to BrightBG below. * Display your screen (using rsCompRest or CompRestPlus). For example: LibName$ = "MyLib": ScrnName$ = "Help1" '... using the function we created If Display.Screen (LibName$, ScreenName$) then '... An error occured. Take appropriate action. end if '... or use the full method, to control where to display screens. Redim Array%(0) '...rsLoadScrn will ReDim it Call rsLoadScrn (Array%(), LibName$, ScreenName$, Desc$, _ TopRow, LeftCol, BotRow, RhtCol, ScrnSize, ErrCode) If ErrCode >= 0 then If Array%(0) then Call BrightBG (1) '... Change TopRow, LeftCol, etc. to display screens elsewhere. CALL CompRestPlus(TopRow, LeftCol, BotRow, RhtCol, Seg Array%(1)) end if continued . . . 46 In the last example, after we call rsLoadScrn, we check the variable "ErrCode." POSITIVE values are fine (size of compressed screen in bytes). NEGATIVE values mean an error occurred: - 1 = Screen library wasn't found (misspelled or you speci- fied the wrong drive/directory), or screen had 0 size. -99 = Your screen wasn't in the library (misspelled?). The examples below show how to check ErrCode. To enable bright backgrounds, you must CALL BrightBG (1) at least once in your program. Remember that bright backgrounds are achieved by displaying blinking FOREground colors, and then instructing your PC to display bright backgounds instead. This works ONLY on color-capable monitors. These screens will blink on monochrome or Hercules monitors. Also note that you CANNOT display blinking and bright backgrounds at the same time -- they're mutually exclusive. If, say, a screen is already displayed that has a few blinking colors, and you pop up a bright background sub-screen on top of it, the blinking colors will turn to bright backgrounds. * To "enable" bright backgrounds, pass BrightBG any NON-Zero value. From then on, any blinking foreground colors will appear as bright backgrounds instead. * To turn bright backgrounds OFF (and enable blinking), CALL BrightBg (0) -- pass it 0. Integers only: When CALLing P-Screen's subprograms, your screen array and all numeric variables MUST be integers. Disaster awaits you if you do otherwise. If you have any problems, or aren't sure what to do, call us. A few minutes on the phone may save hours of frustration. IMPORTANT: Because P-Screen compresses screens, you must use our screen-display subprograms to display library screens. Fortunately, these subprograms will dis- play normal -or- compressed screens. So you can use our subprograms for any text screen-display purpose. NOTE: If you use QuickBASIC 3.0.... - To display screens in QB 3, see Appendix II. - We offer no QB 3 version of BrightBG.Obj. If you create bright-background screens, you can try the BrightBG.Obj meant for QB 4.x or PDS. If they don't work, sorry, you'll have to eliminate the bright backgrounds. 47 More Examples: QuickBASIC 4+ or PDS 7 ONLY ............................................ Here, we'll change the screen corrdinates to display screens in a place different than they were in when we saved them. Please run PS_Demo.Bas in QB 4 / PDS 7 for screen-display examples. Example 1: .......... Redim Array%(0) '...rsLoadScrn will ReDim it LibName$ = "MyLib": ScrnName$ = "Help1" Call rsLoadScrn (Array%(), LibName$, ScreenName$, Desc$, _ TopRow, LeftCol, BotRow, RhtCol, ScrnSize, ErrCode) If ErrCode >= 0 then If Array%(0) then Call BrightBG (1) '...display our screen 5 lines LOWER than it was. CALL rsCompRest(TopRow + 5, BotRow + 5, Seg Array%(1)) end if '...registered users would use: : : CALL CompRestPLUS(TopRow + 5, LeftCol, BotRow + 5, RhtCol, _ Seg Array%(1)) Details ....... 1. Initialize your array and assign LibName$ and ScrnName$. Then call rsLoadScrn from your QB 4+ or PDS 7 program. - It finds the screen you requested (or reports errors). - It REdimensions the integer array to the size needed. - It calls rsLoadBinary (asm) for fast loading. 2. Call rsCompRest (or CompRestPLUS) to display screens. - Notice in this example, we displayed our screen 5 lines lower than it was when we saved it to our library. - You can freely change TopRow, LeftCol, BotRow and BotCol to display screens wherever you want. The only caveat is that you MUST restore the SAME number of rows and columns. 3. When you Call rsLoadScrn, you provide: Array%() 1-dimension INTEGER array. LibName$ 1-8 character library file name. - DON'T include extension. We add ".PSL" - Include a full path if your library is elsewhere. (eg., "B:\MyLib") ScreenName$ 1-8 character Screen Name (no extension) continued . . . 48 When you Call rsLoadScrn (continued) rsLoadScrn then returns: Array%() Loaded with screen (if no error occurred) We: Redim Array% (1 to Screen Size) So: Restore from Array% (1) NOT 0! Desc$ Screen Description saved in the library TopRow, LeftCol\ Screen coordinates to restore screen BotRow, RhtCol / ScrnSize Size of compressed screen ErrCode >=0 = # of bytes loaded or 0 -- no error -99 = Screen NOT found in library - 1 = Library NOT found; or 0 size screen Example 2: "Hardcode" names instead of using variables ........................................................ Redim Array%(1) Call rsLoadScrn (Array%(), "MyLib", "Help-1", "", _ TopRow, LeftCol, BotRow, RhtCol, ScrnSize, ErrCode) If ErrCode >= 0 then CALL rsCompRest(TopRow, BotRow, Seg Array%(1)) ============== Final Notes: All QuickBASIC Versions ============= When CALLing P-Screen's subprograms, use any variable names you want (or absolute values in some cases). The only caveat: be sure to send down the right number of variables, in the right order. And be sure integers are integers, strings are strings, etc! Restoring Screens to Different Locations ........................................ When you CALL rsLoadScrn, it returns "TopRow, LeftCol, BotRow, and RhtCol" -- indicating where the screen was when you saved it (eg., for full screens: "1,1,25,80"). Change TopRow, BotRow, etc. when you CALL our screen restore subprogram to display screens elsewhere. For example: * rsLoadScrn returns "1,1,10,80" -- our screen orginally covered the top of the screen (rows 1-10, columns 1-80). To display it at the bottom instead, just: Call rsCompRest(16, 25, Seg Array%(1)) * Be sure to restore the SAME NUMBER of rows and columns! Need a Directory of Library Screens? .................................... See PS_Demo.Bas for a program showing how to display a directory of screens in a screen library. 49 ======================= PERFORMANCE HINTS ========================= We mentioned earlier that P-Screen uses exactly the same routines your programs will to display screens from libraries. To see how quickly full screens will be displayed, press F1 while in P-Screen to view several help screens. To see how fast sub-screens can be displayed, press Alt-F10 (demo of 7 QB-type menus). (We use CompRestPlus to display subscreens. You receive this when you register.) Where possible, use subscreens .............................. The smaller the screen, the faster it loads and is displayed. Wherever possible, use subscreens to speed up your programs. Save Time-Critical Screens First ................................ Screens near the front of screen libraries load faster than screens near the end (it takes DOS longer to find later screens). So, save the screens you need loaded fast first. MANAGER makes it easy to re-group library screens in any order you want. Load many screens at once; display each when needed ................................................... Nobody wants to wait for menus, help screens or other screens. They should pop up almost instantly. Although we built P-Screen for speed, the actual speed you get depends on the speed of both your PC and its disk drives. The biggest handicap: floppy disks. They're much slower than hard disks. For example: Speed of PC: ----- 8 mhz ------ ----- 16 mhz ------ Type of Disk: Floppy Hard RAM Floppy Hard RAM ==================================================================== # of seconds to Load & Display Demo screens: 4.0 1.4 .5 2.7 .3 .1 Avg. # seconds/screen: (.44) (.15) (.06) (.30) (.03) (.01) Note how floppy disks penalize even 16 mhz PCs. Do you use floppy disks only? Screen design is much faster/smoother on a RAM disk. If you use a RAM disk for screen design, be sure to copy your screens and libraries to floppies/hard disk before shutting down. For help screens, some menus, prototypes, etc., even the slowest speeds (which are still fast) may be fast enough. But for time-critical screens, you may want to load several screens into an integer array as your program starts. Then, when the proper key is pressed, blast the appropriate portion of the array onto the screen. PS_Demo.Bas has a complete working model of this (QuickBASIC-style menus). Study it closely. ============== Appendix I: Creating Big! Fonts ============== You can create as many Big! Fonts as you want. Each font file may have 1-100 characters. And "characters" can be anything. * Create a logo where the letter "A" normally goes. Load this font, then press F7 and "A" to add your logo to your screen. Try this by loading BigLogo.Fnt, then pressing A, B or C. * Add math or other special symbols where letters normally go. The format of a Big! Font file is CRITICAL! The guidelines you use are simple, but if you don't follow them precisely, you'll get strange results when you type in a Big! Font message. * Lines 1-2 Header information (more on this later) * Lines 3 + Up to 100 letters, numbers or symbols. Each character takes 2 or more lines. * Big! Font files MUST be saved in Ascii format. Big! Font files must have a ".Fnt" extension so P-Screen recognizes them. * You MUST use quotation marks ("") to surround fields. If there are 2 or more fields per line (as on Header lines 1 & 2), the fields MUST be separated by commas. * You can stop adding characters at any time. And you can skip characters; but if you do skip something, you MUST include BLANK lines where the skipped character would normally go. If you're unsure about the format of a font file, use the fonts we sent as examples or templates. For example, copy one of ours to a new file name, then edit it rather than working from scratch. Here are specific guidelines for creating Big! Font files. Line #1: Header 1 * Line 1 tells P-Screen: How many characters to expect, how tall each character is (# of lines), and how wide the "Space" character should be. Line #1 looks something like this: "# of characters","93","# lines per character","7","Space","3" Note line #1 has 3 labels followed by 3 numbers. Each is surrounded by quotation marks. And fields are separated by commas (the commas and quotation marks are required!). - # of Characters: Enter the number of characters in your font file (maximum = 100). - Lines per character: Critical! P-Screen must know how tall each character is so it knows when it reaches the end of one and the start of another. Creating Big! Fonts (continued) - Space: Minimum 1, no Maximum. This tells P-Screen how wide the "Space" should be between words. When you press the space bar when typing messages, P-Screen shifts right this many columns. Change this number to vary the spacing printed between WORDS. How you design the characters in a font will determine the amount of space between LETTERS. Line #2: Header 2 * Line 2 is for future expansion. It MUST have 3 quoted fields separated by commas. It could look like "","","". Or you could enter 3 or more comments inside these quoted fields. Lines 3 - ? * Enter characters beginning on line #3. The order MUST be: - Lines 3 + A-Z (capital letters). Since each character takes 2 or more lines, we can't show where the next lines begin. - Lines ? a-z (lower case letters) - Lines ? 0-9 (numbers) - Lines ? ,.:$&*@#!^-+=%?;()~"'][|\/<>{} You can stop adding characters anywhere. You can skip characters; but if you do skip something, you MUST include BLANK lines where the skipped character would normally go. * Every character in a font file MUST be the same height, but widths may differ. Each line MUST be surrounded by quotation marks. * Different characters may can have different widths, which can create something close to proportional spacing. Or you can set every character to the same width to create fixed spacing. - If you opt for fixed spaced characters, start by working on the 3-4 widest characters: W, M, @ and #. Once you find the proper height/width for these, set other char- acters to the same size. * Every line for a character MUST be the same width, though different characters may have different widths. - DON'T add extra space on the right side. P-Screen adds one blank space to the right of each character. - But DO add space on the left if you need to shift a char- acter, or part of it, right. For example: " █ █ " Note: 1) the distance between " " is the same for "█████" EVERY line; lines 1 and 5 are shifted right. " █ █ " 2) there's no extra space on the right; "█████" P-Screen adds a space for you during printing. " █ █ " 3) there's no extra space on the left. Creating Big! Fonts (continued) * Use any character you want to "draw" fonts -- a normal keyboard character or a "high Ascii" character like #220 above. Later, when you load your font, use F1 Alter to customize it. * Creating characters takes some time. You could use any word processor. Or use P-Screen. In word processors you can work with files of almost any length. But word processors sometimes make it difficult to "draw" using "high Ascii" characters. If so, use "x" or any normal keyboard character. Or you could use P-Screen. Advantages: You can draw using high Ascii characters. And you can use WalkAbout to trace charac- ters, and Copy to duplicate characters you then edit. Disadvantages: Limited work area. You ultimately need each character starting on a separate line. P-Screen gives you 25, 43, or 50 lines to work with at a time. This holds only 3-15 characters depending on the height of each. Options: - Save different character files. Then com- bine them into a single font file using your word processor or DOS's Copy (eg., copy font1.pss+font2.pss+font3.pss Total.Fnt). - Create several characters on each line. Then save the screen to Ascii and use a word pro- cessor to move characters to separate lines. ====== Appendix II: Displaying Screens From QuickBASIC 3 ====== To display screens from libraries using QuickBASIC 3.0, just link 2 routines we supply (plus INT86.Obj) to your programs. Name Format Description ========= ============== =============================== QB3LdScr QuickBASIC 3.0 Open library, find screen in Library. Call an assembler routine to load it. Report errors (if any). QB3PScrn Assembler Read binary file; display screen QB3RstPl Assembler Display any size screens (registered users receive this) To add our routines to a ".Lib" file: Lib MyLib + INT86 + QB3LdScr + QB3PScrn; (registered users, add "+ QB3RstPl") To add our routines to a "Quick Library" file: BuildLib <cr> Object Modules [.OBJ]: INT86 + QB3LdScr + QB3PScrn (registered users, add "+ QB3RstPl") Run File [USERLIB.EXE]: MyUser.Exe etc.... Example (Run QB3-Demo.Bas for more examples. See next page!) ....... ArraySize = 2000: Redim Array% (ArraySize) LibName$ = "MyLib": ScreenName = "MyScreen" CALL QB3LoadScrn (Array%(), LibName$, ScreenName$ Desc$, _ TopRow, LeftCol, BotRow, RhtCol, (ArraySize), ErrCode) '...NOTE parentheses around ArraySize ^^^^^^^^^^^ IF ErrCode >=0 THEN CALL PTR86 (Segment%, OffSet%, VARPTR(Array%(1))) CALL QB3CompRest (TopRow, BotRow, Segment%, OffSet%) '...registered users would use : : : CALL QB3CompRestPLUS (TopRow, LeftCol, BotRow, RhtCol, _ Segment%, OffSet%) END IF QuickBASIC 3.0 (continued) Details ....... 1. Call QB3LoadScrn from your QB 3.0 programs. - It finds the screen you requested (or reports errors). - It calls several assembler routines to load a binary screen into an array. 2. Call Ptr86 (included in Microsoft's Int86.Obj) to locate array. 3. Call QB3CompRest (or QB3CompRestPLUS) to display screens. You provide: ArraySize CRITICAL! Your array MUST be dimensioned large enough to hold each screen. When we find your screen, we check its size against ArraySize. If your array isn't large enough, we exit with ErrCode = -88. Why? If we tried to load, say, a 3000 byte screen into a 1000 element array, your program would crash! - ArraySize is in parentheses so QB3LoadScrn doesn't change it. If you don't do this, QB3LoadScrn changes it, setting it to the size of your screen. Array%() 1-dimension INTEGER array. LibName$ 1-8 character library file name. - DON'T include extension. We add ".PSL" - Include a full path if your library is elsewhere. (eg., "B:\MyLib") ScreenName$ 1-8 character screen name (no extension) We return: Array%() Loaded with screen (if no error occurred) - We load screens beginning at element 1. - So restore from Array% (1) NOT 0! Desc$ Screen Description saved in the library TopRow, LeftCol \ Screen coordinates to restore screen BotRow, RhtCol / ArraySize Size of compressed screen (unless you sent ArraySize down wrapped in parentheses) ErrCode >=0 = # of bytes loaded or 0 (no error). -88 = Your array was too small. -99 = Screen NOT found in library. - 1 = Library NOT found; or 0 size screen QuickBASIC 3.0 (continued) Important Notes for QB 3.0 Users: ^^^^^^ When you CALL QB3LoadScrn, it opens your screen library file to find the screen you want. * It OPENs this file as file number 99. If your program already has a file opened as #99, an error will occur. The only way around this is to change your program and open the OTHER file as, say, #98 instead of #99. * We hope this doesn't inconvenience you. You MUST link Int86.Obj to your programs. QB3LoadScrn CALLs Ptr86. You must also use it to locate your array before dis- playing it. Ptr86 is part of Int86.Obj, supplied by Microsoft on your QB 3.0 disk. The ".asm" source code is also on that disk. * Int86.obj contains several routines P-Screen does NOT need. This may add unnecessary overhead to your program. * If your program also CALLs Int86 (or a variation), there's no problem -- you're already using the extra routines. * But, if you don't CALL Int86, you'll have to endure the extra overhead, unless you have an assembler (eg., MASM) and can delete the Int86 routines and re-assemble Int86.asm. ================= Appendix III: Error Messages ================= We try to prevent most errors from disrupting your work. P-Screen checks to ensure your printer's ready (LPT1 only) before you start printing. And it checks to see if files exist, alerting you if you try to load a non-existent screen or file. Most other errors will probably be due to disk or printer errors: your printer runs out of paper, the disk drive door is open, or you run out of disk space while saving a screen. * With most errors, P-Screen sounds an alarm and asks you to fix the problem then press a key. * With other errors, P-Screen reports an error number, and tells you it can't go on. Press a key and P-Screen will try to start over. But you'll loose the screen you were working on. - This is one reason we urge you to save screens often. If you loose one due to an error, just re-load it. - If errors recur please let us know. Tell us the error number, and describe exactly what you were doing when it happened. * If major errors occur twice (an error reported on the bottom of your screen with a message like "Error (##). ....."), we urge you to EXIT P-Screen and restart it. (If possible, save your work first, but it may already be gone.) - The reason you should exit: All errors occur inside a subroutine (sometimes 2-4 layers deep). When a major error occurs and P-Screen re-starts, these routines are still unresolved (ie., still on the stack). - If this happens twice, you'll run out of stack space. P-Screen will stop -- maybe after displaying an irrelevant message. - Microsoft assures us there's no way around this (thanks MS). * Your help screens come in a screen library called P-Screen.Psl. Feel free to load and look at any P-Screen screen. But please don't Save screens to it. An error may occur if you try. - We protected this file to help you -- to ensure that as you share the shareware version of P-Screen with others, the help, demo and main screens aren't corrupted. Here's a summary of most errors you might get. An asterisk after an error number means it's probably fatal. Printer 24 Timeout (printer may be off or off-line) 27 Out of paper 25 Device fault (may be disk/modem/other device error) 57 Device Input/Output error (disk/modem/other device error) 68 Device unavailable (not on-line or doesn't exist) Disk (also see above: 25, 57, 68) 61* Disk full (fatal unless you can change disks) 67* Too many files on disk/directory (fatal unless you change disks) 70 Permission denied (disk is write-protected or file is locked) 71 Disk not ready 72 Media error (damaged/unformatted/ disk) Other Math 6* Overflow. A number is too large. Memory 7, 14* Out of memory (eliminate TSRs/Device drivers/etc.) Files 7x Path or File not found or other Path/File error ii Three Questions About Registering.... WHAT IS SHAREWARE? I GOT A COPY FOR NOTHING. WHY SHOULD I PAY A REGISTRATION FEE? I GOT P-Screen FROM A COMPANY THAT "SELLS" SHAREWARE PROGRAMS. I PAID THEM FOR P-Screen. WHY SHOULD I REGISTER WITH YOU? These are good questions. Here's a response. (Our response applies to user-supported software in general, not just P-Screen.) Shareware is NOT free software. A better term is "user- supported" software. Why? Because authors of "user-supported" software spend long, hard hours developing programs, debugging them, and writing manuals. They DEPEND on your support (and comments and an occasional "thank you") to keep going -- to justify the time and sweat. You get to "try it before you buy it," to see if it works and meets your needs. You get to enjoy the result, at very reasonable prices. And registering your copy (supporting the author) brings you other benefits as well. These include (depending on the program): the latest version often with new, more or better features, extra "goodies," a printed manual, phone support, updates, etc. Shareware "works" because people like you: (1) are honest; and, (2) understand authors will stop "sharing" their work if they receive no support. In short, if you fail to even acknowledge the contributions authors make, or support their efforts (even modestly), the well will dry up. The only one to lose will be you (and the "shareware distributors"). Since you made no contribution anyway, the developer loses nothing. In response to the third question, many firms now "sell" user- supported software (or shareware). They charge you a fee for their time and the expense of sending you a disk. NONE of the fee you give them goes to the author of the software! So when you pay $1-$5.00 for a disk full of shareware, you're NOT supporting the person who spent their time developing ideas you're now enjoying. iii Other Programs by Pro~Formance (Call or write for details) ================================================================ Professional Scribe (Pro~Scribe) PS Express (PSE) ================================================================ Pro~Scribe and PSE help you improve anything you write (or help you improve the writing of others -- your staff, students, etc.) Pro~Scribe/PSE are used in many companies (like IBM, Hewlett Packard, Lockheed, Citibank, Mobil Oil, Bank of America) to help improve memos, letters, manuals, documentation, contracts, promotional material, etc. * They examine your writing for many types of writing mistakes. * You can look at overall results for an entire letter, report, etc. Or, if you like, they'll look at your writing line-by-line. * They show suspect problems, and offer suggestions. * Results are shown numerically, and with several colorful graphs. * They come with two manuals (in addition to a Quick Ref. Guide) - One covers basics: To install/run PS, and basic guidelines. - "Effective, High-Impact Writing" has more writing tips. * They're colorful, fast, fun, and a terrific value: $39 for both! How are Pro~Scribe and PSE different? First, PS Express is a RAM-resident program. That means it's always ready to help when you need help most--while you're actually writing. Run PSE, then run your word processor and start writing. Need help? Just press a key. * When PSE pops up, just mark the text you want PSE to look at. A window pops up instantly with feedback on your writing. * PSE is like having an English teacher looking over your shoulder, gently coaching you as you write. Pro~Scribe gives you everything PSE does, and much, much more. It reads files saved by your word processor, or you can type text directly into PS. Like PSE, Pro~Scribe shows how complex your writing, words and sentences are. It also offers you: * Feedback on "Word Wasters" (5 categories of writing errors). * Three RGL (Running Grade Level) options, giving you line-by- line feedback. * An option to flag complex words and Word Wasters in each line. * A Personal Interest score--showing if you write as you speak. * Options to: customize the program, print results on your printer, get help interpreting results. Other Programs by Pro~Formance (continued) ================================================================ Mail Call (also see inform-Z below) MC Express (MCE) ================================================================ Mail Call (MC) is a full featured mailing assistant. Add names to a database, then Browse through them, Search, Print, etc. * Print envelopes (several sizes) * Print mailing labels (several sizes plus a "roll-your-own-size" option). 1 to 99 copies of each label, 1 to 3 columns across * Print "personalized documents" (like "mail merge form letters") * Print forms, with edit fields, math, dates, sequence numbers, etc. * Print reports, phone books, appointment schedules, etc. Mail Call offers UNlimited capacity -- use as many database files as you want. And its "Mail Merge" option lets you Import or Export names to files used by word processors or other database programs. MC Express is a "RAM-resident" program that lets you: 1) print envelopes while INSIDE your word processor; and, 2) lets you "write out" names and addresses to a file you can later "import" into MC (no re-typing). (Optional; works with HP LaserJets) ================================================================ inform-Z (also see Mail Call) Professional Forms Design ================================================================ inform-Z is a complete form system. Design, math, printing, database capabilities and "auto-edit" features are all built in. You can easily design, edit and print forms. Samples are included. * Draw lines or boxes, or add shading, in several styles * Enter text, auto-centered inside boxes if you like * Automatically date your forms. Add automatic "sequence numbers." * Math options (+-/*) add spreadsheet convenience, speed & accuracy * Quick, easy block options: Copy, Move, Erase, Shading * Vary fonts, type styles, line spacing And you can use inform-Z or Mail Call to fill out forms. * Add "auto-edit" fields to let you quickly skip through a form, editing just fields you "marked." Then use the math features to do the calculations for you -- automatically! * Use Mail Call to fill in other information for you -- pulling names, addresses, etc. from your database, putting them right where you want them. Produce high-quality, professional looking forms in minutes with Epson printers or HP LaserJets (+/500/Series II or later). And you DON'T need expensive font cartridges or soft fonts for lines, boxes, shading, etc. We use built-in features for these. "But, I don't have a LaserJet or an Epson" you say. Not to worry. inform-Z has two other printer options so it works with any printer. Finally, with both inform-Z and Mail Call you can manage almost every piece of paper in your office. Forms: Invoices, Purchase Orders, Personnel Forms, Work Orders, Work Schedules, Travel or Expense Reports, Accounting Forms, Application Blanks, Org. Charts As Well As: Letters, Memos, Envelopes, Mailing Labels, Person- alized Documents, Reports, Client or Employee lists. Other Programs by Pro~Formance (continued) ================================================================ P~F Presents *** See the first few pages for details. *** ================================================================ P~F Presents, a P-Screen companion, is our desktop presentation system. It displays screens from P-Screen screen libraries. It also lets you create presentations with: Menus (3 styles), display and sound effects, "subroutines" (gosubs), "loops", etc. ================================================================ The Survey Catalyst (TSC; a commercial program, not shareware) ================================================================ The Survey Catalyst is for anyone who works with attitude or opinion surveys. It helps you create surveys in minutes or hours--not days! * TSC includes a database of thousands of survey items--like items used in most Fortune 1000 companies' employee surveys. - You can review items, edit them or add new ones. - OR, when you see an item you want to add to a survey, just press a key and add it--fast and simple. * And TSC's many printing options let you create "camera-ready" copy - Group items by Category, by Response Scale, or Randomize them. - Print response scales Above or Beside items (or not at all). - Print key punch instructions (or not at all) - Print a title--at the top or bottom of each page. - Or, print your survey "to a file"--to dress it up later. ================================================================ Pro~Stamp Stamp Collection Manager ================================================================ Pro~Stamp is a full-featured assistant to manage stamp collections. * Pro~Stamp is very easy to use: Pull-down menus, Extensive Help Screens, Calculations done for you, Select "Type" & "Condition" from menus. * Add information to "worksheets." They're set up like most popular collectors' manuals (eg., Scott). But we add "spreadsheet" convenience by doing calculations for you! * Track small to huge stamp collections, with ease and convenience * Multiple file options add flexibility. Use different work- sheets for different subsets of your collection. * Spreadsheet convenience: Automatically calculates values of each stamp and its Increase/Decrease in value. Calculate the value of your entire collection with a press of a key. * Sort your collection on any of several fields (Scott Number, Country, Value, Type, etc). * Print entire worksheets, or print a range you specify. * Customizable: Configure fields your way, edit printer codes. ================================================================ Ram-Man ================================================================ Ram-Man is a RAM-resident (TSR) program to turn ANY text file into a pop-up quick-reference guide (or manual). * Pop up your text file while you're working in virtually any text-based (not graphics) program. * BROWSE through it. * SEARCH, looking for a topic or phrase you're interested in. * LOOK UP words, which we'll read directly from your screen! We supply the RAM-resident "engine," you supply the text. Ram- Man preserves DOS memory by keeping ONLY its engine in memory. It displays your text from disk (hard or RAM disk recommended). You can change which file you're viewing without unloading Ram-Man. That means you load Ram-Man once, then change ref- erence guides as your needs or the programs you use change. Now, regardless of which text-based program you're using (or even at the DOS prompt), you can have on-line, pop-up help available -- at any time, at the press of a key. Examples: * The complete, on-disk manual for a program you're using. * A series of help screens or "Quick Reference Guides" (eg., tips on using DOS, tips on using a program). - You can display standard DOS text files, like those you create using an editor or word processor. - Or you can display special "screens" you create with programs like our P-Screen Screen Designer. * Appointment Calenders, To Do Lists. . . . etc. Other features: (<R> = REGISTERED versions.) * BROWSE through files -- line by line or page by page. And you can jump to the top or bottom of small -or- huge text files in 1/2 second or less. * SEARCH for topics relevant to your needs. * <R> "LOOK UP" reads a word directly off your screen THEN searches for it! BE SURE to read the section on Look Up for uses (eg., Quick reference, spelling, thesaurus, quotations). * UNLOAD Ram-Man and reclaim the memory it uses. * <R> RUN-TIME OPTIONS let you choose: - The "hotkey" you want to use to call Ram-Man up. - The size of the screen you want to use -- to let you switch between 25, 43 or 50 row screens at will. - The colors we use to display text. These options help ensure that Ram-Man's hotkey, colors and screen modes never conflict with the programs you use. +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ This order form has TWO PAGES : : : * This page (when folded) becomes your "envelope." The next page is the actual order form. * You can : : : - Print 1 page then turn the paper over & print page #2 on the back. - Print them on separate pages. If you use continuous-feed paper, you can print both pages at once, then just fold them together. * BE SURE to enclose the other page INSIDE this one. Be sure your check or money order, if appropriate, is enclosed and securely attached (stapled or taped). ---------------------------- Fold here 1st ---------------------------- From: ------- Stamp __________________________ Here ------- __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ Rob W. Smetana Pro~Formance 132 Alpine Terrace Programs ordered: ____________________ San Francisco, CA 94117 _______________________________________ _______________________________________ ---------------------------- Fold here 2nd ---------------------------- WARRANTY : : : t t a We warrant the disks we sent you, if any, to be free from physical a p defects for a period of 30 days from the date we ship them. p e e Since you can try "user supported" versions of our programs before or ordering them, we offer no other warranty beyond that stated here. or We'll gladly replace defective disks. But no refunds or credits s s can be issued. t t a a Where did you get your copy of our program? ______________________ p p My Computer's a:_________________ My Printer's a:________________ l l My Monitor is: (circle 1) Mono / CGA / EGA / VGA / Herc / Other e e (Please use the other side for comments & suggestions. Thanks!) <<< Tape or Staple Here >>> ============================================================================ T O O R D E R : : : (Also send page above this) ============================================================================ F ______________________________________________ M Rob W. Smetana Pro~Formance R ______________________________________________ A T 132 Alpine Terrace San Francisco, CA 94117 O ______________________________________________ I O (415) 863-0530 M ______________________________________________ L Make checks payable to:: Rob W. Smetana Phone ( ) ______-________ Date ___/___/___ (If ordering by credit card, be sure name is as it appears on your card.) ================================================================ pscrn 4.2 = Program # of Copies Price/Copy Total ============================================================================ P~F Presents / P~F Presents Professional _________ $49 / $79 $ ________ The Presentation Suite _________ $49 $ ________ inform-Z Professional Forms Design _________ $49 $ ________ Mail Call (Without / With MC Express) _________ $40 / $49 $ ________ Pro~Scribe & PS Express _________ $39 $ ________ P-Screen (Plus / PS Professional) _________ $29 / $49 $ ________ Multi-Print _________ $39 $ ________ Pro~Stamp Stamp Collection Manager _________ $29 $ ________ Ram-Man RAM-resident Manuals/Reference _________ $19 $ ________ Sparkle AND Menu Magic _________ $19 $ ________ The Survey Catalyst (TSC)/Demo Disk _________ $595 / $5 $ ________ ============================================================================ PACKAGE DISCOUNTS (Call about quantity discounts) ============================================================================ Mail Call AND inform-Z _________ $79 $ ________ P-Screen Pro AND P~F Presents _________ $109 $ ________ (Professional versions of both!) (NOTE: P~F Presents DOES include a copy of P-Screen +) The Works! 1 of each (exc. The Catalyst) _________ $229 $ ________ ============================================================================ Shipping & Handling $4/copy US & Canada Total Number of Programs ----->> _______ $8/copy Elsewhere $ _______ ==========================+================================================= PAID BY: (Check one !!!) | Subtotal $ ________ | ___ Check | California residents, add 6.5% tax $ ________ +-----------------------------+------------------- ___ Master ___ VISA | Card | TOTAL $ ________ =========================================================+==================== *** Orders from Outside the US: International Money Orders, US Funds ONLY.*** THE FOLLOWING IS REQUIRED for credit card orders (can't process order w/o it). Credit Card Number: ______________________________ Expires: ___/___/___ Signature (Required for credit card orders): ______________________________ (Be sure name at top is as it appears on your card AND you check Visa or MC.) ==================[ Please see Warranty on the page above ]=================