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-
-
- Alternative Personal Pascal Manger
-
- Jinfu Chen
- Jan. 1988
- (Enhancement Apr. 1988 - Phillip R. Poulos)
-
- 1. What is it for
-
- PASCALM is an alternative manager program for OSS Personal Pascal. It
- combines the useful features in both Personal Pascal v1.x and v2.0 and has some
- more useful features. It does NOT use the Personal Pascal v2.x file selector
- box, but calls GEM for any file selection. If you have replaced GEM's file
- selector box with your own, this manager will work nicely with it.
-
- Refer to Personal Pascal manual page 2-1(version 2) or page 1-1(version
- 1) for further details about manager program.
-
-
-
- 2. Installation
-
- Copy PASCALM.PRG and PASCALM.RSC to a disk. The file PASCALM.PRG can be
- renamed to whatever name you like, for example, PASCAL.PRG. However, do not
- change the name of PASCALM.RSC to anything else except this name.
-
-
-
- 3. Using the Manager
-
- Double click PASCALM.PRG from DESKTOP, a title box will appear for
- short time and zooming out by itself. The menu has four entries:
-
- Desk File Options Specials
-
- Each entry has more options to be choosed from, see following sections.
-
-
-
- 4. Desk menu
-
- This menu has one entry for the program, Pascal Manager, which is a
- title box shows version, author name, and copyright notice. Other entries may
- exist depending on wether you have any desktop accessory installed.
-
-
-
- 5. File menu
-
- This menu has five entries, same as in Personal Pascal. The only excep-
- tion is when a TTP (TOS Take Paramter) type program is run, a dialog box will
- appear to allow you enter command. Such as running ARC.TTP, one can enter:
-
- vh foo.arc
-
- to view file information in foo.arc.
- Each of the entries can also be selected from the keyboard as follows:
- ^E or Alt-E - run the editor, passing the last file edited
- ^C or Alt-C - run the compiler, passing the last file compiled
- ^L or Alt-L - run the linker, passing the last file linked
- ^R or Alt-R - run the last program compiled and linked.
- The file selector box will appear if there is no appropriate file to
- run/link/compile/edit, etc. (for example, if this is the first edit command as
- the program starts out).
-
-
-
- 6. Options menu
-
- This menu has five entries:
-
- Compiler Options...
- Linker Options...
- Locate Program...
- Load Options...
- Save Options...
-
- 6.1 Compiler Options
-
- In the Compiler Options, a box similar to the one in Personal Pascal
- version 1.x will appear. Most of them are explained in Personal Pascal manual
- (page 2-4 in V2.0, page 3-4). Three options need to be explained here.
-
- No Object Code:
-
- When this option is on, no object file (.O file) is generated. This is
- handy for debugging when compiling a program which may contain errors. This is
- equivalent to the /NOCODE switch in command line (see Personal Pascal version 2
- manual page 8-22).
-
- Note that when this option is on, the 'Chain to linker' option can not
- be selected. You will need to toggle off the 'No object code' option before
- selecting the 'Chain to linker' option.
-
- Auto backup:
-
- When this option is on, the manager will copy the last source file
- edited to a path being defined by the 'Backup Path' box, after a successful
- compilation has occurred.
-
- This is very useful if you are using a RAM disk or hard drive to
- program. In such environment, very often programmers rush to run a program
- after it is compiled to see if it works, before saving the source file to
- a permanent disk or other pertition of the hard drive. If the program crashes,
- chances are you will lose the source file, even with some 'reset-proof' RAM
- disk. In case of hard drive, if your program trys to write to the disk and mess
- up the pertition you are working on it, you will not able to recover the file
- also.
- The auto backup path has to be in standard TOS path. For example, these
- are legal TOS path:
-
- A:\, A:\SOURCE\, D:\PASCAL\SRC\ARCHIVE\
-
- For users who still using Personal Pascal version 1.x, the temporary
- path is not available in this program. However, since you can place all the
- overlay programs and libraries in different place, this can be overcome. See
- Section 6.3 for information.
-
- Compile file last edited when chained:
-
- The Personal Pascal editor (as well as others, like TEMPUS) can chain
- to the compiler when the editing is through. With this option selected, the
- name of the file just edited will be passed to for compilation. If this option
- is NOT selected, the file name of the last file compiled (NOT edited) will be
- passed to the compiler, regardless of what was just edited. This feature is
- useful when working with large programs with several parts. You can edit any
- individual part you want, but still start the compilation with the main program
- file or module. Also note that the Auto_Backup feature will still save the last
- file edited, NOT compiled (though they may be one in the same).
-
- 6.2 Linker Options
-
- This is very similar to Personal Pascal's, except you can choose the
- type of program to be generated. You can choose from GEM, ACC, TOS, or TTP.
- Note that the default type is related to the one in Compiler Options so if you
- already select GEM in Compiler Options, you do not need to select the one in
- Linker Options, and vise versa.
-
- Note that the ACC option in both compiler and linker does not work
- under version 2.00 of Personal Pascal Compiler. Consult with OSS/ICD to obtain
- version 2.02 or higher if this function is necessary to you.
-
- 6.3 Locate Programs
-
- This is exactly the same as the one in Personal Pascal version 2. You
- can tell the manager where is your editor overlay program, or the compiler,
- linker, as well as the PASLIB, GEMLIB libraries. This allows you to place files
- more flexible and use your favor editor. Caustion should be made if you are
- using TOS or TTP type of editor, you will need to name the program extension
- properly so that the manager will handle the cursor correctly. For example, the
- editor program in Personal Pascal version 1.x is actually a TTP program. It has
- to be renamed to EDITOR.TTP and use the 'Locate Programs' option to locate it,
- otherwise, a cursor will remain on the screen. GEM type editor can be used as
- well, such as 1st Word, or the GEM editor comes with Personal Pascal version 2.
-
- It is recommented use 'Locate Programs' option to find all the files
- when first time using the manager and save the options to the .INF file(see
- Section 6.5).
-
- 6.4 Load Options
- This option allows you to load a new configuration file without exiting
- the Personal Pascal Manager. A file selector box allows you to chose the ".INF"
- file to load, replacing all currently selected configurations.
-
- 6.5 Save Options
-
- This option allows you save all the current configurations to a file.
- A file selector box prompts you for the filename and pathway, with the default
- PASCALM.INF given. When next time the manager program is run it will look for
- a file called PASCALM.INF in the default directory to restore the options you
- have saved. Note that this .INF file has different format from the PASCAL.INF
- generated by Personal Pascal Manager, do not just rename the file.
-
-
-
- 7. Specials menu
-
- This menu has quite a few entries related to disk operations. These
- include:
-
- Copy Files... F1
- Create Folder... F2
- Rename/Move File... F3
- Disk Space... F4
- Print Listing... F5
- Delete File... F6
- Delete Folder... F7
-
- 7.1 Copy Files - called from the menu or by pressing F1
-
- This allows copy file from one disk/folder to anther disk/folder, or
- just duplicate the file with different name. A message box will appear on top
- of the Item Selector to tell you what file you are selecting for. A file name
- conflict box will appear, prompting you for a new name if the file name you
- are copying TO already exists. You can, of course, over write that file is you
- chose. An error will occur if you try to copy the file to itself, or disk is
- write-protected, much as same as the DESKTOP.
-
- 7.2 Create Folder - called from the menu or by pressing F2
-
- With this you can create a folder in any directory. The file selector
- box will prompt you for a unique name for the new folder.
-
- 7.3 Rename/Move File - called from the menu or by pressing F3
-
- This allows you rename a filename to another. You can even move a file
- from one folder to another by just renaming it. GEMDOS will normally only allow
- this function to occur within the same disk drive. But as an additional feature
- not normally provided by GEMDOS, you can move a file between disk drives. This
- convenience feature is accomplished by copying the file first to the new drive,
- then deleting the old file. A file conflict box will appear if a file already
- exists with the name of the file to be moved. You can write over a preexisting
- file ONLY if you are moving a file between drives or between folders on the
- same drive; otherwise GEMDOS will give give you an error if you try such a move.
-
-
- 7.4 Disk Space - called from the menu or by pressing F4
-
- This allows you check how much free space in a disk drive. A dialog box
- will appear asking for a disk drive id. Either enter the drive ID in UPPER CASE
- or press the left button over the left or right arrows to change the selected
- drive ID. Click the OK button or just hit return key to get the information you
- requested. You can check the free space in as many drives as you like. Click on
- the CANCEL box to leave. An error will occur if a non-existent drive ID is
- entered.
-
- 7.5 Print Listing - called from the menu or by pressing F5
-
- This allows you to send a source file to printer. You can choose your
- favor printing program to add line numbers or format the file providing that
- program does not require a resource file to run. "LISTPAS.PRG" provided with
- Personal Pascal Version 2.x runs nicely with this.
-
- 7.6 Delete File - called from the menu or by pressing F6
-
- Remove a file from the disk. Use with caution, once it is gone, it is
- gone for ever. And there is NO second prompt. Once you complete the file
- selection, the file is deleted!
-
- 7.7 Delete Folder - called from the menu or by pressing F7
-
- This command will delete a folder AND all of its contents, regardless
- of whether it contains write protected files or not. USE THIS COMMAND CAU-
- TIOUSLY. When executed, you will be prompted for the PATH to the folder to be
- deleted, not the actual folder (or file) name. The command ignores the file
- name returned from the file selecter box! This was done so that you could click
- on the folder to be deleted without having to use the keyboard to enter the
- information in. The command will then prompt you again with the folder name to
- make sure you want to deleted it. Clicking OKAY deletes everything. Good luck!
-
- 8. Conclusion
-
- The manager program has features to help programmers. New features can
- be added on request. Bug report and suggestions should be sent to:
-
-
- Jinfu Chen
- 445 S. Dobson Rd., #2022 (602)898-5338 (work)
- Mesa, AZ 85202 (602)834-7061 (home)
-
- CompuServe 72327,2434
- GEnie J.Chen
-
-