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Cream of the Crop 20 (Terry Blount) (1996).iso
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COMPILE.DOC
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1996-03-27
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THE ELECTRONIC TEXT PUBLISHING SYSTEM (tm)
Description:
The Electronic Text Publishing System (or "E-Text" for short)
is used to make "electronic" books or magazines, such as
tutorials, training manuals, or even works of literature. The
E-Text system allows you to create professional looking
programs with little effort. E-Text uses text files that you
create and compiles them into a menu driven "electronic" book,
complete with a table of contents. If you know how to use a
word processor, then you have all the skills necessary to
publish your own "electronic" books on a disk. The electronic
books that you create with E-Text can be copied, distributed
and sold, royalty free. Share your knowledge, research, your
works of poetry, fiction, or your sales products with others by
using E-Text!
Features:
E-Text allows you to customize nearly every aspect of your
finished catalog. Consider the following... E-Text allows you
to...
+ Create a "Table of Contents" (Main menu)
+ Customize the size and location of the Main Menu
+ Customize the attributes of the Main Menu, such as colors,
border frame, elevator bar, drop shadow, etc.
+ Define the colors of each screen.
+ Use background wallpaper to create eye-catching screens.
+ Invoke screen special effects - for example, screen wipes
from left to right, right to left, top to bottom, opening
curtains, splits, clock sweeps, etc.
+ Run DOS commands, execute batch files or other programs.
E-Text can be used to create your own program menus or shell.
+ Consolidates all your .TXT files into just one compact data
file. In fact, after compilation, only two files are
necessary to make your electronic book available to your
audience (READ.EXE and READ.DAT). This makes disk
distribution file management a breeze.
+ Display 256 color .PCX graphic images (Pro version only).
+ Include sub-menus within your Main Menu (Pro version only).
Special requirements:
No special system requirements or hardware is required to use
E-Text except a DOS version greater or equal to version 3.0.
A hard disk does make the compilation process much easier and
faster, however.
Before we get started:
If you obtained E-Text through a shareware vendor, or BBS, or
CD-ROM, make sure that no files are missing. A file called
VENDINFO.DIZ contains a listing of all the files required to run
E-Text. If you have problems with E-Text, check the files that
you have obtained with the VENDINFO.DIZ listing. If you find
files missing, please notify your vendor, or BBS sysop, or feel
free to contact the author via our 24-hour BBS at (540)
372-9680 N-8-1 ANSI. The latest version can always be
downloaded from our BBS as ETEXT*.ZIP in the PKSOFT directory.
Before you compile your very own electronic book we recommend
that you browse through one that has already been created. You
should find a file AESOP.DAT on your disk, which contains a
short collection of Aesop's Fables. To view this electronic
book from the DOS prompt enter: READ AESOP then press
[ENTER]. Browse through this electronic book and get a feel for
what E-Text can do. If you like what you see, and would like
to create similar e-text documents, resume reading these
instructions and proceed with your first compilation.
Terms and definitions:
There are several terms that will be used throughout this
documentation and that need to be fully understood by the user
before you create your own electronic books. Please review
these definitions carefully:
ASCII FILE: This is a term used to describe any file that you
create and save with an editor such as DOS' EDIT or Window's
Notepad. An ASCII file contains only characters that can be
found on a standard IBM keyboard. Most word processor programs
(like Word Perfect) can save files in ASCII format IF you know
how to. E-Text does NOT come with an editor because most users
already have a favorite text editor or word processor that they
feel comfortable with. We saw no reason to force the user to
use another editor and have consequently not included one.
CHAPTER: A chapter is any ASCII .TXT file that you create that
you want to become part of your electronic book. Each
selection from the Main Menu "Table of Contents" is considered a
chapter.
COMPILER: The compiler is the program that gathers all of
your ASCII chapter text files (*.TXT), and binary wallpaper
files (*.BIN) together, and prompts you step by step for
specific details about how you want your final electronic book
to look (screen colors, Table of Contents (Main Menu) size,
location, shadows, etc. The compiler merges and can compress
this information into a single data file (READ.DAT).
DATA FILE: The data file is a specially formatted file that
contains ALL of your chapters, wallpaper, and screen
definitions. This data file is created by using the E-Text
compiler (COMPILE.EXE), and once it has been created it can be
identified by the default filename "READ.DAT". This data file
is one of the two necessary files that must be placed on your
distribution disk in order for others to read your electronic
book. Data files can be renamed if you wish, however to use
them with the "reader" you must specify its new file name on
the DOS command line. For example, AESOP.DAT was originally
named READ.DAT, but was renamed in order to preserve its
contents from future compilations that would have created a new
READ.DAT file and overwritten it. In order to use AESOP.DAT
with the "reader", the user needs to start the electronic book
from the DOS command line in this manner: READ AESOP.DAT By
using this method inside a batch file, the author can create
several electronic books on one floppy disk, needing only one
"reader".
READER MODULE: This refers to the file "READ.EXE". This is
the program that reads the information in your data file and
displays it to your audience. Remember, in order to create an
electronic book for distribution on a floppy diskette, two
files must exist on that disk: 1) READ.EXE and 2) READ.DAT.
TEXT FILE: Text files and ASCII files all refer to the
same thing (see ASCII FILE above).
WALLPAPER: If you have never used Microsoft Windows, then the
term "wallpaper" may conjure up ideas of colored paper and
wheat paste. With E-Text, however, wallpaper refers to
background screen designs that can be used to liven up your
electronic book. Wallpaper files should end with a .BIN file
extension. How do you create wallpaper files? When you
register E-Text you will be sent, as a bonus, the E-Text Screen
Composer program that allows you to create your own wallpaper
files. Several wallpaper .BIN files have been included with
the evaluation copy, so feel free to use them. You may also
use any text screen design program that generates BLOADable
binary files. The "Laughing Dog Screen Maker" and "The Draw"
are two popular shareware screen designers that can also create
wallpaper files. You can find these programs on most