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Between Heaven & Hell 2
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1987-05-28
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GETTING ACQUAINTED
This chapter introduces you to the main features of ShortCut. It
is important that you have ShortCut up and running so that you can
try out our suggestions. You will learn most quickly by doing.
Many of ShortCut's commands use the alternate key, the shift keys,
the function keys, and the control key. They are found on the
standard IBM PC keyboard in these positions:
Alt The gray key to the left of the Space Bar
Shift The gray key with an up arrow just above the
Alt key or the gray key with an up arrow above
the Caps Lock key
Ctrl The gray key just to the left of the "A" key
F1, F2, etc. The gray function keys at the very left side
of the keyboard
You will see combinations of keys printed together in this docu-
mentation. For example, you will see <Alt-M > or <Shift-F3>. You
should press the first key and hold it down while you press the
second key. Then release them both.
A Brief Look at the ShortCut Screen
As you look at the ShortCut screen on your monitor, you will
see that there are several sections. Let's begin at the top,
left-hand side of the screen. Here you will see a large
rectangle bordered by double lines. This is the Directory
Window.
In the Directory Window you will see a list of your files in
the current directory. If you started ShortCut from drive A,
you see a list of your ShortCut files. If you have a hard
disk and started ShortCut from drive C, will see the ShortCut
files in your current directory, SHORTCUT. The current
directory displayed in the Directory Window will be called
the Current Displayed Directory from now on.
The skinny rectangle to the right contains Drive boxes on the
top, a Sort On box in the middle, and Modes that can be
toggled on or off at the bottom.
The next large rectangle shows you the status of your disk
drive and your computer's memory. Below this information you
will see four boxes: pause, verify, break, and a box that
says either color or monochrome. These will be explained
later.
The fourth rectangle displays the date and time, the file
pattern, and some additional information about your system.
TUTOR.DOC - 1
The meaning of all these boxes will be described fully; we
just want you to be able to find them now.
Right below these four rectangular columns you will see a
highlighted line of text that says "Press a function key for
the Command Bar. Use the cursor keys to move about". It
will be colored green if you have a color monitor. This is
the message line. As you do things with ShortCut, the
message line will change to say different things. Sometimes
it will ask you to answer a question, sometimes it will
display an error message if you have made a mistake, always
it will give you helpful advice. Get in the habit of reading
the message line if you do not know what to do next.
At the bottom of the screen is the Command Bar. Each box
contains a ShortCut command. Hold down a <Shift> key and you
will see a second Command Bar appear with a new set of
commands. Release the <Shift> key and the first Command Bar
reappears. Now hold down the <Ctrl> key. This is the third
Command Bar. Press and hold down the <Alt> key and the
fourth Command Bar is displayed. Later you will learn how to
put your own commands on the third and fourth Command Bars.
Moving Around the ShortCut Screen
On the left side of the Directory Window you will see a small
triangular arrow. This is the screen arrow and you will use
it point at files and to move around the screen.
Find the down arrow cursor key on your keyboard. Press it
and the screen arrow will move down one file in the Directory
Window. Now try the up arrow cursor key. The screen arrow
moves up one file.
Try pressing the right arrow cursor key from anywhere in the
Directory Window. The screen arrow will jump up and over to
the box that says SIZE in highlighted letters at the top
right of the Directory Window.
If you press the right arrow cursor key again, the screen
arrow moves to the Display Drive box.
Press the down arrow key. The screen arrow moves down to the
Default Drive box. Or press the up arrow key and it moves
back up to the SIZE box.
Press the down arrow key again from the Default Drive box and
the screen arrow moves to the Sort On box. If you press the
down arrow key once more, ShortCut will politely beep at you
informing you that you can't go any further in that direc-
tion.
You can press the up arrow key to go back up to the Default
Drive again, or you can press the left arrow key to move back
to the Directory Window. You can always go back to the
TUTOR.DOC - 2
Directory Window with the left arrow key no matter where you
are.
Spend a moment to practice moving the screen arrow among
these five areas on your screen. If you are in the Directory
Window, you can quickly move to the Sort On box with
<Ctrl-Right Arrow>.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
If you find that you cannot move the screen arrow at all, you are
in NumLock mode. Press the <NumLock> key on your keyboard. Now
you should be able to move the screen arrow.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Try pressing any function key (F1, F2, etc.). The screen
arrow does not move, but one of the commands on the Command
Bar is highlighted. You can move along the Command Bar with
the left and right arrow keys. Try moving to the COMMND
command box at the far right. Then press the right arrow key
once more. You are now on the second Command Bar. In the
same way you can move to the third and fourth Command Bars
and then back to the first again.
A quicker way to move to a specific command on any of the
Command Bars is to press the function key corresponding to
that command. By looking at the Command Bar you can see that
<F3> is the function key to press for the COPY command.
Commands on the second Command Bar are reached with Shift-
function key combinations, the third Command Bar commands use
the <Ctrl> key along with the function keys, and those on the
fourth Command Bar use the <Alt> key.
Press <Esc> to leave the Command Bar. You can still move the
screen arrow up and down in the Directory Window while you
are on the Command Bar, but you must press <Esc> to leave the
Command Bar if you want to move the screen arrow out of the
Directory Window.
Putting ShortCut to Work
Now that you are a pro zipping around the screen, it's time
to give ShortCut some orders. Let's try renaming one of your
practice files. Move the screen arrow in the Directory
Window to the file named AFILE.TXT.
Press the <Space Bar>. The filename is highlighted. You
have just "marked" a file and told ShortCut this is the file
you want to act upon. You can "unmark" a file by pressing
the Space Bar again. The number of bytes in a marked file
appears highlighted in the Disk Status box.
Mark AFILE.TXT again, if it is not already, and press <F9>.
The Rename command box is highlighted. The message line
tells you what to do next - to press <Enter>. Do it.
TUTOR.DOC - 3
At this point the message line asks you type a new file
name. For now, type MYFILE.TXT and press <Enter>. It does
not matter if you use capital or lowercase letters.
The message line tells you ShortCut is busy renaming your
file and you will see the new file name appear and the old
name disappear in the Directory Window.
If you make a mistake and decide you don't want to give a
command but you have already hit <Enter> while you are in a
command box, press <Ctrl-Esc> and the command will be can-
celled.
Sometimes you may forget to mark a file before you give a
command. Your computer will beep and the message line will
tell you that no files are marked. After you press any key,
you can try again.
View a File
Let's see what is in MYFILE.TXT. Move to the TYPE command
box on the Command Bar by pressing <F5>. Move the screen
arrow to MYFILE.TXT in the Directory Window. Press the
<Space Bar> to mark it. The message line tells you to press
<Enter> to view the contents of the marked file. Hit
<Enter>.
The ShortCut screen will disappear. Don't worry, it will
come back. You will see the contents of MYFILE.TXT "typed"
on your screen. Press <Ctrl-NumLock> to stop the screen
scrolling if you wish. Press the <Space Bar> to continue.
When the end of the file is reached, you will see a prompt to
press any key. Do it and the ShortCut screen will return.
Switch to DOS Screen
Suppose you return to ShortCut's screen and later you wish to
see the DOS screen again. Press <Alt-D> and the DOS screen
will reappear. When you are ready, press any key to switch
back to ShortCut's screen.
Help
Perhaps you want to switch to the DOS screen, but you can't
remember what keystrokes to use. Or you forgot how a Short-
Cut command works. ShortCut is ready to help! Press <F1> to
move to the HELP command on the Command Bar and hit the
<Enter> key. You will see a help screen appear with the
ShortCut commands and features listed. For more in depth
information on any command or feature, press the correspond-
ing highlighted key or key combination.
Let's look at the information available for TYPE, the command
we just used. With the Help Main Menu displayed, press <F5>,
TUTOR.DOC - 4
the command you use to move to the TYPE command box on the
Command Bar. You will see information about the TYPE command
and how to use it. After you have read the help screen you
have the option of pressing the <Space Bar> to return to the
Help Main Menu, or you may press <Esc> to exit the help
system all together.
ShortCut gives you another way to seek help. Simply press
<Alt-H> and a help screen will be displayed. Which help
screen depends on what you were doing at the time you asked
for assistance.
Information on the ShortCut Screen
ShortCut displays lots of useful information on its screen
even without help screens. As you have already seen, you
always know which directory you are in as it is highlighted
in the Directory Window. In addition, the disk drive you are
using is highlighted in the Display Drive box.
The Sort On box tells you how your files are sorted in the
Directory Window. Right now they are probably unsorted. You
will learn how to sort them yourself a bit later.
The box that says SIZE on top of the Directory Window is one
that you practiced moving the screen arrow to. Move to it
now. You can display additional file information by choosing
among three options: Size, Date, or Time. Try pressing D
for Date, then T for Time, and finally S for Size. Date
tells you when the file was created or last updated, Time
tells you what time of the day the file was created or last
updated, and Size tells you how many bytes are in the file.
Mode Indicators
Beneath the Sort On box are several mode indicators. When
these modes are active, they are highlighted and capital-
ized. Press the keyboard key once to turn the mode on and
press it again to turn the mode off. The modes are:
Mode Key Use
Caps CapsLock Capitalizes all letters you type.
Num NumLock Activates the numeric keypad on the IBM
PC - useful for entering columns of
numbers. When NumLock is on, the cursor
control keys will not work.
Ins Ins Insert mode. Allows characters typed to
be inserted in a line and all text to the
right of the cursor is pushed right. You
can use insert any time ShortCut asks you
to enter information.
TUTOR.DOC - 5
Prn Ctrl-PrtSc All keystrokes typed on the command line
and everything displayed on the DOS
screen is sent to the printer.
Scroll ScrollLock Your application programs may or may not
Lock use ScrollLock. ShortCut uses Scroll-
Lock to freeze the screen arrow in the
Directory Window so that the up and down
arrow keys will now scroll the filenames
around it.
Disk and Memory Status
The Disk Status box displays information about the disk you
are using. It tells you how many bytes you have available on
your disk, how many of those bytes you have used to store
files, and how many bytes are still free for your use. It
also informs you how many files are in your directory, how
many of the files are user files (read/write files), and how
many are hidden.
The Memory Status box shows you how much random access memory
(RAM) in bytes your computer has, and it tells you how much
of that memory is still available for you to use.
Date and Time
ShortCut displays the date and time in the top, right-hand
corner of the screen. This is the date and time your com-
puter thinks is correct. You can make changes with the DATE
and TIME commands located on the second Command Bar.
Press <Shift-F4> to reach the DATE command box. Press
<Enter>. ShortCut asks you to enter a date. You may choose
either of these formats:
mm-dd-yy or mm-dd-yyyy
You may leave out any leading zeros.
After you hit <Enter> ShortCut will display the date you
entered including the proper day of the week.
<Shift-F5> will give you access to the time of day. Press
<Enter> and type in a new time. The format to use is:
hh:mm:ss
It is not necessary to use colons to separate the hours,
minutes, and seconds. You can use any character you like.
For example, you could use hyphens to separate the hours,
minutes, and seconds.
TUTOR.DOC - 6
You must use military time which adds 12 to any hour after
noon. You don't have to type in the minutes and/or seconds.
If you don't, ShortCut will display the minutes and/or
seconds as zero. You may omit any leading zeros.
When you hit <Enter>, ShortCut will display the time you
entered on its screen and will continue to update it every
second.
Additional System Information
In the bottom corner of the right-hand side of the screen
ShortCut shows you some additional information about your
computer system. The Equipment Installed box displays how
many serial ports your computer has, how many parallel ports
it has, how many disk drives your computer is set up for, and
whether or not your computer has a game port. If you don't
understand what these things mean, don't worry. You do not
need to know these things to use ShortCut.
By the way, if you think the number of disk drives ShortCut
reports is in error, see Equipment Installed in the REFER.DOC
for an explanation and how to change it if you wish.
Beneath this box ShortCut tells you which version of DOS you
are using.
To the immediate left you will see a box labeled either
MONOCHROME or COLOR CARD. If you and your computer are
using a monochrome display adapter, it will say MONOCHROME.
If you are using a graphics card instead, the box will say
COLOR CARD.
Print a File
Let's get back to bossing ShortCut around. If you have a
printer, you can print any ASCII file. Move the screen arrow
to MYFILE.TXT and mark it by pressing the <Space Bar>.
Press <F6> to reach the PRINT command box. Hit <Enter> and
ShortCut reminds you to get your printer ready for printing
if you haven't already. When you press any key, the contents
of the marked file will be sent to your printer.
You can use this method for printing out the other ShortCut
documentation files.
TUTOR.DOC - 7
Make a Directory
Let's get organized. You are going to create a new subdirec-
tory on your disk and put your practice files in it. Press
<F8> to move to the MKDIR command box. Hit <Enter>. Type
PRACTICE as the name of the new subdirectory and press
<Enter> again.
ShortCut will create a new subdirectory named PRACTICE.
Subdirectories that belong to the current directory displayed
in the Directory Window are listed after the filenames. You
will see the new subdirectory as the last entry in the
Directory Window.
If you have a hard disk, you may have more files and sub-
directories than the Directory Window will hold. You can
press <PgDn> to page through your files to find PRACTICE.
You can press <Ctrl-End> to reach the end of your files.
Return to the top of your Current Displayed Directory with
<Ctrl-Home>.
Copying Files to a Subdirectory
Now mark all of the ShortCut practice files, the ones that
have a filename extension of TXT. Point at each file with
the screen arrow and press the Space Bar. Each filename is
highlighted as it is marked.
Press <F3> to move to the COPY command box. Press <Enter> to
begin the copy process.
Now move the screen arrow to the PRACTICE subdirectory.
Press the Space Bar. You have just changed directories! Now
PRACTICE is the Current Displayed Directory. Following the
instructions on the message line, hit the <Enter> key. You
will see all of the files you marked copied to the new
subdirectory.
Before you go on, take a good look at the Directory Window.
At the top you will see the root directory of your disk.
After that you will see PRACTICE, the name of your Current
Displayed Directory. It will be highlighted as the Current
Displayed Directory is always highlighted. Later you may
want to read the DWINDOW.DOC file for a complete explanation
of how subdirectories are displayed in the Directory Window.
Erasing Files
You now have two copies of the practice files on your disk,
one in the root directory and one in the PRACTICE subdirec-
tory. Let's erase the ones in the root directory.
To get back to the root directory, move the screen arrow to
the first entry in the Directory Window. If you have never
TUTOR.DOC - 8
given your disk a volume label, the root directory will be
called NO LABEL. Otherwise, it will have a different name,
but it will always be the first entry in the Directory
Window. Press the Space Bar to change directories. Now the
root directory will be highlighted.
Mark all of the practice files (those files with a .TXT
extension).
Press <F7> to move to the ERASE command box. Press <Enter>.
ShortCut will erase all of your marked files, pausing before
each one to seek your confirmation.
Moving Files
There is a quicker way to move files to a new subdirectory:
the MOVE command. MOVE puts the files in a new subdirectory
and removes them from the old. Let's try it out by moving
the practice files back to your root directory.
Make PRACTICE the Current Displayed Directory by moving the
screen arrow to PRACTICE and pressing the Space Bar. Mark
all the files. You can press <Ctrl-Space Bar> and all the
files in the Current Displayed Directory will be marked at
once.
Press <Shift-F3> to reach the MOVE command. Press <Enter>.
Change to the root directory once again by pointing at it
with the screen arrow and pressing the <Space Bar>. Press
<Enter> once more. Your practice files are now back in the
root directory, and they no longer exist in the PRACTICE
subdirectory.
Copying Files to Another Drive
Often you will want to copy files from one disk drive to
another. Before you do that, you need to learn how to
display the files of other disk drives on your system. If
you have a second floppy disk drive, make sure it has a
diskette in it before we go any further.
With the screen arrow in the Directory Window, press the
right arrow key twice. The screen arrow will move to the
Display Drive box. Now press the letter of a drive on your
system that differs from the one you are currently on. For
example, if you are using drive A and you want to see the
files on drive B, you would press the letter B. If you are
on drive C and you want to see A, press the letter A.
ShortCut will not let you choose a drive you don't have;
however, if you select a floppy drive, you must have a
diskette in that drive or you will receive a DOS error
message.
TUTOR.DOC - 9
As soon as you press a drive letter, the files of that drive
will be displayed in the Directory Window. Switch back to
the drive from whence you came as this is where you must be
to start the copy process.
Mark all of the practice files once more. Press <F3> and
then <Enter>. Move the screen arrow to the Display Drive box
and select the drive you want to copy the files to. If you
want to put the files in a subdirectory on that drive, make
it the Current Displayed Directory by moving to it and
pressing the Space Bar. When the directory you want to copy
the files to is displayed, press <Enter> and let ShortCut do
the work.
A Tree Diagram of Your Disk
The easiest way to keep track of the directory structure of
your disk is with ShortCut's Tree command. Move back to the
root directory of the disk with the ShortCut files.
Now press <Alt-T>. You will see a visual tree of the direc-
tory structure of your disk. If you are using a hard disk,
you may have many directories; if you are using a floppy
diskette, you will probably see only the root directory and
the PRACTICE subdirectory.
You can change directories with the Tree screen. Press the
Down arrow key until you reach the PRACTICE subdirectory.
Hit <Enter>. The regular ShortCut screen reappears and
PRACTICE is now the Current Displayed Directory!
Use Tree again to go back to the root directory.
Remove a Directory
Now that your PRACTICE subdirectory is empty, you can remove
it. Point the screen arrow at the PRACTICE subdirectory. Do
not mark it! If you try, you will make PRACTICE the Current
Displayed Directory and ShortCut will not let you remove it.
With the screen arrow pointing at PRACTICE, press <Shift-F8>
to move to the RMDIR command and hit <Enter>. Your subdirec-
tory is gone.
Changing or Creating a Volume Label
Your disk may or may not have a volume label. If it doesn't,
the root directory name will say NO LABEL; otherwise it will
have another name. In either case, press <Shift-F2> followed
by <Enter> to change it.
ShortCut will ask you for a new name. Type any name you want
and hit <Enter>. You will see the new name appear at the top
of the Directory Window. You can change it back if you wish.
TUTOR.DOC - 10
Shortcuts to Locating Files
If you have many files in your Current Displayed Directory,
it can take a while to find the file you want in the Direc-
tory Window so that you can point at it with the screen
arrow. ShortCut offers a several features to help you out.
First of all, ShortCut can sort the files for you. When you
first start up ShortCut, the files on your disk will appear
in the Directory Window in the same order that they are
written on your disk. You can change this. Move the screen
arrow to the Sort On box directly by pressing <Ctrl-Right
Arrow>. Press N for Name. Your files will be sorted al-
phabetically (in ascending order).
Try D to sort the filenames in descending order from Z to A.
Press A to get them back in ascending order again. Try S to
see your files sorted by Size, or T to have them sorted by
Date and then by Time. Pressing E will sort them in order by
the filename extensions so that types of files are grouped
together. You can get them back in Unsorted order with U.
Put them back in unsorted order for now.
Just having your files in order will help you find the file
you want. But ShortCut doesn't stop here. The Locate File
command will move the screen arrow to any filename in the
Current Displayed Directory very quickly.
Press <Alt-L> and type the first letter of the filename you
want to find. Suppose you want to move the screen arrow to
MYFILE.TXT. The first letter is M, so that is what you
should type. As soon as you do, ShortCut will sort your
files by Name in alphabetical order and will point the screen
arrow at the first filename beginning with M. If you have
more than one file starting with M, you would continue typing
the next letter and then the next, etc., until the screen
arrow is pointing at the file you want. You may erase typed
letters with the <Backspace> key. You need type only as many
letters as necessary to point the screen arrow at the correct
file.
Press <Enter>, <Esc>, or the Up or Down Arrow key to stop
Locate. You can also press the <Space Bar> which will stop
it and also mark the filename in the Directory Window.
Now move the screen arrow to the Sort On box and sort your
files by Extension with E. This will group all your file
types together.
Press <Alt-L> again. This time the filenames will not be
resorted. Now you type the first letter of a file extension
you want to find. For MYFILE.TXT that would be the letter T.
As you continue typing, the screen arrow will zero in on the
correct extension if it is not there already. Again end
TUTOR.DOC - 11
Locate with <Enter>, <Esc>, Up Arrow, Down Arrow, or <Space
Bar>.
Searching for a File
Great, you say. But what if I don't remember what subdirec-
tory or disk I used to store a file, or maybe I don't remem-
ber the exact filename? ShortCut can help with its SEARCH
command.
You need to set things up a bit to see how SEARCH works.
Starting in the root directory of your disk, make two more
subdirectories using the Mkdir command. Name them ASUB and
BSUB.
Using the COPY command, put a copy of each practice file in
each subdirectory. You can use the Tree command to change
directories while you are using COPY. You will now have
three copies of each practice file on your disk. You know
that each file is identical, but for now, imagine that each
contains different information.
Suppose you want to find a file that you know begins with the
letters MY, but you do not remember the rest of the name and
you do not know what subdirectory you stored it in.
Press <Shift-F9> to move to the SEARCH command and press
<Enter>. When ShortCut asks you for the filename, type
MY*.*. This tells ShortCut to look for a filename beginning
with MY, but any combination of characters may follow and the
file may have any combination of characters for an extension.
When you press <Enter>, ShortCut will search all the direc-
tories on your disk for a filename that matches that pat-
tern. When it finds one, ShortCut asks you if this is the
file you want. Type N for No and the search continues until
the next file is found.
Suppose you are not sure this is the file you want. Press V
to View the file. The ShortCut screen disappears and the
file contents are displayed just as they are with the TYPE
command. Press any key to return to the ShortCut screen.
No, that is not the file you want, so type N again for No and
the search resumes. The last file is the one you want so
this time you respond with Y for Yes. When you do, ShortCut
makes the directory the file is in the Current Displayed
Directory. Also the filename is highlighted and put at the
very top of the Directory Window.
If ShortCut cannot find the file on your disk, the search
stops. If you are on drive A, however, you will be prompted
to put another diskette in drive A and the search resumes
until the file is found or you stop the search by pressing
TUTOR.DOC - 12
<Esc>. This is handy if you can't remember which floppy
diskette you used to store a file.
Wildcard Characters
When you used an asterisk (*) to specify a filename pattern
for ShortCut to use for the search, you used a wildcard. A
wildcard is a special character which means "any character or
characters". Besides the asterisk, there is one other
wildcard - a question mark (?).
* means any series of characters
? means any single character
This may be clearer if we look at a few examples.
*.TXT
Any filename with a TXT extension.
?FILE.TXT
Files with any single character followed by the letters
FILE.TXT. Your MYFILE.TXT file would not match this
pattern but the rest of the practice files would.
?????.*
Any file with five characters and any extension.
BFILE.TXT would match this pattern. MYFILE.TXT would
not.
G*.*
Any file that begins with a G.
*.*
Any file; all files.
Setting Up a File Pattern
ShortCut uses wildcards with another command that will help
you find the file you want quickly. You may have noticed the
*.* pattern in the File Pattern box on the ShortCut screen.
This means that all the files in the Current Displayed
Directory are displayed in the Directory Window. You can
tell ShortCut to display only the filenames that match a
specified pattern.
Go back to the root directory of your disk. Press <ALT-F>
for File Pattern. When ShortCut prompts you, type ?FILE.*.
Strike <Enter>.
Only the files matching this pattern are displayed in the
Directory Window. It is as if ShortCut put all the filenames
through a filter, and only the ones fitting the pattern you
specified made it through. The files are still on your disk;
you just can't see them.
TUTOR.DOC - 13
Use <ALT-F> again and specify *.*. All your files will
become visible again.
Running a Program
Move the screen arrow to a program file such as a word
processor or a spreadsheet. You may have to change direc-
tories or insert another diskette and change drives to find
the file you want. Any time you switch diskettes, you can
force ShortCut to read the new one. Just move the screen
arrow to the Current Displayed Directory and press the <Space
Bar>.
Press <F2> to move to the RUN command box on the Command Bar.
Hit <Enter> to run the program.
Pop Up ShortCut
Now that your program is up and running, press <Alt-Left
Shift> to pop up ShortCut.
The ShortCut screen will appear and the words POPPED UP will
blink on and off at the top of the screen. This is to remind
you that another program exists under the ShortCut screen.
You can now use many of ShortCut's commands and features and
then when you are done, return directly to your waiting
program by pressing <Alt-Left Shift> again.
If you change drives or directories or switch diskettes while
you use ShortCut in its popped up state, you must remember to
return everything as it was before you "unpop" back to your
program or it may not be able to find the files it needs to
run. Depending on the program, the results could be dis-
astrous. Of course, while ShortCut is popped up you must
also remember not to erase any files your program uses.
For Hard Disk Users Only
Up until now, your ShortCut files have been in your root
directory of your hard disk. Now that you are familiar with
how ShortCut works, you will probably want to put your
ShortCut files in a directory of their own.
Press <F8> and <Enter>. Type in a name for the new direc-
tory: either SHORTCUT or SC, and press the <Enter> key. Now
mark all ShortCut files and move them to the new directory
with the MOVE command (Shift-F3).
A Summary of ShortCut Commands
You should now be familiar with most of the commands on the
Command Bar plus a few of ShortCut's Alt key commands. Below
is a list of all of ShortCut's commands with a brief descrip-
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tion of each. An asterisk (*) indicates the command is
available when you have ShortCut popped up over another
program.
The First Command Bar
F1 Help * Displays a help screen listing ShortCut
commands. Detailed help is available by
pressing the keys for any command from this
screen.
F2 Run Executes the program pointed at by the screen
arrow. The file must have an extension of
.COM, .EXE, .BAT, or .BAS.
F3 Copy * Copies the marked files to the directory or
drive you select.
F4 Edit Edits the marked file with the text editor or
word processor of your choice. This command
will be covered in SETUP.DOC.
F5 Type * Displays the contents of the mark file(s).
Files must be an ASCII file or the characters
"typed" on your screen may not be readable.
F6 Print * Sends the contents of the marked file or files
to your printer.
F7 Erase * Erases the marked file or files.
F8 Mkdir * Creates a subdirectory that belongs to the
Current Displayed Directory.
F9 Rename * Renames the marked file or files.
F10 Commnd Displays the normal DOS command line. You may
enter any DOS command. COMMND.DOC explains
this feature.
The Second Command Bar (Shift)
All commands on the second Command Bar use the <Shift> key
plus a function key. For example, use <Shift-F1> to reach
the PATH command.
F1 Path * Displays the path DOS uses to find executable
files, and allows you to change it if you
wish.
F2 Labl * Changes the volume label of your disk.
F3 Move * Moves files from one directory to another on a
disk.
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F4 Date * Displays the system date and allows you to
change it.
F5 Time * Displays the system time and allows you to
change it.
F6 Dcopy Formats a disk in drive B and copies all files
from the disk in drive A to the disk in drive
B.
F7 Setup * Allows you to configure ShortCut to your
specifications. SETUP is covered in detail in
SETUP.DOC
F8 Rmdir * Removes the empty subdirectory pointed at by
the screen arrow.
F9 Search * Searches all directories on a disk for a file
matching a pattern you specify.
F10 Format Formats a disk in drive B.
The Third Command Bar (Ctrl)
All commands on the third Command Bar use the <Ctrl> key plus
a function key.
F1 - F10 Your commands
You determine what these commands will be. SETUP.DOC
will tell you how to "install" these commands. The
command boxes will say Ndef for not defined until you
put your commands in them.
The Fourth Command Bar (Alt)
All commands on the fourth Command Bar use the <Alt> key plus
a function key.
F1 - F10 Your commands
You determine what these commands will be. SETUP.DOC
will tell you how to "install" these commands. The
command boxes will say Ndef for not defined until you
put your commands in them.
Alt Key Commands
All Alt key commands use the <Alt> key plus a letter. For
example, press <Alt-C> to turn CHIME on or off. Alt key
commands are explained in detail in REFER.DOC.
TUTOR.DOC - 16
Alt-B Break *
Toggles Break on and off. When break is active, it
may be easier to stop a program while it is
running. If break is on, the Break box will be
highlighted on ShortCut's screen.
Alt-C Chime *
Toggles on and off. When on, a musical note is
present in the box ShortCut uses to display the
time and a chime will sound every hour on the hour.
Alt-D DOS Screen *
Replaces the ShortCut screen with the DOS screen.
Alt-E Exit ShortCut
Exits ShortCut removing ShortCut from your com-
puter's memory.
Alt-F File Pattern *
Allows you to specify a file pattern (template) and
displays only those files that match that pattern
in the Directory Window.
Alt-G Go to Marked Directory *
Returns to the directory marked with <Alt-M> (Mark
Directory).
Alt-H Help *
Displays context-sensitive help.
Alt-L Locate File *
Sorts the filenames alphabetically and puts the
first filename beginning with the letter you
specify at the top of the Directory Window. If the
files are sorted by extension when <Alt-L> is
pressed, the filenames containing an extension
beginning with the letter you specify are put at
the top of the Directory Window.
Alt-M Mark Directory *
Marks a directory. Once marked, you can leave this
directory and then return to it quickly with
<Alt-G> (Go to directory).
Alt-P Pause *
Toggles Pause mode on and off. When Pause is on,
before the DOS screen is replaced with ShortCut's
screen, you must press a key. When it is off,
ShortCut's screen reappears after a DOS command is
executed without any input from you. Pause gives
you the opportunity to read the DOS screen before
it is replaced with ShortCut's screen.
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Alt-S Save Configuration *
Saves the way you have ShortCut set up at the
present time to the SHORTCUT.DAT file.
Alt-T Tree *
Displays a visual tree of the directories on your
current Display Drive. Permits you to change
directories.
Alt-V Verify *
Used to turn on and off the verification of files
after they are copied.
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