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A N S I - M A T E
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
* The friendly way to learn more about ANSI.SYS! *
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ANSI-MATE v1.0 and this documentation are |
| Copyright (C) 1991 BOB-KIT Software Company. All rights reserved. |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
Table of Contents
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ANSI-MATE ■ A Shareware Program .............................. 1
Disclaimer ................................................... 2
BOB-KIT Software Company ■ About Us .......................... 2
Introduction / System Requirements ........................... 3
Registration Benefits ........................................ 3
CONFIG.SYS - An Important Detail ............................. 4
CONFIG.SYS (cont.) / Getting Started ......................... 5
Running ANSI-MATE ............................................ 6
Running ANSI-MATE (cont.) .................................... 7
Limitations of ANSI.SYS & Overcoming These Limitations ....... 8
Trying Different Colors / In Conclusion / VENDOR INFO ........ 9
Registration Form ........................................... 10
-- Page 1 --
ANSI-MATE ■ A Shareware Program
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ANSI-MATE is currently released as a "shareware" program
and is provided, at no cost, to the user for evaluation. You
are encouraged to share copies of this program with friends and
"upload" it to local & national Bulletin Board Systems. PLEASE
BE SURE ALL FILES ARE INCLUDED and UNMODIFIED. Thank you!
"Shareware" is a concept where computer users have an
opportunity to try a software program before they buy it.
Shareware is comparable to commercial software in quality
(there are good ones and bad ones), but not usually in price.
Shareware is normally much less expensive because the author
has not spent the many thousands, even millions, of dollars
on advertising that commercial software companies do. Thus,
the overhead is much less and your cost reflects this. If you
use a shareware program for a reasonable period of time and
have found it useful, you are required to register it.
Disclaimer ■ Agreement
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Users of ANSI-MATE must accept this disclaimer of warranty:
"ANSI-MATE" is supplied "as is". The author disclaims all
warranties, either expressed or implied, including without
limitation, the warranties of merchantability and of fitness
for any purpose. The author assumes no liability for damages,
direct or consequential, which may result from the use of this
program. If, for any reason, the user does not agree with
this, then the software program referred to by the author as
"ANSI-MATE" will not be used.
BOB-KIT Software Company - about us
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My name is Bob Smith. My wife, Kitty, and I operate this
business out of our home in Detroit. We have two children, but
are expecting a third in late August [then one of us is getting
the "snip" job =)].
I feel it's important to have as much personal contact with
our customers as possible - I've been known to call someone "out
of the blue" and ask their opinion on one of our programs. This
gives him/her an opportunity to offer suggestions while I get some
honest feedback. The most common suggestions are incorporated
into upgrades as soon as possible.
You'll find me to be very accessible. Call any weekday
10am-6pm and most likely you'll catch me at the computer banging
out some source code. If I'm away (like to the Post Office mailing
disks), Kitty is usually here to answer your call. Have a question
or suggestion? CALL US: (313)372-2669.
-- Page 2 --
Introduction
~~~~~~~~~~~~
ANSI.SYS is a "device driver" which sits idly on too many
hard-drives. Some of us load it in our CONFIG.SYS file because
we like the more colorful/graphic screens when calling our local
Bulletin Board Systems. Others have never loaded it because they
aren't sure what it does or how to use it.
Well, it's my goal to teach you a few things about this "free"
utility AND show you some effective ways of using it. ANSI-MATE
is the first step. We'll create batch files that take advantage
of ANSI.SYS's two most useful abilities: Changing DOS screen colors
to something more pleasant than the drab grey-white on black and,
more importantly, re-defining keys (& key combinations) to save us
mega-keystrokes creating a virtual "menu" of commands at our
fingertips!
ANSI-MATE walks you thru the process of producing these batch
files and writes REMarks in each one so you know what's going on.
Examine and/or make changes to any batch file you create with this
program - "hands on" is one of the best ways to learn.
NOTES: These key-definitions / color attributes are only in effect
while you're in DOS. They don't "get in the way" of running
any programs. Avoid assigning key combinations which are used
by any of your "terminate & stay resident" (TSR) programs -
one or the other simply won't function while in DOS.
System Requirements
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ANSI-MATE version 1.0 will operate on any IBM PC/XT/AT or true
compatible running DOS 2.1 or higher with 135K free RAM.
* IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines.
Registration Benefits
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ANSI.SYS can place the cursor anywhere on your screen, clear
one or more rows, & produce "blinking" colors along with other
useful capabilities. I've gathered all the information I could
find about ANSI.SYS, then wrote an essay. Included in that essay
is a chart showing all key "scan codes", color codes and the BEST
way for you to write your own batch files that use all of ANSI.SYS's
capabilities. Plus, I wrote a handy utility program that allows
you to change attributes RIGHT FROM THE COMMAND LINE! The essay,
key/color charts, utility, and your PERSONALIZED copy of ANSI-MATE
are all included when you become a registered user. How much does
all this cost, you ask? Registration is $10. Yep, only 10 bucks!
For your convenience, a registration form is attached to the end
of these instructions or can be printed right from the program.
NOTE: The key "scan code" chart includes [F11], [F12], other
~~~~ extended key combinations & how to use them with ANSI.SYS.
-- Page 3 --
CONFIG.SYS - An Important Detail
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ANSI-MATE helps you create batch files that use ANSI.SYS
capabilities. Before executing any of these batch files, you
must have "device=[drive]\[directory]\ansi.sys" in the file
named "CONFIG.SYS". If ANSI.SYS resided in the directory named
"C:\DOS", that line would read "device=c:\dos\config.sys". Upper-
and/or lower-case letters are all okay.
Upon "booting" your computer (turning it on), the first file
DOS looks for is "CONFIG.SYS". When that file isn't present, DOS
just continues - in other words, your computer works fine without
it. However, this file is a great way to CONFIGure your SYStem.
For our purposes, the only configuring we're concerned with
is making sure that ANSI.SYS has been "loaded".
If you don't currently have a file called "CONFIG.SYS", no
stress! We'll create one using EDLIN, another "free" DOS utility.
EDLIN.COM is normally located in your "DOS" directory on a
hard-drive or on your "DOS Utilities" diskette. Change to the
directory where it resides OR, assuming its location is part of
your "path" statement in AUTOEXEC.BAT, simply type:
EDLIN CONFIG.SYS [ENTER] <--- This always means to
press your [ENTER], [CR],
or [Return] key.
(Please refer to your DOS manual if "path" or AUTOEXEC.BAT are
unfamiliar to you.)
You should see:
New file
* <--(cursor blinking next to asterisk)
At the cursor, type the letter [i] (or [I]) and press [ENTER].
You'll see this:
New file
*
1.* <--(cursor next to asterisk)
Type:
1.*device=ansi.sys [ENTER]
2.* <--(cursor now here)
Press [Ctrl] + [Break] simultaneously to put the cursor back on the
left side of your screen next to an asterisk again. Press [e];
[ENTER] and you should be back at your normal DOS prompt. At "1.*"
you would type the drive letter and directory location of ANSI.SYS
only IF it's not in your root directory.
Continues...
-- Page 4 --
CONFIG.SYS (cont.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now, let's make sure all went well. At the DOS prompt, type:
TYPE CONFIG.SYS [ENTER]
You should see the one line you had entered.
If you have just created CONFIG.SYS, you'll need to "re-boot" your
computer so DOS will recognize that we want ANSI.SYS loaded. DOS
only looks for CONFIG.SYS upon booting. Be sure CONFIG.SYS is in
your root directory.
Assuming everthing's okay, let's move on..........
(If not, please re-read this section - if you don't find the answers
here or in your DOS manual, call me.)
Getting Started
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Okay. We've got ANSI.SYS capability and now we're ready to
write a batch file that makes use of it.
Log onto the directory that contains ANSI-MATE & type:
AM [ENTER]
ANSI-MATE will adjust its display for a monochrome, B&W, or
color monitor accordingly. You may, however force ANSI-MATE to
run in monochrome by adding a space, then the letter [M] before
pressing [ENTER]. The same deal for color: Add a space, then the
letter [C] before pressing [ENTER]. This "command line switch" is
available so that folks who have a monochrome video adaptor & color
monitor OR vice versa can achieve the best display.
EXAMPLE: To force ANSI-MATE to run in color, type: AM C [ENTER]
-- Page 5 --
Running ANSI-MATE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Once the program begins, you'll notice the bottom screen area
contains a "Notes" window. These "Notes" change with each menu
you select from. Their purpose is to offer little reminders about
what's going on.
Your first decision is naming this batch file. ANSI-MATE adds
the .BAT extension for you and doesn't allow "illegal" DOS filename
characters to be entered. Since the remainder of this section will
serve as a tutor, let's name it "LEARN". If you select a name for
your batch file that already exists in the current directory, ANSI-
MATE will inform you and ask if you'd like to overwrite it or not.
Selecting [N] allows you to enter a different name. [Y] overwrites
and continues.
Once the name is typed and you press [ENTER], ANSI-MATE will
ask if you're using DOS 3.3 or higher. Almost any batch file's
first line should be "echo off" - this prevents the remainder of
the batch file's commands from being "echo"ed to the screen. DOS
3.3 and later allows you to add "@" to the "echo off" statement so
that line isn't echoed either. ANSI-MATE will write the proper
statement to LEARN.BAT after you type [Y] or [N]. You can also press
[ESC] at this time if you want to exit the program. You'll be asked
for confirmation and reminded that your batch file will be erased -
there's nothing written to it yet, so no reason to save it.
The next mini-menu offers you three (3) selections to choose
from. Press [K] to re-define a particular key or combination of keys;
Pressing [C] allows you to assign foreground/background colors; And
[D] or [ESC] tells ANSI-MATE you want to exit the program. If no
key and/or color assignments have yet been made to a batch file, you
will first be asked if you wish to exit, then if you want to save
this file. Since the only thing written so far would be "@echo off"
or "echo off", there's no reason to keep it, but you're still given
the opportunity.
For our "tutoring" purposes, press [K]. You're now asked which
key (or combination of keys) you want LEARN.BAT to define. Press
[F10] and we'll assign this key to clear your screen each time you
press it while in DOS. The "Notes" window reminds you to enter
the "string" of characters to replace with the [F10] key and that
you'll have a chance to add two (2) more after this one. Well, we
just want it to clear the screen, so type: CLS [ENTER]. You don't
want to add another "string" at this time, so press [N] when asked.
Next, we go back to the previous mini-menu again. You always
return to this menu after assigning a key or color until you indicate
that you're "[D]one!". Let's define another key - press [K]. Now
press [Home] to indicate we want to re-define that key. We'll add
two strings this time. First, type: CD\ [ENTER], then [Y] (Yes, we
want to add another).
Continues...
-- Page 6 --
Running ANSI-MATE (cont.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The "Notes" window shows what string was just
entered as a helpful reminder. Now type: CLS [ENTER], then [N]
(we're finished with [Home]). Back to our mini-menu again. If you
don't have a color monitor, skip the next paragraph (unless, of course
you'd like to change colors to, say, black on white which looks fine.)
This time press [C] so we can make our DOS environment a little
more pleasant to look at. =) ANSI-MATE asks if you want to change
the [F]oreground or [B]ackground, so press [F] and we'll start here.
The "Notes" window lets you know that you'll be able to specify a
"Bold/Bright" attribute to foreground colors other than Brown / Yellow
or Black. Black for obvious reasons, and Yellow is assumed for
foreground color. Once you master ANSI.SYS, feel free to assign
your foreground color to Brown, but I suspect you probably won't like
it much. To make this interesting, move the highlight bar to Blue
and press [ENTER]. We don't want to make it "Bold/Bright" so press
[N] when asked. Now (we're back at the mini-menu), press [C] again
and this time let's do the [B]ackground. Select White, then press
[D] to indicate we're Done. ANSI-MATE confirms this decision, then
asks if you'd like to create another batch file. At this time, we
don't, so press [N] to exit the program.
To demonstrate our "finished product", type: LEARN [ENTER] at
the DOS prompt. Your DOS prompt will move down several lines without
displaying anything (with the exception of "echo off" with DOS 3.2 or
lower). What the batch file has done is echoed the ansi "escape
sequence" and the proper characters. ANSI.SYS captures these codes,
then executes them. Pressing [F10] at this time *should* clear your
screen. If not, check to be sure "device=ansi.sys" is in your
CONFIG.SYS file and read the previous section for further details.
If the screen DID clear, then pressing [Home] will change to the
"root" directory and clear the screen. By the way, if your monitor
is color and you added those assignments in LEARN.BAT, your screen
should be Blue text on a White background. Neat, huh?
Now, you should be able to use ANSI-MATE effectively to utilize
the key/color defining capabilities of ANSI.SYS. There are, however,
some limitations - the next section provides details.
-- Page 7 --
Limitations of ANSI.SYS & Overcoming these limitations
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ANSI.SYS can be both fun & productive to work with. It can
also be frustrating. There are two major limitations with ANSI.SYS:
1) There's only a certain amount of allocated ANSI.SYS memory that
you can utilize for key-defining.
2) Running several batch files concurrently that define, then
re-define the same keys just continue to stack up - instead
of being able to clear that memory out and start fresh. The
only alternative is to re-boot your computer and just run the
batch file(s) which you've decided assign(s) keys/colors the
way you want.
There are ways to overcome these limitations. First, it's
important not to go "hog wild" by re-defining every possible key
combination. Even if ANSI.SYS imposed NO restrictions as is, I
wouldn't recommend making so many re-definitions that it got to
be confusing. Which brings me to another important note: Write
down all keys (or combination of keys) you've assigned and their
corresponding definitions. I've got a strip of paper across the
top of my keyboard with a list of each key definition I use.
There's a super utility from PC Magazine called "ANSI.COM"
which does everything ANSI.SYS does, but allows you to specify
any size "key definition buffer" up to 60K! I highly recommend
it. ANSI.COM is Copyright 1988, Ziff Communications and was
written by Michael J. Mefford. You can download ANSI.COM *FREE*
from the PCMAGNET forum on CompuServe. There are also copies
available on local Bulletin Board Services. The copy I use came
with their fantastic book/disk combo., "DOS Power Tools". Two
paragraphs back I mentioned that ANSI.SYS doesn't allow you to
"clear" it's allocated memory and start fresh without rebooting.
Well, ANSI.COM overcomes that limitation, also! You can clear,
define, clear, re-define, etc. in the same session. Cool.
I presume my praise for ANSI.COM may have you thinking that
ANSI.SYS is inferior - and you'd be right. However, you can still
accomplish quite a bit with ANSI.SYS - just don't overdue it.
Although, there's absolutely NO HARM DONE if you load too many
key definitions, ANSI.SYS will simply ignore anything more than
it can handle. In fact, before you even bother to locate a copy
of ANSI.COM, consider this: ANSI.SYS allows app. 200 bytes for
key definitions (depending on which version of DOS you use).
You could define 9 or 10 keys, each with 20 characters assigned
to it and you shouldn't have any problem. If your needs don't
require more, no problem! I used ANSI.SYS myself until recently &
only switched because I have so many sub-directories for various
programs I'm working on. To make my directory-changing chores a
bit less tedious, I now use ANSI.COM, but only allocate 400 bytes
for key definitions - that's all I need.
NOTE: ANSI.COM will NOT load itself if ANSI.SYS is already present.
-- Page 8 --
Trying Different Colors
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When I finally got a color monitor, the first thing I wanted
to do was experiment with different colors in DOS. If you're new
to ANSI.SYS & haven't done much with your colors before, you may want
to create several batch files with ANSI-MATE that will let you see
what different color combinations look like.
For example, create one called REDWHITE.BAT, then assign the
foreground to RED and the background WHITE. When you execute this
file, it'll let you see what that particular combination looks like.
Another could be NORMAL.BAT which sets the foreground back to WHITE
with a BLACK background again. My personal favorite would be
WHITBLUE.BAT setting foreground to white and the background to BLUE.
You can make another called YELBROWN.BAT to see what YELLOW on BROWN
might look like (not too bad). I think you've got the picture. =)
In Conclusion...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ANSI-MATE offers you a great way to learn more about utilizing
ANSI.SYS effectively & I hope you find it useful. If you like and
plan to use this program, I would appreciate you becoming a registered
user. Remember, for just 10 bucks, you'll get a personalized copy
of ANSI-MATE, the handy utility, and the essay including key/color
charts. I think you'll find the essay alone to be worth more the
cost for registration.
THANK YOU FOR EVALUATING ANSI-MATE & SHARING IT WITH OTHERS!
************************************************************
VENDOR INFO
~~~~~~~~~~~
ANSI-MATE may be freely distributed under these conditions:
- All files must be included & unmodified. They are:
* AM.EXE
* ANSIMATE.DOC
* READ_ME!.BAT
* SEE.COM
- No fee may be charged, with the exception of a REASONABLE
amount to cover your costs (NOT to exceed $5).
- You must contact BOB-KIT Software Company and inform us
that you are distributing the program.
-- Page 9 --
+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| ANSI-MATE Registration Form |
| |
| ___ Yes! Send my personalized copy of ANSI-MATE for |
| only $10 (U.S. funds). I understand the most |
| recent version will be mailed 1st Class upon |
| reciept of my order. Also, I'll recieve an essay |
| about ANSI.SYS, color/key scan code charts, and |
| the handy command-line utility, all FREE! |
| |
| ___ I have a 5 1/4" disk-drive. |
| |
| ___ I need this sent on a 3 1/2" diskette. |
| (Only if you don't have a 5 1/4" drive. Thanx!) |
| |
| Here's where to send it: |
| |
| Name_________________________________________ |
| |
| Address______________________________________ |
| |
| City_____________________ St___ Zip _________ |
| |
| Please print your name as you would like it to |
| appear at the top of the screen: |
| |
| _____________________________________________ |
| |
| Please send check or money order to: |
| |
| BOB-KIT Software Company |
| P.O. Box 13717 |
| Detroit, MI 48213 |
| |
| Cash is okay, too - however I don't recommend it. |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+
