CP/M/CPM_CDROM.iso/cpm/draco/draco-1.ark/CONFIG.REF

Text File | 1986-11-13 | 13.3 KB | 295 lines

Using CONFIG to Configure a Program

    The CONFIG utility is designed to take object files which have been
built using the CRT facilities, and configure them for a specific terminal.
To do this, it also includes facilities for the maintenance of a database of
terminal definitions. When CONFIG is called from CP/M, it can be given
several parameters. These parameters must be the base names of the files
which are to be configured. The actual configuring is not done until the
user issues the 'Process' command to CONFIG, which is an interactive program.

    CONFIG has been designed so that it will operate on most terminals. It
It does not need a lower-case capability, but will use it if it is available.
When CONFIG is run, it will ask

    LOWER CASE ON THIS TERMINAL?

The question refers to the terminal on which CONFIG is being run, and must be
answered with a 'y' or an 'n' (upper or lower case). If the reply is yes, the
messages and prompts from CONFIG will be in mixed case; if the reply is no,
all messages, etc. will be translated to upper case. When CONFIG issues its
command prompt, you can reply with '?' for a summary of the options. The
options available are:

    C(reate) new terminal type

    If the terminal you are using is not in CONFIG's database, you can
    create a new entry and add it to the database. When doing so, you
    will be able to test the definition, and modify it until it appears
    to be correct. CONFIG must be running on the terminal in question
    in order that the testing work. Many of the questions have a default
    value in parentheses, which will be used if nothing is entered. When
    creating a new terminal type, you will be asked for the following
    information:

        How many lines does the terminal display? (24)

        This is the number of lines which the terminal can display on
        its screen. The value must be between 16 and 253. If you just
        press RETURN, a default value of 24 lines will be assumed.

        How many columns does the terminal display? (80)

        This is the number of columns which the terminal can display
        in each line. The value must be between 32 and 253. If you
        just press RETURN, a default value of 80 will be used.

        Can the terminal display lower case letters? (y)

        Answer 'y' or 'Y' if the terminal can display lower-case
        letters, else answer 'n' or 'N'.

    Next, you will be asked to enter information describing how your
    terminal does cursor addressing, i.e. what codes are required to put
    the cursor at a specific place (line, column) on the screen. This
    section is headed by the message:

        The following questions refer to the cursor positioning
            operation:

    after which the following questions will be asked:

        When positioning, is the line number sent before the column
            number? (y)

        Some terminals require that the line number be transmitted
        before the column number, others require that the column
        number be transmitted before the line number. Answer 'y' or
        'Y' if your terminal requires the line number first; answer
        'n' or 'N' if your terminal requires the column number first.

        Are the values decimal ASCII values instead of single byte
            binary values? (n)

        Some more expensive terminals follow an emerging standard in
        which the addressing information is actually a decimal text
        string, e.g. '10,30' to go to line 10 and column 30. Most
        current terminals, however, send the values encoded as single
        characters each. The most common form of this uses the space
        character for the first line/column, the '!' for the second,
        the '"' for the third, etc. Others follow a similar scheme,
        but the values are offset in the ASCII character set. If
        your terminal is of the first type (requires a full text
        form), answer 'y' or 'Y', else answer 'n' or 'N'. If you
        answered 'y', you will also be asked:

        Are the values 3 digits instead of 2 digits? (n)

        Some terminals can display up to 132 columns of text. To
        allow full cursor addressing, they require 3 digit values
        instead of 2 digit values. If you terminal is of this kind,
        answer 'y' or 'Y', else answer 'n' or 'N'.

        Enter decimal value to add to line number: (xx)

        Assuming that the first line on the screen is line 0, what
        value must be added to the line number which is transmitted
        to the terminal? In the case where the character space is
        used to represent the first line, the value is the ASCII
        value of space, which is 32. The default value will be 32
        if you have selected non-ASCII addressing, otherwise the
        default value will be 1, which is normal for that mode.

        Enter decimal value to add to column number: (xx)

        This is entirely analagous to the line offset. Most terminals
        will use the same offset for both lines and columns.

        Enter the cursor addressing lead-in sequence:

        For this and other requested 'sequences', you must actually
        type on your keyboard the sequence of characters (usually
        including control characters and/or escapes) which your
        terminal uses to signal the start of a cursor addressing
        operation. For example, the sequence for an ADDS Viewpoint
        terminal is listed as ESCAPE-Y, thus if you are using that
        terminal, you would press the ESCAPE (or ESC) key, followed
        by a capital 'Y'. The characters will not appear on the
        screen. Press RETURN at the end of the sequence. For some
        sequences, some terminals may require delays after the
        action, so that the terminal can complete the operation
        before the next is sent. The CRT library partially allows
        for this by allowing NUL's (hex 0x00) in the sequences.
        Since the CP/M TTY driver doesn't let NUL's through, some
        other character must be used. I've chosen to use the TAB
        character (hex 0x09), on the grounds that it is unlikely to
        be included in any terminal's sequences.

        Enter the line/column separator sequence:  (optional)

        Some terminals require specific characters between the line
        number and the column number (or vice versa). If your
        terminal does, then enter that sequence. If your terminal
        doesn't require any separators, then just press RETURN.

        Enter the cursor addressing lead-out sequence: (optional)

        Some terminals may require specific characters after the
        line and column numbers. If your terminal does, then enter
        that sequence. If your terminal doesn't require any
        terminating characters, then just press RETURN.

    All that remains now is to specify a few remaining sequences which
    tell the terminal to clear lines, clear the screen, etc. This section
    is headed by the message

        Now the remaining terminal characteristics:

    The specific values requested are:

        Enter the sequence used to initialize the terminal: (optional)

        This sequence will be sent to the terminal when a program
        which uses the CRT library first starts up. It can be used
        to set various terminal modes, such as highlight modes.

        Enter the sequence used to terminate CRT mode: (optional)

        This sequence will be sent to the terminal when a program
        which uses the CRT library terminates normally. It will
        typically reset anything unusual set by the initialization
        sequence.

        Enter the sequence used to clear to the end of the
            line: (optional)

        This must be a sequence which tells the terminal to clear
        the current line from the cursor column to the end of the
        line to all blanks. It must leave the cursor in the same
        position. If the terminal can't do this, enter no sequence,
        and the CRT library will clear the line the hard way.

        Enter the sequence used to clear the entire screen: (optional)

        Enter here the sequence of characters that your terminal
        interprets by clearing the entire screen to spaces or nulls,
        and leaves the cursor in the upper left corner of the screen.
        For many terminals, this will be a single CONTROL-L (the
        ASCII FF or formfeed character).

        Enter the sequence used to clear from here on down: (optional)

        This is similar to the previous sequence, except that all
        lines on the screen from the current one to the end of the
        screen must be cleared. The cursor should be left at the
        beginning of the first line cleared. You can rely on it
        being there when this sequence is issued.

        Enter the sequence used to enter highlight mode: (optional)

        If your terminal has any facilities for highlighting
        characters, such as reverse video, half intensity, blinking,
        etc., then enter here the sequence which will cause all
        successive characters to be highlighted. If your terminal has
        no such facility, then just press RETURN.

        Enter the sequence used to exit highlight mode:

        This sequence must be provided if the previous one was. It
        must instruct the terminal to stop highlighting characters.
        The characters on the screen which are already highlighted
        should stay highlighted, but new characters added should not
        be highlighted. You will not be asked for this sequence if
        you didn't enter a sequence for the previous prompt.

        Enter the sequence which moves the cursor forward: (optional)

        Enter here the character or characters which your terminal
        interprets as a request to move the cursor forward one
        column, but without affecting the current character or the
        character at the new position. If your terminal doesn't have
        such a capability, then just press RETURN.

    The program will now respond with

        Done.

    and will ask if you want to test the terminal definition. If you are
    running CONFIG on the terminal that you just defined, and you want
    to test the definition, then respond with 'y' or 'Y' and CONFIG will
    execute a sequence of operations that tries out all of the values
    and sequences you just entered. When the test is done, you should
    see a line of minus signs at the top of the screen, vertical bars
    down the sides (the last line will be empty), a large 'X' of
    asterisks across the middle of the screen, and some text centered
    at the top of the screen, overwriting part of the large 'X'. A
    couple of the lines of output are dependent on whether or not the
    terminal has a highlighting feature (called reverse video), and
    whether or not it has a non-destructive forward space. Press any
    key to continue, and you will be asked if the test worked. If it
    didn't, respond with 'n' or 'N', and you will go through the
    definition operation again. If the test worked, or you didn't
    perform the test, you will be asked if you want to add the terminal
    to the database. If you respond 'y' or 'Y', you will also be asked
    for a name for the terminal in the database. The newly defined
    terminal becomes the 'current' terminal, and will be used to process
    the .SET files if not later overridden.

    D(elete) terminal type

    This option is used to delete a terminal definition from the
    database. This can be done if you wish to replace one of the
    definitions. Any selected terminal will be un-selected, in case you
    deleted the one which was selected.

    (L)ist terminal types

    This option will list on your screen the names of all of the terminal
    definitions in the database. If you have not already done a list, you
    will be asked how many lines your current terminal has. This value
    is required so that proper pagination of the list (which can be
    quite long if your version of the database has a lot of entries) can
    be done. Again, if you just press RETURN, a default of 24 is assumed.

    (S)elect terminal type

    This option is used to select a terminal type which is to be used
    for a test, or, more importantly, for configuring some programs.
    You will be asked for the number of the terminal type, which can be
    obtained by finding the terminal type in the listing produced by the
    list option.

    (V)iew selected terminal

    This option displays the definition of the current selected terminal.
    It is used to verify a new definition, or to examine an existing
    definition. Unlike the 'Test' option, it can be used on a terminal
    different from the selected one.

    (T)est selected terminal

    If your terminal already existed in the database (likely if you have
    a large database and a fairly common terminal), you may want to test
    it to see if it actually works. You must have selected a terminal
    type via the select option before you can test it.

    (P)rocess .SET files

    This is the important option. This option is used to configure the
    programs supplied in .SET file form, producing a corresponding .COM
    file for each one, which has been configured to run on your terminal.
    If you gave CONFIG parameters when you ran it, those parameters are
    now taken to be .SET files (the .SET is optional) which are to be
    processed. CONFIG will inform you of which one it is currently
    processing. The processing can take quite a while, since it is a
    two-pass operation. If you did not supply any parameters to CONFIG,
    you will be prompted to enter the name of a .SET file (again, the
    .SET can be ommitted) to configure. Just press RETURN to get out of
    the process option. Note that you must have selected a terminal
    type via the select option before you can use the process option.

    Q(uit)

    Use this option when you are finished with CONFIG. It will return you
    to CP/M command mode.