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T H E P R O G R A M M E R ' S --------------------------------- P R O D U C T I V I T Y P A C K ------------------------------------ * L I T E * --------------- Version 1.00 -------------- U S E R ' S G U I D E -------------------------- Copyright (c) 1988,1989,1990 by Falk Data Systems. All Rights Reserved. Last updated: November, 1990 Falk Data Systems 5322 Rockwood Court El Paso, Texas 79932-2412 U.S.A. Phone: (915) 584-7670 CompuServe: 71420,2431 _______ ____|__ | (R) --| | |------------------- | ____|__ | Association of | | |_| Shareware |__| o | Professionals -----| | |--------------------- |___|___| MEMBER --- CONTENTS --- General Information .......................................... 1 The Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite (ProLite) .......... 1 License .................................................... 1 Warranty ................................................... 1 Registration ............................................... 1 Technical Support .......................................... 1 ASP Ombudsman Statement .................................... 2 Obtaining Updates .......................................... 3 Trademarks Mentioned ....................................... 4 Introduction ................................................. 5 What is ProLite? ........................................... 5 System Requirements ........................................ 6 Memory Requirements ........................................ 7 How To Use This Manual ..................................... 7 How to Install ProLite ....................................... 9 Which Files Do I Need? ..................................... 9 Installing On A Hard Disk System ........................... 9 Installing On A Floppy Disk System ......................... 10 Setting ProLite For Your Monitor ........................... 11 The 80 Column Text Mode .................................... 12 The Modifier Keys .......................................... 12 ProLite and Your Keyboard .................................. 12 How To Load And Unload ProLite ............................... 14 Using ProLite .............................................. 14 Loading ProLite .......................................... 15 ProLite Command Line Options ............................. 16 ProLite as a Stand-Alone Program ......................... 20 Renaming PROLITE.EXE ..................................... 21 Unloading ProLite .......................................... 21 Sidekick Considerations .................................... 21 The DOS PRINT Program ...................................... 23 In Case of Conflicts With Other Memory-Resident Programs ... 23 ProLite and Batch Files .................................... 24 ProLite Error Messages ..................................... 25 Beeps and Doesn't Pop Up ................................. 25 Doesn't Beep or Pop Up ................................... 26 Table of Contents i --- CONTENTS --- The Programmer's Calculator and Attachments .................. 27 The Programmer's Calculator .................................. 27 The Quick Start Tutorial ................................... 27 The In-Depth Reference Guide ............................... 34 The Range Of Values Available ............................ 34 The Programmer's Calculator Display ...................... 35 The Quick Reference Menu ................................. 36 Signed And Unsigned Modes ................................ 36 The Four Numeric Formats ................................. 37 The Calculator Commands .................................. 37 The Mathematical Operations .............................. 41 Logical and Bit Manipulation Operations .................. 43 Moving The Calculator's Display .......................... 45 Going To The Attachments ................................. 45 The ASCII and Color Attribute Chart .......................... 47 The Quick Start Tutorial ................................... 47 The In-Depth Reference Guide ............................... 49 25, 43, And 50 Line Screens .............................. 49 The Columns On The Chart ................................. 49 The Extended Characters .................................. 50 Moving Around The Chart .................................. 50 Other Available Commands ................................. 51 Returning to the Calculator .............................. 51 The Keystroke Reference Center ............................... 52 The Quick Start Tutorial ................................... 52 The In-Depth Reference Guide ............................... 55 How To Access The Keystroke Reference Center ............. 56 The Display .............................................. 56 Scan Codes and INKEY() Values ............................ 57 Portability Notes ........................................ 58 Moving the Display ....................................... 58 Other Available Commands ................................. 59 Park Disk(s) and Blank Screen ................................ 60 The In-Depth Reference Guide ............................... 60 PCustom: The Customizing Program ............................. 62 The Quick Start Tutorial ................................... 62 The In-Depth Reference Guide ............................... 64 Starting PCustom ......................................... 64 How PCustom Works ........................................ 64 The PCustom Menus ........................................ 65 The Main Menu ............................................ 65 The Colors Menu ........................................ 65 The Hot Keys Menu ...................................... 72 The Sound Effects Menu ................................. 73 The Advanced Options Menu .............................. 74 The Exit PCustom Menu .................................. 78 Table of Contents ii --- CONTENTS --- Miscellaneous Information .................................... 79 EXE Compression Utilities .................................. 79 Change History ............................................. 79 Appendix A The Bits and the Bytes. .................................... 80 Appendix B Understanding Two's Complement Numbers ..................... 89 Appendix C What is Falk Data Systems? ................................. 91 Other Products From Falk Data Systems ...................... 91 Index ........................................................ 92 Table of Contents iii Figures Figure 1: Programmer's Calculator Display ................... 35 Figure 2: The Quick Reference Menu .......................... 36 Figure 3: Decimal Box Display ............................... 42 Figure 4: ASCII Chart Display ............................... 49 Figure 5: Keystroke Reference Center Display ................ 57 Figure 6: PCustom Main Menu ................................. 65 Figure 7: PCustom Colors Menu ............................... 65 Figure 8: Custom Colors Submenu ............................. 67 Figure 9: Calculator Sub-Submenu ............................ 68 Figure 10: Customize Hot Keys Submenu ........................ 72 Figure 11: Hot Keys Submenu .................................. 73 Figure 12: Sound Effects Submenu ............................. 73 Figure 13: Advanced Options Submenu .......................... 74 Figure 14: Miscellaneous Sub-Submenu ......................... 77 Figure 15: Exit PCustom Submenu .............................. 78 Figures iv - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - --------------------- General Information --------------------- The Programmer's Productivity Pack (ProPak): ============================================ "The Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite" is a very long title! To help keep things brief we will often refer to the Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite as "ProLite". When we use the word "ProLite" as a shortened form of "Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite" we are referring to the entire package and all the programs in the package (including ProLite and PCustom). License: ======== The Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite is NOT a public domain program. It is Copyright (c) 1988, 1989,1990 by Falk Data Systems. Please refer to the LICENSE.DOC text file for important license information. Warranty: ========= Please refer to the WARRANTY.DOC text file for important warranty information. Registration: ============= Please refer to the REGISTER.DOC text file for complete registration information. Technical Support: ================== Free technical support is available to all registered users of the Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite. If you are a registered user and have a question, problem, or need help in any way, please feel free to contact us for technical support. We are here to help you. Falk Data Systems wants its customers to be happy with our products. We will do General Information 1 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - our best to help you get the most out of the Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite. If you are not yet a registered user, please read the REGISTER.DOC text file for complete registration information and a list of benefits for registered users. Most technical support questions are answered in the ProLite User's Guide (this document). So before contacting us for technical support, please try to find the answer to your question in the User's Guide. Please check the ANSWERS.DOC text file for the answers to the most commonly asked questions regarding ProLite. If you are unable to find the information you need, then please feel free to contact us. Perhaps you've come across something that should be included in the User's Guide in the future. The best way to obtain technical support is through CompuServe. You may send CompuServe Mail messages to us on CompuServe [71420,2431]. We check our messages every working day, and frequently on weekends too. If you are not a CompuServe subscriber be sure to check the appropriate box on your registration form and we will provide you with a free CompuServe Introductory Membership and a $15.00 usage credit. You may also obtain technical support by writing or calling Falk Data Systems. Registered users may call our technical support line at (915) 584-7670. Our hours are 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, Mountain time, Monday through Friday. Please refer to page 91 for our address and other phone numbers. ASP Ombudsman Statement: ======================== Falk Data Systems is a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at P.O. Box 5786, Bellevue, WA 98006 or send a CompuServe message via easyplex to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536. General Information 2 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - Obtaining Updates: ================== Distributing a new version of a shareware product can be more expensive than most people realize. Hundreds of disks must be sent to shareware distributors, computer user groups, clubs and organizations, magazine editors, and more. This is in addition to sending copies to any registered users who are entitled to the new version. The process is costly not only in postage, but also in time and energy. Therefore, we don't always send out updates and modifications to all the usual channels. This is one of the reasons registered users are often able to acquire updates and new versions long before non-registered users. Another reason why registered users are often able to receive updates months before non-registered users is because of the lead time involved in updating the catalogs of the disk vendors. Most disk vendors update their catalogs every 1-3 months (depending upon the frequency of catalog releases). This means that even after a vendor receives an update it may be several months before you find out about it. If you happen to miss a catalog issue or overlook an update notice then it could take even longer for you to find out about an update. When we release a new version it is sent FIRST to all registered users who are entitled to the new version. Their copy goes in the mail even before copies to magazine editors and columnists. Some versions are sent ONLY to registered users and NOT to anyone else. Unless you are a registered user, you have no reliable way of knowing whether you have the most current version or an older, less capable version. This clearly shows yet another benefit to becoming a registered user. When you become a registered user of ProLite, we will send you the most current version on disk in a sealed envelope along with other material. Registered users also receive free notification of all future updates and the opportunity to receive them automatically, at a substantially reduced cost. Please refer to the REGISTER.DOC text file for complete details. General Information 3 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - Trademarks Mentioned: ===================== Falk Data Systems, ProPak, ProSwap, the Programmer's Productivity Pack, ProLite, and the Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite are trademarks of Falk Data Systems. BRIEF is a trademark of UnderWare, Inc. CompuServe is a trademark of CompuServe Incorporated. dBASE is a trademark of Ashton-Tate, Inc. DESQview is a trademark of Quarterdeck Office Systems. Hercules is a registered trademark of Hercules Computer Technology, Inc. IBM, PC-DOS, PC/XT/AT and PS/2 are registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. Microsoft and MS-DOS are trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. OPTASM is a registered trademark of SLR Systems. TaskView and OmniView are trademarks of Sunny Hill Software. Periscope is a trademark of The Periscope Company. Solution Systems is a trademark of the Software Developer's Corporation. Turbo Professional is a registered trademark of Sunny Hill Software, used under license to TurboPower Software. TurboPower Software is a trademark of TurboPower Software. Turbo Pascal, Turbo Assembler, Turbo Debugger, Sidekick and SideKick Plus are registered trademarks of Borland International. WordStar is a registered trademark of MicroPro International Corporation. Some of the trademarks of other companies mentioned in this user's guide appear for identification purposes only. General Information 4 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - -------------- Introduction -------------- What is ProLite? ================ ProLite is a subset of the larger Programmer's Productivity Pack (ProPak). The complete Programmer's Productivity Pack is also available on a try-before-you-buy basis. Please refer to the PRODUCTS.DOC text file for more information. The Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite, ProLite, is a software package designed to provide the utilities and reference tools most frequently needed by programmers. What's more, each individual tool or "attachment" within the ProLite package was designed to be the best, most powerful, most flexible, and easiest to use in its category. For instance, The Programmer's Calculator, which is only one of the tools built into ProLite, is the best Programmer's Calculator on the market, bar none! Integrating all of these tools into one program and placing them at your disposal at one time will make the time you spend programming more productive than ever. ProLite provides you with: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ o A Programmer's Calculator that works simultaneously in decimal, binary, hexadecimal, and octal. o Addition, subtraction, multiplication, integer division, and modulus mathematical functions. o SHL, SHR, ROL, ROR, SAL, SAR, RCL, RCR bit manipulation functions. o AND, NOT, OR, and XOR logical functions. o Exchange word and exchange double word functions. o An ASCII and color attribute chart. o A keystroke reference utility that returns both the BIOS scan codes and the dBASE INKEY() values. o A screen blanking facility that will park your hard disk (or disks) while the screen is blanked. Introduction 5 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - o A pop-up DOS shell capability which enables you to shell to DOS from any program, with as much as 600K bytes of memory available in the DOS shell. o Complete control of all the Hot Keys, colors, sound effects, file extensions, memory usage, and more, through PCustom, the customizing program. All this and more. All in one smoothly integrated package. The Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite includes tools which can run stand-alone, memory-resident (even with Sidekick), memory- resident with swapping, or as a background task in a multitasking environment. And since ProLite provides you with the ability to customize every detail, it not only helps you to be more productive, it also gives you the freedom to adapt it to your particular needs and preferences. The Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite can handle dual monitor systems, EMS and XMS memory, multitasking systems like DESQview and TaskView/OmniView, and more. ProLite can be easily and safely unloaded from memory when the need arises. You even have three different methods by which it may be unloaded. The Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite is even compatible with Borland's Sidekick. It is so compatible that it can be safely loaded AFTER Sidekick. All things considered, the Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite should become one of your most often used utilities, and you might find yourself wondering how you ever got along without it. Congratulations on one of your best software acquisitions! System Requirements: -------------------- The Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite requires PC/MS-DOS 2.0 or higher, on an IBM PC, XT, AT, PS/2, or close compatible. ProLite will work on a floppy disk only system, but a hard disk is recommended. ProLite supports all common video adapter and monitor combinations, including dual monitor systems. ProLite has been tested with the following adapter types: MDA, CGA, EGA, MCGA, and VGA, as well as the Hercules and Hercules InColor cards. EMS and/or XMS memory is helpful but not required. Introduction 6 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - Memory Requirements: -------------------- The actual memory requirements will vary depending upon how swapping is handled, the amount of memory you reserve for the Pop-Up DOS Shell, etc. When loaded in swapping mode, ProLite retains only about 7K bytes of memory while resident (and swapped out). The customizing program, PCustom, requires 256K bytes of RAM. ProLite.EXE: ~~~~~~~~~~~~ ProLite uses as little memory as possible. ProLite can swap itself to disk, to EMS memory, or to XMS memory. All this flexibility means that ProLite is ideal when memory is scarce. How To Use This Manual: ----------------------- This manual is designed to get you up and running with the Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite as quickly as possible. Besides being written in a simple, conversational style there are five special features which will help you get the most from ProLite in the minimum amount of time. The Quick Start Tutorials: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The "Quick Start Tutorials" are designed to help you begin using the individual tools in the Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite in an efficient and productive manner as quickly as possible. Each Quick Start Tutorial is complete in itself. This means that they don't have to be read together or in any particular order. Each tutorial should take about 15 minutes or less to complete. Although the tutorials don't cover every single feature of the program in detail, they will get you comfortable and familiar with the major functions in each tool quickly and painlessly. It would be to your benefit to read the Quick Start Tutorials, even if you never looked at the rest of the manual. They will help you get your money's worth out of this software package. Take advantage of them. You'll be glad you did! Since ProLite was written to be easy to learn and use (to be "intuitive") you will probably find that the Quick Start Tutorials are all you will need to start working profitably with it. Introduction 7 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - The In-Depth Reference Guides: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The In-Depth Reference Guides in the ProLite User's Guide cover each one of the tools and utilities individually. As the name implies, this is where you can find a complete listing and description of each and every feature of that tool or program. Every command and option will be given, along with any necessary information on how and when to use it. The In-Depth Reference Guides contain a tremendous amount of helpful information and we suggest that you consult them. They are written in the same simple, conversational style and should be just as comfortable to read as the tutorials. Tips and Tricks: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Wherever we have been able to develop helpful tips and tricks to make the use of ProLite even more efficient we have put them in the User's Guide and marked them with "TIP:". Using these techniques does not require any more expertise than using any other feature of the program. They are just the by-product of the many hours the author, beta-testers, and users have spent using the program. In future upgrades we will include any other tips that we find or develop or that you bring to our attention. Our desire is to provide you with the best tools and documentation possible. The Appendices: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There are three appendices following the User's Guide that will be of special value to any of you that are new to programming. They may even help some of you old pros to fill in a few gaps in your understanding. We have endeavored to make ProLite a useful tool for both the student and the professional programmer. The Index: ~~~~~~~~~~ The Index at the back of the User's Guide is as comprehensive as we could make it without overwhelming you with unnecessary references. Introduction 8 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - ----------------------- How to Install ProLite ----------------------- Which Files Do I Need?: ======================= The following discussion outlines the files included in the Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite. ProLite.EXE: This is the flexible-loading version (called ProSwap in the full size Programmer's Productivity Pack). ProLite can run as a memory-resident "swapping" version, a standard memory-resident version, a background task under DESQview or OmniView/TaskView, or as a stand-alone program under MS-DOS. PCustom.EXE: This is the customizing program which will enable you to customize ProLite. The customizing program does not need to be present to make changes to the program "on the fly". You can change some items (such as Hot Keys) while ProLite is actually loaded in memory. The customizing program DOES have to be used if you want the changes to be "permanent". That is, written to disk and available to you the next time you turn on your computer. Changes made from within ProLite are not "permanent" because they are made in memory and will be lost when you unload ProLite or turn off your computer. Both methods of customizing are simple to use whenever needed. We recommend that both ProLite.EXE and PCustom.EXE be placed in the same subdirectory on your hard disk, or on the same diskette on floppy disk-only systems. By the way, PCustom, the customizing program, is not required for the operation of ProLite, but it is nice to have on hand. Unless disk space is at a premium, keep it available at all times. We have also provided a file called "ANSWERS.DOC", which answers the most commonly asked questions concerning the use of the Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite. Installing On A Hard Disk System: ================================= The first step, which should be taken BEFORE you install the programs on your hard disk, is to make backup copies. This is a very important safety measure which you should take with every Installing ProLite 9 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - new program. This protects your investment in case a disk becomes damaged or erased. We provide extra labels with the registered version for you to place on your backup copies. Finally, we recommend that you use the copies as "working copies" and place the original diskettes in a safe place. Installing the Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite on your hard disk is simply a matter of deciding which files you want to copy to your hard disk, and which subdirectory you want to place them in. Running an actual "installation" program is not required. Any one of the two programs will run fine. There is no "PInstall" program. PCustom enables you to customize various features of the program, but it is not necessary in order to get ProLite up and running. In fact, ProLite is sophisticated enough to determine for itself if you are using a color or monochrome monitor, EMS memory, etc. We should add however, that if you are using a black-and-white monitor, such as an LCD or gas plasma display, or other gray scale type of monitor, you will probably want to run PCustom to change the screen colors to the gray scale values. This is covered in the section "Setting ProLite For Your Monitor" (page 11). ProLite is already set to look good on monochrome and color monitors. Installing On A Floppy Disk System: =================================== Because ProLite uses swapping to conserve memory, we recommend that it be run from a hard disk rather than from the slower floppy diskette drives. But, if you do not have a hard disk, don't worry. You can still use the Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite. To take advantage of its swapping capabilities, however, you will need either a hard disk, or sufficient EMS or XMS memory for swapping purposes. As with every software product you purchase, your first step should be to make backup copies of the distribution diskettes. This will protect your investment in case something unexpected happens to the original diskettes. We provide (with the registered version) printed labels for you to place on your backup copies. Finally, we recommend that you use the backup diskettes as the "working copy" and place the original diskettes in a safe place. We recommend that you include PCustom on each ProLite diskette. This way you will be able to customize the program whenever you wish. However, PCustom is not required for ProLite to run. Installing ProLite 10 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - Running an actual "installation" program is not required. Any one of the two programs will run fine. There is no "PInstall" program. PCustom enables you to customize various features of ProLite, but it is not necessary in order to get ProLite up and running. In fact, ProLite is sophisticated enough to determine for itself if you are using a color or monochrome monitor, etc. We should add however, that if you are using a black-and-white monitor, such as an LCD or gas plasma display, or another gray scale type of monitor, you will probably want to run PCustom to change the screen colors to the gray scale values. This is covered in the next section "Setting ProLite For Your Monitor". ProLite is already set to look good on monochrome and color monitors. If you are new to MS-DOS and are not sure how to copy files from one disk to another, then please consult your DOS manual to familiarize yourself with DOS and to answer any questions that may arise. Setting ProLite For Your Monitor: ================================= You do not have to do anything to set up ProLite for your monitor if you are using either a color or monochrome monitor. ProLite is sophisticated enough to know which one you have without asking you. However, gray scale type monitors (LCD, gas plasma, etc.) look like color monitors to any software. If you don't tell ProLite that you really have a black-and-white display then some of the screens will not be very clear. PCustom enables you to set ProLite to look good on a black-and-white monitor. To set ProLite to look good on your black-and-white monitor, simply type "PCUSTOM -B" <Enter>. When the PCustom Main Menu appears choose "Modify All Versions Present". Wait for a second and another Menu will appear. Choose "Colors". When the "Colors" Submenu appears choose "Gray Scale Attribute Set". Move the highlight bar with the <Down> arrow key and press <Enter> when "Gray Scale Attribute Set" is highlighted. Now go to "Exit PCustom" and press <Enter>. Choose "Save Changes" and you are done. Refer to the section on PCustom (page 66) for more detailed information. You do not have to make any special arrangements to use ProLite with a dual monitor system. Installing ProLite 11 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - The 80 Column Text Mode: ======================== In general, the features provided by ProLite are only available while in an 80 column text mode. ProLite will recognize and take advantage of 25, 43 and 50 line modes. ProLite is not designed to pop up while in graphics mode. This is due to the fact that much more memory would be needed to save a graphics screen than a text screen. For the same reason, ProLite was not designed for use in 132 column mode (which is rarely used). Also, since most of ProLite's displays cannot fit on a 40 column screen, it will not pop up under those conditions. The Modifier Keys: ================== Many times in both the manual and the on-screen menus, a keystroke command is listed with a caret (^) in front of the key. For instance, the Calculator's Quick Reference Menu is opened using <^M>. ProLite is not excessively picky about keystrokes. To make things as easy as possible such keys can actually be entered in a number of different ways. Let's use the "^M" example. <^M> can be entered as Ctrl-M, Alt-M, Shift-M, or just plain "M". This makes keystroke commands very easy to remember. There are only two categories of exceptions to this rule and they will always be explained as they are encountered. The two general categories are outlined below. When you are in Hexadecimal format in The Programmer's Calculator, the letters "A" through "F" correspond to the hexadecimal values 0A hex (10 decimal) through 0F hex (15 decimal). Therefore, to use one of these letters as anything other than a hexadecimal value, they must be preceded by either <Ctrl> or <Alt>. Some keys such as <Tab> or <F1> mean the opposite when they are modified with <Ctrl>, <Alt> or a <Shift> key. ProLite and Your Keyboard: ========================== Knowing how ProLite uses your keyboard can help you get the most out of ProLite. ProLite is able to use more key combinations than most software. The reason for this is twofold. When ProLite is installed, it hooks into the BIOS keyboard services (Interrupts 09h and 16h) and adds several additional capabilities to those services. These additional features are Installing ProLite 12 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - much more apparent to those of you who do not have enhanced keyboards. ProLite is able to recognize many key combinations that are normally usable only with an enhanced keyboard. Also, for users of enhanced keyboards, ProLite is able to use about a dozen key combinations that are not normally recognized by the BIOS alone. This enhancement to normal keyboard functionality is at a very low level, meaning that you do not have to do anything special to obtain this benefit. On a higher level, ProLite goes to extreme lengths to recognize keys logically according to the context in which they are typed. For instance, if you are using The Programmer's Calculator and do not have NumLock set and you press the <Up> Arrow key, it is fairly obvious that you intended to enter the number 8. This concept helps to make ProLite so easy to use. It even works with the number 5 key, the center key on the numeric keypad, when NumLock is NOT on. By being aware of ProLite's efforts to make your keyboard more functional, you can often think of additional ways to improve your productivity. After all, who knows more about the kinds of things you use your computer for than you do? Installing ProLite 13 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - -------------------------------- How To Load And Unload ProLite -------------------------------- Now that you have chosen which files you want to use and have installed them on your system, all that remains is to use them. Using ProLite: ============== ProLite is an extremely flexible program containing the most used features of The Programmer's Productivity Pack. o ProLite can be loaded as a swapping memory resident version which swaps most of itself out of memory when not in use. When loaded in this fashion ProLite retains only about 7K bytes of memory while resident. ProLite can swap itself to: - XMS memory. - EMS memory. - a RAM disk. - a hard disk. - a Bernoulli drive. o ProLite can be loaded as a traditional memory resident program (no swapping). o ProLite can also be run as a stand-alone DESQview aware program which does not remain memory resident. ProLite also provides a useful pop-up DOS shell capability. When activated, this capability swaps the currently running program out, freeing as much memory as possible, then loads a secondary copy of the command processor, and places you at the DOS prompt. This capability enables you to shell to DOS from programs that do not have this capability built in. Important Note: To use the pop-up DOS shell capability you must have PC/MS-DOS 3.0 or later. If you are using an earlier version of DOS you will have to disable the DOS shell capability using PCustom, before you can use ProLite. Loading and Unloading ProLite 14 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - Loading ProLite: ---------------- To start ProLite simply type "PROLITE" <Enter> at the DOS prompt. This will start ProLite in its default (normal) mode. Several command line options are available and are described in detail below. Before we discuss the command line options, you should be aware of some limitations. ProLite is designed to provide you with as much usable memory as possible while it is resident. To accomplish this ProLite must be able to swap itself into and out of memory. Because of this swapping behavior there are several things you must avoid. o ProLite cannot be loaded into "high" memory using utilities such as QRAM, QEMM, 386MAX, or any similar utility. o ProLite should not be loaded before programs that contain hardware interrupt handlers. Examples of such programs are network shells, multitasking operating systems, and communications programs. If you are going to use ProLite in these environments you should load it after the network shell or multitasking operating system is installed. o It is possible to load ProLite and still run communications programs like ProComm or TAPCIS, providing you follow some simple guidelines. Do NOT pop ProLite up over your communications program while it is online, uploading or downloading, or waiting to answer an incoming call. When ProLite pops up it swaps the current application out - essentially trading places with it in memory. This will be a problem if the other program was trying to deal with com ports or some other hardware related activity. Of course, if you are using a program like ProComm or TAPCIS and the program is not online or waiting to answer an incoming call, then it is safe to pop up ProLite. o ProLite will not pop up over a program operating in graphics mode. ProLite does not know how to save and restore a graphics screen. So to prevent problems, ProLite will simply beep and refuse to pop up when your video system is in graphics mode. There are also some important restrictions regarding the pop-up DOS shell capabilities. o You cannot pop to a DOS shell while you are at the DOS command line. The problem has to do with the way DOS handles its internal stacks. You're probably wondering Loading and Unloading ProLite 15 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - "why would I want to shell to the DOS command line when I'm already at the DOS command line?". Well, there's really no reason to do this, so this isn't much of a limitation. Unfortunately, this is one of the first things users try to do when they start experimenting with ProLite. o This same conflict arises if you pop up a TSR from the DOS command line and then try to pop to a DOS shell using ProLite. Even though you popped up another TSR, technically you are still at the DOS command line. o The DOS programs DEBUG and EDLIN are very similar to the DOS command line in terms of how internal DOS stacks are managed. Because of this you cannot pop to a DOS shell from within DEBUG or EDLIN. o It is possible, under a multitasking system such as DESQview, for ProLite to not recognize that you are at the DOS command line. So be very careful when using ProLite under a multitasking operating system - don't try to pop to a DOS shell from the DOS command line. o Finally, the most important restriction: Do NOT install another memory resident program while you are within the ProLite DOS shell. When you exit from the DOS shell ProLite will swap the new memory resident program out and the results will not be pretty. When ProLite is swapping to disk, it must be absolutely guaranteed that it will have access to its swap files when it swaps itself into or out of memory. This requirement, coupled with the speed issue, means that ProLite's swap file cannot be located on removable media such as a floppy diskette. ProLite checks for this and will refuse to load if you specify a floppy drive as the location for the swap files. Even though the media is technically removable, you may still use a Bernoulli drive as the location for the swap files. ProLite Command Line Options: ----------------------------- Some programs are overly picky about how a command line option is entered. Some programs expect each option to be preceded by a space and a backslash. Even worse, some programs are case sensitive - a command line option must be lower case, or it must be upper case, or some other limitation. Command line options with ProLite are very easy. Loading and Unloading ProLite 16 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - For instance, if a command line option is "/X" - the "X" may be either upper or lower case. Furthermore, it may be preceded by a forward slash (/), a backslash (\), a dash (-), or a space ( ). Here is a brief list of each option. The list is followed by a detailed description of each option. -D force swapping to Disk only -E force swapping to EMS memory only -H Help (same as "-?") -M Minimize swap size (XMS and Disk only) -N No swapping (TSR mode - same as "-T") -P Preserve mouse state within the DOS shell -S Stand-alone (non-resident), DESQview aware mode -T TSR mode (no swapping - same as "-N") -U Unload the previously loaded copy of ProLite from memory -X force swapping to XMS memory only -? shows a list of all available command line options and returns to the DOS command line (help - same as "-H") (D) Force Swapping to Disk Only: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option forces ProLite to swap to disk even if sufficient EMS or XMS memory is available. Swapping to disk is inevitably slower than swapping to EMS or XMS memory. The speed of the swapping process can be further controlled by the "-M" option described below. This option can be permanently controlled using PCustom. (E) Force Swapping to EMS Memory Only: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option forces ProLite to swap to EMS memory. If there is not enough EMS memory available, then ProLite will abort without attempting to swap to either disk or XMS memory. This option can be permanently controlled using PCustom. Loading and Unloading ProLite 17 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - (H) Help: ~~~~~~~~~ Displays a list of command line options and returns to DOS without going resident. This can be accomplished using any command line option that is not recognized by ProLite. This option is the same as "-?" described below. (M) Minimize Swap Size: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option applies only when ProLite is swapping to disk or to XMS memory (it is ignored when swapping to EMS memory). When swapping to disk, two swap files are used. When swapping to XMS memory, two blocks of memory are used. One is used for storing the memory under the control of ProLite, the other is used for storing the memory under the control of the application being swapped out. This allows the swapping operation to occur as quickly as possible - at the expense of using more disk space, or more XMS memory. When the "-M" option is used, ProLite will use only one file when swapping to disk, or one memory block when swapping to XMS. In effect, the two swap images "trade places" with each other during the swapping operation. This option causes ProLite to use much less disk space, or much less XMS memory. The price you pay for conserving these resources is speed. Swapping takes much longer in this mode. This option can be permanently controlled using PCustom. (N) No Swapping, and (T) TSR Mode: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ These options are identical. Use the one that is easiest for you to remember. When ProLite is loaded in TSR mode, it will load just like ProLite. It will remain in memory until it is unloaded - no swapping will be performed. This means that it will pop-up instantly when a hot key is pressed, but it will take much more memory away from your other programs. The pop-up DOS shell capability is not available in this mode. This option can be permanently controlled using PCustom. (P) Preserve Mouse State: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Most people won't pop to DOS from a program that uses a mouse and then run another program that uses a mouse. So there is usually no need for ProLite to preserve the mouse state when Loading and Unloading ProLite 18 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - it pops to DOS and restore it when it returns from DOS. Some newer mouse drivers are annoyingly slow at initializing (which happens every time you pop to DOS), which is yet another reason why ProLite does not normally preserve the state of the mouse. This option tells ProLite to preserve the mouse state before it shells to DOS, and to restore the mouse state when it returns from the DOS shell. If you use a mouse often, you will want to start ProLite with the "-P" option. (S) Stand-Alone Mode: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option tells ProLite to run like a traditional program. This means that ProLite will not go memory resident. When you are finished using ProLite and exit, you will return to DOS. In this mode ProLite is DESQview aware and sends all screen output to the buffer provided by DESQview rather than directly to video memory. This option can be permanently controlled using PCustom. (U) Unload From Memory: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tells ProLite to look for a copy of itself already loaded into memory, and to unload that copy if found. When this option is used, ProLite will unload the resident copy and then return to DOS. This is the safest way to unload ProLite from memory! If ProLite was not previously loaded then this option is ignored. * When this option is used it should be the *only* option used. (X) Force Swapping to XMS Memory Only: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option forces ProLite to swap to XMS memory. If there is not enough XMS memory available then ProLite will abort without attempting to swap to either disk or EMS memory. NOTE: XMS swapping is only available with XMS (Extended Memory Specification) extended memory - not with simulated extended memory or extended memory which doesn't conform to the XMS standard. This option can be permanently controlled using PCustom. Loading and Unloading ProLite 19 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - (?) Help: ~~~~~~~~~ Displays a list of command line options and returns to DOS without going resident. This can be accomplished using any command line option which is not recognized by ProLite. This option is the same as "-H" described above. ProLite as a Stand-Alone Program: --------------------------------- By now you have a good grasp of how a memory-resident program is loaded into memory. Now let's examine some of the differences between the memory-resident and the stand-alone or multitasking capabilities of ProLite. ProLite, when loaded with the "/S" option, is designed to run as a stand-alone program under MS-DOS or as a background task under DESQview or TaskView/OmniView. The memory-resident versions of ProLite write directly to video memory when they output information to the screen. There are several advantages to this technique. First and foremost, writing directly to video memory is much faster than sending all screen output through the operating system. Additionally, direct screen writing allows ProLite to retain more control over the screen. Programmers running ProLite under DESQview or TaskView/OmniView should consider the subject of "windows". In deciding how to set up ProLite you should be aware that some features use the entire screen. For instance, The ASCII and Color Attribute Chart will use the entire 25, 43 or 50 lines available on the screen (depending upon the current video mode and hardware capabilities). Of course, before overwriting anything currently displayed on the screen, ProLite will copy the screen contents to its own internal buffer, and then restore the screen before exiting. If you specify a window size smaller than the entire screen, sometimes ProLite will write outside the boundaries of that window. It will always restore it when it is finished, so don't worry. When ProLite is running under a multitasking system (using the "-S" command line switch) it may not be the only program using the screen. If another program is using the screen, it would be very rude for ProLite to overwrite the other program's output. To avoid this, ProLite sends its screen output to the "virtual screen" provided by the multitasking system, rather than directly to video memory. This allows the multitasking system to retain control over which application has access to the actual screen at any given time. Loading and Unloading ProLite 20 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - What this means to multitasking systems is that ProLite is very considerate of any other programs that might be running simultaneously. Renaming PROLITE.EXE: --------------------- You are free to change the name of PROLITE.EXE to any other name as long as the .EXE extension is not changed. PCustom does not need to be able to find PROLITE.EXE to customize it. However, you must not change the name of the configuration file (PROLITE.CFG). If you change the name of the configuration file, then ProLite or PCustom will simply write a new PROLITE.CFG file the next time they run. The new file will have all the default values and will not retain any customizations you may have made. Unloading ProLite: ================== At the DOS prompt type "ProLite -U" and press <Enter>. This will unload ProLite from memory (if it is safe to do so). You may use "-U", "/U", "\U", or " U" to unload ProLite from memory (the "U" may be upper or lower case). This is the safest way to unload ProLite from memory. Whether you are at the DOS prompt or not you can unload ProLite from memory by popping up The Programmer's Calculator and pressing <Alt>, <Alt>. That's right, press it twice. If you prefer you can press <Ctrl>, <Ctrl>. We told you ProLite wasn't picky. If at any time you are unsure if ProLite is loaded in memory simply try to install it again. It won't allow itself to be installed twice and will give you a message to the effect that it is already resident. Pressing the Hot Keys will also tell you if it is resident or not. Sidekick Considerations: ======================== If you are a Sidekick user, especially if you have been one for some time, you have probably noticed that Sidekick can cause difficulties for other memory-resident programs. Especially for programs loaded after Sidekick. If you are a dedicated Sidekick fan, and there are many of them around, then it would be beneficial for you to understand a little about Sidekick's inner workings. Loading and Unloading ProLite 21 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - Sidekick is an important consideration for anyone designing memory-resident programs. Sidekick is really an industry wide standard because of its popularity. How well a memory-resident program gets along with Sidekick often determines how well a memory-resident program gets along with its users. With that in mind here are a few tips that could help you with all the programs you use while Sidekick is resident. As you read in Sidekick's manual, Sidekick should always be the last memory-resident program loaded into memory. There is a very practical reason for this requirement. The gist of the problem lies in Sidekick's use of the BIOS keyboard services. In order to ensure that Sidekick will always be able to see any keystrokes directed to it, it takes steps to ensure that it gets first crack at all keystrokes. How does Sidekick accomplish this feat? Well, not only does Sidekick grab the keyboard hardware interrupt when first loaded, it also monitors that interrupt constantly. If Sidekick sees another program grab the same interrupt, Sidekick grabs it right back. While this may seem rude, it is actually a pretty good idea. The problem is that Sidekick may grab it back more than once! If the keyboard hardware interrupt is grabbed a second time, by any program at all, Sidekick grabs the vector again, which fouls up the ISR chain (and hangs your system to demonstrate its disapproval). Today this seems to directly contradict our view of how a well behaved program should conduct itself. But before you pass judgment on Borland you should remember that Sidekick became available "way back when". When memory-resident utilities were rarely seen and little understood. At the time Sidekick was written there were very few programs that grabbed the keyboard hardware interrupt. Primarily because there were very few memory-resident programs around. Of course, one could argue that Borland should have corrected the problem in a later release. If you've tried SideKick Plus, the next generation of Sidekick, you've seen that Borland has in fact corrected this problem. With this brief historical background out of the way, we can get down to the business of dealing with Sidekick's stingy attitude towards the keyboard interrupt. Even though SideKick Plus is now available, there are still hundreds of thousands of people using Sidekick. It is to these people that this information will be the most useful. Once you understand Sidekick's refusal to share with other programs, you will be able to prevent problems from arising. Simply make sure not to incur Sidekick's wrath by taking the keyboard interrupt away from it. This holds true for any program, memory-resident or stand-alone. Sidekick must always be catered to when dealing with the keyboard hardware interrupt. Loading and Unloading ProLite 22 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - ProLite grabs the keyboard hardware interrupt twice. Once when it loaded, and a second time when The Keystroke Reference Center is displayed. That's how ProLite is able to show you the contents of the BIOS keyboard status bytes. It is for these reasons that ProLite was specially designed to work with Sidekick. ProLite, during the process of loading itself into memory, alters Sidekick internally to prevent it from hogging up the keyboard interrupt. This is very similar to the technique used by SideKick Plus when it is used in conjunction with Sidekick. This technique works so well that ProLite can safely be loaded AFTER Sidekick, and Sidekick will not mind the company at all. There is a side effect to this technique (isn't there always?). When ProLite is loaded after Sidekick, Sidekick loses its ability to detect whether or not it has already been loaded into memory. This means that you could load a second copy of Sidekick into memory if you forget that it is already loaded. Actually that's a very minor inconvenience compared to the alternative (Sidekick throwing up its hands and hanging your system). The DOS PRINT Program: ====================== The DOS PRINT program was not designed to be unloaded from memory except by rebooting your system. The reason we mention this here is because ProLite will not be able to unload itself if PRINT is loaded after it. The obvious solution is to load PRINT before you load ProLite. This will help to retain ProLite's ability to unload itself from memory. Of course you still have the problem of unloading PRINT from memory when you no longer need it. We also have a solution for that problem. Registered users of ProLite receive a Bonus Disk containing tools to help you deal with programs like PRINT which were not designed to be unloaded. In Case of Conflicts With Other Memory-Resident Programs: ========================================================= ProLite was carefully designed to ensure that it is well behaved and can get along with other memory-resident programs. Of course today there are so many memory-resident utilities available that it simply wasn't possible to test ProLite with all of them. As a general rule, whenever you encounter a memory-resident program that doesn't get along well with ProLite, simply load ProLite before loading the other program. In virtually every instance, this should solve any problems you may encounter with other memory-resident programs. Loading and Unloading ProLite 23 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - One example is PopCalc from BellSoft, Inc. PopCalc is extremely rude in the way it deals with other memory resident programs. As pointed out here, the way to avoid conflicts is to load ProLite before loading PopCalc. ProLite and Batch Files: ======================== Many people like to include ProLite in their AUTOEXEC.BAT(ch) file so that it will be loaded automatically each time the machine is turned on. There is a number of details that should be taken into consideration before positioning ProLite in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. First, if you want to be able to unload ProLite from memory, you should endeavor to load ProLite last among your memory-resident programs. Of course if your other memory-resident programs can also be removed from memory then you may load them in any order. Just be sure to unload them in the reverse order from which they were installed. This will avoid having "holes" in memory between programs. One other consideration when using batch files is the DOS ERRORLEVEL value returned by other programs. The programs that come with the Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite provide clear and detailed error messages if an error should occur. But they also return values in the DOS ERRORLEVEL for any errors that result in program termination. The vast majority of you will never need this information, but for the sake of consistency it is provided for those who may find it useful. DOS ERRORLEVEL will contain the following values under the specified conditions: 00 No error occurred. 01 Attempt to load a memory-resident program that was already resident in memory. 02 Attempt to load a memory-resident program after Sidekick 03 Could not go resident due to an unsafe Hot Key. 04 Incorrect DOS version. Requires DOS 2.0 or above. 05 A file access error occurred. 06 Program aborted by the user. 07 An EMS memory error occurred. Loading and Unloading ProLite 24 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - 08 Insufficient RAM memory to continue. 09 Insufficient EMS memory to continue. 10 Error with overlays. 55 Any other error. 99 Internal program error. ProLite Error Messages: ====================== Unlike many programs that display a meaningless code for each error, the ProLite programs all display simple, clear messages when an error occurs. In almost every case you will understand any error messages you encounter without needing any additional information. There are a few error situations in which the problem may not be so obvious. Two errors that fall into this category are a missing swap file, and incorrect video modes. The following information describes each of these two situations in detail. Beeps and Doesn't Pop Up: ------------------------- If you press a Hot Key and ProLite beeps instead of popping up there can be two possible causes. Not in 80 Column Text Mode. Another situation which would cause ProLite to beep rather than popping up, is pressing a Hot Key while the system is in graphics mode, or in 40 or 132 column text mode. The solution is to switch back to an 80 column text mode before popping up ProLite. ProLite will beep but refuse to pop up if the swap file(s) (marked with the hidden attribute) are deleted, renamed, or moved. There are also two situations in which ProLite will not pop up, but no beep sound will be generated to indicate a problem. This is because these situations are not errors, rather they are safety measures to prevent errors from arising. These situations are explained below. Loading and Unloading ProLite 25 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - Doesn't Beep or Pop Up: ----------------------- Unsafe to Pop Up. There is one situation where no error message will appear to explain the current situation. This occurs when you attempt to pop up ProLite at a time when it is not safe for ProLite to pop up. This is a safety measure designed to prevent problems from arising. When you press a Hot Key, ProLite does a number of things before actually popping up on your screen. First and most importantly, ProLite checks the current state of your system to see if it is safe to pop up. If ProLite determines that it may not be safe to pop up at that particular time, then it will instead monitor the system very closely for the next two seconds in case things become safe during that time. If ProLite determines that the system is in a state that enables ProLite to pop up safely, then ProLite will pop up. However, if the two seconds pass without any significant change in the state of things, ProLite will simply not pop up. You will rarely, if ever, encounter this situation. But if you do, then you'll know that ProLite is not asleep at the switch, but rather it is taking steps to ensure that you encounter no unexpected surprises. When is it unsafe for ProLite to pop up? For instance, ProLite uses DOS services for several things. If another program is using that same DOS service then ProLite should wait until the service is completed before interrupting the other program. In other words, ProLite avoids interrupting any services that ProLite will need to use. There is also a special case regarding the pop-up DOS shell capability of ProLite. You cannot pop-up the DOS shell if you are already at the DOS command line (this includes popping up another TSR over the DOS command line, then attempting to pop up a DOS shell). Loading and Unloading ProLite 26 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - --------------------------------------------- The Programmer's Calculator and Attachments --------------------------------------------- The Programmer's Calculator and its attachments, The ASCII and Color Attribute Chart and The Keystroke Reference Center, are an integrated set of tools that are powerful, flexible, and fun to use. Not even a hand-held programmer's calculator could provide all of the features that are built into The Programmer's Calculator. The Programmer's Calculator has enough features to satisfy the professional programmer and yet remains simple enough to be useful to the newcomer or student. The Quick Start Tutorial for The Programmer's Calculator begins below. The In-Depth Reference Guide begins on page 34. The ASCII and Color Attribute Chart provides a wealth of information on the different ASCII characters, color attributes, monochrome attributes, and extended characters. Now you can press a key instead of leaving your work to find a reference book. The Quick Start Tutorial for The ASCII and Color Attributes Chart begins on page 47. The In-Depth Reference Guide begins on page 49. After you try The Keystroke Reference Center you may ask yourself how you ever got along without it. A programmer's dream! BIOS scan codes and dBASE INKEY() values on screen at the touch of a key. The Quick Start Tutorial for The Keystroke Reference Center begins on page 52. The In-Depth Reference Guide begins on page 55. The Screen Blanking and Disk Parking utility is available from any one of the attachments to The Programmer's Calculator. The separate In-Depth Reference Guide on page 60 gives you all the information you need concerning the Screen Blanking and Disk Parking capability. The Quick Start Tutorial: ========================= This Quick Start Tutorial is designed to familiarize you with the functions and capabilities of The Programmer's Calculator. Be sure that ProLite is resident in memory. Type "ProLite" <Enter> at the DOS prompt. Once you are sure that ProLite is resident in memory you may activate, or pop up, the Calculator, by holding down the <Alt> key and pressing <LeftShift>. This will bring up The Programmer's Calculator display. The Programmer's Calculator 27 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - As you can see, you have six outlined boxes making up The Programmer's Calculator display. The boxes are: The Decimal Box; The Hexadecimal Box; The Binary Box; The Octal Box; The Program Information, Date and Time Box; and The Saved Values Box. If you look at the box titles you will see that the Decimal Box is highlighted on your screen. This means that you are currently in Decimal format. In other words, numbers are entered as Decimal numbers. You will still be able to see the same values appear in each of the other numeric formats simultaneously. The Signed heading is also highlighted. This means you can enter numbers as positive or negative values. To enter numbers into The Programmer's Calculator, you can use the top row of number keys, or the numeric keypad. ProLite does not care whether NumLock is set or not. It is smart enough to know that if you press the <PgUp> key, you want it to enter the value "9", because that is the key that shares <PgUp>. The Programmer's Calculator will accept any digit from 0-9 in Decimal format. In Hexadecimal format, the Calculator will accept any value from 0-9 and A-F. In Binary Format the acceptable digits are 0 and 1. In Octal Format the acceptable digits are 0-7. Common operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division, are performed by pressing their corresponding key. Press <+> for addition, <-> for subtraction, <*> for multiplication, and either </> or <\> for division. Since we don't always enter our numbers correctly it is helpful to know how to clear values, delete digits, and even start from scratch all over again. Use the <BackSpace> or <Delete> keys to delete a single digit at a time, or use <^E> to clear the current Entry. Use <^A> to Clear All (to reset the whole Calculator). Remember, <^E> means Ctrl-E, Alt-E, or just plain "E", as explained on page 12. Let's start with a simple problem. Type the following, watching the screen to see what happens: <5> <+> <5> <=> There you have it! A Calculator can't get much easier to operate than that! A whole series of calculations can be performed before ever requesting a final result. For instance, type the following: <5> <+> <7> <+> <2> <-> <1> <=> The Programmer's Calculator 28 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - As you entered the numbers you noticed that the values accumulated in the top value until you requested a final result by pressing <=>. Then the answer appeared on the bottom line. A final result can also be obtained by pressing <Enter> instead of <=>. Type the following: <100> <-> <50> <-> <25> <+> <10> <Enter> Now let's try multiplication. Type the following: <16> <*> <4> <*> <4> <=> Division works the same. Type the following: <64> </> <2> <\> <2> <=> Since this is integer division you will not get any fractional answers. As an example of this, type the following: <49> </> <10> <=> Ten will only go into 49 four times. There is no floating decimal point or remainder given. To get the remainder you would need to use the operation known as "Modulus" which is explained in the In-Depth Reference Guide (page 42). If you have been watching the screen closely you have noticed that even though you have only entered values in Decimal format the operations have been carried out simultaneously in each of the other numeric formats. Even after you have finished this tutorial you probably won't remember all of the features available within The Programmer's Calculator. To help you remember, there is a built-in Quick Reference Menu. To activate the Menu simply press <M>. If you have done any assembly language programming, then you are probably familiar with all of the abbreviations used in the Menu; such as SHL for Shift Left and ROR for Rotate Right, etc. However, if you are not familiar with these abbreviations, don't worry. Every single Menu option is explained in the In-Depth Reference Guide (page 34). Besides, you're going to get familiar with a few of them in just a minute. You don't have to bring up the Menu in order to execute a command. The Menu exists solely as a quick reference tool to help you remember which keys perform which operations. Once you have used the Calculator a few times you will find that many times you won't need the Menu at all. The Programmer's Calculator 29 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - When you press a key that corresponds to an operation the Menu will disappear and the action will be executed. Pressing <Esc> makes the Menu disappear without executing any other action. Try pressing <Esc>. Let's try one of these functions. Enter the value "57" into the Calculator and press <M> to bring up the Menu. Shift Left is executed by pressing <F3>. We are going to shift the value left 4 times. Press <F3> once. Each time you press <F3>, the value will be shifted left 1 bit position. You can see this clearly by watching the Binary Box as you press <F3> three more times. Now we are going to shift it back to the right 4 times. Type <M> to bring up the Menu. Shift Right (SHR) is <^F3>. Remember, "^" means <Ctrl>, <Shift>, or <Alt>. Press <^F3> to shift the value to the right. If you do this 4 times you will have the original value back. The Shift Arithmetic Left <F7> and Right <^F7> and the Rotate Left <F5> and Right <^F5> operations function the same way. Each time you press the corresponding key, the value is shifted or rotated one bit position. Try it a few times. If these functions are new to you, perhaps you would like to take the time now to read Appendices A (page 80) and B (page 89) at the back of The User's Guide. They should help clarify these operations for you. Rotate through the Carry Left <F6> and Right <^F6> operate a little differently. The reason for this is that in order to properly retain the value of the carry flag during the rotate operation, we must do the entire operation in a single step. Let's try it. Enter any value you wish and press <F6>. You will see a small window open asking you how many bit positions to rotate the value. For this example, press <8> <Enter>, and watch the Calculator carry out your command. To rotate back to the right press <^F6>. Press <8> and <Enter> again and you have your original value back. Ok. Let's move on to something new. Press the <TAB> key a few times and watch the screen as you do. As you can see, the <TAB> key moves you from one numeric format to the next in a clockwise direction. If you were to press <Ctrl><Tab>, <Alt><Tab>, or <Shift><Tab> instead, you would move counterclockwise from one format to the next. Now, using the <TAB> key, return to Decimal format again. A shortcut to switching numeric formats is to press the first letter of the format you wish to be in. For instance, press <O> and you will be in Octal format, press and you will be in The Programmer's Calculator 30 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - Binary format. Now press <H> for Hexadecimal format. When you are in Hexadecimal format, the letters A through F correspond to the hexadecimal values A through F. Obviously, pressing will not move you into Binary format, but will rather enter the value 0B Hex (11 decimal). So will <Shift> (upper case). Try it. However, if you press <Ctrl> or <Alt> you will move to Binary format. Just remember that in Hexadecimal format the letters A through F are numeric values. Get into Binary format now, using whichever method you prefer. <^C>, as you may have noticed on the Menu, operates the feature "Change Bits", ProLite's bit manipulation facility. <C> or <Alt><C> brings up the Change Bits option as well (as explained on page 12). The line above the 32 bit value in the Binary Box is highlighted. There is a small arrow pointing to one of the bits. You can move back and forth using the <Left> and <Right> arrow keys. Try it. The <Home> key takes you directly to the leftmost bit and the <End> key takes you directly to the rightmost bit. When you are positioned over a bit that you want to change simply press the <Space> bar to toggle the bit. See how it affects the values in the other numeric formats. After you have changed the particular bit or bits that you wanted to change, press <Enter> to keep the changes, or press <Esc> to cancel the changes. Pressing <Esc> will always get you out of the bit manipulation facility. Now, move back to Decimal format. Once you are in the Decimal Box, press <C> again. As you can see, this option is available from each of the four numeric formats. When you are finished manipulating bits and press <Enter> or <Esc> you will be returned to the format you were in before. As you might have guessed, when you are in Hexadecimal format <C> is a value. Therefore, you need to press <Ctrl><C> or <Alt><C> to activate the bit manipulation facility. To toggle the current value from positive to negative, or from negative to positive, simply press <^-> (<Ctrl><Minus>). Enter a value. Press <Ctrl><Minus>. Press it again. Press it again. In the Decimal format nothing changes, except the sign. Watch what it's doing in the other numeric formats. The Signed mode allows positive and negative values. The Unsigned mode does not. Enter the positive value 256 in Decimal. To switch to Unsigned mode press <^T>. That Toggles the sign mode. Obviously you can't toggle the sign of the current value in Unsigned mode. Try it. Press <Ctrl><Minus>. The Programmer's Calculator 31 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - Wow! 4,294,967,040 sure doesn't look like 256 or -256! We won't go into this now, but, if you read the section on "Range Of Values" (page 34) and "Signed And Unsigned Modes" (page 36) they will help to explain this phenomenon. How about saving, or storing, values for use later, and then inserting them back into your calculations? Well, as the Menu shows, the <F9> key is used to save values, and <Ctrl><F9>, <Alt><F9>, or <Shift><F9> are used to insert the values back into a later calculation. You can use <^S> to Save a value if you don't like using a function key. You can use <^I> to Insert a value instead of <^F9> if you prefer. Here's how it works. First clear the Calculator with <^A>. Enter a value. Press <F9>. Since you have only one value present, ProLite knows which one you want to save and saves it automatically. Now enter <+> and another value. Press <F9> again. Since you have more than one value present a window will open with a simple pick list asking you which one you want to save. Like other moving bar Menus, simply use the arrow keys to highlight the value you wish to save and press <Enter> to save it. Pressing <Esc> will cancel the save operation. Likewise, if all four memory slots are full, a pick list will appear asking you which one to overwrite. Now you are ready to Insert a saved value into the current calculation. Press <^F9> or <^I>. If only one memory slot has a value saved in it, that value is automatically inserted. Since there is more than one saved value, a pick list will appear asking you which value to insert. Pick one and press <Enter>. That's about as easy to use as you can get! What if you need to leave the computer for a few minutes to do something else? Well, you will probably want to blank your screen to prevent it from getting screen burns as a result of having the same pixels lit for a long time. You should also park your hard disk (or disks) in case something happens while you are gone. All these things are available at the touch of a key! Press <^P> for Park and Blank. Your screen will blank and a dim clock will appear (so you'll know that your computer is still on), and your hard disk (or disks) will also be parked on the last cylinder. By the way, this dim clock will never burn your screen because every 60 seconds it will move to another position. This means that for every minute that a pixel is lit, it will be blank for over 3 hours! The Programmer's Calculator 32 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - To return to what you were doing when you come back to your computer simply press any key. What if you want to change the Hot Key that pops up the Calculator? As you can see on the Menu, pressing <^Z> will enable you to change the Hot Key "on the fly". We won't do it now, but this is how it's done. Refer to the In-Depth Reference Guide (page 38) for complete information. What if you pop up the Calculator and it covers up something on the screen that you need to refer to? Well, just move the Calculator out of the way. To move the Calculator up or down simply hold down the <Alt> key and press the <Up> or <Down> arrows. Each time you press <Alt><Up> or <Alt><Down> the Calculator will move one line up or down. You can move quickly to the top or bottom of the screen using <Alt><PgUp> or <Alt><PgDn>. When moving the display you must use <Alt> and a direction key. <Shift> and <Ctrl> will not work here. Don't feel constrained, though. You can use <Home> instead of <PgUp> and <End> instead of <PgDn>. You can unload ProLite from memory right from within the Calculator. Press <Alt>, <Alt> (be sure to press <Alt> twice). Of course, <Ctrl>, <Ctrl> will also work. A Message Window will open informing you whether it is safe or unsafe to unload. Regardless of whether it's safe or not, pressing <Esc> will return you to the Calculator. If it is, in fact, safe to unload, pressing any key other than <Esc> will unload ProLite from memory. Well, that completes the Quick Start Tutorial for The Programmer's Calculator. After tinkering with it for a while, you will find that it is extremely powerful, flexible, and very easy to learn and use. You've covered a lot of ground already! You know how to perform mathematical calculations and just about every low level bit manipulation you can think of in four numeric formats, as well as how to change the Hot Key, move the display, save and insert values, toggle the sign, blank your screen and park your hard disk(s). Congratulations! We told you the Calculator would be easy to use! The Programmer's Calculator 33 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - --------------------------------------------- The Programmer's Calculator and Attachments --------------------------------------------- The In-Depth Reference Guide: ============================= The Programmer's Calculator that is built into ProLite is a very flexible and powerful Programmer's Calculator. As a matter of fact, there are currently no Programmer's Calculators available (even hand-held types) that provide all the features available in the ProLite Programmer's Calculator. The following pages provide detailed information on the commands and operations available in this Programmer's Calculator, as well as helpful information concerning its use. The Range Of Values Available: ------------------------------ The Programmer's Calculator provides full 32 bit (double word) values in four numeric formats and in both Signed and Unsigned modes. The ranges of these values are as follows. In Signed mode: Decimal format: -2,147,483,648 to +2,147,483,647 Hexadecimal format: 8000 0000 to 7FFF FFFF Binary format: 10000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 to 01111111 11111111 11111111 11111111 Octal format: 20000000000 to 17777777777 The Programmer's Calculator 34 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - In Unsigned mode: Decimal format: 0 to 4,294,967,295 Hexadecimal format: 0000 0000 to FFFF FFFF. Binary format: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 to 11111111 11111111 11111111 11111111. Octal format: 000000000000 to 37777777777. The Programmer's Calculator Display: ------------------------------------ Once ProLite is loaded into memory, The Programmer's Calculator is accessed by pressing its Hot Key. The default Hot Key is <LeftShift><Ctrl>. You can change the default Hot Key using PCustom. Pressing the Hot Key will bring up The Programmer's Calculator display. The Programmer's Calculator display is designed to show you all the values in the four numeric formats simultaneously. This feature is especially helpful to those who are just learning about other numeric bases. It also helps you to get a feel for the relationship between the different numeric bases commonly used in the computer industry. (Due to space limitations and printer incompatibilities, this figure appears only in the complete Programmer's Productivity Pack printed User's Guide.) Figure 1: Programmer's Calculator Display In addition, the display tells you which numeric format you are currently in, whether you are in Signed or Unsigned mode, whether there is any mathematical operation pending, what values (if any) are saved, the version of ProLite that you are using, the date, and the time. The Programmer's Calculator 35 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - The display is also designed to enable you to see whatever was on the screen before the Calculator was popped up. This is accomplished by moving the Calculator display to uncover what is underneath it, whenever the need arises. The Quick Reference Menu: ------------------------- A Quick Reference Menu is available to refer to while learning to use the Calculator, or to access operations that may not be used often enough to memorize. (Due to space limitations and printer incompatibilities, this figure appears only in the complete Programmer's Productivity Pack printed User's Guide.) Figure 2: The Quick Reference Menu To open the Menu press <^M>. Of course, as explained on page 12, you can use <M>, <Ctrl><M>, <Alt><M> or <Shift><M>. The Menu lists all of the functions available in The Programmer's Calculator. There are, however, more keystrokes than those listed here to operate each of the functions. Signed And Unsigned Modes: -------------------------- The Programmer's Calculator gives you the ability to choose whether the values will be treated as Signed or Unsigned. Signed values may be negative or positive. Unsigned values may only be positive. This allows the Calculator to much more closely mimic the actual operations available at the assembly language level. Refer to "The Range of Values Available" (page 34) to see what the numeric limitations are in each of the modes and formats. To toggle (switch back and forth) between Signed and Unsigned modes use <^T>. If you switch into Unsigned mode while you have a negative number in the display the Calculator will treat it according to its value in Binary format. You will go from a small, negative value to a huge, positive value instantly. If this is unclear to you, refer to Appendix B, "Two's Complement Numbers" (page 89). The Programmer's Calculator 36 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - The Four Numeric Formats: ------------------------- The Programmer's Calculator provides you with four numeric formats through which values may be entered. Values can only be entered in the format which is current (the format which is highlighted on the display). However, any values which are entered will always be displayed in all four formats simultaneously. Values may be entered as either decimal, hexadecimal, binary, or octal, depending upon which format is current. The Programmer's Calculator will only accept values that are relevant to the current format. In Decimal it will accept 0-9. In Hexadecimal it will accept 0-9 and A-F. In Binary it will accept 0 or 1. In Octal it will accept 0-7. Attempting to enter a value which is not a part of the digit set for a particular format will cause The Programmer's Calculator to beep and ignore the keystroke. Switching formats is easy. There are several ways you can do it. <Tab> The <Tab> key switches to the next numeric format clockwise in the display. It will go from Decimal to Hexadecimal to Binary to Octal and back to Decimal. <^Tab> Pressing <Shift><Tab>, <Alt><Tab> or <Ctrl><Tab> moves backwards, or counterclockwise, through the display. You may also switch formats using the first letter of the numeric format. <^D> switches to Decimal format. <^H> switches to Hexadecimal format. <^B> switches to Binary format. <^O> switches to Octal format. When you are in Hexadecimal format, the and <D> keys represent the hexadecimal values 0B Hex (11) and 0D Hex (13), so be sure to use either the <Alt> or <Ctrl> key in conjunction with the letter to switch to Binary or Decimal format. The Calculator Commands: ------------------------ When you are in The Programmer's Calculator you have all of these commands at your disposal. They are all listed on the Menu, but the Menu does not have to be visible for you to use the commands. The Programmer's Calculator 37 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - Change Hot Key - To change the Hot Key that activates the Calculator, press <^Z>. This will open a window asking you to press the key combination you would like to use to pop up the Calculator. If you press a key combination that is already in use for another pop-up, such as the Pop-Up DOS Shell, it will beep and wait for you to enter another key. Also, if you press a normal typing key like <A> or or <F5>, that is used often, ProLite will beep and wait for you to enter a different key. You should always use a combination of at least two keys. Either <Shift>, <Alt>, or <Ctrl> should always be one of the keys in the key combination used as a Hot Key. ProLite will not accept a Hot Key made up of two modifier keys, either, "on the fly". You cannot enter <Alt><LeftShift> or any other such combination as a Hot Key from within the program. That is why we didn't have you change Hot Keys in The Quick Start Tutorial. You could not have gone back to the default <Alt><LeftShift> without using PCustom. If you decide not to change the Hot Key after having invoked this option, press ^@. You could also view this as <Ctrl><TopRow2> since the shift key need not be pressed. The Hot Key will remain unchanged and you will be able to return to the Calculator by pressing any key. If you are using ProLite, you may also change the hot key for the pop-up DOS shell through this option. TIP: Some Hot Keys are more effective than others. In order to determine which Hot Keys are most effective, keep in mind how most software views your keyboard. Most software ignores unrecognized keystrokes. This is important because many of the keystrokes they don't recognize, they also don't pass on to other programs that may be present. Using partial key combinations like <Alt><LeftShift> or <Ctrl><Alt> will many times circumvent this problem. Since most programs expect something along with these modifier keys they will not take any action on key combinations such as these. Therefore, ProLite will be able to see its Hot Key regardless of how your other programs deal with unrecognizable key combinations. Of course, ProLite also expects something other than modifier keys (like <Alt><LeftShift>) when it is waiting for keyboard input. To provide you with a means of selecting these modifier key combinations as Hot Keys, PCustom presents them in a simple pop up menu from which you may choose. Change Bits - This very handy bit manipulation facility enables you to toggle the setting of any bit or bits in a value. You do not have to be in Binary format to use this feature. If you are not in Binary format when you invoke the Change Bits facility you The Programmer's Calculator 38 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - will be placed temporarily in Binary format. Upon completion you will be returned to whatever format you were in previously. The Change Bits feature is invoked by pressing <^C>. Of course, if you are in Hexadecimal format <C> or <Shift><C> is a value, so you would need to use <Alt><C> or <Ctrl><C>. Once invoked, use the <Left> and <Right> arrow keys to move back and forth until the arrow is pointing at the bit you want to toggle. You can also use the <Home> key to go to the leftmost bit and the <End> key to go the rightmost bit. Pressing <Space> toggles the bit. You can toggle the bit on or off as many times as you wish. You can change as many bits as you wish. The changes you make here are reflected instantly in each of the other numeric formats. When you are finished, pressing <Enter> saves your changes, while pressing <Esc> cancels your changes. Change Sign - This is not the same as "Toggle Sign Mode" which changes the overall mode of the Calculator from Signed to Unsigned or from Unsigned to Signed. The "Change Sign" operation converts the current value from negative to positive, or from positive to negative. This operation is performed by pressing <Ctrl><Minus>. You may use either the top row minus key, or the numeric keypad minus key. This is one case where you must use <Ctrl> with <Minus>. <Alt> and <Shift> will not activate it. Changing the sign will not function as you expect if you are in Unsigned mode. Clear All - Press <^A>. This command resets the Calculator and redraws the display. All values, including those which are saved in memory slots, will be reset to zero. When you are in Hexadecimal format the <A> key corresponds to the value 0A Hex (10). Therefore, to execute the Clear All command be sure to use either <Alt><A> or <Ctrl><A>. Clear Entry - Press <E>, <Alt><E>, <Shift><E>, or <Ctrl><E>. This command resets the current value and the pending operation (Add, Subtract, etc.). If you accidentally enter the wrong value you can delete one digit at a time using <Del> or <BackSpace>. If, however, you accidentally enter the wrong mathematical operation you would use the Clear Entry command. The Clear Entry command will affect only the current value, not the intermediate value (the top value). Since <E> and <Shift><E> correspond to a value in hexadecimal be sure to use <Alt><E> or <Ctrl><E> when in the Hexadecimal format. Insert a Value - This command takes a value that was previously saved to one of the Calculator's four memory slots and inserts it into the current value. You can invoke it in two different ways. Either press <^I>, or, as listed on the Menu, press <^F9>. The Programmer's Calculator 39 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - Inserted values are always inserted into the current value. Inserting the value does not remove it from the memory slot. You can insert the same value many times. If more than one memory slot contains a non zero value ProLite will ask you which value to insert. A pick list will appear with one of the four memory slots highlighted. The pick list window will always display the values in decimal. Use the <Up> and <Down> arrow keys to select the proper value and press <Enter>. Park Disk(s) and Blank Screen - To blank the screen and park your hard disk (or disks) simply press <^P>. This will blank the screen and display a clock. The clock will move every 60 seconds. When the screen is initially blanked, your hard disk (if present) will also be "parked" on the last cylinder of the drive. If you have two hard disks, both will be parked. Parking simply means that the read/write heads will be positioned over the last cylinder. This will not prevent other programs from "unparking" the disk, but if no other programs are active the disk will remain parked as long as the screen is blanked. The hard disk parking option may be disabled with PCustom, if desired. Pressing any key "unblanks" the screen and returns you to the Calculator. Quit the Calculator - To exit from the Calculator simply press <Esc>. <Esc> will quit the current pop-up, but ProLite will remain in memory ready to be called up again when needed. If you are using ProLite in stand-alone mode, <Esc> will quit the program and return you to DOS. Quitting the Calculator will not undo any customizing that you have done "on the fly". Only unloading from memory or turning off the computer will undo your changes. Customizing done with PCustom is not affected either way since it is written to disk. Save a Value - This is the companion operation to Insert a Value. To save a value to one of the Calculator's four memory slots, press <^S>, or, as listed on the Menu, <F9>. The Save function operates very intuitively. If there is only one value present it will be saved to the first available memory slot. If more than one value is present, a pick list will appear and ProLite will ask you which one to save. The pick list window will always display the value in decimal. However, the Saved Values Box always displays the saved values in the current numeric format. You choose by moving the highlight bar with the <Up> or <Down> arrow key until it highlights the correct value. Press <Enter> and it is saved. If all the memory slots are filled, a pick list will appear and ProLite will ask you which one to overwrite. Again, use the arrow keys and <Enter> to select. The Programmer's Calculator 40 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - A value that is saved to memory stays in that memory slot even if it is inserted into the current value. This lets you use that same value repeatedly. Pressing <^A> clears all values in the Calculator, including those saved in the memory slots. Screen Refresh - <^R> will redraw the screen. The Screen Refresh command will not change any values. It will simply redraw the Calculator display should the need ever arise. Toggle Sign Mode - To toggle between Signed and Unsigned modes press <^T>. This will change the way the values are treated during calculations and display. Signed values may be negative or positive, whereas Unsigned values may only be positive. See "The Range Of Values Available" (page 34) if you want to know how this affects numeric ranges. Unload from Memory - To unload ProLite from memory press <Alt>, <Alt> (<Alt> twice in a row). You may also use <Ctrl>, <Ctrl>. ProLite will first check to see if it is safe to unload. If it is in fact safe it will give you a chance to press <Esc> to return to the Calculator, or any other key to actually unload ProLite from memory. This is different than quitting the Calculator using <Esc>. Pressing <Esc> returns you to DOS, or to whatever program you were in when you invoked ProLite, but it leaves ProLite in memory, ready to be called again. If you unload ProLite from memory you would have to load ProLite again before using it. When ProLite is run in stand-alone (multitasking) mode, the unload command functions exactly like pressing <Esc>, it returns you to DOS. The Mathematical Operations: ---------------------------- All mathematical operations are carried out by entering a value, pressing the key corresponding to an operation, entering another value, and pressing <Enter> or <=> to request a final result. A whole series of calculations can be performed before requesting a final result. In The Programmer's Calculator, the top value in the display is called the "Intermediate Value", the middle value (where the cursor is positioned) is the "Current Value", and the lower value is the "Final Result". Regardless of which numeric format you are using, values are always entered into the Current Value (the middle number). The Programmer's Calculator 41 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - |--------------------- | Decimal | | 5 | <-- Intermediate Value |ADD 5 | <-- Current Value | ------------- | | 10 | <-- Final Result |--------------------- Figure 3: Decimal Box Display If you do a series of calculations without requesting a final result, the Calculator performs the operation and updates the value in the Intermediate Value slot. That way you can see where your calculations have brought you so far, the current value entered, and the mathematical function to be performed. Also, a final result is not erased until you request another final result or Clear All (^A). This keeps the result of a prior computation available without having to store it to a memory slot. By the way, it does not matter whether or not NumLock is set. The numeric keypad can be used with or without NumLock set. Since ProLite modifies the BIOS keyboard interrupts it is able to detect all the numeric keypad keys (including the center or 5 key) regardless of the status of NumLock. All of the available mathematical operations are explained in detail below. Add - Addition is chosen by pressing <+> (Plus). You may use the top row <Plus> key or the numeric keypad <Plus> key. Subtract - Subtraction is chosen by pressing <-> (Minus). You may use the top row <Minus> key or the numeric keypad <Minus> key. Multiply - Multiplication is chosen by pressing the <*> key. The asterisk key can be either the top row asterisk or the asterisk that shares the <PrtSc> key. On 101/102 key enhanced keyboards there is a separate numeric keypad asterisk which can also be used. Divide - Integer division is performed using the </> (Slash) or <\> (Backslash) key. This is integer division, which means that there are no fractional answers or decimal points. It does not give a remainder, either. To obtain the remainder you would need to use Modulus. Also, since Division (DIV) is the logical counterpart to Modulus (MOD), which uses the <F4> key, Division may also be performed by using <^F4>. Modulus (Remainder) - Modulus (MOD) is chosen by pressing <F4>. Modulus returns the remainder of a division operation. Modulus works by dividing the intermediate (top) value by the current The Programmer's Calculator 42 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - (middle) value, and returning the remainder of the division (or zero if it divided evenly). Show Result - Obtaining a result is done by pressing either the <Enter> or the <=> (Equals) key. This displays the final result of the calculation. If no calculation was entered, that is, if the only value present is the current value, the result will equal the current value. The final result will remain displayed until another final result is requested. This is very handy when you need to refer to the value later, but don't want to save it to a memory slot. Another thing that happens when a final result is requested is that the current and intermediate values are automatically reset to zero internally. However, the screen will still display the old values until any other key is pressed. The reason for this is that The Programmer's Calculator does its best to display as much useful information as possible for as long as possible. Delete Digit - Use the <BackSpace> or <Del> keys to delete one digit at a time from the current value. If you need to change too many digits in the current value, or if what you need to change is the mathematical operation, use Clear Entry (^E) instead. Logical and Bit Manipulation Operations: ---------------------------------------- If you are new to low level bit manipulation instructions such as AND, OR, XOR, NOT, etc., then please refer to Appendix A (page 80) which explains each operation in detail. AND - AND is selected by pressing the <F1> key. AND performs a logical AND on two values. It uses the intermediate value (top value) and the current value (middle value). It will return a value of 1 whenever both values have a 1 in the same bit position. NOT - NOT is selected by pressing <^F1>. NOT performs a logical NOT operation on the current value. NOT is the same as performing a "one's complement". It complements each bit in a value by converting all 1's to 0's and all 0's to 1's. The best way to see this is to watch the Binary Box as you perform the operation. OR - OR is chosen by pressing <F2>. OR performs a logical OR operation, ORing the intermediate value with the current value. It will return a value of 1 wherever either or both of the values have a 1 in that bit position. The Programmer's Calculator 43 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - XOR - XOR is selected by pressing <^F2>. XOR performs a logical eXclusive OR operation, XORing the intermediate value with the current value. It will return a value of 1 wherever either, but not both, values have a 1 in that bit position. Shift Left - Shift Left (SHL) is selected by pressing <F3>. Shift Left affects only the current value by shifting it left one bit position each time <F3> is pressed. This has the same effect as multiplying by 2. Shift Right - Shift Right (SHR) is chosen by pressing <^F3>. Shift Right affects only the current value by shifting it right one bit position each time the command is invoked. This has the same effect as dividing by 2. Rotate Left - Rotate Left (ROL) is chosen by pressing <F5>. Rotate Left affects only the current value. Rotate Left "rotates" the value left by one bit position each time <F4> is pressed. In rotation the bit that "falls off" one end of the value is inserted into the other end. This can be more clearly visualized by watching the Binary Box as the operation is performed. Rotate Right - Rotate Right (ROR) is chosen by pressing <^F5>. Like Rotate Left, Rotate Right affects only the current value. The value will be rotated to the right by one bit position each time the Rotate Right command is invoked. The bit that "falls off" the right end is reinserted on the left side. Rotate through the Carry Left - Rotate through the Carry Left (RCL) is chosen by pressing <F6>. RCL affects only the current value. The RCL operation is similar to the ROL (Rotate Left) operation in that it "rotates" the value by a certain number of bit positions. The difference between RCL and ROL lies in the fact that with RCL the bit that "falls off" one end of a value is inserted into the carry flag and on the next rotate the bit that is stored in the carry flag is rotated into the other end of the value. This can be more clearly seen by watching the Binary Box as this operation is executed. Unlike the other shift and rotate operations that move the value by one bit position each time they are invoked, RCL asks you how many bit positions to rotate the value. This is because the value of the carry flag must be preserved between each rotation. If this is difficult to visualize, Appendix A (page 80) provides a detailed explanation, complete with a diagram. Rotate through the Carry Right - Rotate through the Carry Right (RCR) is chosen by pressing <^F6>. RCR functions exactly like RCL except that the value is rotated right instead of left. The Programmer's Calculator 44 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - Shift Arithmetic Left - Shift Arithmetic Left (SAL) is chosen by pressing the <F7> key. Shift Arithmetic Left (SAL) is especially useful when using Binary Coded Decimal (BCD) values at the assembly language level. SAL is very similar to the more commonly used Shift Left (SHL) instruction. The major difference between the two lies in the fact that SAL preserves the sign of the value throughout the shift operation. You could think of the high bit as being shifted into itself. The best way to see this in action is to watch the Binary Box as you execute the instruction. Shift Arithmetic Right - Shift Arithmetic Right (SAR) is chosen by pressing <^F7>. SAR shifts the current value right one bit position each time it is invoked, but the value of the high bit (the sign bit) is preserved. Exchange Words - Exchange words (XCHG DW) is activated by pressing <F8>. Exchange words affects only the current value. This operation swaps the two low order words in the current value. Exchange Double Words - Exchange Double Words (XCHG DD) is chosen by pressing <^F8>. Exchange Double Words affects the current value by swapping the low and high order double words. The best way to visualize this operation is to watch either the Binary or Hexadecimal Box as you execute the instruction. Moving The Calculator's Display: -------------------------------- The Programmer's Calculator is designed to let you see as much of the screen you were working on as possible. However, the Calculator may cover up exactly what you most need to see. To move the Calculator's display, use the following commands: Move Up - <Alt><Up> Move Down - <Alt><Down> Move to Top - <Alt><PgUp> or <Alt><Home> Move to Bottom - <Alt><PgDn> or <Alt><End> Going To The Attachments: ------------------------- Attachments are tools in the Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite that are accessed through other tools. There are two attachments to The Programmer's Calculator. In other words, they are reached from the Calculator. These are two commands we have not looked at yet. The Programmer's Calculator 45 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - The Keystroke Reference Center - <F10> is marked "KeyRef". This is the command that invokes The Keystroke Reference Center. This attachment shows you the BIOS Keyboard Status Bytes, and a wealth of other information. Rather than explain it here, we suggest that you go on to The Quick Start Tutorial (page 52) and The In- Depth Reference Guide (page 55) for The Keystroke Reference Center. There is one point that should be covered here that pertains to both attachments. Once you have moved to the attachment, you must to use <Alt><Esc> to return to The Programmer's Calculator. If you use <Esc> you will return to the DOS prompt, or wherever you were when you popped up ProLite. This is not a bug, it's meant to save you time. Now, whenever you press the Hot Key for the Calculator you will go directly to the attachment. ProLite figures that if that's where you were last, that's probably where you want to be now. The ASCII and Color Attribute Chart - <^F10> (Either <Shift>, <Alt>, or <Ctrl> with <F10>) is marked ASCII. This is the command that invokes The ASCII and Color Attribute Chart. This is the subject of the next Quick Start Tutorial. The Programmer's Calculator 46 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - ------------------------------------- The ASCII and Color Attribute Chart ------------------------------------- The Quick Start Tutorial ========================= Load ProLite into memory and press the Hot Key (<Alt><LeftShift>) for The Programmer's Calculator. When the Calculator display pops up, press <M> to bring up the Menu. The command <^F10> is marked ASCII.: Pressing <^F10> closes the Calculator and opens The ASCII and Color Attribute Chart attachment. There is a lot more to this chart than can fit on one screen, regardless of the monitor you have. That is why the most important commands for you to learn are the ones that move you around the chart. To scroll up one line at a time press <Up> Arrow. To scroll down one line at a time press <Down> Arrow. To scroll up a screenful at a time press <PgUp>. To scroll down a screenful at a time press <PgDn>. To go directly to the beginning of the chart press <Home> or <Ctrl><PgUp>. To go directly to the end of the chart press <End> or <Ctrl><PgDn>. To go directly to the middle of the chart press <5> on the numeric keypad. Why not take a little time and just explore your new reference chart? The information on the chart is self-explanatory, but, in case something isn't clear it is all explained in the In-Depth Reference Guide that follows this tutorial (page 49). If you need to leave your computer for a while and want to blank the screen and park the hard disk (or disks), just press <^P>. The screen will blank and display a clock. Your hard disk (or disks) are now parked over the last cylinder. Any key restores the display when you return. ASCII and Color Attribute Chart 47 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - Press <Esc>. You have left The ASCII Chart and are back at the DOS prompt, or wherever you were when you popped up The Programmer's Calculator. Now press <LeftShift><Ctrl> (the hot key). Instead of going to the Calculator you have come back to The ASCII Chart! The Hot Key will always return you to the tool or attachment from which you quit or <Esc>aped. Now that you are back in The ASCII and Color Attribute Chart press <Alt><Esc>. This returns you to the Calculator. If you quit the Calculator now with <Esc> and then press the Hot Key, you will go to the Calculator and not the chart. Return to The ASCII Chart now by pressing <^F10>. You cannot unload ProLite from memory from an attachment. Try pressing <^U><^U>. All you get are little beeps. You need to return to the Calculator or to the DOS prompt to unload ProLite from memory. That is all for this Quick Start Tutorial. For more insight into all of the information that The ASCII and Color Attribute Chart puts at your disposal read The In-Depth Reference Guide that follows. ASCII and Color Attribute Chart 48 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - ------------------------------------- The ASCII and Color Attribute Chart ------------------------------------- The In-Depth Reference Guide: ============================= The ASCII and Color Attribute Chart is an attachment to The Programmer's Calculator. The ASCII Chart is called an "attachment" because it is attached to the Calculator, and is accessed through the Calculator. You access The ASCII Chart from the Calculator by pressing <^F10>. That closes the Calculator and opens The ASCII Chart. 25, 43, And 50 Line Screens: ---------------------------- The ASCII Chart is designed to work with any of the common text modes in use today. Most systems operate with 25 lines of text visible on the screen at a time. ProLite will use all 25 lines to show you as much of The ASCII Chart as possible. If you have EGA and are in 43 line mode (43 lines of text visible on screen at a time), The ASCII Chart will use all 43 lines to show you as much information as possible. If you have VGA and are in 50 line mode (50 lines of text visible on the screen), The ASCII Chart will appear on all 50 lines. The Columns On The Chart: ------------------------- (Due to space limitations and printer incompatibilities, this figure appears only in the complete Programmer's Productivity Pack printed User's Guide.) Figure 4: ASCII Chart Display On the left hand side of the Chart there are several columns. The first two columns give you the decimal and hexadecimal values for each character. The third column displays the character that the ASCII code represents. The fourth column is made up of three asterisks in the actual color that those values represent. The colors are only visible on color monitors, obviously. The asterisks will be in whatever brightness or other quality that value represents to the type of monitor that you have. The next three columns describe the foreground color, the background color, and the attribute as it would appear on a monochrome display. ASCII and Color Attribute Chart 49 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - The Extended Characters: ------------------------ On the right hand side of the Chart there is an enlarged representation of all the graphics and box drawing characters. These are much easier to see than the dinky little characters that are actually represented by each code. If you are at the beginning of the Chart (ASCII code 00), the field at the right will display all the single line box characters and their codes. Moving towards the end of the Chart (ascending ASCII values), the field at the right will display all the double line boxes and their codes. On a 25 line monitor you can go from one field to the next by simply using <PgDn>. The third field shows all double horizontal and single vertical boxes and their codes. The fourth field shows all the single horizontal and double vertical boxes and their codes. The next field shows the graph and block characters and their codes. The next two fields display the common math symbols and their codes. The remaining fields show all the control codes. Moving Around The Chart: ------------------------ The following commands will move you around the chart whether NumLock is set or not. It makes no difference. You can easily scroll or page through The ASCII Chart to find the information you need. Scroll Up - To scroll up one line press the <Up> arrow key. Scroll Down - To scroll down one line press the <Down> arrow key. Page Up - To scroll up one page or screenful at a time press <PgUp>. Page Down - To scroll down one page or screenful at a time press <PgDn>. Go to Beginning - To move instantly to the beginning of the Chart (ASCII code 00) press <Home> or <Ctrl><PgUp>. Go To Center - To move instantly to the center of the Chart (ASCII code 127) press the numeric keypad <5> key (the center key). Go to End - To move instantly to the end of the Chart (ASCII code 255) press <END> or <Ctrl><PgDn>. ASCII and Color Attribute Chart 50 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - Other Available Commands: ------------------------- Park Disk(s) and Blank Screen - As in the Calculator, if you need to park your hard disk(s) and blank your screen while you go off to do something else, simply press <^P>. Any key will restore your screen when you return. Exiting ProLite from The ASCII Chart - To exit from The ASCII Chart and return to DOS, or to the program you were in when you popped ProLite up, simply press <Esc>. <Esc> always exits the pop-up, saving your place for when you return. Because The ASCII Chart is an "attachment" to the Calculator, pressing the same Hot Key that normally activates the Calculator will now instead pop up The ASCII Chart. This saves you the trouble of going through the Calculator itself to get back to The ASCII Chart when it is the attachment that you were last using. Returning to the Calculator: ---------------------------- To return to the Calculator from The ASCII Chart, press <Alt><Esc> instead of <Esc>. That completes the In-Depth Reference Guide for The ASCII and Color Attribute Chart. As you have seen, it is a lot more useful than most of the pop up ASCII charts you have used in the past. You now have one more tool to help you save time while working with source code or other text files. Not bad for a few minutes of reading! ASCII and Color Attribute Chart 51 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - -------------------------------- The Keystroke Reference Center -------------------------------- The Quick Start Tutorial: ========================= We were rather surprised to find that this quickly became the favorite attachment for the people who tested the full-blown Programmer's Productivity Pack before it was placed on the market. You are about to see why! This Quick Start Tutorial is designed to familiarize you with The Keystroke Reference Center in 15 minutes or less. You'll enjoy this utility! First, be sure that ProLite is loaded into memory. Type "ProLite" <Enter> at the DOS prompt. Next, pop up the Calculator using <Alt><LeftShift>. When the Calculator's display appears, press <M> to bring up the Menu. On the Menu you will see that command <F10> is marked "KeyRef" . This attachment is called The Keystroke Reference Center. Press <F10> to pop up The Keystroke Reference Center, and say goodbye to all your charts and lists of scan codes and INKEY() values! Take a while to look over the display on your screen. At the top it says Keystroke Reference Center, so you know you're in the right place. Below it are three boxes. The highlighted box on the left gives you the dBASE INKEY() value. The highlighted one on the right gives you a BIOS scan code. The center box tells you the version of ProLite you are using, the date, and the time. Below that it says "Press a key or key combination:". Okay, press the <Space> bar. Presto! You instantly have the scan code returned by the BIOS (used in most programming languages) in the right hand box, and the INKEY() value returned by the dBASE dialects (including dBASE III Plus, Clipper, Foxbase, QuickSilver, and presumably dBASE IV as well) in the left hand box. Now press <A>. Now <Shift><A>. Press <3> on the top line. Press <F7>. The information on each of those keystrokes appears instantly. Now press <F1>. A "Portability Note" has opened which gives you some important information about the dBASE INKEY() value for this keystroke. The Keystroke Reference Center 52 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - Now press <Alt><Up> Arrow. This time you get a different Portability Note. Now try pressing <Alt><BackSpace>. Another Portability Note appears. As you can see, just about all the information you will ever need about keyboard return codes is now available at the touch of a key! With NumLock off, press <5> on your numeric keypad. More information! You will probably want to press every key and key combination on the board just to see how much information is available, but, we need to move on right now. Below where you have been entering the keystrokes there is a live (real time) display of the values in the BIOS keyboard status bytes in low memory. Watch them as you press <Alt>, <Ctrl>, the <LeftShift> and <RightShift> keys, <ScrollLock>, <NumLock> or whatever. As you can see, the screen is instantly updated to show you any changes in the bit settings in the BIOS keyboard status bytes. As with the Calculator, The Keystroke Reference Center can be moved around the screen. Since it uses 25 lines on the screen, you will only be able to move it up and down if you have EGA 43 line mode, or VGA 50 line mode. Press <Alt><Left> Arrow. The display moves one space to the left. You also get the information on the key combination you just pressed, complete with a Portability Note. Press <Space> and the Portability Note disappears. Now press <Alt><Right> Arrow. The display goes back to the right one line. You get all the information on this keystroke, too. Press <Alt><Home>. Clear the Portability Note (press <Space> for instance) and press <Alt><End>. This takes you right across the screen. If you have 43 or 50 lines available on your screen, you can move the display up and down, also. Press <Alt><Up> Arrow and <Alt><Down> Arrow to move a line at a time, and <Alt><PgUp> and <Alt><PgDn> to move the height of the whole screen. To return to DOS, or to the program you were in before you activated ProLite, press <Esc>. Try it. Notice that it pauses to show you the return codes for the <Esc> key. Pressing any key returns you to DOS. Now, press <Alt><LeftShift> to again pop up ProLite. There you are, right back where you left off. To return to the Calculator from The Keystroke Reference Center, simply press <Alt><Esc> instead of <Esc>. Again, it will pause to show you the return The Keystroke Reference Center 53 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - codes for the <Alt><Esc> key combination. Pressing any key will return you to the Calculator. That was pretty easy. You have just completed the Quick Start Tutorial for ProLite's interactive Keystroke Reference Center. And you have also added another tool to your productivity toolbox. The Keystroke Reference Center 54 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - -------------------------------- The Keystroke Reference Center -------------------------------- The In-Depth Reference Guide: ============================= The Keystroke Reference Center is an elegant solution to a simple yet common problem. In virtually every program you write you'll find the need to identify a keystroke in order to determine what action to execute next. In most cases this keystroke will be identified by way of all or part of the "Scan Code" returned by the system's ROM BIOS. Other specialized application development tools or languages such as dBASE and its various counterparts (Clipper, FoxBase, QuickSilver, and others), return a key code that is different than the one normally returned by the ROM BIOS. To further complicate matters, not all keyboards are the same. There are the older 83 key PC/XT keyboards, the newer 84 key PC/AT style keyboards, the 101/102 key "enhanced" keyboards, and then the compact keyboards found on many laptop computers (many of which are configured to act like an enhanced keyboard by having the same key return different values according to various conditions). What all this means is that most of us keep reference charts from books or technical manuals close at hand while programming. We then refer to these books when we need to know what value is returned from a specific key. Of course these books or charts usually do not list all of the possible key combinations. So we often end up writing a separate little utility to display the return value from each key pressed, which we then use whenever we need to find out the value of a particular key or key combination. Needless to say, neither of these methods is an ideal solution. ProLite's interactive Keystroke Reference Center provides the solution to this common problem! First, because ProLite is memory-resident it is always available at the touch of a key. Second, because we don't always use the same languages and tools when developing applications, ProLite's interactive Keystroke Reference Center provides the information needed for the most common keystroke return values, the BIOS scan codes and the dBASE INKEY() return codes, simultaneously. Third, to take the solution a step further, The Keystroke Reference Center displays a "Portability Note" whenever a key or key combination requiring additional information, is pressed. The Keystroke Reference Center 55 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - To round out The Keystroke Reference Center, a live (real time) display of each individual bit in the two BIOS keyboard status bytes is displayed in the lower half of the screen. Another piece of information that may be of interest to many of you is that ProLite modifies the normal keyboard interrupts (Int 09h and 16h) in order to identify and use more keystrokes than are normally available through the BIOS services alone. Of course, if you press one of these special key combinations a Portability Note will let you know about it. Using The Keystroke Reference Center is as simple as it could possibly be. Instead of paging through a long chart, simply press the key or key combination that you are interested in, and you'll instantly have all the necessary information. How To Access The Keystroke Reference Center: --------------------------------------------- The Keystroke Reference Center is an attachment to The Programmer's Calculator. This means that it is attached to and accessed through the Calculator. You access The Keystroke Reference Center from the Calculator by pressing <F10>. That closes the Calculator and opens this attachment. The Display: ------------ The Keystroke Reference Center display provides you with a great deal of information. The highlighted box at the top left gives the dBASE INKEY() value for any keystroke. The highlighted box at the top right gives the BIOS scan code for any keystroke. These will be set to the values of <F10> when you first access The Keystroke Reference Center because that is the key you used to access it. The Keystroke Reference Center 56 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - |-----------------------------------------------------| | Keystroke Reference Center | |-----------------------------------------------------| | dBASE Key Code: | ProLite | BIOS Scan Code: | | 11111111 11110111 | Version 2.6 | 01000100 00000000 | | Hex FFF7 | 30-NOV-90 | Hex 4400 | | Dec -9 | 01:00:00 am | Dec 17,408 | |-----------------------------------------------------| | Press a key or key combination: <F10> | |-----------------------------------------------------| | BIOS Keyboard Status Bytes: | | Byte at 0040:0017H | Byte at 0040:0018H | | -------------------------+------------------------- | | 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 | 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 | | | | | | | | | Rt Shift | | | | | | | | Left Ctrl | | | | | | | | Left Shift | | | | | | | Left Alt | | | | | | | Ctrl Pressed | | | | | | Sys Req Press | | | | | | Alt Pressed | | | | | Hold State | | | | | Scroll Lock | | | | Scroll Lock Press | | | | Num Lock State | | | Num Lock Pressed | | | Caps Lock State | | Caps Lock Pressed | | Insert State | Insert Pressed | |-----------------------------------------------------| | Press <Alt-Escape> to return to the Calculator. | |-----------------------------------------------------┘ Figure 5: Keystroke Reference Center Display The box between the two highlighted boxes tells you what version of ProLite you are using, the date, and the time. The lower half of the display gives you a live (real time) display of the values in the BIOS keyboard status bytes in low memory. Scan Codes and INKEY() Values: ------------------------------ When you press a key or key combination on your keyboard, the software you are using must have some means of identifying or recognizing the key you pressed. To enable software to recognize keystrokes, the BIOS in your computer translates each keystroke into a particular code. Your software then uses that code to identify which key was pressed. We refer to this code by various names, but the most common name is "Scan Code." The Keystroke Reference Center displays the scan code for each key you press. The dBASE language, including the various compilers like Clipper, from Nantucket, return codes that are different than the BIOS scan codes. To determine which key was pressed you would use the built-in INKEY() function. The INKEY() values are also provided by The Keystroke Reference Center. The Keystroke Reference Center 57 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - Portability Notes: ------------------ Some keys are only available on enhanced keyboards. For instance, F11 and F12. Some key combinations are recognized only with certain keyboards. How do you remember which is which? If you use an enhanced keyboard for software development, how do you make sure that users who don't have an enhanced keyboard can also use your program? The Keystroke Reference Center points out special keys or key combinations that not every keyboard can utilize. The Keystroke Reference Center does this by way of "Portability Notes" which provide you with the information you need regarding the various keyboards. Moving the Display: ------------------- There are a few keystrokes that have special meaning in The Keystroke Reference Center. These include the keys used to move The Keystroke Reference Center display around the screen. Although these keystrokes are commands within The Keystroke Reference Center they will still be processed just like any other keystroke. All their information, as well as any Portability Notes concerning them, will be displayed as the action is carried out. Move Left - To move the display one column left press <Alt><Left> (left arrow). Move Right - To move the display one column right press <Alt><Right>. Move to the Left Side - To move the display all the way to the left side of the screen press <Alt><Home>. Move to the Right Side - To move the display all the way to the right side of the screen press <Alt><End>. Move Up - To move the display one line up, press <Alt><Up> (up arrow). You must have more than 25 lines of text visible on your screen to use this feature. Move Down - To move the display one line down, press <Alt><Down>. You must have more than 25 lines of text visible on your screen to use this feature. The Keystroke Reference Center 58 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - Move to Top - To move the display all the way to the top of the screen, press <Alt><PgUp>. You must have more than 25 lines of text visible on your screen to use this feature. Move to Bottom - To move the display all the way to the bottom of the screen, press <Alt><PgDn>. You must have more than 25 lines of text visible on your screen to use this feature. Other Available Commands: ------------------------- Returning to the Calculator - To return to the Calculator from The Keystroke Reference Center, press <Alt><Esc>. Exit from ProLite - Press <Esc> to exit from the pop-up. This will enable you to pop back to the same place you left the next time you pop up ProLite. Because The Keystroke Reference Center is an "attachment" to the Calculator, pressing the same Hot Key that normally activates the Calculator will instead pop up The Keystroke Reference Center. This saves you the trouble of going through the Calculator itself to get back to The Keystroke Reference Center when it is the attachment you were last using. The Keystroke Reference Center 59 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - ------------------------------- Park Disk(s) and Blank Screen ------------------------------- The In-Depth Reference Guide: ============================= You are probably aware that when the same characters are displayed in the same position on your screen for long periods of time they tend to burn a permanent image of themselves into the phosphorescent coating of your screen. To avoid this many people use automatic screen blanking programs that blank the screen after a predetermined period of keyboard inactivity. Such utilities are certainly useful and necessary, but many people feel that there is a better way to accomplish the same goal. There are some very obvious disadvantages to those particular utilities. The screen is often blanked unexpectedly, which can sometimes be rather unsettling. While the screen is blank it is not necessarily obvious whether or not the computer is turned on, which is an important consideration when more than one person might be using the machine. Some of these utilities "eat" the next keystroke entered, while some do not. Also, while you are away from your computer, your monitor is protected from screen burns, but your hard disk is not protected against head crashes. ProLite provides an alternative to the many "automatic" screen blanking programs. Most users prefer to stop using their older screen blanking programs once they start using ProLite! ProLite never blanks your screen "automatically" (i.e. unexpectedly). You are always in control. Furthermore, when ProLite blanks your screen it also displays a clock on the screen so that you know that the computer is actually turned on. This clock will never produce screen burns because it moves to a new position on the screen every 60 seconds. This means that for every minute the clock is in a certain position, there are over three hours when that same position is blank. To top it all off, when ProLite blanks your screen it also parks your hard disk by moving the read/write heads to the last cylinder. If you have two hard disks, both will be parked. If you do not want to use the Disk Parking feature when you blank your screen you can disable that part of the utility with PCustom. Refer to the PCustom In-Depth Reference Guide (page 77) for complete information on how to disable disk parking. ProLite's Screen Blanking and Disk Parking feature can be activated from either The Programmer's Calculator or from The ASCII and Color Attribute Chart. In either case, the Screen Screen Blanking and Disk Parking 60 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - Blanking and Disk Parking feature is invoked by pressing for ark. You can also use <Ctrl> or <Alt>. Once activated, you may "unblank" the screen and return to where you left off by pressing any key. Screen Blanking and Disk Parking 61 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - ---------------------------------- PCustom: The Customizing Program ---------------------------------- PCustom is ProLite's companion customizing program. You may never use it. ProLite may be exactly to your liking just the way you received it. You may like the colors we liked, the sounds we liked, the way we allocated memory. But, it is more likely that even though you're happy with ProLite there are just one or two things you would have done differently. This is your gateway to making those changes. PCustom was designed for the full-blown Programmer's Productivity Pack (to customize ProPak and ProSwap), so many options in PCustom are not relevant to ProLite. These options will appear in a different video attribute and will not be usable. The full-blown Programmer's Productivity Pack is also available on a try-before-you-buy basis. Please refer to the PRODUCTS.DOC text file for complete details. Before we get started with PCustom, you should know that PCustom works by updating the special configuration file (PROLITE.CFG). This gives your custom features a "permanent" feel. It makes the programs act as if they were actually custom written just for you! By the way, don't let the word permanent scare you. You can change as many features as you want, as often as you want. Experiment. Have fun! The Quick Start Tutorial: ========================= If you placed PCustom into the same directory as ProLite when you installed the package, then you are ready to begin. If you haven't done this yet, then please do so now. Start PCustom by typing "PCUSTOM" <Enter> at the DOS command prompt. If you have a black-and-white (LCD, or Gas plasma) monitor you should type "PCUSTOM -B" (or -b, /B, /b, \b, or \B). This will make PCustom use the gray scale color set for its own screen displays. PCustom's Main Menu will appear. The "Colors" selection is highlighted. The text above the Menu tells you what the highlighted selection is for. Press <Enter>. PCustom: The Customizing Program 62 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - This brings up the Colors Menu. You can select one of the three standard color sets or design your own custom color set. Select "Custom Attribute Set" and press <Enter>. This brings up the Select Colors Menu. Select "ASCII Chart" and press <Enter>. Here are eight different portions of The ASCII Chart that you can customize to your liking. We won't actually change anything now, so you can press <Esc> when you're finished looking around. That pops you back to the Select Colors Menu. Select "Calculator" and press <Enter>. This selection has its own Menu. Choose one of the three options and press <Enter>. Make any changes you wish. You can change your mind at any time, so, don't worry. You can also restore the original colors by choosing one of the three default attribute sets on the Colors Submenu. Check out some more options from the Select Colors Menu and then <Esc> back to the Main Menu. Select "Hot Keys" and press <Enter>. Here are the five major Hot Keys (only two apply to ProLite). Select one and press <Enter>. You can choose your own or pick from the list. What makes the list so useful is that you couldn't normally select any of those options from the keyboard. That's why if you change some the default Hot Keys "on the fly" you cannot reset them to the default value. However, you can do it from PCustom. <Esc> back to the Main Menu and move to the "Sound Effects" option. Here you can modify the beeps, clicks, and raspberries (error sounds) to be just like you always thought they should be. Now move to the "Advanced Options" choice. Here you can set the mode and format the Calculator starts up in, how swapping is handled, and a host of other things. Now move to "Exit PCustom". Highlight "Cancel Changes" and press <Enter>. This takes you out of the program without making any changes. Well, that's all for this tutorial. As you can already see, PCustom is very easy to use, but very powerful. You can modify almost any aspect of the Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite. Read the following In-Depth Reference Guide for a complete explanation of all the possibilities. PCustom: The Customizing Program 63 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - ---------------------------------- PCustom: The Customizing Program ---------------------------------- The In-Depth Reference Guide: ============================= PCustom is your ticket to a custom made version of the Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite. PCustom gives you the freedom to choose. With ProLite you do not have to adjust your work habits and preferences to match the software. Instead you can change the software to match your work habits and preferences. After all, you should be telling your computer what to do, not the other way around. Starting PCustom: ----------------- When you first start PCustom, by typing "PCUSTOM" <Enter> at the DOS command prompt, PCustom will load and wait for your first choice. Throughout the use of PCustom you will find that PCustom avoids making decisions for you, but rather lets you stay in control. You may modify whatever you wish, and ignore that which you do not wish to modify. You're the boss, and PCustom knows it. If you have a black-and-white (gray scale, LCD, or gas plasma) monitor you should type "PCUSTOM -B" (or -b, /B, /b,\b, or \B). This will make PCustom use the gray scale color set for its screen displays. How PCustom Works: ------------------ To understand how PCustom works, it would be helpful to know a little about what it is that PCustom actually does to the PROLITE.CFG file. Here's the basic sequence of events that occur during customizing: PCustom examines the current directory for the PROLITE.CFG file. If the file is not found, then PCustom checks the same directory from which it was loaded (if you are using DOS 3.0 or higher). If the configuration file is still not found, PCustom will check the directories in the DOS path. Once the file is found, PCustom reads the current settings from it and then set its internal values to match. At this point PCustom closes the file and works only with its internal tables. This is why you can always change your mind about making any of the changes permanent. PCustom: The Customizing Program 64 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - You then use PCustom's pull down menu system to customize any and all features. When you are through making any custom changes you desire, select the "Exit PCustom" choice on the Main Menu. This brings up three additional choices (only two apply to ProLite). Choosing "Save Changes" will instruct PCustom to install the new values into the PROLITE.CFG file. Choosing "Select (Alt-Q)" gives you another chance to select the file or files to actually modify (not relevant in ProLite). Choosing "Cancel Changes" returns you to DOS without altering the .EXE or .CFG files in any way. We use the term "permanent" when we talk about making changes to the PROLITE.CFG file, but we mean "permanent" in the sense that they are permanent until you change them again at some future time. You may customize the ProLite files as often as you wish. The PCustom Menus: ------------------ The following information outlines each option on each Menu and Submenu available within PCustom. The Main Menu: -------------- The Main Menu is the first menu to appear. You will see the following: (Due to space limitations and printer incompatibilities, this figure appears only in the complete Programmer's Productivity Pack printed User's Guide.) Figure 6: PCustom Main Menu The Colors option is highlighted. If you press <Enter> it will be selected. The text at the top tells you what that option is for. You can select any one of the five options by moving the highlight bar with the <Arrow> keys. Each of these options will produce its own menu. Let's look at each one individually. The Colors Menu: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When you select the Colors option you will see the following: (Due to space limitations and printer incompatibilities, this figure appears only in the complete Programmer's Productivity Pack printed User's Guide.) Figure 7: PCustom Colors Menu PCustom: The Customizing Program 65 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - The Colors option is the door to the many options available for choosing the colors you prefer for each and every aspect of the ProLite package. ProLite has two built-in color sets, one for color monitors, and one for monochrome monitors. If you use a color monitor you will be able to change the color attribute set to your preferences. If you use a monochrome monitor you will be able to change the monochrome attribute set as desired. If you use a gray scale (black and white) monitor then you will be adjusting the color attribute set (not the monochrome attribute set) to your preferences. If you have two monitors, say one color and the other monochrome, and two display adapters (this is common among programmers who spend time with a debugger), then both attribute sets will be relevant to your needs. When you pop up ProLite on your color monitor it will automatically use the color attribute set. When you pop it up on your monochrome monitor it will automatically use the monochrome attribute set. These are the four options you can select from this Menu: Color Attribute Set - This option restores ProLite to the same color attributes that were in use when ProLite was shipped. This is useful when you have made changes and want to quickly restore ProLite to a known starting point before continuing with the customizing of individual colors, or for just returning ProLite to its original color settings whenever you desire. Monochrome Attribute Set - Selecting this option automatically restores the monochrome attribute set to the values that were in use when ProLite was originally shipped. You may still change individual attributes later if you wish. Gray Scale Attribute Set - This option sets the values of the color attribute set to those values that look best on a gray scale monitor. These "factory set" values will give you a good starting place even if you prefer to change some of them later. You can always move down to the "Custom Attribute Set" and fine tune any values you wish to change. Custom Attribute Set - This option enables you to customize the attribute set to best suit your individual tastes. If you are using a color or gray scale monitor, you will be adjusting the color attribute set. If you are using a monochrome monitor you will be adjusting the monochrome attribute set. PCustom: The Customizing Program 66 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - PCustom is smart enough to know whether you are using a monochrome monitor or a color monitor. PCustom will automatically determine which attribute set should be used, no additional steps are necessary on your part. Since gray scale monitors look just like color monitors to software, you need to use the "-B" command line parameter to tell PCustom that you have a black-and-white monitor. Select the Custom Attribute Set if you wish to customize any of the colors on your copy of ProLite. Move the highlight bar down until Custom Attribute Set is highlighted and press <Enter>. This will bring up the Select Colors Menu. When you select the Custom Attribute Set you will see the following Menu appear: (Due to space limitations and printer incompatibilities, this figure appears only in the complete Programmer's Productivity Pack printed User's Guide.) Figure 8: Custom Colors Submenu This is the Select Colors Menu. You can set the colors to each of the eight options listed on the Menu. Let's look at each of the options. ASCII Chart: This option provides you with the means of customizing the colors used to display The ASCII and Color Attribute Chart, which is one of the attachments to The Programmer's Calculator. There are eight separate aspects of The ASCII Chart that you can customize. If you have a color monitor you can change the colors to any of the color combinations listed in the Color Attribute Chart. If you have a monochrome monitor you will be able to customize these features to any of the monochrome attributes listed in the Color Attribute Chart. ProLite will automatically offer you only those options which are possible on your monitor. These are the eight aspects of The ASCII Chart that you can customize. Outline Color (Frame) - As the name implies, this option enables you to change the color of the outline or frame around The ASCII Chart. Title Color (top of chart) - This option changes the color of the title of the chart. Column Heading Color - This option changes the color of the text appearing at the top of each column. PCustom: The Customizing Program 67 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - ASCII Code Color (Dec & Hex) - This option changes the color of the decimal and hexadecimal values that appear to the left of the ASCII character. ASCII Character Color - This option changes the color of the ASCII character itself, in the left hand section of the chart. Attribute Description Color - This option changes the color of the words that describe the color that each attribute (ASCII code) will produce when used as an attribute byte. Large Character Color - This option enables you to change the color of the enlarged ASCII characters that display in the right hand section of the chart. Large Code Color - Selecting this option enables you to change the color of the decimal value listed next to each of the enlarged characters in the right hand section of the chart. Calculator: This option opens the door for you to customize the appearance of the Calculator. This option leads to a submenu which makes available three categories of color attributes that go into making up the overall appearance of the Calculator. (Due to space limitations and printer incompatibilities, this figure appears only in the complete Programmer's Productivity Pack printed User's Guide.) Figure 9: Calculator Sub-Submenu Let's look at the three options on the Submenu. Actual Calculator: This option enables you to change each individual color involved in the actual Calculator display. The different portions of the display are: Current Format Highlighting - When you switch from one numeric format to another, Decimal to Hexadecimal, etc., you will notice that the format title and the pending operation (if any) will be updated to appear highlighted. This option enables you to customize the color of this highlighting. Signed or Unsigned Title - This option controls the color used to display the sign mode at the top center of the Calculator display. PCustom: The Customizing Program 68 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - High Word, High Nibble - The Programmer's Calculator is specially designed to make it easy to separate the various pieces of information present when handling large values. This is tremendously useful when keeping track of 32 ones and zeros in the Binary Box. This option, and the next three that go with it, enables you to make a distinct color difference between the logical divisions of the 32 bit binary values. This option changes the color of the highest four bits of each value. High Word, Low Nibble - This option changes the color of the second to the highest four bits of each value. Low Word, High Nibble - This option changes the color of the second to the lowest four bits of each value. Low Word, Low Nibble - This option changes the color of the lowest four bits of each value. Normal Values Color - This option changes the appearance of the values in the Decimal and Octal Boxes. Saved Values Color - This option changes the color of the four saved values that appear in the Save Window. Information Color - This option changes the color of the various pieces of identifying information present in the Calculator display. Clock and Date Color - This option changes the color of the date and time displayed in the information window of the Calculator. Calculator Menu: This option enables you to change each individual color involved in the display of the Calculator's Menu. This option is best experimented with to see the effect that each color change has on the overall appearance of the Calculator. Information Color - This option changes the colors of the various pieces of information displayed in the Calculator's Menu. Description Color - This option changes the color of the description of each command available within the Calculator. Function Keys Color - This choice changes the color of the normal function key options. PCustom: The Customizing Program 69 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - Shifted Function Keys - This choice changes the color of the shifted function key options. Save/Insert Pick Window: This option enables you to change each individual color involved in the display of the "pick window" which is used to select which value to save or insert when more than one is available. Normal Choices Color - This is the color used to display values that may be chosen. Outline Color - This option controls the color of the frame around the pick window. Heading Color - This option controls the color of the title of the pick window. Selected Highlight - This option controls the color of the pick bar, the highlighted bar that you move up and down to select an option. Empty Color - This is the color used to display empty choices, choices with a value of zero. Empty Selected Color - This is the color used when an empty choice (one with a value of zero) is selected. Error Messages: This option enables you to select the colors you prefer for error messages. Outline Color - This is the color of the outline around the error message window. Heading Color - This is the color of the title of the error message window. Normal Text Color - Error messages appear in two different colors in order to highlight certain information. This is the usual color for the text of an error message. Alternate Text Color - This is the color used to highlight or bring attention to some of the information displayed in an error message. Keystroke Reference Center: This option leads to the individual choices available for customizing the appearance of The Keystroke Reference Center display. Outline - This option changes the color of the outline or frame around The Keystroke Reference Center. PCustom: The Customizing Program 70 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - Information - This option enables you to customize the color of the various pieces of identifying information present in The Keystroke Reference Center display. Time & Date - This option enables you to customize the color used to display the current time and date. Instructions - This option enables you to change the color of the instructions that appear on the screen in The Keystroke Reference Center display. Status Byte High - The BIOS keyboard status bytes are displayed in two alternating colors to make it easier to identify each bit individually. Selecting this option enables you to change one of these colors. Status Byte Low - This option enables you to change the alternate color used to display the BIOS keyboard status bytes. Key Code Information - This option controls the color of the information appearing within the code boxes of the display. Key Code Row Heading - This option controls the color of the words "Dec" and "Hex" in the codes boxes. Note Window Outline - This option controls the outline of the Portability Note window. Note Window Text - This option controls the text in the Portability Note window. Control Center Menu: Not available in ProLite. Normal Messages: This option leads to the individual choices available for customizing the appearance of the Message Window and the text it contains. Outline - This option controls the color of the frame around normal Message Windows. Heading - This option controls the color of the heading of normal Message Windows. Normal Message Text - This option controls the color of text displayed in normal Message Windows. Highlighted Message Text - This option controls the color of special information displayed in normal Message Windows. PCustom: The Customizing Program 71 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - Alternate Message Text - This option controls the color of unavailable options in Message Windows that also present choices. Normal Selected Text - This option controls the color of the highlight bar in Message Windows that also present choices. Alternate Selected Text - This option controls the color of the highlight bar when unavailable options are selected. Screen Blank (Clock): This option enables you to change the color used to display the on screen clock during screen blanking and hard disk parking. Screen Grabber Box: Not available in ProLite. Swapping In/Out Message: This option enables you to customize the color of the message that appears on the bottom line of the screen while ProLite is swapping into or out of memory. The Hot Keys Menu: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The second selection on the Main Menu is to customize the Hot Keys used by ProLite. When you select it you will see the following Menu. (Due to space limitations and printer incompatibilities, this figure appears only in the complete Programmer's Productivity Pack printed User's Guide.) Figure 10: Customize Hot Keys Submenu This Menu enables you to change each of the five Hot Keys used by ProLite. For each option you will be presented with a list of eight of the most useful Hot Keys, plus an option called "Other" through which you may select key combinations that are not shown in the initial list. The Hot Keys appearing in the list are key combinations like <LeftShift><Ctrl> or <Ctrl><RightShift> which cannot be entered interactively through the "Other" option. If you were to attempt to choose this type of key combination through the "Other" option, PCustom would not have any way of knowing if you wanted <Ctrl><Alt> or if you intended to follow it up with another letter like <Ctrl><Alt>. Those two modifier key combinations don't normally produce a scan code. You can prove this by trying them on The Keystroke Reference Center. PCustom presents a list of these types of keys and accepts what you pick from that list. PCustom: The Customizing Program 72 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - (Due to space limitations and printer incompatibilities, this figure appears only in the complete Programmer's Productivity Pack printed User's Guide.) Figure 11: Hot Keys Submenu The same eight Hot Keys are listed for each of the five tools or functions that use Hot Keys. Any key which is dim is already in use. You cannot select the same Hot Key for two functions. The five tools or functions are the following: Calculator and Attachments - This option changes the Hot Key used to pop up The Programmer's Calculator. Because the current attachment might be The ASCII Chart or The Keystroke Reference Center rather than the Calculator, this option effectively controls the Hot Key used to pop up any of the Calculator attachments. Control Center Menu - Not available in ProLite. Screen Grabber - Not available in ProLite. Start Recording - Not available in ProLite. Stop Recording - Not available in ProLite. Pop-Up DOS Shell - This option enables you to select the Hot Key used to activate the Pop-Up DOS Shell capability in ProLite. Note: You should avoid <Alt><LeftShift> and <Ctrl><LeftShift> as hot keys. The Sound Effects Menu: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The third choice on the Main Menu enables you to customize the sound effects produced by ProLite. Selecting this option brings up the Sound Effects Menu. (Due to space limitations and printer incompatibilities, this figure appears only in the complete Programmer's Productivity Pack printed User's Guide.) Figure 12: Sound Effects Submenu This Menu provides you with a simple method of customizing the various sound effects used within ProLite. Alter each effect until it sounds the way you prefer on your particular machine. Beep Sound - The beep sound is the sound ProLite makes when you press a key it doesn't understand, or when something occurs that you should know about. PCustom: The Customizing Program 73 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - You will be able to set the frequency or pitch of the tone and its duration. Click Sound - The click sound is the sound ProLite makes when you switch formats or toggle the sign in The Programmer's Calculator. You will be able to set the frequency or pitch of the tone and its duration. Error Sound - The error sound is the sound ProLite makes when an error occurs or when ProLite is unable to carry out your instructions. This sound is produced differently than the other two sounds. The error sound is made by sounding the beep, pausing, sounding the click, pausing, and then repeating this a specified number of times. You can easily change the duration of the pause and the number of times the sounds are repeated in order to obtain the error effect. The Advanced Options Menu: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The fourth option on the Main Menu is Advanced Options. This is perhaps the most frequently chosen Main Menu option. This option leads to several submenus that enable you to change many features that do not fall under the other Main Menu choices. This could almost be called the "Miscellaneous Options" choice on the Main Menu. Selecting this option will bring up the Advanced Options Menu. When this option is selected you will see the following Menu appear: (Due to space limitations and printer incompatibilities, this figure appears only in the complete Programmer's Productivity Pack printed User's Guide.) Figure 13: Advanced Options Submenu The following information explains each of the seven options and what features it enables you to customize. Calculator: This option brings up a Submenu that enables you to change the default mode and format for the Calculator when it is first popped up. PCustom: The Customizing Program 74 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - Start up Numeric Mode: This option enables you to determine whether The Programmer's Calculator initially starts up in Signed or Unsigned mode. Start up Numeric Format: This option enables you to select the numeric format (Decimal, Hexadecimal, Binary, or Octal) The Programmer's Calculator will be in when it is first started. cApture: Not available in ProLite. Character Filter Method: Not available in ProLite. Replacement Character: Not available in ProLite. Screen Capture File Extension: Not available in ProLite. Grabber: Not available in ProLite. Swap Control: This option opens up a sub-menu with several options which control how ProLite handles the swapping operation. First Swap Path: When ProLite swaps to disk it swaps into files that are marked with the "hidden" attribute. This option controls where the first swap file will be placed. PCustom will verify your input, so be sure to specify only valid (existing) drives and directories. Floppy disks are not acceptable for swapping purposes, but Bernoulli drives are fine. This is the same path that will be used by the pop-up DOS shell for its swap file as well. Do not specify a filename, only a pathname. Second Swap Path: This option is just like the previous option except it controls the path for the second swap file. If you use the "-M" command line option, or choose "Sacrifice speed for space" under the "Swap Tuning" option (below) then the second swap file will not be used at all. Pop-Up DOS Shell: This determines whether the pop-up DOS shell capabilities will be available when ProLite is resident. The only time you will not want the pop-up DOS shell enabled is when you are using a DOS version earlier than 3.0, or when you are trying to avoid conflicts with another program. Max Size of DOS Shell: The size of the DOS shell can be controlled to a certain extent. The smallest it can be is about 124K bytes. The largest it can be is the amount of memory that was available when ProLite was loaded (less about 20K). Why would you want to change the size of the DOS shell? The larger the shell, the longer it will take to swap in and out, and the more disk space or EMS/XMS memory it will require. By decreasing the maximum size of PCustom: The Customizing Program 75 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - the DOS shell you will conserve resources and speed up the swapping process. The default is "All Available Memory". EMS Swapping: This option controls whether EMS (Expanded) memory may be used for swapping purposes. It may be enabled or disabled. The default is "Enabled". XMS Swapping: This option controls whether XMS (Extended) memory may be used for swapping purposes. It may be enabled or disabled. The default is "Enabled". Swap Message (EMS/XMS): This controls the display of the "Swapping In/Out" message that appears on the bottom line of the screen during the swapping operation. Generally the message should be displayed. If, for some reason, you don't want this message, simply turn it off here. Prefer EMS over XMS: When both EMS and XMS memory swapping are enabled, this option controls which one is tried first. ProLite will try one, if there's not enough memory available it will try the other. This option controls whether EMS is tried before XMS memory, or vice versa. Disk Swapping: This option controls whether swapping to disk is allowed. Normally ProLite will swap to disk only when absolutely necessary (when there is insufficient EMS or XMS memory, or when EMS/XMS swapping is disabled). With this option you can instruct ProLite to abort during loading if there is not enough EMS or XMS memory - in other words, never use disk swapping. Swap Tuning (XMS/Disk only): When swapping to disk or XMS memory, ProLite normally uses two files or two memory blocks. This takes up more disk space or more XMS memory, but it results in a very fast swapping operation. If you prefer conserving disk space or XMS memory, at the expense of speed, this option makes it easy. Registered To: We keep track of registered versions by serial number, but most people don't like being just a number. This option enables registered users to record their name or company name so that ProLite and PCustom will display "Registered to <your name>" when they start. This lets you personalize ProLite and PCustom. Rename ProPak: Not available in ProLite. Miscellaneous: This option takes you a step deeper into ProLite's inner workings. PCustom: The Customizing Program 76 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - Key Recording FileName Extension: Not available in ProLite. Read Key Recordings from File: Not available in ProLite. Keystroke Playback Delay: Not available in ProLite. Memory Reserved for Recordings: Not available in ProLite. (Due to space limitations and printer incompatibilities, this figure appears only in the complete Programmer's Productivity Pack printed User's Guide.) Figure 14: Miscellaneous Sub-Submenu DOS Print, File Pick Window: Not available in ProLite. Screen Blanking Options: When ProLite blanks your screen and displays a moving clock, it also parks your hard disk. If you have two hard disks, ProLite will park both of them. Parking simply means positioning the read/write heads over the last cylinder on the hard disk. This is simply a preventive measure or safety feature. If you prefer, you may instruct ProLite to NOT park the hard disk or disks when blanking the screen. This submenu option enables you to do that if you desire. Use EMS Memory for overlays: Not available in ProLite. Return to application with: This option is really only of use to those who have EGA cards. When ProLite opens up a window it records the previous cursor size and position so that the cursor can later be restored exactly as it was when ProLite was popped up. Sometimes the cursor size will not be restored properly due to a bug in the EGA's ROM BIOS extensions. To get around this problem, this option enables you to instruct ProLite to always restore the common two line cursor (a cursor with the bottom two scan lines blinking). Most user's will never need this option. You'll know if you are one of those who needs to use it. Overlay Buffer Size Supplement: Not available in ProLite. Microsoft Quick Environment Fix: This option is only important to people who use the newer versions of the Microsoft Quick Environments - such as QuickBasic 4.5, Quick C 2.0, etc. This option will enable ProLite to safely pop-up over these environments. When operating in non-swapping mode (the "-N" or "-T" command line option), ProLite will normally not work with the Quick Environments. This option tells ProLite to deal with this special case when it is running in non-swapping mode. PCustom: The Customizing Program 77 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - The Exit PCustom Menu: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The fifth option on the Main Menu is Exit PCustom. This will take you back to the DOS prompt. You can also select whether to save or cancel the changes you have made. If you select this option the Exit PCustom Menu will appear. When this option is selected you will see the following Menu: (Due to space limitations and printer incompatibilities, this figure appears only in the complete Programmer's Productivity Pack printed User's Guide.) Figure 15: Exit PCustom Submenu Save Changes: This option tells PCustom to write the changes you have specified into the PROLITE.CFG file. Select (Alt-Q): Not available in ProLite. Cancel Changes: This option enables you to return to DOS without altering the PROLITE.CFG file in any way. This option cancels any changes you have made and exits from PCustom. PCustom: The Customizing Program 78 of 95 - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite 1.00 - ----------------------------- Miscellaneous Information ----------------------------- EXE Compression Utilities: ========================== Many people are now starting to use a free utility called "LZE" to compress executable files while still allowing them to run normally. LZE is a wonderfully useful tool, but it does have a few drawbacks. There have been numerous reports of LZE-compressed programs corrupting DESQview memory blocks when they load. Since many of you operate in the DESQview environment it may not be safe for you to compress the programs. If you do not use DESQview, and wish to compress the programs using your copy of LZE (if you have a copy), then here is the information you need: PCustom may be compressed with LZE without causing any difficulties. ProLite cannot be safely compressed with LZE because of an undetermined problem that affects the pop-up DOS shell capability. This problem only affects some systems. ProLite may or may not work in compressed form on your system. The only way to know for sure is to try it yourself. We are currently looking into alternatives for compressing the executable files. There are several utilities available or under development which may do the trick. Unfortunately, we are not allowed to talk about them due to nondisclosure agreements. Change History: =============== Please refer to the HISTORY.DOC text file for the complete change history of the Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite. Miscellaneous Information 79 of 95 Appendix A - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite Lite 1.00 - ------------ Appendix A ------------ The Bits and the Bytes: ======================= This appendix provides basic information concerning bits and bit level operations. The primary source for this brief overview was Charles Petzold's "PC Tutor" column in the August, 1987, issue of "PC Magazine" (Volume 6, Number 14). TIP: If you are new to hexadecimal and binary arithmetic, we recommend that you find a copy of Jeff Duntemann's excellent book "Assembly Language from Square One", published by Scott, Foresman and Company. Chapter One of this book contains the clearest and most entertaining introduction to the binary and hexadecimal numbering systems that we have ever seen.TIP For the sake of simplicity, we'll discuss the details of bits from the standpoint of 16 bit systems. 16 bit systems include IBM PC's, XT's, AT's, and some PS/2's. For this discussion, when we say "16 bit system" we are referring to the microprocessor itself, not necessarily all the hardware to which it is connected. If you work with 32 bit systems like the newer 80386 machines, they are just twice the size, in bits, of 16 bit systems. On the most basic level, your computer works with bits. A bit is a concrete, real value in your computer. A bit is simply a state - on/off, yes/no, true/false, or 1/0, depending upon how you like to think of them. Handling bits one at a time would be a very complicated and inefficient process for us humans, so we deal with bits in groups. The most common group of bits is called a "byte," which is simply a group made up of 8 individual bits. Bits are usually represented using the numbers one (1) and zero (0). In fact, these are the only numbers that a single bit can represent. Numbers consisting solely of 1's and 0's are called binary numbers, because only two digits make up the entire number system. We are more accustomed to the Decimal system in which 10 digits (0-9) make up the entire number system. Performing mathematical operations on binary numbers is much like performing mathematical operations on decimal numbers, except only 2 digits (0 and 1) are used. Bits and Bytes; A Brief Tutorial 80 of 95 Appendix A - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite Lite 1.00 - For example, in Decimal format, "1 + 1 = 2", but binary numbers don't have a digit like "2", so we carry the 1, just like we do with decimal numbers. In decimal numbers when you add "9 + 1" there is no digit to represent a value higher than 9, so we carry one place as follows: Decimal: 9 + 1 ---- 10 Binary is the same: 1 + 1 ---- 10 With decimal numbers, each time a digit is moved left one place, the number increases by a power of 10. If you take the decimal value 10 and move it left one place you get the number 100 which is 10 times greater than the value with which you started. Binary numbers work like this too. Each time you move a binary value left one place the value increases by a power of two. The following chart shows a byte size value (8 bits) and the result each time a digit is shifted left one place, this should give you a better picture of how binary numbers work: Binary Decimal value equivalent -------- ---------- 00000000 0 00000001 1 00000010 2 00000100 4 00001000 8 00010000 16 00100000 32 01000000 64 10000000 128 ProLite's Calculator is an excellent tool to help see this first hand. ProLite's Calculator enables you to shift values left and right, rotate them left and right, and perform a myriad of different operations, all the while showing you the individual bit settings. Watching the bit settings in the binary values will show you exactly what is happening as you perform each operation. Bits and Bytes; A Brief Tutorial 81 of 95 Appendix A - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite Lite 1.00 - The following chart shows the binary values corresponding to the decimal numbers from 1 to 10, this should give you a good idea of how binary numbers are used to add, subtract, and do other mathematical operations: Binary Decimal value equivalent ------ ---------- 0001 1 0010 2 0011 3 0100 4 0101 5 0110 6 0111 7 1000 8 1001 9 1010 10 As you can see: in Binary: 1 + 1 --- 10 then adding another 1: 10 + 1 --- 11 and another: 11 + 1 --- 100 and so forth. Why is all this binary stuff important? What does it have to do with programming my computer? Well, your computer's microprocessor manipulates groups of bits in its registers. A register is simply a storage location built right into the chip itself. This means the processor can manipulate values in these registers very quickly, because it doesn't have to get the value from memory somewhere else in the system. The types of microprocessors we are discussing generally manipulate 8 or 16 bits at a time in their registers. The registers, by the way, are either 8 or 16 bits wide. Bits and Bytes; A Brief Tutorial 82 of 95 Appendix A - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite Lite 1.00 - In virtually every field of business, science, and life in general, we make up names for things. The computer field is no different. When we group bits together into logical units, we have a name for each unit. We've already discussed the "BYTE" which is a collection of 8 bits that are treated as a single unit or group. A unit with 4 bits is half of a byte, so logically, it is called a "NIBBLE" (also spelled "nybble"). Moving in the other direction, a group of 16 bits (two bytes), is called a "WORD". A group of 32 bits (four bytes) is called a "DOUBLE WORD". Knowing this, much of the mystique behind these terms should now be cleared up. Learning a few new terms is not unique to the computer industry, if you were a stock broker you would have to learn the difference between a put and a call, if you were a sailor you would have to learn the difference between port and starboard. The computer field is like any other field. There are new terms to learn, but the result is it will be easier to say exactly what you mean and have others understand exactly what you are talking about. Let's take a look at the range of values that can be represented by various groups of bits. Obviously, when you have a known amount of space in which to store a number, there is a limit to the size of the number that can be stored there. Along these same lines, if you have enough space to store anything from 0 to 10 but you want to add the ability to use negative numbers as well, then the same storage space will hold anything from -5 to +5. After all, we can only store a limited number of unique values in a particular storage space. An 8 bit value, a byte, can represent any decimal number (whole number) between 0 and 255. If you want to be able to include negative numbers, then we can represent any value from -127 to +128 with 8 bits. Numbers that can be either positive or negative are called "SIGNED" numbers. Logically, numbers that can only be positive are called "UNSIGNED" numbers. A 16 bit value, a word, can represent any decimal whole number between 0 and 65,535. If you are using signed numbers, a 16 bit word can represent any decimal whole number from -32,767 to +32,768. A 32 bit value, a double word, can represent any decimal whole number between 0 and 4,294,967,295. A signed 32 bit double word can represent any whole number between -2,147,483,648 and +2,147,483,647. Bits and Bytes; A Brief Tutorial 83 of 95 Appendix A - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite Lite 1.00 - This should help to explain why so many software products on the market have similar limits for various operations. When working with a computer you have to stay within the limits of what it is able to accomplish using its particular design. Of course we haven't even touched on the subject of numbers that can have something after the decimal point. Fractional numbers, often called "floating point" numbers in the computer industry, are an entirely different subject and we won't go into detail on them here. Suffice it to say, unless you are using a math coprocessor chip, floating point math must be performed with software as the processor itself does not understand fractional values. Let's take a brief look at the "logical" operations that your computer can perform. This will also help you to understand the various operations available within ProLite's Programmer's Calculator. The first operation we'll look at is one of the most commonly used. The "AND" operation. Notice we said "AND" and not "ADD". "AND" and "ADD" are two entirely different operations. AND - When you AND two bits together they produce a 1 only if both of the original bits are a 1. 0 0 1 1 AND 0 AND 1 AND 0 AND 1 ----- ----- ----- ----- equals 0 0 0 1 This is usually shown by way of a "truth table" which shows how the operation works. A truth table for the AND operator might look something like this: AND| 0 | 1 ----+-----+----- 0 | 0 | 0 ----+-----+----- 1 | 0 | 1 You read the table by picking one value from the top line and drawing an imaginary line straight down, pick the other value from the left side and draw an imaginary line horizontally to the right. Where these two imaginary lines intersect is the result you get when you AND the values together. Bits and Bytes; A Brief Tutorial 84 of 95 Appendix A - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite Lite 1.00 - Taking this concept further, to 8 or 16 bit numbers, merely involves lining up the numbers one above the other like so: 00101011 AND 01001000 -------- 00001000 As you can see, only one of the bits in these two bytes have matching 1's, therefore only that bit produces a 1 for an answer. NOT - The NOT operator is a little bit different than the AND operator. NOT works only on one value, rather than comparing two values with each other. NOT converts all 0's to 1's and vice versa. The NOT truth table looks like this: NOT | 1 | 0 -----+---+--- | 0 | 1 The result is what is known as a "one's complement." In 8086/8088 assembly language there is a similar instruction called NEG. NEG goes one step further than NOT, after obtaining the one's complement of a number, the NEG instruction adds 1 to it, giving you the "two's complement" of the original value. Using ProLite's "Change Sign" command produces the same results as the NEG instruction. OR - The OR operator, like the AND operator, compares two values and produces a result. OR produces a 1 if either of the two inputs are a 1. The truth table for an OR looks like this: OR | 0 | 1 -----+-----+----- 0 | 0 | 1 -----+-----+----- 1 | 1 | 1 Bits and Bytes; A Brief Tutorial 85 of 95 Appendix A - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite Lite 1.00 - XOR - The XOR (eXclusive OR) operator produces a 1, if one and only one of the inputs is a 1, if both inputs are 1 it will produce a 0. The XOR truth table follows: XOR | 0 | 1 ------+-----+----- 0 | 0 | 1 ------+-----+----- 1 | 1 | 0 This can sometimes be easier to understand and picture when you think of it like this: the XOR operator produces a 1 for a result whenever the two bits being compared are different from each other. If the two bits are the same, the answer is 0, if the two bits are different, the answer is 1. SHL and SHR - The Shift Left and Shift Right operators do exactly what their names imply, they shift a value left or right. For instance: take the value: 00001111 shift it left 4 places: 11110000 then shift it right 2 places: 00111100 One interesting aspect to these operators is that they can be used as very fast multiplication or division operators. Shift Left 1 place is the same as multiplying by 2, Shift Left 2 is the same as multiplying by 4, shift left 3 is the same as multiplying by 8, and so forth. Shifting right is the same except the effect is like dividing by 2, 4, 8, etc., rather than multiplying. There are two similar instructions called Shift Arithmetic Left (SAL) and Shift Arithmetic Right (SAR). These are very similar to the shift instructions except the value of the sign bit is retained throughout the shift operation. As with the other operators, the best way to see how this works is to fire up ProLite's Calculator and tinker with a few examples. This way you'll be able to see first hand what these operators actually do. Now let's take a brief look at some of the rotate operations. The rotate operations are very similar to the shift instructions. Understanding the differences is really a matter of considering what happens when a bit is shifted off of one end of a number. When shifting, if you shift a bit right off the end, it is no longer a part of your value. The rotate operations deal with this a little differently. Bits and Bytes; A Brief Tutorial 86 of 95 Appendix A - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite Lite 1.00 - The rotate operations function just like their name implies. The rotate operations shift values in the registers, but instead of losing the bit that comes off the end, it is rotated around and inserted into the other end of the register. Something like this: |---->--------------------------->----| | | |----| | |-------------------------------| | | CY |<-----| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |<-| |----| |-------------------------------| Rotate Left At the same time that the bit is rotated around to the other end, it is also placed in the carry flag (a particular bit position within the "flags" register). Both the Rotate Left (ROL) and Rotate Right (ROR) instructions work by taking the bit that "falls off of the end" and rotating it around to be put right back into the other end of the register. Another instruction of this type is the Rotate through the Carry instruction (RCL and RCR). It is very similar to the regular rotate instruction, except that the bit that comes off the end is passed through the carry flag. In other words, the value that comes in one end of the register is the value that was previously in the carry flag. Here's how it would look: |----------------------->-----------------------| | | | |----| |-------------------------------| | |<-| CY |<--| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |<--| |----| |-------------------------------| Rotate through the Carry Left |-----------------------<-----------------------| | | | |----| |-------------------------------| | |->| CY |-->| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |->-| |----| |-------------------------------| Rotate through the Carry Right How do you use such strange operations when you are programming? Well, as you start getting more involved with using MS-DOS or your ROM BIOS, you will more and more frequently find the need to Bits and Bytes; A Brief Tutorial 87 of 95 Appendix A - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite Lite 1.00 - compare bit patterns, to find out if a particular bit is set in a number, and even to shift the bits around in order to see what they really represent. As your programs become more intimate with the hardware of the computer, your need to understand and be able to use other numbering systems will grow as well. This is especially true when you program in languages like "C" or "Turbo Pascal", where much can be done when you are able to work with binary, hexadecimal or octal numbers. If you deal with assembly language then you know by experience what we're talking about. We certainly hope that this has answered your questions, and that ProLite's Programmer's Calculator will make your programming a little easier and much more productive. Bits and Bytes; A Brief Tutorial 88 of 95 Appendix B - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite Lite 1.00 - ------------ Appendix B ------------ Understanding Two's Complement Numbers: ======================================= When manipulating signed values, your computer must be able to tell the difference between a positive and a negative number. It does this through the use of a "sign bit." The leftmost bit is the sign bit. When this leftmost bit is a zero (0) the number is positive, when that bit is a one (1) the number is negative. Of course, when you are treating a number as an UNsigned value, the leftmost bit is just a part of the number, and all values will be considered positive. There's a little more to negative numbers than just a sign bit. To your computer, negative numbers are actually what is called the "two's complement" of positive numbers. While this may sound complicated, it is actually very simple and reasonable. Here is a brief explanation of what "two's complement" really means, and a simple example to illustrate how it actually works. Let's use an 8 bit value for the sake of simplicity, and the number 5. In binary, the number 5 looks like this: 00000101 Now, to obtain the two's complement of that number, we must do two things. First we must complement each bit, simply change each 1 to a 0, and each 0 to a 1. In essence we are just reversing each digit. This is called the one's complement. Here is what our results will look like: Before changing: 00000101 After changing: 11111010 A quick way to do this using ProLite's Calculator is to use the "NOT" operator. It will instantly show you the one's complement of the current value. The next (and final) step we must perform is just as easy. Simply add 1 to the number, like this: 11111010 + 1 _________ 11111011 Two's Complement Numbers 89 of 95 Appendix B - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite Lite 1.00 - That is the binary representation of -5. We have just converted a positive 5 to a negative 5 in two simple steps. As you might imagine, those two steps are exactly the kind of thing your computer is good at, and can do very quickly. By using this technique, the computer is able to subtract one number from another simply by adding the two's complement of the value to the first value. In this way the processor is able to perform two different kinds of math using basically the same internal circuitry. Just to show that this really does work, let's change the negative 5 back into a positive 5, using the same steps. Here goes: Before changing (-5): 11111011 After changing: 00000100 Now, add 1: 00000100 + 1 --------- 00000101 There you have it! We've converted 5 to -5 and back to 5, using the same technique employed by your computer. With this information under your belt, it will be much easier to understand overflow flags and the like when you are working on the assembly language level. In 8086/8088 assembly language, the "NEG" instruction performs the two's complement for you. The Programmer's Calculator produces the same result with the "Change Sign" command. Two's Complement Numbers 90 of 95 Appendix C - Programmer's Productivity Pack Lite Lite 1.00 - ------------ Appendix C ------------ What is Falk Data Systems? ========================== Falk Data Systems is a small software company owned and operated by Bob Falk. At Falk Data Systems we believe that the PRIMARY purpose of business is service, not profit. This concept is fundamental to our approach to product development, production and marketing. Falk Data Systems has been producing top quality computer software at reasonable prices, continuously, since 1987. Please feel free to contact me (Bob Falk) at any time if you have any questions, comments or suggestions. I can be reached by mail at the following address: Bob Falk Falk Data Systems 5322 Rockwood Court El Paso, Texas 79932-2412 U.S.A. I can also be reached by voice or electronically as follows: Phone: (915) 584-7670 FAX: (915) 584-1540 Orders Only: (800) 326-5615 CompuServe: 71420,2431 Internet: 71420.2431@COMPUSERVE.COM Other Products From Falk Data Systems: ====================================== Please refer to the PRODUCTS.DOC text file for a complete list of other products available from Falk Data Systems. Other Products From Falk Data Systems 91 of 95 --- INDEX --- Index A Circular queue See: Linked Add 42 list Advanced options menu 74 Clear All (^A) 39, 41, 42 Alt-Q 65 Clear Entry (^E) 39, 43 AND 43, 84 Click sound 74 ANSWERS.DOC 9 Clipper 55, 57 ASCII and Color Attribute Color attribute set 66 Chart 46 Colors menu 65 Reference Guide 49-51 Command line Tutorial 47-48 DOS 16 ASP 2 Command line parameters 21, Ombudsman 2 62, 64 Assembly language 29, 36, 45, -U 21 90 ProLite 16 Attachments 45, 49, 51, 59 -? 20 AUTOEXEC.BAT 24 -D 17 -E 17 B -H 18 Background task 9, 20, 55 -M 18 Batch files 24 -N 18 BCD See: Binary Coded Decimal -P 19 Beep Sound 73 -S 19 Benefits 2 -T 18 Binary Coded Decimal 45 -U 19 Binary format 28, 30, 34, 36, -X 19 37, 38 Communications programs 15 Binary numbers 69, 80, 81, 89 CompuServe 2 Bit level operations 43 Conflicts with other TSR's 23 Bit manipulation facility 31, Ctrl-@ 38 39 Current value 39, 41, 43 Bits 31, 39, 43, 80 Custom attribute set 66 Blank screen 40, 47, 60, 77 Custom colors menu 67 Bytes 80, 83, 89 Customizing program See: PCustom C Calculator and Attachments 27, D 73 dBASE 52, 55 Calculator menu 36, 69 DEBUG 16 Cancel Changes 63, 65, 78 Decimal format 28, 30, 31, 34, Carry flag 44, 87 37, 81 Change Bits (^C) 31, 39 Decimal point 42, 84 Change Hot Key 33, 38, 73 Delete Digit 43 Change Sign (^-) 39, 85, 90 DESQview 9, 16, 20 Falk Data Systems 92 of 95 --- INDEX --- Disable disk parking 40 Floppy disk 10 Divide 42 Hard disk 10 DOS ERRORLEVEL 24 Integer division 42 DOS Shell 14, 15 Intermediate value 39, 41, 43 DOS version 3.0 14 ISR 15 Double word 83 Dual monitor systems 6, 11 K Keyboard 12 E Keyboard interrupt 13, 42 EDLIN 16 KeyRef 46, 52 EMS memory 6, 14, 24 Keystroke Reference Center 46, Enhanced keyboard 13, 42, 55, 70 58 Reference Guide 55-59 Error messages 25, 70 Tutorial 52-54 Error sound 63, 74 ERRORLEVEL 24 L Exchange Double Words See: License 1 XCHG DD Linked list See: Recursion Exchange Words See: XCHG DW Logical operations 43, 84 Exclusive OR See: XOR Exit PCustom 65, 78 M Exit the ASCII Chart 48, 51 Marketing 91 Exit the Calculator 40, 41 Mathematical operations 41 Exit The Keystroke Reference Memory Center 53, 59 EMS 6, 14 Extended characters 50 high 15 XMS 6, 7, 14 F Memory requirements 7 Final result 41, 43 Memory-resident version 7, 40, FoxBase 55 55 Fractions 84 Memory slots 40, 41 Miscellaneous 76 G Missing overlay file 25 Graphics mode 15, 25 Modes See: Video modes Gray scale attribute set 66 Modifier keys 12, 38 Modulus 42, 43 H Monitors Hard Disk 14 Black-and-white 11, 62, 64, Hardware Interrupt Handlers 15 67 Hexadecimal format 12, 28, 31, Color 11, 49, 66 34, 37, 39 Gas plasma 11, 62, 64 High memory 15 Gray scale 11, 62, 64, 66, Hot key 67 Tips 38 LCD 11, 62, 64 Hot Keys menu 72 Monochrome 11, 66, 67 Moving the display 45, 58 I Multiply 42 INKEY() 52, 55, 57 Multitasking system 15, 20, 55 Insert a Value (^I) 40 Multitasking version 7, 9, 20, Installation 9 41 Falk Data Systems 93 of 95 --- INDEX --- N Reference Guide 34-46 Name Tutorial 27-33 changing 21 ProLite 14 NEG 85, 90 Negative to positive 39 Q Network shells 15 QEMM 15 Nibble 83 QRAM 15 Non-Registered Users 3 QuickSilver 55 Normal messages 71 Quit PCustom 65, 78 NOT 43, 85, 89 Quit the ASCII Chart 48, 51 Numeric Format 37, 75 Quit the Calculator 40, 41 Switching 31, 37 Quit The Keystroke Reference Numeric Mode 39, 75 Center 53, 59 NumLock 13, 28, 42, 50, 53 R O RAM 7 Octal format 28, 34, 37 RAM Disk 14 Ombudsman 2 Range of values 34 OmniView 6, 9, 20 RCL 44, 87 One's complement 89 RCR 44, 87 OR 43, 85 Read/Write heads 40 Overlay file 25, 26 Recursion See: Circular queue Registered Users 1, 3 P Registration 1, 3 Park Disk(s) and Blank Screen Remainder 43 40, 47, 51, 60, 60-61 Rename 21 PCustom 62 Returning to the Calculator Cancel Changes 78 46, 51, 59 Reference Guide 64-78 ROL 44, 87 Save changes 78 ROR 44, 87 Tutorial 62-63 Rotate Left See: ROL PCustom.EXE 9 Rotate Right See: ROR PCustom menus Rotate through the Carry Left Advanced options menu 74 See: RCL Colors menu 65 Rotate through the Carry Right Custom colors menu 67 See: RCR Exit PCustom menu 78 Hot Keys menu 72 S Main menu 65 SAL 45, 86 Sound effects menu 73 SAR 45, 86 Pick list 40 Save a Value (^S) 40 Pop-Up DOS Shell See: DOS Scan code 52, 55, 57 Shell Screen Blank Customizing 73 Clock 72 PopCalc 24 Screen Refresh (^R) 41 Portability Note 52, 53, 58 ScrollLock 53 Positive to negative 39 Shareware 1, 2 PRINT 23 Shift Arithmetic Left See: SAL ProComm 15 Shift Arithmetic Right See: Programmer's Calculator SAR Customizing 68, 74 Shift keys 12 Falk Data Systems 94 of 95 --- INDEX --- Shift Left See: SHL Two seconds 26 Shift Right See: SHR SHL 44, 86 U Show Result 43 Unblank screen 40 SHR 44, 86 Unload from memory 41 Sidekick version 21 Unloading ProLite 21 Sign bit 89 Unpark disk 40 Signed mode 31, 34, 36, 39, 41 Unsafe to pop up 26 Signed numbers 83, 89 Unsafe to unload 33 Sound effects menu 73 Unsigned mode 31, 35, 36, 39, Stand-alone version 14, 20 41 Starting PCustom 64 Unsigned numbers 83, 89 Status bytes 53 Updates 3 Subtract 42 Swapping 14 V Swapping Message 72 Video System requirements 6 Adapters 6 Video modes T Display height 12 TAPCIS 15 Display width 12 TaskView 6, 9, 20 Graphics 12, 15 Technical Support 1 Text 12 Text mode 25 Virtual screen 20 386MAX 15 TIP 38, 80 W Toggle Warranty 1 Bits 39 Word 83 Modes 36, 41 Toggle Sign Mode (^T) 41 X Truth tables 84-86 XCHG DD 45 Try-before-you-buy 1 XCHG DW 45 Two line cursor 77 XMS memory 6, 7, 14 Two's complement 89, 90 XOR 44, 86 Falk Data Systems 95 of 95