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1991-11-19
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D O N T P A N I C
Version 1.0
U s e r G u i d e
(C) MicroGroove Consultants, 1991
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CONTENTS
Introduction ....................................... 3
Free For All ....................................... 3
Using Dont Panic ................................... 4
Functions .......................................... 5
Line Functions ................................. 5
EDIT
INSERT
DELETE
MOVE
COPY
BLANK
List Functions ................................. 6
NEW
OPEN
SAVE
PRINT
System Functions ............................... 8
SETUP
QUIT
File Format ........................................ 9
Some Comments from the Author ...................... 10
Page 2
INTRODUCTION
Dont Panic is simply a list; nothing more than that. Unlike a paper
list, however, each line Panic can be edited, copied and moved
around to change or update the list as required as often as
necessary. This makes it ideal for maintaining lists that are
constantly changing. Each time, the list can be saved on disk for
recall at a later date. A simple printout facility allows a paper
copy to be obtained.
Dont Panic was originally conceived as a Things To Do list manager
but has since found use as a very simple outliner (for planning
memos, short reports etc), a simple index, a weekly planner and
even a football league table chart!
This user guide explains how to compile and edit lists using Dont
Panic.
FREE FOR ALL
Dont Panic is not Shareware nor is it in the Public Domain but is
distributed as Freeware according to the 'Free For All' concept.
This means that although the copyright is retained by MicroGroove
Consultants, the software is freely available for use by anyone
without any payment. For further details of the Free For All
concept and distribution requirements see the accompanying
documentation contained in the file FFA_91.DOC.
This software may be freely given to anyone providing no charge is
made for the software itself; a minimal charge may be made for the
distribution media, though free distribution is encouraged.
Furthermore, this software may only be distributed as a single
archived file (in which form you should have received it).
Page 3
USING DONT PANIC
Once the introductory screen has cleared the main screen will
appear. This consists of three parts; the text window, the
title/status line at the top of the screen and the menu bar at the
bottom.
The text window shows the list currently in memory and occupies
most of the screen. Each list consists of 99 lines of text each 70
characters long. (Each list is this size regardless of how much of
it actually contains text.) On the left of the screen are line
numbers, each refering to a line in the current list.
Many of the editing functions available are performed with
reference to a particular line. This line, the current line, is
indicated by an on screen pointer and also indicated numerically on
the status line. The line pointer is moved using the up and down
cursor keys and will scroll the entire screen when the top or
bottom line is reached. The [Page Up] and [Page Down] keys will
move the text displayed up and down 17 lines at a time while
retaining the position of the pointer relative to the screen.
In addition to the current line, the status line shows the name of
the file currently in use and an Ins/Ovr flag indicating whether
text is inserted or overwritten during editing.
The menu bar forms the bottom line of the display and provides a
reminder of the functions available. Each function is accessed by
pressing the key corresponding to the highlighted letter on the
menu bar.
On starting Dont Panic each line will of course be blank, the line
pointer will be at line one and the filename indicator will say
'using new file'.
At various times Dont Panic will require information to be entered
by the user; this is done using 'dialogue boxes'. There are two
types of such box in Dont Panic; information dialogue boxes and
warning dialogue boxes.
An information dialogue box will appear when Dont Panic requires
information, such as a filename or a line number or, most notably,
text for a line of the list.
A warning dialogue box will appear when Dont Panic wishes to alert
the user to some fact regarding its operation. For example, this
could be that data is about to be lost or that a specified file
cannot be found. The dialogue box will ask for permission to
proceed at which point the function can be cancelled if necessary.
Page 4
DONT PANIC FUNCTIONS
This section lists all the functions available and explains what
they do and how they do it.
Dont Panic functions can be divided into three groups - those which
affect a single line at a time, those which affect the entire list,
and those which affect the system itself.
1 LINE FUNCTIONS
1.1 EDIT Edit will invoke the line edit box at the foot of the
screen with the contents of the current line present
for editing. The line text may then be edited as
required. The cursor is moved back and forth along the
line in the usual way using the left/right keys and
home/end. Backspace and delete have their normal erase
functions while insert will toggle the overwrite status
of the edit cursor. This is automatically set to insert
when the edit box is invoked, regardless of its
original state, but may be toggled as required during
editing.
Once the text has been edited, pressing return will
update the current line with the new text.
Alternatively, pressing escape will abandon editing and
reinstate the original text.
1.2 INSERT Insert will introduce a blank line at the current line
position and move all subsequent lines down to
accommodate it. If text is present on the final line of
the list (line 99) a warning dialogue box will appear
with a request to abandon the line. Pressing [N] or
escape will cancel the insert function and the list
will be left unaffected. Pressing [Y] will insert a
blank line with the loss of text at line 99.
1.3 DELETE Delete will remove the current line and all subsequent
lines will be moved up to fill the gap. If text is
present at the current line when the function is called
a warning dialogue box will appear with a request to
delete the text. Pressing [N] or escape will cancel the
function with no deletion, while pressing [Y] will
delete the line. A blank line will be added to the end
of the list to preserve its length.
1.4 MOVE Move will transfer the current line to a specified line
number, all lines between the new and old positions are
shuffled up or down to take account of the lines new
position. On pressing [M] an information dialogue box
will appear requesting the new line number. Once the
current line has been moved the line pointer will
Page 5
retain its original position, indicating the line
filling the gap vacated by the moved line.
1.5 COPY Copy will copy the text at a specified line to the
current line. On pressing [C] an information dialogue
box will appear requesting the number of the line to be
copied. A copy of this line will be inserted at the
current position. If text is already present at the
current line a warning dialogue box will appear with a
request to overwrite the text. Pressing [N] or escape
will cancel the function leaving the current line
untouched. Pressing [Y] will proceed with copying and
the current line will be overwritten with the line
specified.
1.6 BLANK Blank will replace the current line with a blank line.
If there is text already present a warning dialogue box
will appear with a request to blank the text. Pressing
[N] or escape will cancel the function leaving the text
unaffected while [Y] will cause it to be cleared. This
is useful when an entry is to be deleted but where
preserving the numbers of the remaining lines is
important.
2 LIST FUNCTIONS
2.1 NEW New will clear the current list from memory, clearing
the display and resetting the line pointer to position
1. If the list has not been saved it will be lost. The
current file indicator is reset to 'new file'.
2.2 OPEN Open will load a new list into memory, overwriting any
list already present. On pressing [O] an information
dialogue box will appear with a request for the name of
the file to be opened. All Dont Panic files have a .PAN
extension, hence only eight characters are requested.
Once the filename has been entered, pressing return
will instruct the system to search the default file
path (see Setup) for the file. If found this will be
loaded. If the file is not found a warning dialogue box
to this effect appear and an information dialogue box
will reappear to request another filename. The filename
can be retyped or the function abandoned using the
escape key. At anytime during the typing of the
filename, pressing escape will cancel the function as
will entering a blank filename. Any list currently in
use will be unaffected until a new file is opened.
Page 6
When first starting Dont Panic or after using the NEW
function, the filename dialogue box will appear with
the default filename already present (see Setup). This
is to allow an often loaded file to be loaded
immediately by simply pressing return. If this file is
not required, another filename may be typed over the
default name. The overwrite status will be set
automatically to Ovr to facilitate this.
Once a file has been loaded, the filename dialogue box
will appear with this filename rather than the default
(see Save). The current filename indicator will also be
set to display the name of the file loaded.
2.3 SAVE Save will store a copy of the current list in a file
at the location named in the file path. Any file
already present with this name will be automatically
overwritten.
On pressing [S] an information dialogue box will appear
with a request for the name of the file to which the
list is to be copied. The file will automatically be
given a .PAN extension so only eight characters are
requested.
Once the filename has been entered, pressing return
will instruct the system to check the default file path
(see Setup) to ensure it is writable and the list will
be saved. If the list cannot be saved a warning
dialogue box to this effect appears and the information
dialogue box will reappear to request another filename.
The filename can be retyped or the function abandoned
using the escape key.
At anytime during the typing of the filename, pressing
escape will cancel the function as will entering a
blank filename. The list currently in use will be
retained until cleared by NEW or a new file is opened.
2.4 PRINT This will send the current list to an attached printer.
On pressing [P] a warning dialogue box will appear to
request confirmation. Pressing [N] or escape at this
point will cancel the function while [Y] will proceed
with printing.
WARNING: If there is no printer attached to your
computer, do not instruct Dont Panic to print. If you
do the system will wait indefinitely for the
non-existent printer to respond to its request for
printing and a reboot will be necessary. If the print
function is called accidentally, it may be safely
exited by pressing [N] or escape.
Page 7
Dont Panic will print only as far as the last used line
of the current list; for example, if the list only goes
as far as line 34, so too will the printout. The
printout may be produced single or double spaced with
or without the time, date and filename at the top of
the first page. These options are determined using the
Setup option.
3 SYSTEM FUNCTIONS
3.1 SETUP This allows the system colours and default parameters
to be changed and if required, stored on disk for
future use.
On startup Dont Panic will search the current directory
for a configuration file PANIC.CFG from which it will
load the system parameters. If this file cannot be
found Dont Panic will use its own default parameters.
On pressing [T] the text screen will be replaced by a
colour chart and a request for the value of the first
parameter. The current value will be shown and may be
overwritten with a new value. Pressing return will
enter this value and providing it is within a range
acceptable to the system the parameter will be updated.
If it is beyond the acceptable range, the system will
retain the original value of the parameter. Pressing
escape will also tell the system to use the original
value of the parameter, regardless of what has been
entered.
Each parameter will be prompted in turn and a new value
should be entered. The parameters are as follows;
System Colours;
Main text colour
Main text screen background
Title bar text and unhighlighted menu text colour
Highlighted menu text colour
Title bar and menu background colour
Cursor foreground colour
Cursor background colour
Warning dialogue text colour
Warning dialogue box colour
Information dialogue text colour
Information dialogue box colour
Border colour
Border background colour
Page 8
The system colours are entered as numbers the values of
which can be determined from the colour chart displayed
on screen.
System Defaults;
Data file storage path (eg. A:\DONT\FILES\)
Default filename (eg. TO_DO)
Printer Defaults;
Lines double spaced (Y or N)
Time/date heading (Y or N)
Once the new values have been entered a prompt to save
these to disk will appear. Pressing [Y] will save the
parameters to the file PANIC.CFG (creating it if
necessary) and then return to the text screen. Pressing
[N] will not save the parameters to the configuration
file but they will be used while the program is still
running (or until they are altered by setup). On
restarting the program the default values will again be
used.
3.2 QUIT This will exit Dont Panic and return to the operating
system. Any list in memory will be lost. On pressing
[Q] a warning dialogue box will appear with a request
to proceed. Pressing [Y] will quit while [N] or escape
will cancel.
FILE FORMAT
For Simplicity Dont Panic stores its data in ASCII format with each
line delimited by ". Thus if " is used in a list, the system will
convert it to '. This is necessary to prevent the line structure
from being corrupted by extra " which normally mark the beginning
and end of each line.
Because the files are in ASCII format they can easily be imported
into most word processors. Once loaded the processors search and
replace facility can be used to replace all the " markers with
spaces.
Page 9
SOME COMMENTS FROM THE AUTHOR
It must be said that Dont Panic does nothing that cannot be
achieved using a word processor or a conventional outlining
package. If you require nicely formatted lists, printed to
perfection then a word processor would undoubtedly suit you better.
If you require complicated outlines with flexible numbering and
indentation/promotion of items then an outliner would be far more
useful than Dont Panic. Dont Panic has been used as a simple index
but for anything more complex a database would probably be more
suitable. The data format allows lists to be incorporated into
documents without too much trouble if necessary but if this is to
be done why not create the list as a document in the first place?
So why use Dont Panic at all?
Dont Panic scores over the more dedicated applications that could
be used in its place in two important respects. Firstly, it is very
simple; lists can be created, edited, stored, retrieved, edited,
printed and so on. Secondly, it is FREE! The degree of
customisation available allows colour schemes to be decided by the
user while the default filename allows the quick retrieval and
storage of a list which is used time and again.
Admittedly, the editing facilities available are quite slow
(unusably so on an XT machine) but with a 286 processor or better
Dont Panic is simple and straight forward to use. Enough features
have been added to allow quick loading, editing and saving of lists
but the temptation to overfeature the program has been resisted.
This, version 1.0, of Dont Panic has been released as Freeware for
all to use if they so wish. If you find it useful, but find its
idiosyncrasies a little hard to live with then look out for version
2.0 which should be appearing in the not too distant future. This
will be appearing as Shareware, rather than Freeware, but will
conform to the IBM CUA interface conventions and include many
improvements over version 1.0 most notably in the area of speed.
Steve Walker
MicroGroove Consultants
November 1991
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Page 10
