<Display SubTopics> / <Do Not Display SubTopics> is a toggle control. Pressing it will alternately display and not display the subtopics. This comes in handy when there are many topics and subtopics.
Displaying only the main topics makes it easier to zero in on the desired topic. Once the desired main topic is selected, select the subtopics again, and the main topic will move to the top of the topics display (unless you are at or near the end of the topics).
.TOPIC:
Alarm Clock:
The Alarm Clock enables you to receive an audible and visual alarm at a given time. The clock works while it is fully displayed, as well as when it is minimized to an icon.
If you invoke the MS-DOS Shell (or Screen Saver) while the alarm is active, it will not sound if you are still in DOS at the designated time. It will sound and display as soon as you return from DOS if the time has already expired.
The clock may run either in 12 hr am/pm or 24 hr mode by selecting the desired mode. The alarm time must be entered in the same mode the clock is running in.
.TOPIC:
Calculator:
You can use the Calculator as a stand-alone calculator or you can use it in conjunction with the editor by passing values between them. The Calculator features memory functions where you can store, add and recall values. In addition, you can also store/recall one value at the time in/from the edit buffer (clipboard).
.TOPIC:
Enter Calculations:
You can use the mouse to click Calculator buttons or press the corresponding <Alt> key combinations on the keyboard.
Enter calculation:
1 Enter the first number in the calculation.
2 Choose the operator.
3 Enter the next number in the calculation.
If you make a mistake, press BACKSPACE to
delete incorrect digits. Or choose the CE
button to clear the entire number.
4 Enter any remaining numbers and operators.
5 Choose the equal sign button (=).
Or press ENTER or = (equal sign).
If you make a mistake, choose the Clr
button (or press ESC) to clear the entire
calculation.
.TOPIC:
% Calculation:
To calculate 7.25% of 34.98 enter:
34.98 * 7.25 and press the <%> button
.TOPIC:
Square Root:
To calculate the square root of 2.0 enter:
2.0 and press the <SQR> button
.TOPIC:
Memory Functions:
To use the Calculator memory functions, click the following buttons or press the <Alt> key combination equivalent.
Button Function
MC Clears any value stored in memory.
MR Recalls the value stored in memory.
MS Stores the displayed value in
memory, replacing previous value.
MA Adds the displayed value to any
value already in memory.
When you store a value in memory, the letter M appears above the memory buttons. If you store a zero in memory or if you add a value to memory that results in a value of zero, the letter M disappears. If you store another value in memory, it replaces the current value in memory.
.TOPIC:
Neg Key:
Pressing the Neg button will multiply the number in the calculator display by -1.
.TOPIC:
Edit Commands:
Copy <Ctrl-C>
Copies a value onto the Clipboard.
Use this command when you want to paste a value into the Editor or store it temporarily on the clipboard.
Paste <Ctrl-V>
Pastes a value from the Clipboard to the Calculator display.
.TOPIC:
Control Panel:
Note: Only the main DiaLog form should be on your desktop while you are in the Control Panel. If other forms are present, they will not change color until you exit them and then call them again.
The control panel enables you to change the colors of the desktop, which includes all things DiaLog displays on your screen, including the background. Feel free to try things, for in case your "coloring" gets out of hand, you can simply invoke one of the samples supplied by pressing <Setups> and going on from there. The first sample is the same as the initial system default.
There are two major areas you have control over, one is the desktop and the other involves the colors of items such as the menus, title bar, borders and others as explained below.
On most of the items you have control over both the background and the foreground colors. Some, as the command buttons, only give you a foreground color choice. Some of the titles of functions on DiaLog forms get there color choices from the foreground color of command buttons.
The desktop wallpaper choice gives you a number of different patterns to choose from. Everyone of the patterns can be "designed" by you with different background and foreground colors, except the brick wall, which comes in a fixed color.
See the individual subtopics on the left for information on the different functions and controls.
.TOPIC:
Store:
Press <Store> if you want to save your new setup to disk. This will now become your new default. Any forms that are presently minimized (iconized) will have to be exited and re-loaded to take on the new colors.
.TOPIC:
Cancel Changes:
Pressing <Cancel> will ignore all changes you made, restore the default settings and exit the Control Panel mode. ALWAYS use this mode to exit if you do not want to store new defaults.
.TOPIC:
Setups:
Pressing <Setups> lets you choose from several sample setups. The first sample is the same as the initial system default.
.TOPIC:
Access Key:
This choice determines the color of the single access key character on the menu items. They can be seen on main menus by alternately pressing the <Alt> key, they are always visible on child menus (drop-down menus).
.TOPIC:
Active Border:
Determines the border color of the active window.
.TOPIC:
Command Button:
Determines the color of the inscriptions on the command buttons.
.TOPIC:
Desktop:
The desktop is the area of the screen where the DiaLog displays sit on.
.TOPIC:
Disabled Items:
These are the menu items that are not selectable, like the <Edit> items of the Editor when no text has ben selected.
.TOPIC:
Menus:
These are the selection bars at the top of forms, like the DiaLog main menu, and their drop-down children.
.TOPIC:
Menu Selected Item:
These are the menu items that are presently highlighted.
.TOPIC:
Scroll Bars:
These are the vertical and horizontal scroll bars of text windows.
.TOPIC:
Title Bars:
These are the bars at the top of forms.
.TOPIC:
DiaLog Forms:
Enables you to set the background and foreground colors of all the DiaLog forms.
.TOPIC:
Sample:
Every time you select a background color, the color of the sample background changes to that color. The word "Sample" changes color every time you select a foreground color.
.TOPIC:
3 Dimensional:
When this mode is selected, all controls such as command buttons display three dimensionally.
.TOPIC:
Window Shadow:
When this mode is selected, forms such as the main DiaLog form, display a shadow.
.TOPIC:
Wallpaper:
You can either press the little arrow to the right of the wallpaper box to open the wallpaper selection window, or you can select the wallpaper feature and then use the up and down arrows to obtain instant displays of the different wallpaper patterns available.
All patterns, except the brick wall, may then be changed by selecting different combinations of background and foreground colors for the desktop.
.TOPIC:
MS-DOS Shell:
This mode enables you to get to the normal DOS prompt. You can perform all of the DOS functions, however, attempting to execute any DOS applications may give you the message that you are out of memory.
If you do not like the DOS background color, type: CLS. This will give you your usual DOS screen.
Once finished with DOS you should remember to enter "Exit" to return to DiaLog. Otherwise you may come back later thinking you are in DOS only.
.TOPIC:
Spell Checker:
DiaLog is able to check the spelling of your text files, provided you have the program "ShareSpell" in the DiaLog directory. "ShareSpell" is a shareware spelling checker and is available from the IBMAPP forum on CompuServe in Library 2 as "SS24B.ZIP". (It may be best to find it with "BRO SS*.ZIP" in case the version number has changed.)
Once you have unzipped the files, you should familiarize yourself with the program by reading the included documentation files. If you are in a hurry, just copy the files "ACROP.DIC" and "SS.EXE" to the DiaLog directory. Now load a text file into the Editor and select <Spell>.
If you made any changes to the file prior to spell checking, you must first save the file (DiaLog will prompt you), because the spell checker works on the file, not the data on the screen. Any changes made during spell checking are saved to the file. The original file is saved as *.bak.
Please remember, the Spell Checker is a shareware program and you MUST register it if you decide to keep using it. Registering the program gets you the latest version and dictionary plus manuals, and a clear conscience. Also, the registered version does not display the final screen full of information.
.TOPIC:
Editor:
Editor is a text editor that you can use to edit files up to 32,767 characters (bytes) in size.
It offers word-wrap option under the Edit Menu command.
It remembers up to 4 previously selected files which may be accessed directly from the File Menu command.
To cut, copy and paste text use the Ctrl-X, Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V combination keys respectively, or select Edit from the menu.
If the 32k buffer fills while entering text from the keyboard, the system will beep and not accept any new text. If it fills while pasting or word-wrapping, you will be informed that the buffer is full.
.TOPIC:
Adding Time/Date:
To add the time and date to a document:
1. Open the document.
2. Move the insertion point to where you want
the time and date to appear.
Or
Select the text you want the time and date
to replace.
3. From the Edit menu, choose Time/Date.
See: <Edit Menu Commands>
.TOPIC:
Deleting Text:
Use the BACKSPACE or DEL key, or the Delete command, when you want to delete text from the current document but you have text on the Clipboard that you want to keep.
To delete one character at a time:
Press BACKSPACE to delete the character to
the left of the insertion point.
Or
Press DEL to delete the character to the
right of the insertion point.
To delete more than one character
1. Select the text you want to delete.
2. Press BACKSPACE or DEL.
Or
Choose Delete from the Edit menu.
To place the text onto the Clipboard,
choose Cut from the Edit menu.
.TOPIC:
Finding Text:
You can start a search for specific text at any point in a document.
To find specific characters or words:
1. Move the insertion point to where you want
the search to begin.
2. From the Search menu, choose Find.
3. Type the characters or words you want to
find.
4. Choose the Find Next button.
5. To find the next occurrence of the text,
choose Find Next from the Search menu or
press F3.
See: <Search Menu Commands>
.TOPIC:
Changing Text:
You can start a search for specific text to change at any point in a document, but the search will stop at the end of the document.
You will be asked to enter the text to find and what to change it to. You have a choice of changing all occurrences of the text, or be prompted for each change.
If you have made any changes to the document up to this point, it would be a good idea to save them first (<File> <Save> from the editor menu), especially if you plan to make automatic changes using the "Change All" mode.
See: <Search Menu Commands>
.TOPIC:
Formatting Text:
To format text, do the following.
To do this
=================================
End a line Press ENTER.
Indent a line Press TAB.
Insert a tab Press TAB.
Insert a blank line Move the insertion point
to the beginning or end
of a line, and then press
ENTER.
.TOPIC:
File Menu Commands:
Select the desired command.
.TOPIC:
New:
Opens a new document.
When you choose New, you are given a chance to save changes to the document you have been working on.
.TOPIC:
Open:
Opens a text file.
When you choose Open, you you are given a chance to save changes to the document you have been working on. The file can be an Editor file or any file saved as text-only from another application. The Editor cannot open a file larger than 32K.
You can also re-open a previously opened file by selecting the file directly at the bottom of the File Menu command. The Editor remembers up to 4 files in this fashion.
.TOPIC:
Save:
Saves changes to the document you are working on. The Editor first backs up the copy of the present file and changes its extension to bak.
When you choose Save, the document remains open so you can continue working on it.
.TOPIC:
Save As:
Saves a new or existing document. You can name a new document or save an existing document under a new name. The original document remains unchanged. When you choose Save As, the document remains open so you can continue working on it.
.TOPIC:
Print:
Prints the document to either the printer or a file.
.TOPIC:
Page Format:
Enables you to set the formatting parameters for the printed page. The combined total of "margin" and "chars per line" must not exceed the line length of your printer. "Margin" refers to the left margin. The right margin can be controlled with "chars per line".
Any changes you make to the parameters while printing from within the Editor, will become the new defaults. The defaults are not stored if you are printing from within the Help system.
.TOPIC:
Exit:
Closes the document you have been working on and quits the Editor. You are given a chance to save the file before quitting if it has changed.
.TOPIC:
Edit Menu Commands:
Select the desired command.
.TOPIC:
Cut:
Deletes text from a document and places it onto the Clipboard, replacing the previous Clipboard contents.
.TOPIC:
Copy:
Copies text from a document onto the Clipboard, leaving the original intact and replacing the previous Clipboard contents.
.TOPIC:
Paste:
Pastes a copy of the Clipboard contents at the insertion point or replaces selected text in a document.
.TOPIC:
Delete:
Deletes selected text from a document, but does not place the text onto the Clipboard. Use Delete when you want to delete text from the current document but you have text on the Clipboard that you want to keep.
See: <Deleting Text> <Finding Text>
<Formatting Text>
.TOPIC:
Select All:
Selects all the text in a document at once.
You can copy the selected text onto the Clipboard, delete it, or perform other editing actions.
.TOPIC:
Time/Date:
Adds the current time and date to a document.
See: <Adding the Time and Date to Documents>
.TOPIC:
Word Wrap:
Wraps text in a document.
.TOPIC:
Search Menu Commands:
Select the desired command.
.TOPIC:
Find:
Searches for selected text in document. Will start again from top if end-of-document is reached.
.TOPIC:
Find What:
Enter Text to change.
.TOPIC:
Find Next:
Repeats the last search without opening the Find dialog box.
.TOPIC:
Cancel:
Selecting this mode will abort the Change operation.
.TOPIC:
Change Text:
Finds selected text and automatically changes to requested text if <Change All> is selected, or prompts for <yes> or <no> (see Find and Verify).
.TOPIC:
Find What:
Enter Text to change.
.TOPIC:
Change To:
Enter new text.
.TOPIC:
Find and Verify:
Selecting this mode will prompt before change is made. Enter "Y" for yes, enter "N" for no. Either upper or lower case is ok. Press "Esc" to stop process.
.TOPIC:
Change All:
Selecting this mode will change all occurrences from the present cursor position. Process will stop at end of document. Use this mode with CAUTION. If you have made any changes to the document up to this point, it would be a good idea to save them first (<File> <Save> from the editor menu).
.TOPIC:
Cancel:
Selecting this mode will abort the Find operation.
.TOPIC:
Screen Saver:
Blanks the screen and displays a message of your choice. Press any key to return to DiaLog. If password is active, it must be entered.
"Minutes:" is the time before blanking occurs. Minimum = 1 minute.
"Now" goes to blanking immediately.
"Active" must be marked (x) for Screen Saver to be active.
