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Text File | 1997-01-01 | 12KB | 190 lines

                           INSTRUCTIONS FOR READ

READ.EXE is a program for reading and editing standard ASCII text files. The
program requires a PC/AT compatible computer with a color compatible monitor.
If a mouse is detected in the system, it is automatically supported. You can
type READ FILENAME at the DOS prompt to load a text file at start-up time, or
you can run the program and then select a file.

The file selection menu allows you to navigate to all drives and directories.
Use the UP/DN ARROW KEYS, PAGE UP/DN, HOME/END or the MOUSE CURSOR to move
the highlight bar (selecting the ".." token moves you up one directory). If
you select a file by pressing the ENTER key, or by DOUBLE-CLICKING the LEFT
MOUSE button, then the file will be loaded for editing. If you select a file
by pressing the SPACE BAR, then the file will be loaded for viewing only (the
F3 search and F7 print options will still be active). If you press ESCAPE
from the menu, you will get an input prompt at the bottom of the screen that
lets you enter a filename manually. If you specify a filename that does not
exist, you will be asked if you want to create it.

Press ESCAPE, or F10, to end your session with READ. If you have made changes
to the document, you will be asked if you want to save the file. Press ENTER
to save the document under its present filename, or enter a different name.
To bypass the file save, press ESCAPE again. At this point you will be asked
if you want to quit the document. The default answer is [N]o. If you press
[Y]es, or ESCAPE, you are returned to the file selection menu. You can either
select another file, or press ESCAPE one more time. You are then asked to
enter the filename of a new document to READ (this gives you the chance to
CREATE another file). Press ESCAPE at this prompt to end the program. In
general, use the ESCAPE key to cancel options, and to back progressively out
of the program.

READ is capable of displaying and editing text files of virtually UNLIMITED
size. When you READ a large text file (approximately 39K bytes or more), a
set of temporary files is created in the default directory with filenames of
the form {@}R****, where the asterisks are numbers indicating the segment
number. Depending on the density of the text in your document, each segment
can be up to 1500 lines long. When you end your session, the original file
is reconstructed, and the temporary file segments are erased. Note that each
segment will have its own line numbers. Press F9 to go to another segment for
reading or editing. Alternatively, you can use the PAGE DOWN or PAGE UP keys
to move across consecutive segments.

Press F1 to display a HELP screen that summarizes the editing keys. Press F5
to toggle between the large text mode (40 character display) and the standard
text mode (80 character display). Note that the prompt lines will display
abbreviated information in the large text mode. Press F2 to change the color
of text on the screen (the text color reverts to the default color for each
new document). Note that you can edit the READ.INI file to alter the screen
colors, and to determine which text mode is used at start-up (see below).

If you just want to READ through a document, use the UP and DOWN ARROW keys
to scroll the text, or use the PAGE UP and PAGE DOWN keys to go to the next
full screen of text. The LEFT and RIGHT ARROW keys move the cursor along the
lines of text. CTRL-LEFT ARROW and CTRL-RIGHT ARROW give you a fast cursor
motion. HOME puts the cursor at the start of the current line, and END puts
the cursor at the end of the line. CTRL-HOME puts the cursor at the beginning
of the document, and CTRL-END puts the cursor at the end of the document.

The MOUSE CURSOR can be used to position the editing cursor by clicking the
LEFT mouse button. Also, you can place the MOUSE CURSOR on the UP and DOWN
ARROW ICONS and click the LEFT button to scroll to the next full screen of
text. Place the MOUSE CURSOR on the TOP or BOTTOM screen border lines and
click the LEFT button to move the editing cursor UP or DOWN one line. Place
the MOUSE CURSOR of the LEFT or RIGHT screen border lines and click the LEFT
button to advance the editing cursor 10 positions LEFT or RIGHT. In general,
the LEFT mouse button is treated like a RETURN key press, and the RIGHT mouse
button is treated like an ESCAPE key press.

Press CTRL-W to turn on the word wrap feature. The current file or segment
will be processed so that long text lines are wrapped onto the editing
screen. This will NOT alter the original file on disk unless you explicitly
save the document. When you are entering text, words at the end of a line
will be automatically wrapped onto the next line. The default setting is OFF
for each new document (but this setting can be changed in the READ.INI file).

If you toggle the line indenting feature using the F12 key, the next line of
text will be aligned with the starting column of the line above it when you
press ENTER. Use the INSERT key to toggle the insert or typeover mode. The
TAB key will insert or typeover standard spaces in your document, but does
NOT insert the TAB control character (ASCII 9). The number of spaces used by
the TAB key can be set in the READ.INI file. The DELETE and BACKSPACE keys
are used for deleting text one character at a time.

Pressing CTRL-Y will delete the current line and put it into the editing
buffer. Text in the editing buffer can be inserted anywhere by pressing
SHIFT-INSERT. To mark a block of lines for cutting and pasting, press SHIFT-
DOWN ARROW to highlight the lines (use SHIFT-UP ARROW to unmark the lines).
You can also highlight text by holding down the LEFT button and dragging the
MOUSE cursor. Press ESCAPE to cancel the block edit. Press SHIFT-DELETE to
cut the text into the buffer, and SHIFT-INSERT to paste the text from the
buffer into your document.

If you just want to copy text, use SHIFT-DELETE to cut the highlighted text,
and then re-insert it using SHIFT-INSERT. The block of lines is still in the
editing buffer. Move the cursor to where you want to copy the text and press
SHIFT-INSERT again. Note that you can also copy text in the editing buffer
to another file by simply loading the new file, positioning the cursor and
pressing SHIFT-INSERT.

READ offers a simple search and replace feature. Pressing F3 gives you the
prompt SEARCH FOR. Press ESCAPE to cancel the search, otherwise enter the
search string. Note that case is significant. The search string you enter
becomes the default target for the next time you press F3. For large files,
all segments are searched. If the search is successful, the line containing
the string will be displayed as the top line on the screen, with the search
string highlighted. You are then asked REPLACE WITH, where the default
response is the current search string. Pressing ENTER, or ESCAPE, cancels
the string replacement feature. If you type some other replacement string,
that string becomes the default replacement string until you change it.

Pressing F7 sends the current document, segment, or marked block of text to
your printer. You can press ESCAPE to cancel the print option, or you can
press ESCAPE during printing to stop the process.

READ is only intended for use with standard ASCII text files. Some editors
use the NEW LINE control code (ASCII 10) to terminate lines, instead of
CARRIAGE RETURNS (ASCII 13). Note that READ will REPLACE the NEW LINE codes
with CARRIAGE RETURNS in your original document.

READ will not alter other ASCII control codes that may be embedded in your
original file. Some will be displayed as the equivalent control character
in braces. For example, NEW PAGE (ASCII 12) will be ^L in braces (NEW PAGE
causes a FORM FEED when you send your file to a printer). TAB characters
(ASCII 9) are displayed and printed as standard spaces, according to the
number of spaces specified in the READ.INI setup file.

You can CUSTOMIZE many features in READ. Simply load the READ.INI file (that
comes with the program) for editing, and change the settings to suit your
preferences. The INI file is assumed to be in the same directory as READ. If
the file is not found, note that standard values will be used instead. The
file has the following format:

                   READ.INI - Setup File for READ <3.5+>
                   Edit the NUMBERS for your Preferences.
                    1     ; Text Background Color (0-7)
                    14    ; Editing Text Color (0-15)
                    15    ; Reading Text Color (0-15)
                    7     ; Help Text Color (0-15)
                    7     ; Border Line Color (0-15)
                    7     ; Border Background Color (0-7)
                    4     ; Border Message Color (0-15)
                    3     ; Highlight Cursor Color (0-7)
                    7     ; File Menu Text Color (0-15)
                    7     ; File Menu Border Color (0-15)
                    5     ; Spaces Used by TAB Key (1-10)
                    0     ; Word Wrap (0=OFF | 1=ON)
                    80    ; Text Size (40 or 80 Columns)
                    78    ; Text Line Length (2 to 78)
                   See READ.DOC for Information on Color
                   Numbers and the Other Setup Values.

The Color Numbers you can use are as follows: 0=Black, 1=Blue, 2=Green,
3=Cyan, 4=Red, 5=Magenta, 6=Brown, 7=White, 8=Grey, 9=Br.Blue, 10=Br.Green,
11=Br.Cyan, 12=Br.Red, 13=Br.Magenta, 14=Br.Yellow, 15=Br.White. Be sure to
use only legal color values. And note that colors used for backgrounds can
only be in the range of 0 to 7.

The "Text Line Length" setting lets you define the COLUMN position that READ
will use to terminate the display of each line (before the screen starts
scrolling). The standard setting is column 78. When used with the Word Wrap
feature, this setting lets you format documents that will have no more than
the specified number of characters on each line. This feature is only valid
for the 80 column text mode.

Remember to change just the NUMBER values in the INI file, and leave the
overall format of the file the way it is. The easiest way to do this is to
use the TYPEOVER mode to edit the numbers. If the file becomes compromised
in some way, you can delete it and create a new one by pasting the example
above into a new READ.INI file.

You should find READ easy to use. A device or file access error will cause
a warning message to be displayed on the prompt line at the bottom of the
screen. If your document becomes so large that you are about to run out of
FREE work space (as reported on the prompt line) you will be prompted to save
the file. When you READ the file again, it will be displayed in segments.

                               SHAREWARE

READ is distributed as Shareware. Feel free to share the program and its
files with others. However, if you continue to use READ, you must register
the program by sending $15.00 US (which includes Shipping & Handling) to:

                          Robert Lindsay Wells
                          1405 Lynn Avenue
                          Clearwater, FL 34615

When you register, you will receive the latest version of READ on disk with
the shareware reminders removed, a booklet summarizing features in the
program, and continuing technical support. Please register today!