Cream of the Crop 1

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ Cream of the Crop 1 / Cream of the Crop 1.iso / UTILITY / ABBREV14.ARJ / ABBREV.DOC < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1992-04-20 | 31KB | 592 lines

╔════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ┌─────────────────────┐ ║ ║ │ ABBREVIATOR │ ║ ║ │ Ver 1.4 │ ║ ║ └─────────────────────┘ ║ ║ (c) Copyright 1992 ║ ║ ║ ║ HiPerSoft Systems ║ ║ PO Box 597 ║ ║ Coventry, CT 06238 ║ ║ ║ ║ (203) 742-6249 ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ╚════════════════════════════════════════╝ PRODUCT WARRANTY HiPerSoft Systems DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES RELATING TO THIS SOFTWARE, WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS OF PARTICULAR PURPOSE, PERFORMANCE, OR OTHERWISE; ALL WARRANTIES ARE EXPRESSLY AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMED. BY USING THE Abbreviator PRODUCT, YOU AGREE THAT NEITHER HiPerSoft Systems NOR ANY OF OUR EMPLOYEES, AFFILIATES, OWNERS, OR OTHER RELATED PARTIES WILL BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANY THIRD PARTY FOR ANY USE OF (OR INABILITY TO USE) THIS SOFTWARE, OR FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER, EVEN IF WE ARE APPRISED OF POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES OCCURRING. IN NO EVENT SHALL HiPerSoft Systems' LIABILITY FOR ANY DAMAGES EVER EXCEED THE PRICE PAID FOR THE LICENSE TO USE THE SOFTWARE, REGARDLESS OF THE FORM OF CLAIM. THE PERSON USING THE SOFTWARE BEARS ALL RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE SOFTWARE. This agreement shall be governed by the laws of the State of Connecticut and shall insure to the benefit of HiPerSoft Systems and any successors, administrators, heirs and assigns. Any action or proceeding brought by either party against the other arising out of or related to this agreement shall be brought only in a STATE or FEDERAL COURT of competent jurisdiction in Hartford County, Connecticut. The parties hereby consent to in personam jurisdiction of said courts. (c) Copyright 1992 HiPerSoft Systems for the ABBREVIATOR software and documentation, Coventry, Connecticut, United States of America. All rights reserved. LICENSE AGREEMENT HiPerSoft Systems grants you, without charge, the right to review, reproduce, distribute and use copies of this "Shareware" version of our ABBREVIATOR software product (including the disk documentation), on the express condition that you do not receive any payment, commercial benefit, or other consideration for the direct use of ABBREVIATOR. A nominal fee for copying and/or distribution is acceptable, as long as the program and documentation are not modified in any way and that both are distributed together. The rights to receive any such financial or other benefit, and to modify the product or its components, are reserved exclusively by HiPerSoft Systems. Under the Shareware concept you are provided a complete copy of the software free of charge. You have a period of ninety (90) days to evaluate the product to determine its usefulness. At the end of the trial period, you are required to become a Registered user of the product. This software may not be reverse-engineered or disassembled, and includes certain trade secrets and confidential information of HiPerSoft Systems. Registered User Benefits As a registered user you are entitled to the most recent version of the software, printed documentation, technical support, utilities to support and expand product capabilities, and software announcements. How to Register To become a registered user, send your name, company name (if applicable), mailing address, telephone number, version number, where you obtained your copy of the ABBREVIATOR, along with $29.95 plus $3.50 shipping (CT residence add 6% sales tax) to: HiPerSoft Systems PO Box 597 Coventry, CT 06238 For your convenience, a registration form is included at the end of this documentation. HiPerSoft has a number of attractive plans which allow the use of ABBREVIATOR on multiple computers within the same organization. For information on obtaining a site license, please contact us directly. ABBREVIATOR INTRODUCTION ABBREVIATOR is a TSR (Terminate and Stay Resident) program designed to expand a user defined abbreviation (up to 5 characters) into a string of characters (maximum 1,760). The abbreviation expansion is presented to the application system as if the characters were typed in at the keyboard. The application can be any application which obtains character input from the keyboard, such as a word processor, data base system, or DOS. ABBREVIATOR can be used to enhance (or add) a macro facility to a word processing system. It can also function as a pseudo Batch file with the additional benefit of communication to both DOS and an application program. For example, an abbreviation can issue series of DOS system commands, initiate a program, and then issue a series of commands to the application, as long as they are not special or function keys. Once started, ABBREVIATOR monitors keyboard activity looking for the user defined abbreviation "expansion key". Upon finding the key, the characters preceding the key are use to search for an abbreviation expansion table. If found, the abbreviation is replaced by the expansion. The abbreviation can be up to 5 characters in length and can consist of any alpha-numeric combination of characters, including the characters #, %, &, *, and @. The $ character is reserved for commands to communicate to the ABBREVIATOR system. POTENTIAL USES ABBREVIATOR simulates a series of keystrokes (except for special function keys) to any application. ABBREVIATOR can be used to: - Manage standard name and address information with uniform access to the information in different application programs. - "Paste" common phrases or paragraphs in word processor applications with the additional benefit of using the same abbreviation across different word processing systems. - Build system commands which not only set up an environment for an application but also issue a series of commands to the application. GETTING STARTED It is recommended that you make a copy of the distribution disk and place the original in a safe place. If you are not using a hard disk drive, the just copied version becomes the ABBREVIATOR system. To conserve disk space, you may want to delete the documentation files as indicated below. If you are not using a hard disk, skip to the section entitled Starting ABBREVIATOR. Setting Up a Hard Drive If you are using a hard disk drive, you will want to create a directory for the ABBREVIATOR software files. Assuming your hard drive is the C drive, type C: to make drive C the selected drive. Then type CD\ to make sure that the root directory is the current directory. Type PROMPT $P$G to make the DOS prompt include the current directory name. The DOS prompt should now appear as C:\> with the \ indicating the root directory. Next, to create a directory to hold the ABBREVIATOR file structure and programs, type MD ABBREV. (You may choose a directory name other than ABBREV, if you wish.) After creating the directory, make it the current directory by entering CD ABBREV. Now place the ABBREVIATOR distribution disk into drive A. Type the copy command COPY A:*.* to copy all the files from drive A into the ABBREV directory. To verify that all the files have been copied, list all the files in the ABBREV directory by typing DIR. Compare the files displayed to the following list: FILE DESCRIPTION --------------------------------------------------------- ABBREV.COM ABBREVIATOR TSR Command Module ABBRVTOR.TBL Abbreviations and definitions ABBRVTOR.KEY Key Table for Maintaining Abbreviations ABBRSTAT.COM Command to Display ABBREVIATOR Status Info ABBRMGT.EXE Utility to Maintain Abbreviation Definitions ABBREV.WND ABBRMGT WindowBox file * ABBREV.DOC ABBREVIATOR Documentation * READ.ME Getting Started Asterisk (*) Files can be deleted to save disk space. STARTING ABBREVIATOR The command ABBREV, which activates ABBREVIATOR, requires access to the file ABBRVTOR.TBL, the table of abbreviations and associated expansions. It is recommended that the ABBREVIATOR system components be kept together in the same directory or on one floppy disk. Once activated, the ABBREVIATOR definitions remain in memory and are available universally, independent of the current environment. After setting current environment to the ABBREVIATOR system, type ABBREV. ABBREV This will activate ABBREVIATOR using the distributed abbreviation table and default abbreviation expansion key, the '=' (equal sign). The expansion key may be changed by using the ABBRMGT utility or via the Alter command, discussed later. USING ABBREVIATOR Using the distributed abbreviation definition table as an example, we will discuss how to use ABBREVIATOR. The distributed table contains 3 entries: @A, @AB, and HPS. Assuming the system is active, enter the HELP command $H= to view the table. Upon entering the command a Window containing abbreviation information appears. The Window will appear at either the top or bottom of the screen depending on the cursor position. Examine the top line of the Window. The abbreviation appears at the far left of the top line with ABBREVIATOR control key information appearing to the right. Use the Up and Down arrows to scroll through abbreviations in alpha- numeric order. When the abbreviation table is exhausted in either direction, a diamond appears just to the right of the abbreviation. The <Enter> key will expand the displayed expansion at the current cursor position. The <Esc> key will exit the HELP function removing the Window without abbreviation expansion. Up to 3 lines of the abbreviation expansion appears in the Window. There are two methods of expanding an abbreviation. You can use the HELP command, scroll to the desired abbreviation and hit the <Enter> key or you can enter the abbreviation directly followed by the abbreviation expansion key. Let's try both. Enter the HELP command $H=, position the Window using the up arrow to the @A abbreviation, and hit the <Enter> key. The @A expansion issues the ABBRSTAT command, giving status information on the ABBREVIATOR system. Now, enter the abbreviation directly without using the HELP function by typing @A=. Both result in the same expansion. Note that the ABBREVIATOR expands an abbreviation without knowing which application is currently in control of the system. If you were to expand the HPS abbreviation, an abbreviation designed for a word processing system, while in DOS, the DOS system would try to execute a series of nonexisting DOS commands. (Try it, type HPS=, it won't hurt anything.) Similarly, if you were to expand the @A abbreviation while in a word processing system, the result would addition of the character string "ABBRSTAT" followed by an <Enter> key to the text being edited. ABBREVIATOR simulates the typing in of information from the keyboard. When using the ABBREVIATOR in a word processing system, the expansion takes advantage of the current character mode setting. If the character mode is set to "insert" the abbreviation expansion will be inserted at the current cursor position. If the mode is "typeover", the expansion will typeover existing information. The abbreviation expansion for @AB is interesting because it represents an example of an expansion which passes information first to DOS and then to the application. Use of the ABBRMGT utility will be discussed below, but for now let's bring up the utility first without the use of the ABBREVIATOR. Assuming you are still in the ABBREVIATOR environment, type ABBRMGT. As the utility starts, an introduction screen is displayed. When initialization has completed, a series of 3 information Windows appear, asking you to "Hit any key to continue". (Please read the Windows at least once....thank you.) After you go through the Windows by hitting any key 3 times, the main utility screen appears. For now, hit "X" to exit the utility, followed by a "Q" to exit without saving the Table. If you have been following along, you should be back in DOS. Now, let's examine and dissect the @AB expansion. Issue the ABBREVIATOR HELP command $H= and position the Window to the @AB abbreviation. The expansion appears as: ABBRMGT Where the symbol represents the <Enter> key. During the expansion, the ABBRMGT is presented to DOS system as if you entered the ABBRMGT command followed by the <Enter> key. After DOS initiates the ABBRMGT utility, the next 3 <Enter> key symbols are presented to the application program, in this case the ABBRMGT utility. Although the information Windows are displayed in quick secession, you can't read them. The net result of the using the ABBREVIATOR is that you are brought into the utility to a point where you can immediately do work. Try it, with the @AB abbreviation on the Help screen, hit the <Enter> key. The ability to present information to the multiple environments from a single abbreviation, is a unique and powerful feature of the ABBREVIATOR. Not only can you use the ABBREVIATOR to enhance (or add) a Macro capability to a word processor, you can build pseudo .BAT files which can issue DOS commands to initiate an application and then present information to the application. Because ABBREVIATOR is memory resident, abbreviations developed are universally available to any application system and from any environment. To expand on the above example, you may want to switch directories before issuing the ABBRMGT command. To do so, edit the abbreviation expansion to include the appropriate DOS commands. For example: CD\ABBREVABBRMGT With some effort and imagination it is possible to construct an effective menu system to automate the setting up and initiation of application systems. ABBREVIATOR COMMANDS ABBREVIATOR commands are designed to communicate with the ABBREVIATOR system, once active in the system. All commands start with the $ character, which is reserved for ABBREVIATOR commands. To initiate a command (listed below), enter the command followed by the abbreviation expansion key. For example, if the abbreviation expansion key is the = character, to get HELP you would type the character string $H=. The command character can be either in upper or lower case. $x$A Alters the Abbreviation expansion key, where x is the new key. The expansion key can be any valid printable keyboard character key. The key can NOT be a function or special key. When deciding on an appropriate expansion key consider a key which is convenient, but not frequently used. The expansion key IS sensitive to upper and lower case. Either the = or ] key makes an excellent choice. If you forget (or inadvertently change the key) you can use ABBRSTAT command to display the key and other pertinent ABBREVIATOR information. $D Returns the current date as month (word), day, and year. For example, January 1, 1992. The date is formulated when ABBREVIATOR is first activated. $H Help creates a window displaying the abbreviation in the upper left corner and up to 3 lines of the expansion. Note the control commands in the right corner of the window. The Up and Down arrows are used to scroll through the abbreviation list which is presented in alpha- numeric order. The <Enter> key will take the abbreviation displayed in the window and expand it at the current position on the screen. The <Esc> key will exit the Help function without abbreviation expansion. If a diamond appears next to the abbreviation, the abbreviation list has been exhaust in the direction of the last arrow entered. $P Purges the ABBREVIATOR system, freeing Table and screen buffer memory. To activate a new abbreviation table, the Purge command MUST be issued prior to issuing the ABBREV command. OBTAINING ABBREVIATOR STATUS The ABBRSTAT command reports on the status of the ABBREVIATOR system and gives other information about the memory requirements of the expansion table. ABBRSTAT will indicate if ABBREVIATOR is in the system, Table memory usage in bytes, Table size in bytes, Table entry count, and the abbreviation expansion key. ABBRMGT UTILITY The ABBRMGT program is a support utility which allows you to create, alter, or delete abbreviations. ABBREVIATOR abbreviations and expansions are maintained in a disk file named ABBRVTOR.TBL. In addition to the Table file, the program requires the ABBRVTOR.KEY file. The utility is started from the ABBREVIATOR environment by typing ABBRMGT. The commands on the right side of the main screen are, for the most part, self-explanatory. A brief HELP window is available by hitting <f1>. The "Information" section displays information about the ABBREVIATOR expansion key definition and the abbreviation table. The "Peek" section of the screen displays the first 5 lines of the abbreviation expansion for the selected abbreviation. The ADD and UPDATE commands are used to add or change abbreviation definitions. The Add and Update commands use an expanded screen allowing for definitions up to a maximum of 1,760 characters. Use <f1> to review screen edit commands. The <Tab> and <Enter> keys are treated as valid expansion characters. Hint: If ABBREVIATOR is active, you can easily create a new entry similar to an existing one by going to the Add mode and expanding the already existing abbreviation. The VIEW command explodes the abbreviation by interpreting the Tab and Enter keys. You can not update an abbreviation definition in the View mode. The CHG ABBR CHAR allows you to change the abbreviation expansion key. The key can be any printable key. It can not be a special or function key. When deciding on an expansion key consider a key which is convenient, but not frequently used. The expansion key is sensitive to upper and lower case. The = or ] key make an excellent choice. The expansion key will take effect when the new table is loaded. The PRINT command allows you to print abbreviations. You can print all or selected abbreviations. In printing the abbreviation expansion, the Tab key is represented by the > character and the Enter key by the < character. The SAVE command saves the current table and returns to the utility. When saving a Table, either via the Save command or upon Exit, the original Table is available in a file named ABBRVTOR.BAK. The EXIT command (or <Esc> key) will exit the ABBRMGT utility. You will be prompted to either (S) Save the Table or (Q) Quit, without saving the Table. The prompt Window will inform you as to whether the Table was updated during the session. The <f10> you will provide you with HiPerSoft's phone number and registration information. Do not hesitate to call us with a problem or question, even if you are NOT yet a registered user. Our goal is to have a satisfied user and maintain the highest quality of software possible. ACTIVATING NEW TABLE To activate a new table, issue the Purge ($P) command followed by the ABBREV command. If the ABBREV command is issued and ABBREVIATOR is already active in the system, the initialization program will issue a message requesting that you Purge the current ABBREVIATOR system. AUTOMATIC INSTALLATION of ABBREVIATOR After you become comfortable with the ABBREVIATOR software, you may want to automate the starting of the ABBREVIATOR by placing it in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Please review your DOS manual on the use of AUTOEXEC.BAT. Adding the ABBREVIATOR to the AUTOEXEC.BAT file will make the system available each time you start your computer. Assuming that your are using a hard drive, add the following statements to the AUTOEXEC.BAT: CD\ABBREV ABBREV If you are using a floppy disk and that ABBREVIATOR is on the system disk, add the start up command: ABBREV to the AUTOEXEC. TECHNICAL INFORMATION ABBREVIATOR is a TSR (Terminate and Stay Resident) program which monitors character flow between the keyboard and the CPU. A TSR is a program that remains active in memory and functions as part of the DOS operating system environment. ABBREVIATOR requires an IBM (or compatible) computer using MS-DOS 2.0 (or higher). The resident memory requirements for the ABBREVIATOR are: 2,080 bytes for the software module, 800 bytes for a screen buffer, and up to 64k for the abbreviation table. The size of abbreviation table is dependent on the number of abbreviations defined. Actual Table memory requirements are displayed when ABBREVIATOR is started or you can use the ABBRSTAT command to review the memory requirements of your table. ERROR MESSAGES ABBREV Start Up Messages Access/Path Error The ABBREV routine could not find the ABBRVTOR.TBL file. Make sure the file is intact and the ABBREV is executed from the directory or disk that contains ABBRVTOR.TBL. Insufficient Memory Not enough memory to hold the ABBRVTOR.TBL. See memory requirements above. Memory Resize Error Problem with program initialization. Contact HiPerSoft as this error should not occur. Read Access Denied Read Access to ABBRVTOR.TBL denied. Check the status of ABBRVTOR.TBL file and contact HiPerSoft for assistance. Status is ACTIVE - Please Purge - Issue $P Command The ABBREV command was issued with a copy of the ABBREVIATOR in the system. Issue the $P command to Purge the current copy and reissue ABBREV command. ABBRMGT Utility Messages Drive NOT Ready: Ready Drive & Hit Enter During file processing the drive containing the required file was not in the ready status. Ready the drive and hit the enter key to resume processing. File Error: filename Error: xxxx During initialization or shutdown an error was encountered during the processing of one or more of the files. The problem file will be listed followed by an error code. 1002 - File Not Found During Initialization 1003 - Directory Path Not Found During Initialization 1x05 - Read Access to File Denied 1308 - Insufficient Memory Available 2002 - File Not Found During Clean Up 2003 - Directory Path Not Found During Clean Up 2x05 - Write Access to File Denied Printer Problem: 'Enter'-Continue 'H'-Halt During a print function the printer was not in the proper state. Attend to the printer and hit <Enter> to continue printing or 'H' to Halt the current print process. Table Overflow: Table Limited to 65,515 Char During the adding or updating of an entry, the capacity of the ABBRVTOR.TBL was exceeded. Remove unnecessary entries. UNEXPECTED ERROR: xx An unforeseen error occurred and is indicated by the xx number. The program terminates. Call HiPerSoft for assistance. ***** Registration Form ***** Please use the following form to become a registered user of ABBREVIATOR. Date:____________________ Name: __________________________________________________________ Company: __________________________________________________________ Address: __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ Phone Work: (___) ______________ Home: (___) __________________ +--------------------------------------------------------+ | | | Unit | Total | | Quantity | Description | Cost | Cost | |===========|==========================|========|========| | | ABBREVIATOR | $29.95 | | +-----------|-----------------------------------|--------| | Tax Connecticut Residents 6% | | |-----------------------------------|--------| | Shipping & Handling | 3.50 | +-----------------------------------|--------| TOTAL | | +--------+ Please Circle Disk Type: 3.5 or 5.25 How did you acquire ABBREVIATOR? _________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ Please make check or money order payable to: HiPerSoft Systems. Send to : HiPerSoft Systems PO Box 597 Coventry, CT 06238 If you have any questions or comments, please call (203) 742-6249. Thank you for your support. Bill Tillberg President