Shareware Overload/ShartewareOverload.cdr/comm/prodhelp.zip/PRO-UTIL.DOC

Text File | 1990-09-13 | 36KB | 782 lines

                      PRO-UTIL Version 3.0
                       (Prodigy Utilities)
                      Copyright (c) 1990 by
                     Pete Royston  (DBRK81A)
                       September 13, 1990


  This is my third major mailing and my first major overhaul to
the Prodigy Utilities.  I have tried to incorporate all of the
features of the original utilities into one program.  Most of the
public domain utilities have also been built into PRO-UTIL.
  PRO-UTIL is shareware program, you are encouraged to register
if you like the program.  Donating money doesn't unlock any
special features or increase any of the program's limits (I don't
believe in cripple-ware), but if you register, you will receive
free updates...  Please Peruse "Pitiful Plea for Pete"
  Make sure you check out the ABOUT PRODIGY bulletin board under
the topic MEMBER UTILITIES for messages about PRO-UTIL.  Jump to
ABOUT PRODIGY.


FEATURES OF PRO-UTIL

     Extremely memory conscious: uses only 14k of memory in its
     smallest form, and memory requirements can be changed to fit
     your system.

     Change the WORKING icon into a clock.

     Print public and private mail wider than 40 columns.

     Print just the text from any screen that uses the 40 column
     font.

     Restore the Print Screen key. (Now uses PrtScr, not Alt-P)

     Restore the type-ahead buffer.

     Advance the printer one page. (Form feed)

     Advance the printer one line. (Line feed)

     Add a signature line to the bottom of a message.

     Print all of the unread private mail with one key.
          (Printed in the correct chronological order).

     Wait for a message to arrive in your electronic mailbox.

     Remove the form feed sent after Prodigy prints a message,
     and the extra Carriage Return sent at the end of each line.

     Upload a private message with the press of a key.

     Upload a public message with the press of a key.

     Up to 50 single key macros which can be recorded while using
     Prodigy instead of created off-line.  There is practically
     no limit to the size of a macro.


     Macros which remember the last time each Bulletin Board was
     accessed, and can fill in the "Read Bulletins Since" date
     automatically.

     Automatic logon for up to 6 users.

     If already signed on, a new user may automatically logon
     without disconnecting from Prodigy.  (It jumps to EXIT and
     chooses "Let another user sign on."  It also changes to that
     user's signature (Alt-h) and date macros.)

     Save printouts to a file.
          (Print to the printer only, the file only, or both.)

     With a keypress, "print to disk" feature will begin using
     another file.  Users can store related printouts in separate
     files.

     Cancel the printout in progress.  (Ctrl-ESC)

     Removes itself from memory after exiting Prodigy.

     BOOKMARK allows you to mark your place anywhere in Prodigy
     and jump back at your leisure.  (Similar to Prodigy's
     LOOK/ZIP... slower but more powerful.)

     Records each keystroke as you use Prodigy.  If you are
     disconnected from Prodigy, simply log back on and press the
     RESTORE BOOKMARK key (Alt-R) and PRO-UTIL returns to the
     same location... even if you were in the middle of typing a
     message.  (Please read the warning on this...)

     Press Ctrl-ESC to clear the keyboard buffer, cancel a macro
     and cancel almost any other function of PRO-UTIL.


INSTALLING PRO-UTIL

  DUAL 360K FLOPPY USERS

       Copy the files PRO-UTIL.COM and PRO-UTIL.DAT to your
     Prodigy B disk.
       Copy the file AUTOEXEC.2FL to your Prodigy A disk under
     the new name AUTOEXEC.BAT.  The easiest way to do this is to
     put the disk containing PRO-UTIL into drive A: and put your
     Prodigy A disk in drive B:.  Now type
              COPY A:AUTOEXEC.2FL B:AUTOEXEC.BAT
       To run PROSETUP, place the PRO-UTIL disk in drive A: and
     type A:PROSETUP B:
       To start prodigy, put your Prodigy A disk in drive A, the
     Prodigy B disk in drive B and turn on the computer (or
     reboot).  PRO-UTIL will automatically logon user A.
       Disk space is very limited.  You can safely delete the
     MODEMSTR.EXE file from the Prodigy B disk.  You should turn
     off the feature of PRO-UTIL that makes a backup file of PRO-
     UTIL.DAT.  (Under TAILOR in PROSETUP.)


  SINGLE FLOPPY USERS (not single 360k users though)

       Copy the files PRO-UTIL.COM and PRO-UTIL.DAT to your
     Prodigy disk.
       Copy the file AUTOEXEC.1FL to your Prodigy disk under the
     new name AUTOEXEC.BAT.  The easiest way to do this is to put
     the disk containing PRO-UTIL into drive A: and type
              COPY A:AUTOEXEC.1FL B:AUTOEXEC.BAT
     the computer will read the first disk and then ask you to
     insert the B disk in drive A.  Insert the Prodigy disk in
     drive A and press a key.
       To run PROSETUP, place the PRO-UTIL disk in drive A: and
     type PROSETUP.  A screen will appear saying "unable to find
     PRO-UTIL.DAT..."  Remove the PRO-UTIL disk and insert the
     Prodigy disk.  Press the <SPACE BAR> and the setup program
     will load the data file.
       To start prodigy, put your Prodigy disk in drive A and
     turn on the computer (or reboot).  PRO-UTIL will
     automatically logon user A.


  HARD DISK USERS

       Copy the files PROSETUP.EXE, PRO-UTIL.COM and PRO-UTIL.DAT
     to your \PRODIGY directory.  If you have a special directory
     for batch files, copy the file P.BAT there, otherwise copy
     P.BAT to the root directory \ on your hard disk.
       To run PROSETUP, type CD\PRODIGY and then type PROSETUP.
       To start prodigy, type P followed by the letter of the
     user you want to automatically logon.  For example: P A to
     logon user A,  P C to logon user C.


THE SETUP PROGRAM - PROSETUP

  The setup program allows you to enable or disable almost any
feature, create macros, change the hot-keys, and specify how much
memory PRO-UTIL will use.


MOVING AROUND IN PROSETUP

  On any screen, the up and down arrow keys will move the cursor
from one entry field to another.  One type of entry field will
ask or a hotkey, simply press the key and it will replace the
existing key.  The second type of entry field expects you type in
a response, like your ID and password... on these fields, an
inverse box appears showing the maximum number of characters you
can enter.  You can use the left and right arrow keys, the DEL
and BACKSPACE keys, and the insert key.  HOME takes the cursor to
the beginning of the line, END takes it to the end of the line.
The third type of entry field is used for fields which can only
contain preset values.  For example, when it asks about printing
to disk, the prompt reads SEND PRINTOUTS TO: and the response
says PRINTER ONLY.  Press any key (except up/down/enter) and the
value changes to FILE ONLY, press a key again and it switches to
BOTH FILE AND PRINTER. etc. until it loops back to the initial
value.
  To exit a screen and return to the menu, press the down arrow
until the cursor moves to the last entry field.  When you press
the down arrow again, it will return to the menu.


CHANGE A USER ID/PASSWORD/SIGNATURE - PROSETUP

  You should setup each user who will be using PRO-UTIL.  Choose
CHANGE A USER... from PROSETUP, then pick the user 1-6.  The
screen shows 6 entry fields.  Use the up and down arrows to move
the cursor.  Some fields expect you to type in a response (like
your ID).  Type the letters (you can use the standard editing
keys) and press ENTER when you are finished.  Enter your ID on
the first line, and the password on the second.  The next line
lets you specify a key that will be used to logon the user after
someone else is finished using prodigy.  If the #2 user is logged
on to prodigy the #3 user wishes to logon, user #3 may press one
key and PRO-UTIL will jump to EXIT, then choose LET ANOTHER USER
SIGNON and log them in.  The signature will automatically add the
date and time.  You can specify whether the time will be entered
in military time or standard (am/pm) format.  Press any key to
toggle between the options.  (The signature and date macros will
also change.)  Simply press the key that you want to use, or
press ENTER or an arrow key to leave it blank.  Each user can
specify their own signature and the number of tabs to be sent
after the signature.  (If you send 0 tabs, the cursor will be
left in the edit screen, just after the last digit in the time.
If you send 1 tab, the cursor will jump to SEND after entering
the date (this is the default).  If you send 3 tabs, it will jump
to PRINT.)
  I've found the date feature handy because people like to know
when you sent the message but it is a hassle to add the date and
time every time you write a note.
  Remember that anyone who has access to your computer can see
your password if they run PROSETUP.  If you want to do a partial
logon, you can leave the password blank.  PRO-UTIL will fill in
the ID and then wait for you to enter your password before
entering Prodigy.  It is a good practice to change your password
regularly (one a month or so).  You should change your password
immediately if you believe someone else knows it.


CHANGE THE PROGRAM'S HOTKEYS

  Choose the second menu option and you can change any of the
hotkeys.  Most of the hotkeys use the first letter of the action,
for example, Alt-P to print a screen, Alt-V for the Viewport.  I
left the signature as Alt-H because that is how it was in all
earlier versions (Alt-S was taken by the text only print screen).
You can change any of the hotkey except the cancel (Ctrl-ESC)
key.
  Use the up and down arrows to move the cursor on the hotkey
screen.  To change a key, simply press the new hotkey.  To erase
a key (and make the option inactive), press DEL and it will show
<No Key>.  Making an option inactive does not free up any memory.


OTHER FEATURES OF PROSETUP

  After you setup the users, choose PRINT and print the program
information.  It will give a list of hot-keys and quite a bit of
valuable information.  You can change any of the keys that the
program uses by choosing CHANGE THE PROGRAM HOTKEYS from
PROSETUP.


RESTORING THE PRINT SCREEN KEY

  Prodigy disables the Print Screen key because it is tricky to
use when displaying graphics.  PRO-UTIL allows you to restore the
PrtScr key, but you must be careful...
  In order to print graphics using PrtScr, you must have a
graphics driver loaded before PRO-UTIL.  (A graphics driver is a
small memory resident program that knows how to convert the
graphics on your screen to graphics on your printer.)  DOS
supplies GRAPHICS.COM which you can read about in your DOS
manual, but that usually only works with IBM and Epson compatible
printers, and only on CGA and will not work with EGA, VGA or
HERCULES.  (The DOS 4 version usually works with EGA.)  There are
public domain programs available for just about every display and
every printer.


USING MACROS

  A macro is a single key which pretends to be a series of other
keys.  PRO-UTIL supports standard macros, macros which
automatically upload an entire message, and "intelligent" macros.


INTELLIGENT MACROS

  Since PRO-UTIL only works in Prodigy, it is able to perform
tasks that standard macros can not.  The BOOKMARK is one example;
it remembers keys as you use Prodigy.  The date macro is another,
because it can remember the exact date and time you last accessed
each bulletin board.


BOOKMARK/ERROR RECOVERY

  Press Alt-B to mark your place and anytime later in the
session, press Alt-R to return to the marked location.  In case
you are knocked off of Prodigy by a CM 4 or some other error,
PRO-UTIL marks your place and saves it when you exit.  Simply
press Alt-R after logging on and it will return to the same
location.  (This feature will work any time in the session until
you use Alt-B to mark a different location.)
  One important note is that the recording of data begins the
first time the JUMP box appears (F6) and the data is cleared
every time you choose JUMP.  If you press too many keys without
jumping somewhere new, the program will stop recording keys.  You
can specify how much memory you want to dedicate to this function
by running PROSETUP.
  Another hazard is the fact that THINGS CHANGE CONSTANTLY on
prodigy.  Suppose you have one message in your private mailbox.
You press ENTER to read it are replying to it when you get
knocked off-line.  You log back on, press Alt-R and it jumps back
to your mailbox, chooses the first messages and begins retyping
your reply.  Suppose that in the time you were logged off,
another message arrived in your mailbox.  Your reply could be
going to the wrong bulletin.  This problem can occur in almost
any section of Prodigy.  Things are constantly changing.
  A similar problem will occur if you send several messages and
have not pressed <F6>.  The only way to get back to where you
were is to press Alt-R and have PRO-UTIL retype (and re-send)
every message you wrote before you were knocked off-line.  To
recover messages, you might want to get in the habit of using
PRO-UTIL's "macro learn" mode.  When you begin typing a message,
press Ctrl-F10 and then a "scratch macro" key (any key you want
to use, I use Alt-Z).  Let PRO-UTIL record the message as you
type.  Press Ctrl-F10 to turn off the recorder.  If you do get
knocked off-line, log back on and manually return to the same
message, chose REPLY and then press the scratch macro key.  You
can use the same macro key for each message because it deletes
the old macro before recording a new one.


DATE MACRO

  Another intelligent macro is the DATE MACRO, which will fill in
the "Read Bulletins Since" field on the public bulletin boards.
The date macro is used in conjunction with other macros and will
"remember" the last time you used a macro.  For example, you can
define Alt-A as a "date setting macro" and have it repeat the
following keys:  <F6> ABOUT PRODIGY <ENTER> <TAB> <TAB> <TAB>
<TAB> <ENTER> <ENTER> <ENTER>.  This will take you to the about
prodigy bulletin board and choose "read a message."  It will also
set the date macro with the last time you used this macro.  When
you press Alt-D at the "read bulletins since" screen, it will
automatically fill in the date and time of the last time you read
messages in this bulletin board.  PRO-UTIL saves the information
upon exiting Prodigy so you never have to remember the last time
you used each bulletin board.  You can create up to 10 date
setting macros.  Each of the 6 members use the same 10 macros,
but each user's dates are kept separate.  To match Prodigy, the
date macro always uses east coast time.  You must choose TAILOR
THE PROGRAM OPTIONS in PROSETUP and choose which time zone you
are in; the program makes the conversion automatically.



STANDARD MACROS

  You can create standard macros using PROSETUP, or create them
while on-line.  Each macro can hold any number of keys, but the
total of all macros cannot exceed 16,000 keys.  To create a macro
on-line, you must first determine whether or not the macro will
set the date.  To create a macro that sets the date, press Ctrl-
F9, to create a standard macro, press Ctrl-F10.  You will see an
H in the bottom left corner of the screen reminding you to press
your hotkey.  Next press the key that will be the macro key (or
hot-key).  IF THERE IS ALREADY A MACRO DEFINED FOR THIS KEY, IT
WILL BE ERASED.  Now use Prodigy as usual and PRO-UTIL will
record the keys as you type.  Every time you press a key, you
will hear a soft "click" which means the key has been recorded.
While PRO-UTIL is recording, you will see an M on the bottom left
of the screen.  Press the same macro key, or Ctrl-F10 to stop
recording.
  You can link one macro to another, but you can not call a macro
from within a macro.  For example, if you define a macro that
jumps to the PC CLUB bulletin board, then calls the date macro,
then sends a TAB and ENTER... (something like this: <F6> PC CLUB
<ENTER> <ENTER> <ENTER> <ENTER> <DOWN> <ENTER> <ALT-D> <TAB>
<ENTER>) the <TAB> and <ENTER> will never be sent.  Once the Alt-
D is sent, the date macro TAKES OVER and it never goes back to
the original macro.  In fact, if you are recording a macro on-
line and you press a macro key, PRO-UTIL will stop recording.
  Remember that each key of each macro takes up 2 bytes of
memory.  You should do a little experimenting before recording
each macro and find the shortest path there.  For example, you
don't always need to type in the complete jump word, just enough
to make it unique.  Don't jump to ABOUT PRODIGY, just jump to
ABOUT P.
  One of my favorite macros makes browsing the bulletin board
much easier.  Use the big plus key on the number pad (above
ENTER) and redefine it as the letter X and the down arrow.  Now
when you are marking messages to read on the bulletin boards,
press the plus key instead of pressing X.  Your hand never has to
leave the number pad, you have ENTER, PG DN, PG UP, and your new
X to mark messages to read.


EDITING A MACRO

  Once you create a macro (on-line or in PROSETUP), you can use
PROSETUP to edit the macro.  Choose CREATE/EDIT A MACRO.  When
asked for the macro key, press the key of the existing macro.
After answering Y or N to the question "should this macro set the
date macro" you will be placed in edit mode.  You can use the
arrow keys to move left or right and the DEL key to erase a key.
Any other keys you hit will be inserted into the macro at the
current cursor location.  To add a left or right arrow or a DEL
key to your macro, simply hold down Ctrl while you hit Left,
Right or DEL.


ERASING MACROS

  You can erase a macro by running PROSETUP and choosing CREATE A
MACRO.  When it asks for a key, press the macro key you want to
delete.  When the macro edit screen appears, press DEL repeatedly
to erase each key.  You have created an empty macro, which is
automatically deleted.
  When you are recording a macro while using prodigy, assigning a
macro to a key which is already assigned will erase the current
macro.


STOP THE PRESSES

  Anytime you are using PRO-UTIL and things begin going crazy (if
you hit the wrong macro key, etc.) holding down CTRL and pressing
ESCAPE will stop replaying a macro, clear the type ahead buffer,
stop recording a macro, etc.  You can actually press SHIFT-ESC,
CTRL-ESC or ALT-ESC.  If a Prodigy screen tells you to press ESC,
just press ESC; to stop PRO-UTIL, hold down CTRL or ALT or SHIFT
and press ESC.
  Pressing Ctrl-ESC will also cancel a printout.  Since Prodigy
does not offer a method of canceling a printout, PRO-UTIL will
ignore the characters sent to the printer.  (Prodigy still thinks
it is printing.)  If you are printing to disk or to a LASER
printer, you will not see much of a difference in time.  The next
printout will work fine, Ctrl-ESC only cancels the current
printout.  Remember that printers have buffers that hold the
characters to be printed while the printer is working.  When you
hit Ctrl-ESC, there will still be characters in the printer
waiting to print.  Once you hit Ctrl-ESC, you can turn off your
printer to clear its buffer.


UPLOADING A MESSAGE

  PRO-UTIL allows you to upload a public or private message with
the press of a key.  The message must be created through
PROSETUP.  Since the private messages consist of 4 pages of 12
lines each, and the public messages can have 7 pages (and the
first page is shorter), you must decide whether the message is
going to be formatted as a public or a private message.
  You may create 10 private messages (ALT F1-F10) and 10 public
messages (SHIFT F1-F10).  Each message is saved as a separate
file, and they do not take up any extra memory while you run
Prodigy.  When you press Shift-F1, the message is loaded from the
disk and put in the "print to disk/message upload" buffer.
(Since you can't do both at the same time, it uses the same
memory to save space.)
  To enter a message, you just press the Alt-F or Shift-F key
instead of typing in the message.  You should choose REPLY to
jump to WRITE and enter an ID and subject.  Only press the Alt-F
or Shift-F key when you are in the body of the message.  (Not the
ID or the SUBJECT line.)  Remember Ctrl-ESC if things start going
crazy.
  The editor in PROSETUP is nothing to brag about, but it does
have more functions than Prodigy's editor.  You can import a Word
Perfect file directly, or import an ASCII file.  Many ASCII files
have a carriage return at the end of each line.  IMPORT gives you
the option of stripping these.  You may have to try it both ways
before it looks close.  Either way, you will probably have to
clean up the message after importing it...


PRINT TO DISK

  Your printouts can be sent to the printer as usual, saved in a
file for later use, or both.  You can set the default value in
PROSETUP and then change it while using Prodigy by pressing a
key.
  By pressing a key, the print to disk feature can switch to
saving data in a different file.  In PROSETUP, you can define up
to 10 filename/hot-key combinations.  When you press the hot-key,
all successive printouts will be saved under the new name.  These
hot keys can be used within macros.  For example, you might have
one macro which jumps to MAIL and switches printouts to the file
MYMAIL.PRO.  Another may jump to HOMELIFE and switch printouts to
RECIPES.  When you're defining a macro, simply add the hot-key
which changes to the desired file.
  You can have PRO-UTIL use the current date as part of a
filename.  Simply put MMDD in the filename and PRO-UTIL will
replace it with that day's month and day.  For example, if a
filename is MAILMMDD.PRO, it will create filenames such as
MAIL0628.PRO, MAIL0701.PRO, etc.  You can printouts for each day
in a different file.


PRINTING ALL UNREAD MESSAGES

  When you press Alt-M, PRO-UTIL will jump to your mailbox and
find the last unread message.  It selects the last message and
then chooses PRINT.  It then moves to the message above and
prints that, etc.  until all of the unread messages have been
printed.  In order for this function to work correctly, you
should not read any messages before hitting Alt-M.
  To cancel this function, press Ctrl-ESC.


WAIT FOR A MESSAGE TO COME TO YOUR MAILBOX

  Press Alt-W and PRO-UTIL jumps to the mailbox and checks to see
if you have any mail waiting.  If you do, it beeps and selects
the last unread message.  If you do not have any messages
waiting, it keeps jumping to the mailbox until a message appears.
When a message appears, it beeps and then the message appears on
the screen.  This function can be handy if you are on-line the
same time as a friend.  You can use it as a VERY crude chat
function.  Type a message to your friend, press Alt-W and it will
show their reply as soon as it arrives.
  This function may not work correctly if there are no messages
in your private mailbox.  Prodigy puts up a "you have no messages
to read" message and it seems to throw off the loop.  It still
works, but you will notice a beep and it will take a detour into
the message center every time it jumps to the mailbox.  You can
correct this by not deleting a message after you read it.  Read
messages will fall off automatically in about 3 days.  If there
is even one old message in your mailbox, this feature will work
fine.  I hope to have this "unanticipated feature" cleared up in
the next release.
  To cancel this option while it is running, press Ctrl-ESC.

HOT TIP:  If you always use Alt-W to read your next message, they
will always appear in the correct chronological order.  Also, it
will keep the error recovery macro working better since JUMP will
be called between each message.


PRINTING MESSAGES IN 80 COLUMNS

  Prodigy prints public and private mail 40 columns across.  PRO-
UTIL counts characters as they go to the printer.  When it sees a
carriage return, it says "is this in column 41?"  If it is then
it doesn't send the carriage return or the line feed.  This makes
the next line print AFTER the current line, doubling the print
width.  BUT, if the first letter on the next line is a space then
it says "Hey, this is a new 'paragraph,' I'd better put it on
it's own line."  Prodigy made it easy on me by padding the end of
each line with spaces.  If you have a line with just the word
'FRED' at the beginning, Prodigy will print FRED followed by 36
spaces.
  Remember that this is going to print twice as wide.  (Up to 81
characters [40 + 40 plus one space to separate them].)  Using
Pica (10 CPI) spacing this will use almost the entire width of
the paper.  You may have better luck printing in Elite (12 CPI)
spacing.  I have added the ability to print even wider than 80
columns.  This will benefit those who want to print on wide paper
and/or use compressed print.  I prefer printing in 120 with a
compressed font.


TURNING OFF WIDE PRINT WHILE IN PRODIGY

  You may return to normal printing at anytime by pressing
Ctrl-W.  Ctrl-W toggle wide printing on and off.  When you press
Ctrl-W you will here TWO beeps, telling you that wide printing is
off.  To turn it back on, just press Ctrl-W again and you will
here ONE beep, telling you that it is back on.
     One beep means on.
     Two beeps means off.


THE TYPE AHEAD BUFFER

  Prodigy disables the type ahead buffer while you are on-line.
If you press any keys while Prodigy is working, they are thrown
away.  (This was done not to harass advanced users, but to shield
novice users.)  PRO-UTIL automatically reactivates the type-ahead
buffer.
  Remember that this is just like DOS's type ahead buffer.  If
you accidentally lean on the RETURN key, you are going to get a
whole bunch of RETURNS; make sure you are careful.  99% of the
time you will love the type ahead buffer, but that other 1% may
drive you nuts.  Always remember that it was YOU who pressed the
keys.
  If you are in Prodigy and you want to disable the type ahead
buffer, you may press Ctrl-T.  To reinstate it, press Ctrl-T
again.  The next time you run Prodigy, it will be in the same
state you left it.  (It remembers.)  You can also set it within
PROSETUP.
  Ctrl-ESC will clear the type ahead buffer, you can read more
about it under STOP THE PRESSES.


MEMORY ALLOCATION

  In its smallest form, PRO-UTIL requires about 14k of memory.
Add two bytes for each key in each macro.  Add the size of the
print to disk/message upload buffer, two times the buffer used to
learn macros and four times the size of the bookmark/error
recovery buffer (all of which you can configure).
  The "learn macros" buffer is memory which is reserved each time
you run prodigy to hold the macros that will be created DURING
THAT SESSION.  Suppose you have the program setup to use a total
of 20k, and you define 5k worth of macros while on-line.  When
you exit, those macros are saved and PRO-UTIL will require 25k of
memory the next time you run prodigy because it loads the 5k of
macros and reserves another 5k for creating new macros.  The best
method is to reserve 5 or 10k for this buffer the first few times
you use Prodigy, and then cut it down to 1 or 2k once you have
created most of your macros.
  The print/message upload buffer is memory that holds printouts
before they are written to the disk, and messages that are
uploaded.  If you specify a small buffer (1024 bytes, or 1k is
the default) PRO-UTIL will read and write more often when it is
uploading a message or saving a printout.


TEXT-ONLY PRINT SCREEN

  The text-only print screen now works with all video modes
(including Hercules).  It will pick out the standard white or
yellow characters like those used for messages, consumer reports,
and most expert columns.  This only works with the 40 column
(crayon) font, it will not work with the new 64 column font.
  REMEMBER: Always use Prodigy's PRINT option when available.  If
there is no print option, press <F6> to bring up the jump box and
see if the COPY function is available.  Use the text-only print
screen as a last resort.  Prodigy seems to be adding more and
more print capabilities.  It seems that everything that uses the
64 column font can also use the COPY command.  Hopefully, in a
year or so, I will be able to remove the text-only print function
from the utils.


CONTROLLING THE VIEWPORT  (Alt-V)

  This is SLOW.  (Especially in the high resolution modes.)  It
is quicker when there is a lot of text.  The viewport lets you
specify the top and bottom of the section of screen to print.
  The top hash mark should be positioned above the top of the
first line you want to print.
  The bottom hash mark should be positioned below the bottom of
the last line you want to print.

 To activate the viewport, press Alt-V (while in Prodigy).

   Viewport: Press Alt-V

     Starting with the top hash, use the arrows to move up/down.
     Press space bar and the arrows control the bottom hash mark.
     Use arrows, press space, use arrows, press space, etc.
     Press ENTER when the viewport is where you want it.


PRINTING THE SCREEN  (Alt-P)

  After positioning the viewport, you are ready to print the
screen.  Simply press Alt-P.  A dot will appear on the left hand
side of the screen showing you which line it is working on.  If
you want to cancel the printout, press Ctrl-ESC.


ADVANCING THE PAPER  (Alt-F)

  PRO-UTIL also allows you to send a form feed to the printer by
pressing Alt-F.  This will advance the paper to the next page.


ADVANCING THE PAPER ONE LINE  (Alt-L)

  If you only want to advance the paper in the printer by one
line, press Alt-L.  The paper will move up one line.  (Press it
repeatedly to move up multiple lines.)


YET ANOTHER PITIFUL PLEA FOR PETE

  I am newly married, newly mortgaged and newly fathered
(thankfully in that order).  My bride (regrettably) doesn't share
my love of silicon and phosphors.  I enjoy creating utilities
like this...but they take time.  I can get by with my writing and
freelance programming by saying "but honey, I'm making SOME
money."  But doing free software development "for the betterment
of mankind" doesn't always fly.  As a result, you guessed it, I
am releasing this as SHAREWARE.  That means if you use it, and
you find it worthwhile, you can make a voluntary contribution.
(Whatever you feel appropriate, $10, $15, etc.)  A $10
registration will put you on my mailing list to receive the next
version if/when it is available.  For each extra $5, you will be
entitled to one further update.  There is no guarantee that there
will be any updates, but I certainly hope there will be...  (much
of it depends on the contributions I receive).
  I don't expect to get rich from this, but I would like to cover
present and future expenses.  I want to thank all of you who have
already registered.  (Thanks to you, my wife, mother, sister, and
brother all survived their septuple by-pass heart surgery.)  I've
been encouraged by those who have contributed, but I'm certainly
not going to quit my day job yet...
  I now have a cat AND a kitten to support.  I need money to buy
them mittens to keep them from shivering during those cold,
blustery Chino Hills nights.  They huddle around burning trash
cans, batting the tears from their bleary, smoke-filled eyes;
they desperately need mittens.  (Ok, ok, so they're indoor cats,
but the image was fairly touching for a moment there...)
  All seriousness aside, I am the proud father of a baby boy.
Michael Wayne Royston was born on June 28th, 1990 and named after
my dear friend Michael Wayne Rice who was taken by cancer at age
25, 3 months earlier.

  I can be reached at
     Pete Royston
     PO Box 785
     La Mirada, CA  90637

Send me comments, questions and suggestions via Prodigy.  Just
jump to WRITE and address it to  DBRK81A
   If you do write to my PO box, please include your Prodigy ID
so I can get hold of you if needed.


SPECIAL THANKS

   I would like to thank all of the people who have supported the
PRODHP packages.  Many long distance phone calls were made to
download ever-swelling files.  Many users have helped other users
install the packages and answered technical questions.  Also a
big thanks to Brian Sedlak and Marc Rosenberg who did some very
comprehensive beta testing.
  I should also thank Pamela Kane for all of her help,
encouragement and suggestions.  Be sure to look for Pam's book
"PRODIGY MADE EASY" which is due out in early 1991 from Osborne
McGraw-Hill...  Pam's spent over year on this project; it will be
the perfect companion for the novice Prodigy user and the
ultimate reference for the expert.
  But a very special thanks goes to Pete Davis and Ron Ladne.
They have spent COUNTLESS hours answering questions and posting
phone numbers and receive nothing but thanks for their time and
efforts.  Without them, very few people would be using any
utilities on Prodigy.


        Thanks, Pete Royston      (DBRK81A)


QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Q:  Every once in a while, the clock stops working... What gives?

A:  When memory gets very low, Prodigy will attempt to free up
any available memory.  When PRO-UTIL senses this, it disables
some of its options.  If Prodigy can not find enough free memory,
it will issue the OUT OF MEMORY error.  Try removing some other
memory resident programs, or cut down on the memory allocated to
PRO-UTIL.  (See MEMORY ALLOCATION above.)

Q:  My WORKING icon does not change into a clock.

A:  1) Make sure you are running Version 3 of Prodigy.  2) Make
sure you have the option set correctly under TAILOR.  3) Make
sure it says WORKING.  If you have changed it to say something
else, change it back to WORKING.  4) Contact me and let me know
what type of computer and video card you have.

Q:  PRO-UTIL saves any new macros and date changes every time I
exit Prodigy... is there a way to exit prodigy and have PRO-UTIL
NOT save?

A:  No, but it does create a backup file before it saves.  To
restore the data file to the values it had before you ran
prodigy, type COPY PRO-UTIL.BAK PRO-UTIL.DAT   while in the
PRODIGY directory.

Q:  Can I run PROSETUP from a disk or directory other than the
one containing PRO-UTIL.DAT?

A:  Yes, type PROSETUP "path".  For example, PROSETUP B:  or
PROSETUP C:\PRODIGY

Q:  Why won't the autologon work?

A:  Use either the Prodigy autologon (jump AUTOLOGON) or PRO-
UTIL's autologon.  If you use Prodigy's autologon, do not choose
A,B,C,D,E,F,1,2,3,4,5 or 6 as your autologon code.  PRO-UTIL
reserves those and it will cause the autologon to act
erratically.


REMEMBER: This utility has not been approved by Prodigy, and it
is not supported by Prodigy's Membership Services.  If you have
any questions, please write to me and not to Prodigy.

PRODIGY is a registered service mark and trademark of Prodigy
Services Company.
WordPerfect is a copyright of WordPerfect Corp.

PRO-UTIL, PROPRINT, PROEGA, PROWIDE and ALTPVER2 are copyrights
of Pete Royston.