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T H E P R O G R A M M E R ' S --------------------------------- P R O D U C T I V I T Y P A C K ------------------------------------ Version 2.60 -------------- U S E R ' S G U I D E -------------------------- Copyright (c) 1988,1989,1990 by Falk Data Systems. All Rights Reserved. Last updated: November, 1990 Falk Data Systems 5322 Rockwood Court El Paso, Texas 79932-2412 U.S.A. Phone: (915) 584-7670 CompuServe: 71420,2431 _______ ____|__ | (R) --| | |------------------- | ____|__ | Association of | | |_| Shareware |__| o | Professionals -----| | |--------------------- |___|___| MEMBER --- CONTENTS --- General Information ........................................... 1 The Programmer's Productivity Pack (ProPak) ................. 1 License ..................................................... 1 Warranty .................................................... 1 Registration ................................................ 1 Technical Support ........................................... 1 ASP Ombudsman Statement ..................................... 2 Obtaining Updates ........................................... 3 Trademarks Mentioned ........................................ 4 Introduction .................................................. 5 What is ProPak? ............................................. 5 System Requirements ......................................... 6 Memory Requirements ......................................... 7 How To Use This Manual ...................................... 8 How to Install ProPak ........................................ 10 Which Files Do I Need? ..................................... 10 Installing On A Hard Disk System ........................... 11 Installing On A Floppy Disk System ......................... 11 Setting ProPak For Your Monitor ............................ 12 The 80 Column Text Mode .................................... 13 The Modifier Keys .......................................... 13 ProPak and Your Keyboard ................................... 14 The ASCII Poster ........................................... 15 How To Load And Unload ProPak ................................ 16 Loading ProPak ............................................. 16 Bypassing the Opening Screen ............................. 18 Renaming PROPAK.EXE ...................................... 18 Using ProSwap .............................................. 19 Loading ProSwap .......................................... 19 ProSwap Command Line Options ............................. 21 ProSwap as a Stand-Alone Program ......................... 25 Renaming PROSWAP.EXE ..................................... 26 Unloading ProPak or ProSwap ................................ 26 Sidekick Considerations .................................... 26 The DOS PRINT Program ...................................... 28 In Case of Conflicts With Other Memory-Resident Programs ... 28 ProPak and Batch Files ..................................... 29 ProPak Error Messages ...................................... 30 Beeps and Doesn't Pop Up ................................. 30 Doesn't Beep or Pop Up ................................... 31 Table of Contents i --- CONTENTS --- The Programmer's Calculator and Attachments .................. 33 The Programmer's Calculator .................................. 33 The Quick Start Tutorial ................................... 33 The In-Depth Reference Guide ............................... 40 The Range Of Values Available ............................ 40 The Programmer's Calculator Display ...................... 41 The Quick Reference Menu ................................. 42 Signed And Unsigned Modes ................................ 42 The Four Numeric Formats ................................. 42 The Calculator Commands .................................. 43 The Mathematical Operations .............................. 47 Logical and Bit Manipulation Operations .................. 49 Moving The Calculator's Display .......................... 51 Going To The Attachments ................................. 52 The ASCII and Color Attribute Chart .......................... 53 The Quick Start Tutorial ................................... 53 The In-Depth Reference Guide ............................... 55 25, 43, And 50 Line Screens .............................. 55 The Columns On The Chart ................................. 55 The Extended Characters .................................. 56 Moving Around The Chart .................................. 56 Other Available Commands ................................. 57 Returning to the Calculator .............................. 57 The Keystroke Reference Center ............................... 58 The Quick Start Tutorial ................................... 58 The In-Depth Reference Guide ............................... 61 How To Access The Keystroke Reference Center ............. 62 The Display .............................................. 62 Scan Codes and INKEY() Values ............................ 63 Portability Notes ........................................ 64 Moving the Display ....................................... 64 Other Available Commands ................................. 65 Park Disk(s) and Blank Screen ................................ 66 The In-Depth Reference Guide ............................... 66 Table of Contents ii --- CONTENTS --- The Control Center ........................................... 68 Quick Start Tutorial #1 .................................... 68 Quick Start Tutorial #2 .................................... 72 In-Depth Reference Guide ................................... 76 How To Access The Control Center ......................... 76 The Control Center ....................................... 76 Modify Options ........................................... 77 List Key Recordings ...................................... 77 Write Keys to File ....................................... 78 Read Keys From File ...................................... 78 Delete Key Recordings .................................... 79 Copy Screen To File ...................................... 79 Print Facility .......................................... 80 Get Status Info ......................................... 80 Unload From Memory ...................................... 81 The Modify Options Feature ................................... 83 In-Depth Reference Guide ................................... 83 The Modify Current Settings Submenu ...................... 83 Keystroke Recording and Playback ............................. 89 In-Depth Reference Guide ................................... 89 How to Start Recording Keystrokes ........................ 89 Important note! .......................................... 90 How to Stop Recording Keystrokes ......................... 90 How To Play Back a Keystroke Recording ................... 90 Setting The Playback Speed ............................... 91 The Screen Grabber ....................................... 91 List Key Recordings ...................................... 91 Write Keys To File ....................................... 91 Read Keys From File ...................................... 92 Delete Key Recordings .................................... 92 Get Status Info .......................................... 92 Keystroke Recording TIPS: ................................ 92 The Screen Grabber Feature ................................. 93 To Move The Grab Box ..................................... 93 To Change The Size Of The Grab Box ....................... 94 How To Use The Grab Box .................................. 94 End-of-Line Characters ................................... 95 The Screen Capture Facility .................................. 96 In-Depth Reference Guide ................................... 96 The Print Facility ........................................... 98 In-Depth Reference Guide ................................... 98 Table of Contents iii --- CONTENTS --- PCustom: The Customizing Program ............................ 100 The Quick Start Tutorial .................................. 100 The In-Depth Reference Guide .............................. 102 Starting PCustom ........................................ 102 Selecting Which Versions To Modify ...................... 102 How PCustom Works ....................................... 103 The PCustom Menus ....................................... 104 The Main Menu ........................................... 104 The Colors Menu ....................................... 104 The Hot Keys Menu ..................................... 111 The Sound Effects Menu ................................ 113 The Advanced Options Menu ............................. 114 The Exit PCustom Menu ................................. 121 Miscellaneous Information ................................... 123 EXE Compression Utilities ................................. 123 Change History ............................................ 123 Appendix A The Bits and the Bytes. ................................... 124 Appendix B Understanding Two's Complement Numbers .................... 133 Appendix C For Those New to MS-DOS: .................................. 135 Appendix D Background Information .................................... 136 Appendix E Sources for Additional Information ........................ 137 Appendix F What is Falk Data Systems? ................................ 138 Other Products From Falk Data Systems ..................... 138 Index ....................................................... 139 Table of Contents iv Figures Figure 1: Opening Screen ................................... 16 Figure 2: Programmer's Calculator Display .................. 41 Figure 3: The Quick Reference Menu ......................... 42 Figure 4: Decimal Box Display .............................. 48 Figure 5: ASCII Chart Display .............................. 55 Figure 6: Keystroke Reference Center Display ............... 63 Figure 7: Control Center Menu .............................. 76 Figure 8: Modify Current Settings Submenu .................. 83 Figure 9: PCustom Main Menu ................................ 104 Figure 10: PCustom Colors Menu .............................. 104 Figure 11: Custom Colors Submenu ............................ 106 Figure 12: Calculator Sub-Submenu ........................... 107 Figure 13: Customize Hot Keys Submenu ....................... 112 Figure 14: Hot Keys Submenu ................................. 112 Figure 15: Sound Effects Submenu ............................ 113 Figure 16: Advanced Options Submenu ......................... 114 Figure 17: Miscellaneous Sub-Submenu ........................ 119 Figure 18: Exit PCustom Submenu ............................. 121 Table of Contents v - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - --------------------- General Information --------------------- The Programmer's Productivity Pack (ProPak): ============================================ "The Programmer's Productivity Pack" is a very long title! To help keep things brief we will often refer to the Programmer's Productivity Pack as "ProPak". When we use the word "ProPak" as a shortened form of "Programmer's Productivity Pack" we are referring to the entire package and all the programs in the package (including ProPak, ProSwap, and PCustom). License: ======== The Programmer's Productivity Pack is NOT a public domain program. It is Copyright (c) 1988, 1989,1990 by Falk Data Systems. Please refer to the LICENSE.DOC text file for important license information. Warranty: ========= Please refer to the WARRANTY.DOC text file for important warranty information. Registration: ============= Please refer to the REGISTER.DOC text file for complete registration information. Technical Support: ================== Free technical support is available to all registered users of the Programmer's Productivity Pack. If you are a registered user and have a question, problem, or need help in any way, please feel free to contact us for technical support. We are here to help you. Falk Data Systems wants its customers to be happy with our products. We will do General Information 1 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - our best to help you get the most out of the Programmer's Productivity Pack. If you are not yet a registered user, please read the REGISTER.DOC text file for complete registration information and an impressive list of benefits for registered users. Most technical support questions are answered in the ProPak User's Guide (this document). So before contacting us for technical support, please try to find the answer to your question in the User's Guide. Please check the ANSWERS.DOC text file for the answers to the most commonly asked questions regarding ProPak. If you are unable to find the information you need, then please feel free to contact us. Perhaps you've come across something that should be included in the User's Guide in the future. The best way to obtain technical support is through CompuServe. You may send CompuServe Mail messages to us on CompuServe [71420,2431]. We check our messages every working day, and frequently on weekends too. If you are not a CompuServe subscriber be sure to check the appropriate box on your registration form and we will provide you with a free CompuServe Introductory Membership and a $15.00 usage credit. You may also obtain technical support by writing or calling Falk Data Systems. Or you may call our technical support line at (915) 584-7670. Our hours are 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, Mountain time, Monday through Friday. Please refer to page 138 for our address and other phone numbers. ASP Ombudsman Statement: ======================== Falk Data Systems is a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at P.O. Box 5786, Bellevue, WA 98006 or send a CompuServe message via easyplex to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536. General Information 2 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - Obtaining Updates: ================== Distributing a new version of a shareware product can be more expensive than most people realize. Hundreds of disks must be sent to shareware distributors, computer user groups, clubs and organizations, magazine editors, and more. This is in addition to sending copies to any registered users who are entitled to the new version. The process is costly not only in postage, but also in time and energy. Therefore, we don't always send out updates and modifications to all the usual channels. This is one of the reasons registered users are often able to acquire updates and new versions long before non-registered users. Another reason why registered users are often able to receive updates months before non-registered users is because of the lead time involved in updating the catalogs of the disk vendors. Most disk vendors update their catalogs every 1-3 months (depending upon the frequency of catalog releases). This means that even after a vendor receives an update it may be several months before you find out about it. If you happen to miss a catalog issue or overlook an update notice then it could take even longer for you to find out about an update. When we release a new version it is sent FIRST to all registered users who are entitled to the new version. Their copy goes in the mail even before copies to magazine editors and columnists. Some versions are sent ONLY to registered users and NOT to anyone else. Unless you are a registered user, you have no reliable way of knowing whether you have the most current version or an older, less capable version. This clearly shows yet another benefit to becoming a registered user. When you become a registered user of ProPak, we will send you the most current version on disk in a sealed envelope along with a printed User's Guide*. Registered users also receive free notification of all future updates and the opportunity to receive them automatically, at a substantially reduced cost. Please refer to the REGISTER.DOC text file for complete details. * Note: We are gradually moving towards using recycled paper exclusively. At some point all our printed User's Guides may also be printed on recycled paper. General Information 3 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - Trademarks Mentioned: ===================== Falk Data Systems, ProPak, and the Programmer's Productivity Pack are trademarks of Falk Data Systems. BRIEF is a trademark of UnderWare, Inc. CompuServe is a trademark of CompuServe Incorporated. dBASE is a trademark of Ashton-Tate, Inc. DESQview is a trademark of Quarterdeck Office Systems. Hercules is a registered trademark of Hercules Computer Technology, Inc. IBM, PC-DOS, PC/XT/AT and PS/2 are registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. Microsoft and MS-DOS are trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. OPTASM is a registered trademark of SLR Systems. TaskView and OmniView are trademarks of Sunny Hill Software. Periscope is a trademark of The Periscope Company. Solution Systems is a trademark of the Software Developer's Corporation. Turbo Professional is a registered trademark of Sunny Hill Software, used under license to TurboPower Software. TurboPower Software is a trademark of TurboPower Software. Turbo Pascal, Turbo Assembler, Turbo Debugger, Sidekick and SideKick Plus are registered trademarks of Borland International. WordStar is a registered trademark of MicroPro International Corporation. Some of the trademarks of other companies mentioned in this user's guide appear for identification purposes only. General Information 4 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - -------------- Introduction -------------- What is ProPak? =============== The Programmer's Productivity Pack, ProPak, is a software package designed to provide the utilities and reference tools most frequently needed by programmers. What's more, each individual tool or "attachment" within the ProPak package was designed to be the best, most powerful, most flexible, and easiest to use in its category. For instance, The Programmer's Calculator, which is only one of the tools built into ProPak, is the best Programmer's Calculator on the market, bar none! Integrating all of these tools into one program and placing them at your disposal at one time will make the time you spend programming more productive than ever. ProPak provides you with: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ o A Programmer's Calculator that works simultaneously in decimal, binary, hexadecimal, and octal. o Addition, subtraction, multiplication, integer division, and modulus mathematical functions. o SHL, SHR, ROL, ROR, SAL, SAR, RCL, RCR bit manipulation functions. o AND, NOT, OR, and XOR logical functions. o Exchange word and exchange double word functions. o An ASCII and color attribute chart. o A keystroke reference utility that returns both the BIOS scan codes and the dBASE INKEY() values. o Keystroke Recording and Playback which handles up to 100 Keystroke Recordings of 1,000 keystrokes each. o A Screen Grabber utility to grab text off the screen and play it back like a Keystroke Recording. o A Screen Capture facility which provides filtering for screen or printer. Introduction 5 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - o Access to the DOS background PRINT facility. o A screen blanking facility that will park your hard disk (or disks) while the screen is blanked. o A pop-up DOS shell capability which enables you to shell to DOS from any program, with as much as 600K bytes of memory available in the DOS shell. o Complete control of all the Hot Keys, colors, sound effects, file extensions, memory usage, and more, through PCustom, the customizing program. All this and more. All in one smoothly integrated package. The Programmer's Productivity Pack includes tools which can run stand-alone, memory-resident (even with Sidekick), memory- resident with swapping, or as a background task in a multitasking environment. And since ProPak provides you with the ability to customize every detail, it not only helps you to be more productive, it also gives you the freedom to adapt it to your particular needs and preferences. The Programmer's Productivity Pack can handle dual monitor systems, EMS and XMS memory, multitasking systems like DESQview and TaskView/OmniView, and more. Each version can be easily and safely unloaded from memory when the need arises. You even have three different methods by which it may be unloaded. The Programmer's Productivity Pack is even compatible with Borland's Sidekick. It is so compatible that it can be safely loaded AFTER Sidekick. All things considered, the Programmer's Productivity Pack should become one of your most often used utilities, and you might find yourself wondering how you ever got along without it. Congratulations on one of your best software acquisitions! System Requirements: -------------------- The Programmer's Productivity Pack requires PC/MS-DOS 2.0 or higher, on an IBM PC, XT, AT, PS/2, or close compatible. ProPak will work on a floppy disk only system, but a hard disk is recommended. ProPak supports all common video adapter and monitor combinations, including dual monitor systems. ProPak has been tested with the following adapter types: MDA, CGA, EGA, MCGA, and VGA, as well as the Hercules and Hercules InColor cards. EMS and/or XMS memory is helpful but not required. Introduction 6 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - Memory Requirements: -------------------- The actual memory requirements will vary depending upon which of the two versions you use, how swapping is handled, the amount of memory you reserve for Keystroke Recordings, etc. The swapping version, ProSwap, retains only about 7K bytes of memory while resident (and swapped out). The minimum memory requirement for ProPak is about 96K bytes. ProPak is shipped with 2K bytes (2,048 bytes) of memory set aside for Keystroke Recordings. The customizing program, PCustom, requires 256K bytes of RAM. ProSwap.EXE: ~~~~~~~~~~~~ ProSwap uses as little memory as possible. ProSwap can swap itself to disk, to EMS memory, or to XMS memory. All this flexibility means that ProSwap is the ideal choice when memory is scarce. ProPak.EXE: ~~~~~~~~~~~ In order to conserve as much of your precious memory as possible, ProPak makes extensive use of overlays (ProSwap does not). An overlay is a technique which allows a program to run without having all of its machine instructions in memory at the same time. When you pop up the Calculator, the machine instructions for The ASCII Chart, Keystroke Reference Center, etc., remain on disk, and only the machine instructions needed for the Calculator will be in memory. This has the advantage of requiring less memory (a definite virtue for memory-resident programs), but it means that ProPak must go to the disk at certain times to get instructions on what to do next. There is a number of things you can do to maximize ProPak's performance and customize its memory usage. The biggest improvement will be obtained through the use of EMS memory. If you have EMS memory, and if you allow ProPak to use it, the entire overlay file will be placed into EMS memory. This means two things. First, the overlay file on disk will no longer be needed, which will save you one file handle. Secondly, reading the necessary sections of the overlay file will occur much faster because it will be a simple memory transfer rather than a disk access, therefore, the size of the overlay buffer can remain minimal. This also conserves the maximum amount of RAM (Random Access Memory) for the use of your other programs. Introduction 7 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - How To Use This Manual: ----------------------- This manual is designed to get you up and running with the Programmer's Productivity Pack as quickly as possible. Besides being written in a simple, conversational style there are five special features which will help you get the most from ProPak in the minimum amount of time. The Quick Start Tutorials: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The "Quick Start Tutorials" are designed to help you begin using the individual tools in the Programmer's Productivity Pack in an efficient and productive manner as quickly as possible. There are six Quick Start Tutorials in this manual. Each one is complete in itself. This means that they don't have to be read together or in any particular order. Each tutorial should take about 15 minutes or less to complete. Although the tutorials don't cover every single feature of the program in detail, they will get you comfortable and familiar with the major functions in each tool quickly and painlessly. It would be to your benefit to read the Quick Start Tutorials, even if you never looked at the rest of the manual. They will help you get your money's worth out of this software package. Take advantage of them. You'll be glad you did! Since ProPak was written to be easy to learn and use (to be "intuitive") you will probably find that the Quick Start Tutorials are all you will need to start working profitably with it. The In-Depth Reference Guides: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There are ten In-Depth Reference Guides in the ProPak User's Guide covering each one of the tools and utilities individually. As the name implies, this is where you can find a complete listing and description of each and every feature of that tool or program. Every command and option will be given, along with any necessary information on how and when to use it. The In-Depth Reference Guides contain a tremendous amount of helpful information and we suggest that you consult them. They are written in the same simple, conversational style and should be just as comfortable to read as the tutorials. Introduction 8 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - Tips and Tricks: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Wherever we have been able to develop helpful tips and tricks to make the use of ProPak even more efficient we have put them in the User's Guide and marked them with "TIP:". Using these techniques does not require any more expertise than using any other feature of the program. They are just the by-product of the many hours the author, beta-testers, and users have spent using the program. In future upgrades we will include any other tips that we find or develop or that you bring to our attention. Our desire is to provide you with the best tools possible. The Appendices: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There are five appendices following the User's Guide that will be of special value to any of you that are new to programming. They may even help some of you old pros to fill in a few gaps in your understanding. We have endeavored to make ProPak a useful tool for both the student and the professional programmer. The Index: ~~~~~~~~~~ The Index at the back of the User's Guide is as comprehensive as we could make it. To keep its completeness from being counterproductive we have marked the page or pages where the feature is most completely covered with bold print (printed User's Guide only). Therefore, even if there is a dozen page listings after an entry in the index, going to the one in bold print will probably be the most useful. However, all the listings are there for the person who wants to know as much as is available about any given feature. Introduction 9 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - ----------------------- How to Install ProPak ----------------------- Which Files Do I Need?: ======================= The following discussion outlines the files included in the Programmer's Productivity Pack. ProPak.EXE: This is the MS-DOS memory-resident version of the Programmer's Productivity Pack. ProPak uses overlays extensively. Early versions required a separate overlay file called ProPak.OVR. Beginning with version 2.50 the overlay file is appended to the tail-end of the ProPak.EXE file. ProSwap.EXE: This is the flexible-loading version. ProSwap can run as a memory-resident "swapping" version, a standard memory- resident version, a background task under DESQview or OmniView/TaskView, or as a stand-alone program under MS-DOS. PCustom.EXE This is the customizing program which will enable you to customize both versions of ProPak. In fact, you can even customize both versions at the same time. The customizing program does not need to be present to make changes in the program "on the fly". You can always make changes in memory using the "Modify Options" submenu within the ProPak Control Center. The customizing program DOES have to be used if you want the changes to be "permanent". That is, written to disk and available to you the next time you turn on your computer. Changes made from within ProPak are not "permanent" because they are made in memory and will be lost when you unload ProPak or turn off your computer. Both methods of customizing are simple to use whenever needed. With this information you can decide which version or versions will be the most useful to you. Whichever files you decide to use, we recommend that they all be placed into the same subdirectory, preferably in your DOS path. If the concept of directories or paths is new to you please read Appendix C, at the back of the User's Guide. More information is available from your MS-DOS User's Guide. By the way, PCustom, the customizing program, is not required for the operation of ProPak or ProSwap, but, it is nice to have on hand. Unless disk space is at a premium, keep it available at all times. Installing ProPak 10 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - We have also provided a file called "ANSWERS.DOC", which answers the most commonly asked questions concerning the use of the Programmer's Productivity Pack. Installing On A Hard Disk System: ================================= The first step, which should be taken BEFORE you install the programs on your hard disk, is to make backup copies. This is a very important safety measure which you should take with every new program. This protects your investment in case a disk becomes damaged or erased. We provide extra labels with the registered version for you to place on your backup copies. Finally, we recommend that you use the copies as "working copies" and place the original diskettes in a safe place. Installing the Programmer's Productivity Pack on your hard disk is simply a matter of deciding which files you want to copy to your hard disk, and which subdirectory you want to place them in. Running an actual "installation" program is not required. Any one of the two versions will run fine. There is no "PInstall" program. PCustom enables you to customize various features of the program, but it is not necessary in order to get ProPak up and running. In fact, ProPak is sophisticated enough to determine for itself if you are using a color or monochrome monitor, EMS memory, etc. We should add however, that if you are using a black-and-white monitor, such as an LCD or gas plasma display, or other gray scale type of monitor, you will probably want to run PCustom to change the screen colors to the gray scale values. This is covered in the section "Setting ProPak For Your Monitor" (page 12). ProPak is already set to look good on monochrome and color monitors. Installing On A Floppy Disk System: =================================== Because ProPak uses overlays and ProSwap uses swapping to conserve memory, we recommend that it be run from a hard disk rather than from the slower floppy diskette drives. But, if you do not have a hard disk, don't worry. You can still use the Programmer's Productivity Pack. You will, however, need to have the diskette present in the disk drive whenever you are using any of the ProPak programs. Installing ProPak 11 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - You can greatly improve the performance of ProPak by using PCustom to modify it for your floppy disk only system. For specific details refer to the In-Depth Reference Guide for PCustom on page 120. As with every software product you purchase, your first step should be to make backup copies of the distribution diskettes. This will protect your investment in case something unexpected happens to the original diskettes. We provide (with the registered version) printed labels for you to place on your backup copies. Finally, we recommend that you use the backup diskettes as the "working copy" and place the original diskettes in a safe place. We recommend that you make a separate diskette for each version (ProPak and ProSwap) and that you include PCustom on each diskette. This way you will be able to customize the program whenever you wish. However, PCustom is not required for ProPak or ProSwap to run. Running an actual "installation" program is not required. Any one of the two versions will run fine. There is no "PInstall" program. PCustom enables you to customize various features of the programs, but it is not necessary in order to get ProPak up and running. In fact, ProPak is sophisticated enough to determine for itself if you are using a color or monochrome monitor, etc. We should add however, that if you are using a black-and-white monitor, such as an LCD or gas plasma display, or another gray scale type of monitor, you will probably want to run PCustom to change the screen colors to the gray scale values. This is covered in the next section "Setting ProPak For Your Monitor". ProPak is already set to look good on monochrome and color monitors. If you are new to MS-DOS and are not sure how to copy files from one disk to another, then Appendix C (page 135) contains some basic information about directories, subdirectories, and other MS-DOS information. You should also consult your DOS manual to familiarize yourself with DOS and to answer any questions that may arise. Setting ProPak For Your Monitor: ================================ You do not have to do anything to set up ProPak (or ProSwap) for your monitor if you are using either a color or monochrome monitor. ProPak is sophisticated enough to know which one you have without asking you. Installing ProPak 12 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - However, gray scale type monitors (LCD, gas plasma, etc.) look like color monitors to any software. If you don't tell ProPak that you really have a black-and-white display then some of the screens will not be very clear. PCustom enables you to set ProPak to look good on a black-and-white monitor. To set ProPak to look good on your black-and-white monitor, simply type "PCUSTOM -B" <Enter>. When the PCustom Main Menu appears choose "Modify All Versions Present". Wait for a second and another Menu will appear. Choose "Colors". When the "Colors" Submenu appears choose "Gray Scale Attribute Set". Move the highlight bar with the <Down> arrow key and press <Enter> when "Gray Scale Attribute Set" is highlighted. Now go to "Exit PCustom" and press <Enter>. Choose "Save Changes" and you are done. Refer to the section on PCustom (page 105) for more detailed information. You do not have to make any special arrangements to use ProPak with a dual monitor system. The 80 Column Text Mode: ======================== In general, the features provided by ProPak are only available while in an 80 column text mode. ProPak will recognize and take advantage of 25, 43 and 50 line modes. ProPak is not designed to pop up while in graphics mode. This is due to the fact that much more memory would be needed to save a graphics screen than a text screen. For the same reason, ProPak was not designed for use in 132 column mode (which is rarely used). Also, since most of ProPak's displays cannot fit on a 40 column screen, it will not pop up under those conditions. The Modifier Keys: ================== Many times in both the manual and the on-screen menus, a keystroke command is listed with a caret (^) in front of the key. For instance, the Calculator's Quick Reference Menu is opened using <^M>. ProPak is not excessively picky about keystrokes. To make things as easy as possible such keys can actually be entered in a number of different ways. Let's use the "^M" example. <^M> can be entered as Ctrl-M, Alt-M, Shift-M, or just plain "M". This makes keystroke commands very easy to remember. Installing ProPak 13 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - There are only two categories of exceptions to this rule and they will always be explained as they are encountered. The two general categories are outlined below. When you are in Hexadecimal format in The Programmer's Calculator, the letters "A" through "F" correspond to the hexadecimal values 0A hex (10 decimal) through 0F hex (15 decimal). Therefore, to use one of these letters as anything other than a hexadecimal value, they must be preceded by either <Ctrl> or <Alt>. Some keys such as <Tab> or <F1> mean the opposite when they are modified with <Ctrl>, <Alt> or a <Shift> key. ProPak and Your Keyboard: ========================= Knowing how ProPak uses your keyboard can help you get the most out of ProPak. ProPak is able to use more key combinations than most software. The reason for this is twofold. When ProPak is installed, it hooks into the BIOS keyboard services (Interrupts 09h and 16h) and adds several additional capabilities to those services. These additional features are much more apparent to those of you who do not have enhanced keyboards. ProPak is able to recognize many key combinations that are normally usable only with an enhanced keyboard. Also, for users of enhanced keyboards, ProPak is able to use about a dozen key combinations that are not normally recognized by the BIOS alone. This enhancement to normal keyboard functionality is at a very low level, meaning that you do not have to do anything special to obtain this benefit. On a higher level, ProPak goes to extreme lengths to recognize keys logically according to the context in which they are typed. For instance, if you are using The Programmer's Calculator and do not have NumLock set and you press the <Up> Arrow key, it is fairly obvious that you intended to enter the number 8. This concept helps to make ProPak so easy to use. It even works with the number 5 key, the center key on the numeric keypad, when NumLock is NOT on. By being aware of ProPak's efforts to make your keyboard more functional, you can often think of additional ways to improve your productivity. After all, who knows more about the kinds of things you use your computer for than you do? Installing ProPak 14 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - The ASCII Poster: ================= (Included in the registered version!) This 20" x 26" poster gives you the character, decimal value, and hexadecimal value of the 256 ASCII and extended ASCII characters. It also has the often needed box drawing characters arranged logically and large enough to see from a distance. If you put this in a convenient spot near your computer you will never have to look for an ASCII chart in a manual again! "...a superb paper ASCII code chart that I have framed on the wall beside the machine..." --Jeff Duntemann, Dr. Dobb's Journal, January 1990, Page 147. "God bless you for the ASCII chart. (Now I can finally retire the dog-eared page in the back of my BASIC manual!)" --Randy MacLean, FormGen Corporation, Canada Installing ProPak 15 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - ------------------------------- How To Load And Unload ProPak ------------------------------- Now that you have chosen which files you want to use and have installed them on your system, all that remains is to use them. Loading ProPak: =============== When we are speaking in general terms about the Programmer's Productivity Pack we use "ProPak". To load ProPak into memory type "PROPAK" at the DOS prompt and press <Enter>. After a brief pause while the program is read from disk, you will see a screen appear that is full of information. You might like to take a moment to read over the information on your screen. (Due to space limitations and printer incompatibilities, this figure appears only in the printed User's Guide.) Figure 1: Opening Screen Figure 1 is a sample of ProPak's opening screen. It was actually captured using ProPak's Screen Capture facility. Referring to Figure 1, or better yet, to the actual display on your screen, you will see that ProPak provides you with all the information you are likely to need, or that you may be curious about. The upper portion of the screen provides you with information concerning EMS memory. This information includes the presence or absence of EMS memory, the status of EMS memory as reported by the Expanded Memory Manager, and most importantly, whether or not ProPak is using EMS memory for its overlay file. The lower portion of the screen provides detailed information regarding how much normal RAM memory is being used by ProPak, as well as an approximate breakdown of HOW it is being used. Here is a brief explanation of each of these values: o Program Segment Prefix (PSP) - PC/MS-DOS always places a 256 byte chunk of memory at the beginning of each program it executes. This 256 byte area contains information that the program may use or refer to during execution. Loading and Unloading ProPak 16 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - o Environment Block (at least) - The is the area of memory where MS-DOS stores any global parameters. These are strings like your path command, any "SET=?" strings, etc. ProPak does not know how much memory is reserved for the environment block, but it does know how much of the environment block is actually in use storing parameters. o CODE (??,???) DATA (??,???) - "CODE" refers to the memory used for machine instructions. "DATA" refers to the memory used for storing internal variables, data structures, etc. o Internal Stacks - A "stack" is a storage area that your computer uses to keep track of information on a temporary basis. ProPak has five internal stacks, one for each of the tools accessed with a Hot Key. To minimize memory usage ProPak uses a sophisticated scheme that allows one internal stack to "overflow" onto another internal stack safely. o Overlay Buffer - The overlay buffer is very similar to the CODE area mentioned above. The overlay buffer contains machine instructions needed by ProPak to perform various tasks. However, the Overlay Buffer does not always contain the same information. It contains only the machine instructions needed at any given time. Machine instructions not currently needed remain on disk in the .OVR file, or in EMS memory if it is in use. This is a common technique used to conserve memory. o HEAP (where dynamic storage occurs) - The "HEAP" is simply an area of memory set aside for use by ProPak as needed. For example, when you pop up ProPak it saves an area of the screen before it overwrites it. This is how ProPak is able to restore your screen when it is finished. The area of the screen is saved on the "HEAP". If this information is confusing to you, don't worry. You don't need to memorize any of these values. This information is there for those who like to know exactly how much memory is being used by ProPak, and for what it is being used. Pressing any key will clear the screen and return you to the DOS prompt. ProPak is a memory-resident program. What this means is that when you first run the program, it will install itself in memory and then return control to DOS. So when you find yourself back at the DOS prompt after pressing any key, don't worry, you're doing just fine. Loading and Unloading ProPak 17 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - Once you are back at the DOS prompt, you will see two key combinations listed. These are the keys that will activate ProPak when they are pressed. One will pop up The Programmer's Calculator and the other will pop up The Control Center. These activation keys are called "Hot Keys." But don't press them yet. First, we will show you how ProPak can be removed from memory. Bypassing the Opening Screen: ----------------------------- Sometimes you may prefer to start ProPak without viewing the Opening (memory usage) screen. To do this simple start ProPak with ANY command line parameter. That's right. Type "PROPAK" followed by a space and anything you want, then press <Enter>. This tells ProPak to "shut-up" and proceed without displaying the opening memory status display. Renaming PROPAK.EXE: -------------------- ProPak uses overlays which are attached to the end of the PROPAK.EXE file. This means that ProPak must always be able to find itself on disk (unless EMS memory is used for the overlays). Even though most options are controlled through the configuration file (PROPAK.CFG), some options require PCustom to modify the .EXE file itself. To do this, PCustom must be able to find the PROPAK.EXE file. To enable you to rename PROPAK.EXE, so that it knows it's new name, and so that PCustom can find it later, you should always use PCustom to rename PROPAK.EXE. PCustom has a new option which will make this easy for you. Never change the name of the configuration file (PROPAK.CFG). If you change the name of the configuration file, then ProSwap or PCustom will simply write a new PROPAK.CFG file the next time they run. The new file will have all the default values and will not retain any customizations you may have made. Loading and Unloading ProPak 18 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - Using ProSwap: ============== ProSwap is an extremely flexible program containing the most used features of The Programmer's Productivity Pack. o ProSwap can be loaded as a swapping memory resident version which swaps most of itself out of memory when not in use. When loaded in this fashion ProSwap retains only about 7K bytes of memory while resident. ProSwap can swap itself to: - XMS memory. - EMS memory. - a RAM disk. - a hard disk. - a Bernoulli drive. o ProSwap can be loaded as a traditional memory resident program (no swapping). o ProSwap can also be run as a stand-alone DESQview aware program which does not remain memory resident. ProSwap has one additional capability not found in ProPak: ProSwap provides a pop-up DOS shell capability. When activated, this capability swaps the currently running program out, freeing as much memory as possible, then loads a secondary copy of the command processor, and places you at the DOS prompt. This capability enables you to shell to DOS from programs that do not have this capability built in. Important Note: To use the pop-up DOS shell capability you must have PC/MS-DOS 3.0 or later. If you are using an earlier version of DOS you will have to disable the DOS shell capability using PCustom, before you can use ProSwap. Loading ProSwap: ---------------- To start ProSwap simply type "PROSWAP" <Enter> at the DOS prompt. This will start ProSwap in it's default (normal) mode. Several command line options are available and are described in detail below. Before we discuss the command line options, you should be aware of some limitations. Loading and Unloading ProPak 19 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - ProSwap is designed to provide you with as much usable memory as possible while it is resident. To accomplish this ProSwap must be able to swap itself into and out of memory. Because of this swapping behavior there are several things you must avoid. o ProSwap cannot be loaded into "high" memory using utilities such as QRAM, QEMM, 386MAX, or any similar utility. o ProSwap should not be loaded before programs that contain hardware interrupt handlers. Examples of such programs are network shells, multitasking operating systems, and communications programs. If you are going to use ProSwap in these environments you should load it after the network shell or multitasking operating system is installed. o It is possible to load ProSwap and still run communications programs like ProComm or TAPCIS, providing you follow some simple guidelines. Do NOT pop ProSwap up over your communications program while it is online, uploading or downloading, or waiting to answer an incoming call. When ProSwap pops up it swaps the current application out - essentially trading places with it in memory. This will be a problem if the other program was trying to deal with com ports or some other hardware related activity. Of course, if you are using a program like ProComm or TAPCIS and the program is not online or waiting to answer an incoming call, then it is safe to pop up ProSwap. o ProSwap will not pop up over a program operating in graphics mode. ProSwap does not know how to save and restore a graphics screen. So to prevent problems, ProSwap will simply beep and refuse to pop up when your video system is in graphics mode. There are also some important restrictions regarding the pop-up DOS shell capabilities. o You cannot pop to a DOS shell while you are at the DOS command line. The problem has to do with the way DOS handles its internal stacks. You're probably wondering "why would I want to shell to the DOS command line when I'm already at the DOS command line?". Well, there's really no reason to do this, so this isn't much of a limitation. Unfortunately, this is one of the first things users try to do when they start experimenting with ProSwap. Loading and Unloading ProPak 20 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - o This same conflict arises if you pop up a TSR from the DOS command line and then try to pop to a DOS shell using ProSwap. Even though you popped up another TSR, technically you are still at the DOS command line. o The DOS programs DEBUG and EDLIN are very similar to the DOS command line in terms of how internal DOS stacks are managed. Because of this you cannot pop to a DOS shell from within DEBUG or EDLIN. o It is possible, under a multitasking system such as DESQview, for ProSwap to not recognize that you are at the DOS command line. So be very careful when using ProSwap under a multitasking operating system - don't try to pop to a DOS shell from the DOS command line. o Finally, the most important restriction: Do NOT install another memory resident program while you are within the ProSwap DOS shell. When you exit from the DOS shell ProSwap will swap the new memory resident program out and the results will not be pretty. When ProSwap is swapping to disk, it must be absolutely guaranteed that it will have access to it's swap files when it swaps itself into or out of memory. This requirement, coupled with the speed issue, means that ProSwap's swap file cannot be located on removable media such as a floppy diskette. ProSwap checks for this and will refuse to load if you specify a floppy drive as the location for the swap files. Even though the media is technically removable, you may still use a Bernoulli drive as the location for the swap files. ProSwap Command Line Options: ----------------------------- Some programs are overly picky about how a command line option is entered. Some programs expect each option to be preceded by a space and a backslash. Even worse, some programs are case sensitive - a command line option must be lower case, or it must be upper case, or some other limitation. Command line options with ProSwap are very easy. For instance, if a command line option is "/X" - the "X" may be either upper or lower case. Furthermore, it may be preceded by a forward slash (/), a backslash (\), a dash (-), or a space ( ). Loading and Unloading ProPak 21 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - Here is a brief list of each option. The list is followed by a detailed description of each option. -D force swapping to Disk only -E force swapping to EMS memory only -H Help (same as "-?") -M Minimize swap size (XMS and Disk only) -N No swapping (TSR mode - same as "-T") -P Preserve mouse state within the DOS shell -S Stand-alone (non-resident), DESQview aware mode -T TSR mode (no swapping - same as "-N") -U Unload the previously loaded copy of ProSwap from memory -X force swapping to XMS memory only -? shows a list of all available command line options and returns to the DOS command line (help - same as "-H") (D) Force Swapping to Disk Only: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option forces ProSwap to swap to disk even if sufficient EMS or XMS memory is available. Swapping to disk is inevitably slower than swapping to EMS or XMS memory. The speed of the swapping process can be further controlled by the "-M" option described below. This option can be permanently controlled using PCustom. (E) Force Swapping to EMS Memory Only: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option forces ProSwap to swap to EMS memory. If there is not enough EMS memory available, then ProSwap will abort without attempting to swap to either disk or XMS memory. This option can be permanently controlled using PCustom. (H) Help: ~~~~~~~~~ Displays a list of command line options and returns to DOS without going resident. This can be accomplished using any command line option that is not recognized by ProSwap. This option is the same as "-?" described below. Loading and Unloading ProPak 22 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - (M) Minimize Swap Size: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option applies only when ProSwap is swapping to disk or to XMS memory (it is ignored when swapping to EMS memory). When swapping to disk, two swap files are used. When swapping to XMS memory, two blocks of memory are used. One is used for storing the memory under the control of ProSwap, the other is used for storing the memory under the control of the application being swapped out. This allows the swapping operation to occur as quickly as possible - at the expense of using more disk space, or more XMS memory. When the "-M" option is used, ProSwap will use only one file when swapping to disk, or one memory block when swapping to XMS. In effect, the two swap images "trade places" with each other during the swapping operation. This option causes ProSwap to use much less disk space, or much less XMS memory. The price you pay for conserving these resources is speed. Swapping takes much longer in this mode. This option can be permanently controlled using PCustom. (N) No Swapping, and (T) TSR Mode: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ These options are identical. Use the one that is easiest for you to remember. When ProSwap is loaded in TSR mode, it will load just like ProPak. It will remain in memory until it is unloaded - no swapping will be performed. This means that it will pop-up instantly when a hot key is pressed, but it will take much more memory away from your other programs. The pop-up DOS shell capability is not available in this mode. This option can be permanently controlled using PCustom. (P) Preserve Mouse State: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Most people won't pop to DOS from a program that uses a mouse and then run another program that uses a mouse. So there is usually no need for ProSwap to preserve the mouse state when it pops to DOS and restore it when it returns from DOS. Some newer mouse drivers are annoyingly slow at initializing (which happens every time you pop to DOS), which is yet another reason why ProSwap does not normally preserve the state of the mouse. Loading and Unloading ProPak 23 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - This option tells ProSwap to preserve the mouse state before it shells to DOS, and to restore the mouse state when it returns from the DOS shell. If you use a mouse often, you will want to start ProSwap with the "-P" option. (S) Stand-Alone Mode: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option tells ProSwap to run like a traditional program. This means that ProSwap will not go memory resident. When you are finished using ProSwap and exit, you will return to DOS. In this mode ProSwap is DESQview aware and sends all screen output to the buffer provided by DESQview rather than directly to video memory. This option can be permanently controlled using PCustom. (U) Unload From Memory: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tells ProSwap to look for a copy of itself already loaded into memory, and to unload that copy if found. When this option is used, ProSwap will unload the resident copy and then return to DOS. This is the safest way to unload ProSwap from memory! If ProSwap was not previously loaded then this option is ignored. * When this option is used it should be the *only* option used. (X) Force Swapping to XMS Memory Only: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option forces ProSwap to swap to XMS memory. If there is not enough XMS memory available then ProSwap will abort without attempting to swap to either disk or EMS memory. NOTE: XMS swapping is only available with XMS (Extended Memory Specification) extended memory - not with simulated extended memory or extended memory which doesn't conform to the XMS standard. This option can be permanently controlled using PCustom. (?) Help: ~~~~~~~~~ Displays a list of command line options and returns to DOS without going resident. This can be accomplished using any command line option which is not recognized by ProSwap. This option is the same as "-H" described above. Loading and Unloading ProPak 24 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - ProSwap as a Stand-Alone Program: --------------------------------- By now you have a good grasp of how a memory-resident program is loaded into memory. Now let's examine some of the differences between the memory-resident and the stand-alone or multitasking capabilities of ProSwap. ProSwap, when loaded with the "/S" option, is designed to run as a stand-alone program under MS-DOS or as a background task under DESQview or TaskView/OmniView. The memory-resident versions of ProPak write directly to video memory when they output information to the screen. There are several advantages to this technique. First and foremost, writing directly to video memory is much faster than sending all screen output through the operating system. Additionally, direct screen writing allows ProPak to retain more control over the screen. Programmers running ProSwap under DESQview or TaskView/OmniView should consider the subject of "windows". In deciding how to set up ProSwap you should be aware that some features use the entire screen. For instance, The ASCII and Color Attribute Chart will use the entire 25, 43 or 50 lines available on the screen (depending upon the current video mode and hardware capabilities). Of course, before overwriting anything currently displayed on the screen, both versions of ProPak will copy the screen contents to their own internal buffer, and then restore the screen before exiting. If you specify a window size smaller than the entire screen, sometimes ProSwap will write outside the boundaries of that window. It will always restore it when it is finished, so don't worry. When ProSwap is running under a multitasking system it may not be the only program using the screen. If another program is using the screen, it would be very rude for ProSwap to overwrite the other program's output. To avoid this, ProSwap sends its screen output to the "virtual screen" provided by the multitasking system, rather than directly to video memory. This allows the multitasking system to retain control over which application has access to the actual screen at any given time. What this means to multitasking systems is that ProSwap is very considerate of any other programs that might be running simultaneously. Another consideration is that these multitasking systems provide their own keyboard macro (Keystroke Recording and Playback) capabilities, and their own screen cut and paste (Screen Grabber) facilities. This includes all the features contained in The Control Center. To conserve memory and avoid redundancy, ProSwap Loading and Unloading ProPak 25 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - does not have those features which the operating environment is already providing. Renaming PROSWAP.EXE: --------------------- You are free to change the name of PROSWAP.EXE to any other name as long as the .EXE extension is not changed. PCustom does not need to be able to find PROSWAP.EXE to customize it. However, you must not change the name of the configuration file (PROSWAP.CFG). If you change the name of the configuration file, then ProSwap or PCustom will simply write a new PROSWAP.CFG file the next time they run. The new file will have all the default values and will not retain any customizations you may have made. Unloading ProPak or ProSwap: ============================ At the DOS prompt type "PROPAK -U" and press <Enter>. If you are using ProSwap type "PROSWAP" instead of "PROPAK". This will unload ProPak from memory (if it is safe to do so). You may use "-U", "/U", "\U", or " U" to unload ProPak from memory (the "U" may be upper or lower case). This is the safest way to unload ProPak from memory. Whether you are at the DOS prompt or not you can unload ProPak from memory by popping up The Programmer's Calculator and pressing <Alt>, <Alt>. That's right, press it twice. If you prefer you can press <Ctrl>, <Ctrl>. We told you ProPak wasn't picky. Another alternative is to pop up The Control Center and choose the "Unload from Memory" option. More complete information regarding the safest possible method of unloading memory-resident programs is listed on pages 81 through 82. If at any time you are unsure if ProPak is loaded in memory simply try to install it again. It won't allow itself to be installed twice and will give you a message to the effect that it is already resident. Pressing the Hot Keys will also tell you if it is resident or not. Sidekick Considerations: ======================== If you are a Sidekick user, especially if you have been one for some time, you have probably noticed that Sidekick can cause difficulties for other memory-resident programs. Especially for Loading and Unloading ProPak 26 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - programs loaded after Sidekick. If you are a dedicated Sidekick fan, and there are many of them around, then it would be beneficial for you to understand a little about Sidekick's inner workings. Sidekick is an important consideration for anyone designing memory-resident programs. Sidekick is really an industry wide standard because of its popularity. How well a memory-resident program gets along with Sidekick often determines how well a memory-resident program gets along with its users. With that in mind here are a few tips that could help you with all the programs you use while Sidekick is resident. As you read in Sidekick's manual, Sidekick should always be the last memory-resident program loaded into memory. There is a very practical reason for this requirement. The gist of the problem lies in Sidekick's use of the BIOS keyboard services. In order to ensure that Sidekick will always be able to see any keystrokes directed to it, it takes steps to ensure that it gets first crack at all keystrokes. How does Sidekick accomplish this feat? Well, not only does Sidekick grab the keyboard hardware interrupt when first loaded, it also monitors that interrupt constantly. If Sidekick sees another program grab the same interrupt, Sidekick grabs it right back. While this may seem rude, it is actually a pretty good idea. The problem is that Sidekick may grab it back more than once! If the keyboard hardware interrupt is grabbed a second time, by any program at all, Sidekick grabs the vector again, which fouls up the ISR chain (and hangs your system to demonstrate its disapproval). Today this seems to directly contradict our view of how a well behaved program should conduct itself. But before you pass judgment on Borland you should remember that Sidekick became available "way back when". When memory-resident utilities were rarely seen and little understood. At the time Sidekick was written there were very few programs that grabbed the keyboard hardware interrupt. Primarily because there were very few memory-resident programs around. Of course, one could argue that Borland should have corrected the problem in a later release. If you've tried SideKick Plus, the next generation of Sidekick, you've seen that Borland has in fact corrected this problem. With this brief historical background out of the way, we can get down to the business of dealing with Sidekick's stingy attitude towards the keyboard interrupt. Even though SideKick Plus is now available, there are still hundreds of thousands of people using Sidekick. It is to these people that this information will be the most useful. Loading and Unloading ProPak 27 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - Once you understand Sidekick's refusal to share with other programs, you will be able to prevent problems from arising. Simply make sure not to incur Sidekick's wrath by taking the keyboard interrupt away from it. This holds true for any program, memory-resident or stand-alone. Sidekick must always be catered to when dealing with the keyboard hardware interrupt. Both versions of ProPak grab the keyboard hardware interrupt twice. Once when they are loaded, and a second time when The Keystroke Reference Center is displayed. That's how ProPak is able to show you the contents of the BIOS keyboard status bytes. It is for these reasons that ProPak and ProSwap were specially designed to work with Sidekick. ProPak (or ProSwap), during the process of loading itself into memory, alters Sidekick internally to prevent it from hogging up the keyboard interrupt. This is very similar to the technique used by SideKick Plus when it is used in conjunction with Sidekick. This technique works so well that ProPak can safely be loaded AFTER Sidekick, and Sidekick will not mind the company at all. There is a side effect to this technique (isn't there always?). When ProPak is loaded after Sidekick, Sidekick loses its ability to detect whether or not it has already been loaded into memory. This means that you could load a second copy of Sidekick into memory if you forget that it is already loaded. Actually that's a very minor inconvenience compared to the alternative (Sidekick throwing up its hands and hanging your system). The DOS PRINT Program: ====================== The DOS PRINT program was not designed to be unloaded from memory except by rebooting your system. The reason we mention this here is because ProPak will not be able to unload itself if PRINT is loaded after it. The obvious solution is to load PRINT before you load ProPak. This will help to retain ProPak's ability to unload itself from memory. Of course you still have the problem of unloading PRINT from memory when you no longer need it. We also have a solution for that problem. Registered users of ProPak receive a Bonus Disk Set containing tools to help you deal with programs like PRINT which were not designed to be unloaded. In Case of Conflicts With Other Memory-Resident Programs: ========================================================= ProPak and ProSwap were carefully designed to ensure that they are well behaved and can get along with other memory-resident programs. Of course today there are so many memory-resident Loading and Unloading ProPak 28 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - utilities available that it simply wasn't possible to test ProPak with all of them. As a general rule, whenever you encounter a memory-resident program that doesn't get along well with ProPak, simply load ProPak before loading the other program. In virtually every instance, this should solve any problems you may encounter with other memory-resident programs. One example is PopCalc from BellSoft, Inc. PopCalc is extremely rude in the way it deals with other memory resident programs. As pointed out here, the way to avoid conflicts is to load ProPak before loading PopCalc. ProPak and Batch Files: ======================= Many people like to include ProPak (or ProSwap) in their AUTOEXEC.BAT(ch) file so that it will be loaded automatically each time the machine is turned on. There is a number of details that should be taken into consideration before positioning ProPak in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. First, if you want to be able to unload ProPak from memory, you should endeavor to load ProPak last among your memory-resident programs. Of course if your other memory-resident programs can also be removed from memory then you may load them in any order. Just be sure to unload them in the reverse order from which they were installed. This will avoid having "holes" in memory between programs. For a more complete explanation of the safest methods of unloading a memory-resident program refer to pages 81 through 82. One other consideration when using batch files is the DOS ERRORLEVEL value returned by other programs. The programs that come with the Programmer's Productivity Pack all provide clear and detailed error messages if an error should occur. But they also return values in the DOS ERRORLEVEL for any errors that result in program termination. The vast majority of you will never need this information, but for the sake of consistency it is provided for those who may find it useful. DOS ERRORLEVEL will contain the following values under the specified conditions: 00 No error occurred. 01 Attempt to load a memory-resident program that was already resident in memory. Loading and Unloading ProPak 29 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - 02 Attempt to load a memory-resident program after Sidekick 03 Could not go resident due to an unsafe Hot Key. 04 Incorrect DOS version. Requires DOS 2.0 or above. 05 A file access error occurred. 06 Program aborted by the user. 07 An EMS memory error occurred. 08 Insufficient RAM memory to continue. 09 Insufficient EMS memory to continue. 10 Error with overlays. 55 Any other error. 99 Internal program error. ProPak Error Messages: ====================== Unlike many programs that display a meaningless code for each error, the ProPak programs all display simple, clear messages when an error occurs. In almost every case you will understand any error messages you encounter without needing any additional information. There are a few error situations in which the problem may not be so obvious. Two errors that fall into this category are a missing overlay or swap file, and incorrect video modes. The following information describes each of these two situations in detail. Beeps and Doesn't Pop Up: ------------------------- If you press a Hot Key and ProPak beeps instead of popping up there can be three possible causes. Missing Overlay File. First, if you are not using EMS memory, ProPak must always have access to itself (the overlays are contained with ProPak.EXE). If the ProPak.EXE file is deleted, moved, or renamed, ProPak will beep instead of popping up. This is to avoid a more serious error when something is needed from the inaccessible overlay file. The Loading and Unloading ProPak 30 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - solution is to put the ProPak.EXE back where ProPak expects it, but even better is to prevent the problem from ever arising. Don't rename ProPak.EXE without first consulting the information provided on page 18. Not in 80 Column Text Mode. Another situation which would cause ProPak (or ProSwap) to beep rather than popping up, is pressing a Hot Key while the system is in graphics mode, or in 40 or 132 column text mode. The solution is to switch back to an 80 column text mode before popping up ProPak (or ProSwap). ProSwap will beep but refuse to pop up if the swap file(s) (marked with the hidden attribute) are deleted, renamed, or moved. There are also two situations in which ProPak will not pop up, but no beep sound will be generated to indicate a problem. This is because these situations are not errors, rather they are safety measures to prevent errors from arising. These situations are explained below. Doesn't Beep or Pop Up: ----------------------- Unsafe to Pop Up. There is one other situation where no error message will appear to explain the current situation. This occurs when you attempt to pop up ProPak (or ProSwap) at a time when it is not safe for ProPak to pop up. This is a safety measure designed to prevent problems from arising. When you press a Hot Key, ProPak does a number of things before actually popping up on your screen. First and most importantly, ProPak checks the current state of your system to see if it is safe to pop up. If ProPak determines that it may not be safe to pop up at that particular time, then it will instead monitor the system very closely for the next two seconds in case things become safe during that time. If ProPak determines that the system is in a state that enables ProPak to pop up safely, then ProPak will pop up. However, if the two seconds pass without any significant change in the state of things, ProPak will simply not pop up. You will rarely, if ever, encounter this situation. But if you do, then you'll know that ProPak is not asleep at the switch, but rather it is taking steps to ensure that you encounter no unexpected surprises. When is it unsafe for ProPak (or ProSwap) to pop up? For instance, ProPak uses a DOS service to read the overlay file on the disk. If another program is using that same DOS service then ProPak should wait until the service is completed before interrupting the other program. In other words, ProPak avoids interrupting any services that ProPak will need to use. Loading and Unloading ProPak 31 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - In Record Keystrokes Mode. There is one situation in which everything is normal but the Hot Keys will not pop up ProPak. This occurs while ProPak is recording keystrokes. While in Record Keystrokes Mode, the only Hot Key available is the one that turns off Keystroke Recording (<Alt><->). For more complete information refer to the Keystroke Recording and Playback Quick Start Tutorial on page 72. There is also a special case regarding the pop-up DOS shell capability of ProSwap. You cannot pop-up the DOS shell if you are already at the DOS command line (this includes popping up another TSR over the DOS command line, then attempting to pop up a DOS shell). Loading and Unloading ProPak 32 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - --------------------------------------------- The Programmer's Calculator and Attachments --------------------------------------------- The Programmer's Calculator and its attachments, The ASCII and Color Attribute Chart and The Keystroke Reference Center, are an integrated set of tools that are powerful, flexible, and fun to use. Not even a hand-held programmer's calculator could provide all of the features that are built into The Programmer's Calculator. The Programmer's Calculator has enough features to satisfy the professional programmer and yet remains simple enough to be useful to the newcomer or student. The Quick Start Tutorial for The Programmer's Calculator begins below. The In-Depth Reference Guide begins on page 40. The ASCII and Color Attribute Chart provides a wealth of information on the different ASCII characters, color attributes, monochrome attributes, and extended characters. Now you can press a key instead of leaving your work to find a reference book. The Quick Start Tutorial for The ASCII and Color Attributes Chart begins on page 53. The In-Depth Reference Guide begins on page 55. After you try The Keystroke Reference Center you may ask yourself how you ever got along without it. A programmer's dream! BIOS scan codes and dBASE INKEY() values on screen at the touch of a key. The Quick Start Tutorial for The Keystroke Reference Center begins on page 58. The In-Depth Reference Guide begins on page 61. The Screen Blanking and Disk Parking utility is available from any one of the attachments to The Programmer's Calculator. The separate In-Depth Reference Guide on page 66 gives you all the information you need concerning the Screen Blanking and Disk Parking capability. The Quick Start Tutorial: ========================= This Quick Start Tutorial is designed to familiarize you with the functions and capabilities of The Programmer's Calculator. Be sure that ProPak is resident in memory. Type "PROPAK" <Enter> at the DOS prompt. Once you are sure that ProPak is resident in memory you may activate, or pop up, the Calculator, by holding down the <Alt> key and pressing <LeftShift>. This will bring up The Programmer's Calculator display. The Programmer's Calculator 33 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - As you can see, you have six outlined boxes making up The Programmer's Calculator display. The boxes are: The Decimal Box; The Hexadecimal Box; The Binary Box; The Octal Box; The Program Information, Date and Time Box; and The Saved Values Box. If you look at the box titles you will see that the Decimal Box is highlighted on your screen. This means that you are currently in Decimal format. In other words, numbers are entered as Decimal numbers. You will still be able to see the same values appear in each of the other numeric formats simultaneously. The Signed heading is also highlighted. This means you can enter numbers as positive or negative values. To enter numbers into The Programmer's Calculator, you can use the top row of number keys, or the numeric keypad. ProPak does not care whether NumLock is set or not. It is smart enough to know that if you press the <PgUp> key, you want it to enter the value "9", because that is the key that shares <PgUp>. The Programmer's Calculator will accept any digit from 0-9 in Decimal format. In Hexadecimal format, the Calculator will accept any value from 0-9 and A-F. In Binary Format the acceptable digits are 0 and 1. In Octal Format the acceptable digits are 0-7. Common operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division, are performed by pressing their corresponding key. Press <+> for addition, <-> for subtraction, <*> for multiplication, and either </> or <\> for division. Since we don't always enter our numbers correctly it is helpful to know how to clear values, delete digits, and even start from scratch all over again. Use the <BackSpace> or <Delete> keys to delete a single digit at a time, or use <^E> to clear the current Entry. Use <^A> to Clear All (to reset the whole Calculator). Remember, <^E> means Ctrl-E, Alt-E, or just plain "E", as explained on page 13. Let's start with a simple problem. Type the following, watching the screen to see what happens: <5> <+> <5> <=> There you have it! A Calculator can't get much easier to operate than that! A whole series of calculations can be performed before ever requesting a final result. For instance, type the following: <5> <+> <7> <+> <2> <-> <1> <=> The Programmer's Calculator 34 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - As you entered the numbers you noticed that the values accumulated in the top value until you requested a final result by pressing <=>. Then the answer appeared on the bottom line. A final result can also be obtained by pressing <Enter> instead of <=>. Type the following: <100> <-> <50> <-> <25> <+> <10> <Enter> Now let's try multiplication. Type the following: <16> <*> <4> <*> <4> <=> Division works the same. Type the following: <64> </> <2> <\> <2> <=> Since this is integer division you will not get any fractional answers. As an example of this, type the following: <49> </> <10> <=> Ten will only go into 49 four times. There is no floating decimal point or remainder given. To get the remainder you would need to use the operation known as "Modulus" which is explained in the In-Depth Reference Guide (page 49). If you have been watching the screen closely you have noticed that even though you have only entered values in Decimal format the operations have been carried out simultaneously in each of the other numeric formats. Even after you have finished this tutorial you probably won't remember all of the features available within The Programmer's Calculator. To help you remember, there is a built-in Quick Reference Menu. To activate the Menu simply press <M>. If you have done any assembly language programming, then you are probably familiar with all of the abbreviations used in the Menu; such as SHL for Shift Left and ROR for Rotate Right, etc. However, if you are not familiar with these abbreviations, don't worry. Every single Menu option is explained in the In-Depth Reference Guide (page 40). Besides, you're going to get familiar with a few of them in just a minute. You don't have to bring up the Menu in order to execute a command. The Menu exists solely as a quick reference tool to help you remember which keys perform which operations. Once you have used the Calculator a few times you will find that many times you won't need the Menu at all. The Programmer's Calculator 35 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - When you press a key that corresponds to an operation the Menu will disappear and the action will be executed. Pressing <Esc> makes the Menu disappear without executing any other action. Try pressing <Esc>. Let's try one of these functions. Enter the value "57" into the Calculator and press <M> to bring up the Menu. Shift Left is executed by pressing <F3>. We are going to shift the value left 4 times. Press <F3> once. Each time you press <F3>, the value will be shifted left 1 bit position. You can see this clearly by watching the Binary Box as you press <F3> three more times. Now we are going to shift it back to the right 4 times. Type <M> to bring up the Menu. Shift Right (SHR) is <^F3>. Remember, "^" means <Ctrl>, <Shift>, or <Alt>. Press <^F3> to shift the value to the right. If you do this 4 times you will have the original value back. The Shift Arithmetic Left <F7> and Right <^F7> and the Rotate Left <F5> and Right <^F5> operations function the same way. Each time you press the corresponding key, the value is shifted or rotated one bit position. Try it a few times. If these functions are new to you, perhaps you would like to take the time now to read Appendices A (page 124) and B (page 133) at the back of The User's Guide. They should help clarify these operations for you. Rotate through the Carry Left <F6> and Right <^F6> operate a little differently. The reason for this is that in order to properly retain the value of the carry flag during the rotate operation, we must do the entire operation in a single step. Let's try it. Enter any value you wish and press <F6>. You will see a small window open asking you how many bit positions to rotate the value. For this example, press <8> <Enter>, and watch the Calculator carry out your command. To rotate back to the right press <^F6>. Press <8> and <Enter> again and you have your original value back. Ok. Let's move on to something new. Press the <TAB> key a few times and watch the screen as you do. As you can see, the <TAB> key moves you from one numeric format to the next in a clockwise direction. If you were to press <Ctrl><Tab>, <Alt><Tab>, or <Shift><Tab> instead, you would move counterclockwise from one format to the next. Now, using the <TAB> key, return to Decimal format again. A shortcut to switching numeric formats is to press the first letter of the format you wish to be in. For instance, press <O> and you will be in Octal format, press and you will be in The Programmer's Calculator 36 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - Binary format. Now press <H> for Hexadecimal format. When you are in Hexadecimal format, the letters A through F correspond to the hexadecimal values A through F. Obviously, pressing will not move you into Binary format, but will rather enter the value 0B Hex (11 decimal). So will <Shift> (upper case). Try it. However, if you press <Ctrl> or <Alt> you will move to Binary format. Just remember that in Hexadecimal format the letters A through F are numeric values. Get into Binary format now, using whichever method you prefer. <^C>, as you may have noticed on the Menu, operates the feature "Change Bits", ProPak's bit manipulation facility. <C> or <Alt><C> brings up the Change Bits option as well (as explained on page 13). The line above the 32 bit value in the Binary Box is highlighted. There is a small arrow pointing to one of the bits. You can move back and forth using the <Left> and <Right> arrow keys. Try it. The <Home> key takes you directly to the leftmost bit and the <End> key takes you directly to the rightmost bit. When you are positioned over a bit that you want to change simply press the <Space> bar to toggle the bit. See how it affects the values in the other numeric formats. After you have changed the particular bit or bits that you wanted to change, press <Enter> to keep the changes, or press <Esc> to cancel the changes. Pressing <Esc> will always get you out of the bit manipulation facility. Now, move back to Decimal format. Once you are in the Decimal Box, press <C> again. As you can see, this option is available from each of the four numeric formats. When you are finished manipulating bits and press <Enter> or <Esc> you will be returned to the format you were in before. As you might have guessed, when you are in Hexadecimal format <C> is a value. Therefore, you need to press <Ctrl><C> or <Alt><C> to activate the bit manipulation facility. To toggle the current value from positive to negative, or from negative to positive, simply press <^-> (<Ctrl><Minus>). Enter a value. Press <Ctrl><Minus>. Press it again. Press it again. In the Decimal format nothing changes, except the sign. Watch what it's doing in the other numeric formats. The Signed mode allows positive and negative values. The Unsigned mode does not. Enter the positive value 256 in Decimal. To switch to Unsigned mode press <^T>. That Toggles the sign mode. Obviously you can't toggle the sign of the current value in Unsigned mode. Try it. Press <Ctrl><Minus>. The Programmer's Calculator 37 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - Wow! 4,294,967,040 sure doesn't look like 256 or -256! We won't go into this now, but, if you read the section on "Range Of Values" (page 40) and "Signed And Unsigned Modes" (page 42) they will help to explain this phenomenon. How about saving, or storing, values for use later, and then inserting them back into your calculations? Well, as the Menu shows, the <F9> key is used to save values, and <Ctrl><F9>, <Alt><F9>, or <Shift><F9> are used to insert the values back into a later calculation. You can use <^S> to Save a value if you don't like using a function key. You can use <^I> to Insert a value instead of <^F9> if you prefer. Here's how it works. First clear the Calculator with <^A>. Enter a value. Press <F9>. Since you have only one value present, ProPak knows which one you want to save and saves it automatically. Now enter <+> and another value. Press <F9> again. Since you have more than one value present a window will open with a simple pick list asking you which one you want to save. Like other moving bar Menus, simply use the arrow keys to highlight the value you wish to save and press <Enter> to save it. Pressing <Esc> will cancel the save operation. Likewise, if all four memory slots are full, a pick list will appear asking you which one to overwrite. Now you are ready to Insert a saved value into the current calculation. Press <^F9> or <^I>. If only one memory slot has a value saved in it, that value is automatically inserted. Since there is more than one saved value, a pick list will appear asking you which value to insert. Pick one and press <Enter>. That's about as easy to use as you can get! What if you need to leave the computer for a few minutes to do something else? Well, you will probably want to blank your screen to prevent it from getting screen burns as a result of having the same pixels lit for a long time. You should also park your hard disk (or disks) in case something happens while you are gone. All these things are available at the touch of a key! Press <^P> for Park and Blank. Your screen will blank and a dim clock will appear (so you'll know that your computer is still on), and your hard disk (or disks) will also be parked on the last cylinder. By the way, this dim clock will never burn your screen because every 60 seconds it will move to another position. This means that for every minute that a pixel is lit, it will be blank for over 3 hours! The Programmer's Calculator 38 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - To return to what you were doing when you come back to your computer simply press any key. What if you want to change the Hot Key that pops up the Calculator? As you can see on the Menu, pressing <^Z> will enable you to change the Hot Key "on the fly". We won't do it now, but this is how it's done. Refer to the In-Depth Reference Guide (page 44) for complete information. Here is a feature that many people will find useful. It is the ability to capture the screen image (including the Calculator, with or without the Menu) to a disk file. To use this feature, simply press <Ctrl><Enter> or <Alt><Enter>. The screen will be saved to disk. What if you pop up the Calculator and it covers up something on the screen that you need to refer to? Well, just move the Calculator out of the way. To move the Calculator up or down simply hold down the <Alt> key and press the <Up> or <Down> arrows. Each time you press <Alt><Up> or <Alt><Down> the Calculator will move one line up or down. You can move quickly to the top or bottom of the screen using <Alt><PgUp> or <Alt><PgDn>. When moving the display you must use <Alt> and a direction key. <Shift> and <Ctrl> will not work here. Don't feel constrained, though. You can use <Home> instead of <PgUp> and <End> instead of <PgDn>. You can unload ProPak from memory right from within the Calculator. Press <Alt>, <Alt> (be sure to press <Alt> twice). Of course, <Ctrl>, <Ctrl> will also work. A Message Window will open informing you whether it is safe or unsafe to unload. Regardless of whether it's safe or not, pressing <Esc> will return you to the Calculator. If it is, in fact, safe to unload, pressing any key other than <Esc> will unload ProPak from memory. Well, that completes the Quick Start Tutorial for The Programmer's Calculator. After tinkering with it for a while, you will find that it is extremely powerful, flexible, and very easy to learn and use. You've covered a lot of ground already! You know how to perform mathematical calculations and just about every low level bit manipulation you can think of in four numeric formats, as well as how to change the Hot Key, move the display, save and insert values, capture the screen to a file, toggle the sign, blank your screen and park your hard disk(s). Congratulations! We told you the Calculator would be easy to use! The Programmer's Calculator 39 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - --------------------------------------------- The Programmer's Calculator and Attachments --------------------------------------------- The In-Depth Reference Guide: ============================= The Programmer's Calculator that is built into ProPak is a very flexible and powerful Programmer's Calculator. As a matter of fact, there are currently no Programmer's Calculators available (even hand-held types) that provide all the features available in the ProPak Programmer's Calculator. The following pages provide detailed information on the commands and operations available in this Programmer's Calculator, as well as helpful information concerning its use. The Range Of Values Available: ------------------------------ The Programmer's Calculator provides full 32 bit (double word) values in four numeric formats and in both Signed and Unsigned modes. The ranges of these values are as follows. In Signed mode: Decimal format: -2,147,483,648 to +2,147,483,647 Hexadecimal format: 8000 0000 to 7FFF FFFF Binary format: 10000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 to 01111111 11111111 11111111 11111111 Octal format: 20000000000 to 17777777777 The Programmer's Calculator 40 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - In Unsigned mode: Decimal format: 0 to 4,294,967,295 Hexadecimal format: 0000 0000 to FFFF FFFF. Binary format: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 to 11111111 11111111 11111111 11111111. Octal format: 000000000000 to 37777777777. The Programmer's Calculator Display: ------------------------------------ Once ProPak is loaded into memory, The Programmer's Calculator is accessed by pressing its Hot Key. The default Hot Key is <LeftShift><Ctrl>. You can change the default Hot Key using PCustom. Pressing the Hot Key will bring up The Programmer's Calculator display. The Programmer's Calculator display is designed to show you all the values in the four numeric formats simultaneously. This feature is especially helpful to those who are just learning about other numeric bases. It also helps you to get a feel for the relationship between the different numeric bases commonly used in the computer industry. (Due to space limitations and printer incompatibilities, this figure appears only in the printed User's Guide.) Figure 2: Programmer's Calculator Display In addition, the display tells you which numeric format you are currently in, whether you are in Signed or Unsigned mode, whether there is any mathematical operation pending, what values (if any) are saved, the version of ProPak that you are using, the date, and the time. The display is also designed to enable you to see whatever was on the screen before the Calculator was popped up. This is accomplished by moving the Calculator display to uncover what is underneath it, whenever the need arises. The Programmer's Calculator 41 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - The Quick Reference Menu: ------------------------- A Quick Reference Menu is available to refer to while learning to use the Calculator, or to access operations that may not be used often enough to memorize. (Due to space limitations and printer incompatibilities, this figure appears only in the printed User's Guide.) Figure 3: The Quick Reference Menu To open the Menu press <^M>. Of course, as explained on page 13, you can use <M>, <Ctrl><M>, <Alt><M> or <Shift><M>. The Menu lists all of the functions available in The Programmer's Calculator. There are, however, more keystrokes than those listed here to operate each of the functions. Signed And Unsigned Modes: -------------------------- The Programmer's Calculator gives you the ability to choose whether the values will be treated as Signed or Unsigned. Signed values may be negative or positive. Unsigned values may only be positive. This allows the Calculator to much more closely mimic the actual operations available at the assembly language level. Refer to "The Range of Values Available" (page 40) to see what the numeric limitations are in each of the modes and formats. To toggle (switch back and forth) between Signed and Unsigned modes use <^T>. If you switch into Unsigned mode while you have a negative number in the display the Calculator will treat it according to its value in Binary format. You will go from a small, negative value to a huge, positive value instantly. If this is unclear to you, refer to Appendix B, "Two's Complement Numbers" (page 133). The Four Numeric Formats: ------------------------- The Programmer's Calculator provides you with four numeric formats through which values may be entered. Values can only be entered in the format which is current (the format which is highlighted on the display). However, any values which are entered will always be displayed in all four formats simultaneously. Values may be entered as either decimal, The Programmer's Calculator 42 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - hexadecimal, binary, or octal, depending upon which format is current. The Programmer's Calculator will only accept values that are relevant to the current format. In Decimal it will accept 0-9. In Hexadecimal it will accept 0-9 and A-F. In Binary it will accept 0 or 1. In Octal it will accept 0-7. Attempting to enter a value which is not a part of the digit set for a particular format will cause The Programmer's Calculator to beep and ignore the keystroke. Switching formats is easy. There are several ways you can do it. <Tab> The <Tab> key switches to the next numeric format clockwise in the display. It will go from Decimal to Hexadecimal to Binary to Octal and back to Decimal. <^Tab> Pressing <Shift><Tab>, <Alt><Tab> or <Ctrl><Tab> moves backwards, or counterclockwise, through the display. You may also switch formats using the first letter of the numeric format. <^D> switches to Decimal format. <^H> switches to Hexadecimal format. <^B> switches to Binary format. <^O> switches to Octal format. When you are in Hexadecimal format, the and <D> keys represent the hexadecimal values 0B Hex (11) and 0D Hex (13), so be sure to use either the <Alt> or <Ctrl> key in conjunction with the letter to switch to Binary or Decimal format. The Calculator Commands: ------------------------ When you are in The Programmer's Calculator you have all of these commands at your disposal. They are all listed on the Menu, but the Menu does not have to be visible for you to use the commands. Capture Screen to Disk - To capture the current screen to disk press <Ctrl><Enter> or <Alt><Enter>. This will copy the contents of the screen to a disk file that you name in the current subdirectory. A disk file with that name may or may not already exist. If a file with that name exists, you will be asked if you want to overwrite it. ProPak will automatically give the file an .SCN extension, unless you change the default using PCustom. The screen will be filtered, partially filtered, or not filtered, The Programmer's Calculator 43 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - according to the options you specify with PCustom, or "on the fly" with the "Modify Options" choice of The Control Center. For more detailed information refer to the In-Depth Reference Guide on page 96. Change Hot Key - To change the Hot Key that activates the Calculator, press <^Z>. This will open a window asking you to press the key combination you would like to use to pop up the Calculator. If you press a key combination that is already in use for another pop-up, such as The Control Center, it will beep and wait for you to enter another key. Also, if you press a normal typing key like <A> or or <F5>, that is used often, ProPak will beep and wait for you to enter a different key. You should always use a combination of at least two keys. Either <Shift>, <Alt>, or <Ctrl> should always be one of the keys in the key combination used as a Hot Key. ProPak will not accept a Hot Key made up of two modifier keys, either, "on the fly". You cannot enter <Alt><LeftShift> or any other such combination as a Hot Key from within the program. That is why we didn't have you change Hot Keys in The Quick Start Tutorial. You could not have gone back to the default <Alt><LeftShift> without using PCustom. If you decide not to change the Hot Key after having invoked this option, press ^@. You could also view this as <Ctrl><TopRow2> since the shift key need not be pressed. The Hot Key will remain unchanged and you will be able to return to the Calculator by pressing any key. If you are using ProSwap, you may also change the hot key for the pop-up DOS shell through this option. TIP: Some Hot Keys are more effective than others. In order to determine which Hot Keys are most effective, keep in mind how most software views your keyboard. Most software ignores unrecognized keystrokes. This is important because many of the keystrokes they don't recognize, they also don't pass on to other programs that may be present. Using partial key combinations like <Alt><LeftShift> or <Ctrl><Alt> will many times circumvent this problem. Since most programs expect something along with these modifier keys they will not take any action on key combinations such as these. Therefore, ProPak will be able to see its Hot Key regardless of how your other programs deal with unrecognizable key combinations. Of course, ProPak also expects something other than modifier keys (like <Alt><LeftShift>) when it is waiting for keyboard input. To provide you with a means of selecting these modifier key combinations as Hot Keys, PCustom presents them in a simple pop up menu from which you may choose. The Programmer's Calculator 44 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - For more information on hot keys containing only modifier keys refer to page 69. Change Bits - This very handy bit manipulation facility enables you to toggle the setting of any bit or bits in a value. You do not have to be in Binary format to use this feature. If you are not in Binary format when you invoke the Change Bits facility you will be placed temporarily in Binary format. Upon completion you will be returned to whatever format you were in previously. The Change Bits feature is invoked by pressing <^C>. Of course, if you are in Hexadecimal format <C> or <Shift><C> is a value, so you would need to use <Alt><C> or <Ctrl><C>. Once invoked, use the <Left> and <Right> arrow keys to move back and forth until the arrow is pointing at the bit you want to toggle. You can also use the <Home> key to go to the leftmost bit and the <End> key to go the rightmost bit. Pressing <Space> toggles the bit. You can toggle the bit on or off as many times as you wish. You can change as many bits as you wish. The changes you make here are reflected instantly in each of the other numeric formats. When you are finished, pressing <Enter> saves your changes, while pressing <Esc> cancels your changes. Change Sign - This is not the same as "Toggle Sign Mode" which changes the overall mode of the Calculator from Signed to Unsigned or from Unsigned to Signed. The "Change Sign" operation converts the current value from negative to positive, or from positive to negative. This operation is performed by pressing <Ctrl><Minus>. You may use either the top row minus key, or the numeric keypad minus key. This is one case where you must use <Ctrl> with <Minus>. <Alt> and <Shift> will not activate it. Changing the sign will not function as you expect if you are in Unsigned mode. Clear All - Press <^A>. This command resets the Calculator and redraws the display. All values, including those which are saved in memory slots, will be reset to zero. When you are in Hexadecimal format the <A> key corresponds to the value 0A Hex (10). Therefore, to execute the Clear All command be sure to use either <Alt><A> or <Ctrl><A>. Clear Entry - Press <E>, <Alt><E>, <Shift><E>, or <Ctrl><E>. This command resets the current value and the pending operation (Add, Subtract, etc.). If you accidentally enter the wrong value you can delete one digit at a time using <Del> or <BackSpace>. If, however, you accidentally enter the wrong mathematical operation you would use the Clear Entry command. The Clear Entry command will affect only the current value, not the intermediate value (the top value). Since <E> and <Shift><E> correspond to a The Programmer's Calculator 45 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - value in hexadecimal be sure to use <Alt><E> or <Ctrl><E> when in the Hexadecimal format. Insert a Value - This command takes a value that was previously saved to one of the Calculator's four memory slots and inserts it into the current value. You can invoke it in two different ways. Either press <^I>, or, as listed on the Menu, press <^F9>. Inserted values are always inserted into the current value. Inserting the value does not remove it from the memory slot. You can insert the same value many times. If more than one memory slot contains a non zero value ProPak will ask you which value to insert. A pick list will appear with one of the four memory slots highlighted. The pick list window will always display the values in decimal. Use the <Up> and <Down> arrow keys to select the proper value and press <Enter>. Park Disk(s) and Blank Screen - To blank the screen and park your hard disk (or disks) simply press <^P>. This will blank the screen and display a clock. The clock will move every 60 seconds. When the screen is initially blanked, your hard disk (if present) will also be "parked" on the last cylinder of the drive. If you have two hard disks, both will be parked. Parking simply means that the read/write heads will be positioned over the last cylinder. This will not prevent other programs from "unparking" the disk, but if no other programs are active the disk will remain parked as long as the screen is blanked. The hard disk parking option may be disabled with PCustom, if desired. Pressing any key "unblanks" the screen and returns you to the Calculator. Quit the Calculator - To exit from the Calculator simply press <Esc>. If you are using ProPak or ProSwap, <Esc> will quit the current pop-up, but ProPak will remain in memory ready to be called up again when needed. If you are using ProSwap in stand- alone mode, <Esc> will quit the program and return you to DOS. Quitting the Calculator will not undo any customizing that you have done "on the fly", using either The Programmer's Calculator or The Control Center (in ProPak only). Only unloading from memory or turning off the computer will undo your changes. Customizing done with PCustom is not affected either way since it is written to disk. Save a Value - This is the companion operation to Insert a Value. To save a value to one of the Calculator's four memory slots, press <^S>, or, as listed on the Menu, <F9>. The Save function operates very intuitively. If there is only one value present it will be saved to the first available memory slot. The Programmer's Calculator 46 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - If more than one value is present, a pick list will appear and ProPak will ask you which one to save. The pick list window will always display the value in decimal. However, the Saved Values Box always displays the saved values in the current numeric format. You choose by moving the highlight bar with the <Up> or <Down> arrow key until it highlights the correct value. Press <Enter> and it is saved. If all the memory slots are filled, a pick list will appear and ProPak will ask you which one to overwrite. Again, use the arrow keys and <Enter> to select. A value that is saved to memory stays in that memory slot even if it is inserted into the current value. This lets you use that same value repeatedly. Pressing <^A> clears all values in the Calculator, including those saved in the memory slots. Screen Refresh - <^R> will redraw the screen. The Screen Refresh command will not change any values. It will simply redraw the Calculator display should the need ever arise. Toggle Sign Mode - To toggle between Signed and Unsigned modes press <^T>. This will change the way the values are treated during calculations and display. Signed values may be negative or positive, whereas Unsigned values may only be positive. See "The Range Of Values Available" (page 40) if you want to know how this affects numeric ranges. Unload from Memory - To unload ProPak from memory press <Alt>, <Alt> (<Alt> twice in a row). You may also use <Ctrl>, <Ctrl>. ProPak will first check to see if it is safe to unload. If it is in fact safe it will give you a chance to press <Esc> to return to the Calculator, or any other key to actually unload ProPak from memory. This is different than quitting the Calculator using <Esc>. Pressing <Esc> returns you to DOS, or to whatever program you were in when you invoked ProPak, but it leaves ProPak in memory, ready to be called again. If you unload ProPak from memory you would have to load ProPak again before using it. When ProSwap is run in stand-alone (multitasking) mode, the unload command functions exactly like pressing <Esc>, it returns you to DOS. The Mathematical Operations: ---------------------------- All mathematical operations are carried out by entering a value, pressing the key corresponding to an operation, entering another value, and pressing <Enter> or <=> to request a final result. A whole series of calculations can be performed before requesting a final result. The Programmer's Calculator 47 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - In The Programmer's Calculator, the top value in the display is called the "Intermediate Value", the middle value (where the cursor is positioned) is the "Current Value", and the lower value is the "Final Result". Regardless of which numeric format you are using, values are always entered into the Current Value (the middle number). |--------------------- | Decimal | | 5 | <-- Intermediate Value |ADD 5 | <-- Current Value | ------------- | | 10 | <-- Final Result |--------------------- Figure 4: Decimal Box Display If you do a series of calculations without requesting a final result, the Calculator performs the operation and updates the value in the Intermediate Value slot. That way you can see where your calculations have brought you so far, the current value entered, and the mathematical function to be performed. Also, a final result is not erased until you request another final result or Clear All (^A). This keeps the result of a prior computation available without having to store it to a memory slot. By the way, it does not matter whether or not NumLock is set. The numeric keypad can be used with or without NumLock set. Since ProPak modifies the BIOS keyboard interrupts it is able to detect all the numeric keypad keys (including the center or 5 key) regardless of the status of NumLock. All of the available mathematical operations are explained in detail below. Add - Addition is chosen by pressing <+> (Plus). You may use the top row <Plus> key or the numeric keypad <Plus> key. Subtract - Subtraction is chosen by pressing <-> (Minus). You may use the top row <Minus> key or the numeric keypad <Minus> key. Multiply - Multiplication is chosen by pressing the <*> key. The asterisk key can be either the top row asterisk or the asterisk that shares the <PrtSc> key. On 101/102 key enhanced keyboards there is a separate numeric keypad asterisk which can also be used. Divide - Integer division is performed using the </> (Slash) or <\> (Backslash) key. This is integer division, which means that there are no fractional answers or decimal points. It does not give a remainder, either. To obtain the remainder you would need The Programmer's Calculator 48 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - to use Modulus. Also, since Division (DIV) is the logical counterpart to Modulus (MOD), which uses the <F4> key, Division may also be performed by using <^F4>. Modulus (Remainder) - Modulus (MOD) is chosen by pressing <F4>. Modulus returns the remainder of a division operation. Modulus works by dividing the intermediate (top) value by the current (middle) value, and returning the remainder of the division (or zero if it divided evenly). Show Result - Obtaining a result is done by pressing either the <Enter> or the <=> (Equals) key. This displays the final result of the calculation. If no calculation was entered, that is, if the only value present is the current value, the result will equal the current value. The final result will remain displayed until another final result is requested. This is very handy when you need to refer to the value later, but don't want to save it to a memory slot. Another thing that happens when a final result is requested is that the current and intermediate values are automatically reset to zero internally. However, the screen will still display the old values until any other key is pressed. The reason for this is that The Programmer's Calculator does its best to display as much useful information as possible for as long as possible. Delete Digit - Use the <BackSpace> or <Del> keys to delete one digit at a time from the current value. If you need to change too many digits in the current value, or if what you need to change is the mathematical operation, use Clear Entry (^E) instead. Logical and Bit Manipulation Operations: ---------------------------------------- If you are new to low level bit manipulation instructions such as AND, OR, XOR, NOT, etc., then please refer to Appendix A (page 124) which explains each operation in detail. AND - AND is selected by pressing the <F1> key. AND performs a logical AND on two values. It uses the intermediate value (top value) and the current value (middle value). It will return a value of 1 whenever both values have a 1 in the same bit position. NOT - NOT is selected by pressing <^F1>. NOT performs a logical NOT operation on the current value. NOT is the same as performing a "one's complement". It complements each bit in a value by converting all 1's to 0's and all 0's to 1's. The best The Programmer's Calculator 49 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - way to see this is to watch the Binary Box as you perform the operation. OR - OR is chosen by pressing <F2>. OR performs a logical OR operation, ORing the intermediate value with the current value. It will return a value of 1 wherever either or both of the values have a 1 in that bit position. XOR - XOR is selected by pressing <^F2>. XOR performs a logical eXclusive OR operation, XORing the intermediate value with the current value. It will return a value of 1 wherever either, but not both, values have a 1 in that bit position. Shift Left - Shift Left (SHL) is selected by pressing <F3>. Shift Left affects only the current value by shifting it left one bit position each time <F3> is pressed. This has the same effect as multiplying by 2. Shift Right - Shift Right (SHR) is chosen by pressing <^F3>. Shift Right affects only the current value by shifting it right one bit position each time the command is invoked. This has the same effect as dividing by 2. Rotate Left - Rotate Left (ROL) is chosen by pressing <F5>. Rotate Left affects only the current value. Rotate Left "rotates" the value left by one bit position each time <F4> is pressed. In rotation the bit that "falls off" one end of the value is inserted into the other end. This can be more clearly visualized by watching the Binary Box as the operation is performed. Rotate Right - Rotate Right (ROR) is chosen by pressing <^F5>. Like Rotate Left, Rotate Right affects only the current value. The value will be rotated to the right by one bit position each time the Rotate Right command is invoked. The bit that "falls off" the right end is reinserted on the left side. Rotate through the Carry Left - Rotate through the Carry Left (RCL) is chosen by pressing <F6>. RCL affects only the current value. The RCL operation is similar to the ROL (Rotate Left) operation in that it "rotates" the value by a certain number of bit positions. The difference between RCL and ROL lies in the fact that with RCL the bit that "falls off" one end of a value is inserted into the carry flag and on the next rotate the bit that is stored in the carry flag is rotated into the other end of the value. This can be more clearly seen by watching the Binary Box as this operation is executed. The Programmer's Calculator 50 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - Unlike the other shift and rotate operations that move the value by one bit position each time they are invoked, RCL asks you how many bit positions to rotate the value. This is because the value of the carry flag must be preserved between each rotation. If this is difficult to visualize, Appendix A (page 124) provides a detailed explanation, complete with a diagram. Rotate through the Carry Right - Rotate through the Carry Right (RCR) is chosen by pressing <^F6>. RCR functions exactly like RCL except that the value is rotated right instead of left. Shift Arithmetic Left - Shift Arithmetic Left (SAL) is chosen by pressing the <F7> key. Shift Arithmetic Left (SAL) is especially useful when using Binary Coded Decimal (BCD) values at the assembly language level. SAL is very similar to the more commonly used Shift Left (SHL) instruction. The major difference between the two lies in the fact that SAL preserves the sign of the value throughout the shift operation. You could think of the high bit as being shifted into itself. The best way to see this in action is to watch the Binary Box as you execute the instruction. Shift Arithmetic Right - Shift Arithmetic Right (SAR) is chosen by pressing <^F7>. SAR shifts the current value right one bit position each time it is invoked, but the value of the high bit (the sign bit) is preserved. Exchange Words - Exchange words (XCHG DW) is activated by pressing <F8>. Exchange words affects only the current value. This operation swaps the two low order words in the current value. Exchange Double Words - Exchange Double Words (XCHG DD) is chosen by pressing <^F8>. Exchange Double Words affects the current value by swapping the low and high order double words. The best way to visualize this operation is to watch either the Binary or Hexadecimal Box as you execute the instruction. Moving The Calculator's Display: -------------------------------- The Programmer's Calculator is designed to let you see as much of the screen you were working on as possible. However, the Calculator may cover up exactly what you most need to see. To move the Calculator's display, use the following commands: Move Up - <Alt><Up> Move Down - <Alt><Down> The Programmer's Calculator 51 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - Move to Top - <Alt><PgUp> or <Alt><Home> Move to Bottom - <Alt><PgDn> or <Alt><End> Going To The Attachments: ------------------------- Attachments are tools in the Programmer's Productivity Pack that are accessed through other tools. There are two attachments to The Programmer's Calculator. In other words, they are reached from the Calculator. These are two commands we have not looked at yet. The Keystroke Reference Center - <F10> is marked "KeyRef". This is the command that invokes The Keystroke Reference Center. This attachment shows you the BIOS Keyboard Status Bytes, and a wealth of other information. Rather than explain it here, we suggest that you go on to The Quick Start Tutorial (page 58) and The In- Depth Reference Guide (page 61) for The Keystroke Reference Center. There is one point that should be covered here that pertains to both attachments. Once you have moved to the attachment, you must to use <Alt><Esc> to return to The Programmer's Calculator. If you use <Esc> you will return to the DOS prompt, or wherever you were when you popped up ProPak (or ProSwap). This is not a bug, it's meant to save you time. Now, whenever you press the Hot Key for the Calculator you will go directly to the attachment. ProPak figures that if that's where you were last, that's probably where you want to be now. The ASCII and Color Attribute Chart - <^F10> (Either <Shift>, <Alt>, or <Ctrl> with <F10>) is marked ASCII. This is the command that invokes The ASCII and Color Attribute Chart. This is the subject of the next Quick Start Tutorial. The Programmer's Calculator 52 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - ------------------------------------- The ASCII and Color Attribute Chart ------------------------------------- The Quick Start Tutorial ========================= Load ProPak into memory and press the Hot Key (<Alt><LeftShift>) for The Programmer's Calculator. When the Calculator display pops up, press <M> to bring up the Menu. The command <^F10> is marked ASCII.: Pressing <^F10> closes the Calculator and opens The ASCII and Color Attribute Chart attachment. There is a lot more to this chart than can fit on one screen, regardless of the monitor you have. That is why the most important commands for you to learn are the ones that move you around the chart. To scroll up one line at a time press <Up> Arrow. To scroll down one line at a time press <Down> Arrow. To scroll up a screenful at a time press <PgUp>. To scroll down a screenful at a time press <PgDn>. To go directly to the beginning of the chart press <Home> or <Ctrl><PgUp>. To go directly to the end of the chart press <End> or <Ctrl><PgDn>. To go directly to the middle of the chart press <5> on the numeric keypad. Why not take a little time and just explore your new reference chart? The information on the chart is self-explanatory, but, in case something isn't clear it is all explained in the In-Depth Reference Guide that follows this tutorial (page 55). Several of the commands you learned in the Calculator work in The ASCII Chart, too. Remember how to capture a screen to disk? It works exactly the same in The ASCII Chart. Press <Ctrl><Enter> (or <Alt><Enter>). Give the file a name and ProPak saves it to disk for you with an .SCN extension. ASCII and Color Attribute Chart 53 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - If you need to leave your computer for a while and want to blank the screen and park the hard disk (or disks), just press <^P>. The screen will blank and display a clock. Your hard disk (or disks) are now parked over the last cylinder. Any key restores the display when you return. Press <Esc>. You have left The ASCII Chart and are back at the DOS prompt, or wherever you were when you popped up The Programmer's Calculator. Now press <LeftShift><Ctrl> (the hot key). Instead of going to the Calculator you have come back to The ASCII Chart! The Hot Key will always return you to the tool or attachment from which you quit or <Esc>aped. Now that you are back in The ASCII and Color Attribute Chart press <Alt><Esc>. This returns you to the Calculator. If you quit the Calculator now with <Esc> and then press the Hot Key, you will go to the Calculator and not the chart. Return to The ASCII Chart now by pressing <^F10>. You cannot unload ProPak from memory from an attachment. Try pressing <^U><^U>. All you get are little beeps. You need to return to the Calculator or to the DOS prompt to unload ProPak from memory. That is all for this Quick Start Tutorial. For more insight into all of the information that The ASCII and Color Attribute Chart puts at your disposal read The In-Depth Reference Guide that follows. ASCII and Color Attribute Chart 54 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - ------------------------------------- The ASCII and Color Attribute Chart ------------------------------------- The In-Depth Reference Guide: ============================= The ASCII and Color Attribute Chart is an attachment to The Programmer's Calculator. The ASCII Chart is called an "attachment" because it is attached to the Calculator, and is accessed through the Calculator. You access The ASCII Chart from the Calculator by pressing <^F10>. That closes the Calculator and opens The ASCII Chart. 25, 43, And 50 Line Screens: ---------------------------- The ASCII Chart is designed to work with any of the common text modes in use today. Most systems operate with 25 lines of text visible on the screen at a time. ProPak will use all 25 lines to show you as much of The ASCII Chart as possible. If you have EGA and are in 43 line mode (43 lines of text visible on screen at a time), The ASCII Chart will use all 43 lines to show you as much information as possible. If you have VGA and are in 50 line mode (50 lines of text visible on the screen), The ASCII Chart will appear on all 50 lines. The Columns On The Chart: ------------------------- (Due to space limitations and printer incompatibilities, this figure appears only in the printed User's Guide.) Figure 5: ASCII Chart Display On the left hand side of the Chart there are several columns. The first two columns give you the decimal and hexadecimal values for each character. The third column displays the character that the ASCII code represents. The fourth column is made up of three asterisks in the actual color that those values represent. The colors are only visible on color monitors, obviously. The asterisks will be in whatever brightness or other quality that value represents to the type of monitor that you have. The next three columns describe the foreground color, the background color, and the attribute as it would appear on a monochrome display. ASCII and Color Attribute Chart 55 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - The Extended Characters: ------------------------ On the right hand side of the Chart there is an enlarged representation of all the graphics and box drawing characters. These are much easier to see than the dinky little characters that are actually represented by each code. If you are at the beginning of the Chart (ASCII code 00), the field at the right will display all the single line box characters and their codes. Moving towards the end of the Chart (ascending ASCII values), the field at the right will display all the double line boxes and their codes. On a 25 line monitor you can go from one field to the next by simply using <PgDn>. The third field shows all double horizontal and single vertical boxes and their codes. The fourth field shows all the single horizontal and double vertical boxes and their codes. The next field shows the graph and block characters and their codes. The next two fields display the common math symbols and their codes. The remaining fields show all the control codes. Moving Around The Chart: ------------------------ The following commands will move you around the chart whether NumLock is set or not. It makes no difference. You can easily scroll or page through The ASCII Chart to find the information you need. Scroll Up - To scroll up one line press the <Up> arrow key. Scroll Down - To scroll down one line press the <Down> arrow key. Page Up - To scroll up one page or screenful at a time press <PgUp>. Page Down - To scroll down one page or screenful at a time press <PgDn>. Go to Beginning - To move instantly to the beginning of the Chart (ASCII code 00) press <Home> or <Ctrl><PgUp>. Go To Center - To move instantly to the center of the Chart (ASCII code 127) press the numeric keypad <5> key (the center key). Go to End - To move instantly to the end of the Chart (ASCII code 255) press <END> or <Ctrl><PgDn>. ASCII and Color Attribute Chart 56 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - Other Available Commands: ------------------------- Park Disk(s) and Blank Screen - As in the Calculator, if you need to park your hard disk(s) and blank your screen while you go off to do something else, simply press <^P>. Any key will restore your screen when you return. Capture Screen To Disk - To capture the current screen to disk, press <Ctrl><Enter>, or <Alt><Enter>. This will copy the contents of the screen to a disk file that you name in the current subdirectory. The file will be given an .SCN extension unless you change the default using PCustom. A file may or may not already exist with that name. If a file already exists with that name ProPak will ask you whether to overwrite it or not. The screen will be filtered, partially filtered, or not filtered, according to the options you specify with PCustom or "on the fly" with the "Modify Options" choice of The Control Center. For more detailed information on filtering refer to the In-Depth Reference Guide on page 87. Exiting ProPak from The ASCII Chart - To exit from The ASCII Chart and return to DOS, or to the program you were in when you popped ProPak up, simply press <Esc>. <Esc> always exits the pop-up, saving your place for when you return. Because The ASCII Chart is an "attachment" to the Calculator, pressing the same Hot Key that normally activates the Calculator will now instead pop up The ASCII Chart. This saves you the trouble of going through the Calculator itself to get back to The ASCII Chart when it is the attachment that you were last using. Returning to the Calculator: ---------------------------- To return to the Calculator from The ASCII Chart, press <Alt><Esc> instead of <Esc>. That completes the In-Depth Reference Guide for The ASCII and Color Attribute Chart. As you have seen, it is a lot more useful than most of the pop up ASCII charts you have used in the past. You now have one more tool to help you save time while working with source code or other text files. Not bad for a few minutes of reading! ASCII and Color Attribute Chart 57 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - -------------------------------- The Keystroke Reference Center -------------------------------- The Quick Start Tutorial: ========================= We were rather surprised to find that this quickly became the favorite attachment for the people who tested ProPak before it was placed on the market. You are about to see why! This Quick Start Tutorial is designed to familiarize you with The Keystroke Reference Center in 15 minutes or less. You'll enjoy this utility! First, be sure that ProPak is loaded into memory. Type "PROPAK" <Enter> at the DOS prompt. Next, pop up the Calculator using <Alt><LeftShift>. When the Calculator's display appears, press <M> to bring up the Menu. On the Menu you will see that command <F10> is marked "KeyRef" . This attachment is called The Keystroke Reference Center. Press <F10> to pop up The Keystroke Reference Center, and say goodbye to all your charts and lists of scan codes and INKEY() values! Take a while to look over the display on your screen. At the top it says Keystroke Reference Center, so you know you're in the right place. Below it are three boxes. The highlighted box on the left gives you the dBASE INKEY() value. The highlighted one on the right gives you a BIOS scan code. The center box tells you the version of ProPak you are using, the date, and the time. Below that it says "Press a key or key combination:". Okay, press the <Space> bar. Presto! You instantly have the scan code returned by the BIOS (used in most programming languages) in the right hand box, and the INKEY() value returned by the dBASE dialects (including dBASE III Plus, Clipper, Foxbase, QuickSilver, and presumably dBASE IV as well) in the left hand box. Now press <A>. Now <Shift><A>. Press <3> on the top line. Press <F7>. The information on each of those keystrokes appears instantly. Now press <F1>. A "Portability Note" has opened which gives you some important information about the dBASE INKEY() value for this keystroke. The Keystroke Reference Center 58 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - Now press <Alt><Up> Arrow. This time you get a different Portability Note. Now try pressing <Alt><BackSpace>. Another Portability Note appears. As you can see, just about all the information you will ever need about keyboard return codes is now available at the touch of a key! With NumLock off, press <5> on your numeric keypad. More information! You will probably want to press every key and key combination on the board just to see how much information is available, but, we need to move on right now. Below where you have been entering the keystrokes there is a live (real time) display of the values in the BIOS keyboard status bytes in low memory. Watch them as you press <Alt>, <Ctrl>, the <LeftShift> and <RightShift> keys, <ScrollLock>, <NumLock> or whatever. As you can see, the screen is instantly updated to show you any changes in the bit settings in the BIOS keyboard status bytes. As with the Calculator, The Keystroke Reference Center can be moved around the screen. Since it uses 25 lines on the screen, you will only be able to move it up and down if you have EGA 43 line mode, or VGA 50 line mode. Press <Alt><Left> Arrow. The display moves one space to the left. You also get the information on the key combination you just pressed, complete with a Portability Note. Press <Space> and the Portability Note disappears. Now press <Alt><Right> Arrow. The display goes back to the right one line. You get all the information on this keystroke, too. Press <Alt><Home>. Clear the Portability Note (press <Space> for instance) and press <Alt><End>. This takes you right across the screen. If you have 43 or 50 lines available on your screen, you can move the display up and down, also. Press <Alt><Up> Arrow and <Alt><Down> Arrow to move a line at a time, and <Alt><PgUp> and <Alt><PgDn> to move the height of the whole screen. To return to DOS, or to the program you were in before you activated ProPak, press <Esc>. Try it. Notice that it pauses to show you the return codes for the <Esc> key. Pressing any key returns you to DOS. Now, press <Alt><LeftShift> to again pop up ProPak. There you are, right back where you left off. To return to the Calculator from The Keystroke Reference Center, simply press <Alt><Esc> instead of <Esc>. Again, it will pause to show you the return The Keystroke Reference Center 59 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - codes for the <Alt><Esc> key combination. Pressing any key will return you to the Calculator. That was pretty easy. You have just completed the Quick Start Tutorial for ProPak's interactive Keystroke Reference Center. And you have also added another tool to your productivity toolbox. Happy ProPak'n! The Keystroke Reference Center 60 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - -------------------------------- The Keystroke Reference Center -------------------------------- The In-Depth Reference Guide: ============================= The Keystroke Reference Center is an elegant solution to a simple yet common problem. In virtually every program you write you'll find the need to identify a keystroke in order to determine what action to execute next. In most cases this keystroke will be identified by way of all or part of the "Scan Code" returned by the system's ROM BIOS. Other specialized application development tools or languages such as dBASE and its various counterparts (Clipper, FoxBase, QuickSilver, and others), return a key code that is different than the one normally returned by the ROM BIOS. To further complicate matters, not all keyboards are the same. There are the older 83 key PC/XT keyboards, the newer 84 key PC/AT style keyboards, the 101/102 key "enhanced" keyboards, and then the compact keyboards found on many laptop computers (many of which are configured to act like an enhanced keyboard by having the same key return different values according to various conditions). What all this means is that most of us keep reference charts from books or technical manuals close at hand while programming. We then refer to these books when we need to know what value is returned from a specific key. Of course these books or charts usually do not list all of the possible key combinations. So we often end up writing a separate little utility to display the return value from each key pressed, which we then use whenever we need to find out the value of a particular key or key combination. Needless to say, neither of these methods is an ideal solution. ProPak's interactive Keystroke Reference Center provides the solution to this common problem! First, because ProPak is memory-resident it is always available at the touch of a key. Second, because we don't always use the same languages and tools when developing applications, ProPak's interactive Keystroke Reference Center provides the information needed for the most common keystroke return values, the BIOS scan codes and the dBASE INKEY() return codes, simultaneously. Third, to take the solution a step further, The Keystroke Reference Center displays a "Portability Note" whenever a key or key combination requiring additional information, is pressed. The Keystroke Reference Center 61 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - To round out The Keystroke Reference Center, a live (real time) display of each individual bit in the two BIOS keyboard status bytes is displayed in the lower half of the screen. Another piece of information that may be of interest to many of you is that ProPak modifies the normal keyboard interrupts (Int 09h and 16h) in order to identify and use more keystrokes than are normally available through the BIOS services alone. Of course, if you press one of these special key combinations a Portability Note will let you know about it. Using The Keystroke Reference Center is as simple as it could possibly be. Instead of paging through a long chart, simply press the key or key combination that you are interested in, and you'll instantly have all the necessary information. How To Access The Keystroke Reference Center: --------------------------------------------- The Keystroke Reference Center is an attachment to The Programmer's Calculator. This means that it is attached to and accessed through the Calculator. You access The Keystroke Reference Center from the Calculator by pressing <F10>. That closes the Calculator and opens this attachment. The Display: ------------ The Keystroke Reference Center display provides you with a great deal of information. The highlighted box at the top left gives the dBASE INKEY() value for any keystroke. The highlighted box at the top right gives the BIOS scan code for any keystroke. These will be set to the values of <F10> when you first access The Keystroke Reference Center because that is the key you used to access it. The Keystroke Reference Center 62 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - |-----------------------------------------------------| | Keystroke Reference Center | |-----------------------------------------------------| | dBASE Key Code: | ProPak: | BIOS Scan Code: | | 11111111 11110111 | Version 2.6 | 01000100 00000000 | | Hex FFF7 | 30-NOV-90 | Hex 4400 | | Dec -9 | 02:60:00 am | Dec 17,408 | |-----------------------------------------------------| | Press a key or key combination: <F10> | |-----------------------------------------------------| | BIOS Keyboard Status Bytes: | | Byte at 0040:0017H | Byte at 0040:0018H | | -------------------------+------------------------- | | 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 | 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 | | | | | | | | | Rt Shift | | | | | | | | Left Ctrl | | | | | | | | Left Shift | | | | | | | Left Alt | | | | | | | Ctrl Pressed | | | | | | Sys Req Press | | | | | | Alt Pressed | | | | | Hold State | | | | | Scroll Lock | | | | Scroll Lock Press | | | | Num Lock State | | | Num Lock Pressed | | | Caps Lock State | | Caps Lock Pressed | | Insert State | Insert Pressed | |-----------------------------------------------------| | Press <Alt-Escape> to return to the Calculator. | |-----------------------------------------------------┘ Figure 6: Keystroke Reference Center Display The box between the two highlighted boxes tells you what version of ProPak you are using, the date, and the time. The lower half of the display gives you a live (real time) display of the values in the BIOS keyboard status bytes in low memory. Scan Codes and INKEY() Values: ------------------------------ When you press a key or key combination on your keyboard, the software you are using must have some means of identifying or recognizing the key you pressed. To enable software to recognize keystrokes, the BIOS in your computer translates each keystroke into a particular code. Your software then uses that code to identify which key was pressed. We refer to this code by various names, but the most common name is "Scan Code." The Keystroke Reference Center displays the scan code for each key you press. The dBASE language, including the various compilers like Clipper, from Nantucket, return codes that are different than the BIOS scan codes. To determine which key was pressed you would use the built-in INKEY() function. The INKEY() values are also provided by The Keystroke Reference Center. The Keystroke Reference Center 63 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - Portability Notes: ------------------ Some keys are only available on enhanced keyboards. For instance, F11 and F12. Some key combinations are recognized only with certain keyboards. How do you remember which is which? If you use an enhanced keyboard for software development, how do you make sure that users who don't have an enhanced keyboard can also use your program? The Keystroke Reference Center points out special keys or key combinations that not every keyboard can utilize. The Keystroke Reference Center does this by way of "Portability Notes" which provide you with the information you need regarding the various keyboards. Moving the Display: ------------------- There are a few keystrokes that have special meaning in The Keystroke Reference Center. These include the keys used to move The Keystroke Reference Center display around the screen. Although these keystrokes are commands within The Keystroke Reference Center they will still be processed just like any other keystroke. All their information, as well as any Portability Notes concerning them, will be displayed as the action is carried out. Move Left - To move the display one column left press <Alt><Left> (left arrow). Move Right - To move the display one column right press <Alt><Right>. Move to the Left Side - To move the display all the way to the left side of the screen press <Alt><Home>. Move to the Right Side - To move the display all the way to the right side of the screen press <Alt><End>. Move Up - To move the display one line up, press <Alt><Up> (up arrow). You must have more than 25 lines of text visible on your screen to use this feature. Move Down - To move the display one line down, press <Alt><Down>. You must have more than 25 lines of text visible on your screen to use this feature. The Keystroke Reference Center 64 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - Move to Top - To move the display all the way to the top of the screen, press <Alt><PgUp>. You must have more than 25 lines of text visible on your screen to use this feature. Move to Bottom - To move the display all the way to the bottom of the screen, press <Alt><PgDn>. You must have more than 25 lines of text visible on your screen to use this feature. Other Available Commands: ------------------------- Capture Screen to Disk - To capture the current screen to disk, press <Ctrl><Enter>, or <Alt><Enter>. This will copy the contents of the screen to any disk file that you specify. The disk file may or may not already exist. The screen will be filtered, or not filtered, according to the options you specify with PCustom or "on the fly" with the "Modify Options" choice on The Control Center. For more detailed information on filtering refer to the In-Depth Reference Guide on page 87. Returning to the Calculator - To return to the Calculator from The Keystroke Reference Center, press <Alt><Esc>. Exit from ProPak - Press <Esc> to exit from the pop-up. This will enable you to pop back to the same place you left the next time you pop up ProPak. Because The Keystroke Reference Center is an "attachment" to the Calculator, pressing the same Hot Key that normally activates the Calculator will instead pop up The Keystroke Reference Center. This saves you the trouble of going through the Calculator itself to get back to The Keystroke Reference Center when it is the attachment you were last using. The Keystroke Reference Center 65 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - ------------------------------- Park Disk(s) and Blank Screen ------------------------------- The In-Depth Reference Guide: ============================= You are probably aware that when the same characters are displayed in the same position on your screen for long periods of time they tend to burn a permanent image of themselves into the phosphorescent coating of your screen. To avoid this many people use automatic screen blanking programs that blank the screen after a predetermined period of keyboard inactivity. Such utilities are certainly useful and necessary, but many people feel that there is a better way to accomplish the same goal. There are some very obvious disadvantages to those particular utilities. The screen is often blanked unexpectedly, which can sometimes be rather unsettling. While the screen is blank it is not necessarily obvious whether or not the computer is turned on, which is an important consideration when more than one person might be using the machine. Some of these utilities "eat" the next keystroke entered, while some do not. Also, while you are away from your computer, your monitor is protected from screen burns, but your hard disk is not protected against head crashes. ProPak provides an alternative to the many "automatic" screen blanking programs. Most users prefer to stop using their older screen blanking programs once they start using ProPak! ProPak never blanks your screen "automatically" (i.e. unexpectedly). You are always in control. Furthermore, when ProPak blanks your screen it also displays a clock on the screen so that you know that the computer is actually turned on. This clock will never produce screen burns because it moves to a new position on the screen every 60 seconds. This means that for every minute the clock is in a certain position, there are over three hours when that same position is blank. To top it all off, when ProPak blanks your screen it also parks your hard disk by moving the read/write heads to the last cylinder. If you have two hard disks, both will be parked. If you do not want to use the Disk Parking feature when you blank your screen you can disable that part of the utility with PCustom. Refer to the PCustom In-Depth Reference Guide (page 119) for complete information on how to disable disk parking. ProPak's Screen Blanking and Disk Parking feature can be activated from either The Programmer's Calculator or from The ASCII and Color Attribute Chart. In either case, the Screen Screen Blanking and Disk Parking 66 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - Blanking and Disk Parking feature is invoked by pressing for ark. You can also use <Ctrl> or <Alt>. Once activated, you may "unblank" the screen and return to where you left off by pressing any key. Screen Blanking and Disk Parking 67 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - -------------------- The Control Center -------------------- The Control Center is present only in ProPak.EXE. It is through The Control Center that you can customize many aspects of ProPak "on the fly"; that is, while you are actually using ProPak. It is also through The Control Center that you have access to some of ProPak's most useful features. There is so much to The Control Center that we have divided it into two Quick Start Tutorials. The first will cover the Modify Options feature, the Screen Capture facility, and the Print feature. The second will cover Keystroke Recording and Playback and the Screen Grabber feature. The five In-Depth Reference Guides are: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. The Control Center..................................... 76 2. The Modify Options Feature............................. 83 3. Keystroke Recording And Playback (This includes the Screen Grabber feature) ...................................... 89 4. The Screen Capture Facility............................ 96 5. The Print Facility..................................... 98 Quick Start Tutorial #1: ======================== This Quick Start Tutorial is intended to familiarize you with The Control Center and what it can do for you. As with the other tutorials, you should be able to complete it in about 15 minutes. Enjoy! If you want to be able to use the background Print facility be sure to load the DOS "Print" program before doing this Quick Start Tutorial. At the DOS prompt, type "PRINT". When PRINT asks you for the device to send the output to just enter the correct response (usually PRN). Be sure that your printer is connected and turned on, too. The Control Center 68 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - Be sure that ProPak is resident in memory. Type "PROPAK" <Enter> at the DOS prompt. Ok. Let's pop up The Control Center. Press <Ctrl><RightShift>. This will bring up The Control Center. There are nine options on the list. Some will be bright, while others will be dim. The reason for this is that some of the options are not yet available. You cannot, for instance, list Keystroke Recordings if you haven't yet recorded any. For now, we'll take a look at the choice that was first highlighted when you popped up the Menu. The "Modify Options" choice. With the "Modify Options" choice highlighted, press <Enter> to select it. This brings up the Modify Options Submenu. There are nine options on this Submenu. The first five enable you to change any of the five "Hot Keys" while ProPak is resident. We call this changing Hot Keys "on the fly". They are pretty straightforward and self explanatory. Let's not change any Hot Keys just yet. TIP: If you frequently enter extended ASCII codes into your source code or other text files using the <Alt> key and the number keypad, then you should know about ProPak's modification of the BIOS keyboard services. In order to use key combinations like <Alt><Up> to move the Calculator up for instance, ProPak has to modify the BIOS keyboard interrupts (Interrupts 09h and 16h). Because of this, when ProPak is resident in memory, instead of holding down the <Alt> key and entering the number corresponding to the extended character you wish to insert into your document, you will now have to hold down the <Alt> key AND a <Shift> key to enter extended ASCII characters. However, since both the <Alt> key and the shift keys are used as Hot Keys within ProPak, you will need to change the Hot Keys for the Control Center and the Calculator. Changing them to <Ctrl><LeftShift> and <Ctrl><RightShift> will retain all the benefits of using only modifier keys for these Hot Keys as mentioned on page 44, as well as retain the ability to enter extended ASCII characters. Remember that any Hot Keys you change "on the fly" are changed in memory only. The .EXE file is unchanged. If you unload ProPak from memory all of the options modified through the Control Center will be "forgotten". You must use PCustom, the customizing program, to make "permanent" changes in ProPak. The Control Center 69 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - The next option is "Keystroke Recording/Playback", and as the right side of the menu indicates, it is "Enabled." Highlight this option and press <Enter>. Now it is "Disabled". You have now disabled the Keystroke Recording and Playback feature. Press <Enter> again and the feature is once more "Enabled". Toggle it as often as you wish, but be sure you leave it "Enabled" or the next tutorial isn't going to function for you. We will cover all of the other features that deal with Keystroke Recording and Playback in the next tutorial. Keystroke Playback Delay is handled on page 73. Read Key Records from File is handled on page 75. The last option is "Screen Capture Filter Method". Pressing <Enter> three times will take you through the three options; "Do not filter at all", "Filter for screen", and "Filter for printer". Leave it at "Filter for Printer" and press <Esc>. This brings you back to the main Menu. The Filtering feature is explained more fully in the In-Depth Reference Guide (page 87). One of the options here in The Control Center is "Copy Screen to File". This simply means taking what is currently on the screen and copying that information to a disk file. The last option on the "Modify Options" Menu enabled you to set the filter method for the screens you capture. Press the letter <C> to select the "Copy Screen To File" option. You could have used the arrow keys to move the highlight bar, but we wanted you to see that you could also use the first letter of the option. With "Copy Screen To File" highlighted, press <Enter>. A window will open informing you of the current directory and the built-in .SCN file name extension. The extension may be changed using PCustom if you don't like the default .SCN extension. For now, simply enter a name for the file. Let's use "TEST" for this example, and press <Enter>. When you press <Enter>, the window will disappear restoring the underlying screen. The underlying screen will then be copied to a disk file called "TEST.SCN". This is a little different than the Screen Capture facility in The Programmer's Calculator. In the Calculator it was operated by pressing <Ctrl><Enter> and would copy the screen complete with Calculator, Menu, ASCII Chart, or Keystroke Reference Center, whichever were present. In the Control Center it is operated from this Menu and the underlying screen is copied in its entirety, without the Menu. There is no difference in the .SCN files that they are copied to, though. Your word processor, or The Control Center 70 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - text editor, can access the files the same, regardless of which tool in ProPak performed the Screen Capture. In order to use the "Print Facility" feature, you must be using DOS 3.0 or above, and you must have loaded the DOS "PRINT" program. The DOS "PRINT" program is an excellent tool which enables you to print files in the background while your computer is doing other things (like taking you through this tutorial). ProPak enables you to submit files to the queue for printing, or cancel the files that are already in the queue. Can you think of some file you would like to print while you complete this tutorial? Well, if you can, then select "Print Facility" and press <Enter>. This will bring up a window which will give you the option to "Submit a File to Print" or to "Cancel All Print Files". Select "Submit a File to Print" and press <Enter>. This will bring up the File Mask Editor. Enter the path and name of the file you want to print and press <Enter>. This brings up the "DOS Print Request Status" window to tell you that your file is being printed, but by now the sounds coming from your printer have already confirmed this. Pressing <Esc> brings you back to the Menu. You can finish this tutorial while that job is printing. ProPak can be unloaded from memory by selecting the "Unload from Memory" option on The Control Center. Just like in the Calculator, a window will open letting you know if it is safe to unload. <Esc> tells ProPak that you changed your mind about unloading, while any other key instructs ProPak to go ahead and unload. If you want to exit The Control Center, but leave ProPak resident for later use press <Esc> while at The Control Center. Any modifications you made using the Modify Options feature will still be in effect the next time you access either The Programmer's Calculator or The Control Center. We haven't gone through every option in this tutorial, but, this is a good time to stop and consider what we've seen so far. There is a great deal more information in the In-Depth Reference Guides for each of these features. The next tutorial will cover the subject of Keystroke Recordings. The Control Center 71 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - -------------------- The Control Center -------------------- Quick Start Tutorial #2: ======================== This Quick Start Tutorial may well open the door to the single biggest productivity enhancement offered by the Programmer's Productivity Pack. We will cover much more than simply recording keystrokes and playing them back later. We will also look into alternative methods of acquiring Keystroke Recordings, how you can save Keystroke Recordings to a file or even a group of files, and how you can later read these Keystroke Recordings from a file and make them available for use. First, what is a Keystroke Recording? It is a string or collection of keystrokes that are recorded in memory so that they can be played back at the touch of a single key or combination of keys. Many utilities provide what they call keystroke "macros", which are basically the same thing ProPak calls Keystroke Recordings. However, we decided to avoid the use of the term "macro" because it is confusing to many people. A macro in Quattro Pro is different than a macro in assembly language, which is different than a macro in word processing programs like SPRINT. The term "macro" is really not very descriptive or precise. So, to simplify matters let's just keep things straightforward and call them Keystroke Recordings. There are several ways to produce and use Keystroke Recordings. Let's start with a simple example, straight from the DOS prompt. First, ensure that ProPak is resident in memory. Next, press <Alt><=>. <Alt><=> is the Hot Key that starts recording keystrokes. A window will pop up asking you to which key you would like this recording assigned. We call the key and key combinations that play back Keystroke Recordings "Trigger Keys". This differentiates between them and the Hot Keys ProPak uses. Select something simple like <Alt><F10>. Hold down the <Alt> key and press <F10>. The window will then close. From this point on, every key you type will be recorded. To keep this example simple, type your full name and then press <Alt><->. Use the top row minus key. <Alt><-> is the Hot Key that turns off Keystroke Recording. WHILE RECORDING KEYSTROKES, ALL OTHER FEATURES OF PROPAK ARE DISABLED. If you ever find yourself unable to access ProPak when you know it is in memory, check that you are not in record keystrokes mode (by pressing <Alt><->). The Control Center 72 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - At this point another window opens up and you are given a chance to assign a name to that recording. Since this is our only Keystroke Recording, we really don't need a name, but let's give it one anyway just for practice. Call it "MY NAME" and press <Enter>. A window will then let you know how much memory is being used to store that recording. Pressing any key returns you to the DOS prompt. Now that we are back at the DOS prompt, we can test our Keystroke Recording to see what it does. Clear the DOS command line using the <Backspace> key. Now, press <Alt><F10>. That was the Trigger Key you assigned the recording to. Your name appears instantly at the DOS prompt. Did you notice how fast the keystrokes appeared on your screen? The keystrokes can play back as fast as 1,000 characters per second! As you might imagine, some word processors and text editors can't keep up with this pace and lose a keystroke here and there. To get around this problem ProPak provides you with the Keystroke Playback Delay option. Let's use it now. Press <Ctrl><RightShift>. Once you are in The Control Center, select the "Modify Options" choice and press <Enter>. Move the highlight bar to the "Keystroke Playback Delay" choice and press <Enter>. Another window will then open which asks you to enter a value from 0 to 100. Type in "100" and press <Enter>. This will give you a good example of the difference in Playback speeds. Now you'll need to use the <Esc> key to return to The Control Center, and use the <Esc> key again to return to DOS. Once you are back at the DOS prompt, press <Alt><F10> to play it back one more time. Notice the difference in speed? How do you know if you need to use a delay value or not? Well, normally you can leave the delay value set to 0 which will allow the keystrokes to be played back at maximum speed. If you find an application where some keystrokes are lost because the program can't keep up with the high speed keystrokes, then simply insert a Playback delay. Experimenting is really the best method of determining how much of a delay, if any, will work best with the various programs you use. Let's say you want to make a Keystroke Recording of your usual heading for source code files. There is a way to record this without typing it all in! You could open up one of your program files using your usual editor, then use ProPak's Screen Grabber feature to grab a chunk of text off the screen and turn it into a Keystroke Recording. Here's how to do it. At the DOS prompt, type in "DIR" <Enter> just to get some text onto the screen. Now press <Alt><SPACE> to pop up the Screen Grabber. The Control Center 73 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - The box that pops up on your screen is called the "Grab Box". This is the box you use to surround the text you would like to grab from the screen. Use the <Up> and <Left> arrow keys to position the Grab Box at the top left corner of the directory listing on your screen. Now hold down <Alt> and use the <Down> and <Right> arrow keys to enclose the entire directory. Experiment with it for a few seconds and you'll get the hang of it. Before we actually grab part of the directory, you should remember that later we will be playing back exactly what is grabbed. So you might not want to grab a bunch of file names that DOS might try to execute when you play back the Recording. Try grabbing something other than complete file names, or you may find DOS executing each line of your Keystroke Recording when it is played back. Once you have the Grab Box positioned and sized the way you want it, press either <Enter> or <Esc> to "grab" the text that was highlighted. This doesn't remove it from the screen, it just copies it into memory. Now you see a simple Menu of choices for the end of line character. Usually the <Enter> choice will suffice. <Enter> is the same as a carriage return. All of the options are explained in the In-Depth Reference Guide (page 93). Once you have chosen an end-of-line character you will be given a chance to assign a name to the recording, and asked which key you would like to use to play back the recording. Choose <Alt><F9> as the Trigger Key, then choose a name for this recording. Return to the DOS prompt and press <Alt><F9>, or whatever you chose for a Trigger Key. There it is, but, boy is it slow! Remember that ProPak is now waiting 100 milliseconds between characters on Playback. You know how to change the delay back to 0. Do it and then play back this Keystroke Recording again. Up till now your Keystroke Recordings are only in memory. You can save these recordings to a file if you want them to be available tomorrow morning when you turn your computer on. To do this pop up The Control Center by pressing <Ctrl><RightShift>. Select "Write Keys to File" on the Menu, and press <Enter>. You will then be asked for a name for the file. The file extension is set to ".KEY" in order to ensure consistency and to help you identify Keystroke Recording files easily. If you don't like the ".KEY" extension, it can be changed using PCustom. One other point, the keystroke recording files will always be placed in the same directory from which ProPak was loaded. This simplifies many things, especially finding the files later. The Control Center 74 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - While you are still in The Control Center, select the "List Key Recordings" option and press <Enter>. This will display a list of all the current Keystroke Recordings, their Trigger Keys, and how many keystrokes are in each recording. Press <Esc> to return to The Control Center. Select "Read Keys from File". Reading Keystroke Recordings back from a file is basically the same process as writing them to a file, except that you will be choosing a file already in existence. There are two ways that Keystroke Recordings can be read from a file. You saw the options "Merge" and "Replace" when we looked at "Modify Options" in the last tutorial. If you left it set on the default "Merge with Existing Key Records" they will be added or merged with any current Keystroke Recordings. We say "merged" because if any recordings in the file use Trigger Keys that are currently defined, then the Keystroke Recording in the file will replace the one currently defined, while other recordings will simply be added to those already in use. If the option was set to "Replace Existing Key Records" reading the Keystroke Recordings from a file would first cause all the Keystroke Recordings in memory to be deleted. Then the set of Keystroke Recordings in the file would replace them. Don't "Read Keys from File" just yet. Instead, select the "Delete Key Records" option and press <Enter>. This option enables you to delete one or all of the current Keystroke Recordings. For now, let's delete "all" the current Keystroke Recordings. Go ahead and delete them all, the process should be self-explanatory. Now select "Read Keys from File". A window opens up and you see the file you wrote to disk with a .KEY extension. Press <Enter>. Your two Keystroke Recordings are back! Press the Trigger Keys. Sure enough, they work. Well, now you have even more tools to help you in your pursuit of increased productivity. The Keystroke Recording and Screen Grabber features can be used in a wide variety of ways, be inventive. Perhaps you have noticed, too, that despite all of ProPak's power and flexibility, its greatest feature is its ease of use. ProPak was designed to be just plain "friendly"! The Control Center 75 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - -------------------- The Control Center -------------------- In-Depth Reference Guide: ========================= The features of the Control Center have been divided into five separate Reference Guides to make each feature easier to find and study. This Reference Guide will cover accessing and exiting The Control Center and getting status Information. How To Access The Control Center: --------------------------------- The Control Center is accessed by way of a Hot Key, as long as ProPak is resident in memory. The default Hot Key is <Ctrl><RightShift>. If you are not sure if ProPak is in memory type "PROPAK" <Enter> at the DOS prompt. This will load ProPak or produce a message that ProPak is already resident. TIP: Along with the message telling you that ProPak is already resident, there will be two lines reminding you what the Hot Keys for The Programmer's Calculator and The Control Center are. Even if you change the Hot Keys "on the fly" (after ProPak is resident), the message will correctly identify the current Hot Key assignments! So if you ever forget the Hot Keys, simply attempt to load ProPak again, and you will be able to determine what keys are currently in use. This can be a handy feature to remember. The Control Center: ------------------- |--- Control Center ----| | Modify Options | | List Key Recordings | | Write Keys to File | | Read Keys from File | | Delete Key Recordings | | Copy Screen to File | | Print Facility | | Get Status Info | | Unload from Memory | |-----------------------| Figure 7: Control Center Menu The Control Center 76 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - Accessing The Control Center will bring up The Control Center Menu. The "Modify Options" choice will be highlighted. Some of the other options will be bright and some dim. An option is dim if it is not currently available. For instance, if the "List Key Recordings" option is dim it means that there are no Key Recordings to list. If the "Print Facility" is dim it means that the DOS Print program is not loaded in memory and, therefore, not available. There are nine options on the Menu grouped according to function. The first option, and the one that is highlighted when you first access the Menu, is "Modify Options" because that will probably be the the most common reason for going to the Menu. The Keystroke Recording and Playback function may be used more often, but, it is operated directly from the keyboard, without going to the Menu. The next four options all deal with the Keystroke Recording and Playback function. The last four options are for the Screen Capture facility, the Print facility, status information, and unloading from memory. We will look at all of these options here, but, complete information on the Modify Options feature, Keystroke Recordings, Screen Capture, and Print functions can be found in their respective In-Depth Reference Guides. Modify Options: --------------- Selecting this option will bring up the Modify Current Settings Menu. You can change the five major Hot Keys used by ProPak, enable and disable Keystroke Recording, set the keystroke Playback delay, and set the methods for reading Keystroke Recordings and filtering screens captured to disk. Full details may be found in The Modify Options feature of the In-Depth Reference Guide (page 83). List Key Recordings: -------------------- This option lists all of the current Keystroke Recordings by Trigger Key; the key or keys used to play them back. It also gives the name, if there is one, and how many keystrokes are actually contained in each recording. TIP: If you are wondering about the memory required for Keystroke Recordings you should know that each keystroke requires two bytes of memory, regardless of whether it is a single key or a key combination (like <Ctrl><F1>). Also, a small amount of The Control Center 77 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - information is stored with each Keystroke Recording which ProPak uses to keep track of things. Write Keys to File: ------------------- This option will write all of the Keystroke Recordings that are currently in memory to a file. This lets you reuse the same Keystroke Recordings from day to day as needed. If Keystroke Recordings are not saved to a file they will be lost when the computer is turned off. Writing Keystroke Recordings to a file does not remove them from memory. They will still be active and available until they are deleted or replaced. Keystroke Recording files will always be stored in the same directory that ProPak was loaded from. ProPak will automatically put a .KEY extension on whatever name you choose for the file (unless you change the extension using PCustom). TIP: The size of the file will depend upon how many Keystroke Recordings are currently defined. Each Keystroke Recording written to a file will take the same amount of disk space as it took in memory. In addition, each Keystroke Recording file has a short header inserted into it which contains information needed by ProPak. This header is less than 100 bytes in length. Read Keys From File: -------------------- This option provides you with the ability to read Keystroke Recordings from a file of previously saved Keystroke Recordings. This is an extremely handy feature which enables you to reuse Keystroke Recordings over and over without having to redefine them each time ProPak is loaded into memory. Whether the Keystroke Recordings read from the file are merged with the current Keystroke Recordings or replace the current recordings is determined by the method currently set on the Modify Options Menu. When you select this option, ProPak looks into the directory from which ProPak was loaded for files with the extension .KEY (or the extension you specified using PCustom). ProPak then displays the names of all the files with that extension. You choose the file you wish to load by moving the highlight bar over the name of the file you want and pressing <Enter>. The Control Center 78 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - Before loading the Keystroke Recordings from the file into memory, ProPak checks to be sure that the file actually contains Keystroke Recordings. If it doesn't, an error message will appear and the file will not be read. TIP: The maximum number of Keystroke Recordings that can be active at one time is 100. You'll probably never have that many keys redefined at once, but this should be considered when merging recordings from a file. The currently active recordings plus the ones from the file must add up to no more than 100 or ProPak will not read the recordings from the file. Delete Key Recordings: ---------------------- This option provides two methods for deleting Keystroke Recordings that are no longer needed. Delete All Recordings - Choosing this option enables you to delete all the current Keystroke Recordings. Of course, this does not affect recordings that are stored in disk files. When this option is chosen a window will open asking you to confirm that you really want to delete all the Keystroke Recordings currently stored in memory. Choosing "no" cancels the operation while choosing "yes" allows ProPak to carry out your request. Delete One Recording - When this option is chosen a window will open in which all the current Keystroke Recordings will be listed. Each recording will be identified by the Trigger Key used to Playback the recording and the name of the recording, if one is assigned. To select a particular Keystroke Recording for deletion, simply position the highlight bar over the one you wish to delete, and press <Enter> to delete the recording, or <Esc> to cancel the delete operation. As with the "Delete All Recordings" option, a window will open asking you to confirm whether or not you wish to actually delete the recording. Copy Screen To File: -------------------- This feature enables you to capture the contents of the screen beneath the Menu to a disk file. The text on the screen is copied with a carriage return at the end of each line. The screen will be filtered according to the method currently chosen on the Modify Current Settings Menu. Complete information on this feature is available in the In-Depth Reference Guide (page 96). The Control Center 79 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - Print Facility: --------------- This feature gives you access to the DOS background PRINT facility at all times. Through this option you may submit files to be printed in the background, or you may cancel files that have already been submitted. There are two prerequisites to using this feature. First, the DOS background PRINT program must be installed in memory. Secondly, you must be using DOS version 3.0 or later. Complete information on this feature is available in the In-Depth Reference Guide (page 98). Get Status Info: ---------------- The "Get Status Info" option is a quick and easy way for you to find out information about Keystroke Recordings and memory usage. When you select this option the following information is provided: o The first line tells you how many Keystroke Recordings are currently defined and available. o The second line tells you how much memory is actually being used to store these Keystroke Recordings. This is especially useful when you are considering using PCustom to change the amount of memory that will be set aside for Keystroke Recordings. Once you have an idea of the kinds of Keystroke Recordings you'll be using, you can decide how much to raise or lower the memory allocated for Keystroke Recordings. The default allocation is 2,048 bytes (2K). o The third line tells you how much heap memory is still available for use. Heap memory is basically memory held in reserve in case it is needed at any time. There are two things that use this heap memory on a regular basis. Keystroke Recordings are stored in this area, as you might have guessed. Also, whenever ProPak displays something on the screen, the contents that were on the screen before are stored in this heap memory area. o The fourth line tells you the total amount of memory ProPak is occupying. The Control Center 80 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - Unload From Memory: ------------------- ProPak may be unloaded from memory by selecting the "Unload From Memory" option on The Control Center. This option performs the same function that <Alt>, <Alt> performs within The Programmer's Calculator. When this option is selected, ProPak examines each interrupt vector it uses to determine if any other programs have hooked into them since ProPak was loaded. If no other programs have hooked these same interrupts, then ProPak will report that it is safe to unload. If ProPak determines that it is safe to unload, then it will give you another opportunity to change your mind. Pressing <Esc> will return you to The Control Center, while pressing any other key will unload ProPak from memory. ProPak will not unload itself if doing so could possibly harm another program. Even with all these built-in safety features, there are still steps you should take to ensure the safest possible operation of your system. Consider the DOS memory management techniques in use by current versions of MS-DOS. If you have other programs loaded above ProPak in memory, even programs that are not memory-resident, and you unload ProPak out from under them, the memory will not actually be made available to other programs. The reason for this is that DOS is not designed to handle these "holes" in memory between programs. At the very least this will prevent the memory from actually becoming available until any programs that were loaded after ProPak have also been unloaded. In a more negative situation, DOS could become confused by this "hole" in memory and the results could be unpredictable. TIP: The safest possible method of unloading any memory-resident program is to do it from DOS rather than from within another program. For example, you are inside WordStar and pop up ProPak. Then you instruct ProPak to unload itself from memory. ProPak would probably be able to do it safely from the point of view of the interrupts involved. But, a better method would be to exit from WordStar back to the DOS level and then pop up ProPak and tell it to unload itself. While both methods work, and you may never experience any difficulties with either method, unloading from the DOS level is much safer, and, as a general rule, is the preferred method. This does not mean that you have to use only the "PROPAK -U" (command line) method of unloading ProPak from memory. You may also pop up ProPak using a Hot Key and unload it using one The Control Center 81 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - of its built-in methods. The important point here is that you should be at the DOS prompt when you pop it up for the purpose of unloading it from memory. The Control Center 82 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - ---------------------------- The Modify Options Feature ---------------------------- In-Depth Reference Guide: ========================= The Modify Options feature was designed to enable you to customize many features of ProPak while it is actually resident in memory. PCustom enables you to make permanent changes to ProPak, but, the "Modify Options" Menu provides you with a means of making changes that only affect ProPak until it is unloaded from memory. With ProPak in memory, press <Ctrl><RightShift> to access The Control Center. Modify Options is the default option when you first access this Menu. If Modify Options is already highlighted then just press <Enter>. If Modify Options is not highlighted, either move the highlight bar using the arrow keys or press <M> to select it. The Modify Current Settings Submenu: ------------------------------------ ProPak gives you the freedom to customize many features, but with this freedom comes some responsibility (doesn't it always?). The first five Menu choices enable you to change any of the Hot Keys "on the fly," while ProPak is actually in use. Before we look at these, we should mention that some key combinations work very well as Hot Keys while others do not. The following information should help you in deciding which keys to use as Hot Keys, and which ones to avoid. |------------------- Modify Current Settings --------------------| | The Control Center <Ctrl><RightShift> | | Start Recording Keystrokes <Alt><=> | | Stop Recording Keystrokes <Alt><-> | | Screen Grabber <Alt><Space> | | Calculator and Attachments <LeftShift><Ctrl> | | Keystroke Recording/Playback ENABLED | | Keystroke Playback Delay 0 | | Read Key Recordings from File MERGE WITH EXISTING KEY RECORDS | | Screen Capture Filter Method FILTER FOR PRINTER | |----------------------------------------------------------------| Figure 8: Modify Current Settings Submenu First and foremost, you should always use a combination of two or more keys as a Hot Key. Using a single key as a Hot Key is not only risky, but it usually will not work at all. A good rule of thumb is to always use two or more keystrokes, at least one of The Control Center 83 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - which is either the left or right <Shift> key, or a <Ctrl> or <Alt> key. The most obvious consideration is that you wouldn't want to use any key combinations that are used normally in the course of your daily computer use as a Hot Key. For instance, most word processing programs already make use of the function keys and many key combinations. So when choosing a new Hot Key, you should make sure it doesn't override another key combination that is used for something else. Another consideration is the extra keys on enhanced keyboards. Some of these keys just don't work very well as Hot Keys. For instance, functions keys F11 and F12 are very unreliable when used as part of a Hot Key combination. Because of this, ProPak will not accept Hot Keys that include F11 or F12 as part of the key combination. The best way to determine which keys to use, if you do actually need to change any of the defaults, is to experiment. Try a different Hot Key. If it conflicts with some other program then change it. If it works wonderfully then stick with it. TIP: The default Hot Keys like <LeftShift><Ctrl> are keys that don't include regular keys. Because of this, you won't be able to specify a Hot Key like <LeftShift><Ctrl> from within ProPak itself. If you want to use these kinds of keystrokes, those that have only "shift" or "modifier" keys, you will need to use PCustom to make the changes. There are two key combinations which you may want to avoid. If you frequently enter extended ASCII characters using the <Alt><numpad number> technique then you should avoid using <Alt><LeftShift> as a hot key. This is due to the extensions ProPak applies to the keyboard. In order to enter extended ASCII characters you will have to hold down the <Alt> key AND the <LeftShift> key, while entering the ASCII code on the number keypad. This will interfere with the hot key if the hot key is <Alt><LeftShift>. If you are using an enhanced keyboard (with dedicated cursor movement keys) then you should avoid <Ctrl><LeftShift> as a hot key. This is due to scan code similarities between key combinations such as <Ctrl><cursor pad key> and <Shift><numpad number> as used on a non-enhanced keyboard. If you choose <Ctrl><LeftShift> as a hot key on an enhanced keyboard you will frequently find ProPak popping up in response to key combinations such as <Ctrl><PgUp>, <Ctrl><PgDn>, etc. The Control Center 84 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - Having discussed this information, let's take a look at each of the options available on the Modify Current Settings Menu. The Control Center (Menu) - This option enables you to change the Hot Key that is used to pop up The Control Center. When ProPak was shipped, this Hot Key was set to <Ctrl><RightShift>. Remember, if you change this Hot Key you will not be able to reset it to the default again without going to PCustom. Start Recording Keystrokes - Selecting this option enables you to change the Hot Key that is used to START the Keystroke Recording feature. The default Hot Key is <Alt><=>. Stop Recording Keystrokes - Selecting this option tells ProPak that you wish to change the Hot Key used to STOP Keystroke Recording. The default Stop Recording Hot Key is <Alt><->. Screen Grabber - This option enables you to change the Hot Key used to pop up the Screen Grabber feature. The default Hot Key is <Alt><Space>. Calculator and Attachments - This is the option you would select if you wanted to change the Hot Key used to pop up The Programmer's Calculator and its various attachments. This Hot Key can also be changed from inside the Calculator itself should the need arise. The default Hot Key for The Programmer's Calculator is <LeftShift><Ctrl>. If you change this Hot Key you will not be able to reset it to the default again without going to PCustom. Keystroke Recording/Playback - Using this Menu choice you can easily turn the Keystroke Recording and Playback feature on or off. When the keystroke recording and Playback feature is enabled, pressing the appropriate keys will cause a Keystroke Recording to be played back. If this feature is disabled, the Keystroke Recording will NOT be played back when you press the key to which the recording is assigned. Additionally, you will not be able to record keystrokes with this option disabled. You may enable and disable this feature as often as needed. Keystroke Playback Delay - ProPak is capable of playing back keystrokes as fast as 1,000 characters per second. This Menu option enables you to change the Playback Delay Rate, the delay (in milliseconds) inserted between each keystroke played back, whenever the need arises. Some word processors can't handle rapid fire keystroke input, and in attempting to keep up, they sometimes lose a keystroke here and there. In these situations accuracy is far more important The Control Center 85 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - than speed. After all, what good is a software product that executes at warp 19, when the end result is that it quickly comes up with the wrong answer? With ProPak, you decide how quickly it plays back each keystroke. This Menu option will accept any value from 0 to 100. This means that you instruct ProPak to pause from 0 to 100 milliseconds between each keystroke that it plays back. Read Key Records from File - This option enables you to determine exactly how ProPak should handle Keystroke Recordings that are read from a file of previously saved Keystroke Recordings. There are two methods available, either of which may be set as the default using PCustom. For those times in which you need to change the method at run time, this Menu option makes it easy. The first method available, which is also the default method, is to merge the Keystroke Recordings that are read from the file into the current Keystroke Recordings. The reason it's called "merging" will be clear in a moment. As you know, you can give a name to each Keystroke Recording. This makes it easier for you to identify different recordings later. ProPak itself does not use that name to identify a particular recording. ProPak identifies each recording based upon the key or keys that trigger its Playback. Let's say we have a Keystroke Recording that is played back every time you press <Alt><F1>. To ProPak, <Alt><F1> is the most important identifying characteristic of the recording because that is the key combination ProPak must watch for in order to know when you want the recording to be played back. With ProPak you can give the same name to two or more Keystroke Recordings, but only one recording at a time can be assigned to a particular Trigger Key. You can have only one Keystroke Recording assigned to <Alt><F1> at a time, for instance. With this in mind it is easier to see how ProPak handles Keystroke Recordings that are read in from a file. If a recording has a Trigger Key that is not already in use by another recording, ProPak will add that Keystroke Recording to the list of current recordings. However, if a file contains a Keystroke Recording that has the same Trigger Key as a current Keystroke Recording, the one in the file will replace the current one and become the recording associated with that particular Trigger Key. Reading Keystroke Recordings from a file in this manner is called "merging." There is also another way that ProPak can be instructed to handle Keystroke Recordings that are read in from a file. ProPak can be told to replace the current Keystroke Recordings with the ones in The Control Center 86 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - the file. When this method is specified, ProPak will delete all the current recordings right before it reads the file. Then the Keystroke Recordings from the file replace the ones that were in memory. The method best for you will, of course, depend upon the kinds of recordings you use and your normal work habits. TIP: When you merge recordings, there is always the possibility that one of the Keystroke Recordings in the file uses the same Trigger Key as a recording already in memory. A good safety precaution to take before reading in a Keystroke Recording file, is to write the current recordings to a file with a unique name. Having done this, you will always be able to get those Keystroke Recordings back when you need them. Screen Capture Filter Method - Almost every programmer and computer user has used some method of capturing the information currently displayed on the screen. Perhaps you have used a utility which enabled you to save screens to disk, or maybe you have simply used the "print screen" feature built into your computer. You now have another alternative. Perhaps you have run across a situation where characters like happy faces and other strange symbols appeared on your screen, but, when you tried to print them your printer protested. Or perhaps a character representing an end-of-file mark tricked the DOS "TYPE" command into thinking that it marked the end of the file (even though there was more text in the file after that mark). Dealing with special characters like this is what the filter option in ProPak's Screen Capture facility is all about. By turning off filtering, ProPak's Screen Capture facility operates much like other similar utilities. When activated it copies the contents of the screen to a disk file that you specify. But to give you more control, you also have two additional levels of filtering available. By "filtering" we mean that before copying the screen contents to a disk file, ProPak will check to see if any of the characters present are in the list of characters to be filtered out. If a character is in the list of characters to be filtered out, ProPak will replace that character with a dot ("."). Of course if you don't like the dot, PCustom enables you to specify any other character that you wish, as a replacement character. The reason ProPak replaces the character with another character is to prevent the alignment from changing. By doing so, ProPak ensures that your captured screen images will still look good, regardless of how they were filtered. The Control Center 87 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - There are three levels of filtering available. o Do Not Filter. The first is no filtering at all. The screen will be copied to disk without altering any characters. o Filter for Screen. The second level of filtering filters out characters with ASCII codes 0 (null), 10 (line feed), 12 (form feed), 13 (carriage return), 26 (SUB - used as an end-of-file marker), and 127 (DEL - looks like null to many printers). o Filter for Printer. The third level of filtering filters out characters with ASCII codes from 0 to 31 (the control codes) as well as 127 (looks like null to many printers). This is the recommended option, and is the one set when ProPak is shipped. Changing the level of filtering is easy. Simply press the <Enter> key to switch from one level to another. The Control Center 88 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - ---------------------------------- Keystroke Recording and Playback ---------------------------------- In-Depth Reference Guide: ========================= You are probably familiar with the concept of "keystroke macros" or "keyboard macros". Those "macro" capabilities are essentially the same as ProPak's Keystroke Recording and Playback capability. We avoided the use of the term "macro" because it has so many different meanings in different contexts that it is often a source of confusion to those unfamiliar with the concept. Instead we chose to call this feature "Keystroke Recording and Playback", which we felt was a more accurate description. The Keystroke Recording and Playback capabilities built into ProPak are very easy to use. This capability can save you a great deal of time while working on a variety of programming projects, regardless of the languages or environments you use for development. The basic process of Keystroke Recording and Playback involves three steps: 1) Tell ProPak when to start recording your keystrokes. 2) Tell ProPak when to stop recording your keystrokes. 3) Play back the recordings as often as necessary. ProPak enables you to assign up to 1,000 keystrokes to a single key or key combination. This gives you the ability to "remap" your keyboard and control the way it actually functions. Furthermore, you can have up to 100 individual Keystroke Recordings active at one time. This gives you the ability to almost completely reconfigure your keyboard to whatever best meets your needs. The ability to save Keystroke Recordings to disk and read them back later gives you even more control. By taking advantage of the Keystroke Recording file capability you can have an unlimited number of Keystroke Recordings available whenever they are needed. How to Start Recording Keystrokes: ---------------------------------- To begin recording keystrokes press <Alt><=>. When you press <Alt><=> a window will open asking you which key should be used as a Trigger Key to play back the recording later. This Trigger Key is not the same as a Hot Key like you would use to pop up the Calculator for instance. Because the Trigger Key is not a Hot Key, you couldn't use a key combination like <Ctrl><Alt><F10>, The Control Center 89 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - but you could use either <Ctrl><F10> or <Alt><F10>. Once you have selected the key combination you wish to use, the window will close. Once the window closes, ProPak has shifted into Record Mode where each and every keystroke you type, including <Enter>, <Esc>, or any other key, is recorded. Important note!: ---------------- WHILE RECORDING KEYSTROKES, ALL OTHER FEATURES OF PROPAK ARE DISABLED. You can't, for instance, pop up The Programmer's Calculator while keystrokes are being recorded. If you ever find yourself unable to access ProPak when you know it is in memory, check that you are not in record keystrokes mode (by pressing <Alt><->). Even though ProPak will only record the first 1,000 keys you press, it will allow you to keep pressing keys until you signal it to stop recording. How to Stop Recording Keystrokes: --------------------------------- When you have finished typing the keystrokes you wish to record you must tell ProPak to stop recording. To do this simply press <Alt><->. Be sure to use the top row <minus> key, not the <minus> key by the numeric keypad. When you have turned off the recording feature, you will be given an opportunity to assign a name to this particular recording. Of course a name is not necessary, but if you have five or six Keystroke Recordings present at the same time, giving each a unique name can be a great help later on. ProPak will also tell you exactly how much memory is being used to store the Keystroke Recording. This information can be put to good use. By taking note of the memory usage of each of your Keystroke Recordings you can get a much clearer picture of how much memory you should set aside for these Keystroke Recordings in the future (using PCustom). As you have seen, the process of recording keystrokes is very simple and straightforward. Simply tell ProPak when to start recording and when to stop recording. ProPak does the rest. How To Play Back a Keystroke Recording: --------------------------------------- To use the Keystroke Recording, simply press the key or key combination you assigned the Keystroke Recording to when you told ProPak to start recording. If you forget which key was assigned, use the "List Key Recordings" option on The Control Center. This will tell you not only the Trigger Keys used to play back each recording, but will also show you the names (if any) of the The Control Center 90 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - recordings and exactly how many keystrokes are recorded in each one. Setting The Playback Speed: --------------------------- To control the speed at which the Keystroke Recording is played back go to the "Modify Options" choice on The Control Center. Then select the "Keystroke Playback Delay" option on the "Modify Current Settings" submenu. You can also change the Playback delay value more permanently using PCustom. The range of delay is between 0 and 100 milliseconds. The Screen Grabber: ------------------- Along the lines of Keystroke Recording and Playback, we should also discuss another method by which Keystroke Recordings may be obtained. You don't have to record keystrokes as you type them, you can also make a Keystroke Recording out of text that is already available on the screen. Simply pop up the Screen Grabber and "grab" the text you want to use as a recording. This capability is discussed in detail at the end of this In-Depth Reference Guide (page 93). Keystroke Recordings that are "grabbed" off the screen function exactly the same as ones that are typed in. Use whichever method is easier for you in any given situation. List Key Recordings: -------------------- First of all, "Key Recordings" is short for Keystroke Recordings. There were some space limitations in some of the Menus. Selecting this option on The Control Center will tell you how many Keystroke Recordings are currently in memory. It will list them by Trigger Keys and tell you their names, if any, and how many keystrokes are in each recording. Write Keys To File: ------------------- Since Keystroke Recordings are in the volatile memory of your computer they are lost when you unload from memory or turn off the power. Rather than rewrite your Keystroke Recordings every day, you can save sets of recordings to a file for future use. You could have a different file for each type of job that you do on your computer. The Control Center 91 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - Selecting this option of The Control Center will copy all of the current Keystroke Recordings to a file. You select a name for the file and ProPak marks it with a .KEY extension. You can change the default extension using PCustom. Read Keys From File: -------------------- This is the option on The Control Center that will read your .KEY files and place a set of Keystroke Recordings in memory for you. You select the set of Keystroke Recordings that you want by the name of the file they are in. The Keystroke Recordings in the file will either Replace or Merge with the current Keystroke Recordings. You set that option with either Modify Options or PCustom. Delete Key Recordings: ---------------------- With this option you can erase one or all of the current Keystroke Recordings from memory. It doesn't affect any that have been written to files. Get Status Info: ---------------- This option of The Control Center tells you, among other things, how many Keystroke Recordings are currently in memory. You would still need to List Key Recordings to see what the individual Trigger Keys, names, and sizes are. It also indicates how much memory is currently in use by ProPak. Keystroke Recording TIPS: ------------------------- The Keystroke Recording and Playback capability was really intended to be much more than a quick way to type "Dear Sir or Madam". As an example of how this feature might be used, consider the following idea. Let's say that you like to always start your source code files with a Copyright statement and other basic information. Perhaps your file headers look something like this: The Control Center 92 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - ********************************************** * * Junior's Custom Software Development * and Whatcha-Ma-Call-It Widget Manufacturing * * Phone: BR-549 * * Copyright (c) 1989, by Junior Samples * ********************************************** Of course your file headers probably contain much more information, but this example suits our purposes here. Why not make a Keystroke Recording of that header, either by recording keystrokes as you type them, or by using the Screen Grabber to grab an existing header. By doing this you will be able to insert the entire header at the top of each new source code file at the touch of a key. You can also record other often used key combinations and save them all to a disk file called "CODE.KEY", for instance. This is certainly much easier and more efficient than retyping them every time, or even copying blocks from one file to another. With a little imagination you should be able to come up with numerous examples of how this capability could improve your productivity. The Screen Grabber Feature: =========================== ProPak's Screen Grabber is a tool that "grabs" text from the screen, so it can later be played back exactly like a Keystroke Recording. Using the Screen Grabber is also simple and straightforward. To activate the Screen Grabber simply press <Alt><Space>. This pops up the "Grab Box". Once the Grab Box appears on your screen you may use the cursor movement keys (arrow keys plus PgUp, Home, etc.) to position and size the Grab Box over the text you want grabbed. The keystroke commands available are very intuitive. Using a cursor movement key by itself moves the entire Grab Box, using a cursor movement key while the <Alt> key is held down changes the size of the Grab Box. To Move The Grab Box: --------------------- <Up> Arrow - Moves the Grab Box up one line. <Down> Arrow - Moves the Grab Box down one line. The Control Center 93 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - <Left> Arrow - Moves the Grab Box left one column. <Right> Arrow - Moves the Grab Box right one column. <Home> - Moves the Grab Box to the far left side of the screen. <End> - Moves the Grab Box to the far right side of the screen. <PgUp> - Moves the Grab Box to the top of the screen. <PgDn> - Moves the Grab Box to the bottom of the screen. To Change The Size Of The Grab Box: ----------------------------------- <Alt><Up> Arrow - Decreases the height of the Grab Box by one line. <Alt><Down> Arrow - Increases the height of the Grab Box by one line. <Alt><Left> Arrow - Decreases the width of the Grab Box by one column. <Alt><Right> Arrow - Increases the width of the Grab Box by one column. <Alt><PgUp> - Decreases the height of the Grab Box to a single line. <Alt><PgDn> - Increases the height of the Grab Box all the way to the bottom of the screen. <Alt><Home> - Decreases the width of the Grab Box to a single column. <Alt><End> - Increases the width of the Grab Box all the way to the far right side of the screen. How To Use The Grab Box: ------------------------ The most efficient way to use the Grab Box is to place the top left corner over the beginning of the text you wish to grab, and then resize the Grab Box to encompass all the text that will be grabbed. The Control Center 94 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - End-of-Line Characters: ----------------------- The Screen Grabber enables you to choose between five end-of-line characters. When text is grabbed from the screen it is just text, no carriage returns, line feeds, or other formatting information is included in that text. Therefore, the Screen Grabber provides five different options for an end of line character. The end of line character is the character that will be placed at the right side of each line of grabbed text before the text is converted into keystrokes. Each of the five options are described below: Enter - This option will cause the Keystroke Recording to behave exactly as if the <Enter> key was pressed at the end of each line during recording. This is the default option and is also the one that is used most often. Space - This option will place a space (ASCII 32) at the end of each line of text grabbed from the screen. This is especially useful if you will be playing the Keystroke Recording back inside a word processor that has an automatic word-wrap feature. This will enable your word processor to wrap each line properly. Down Arrow - This option will cause the Keystroke Recording to have a <Down> arrow keystroke at the end of each line. This is often useful when working in spreadsheets or data entry screens where you would want to move to the next cell or field at the end of each line. Soft Space - This option places a soft space, a space with the high bit set, at the end of each line of text grabbed from the screen. A space (ASCII 32) with the high bit set is the character used by most word processors to indicate a space that may be removed at the discretion of the software. This is often useful when reformatting or printing a document. Nothing - This option adds nothing to the end of each line of text grabbed from the screen. When this option is chosen, the beginning of the next line will be placed immediately at the end of the current line. If these options are not clear to you now, the best way to clear things up is to practice with them a few times. The Control Center 95 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - ----------------------------- The Screen Capture Facility ----------------------------- In-Depth Reference Guide: ========================= This feature enables you to capture the contents of a screen to a disk file. This works by copying the text that is on the screen to a disk file, with a carriage return at the end of each line. Optionally, the screen may be filtered according to your needs. The filtering options may be specified with PCustom, or changed "on the fly" using the "Modify Options" choice of The Control Center. The filtering is actually pretty straightforward. Characters like Form Feed, Line Feed, etc., which will mess up the screen image when you go to print it, will be replaced with a dot "." (or any character you choose using PCustom to customize ProPak). This way the screen image's alignment remains unchanged, and at the same time you save yourself the trouble of editing the file before printing it. It will be ready to go! The Screen Capture feature can be activated from either The Programmer's Calculator and its attachments or The Control Center. From The Programmer's Calculator and its attachments it is activated by either <Ctrl><Enter> or <Alt><Enter>. It will copy the contents of the screen exactly as they are at the time those keys are pressed. That means that you can copy the The Programmer's Calculator display (with or without the Quick Reference Menu), The ASCII and Color Attribute Chart display, or The Keystroke Reference Center display as part of the screen. From The Control Center, the Screen Capture feature is activated by selecting the Copy Screen to File option on The Control Center. When you select that option ProPak first removes the Menu and then copies the underlying screen in its entirety. You will be asked for the name of the file to copy the screen to, and an extension of .SCN will automatically be appended to the file name. If you don't like the .SCN extension, you may change it with PCustom. If a file by that name already exists in the current directory, you will be asked to confirm that you wish to overwrite it. If the file does not exist, a new file with that name will be opened in the current directory. The Control Center 96 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - Here is an explanation of the actual process involved for those who are interested. First, the screen is copied to an internal array where the characters are separated from their corresponding attribute bytes. Then, the array containing the characters will have a carriage return appended (added) to the end of each line. Optionally, each character will be filtered. Filtering simply means that each character will be examined and compared against a filter list. If the character matches one of the characters on the list it will be replaced with the replacement character that you specify through PCustom. The default (normal) replacement character is a dot ".". After this is completed, the "filtered" information will be written to the disk file. The Control Center 97 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - -------------------- The Print Facility -------------------- In-Depth Reference Guide: ========================= This feature of ProPak gives you access to the DOS background PRINT facility at all times. Through this option you may submit files to be printed in the background, or you may cancel files that have already been submitted. There are two prerequisites to using this feature. First, the DOS background PRINT program must be installed in memory. It, too, is a memory-resident program. Second, you must be using DOS version 3.0 or later. Using this facility you may submit files to the DOS background PRINT facility by specifying a file name or even a mask containing wildcards. For instance, specifying "*.TXT" will open a window showing all the files with the extension .TXT, and enable you to move the highlight bar over the file you wish to submit, and press <Enter> to submit it. This "point and shoot" procedure will place the file you specify into the "queue" of files waiting to be printed. You may also cancel all files that are presently in the "queue" by selecting "Cancel ALL Print Files" from the "DOS Print Control" Menu. This is a very easy feature to use, which you will also find to be very handy to have available. It will enable you to continue working with your computer while those files are being printed. Remember that this is not the same as sending a document to print from your word processor. It will only format the text according to any control codes that are embedded in the document. If you have never used the DOS background PRINT facility, or if you don't remember all the "command line" options available, then read on. The following discussion does not list every option available because you can refer to your DOS manual for a complete list, but we will cover the most common options. The DOS background PRINT facility is a utility program that comes with each copy of MS-DOS. It is a memory-resident program that is loaded into memory by typing "PRINT" <Enter> at the DOS prompt. When loading, PRINT will ask you for the name of the "list device" which simply means the printing device. Usually "PRN" is the answer you want. But you could also specify "LPT1", The Control Center 98 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - "LPT2", "AUX", etc. Consult your DOS manual for more information. When loading PRINT into memory you may change many of its default parameters by adding extra information on the "command line" (between the word "PRINT" and pressing the <Enter> key). The two options that you will most likely use are "/B:n" and "/Q:n", which are explained below. The "/B" option enables you to change the size of PRINT's built- in print buffer. The buffer may be any size from 1 to 32,767 bytes. The default is 512 bytes. We recommend 1,024. This will probably be sufficient for your needs. The "/Q" option enables you to change the number of files allowed in the "queue". The queue is the waiting line. You may specify any number from 1 to 32. We recommend the maximum, which is 32. In both cases the option is followed by a colon (":") and a number. The number specifies the setting you desire. By the way, PRINT is case sensitive on this point so be sure to use upper-case letters to enter the command line parameters. Here's an example of loading PRINT with a 1K byte buffer and a maximum of 32 files allowed in the queue at any one time (this is what we recommend): PRINT /B:1024 /Q:32 <Enter> As you can see, PRINT is fairly easy to use. Your DOS manual provides more complete information, including other options that are available. The Control Center 99 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - ---------------------------------- PCustom: The Customizing Program ---------------------------------- PCustom is ProPak's companion customizing program. You may never use it. ProPak may be exactly to your liking just the way you received it. You may like the colors we liked, the sounds we liked, the way we allocated memory. But, it is more likely that even though you're happy with ProPak there are just one or two things you would have done differently. This is your gateway to making those changes. Before we get started with PCustom, you should know that PCustom works by going into the actual executable file (for ProPak.EXE) and making changes internally, and by updating the special configuration file (file with the .CFG extension) for both ProPak and ProSwap. This gives your custom features a "permanent" feel. It makes the programs act as if they were actually custom written just for you! By the way, don't let the word permanent scare you. You can change as many features as you want, as often as you want. Experiment. Have fun! The Quick Start Tutorial: ========================= If you placed PCustom into the same directory as the other ProPak files when you installed the package, then you are ready to begin. If you haven't done this yet, then please do so now. Start PCustom by typing "PCUSTOM" <Enter> at the DOS command prompt. If you have a black-and-white (LCD, or Gas plasma) monitor you should type "PCUSTOM -B" (or -b, /B, /b, \b, or \B). This will make PCustom use the gray scale color set for its own screen displays. PCustom begins by asking you which of the ProPak files you would like to modify. We won't actually modify any of the programs in this tutorial, but, you should select "Modify all versions present" and press <Enter>. Later, when you actually make changes, this will ensure that features are consistent between the two versions of ProPak. Next, the Main Menu appears. The "Colors" selection is highlighted. The text above the Menu tells you what the highlighted selection is for. Press <Enter>. PCustom: The Customizing Program 100 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - This brings up the Colors Menu. You can select one of the three standard color sets or design your own custom color set. Select "Custom Attribute Set" and press <Enter>. This brings up the Select Colors Menu. Select "ASCII Chart" and press <Enter>. Here are eight different portions of The ASCII Chart that you can customize to your liking. We won't actually change anything now, so you can press <Esc> when you're finished looking around. That pops you back to the Select Colors Menu. Select "Calculator" and press <Enter>. This selection has its own Menu. Choose one of the three options and press <Enter>. Make any changes you wish. You can change your mind at any time, so, don't worry. You can also restore the original colors by choosing one of the three default attribute sets on the Colors Submenu. Check out some more options from the Select Colors Menu and then <Esc> back to the Main Menu. Select "Hot Keys" and press <Enter>. Here are the five major Hot Keys. Select one and press <Enter>. You can choose your own or pick from the list. What makes the list so useful is that you couldn't normally select any of those options from the keyboard. That's why if you change some the default Hot Keys "on the fly" you cannot reset them to the default value. However, you can do it from PCustom. <Esc> back to the Main Menu and move to the "Sound Effects" option. Here you can modify the beeps, clicks, and raspberries (error sounds) to be just like you always thought they should be. Now move to the "Advanced Options" choice. Here you can set the mode and format the Calculator starts up in, the size and color of the "Grab Box", the extensions ProPak puts on files it saves for you, and a host of other things. Now move to "Exit PCustom". Highlight "Cancel Changes" and press <Enter>. This takes you out of the program without making any changes. Well, that's all for this tutorial. As you can already see, PCustom is very easy to use, but very powerful. You can modify almost any aspect of the Programmer's Productivity Pack. Read the following In-Depth Reference Guide for a complete explanation of all the possibilities. PCustom: The Customizing Program 101 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - ---------------------------------- PCustom: The Customizing Program ---------------------------------- The In-Depth Reference Guide: ============================= PCustom is your ticket to a custom made version of the Programmer's Productivity Pack. PCustom gives you the freedom to choose. With ProPak you do not have to adjust your work habits and preferences to match the software. Instead you can change the software to match your work habits and preferences. After all, you should be telling your computer what to do, not the other way around. Starting PCustom: ----------------- When you first start PCustom, by typing "PCUSTOM" <Enter> at the DOS command prompt, PCustom will load and wait for your first choice. Throughout the use of PCustom you will find that PCustom avoids making decisions for you, but rather lets you stay in control. You may modify whatever you wish, and ignore that which you do not wish to modify. You're the boss, and PCustom knows it. If you have a black-and-white (gray scale, LCD, or gas plasma) monitor you should type "PCUSTOM -B" (or -b, /B, /b,\b, or \B). This will make PCustom use the gray scale color set for its screen displays. Selecting Which Versions To Modify: ----------------------------------- The first option concerns which version or versions of ProPak you wish to customize. PCustom looks to see which versions of ProPak are present and enables you to change a single file or all three (ProPak.EXE, ProPak.CFG, and ProSwap.CFG) at the same time. TIP: Earlier we recommended that everyone keep both versions available on their hard disks (ProPak and ProSwap). To take this a step further, we recommend that when running PCustom, you modify all versions present. By doing this you ensure that colors, Hot Keys, and all the other customizable features are consistent between the two versions of ProPak. Let's say you have all three (ProPak.EXE, ProPak.CFG, and ProSwap.CFG) present on your hard disk and that you instruct PCustom to modify all three. Then, after making the custom PCustom: The Customizing Program 102 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - changes, you decide that you only want to update ProSwap.CFG and that you want both ProPak files to remain unchanged. That doesn't present any problem. PCustom gives you the freedom to make these kinds of decisions. You can change your mind virtually at any time! How PCustom Works: ------------------ Your choice of which version or versions to modify tells PCustom which versions to read from disk in order to determine their current settings. If you decide later to cancel the changes or to limit the versions you wish to change, you will have that opportunity before the changes are actually written into the .EXE or .CFG files. But, if you initially tell PCustom not to modify a particular file you will not be able to write to that file later (unless you restart PCustom). To understand how this works, it would be helpful to know a little about what it is that PCustom actually does to the .EXE and .CFG files. Here's the basic sequence of events that occur during customizing: PCustom examines the current directory for one or more of the ProPak .EXE and .CFG files. If none are present, then PCustom checks the same directory that it was loaded from (if you are using DOS 3.0 or higher). If one of the ProPak files is still not found, PCustom will check the directories in the DOS path. Once one or more of the ProPak .EXE and .CFG files are found, PCustom asks you which file(s) to modify. Once PCustom has received its instructions, it will read the current settings from the .EXE and .CFG file or files and then set its internal values to match. At this point PCustom closes the files and works only with its internal tables. This is why you can always change your mind about making any of the changes permanent. You then use PCustom's pull down menu system to customize any and all features. When you are through making any custom changes you desire, select the "Exit PCustom" choice on the Main Menu. This brings up three additional choices. Choosing "Save Changes" will instruct PCustom to install the new values into the .EXE or .CFG files that you selected when PCustom first started. Choosing "Select (Alt-Q)" gives you another chance to select the file or files to actually modify. Choosing "Cancel Changes" returns you to DOS without altering the .EXE or .CFG files in any way. TIP: The reason this choice lists "(Alt-Q)" is because pressing Alt-Q is a shortcut to get to this choice from any Menu or Submenu in the Menu system. PCustom: The Customizing Program 103 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - Here's an example of how you might use the "Select" option on the "Exit PCustom" submenu. Let's say that you have both versions of ProPak loaded on your hard disk (ProPak and ProSwap). When you started PCustom you told it to modify all the files. But, when it comes time to exit from PCustom and actually write the changes to the files, you decide that you only want to modify ProSwap and leave ProPak alone. The "Select" option enables you to do this. The "Select" option enables you to write the changes to any or all of the files that were read when PCustom first started. Of course, if you told PCustom to ignore one of the files when it first started, you cannot now decide to modify that file. We use the term "permanent" when we talk about making changes to an .EXE or .CFG file, but we mean "permanent" in the sense that they are permanent until you change them again at some future time. You may customize the ProPak files as often as you wish. The PCustom Menus: ------------------ The following information outlines each option on each Menu and Submenu available within PCustom. The Main Menu: -------------- The Main Menu is the first menu to appear after you choose which versions of ProPak to customize. You will see the following: (Due to space limitations and printer incompatibilities, this figure appears only in the printed User's Guide.) Figure 9: PCustom Main Menu The Colors option is highlighted. If you press <Enter> it will be selected. The text at the top tells you what that option is for. You can select any one of the five options by moving the highlight bar with the <Arrow> keys. Each of these options will produce its own menu. Let's look at each one individually. The Colors Menu: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When you select the Colors option you will see the following: (Due to space limitations and printer incompatibilities, this figure appears only in the printed User's Guide.) Figure 10: PCustom Colors Menu PCustom: The Customizing Program 104 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - The Colors option is the door to the many options available for choosing the colors you prefer for each and every aspect of the ProPak package. Each version of ProPak has two built-in color sets, one for color monitors, and one for monochrome monitors. If you use a color monitor you will be able to change the color attribute set to your preferences. If you use a monochrome monitor you will be able to change the monochrome attribute set as desired. If you use a gray scale (black and white) monitor then you will be adjusting the color attribute set (not the monochrome attribute set) to your preferences. If you have two monitors, say one color and the other monochrome, and two display adapters (this is common among programmers who spend time with a debugger), then both attribute sets will be relevant to your needs. When you pop up ProPak on your color monitor it will automatically use the color attribute set. When you pop it up on your monochrome monitor it will automatically use the monochrome attribute set. These are the four options you can select from this Menu: Color Attribute Set - This option restores ProPak to the same color attributes that were in use when ProPak was shipped. This is useful when you have made changes and want to quickly restore ProPak to a known starting point before continuing with the customizing of individual colors, or for just returning ProPak to its original color settings whenever you desire. Monochrome Attribute Set - Selecting this option automatically restores the monochrome attribute set to the values that were in use when ProPak was originally shipped. You may still change individual attributes later if you wish. Gray Scale Attribute Set - This option sets the values of the color attribute set to those values that look best on a gray scale monitor. These "factory set" values will give you a good starting place even if you prefer to change some of them later. You can always move down to the "Custom Attribute Set" and fine tune any values you wish to change. Custom Attribute Set - This option enables you to customize the attribute set to best suit your individual tastes. If you are using a color or gray scale monitor, you will be adjusting the color attribute set. If you are using a monochrome monitor you will be adjusting the monochrome attribute set. PCustom: The Customizing Program 105 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - PCustom is smart enough to know whether you are using a monochrome monitor or a color monitor. PCustom will automatically determine which attribute set should be used, no additional steps are necessary on your part. Since gray scale monitors look just like color monitors to software, you need to use the "-B" command line parameter to tell PCustom that you have a black-and-white monitor. Select the Custom Attribute Set if you wish to customize any of the colors on your copy of ProPak. Move the highlight bar down until Custom Attribute Set is highlighted and press <Enter>. This will bring up the Select Colors Menu. When you select the Custom Attribute Set you will see the following Menu appear: (Due to space limitations and printer incompatibilities, this figure appears only in the printed User's Guide.) Figure 11: Custom Colors Submenu This is the Select Colors Menu. You can set the colors to each of the eight options listed on the Menu. Let's look at each of the options. ASCII Chart: This option provides you with the means of customizing the colors used to display The ASCII and Color Attribute Chart, which is one of the attachments to The Programmer's Calculator. There are eight separate aspects of The ASCII Chart that you can customize. If you have a color monitor you can change the colors to any of the color combinations listed in the Color Attribute Chart. If you have a monochrome monitor you will be able to customize these features to any of the monochrome attributes listed in the Color Attribute Chart. ProPak will automatically offer you only those options which are possible on your monitor. These are the eight aspects of The ASCII Chart that you can customize. Outline Color (Frame) - As the name implies, this option enables you to change the color of the outline or frame around The ASCII Chart. Title Color (top of chart) - This option changes the color of the title of the chart. Column Heading Color - This option changes the color of the text appearing at the top of each column. PCustom: The Customizing Program 106 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - ASCII Code Color (Dec & Hex) - This option changes the color of the decimal and hexadecimal values that appear to the left of the ASCII character. ASCII Character Color - This option changes the color of the ASCII character itself, in the left hand section of the chart. Attribute Description Color - This option changes the color of the words that describe the color that each attribute (ASCII code) will produce when used as an attribute byte. Large Character Color - This option enables you to change the color of the enlarged ASCII characters that display in the right hand section of the chart. Large Code Color - Selecting this option enables you to change the color of the decimal value listed next to each of the enlarged characters in the right hand section of the chart. Calculator: This option opens the door for you to customize the appearance of the Calculator. This option leads to a submenu which makes available three categories of color attributes that go into making up the overall appearance of the Calculator. (Due to space limitations and printer incompatibilities, this figure appears only in the printed User's Guide.) Figure 12: Calculator Sub-Submenu Let's look at the three options on the Submenu. Actual Calculator: This option enables you to change each individual color involved in the actual Calculator display. The different portions of the display are: Current Format Highlighting - When you switch from one numeric format to another, Decimal to Hexadecimal, etc., you will notice that the format title and the pending operation (if any) will be updated to appear highlighted. This option enables you to customize the color of this highlighting. Signed or Unsigned Title - This option controls the color used to display the sign mode at the top center of the Calculator display. PCustom: The Customizing Program 107 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - High Word, High Nibble - The Programmer's Calculator is specially designed to make it easy to separate the various pieces of information present when handling large values. This is tremendously useful when keeping track of 32 ones and zeros in the Binary Box. This option, and the next three that go with it, enables you to make a distinct color difference between the logical divisions of the 32 bit binary values. This option changes the color of the highest four bits of each value. High Word, Low Nibble - This option changes the color of the second to the highest four bits of each value. Low Word, High Nibble - This option changes the color of the second to the lowest four bits of each value. Low Word, Low Nibble - This option changes the color of the lowest four bits of each value. Normal Values Color - This option changes the appearance of the values in the Decimal and Octal Boxes. Saved Values Color - This option changes the color of the four saved values that appear in the Save Window. Information Color - This option changes the color of the various pieces of identifying information present in the Calculator display. Clock and Date Color - This option changes the color of the date and time displayed in the information window of the Calculator. Calculator Menu: This option enables you to change each individual color involved in the display of the Calculator's Menu. This option is best experimented with to see the effect that each color change has on the overall appearance of the Calculator. Information Color - This option changes the colors of the various pieces of information displayed in the Calculator's Menu. Description Color - This option changes the color of the description of each command available within the Calculator. Function Keys Color - This choice changes the color of the normal function key options. PCustom: The Customizing Program 108 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - Shifted Function Keys - This choice changes the color of the shifted function key options. Save/Insert Pick Window: This option enables you to change each individual color involved in the display of the "pick window" which is used to select which value to save or insert when more than one is available. Normal Choices Color - This is the color used to display values that may be chosen. Outline Color - This option controls the color of the frame around the pick window. Heading Color - This option controls the color of the title of the pick window. Selected Highlight - This option controls the color of the pick bar, the highlighted bar that you move up and down to select an option. Empty Color - This is the color used to display empty choices, choices with a value of zero. Empty Selected Color - This is the color used when an empty choice (one with a value of zero) is selected. Error Messages: This option enables you to select the colors you prefer for error messages. Outline Color - This is the color of the outline around the error message window. Heading Color - This is the color of the title of the error message window. Normal Text Color - Error messages appear in two different colors in order to highlight certain information. This is the usual color for the text of an error message. Alternate Text Color - This is the color used to highlight or bring attention to some of the information displayed in an error message. Keystroke Reference Center: This option leads to the individual choices available for customizing the appearance of The Keystroke Reference Center display. Outline - This option changes the color of the outline or frame around The Keystroke Reference Center. PCustom: The Customizing Program 109 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - Information - This option enables you to customize the color of the various pieces of identifying information present in The Keystroke Reference Center display. Time & Date - This option enables you to customize the color used to display the current time and date. Instructions - This option enables you to change the color of the instructions that appear on the screen in The Keystroke Reference Center display. Status Byte High - The BIOS keyboard status bytes are displayed in two alternating colors to make it easier to identify each bit individually. Selecting this option enables you to change one of these colors. Status Byte Low - This option enables you to change the alternate color used to display the BIOS keyboard status bytes. Key Code Information - This option controls the color of the information appearing within the code boxes of the display. Key Code Row Heading - This option controls the color of the words "Dec" and "Hex" in the codes boxes. Note Window Outline - This option controls the outline of the Portability Note window. Note Window Text - This option controls the text in the Portability Note window. Control Center Menu: This option leads to the individual choices available for customizing the appearance of The Control Center and its various submenus. Outline Color - This option controls the color of the frame around The Control Center. Heading (Title) Colors - This option controls the color of The Control Center's title. Normal Choice Colors - This option controls the color of the available choices on The Control Center Menu. Not Available Choice - This option controls the color of the currently unavailable choices on The Control Center Menu. PCustom: The Customizing Program 110 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - Normal Selected Color - This option controls the color of the highlight bar on The Control Center Menu. Not Available Selected - This option controls the color of the highlight bar when it is positioned over an option that is not currently available. Normal Messages: This option leads to the individual choices available for customizing the appearance of the Message Window and the text it contains. Outline - This option controls the color of the frame around normal Message Windows. Heading - This option controls the color of the heading of normal Message Windows. Normal Message Text - This option controls the color of text displayed in normal Message Windows. Highlighted Message Text - This option controls the color of special information displayed in normal Message Windows. Alternate Message Text - This option controls the color of unavailable options in Message Windows that also present choices. Normal Selected Text - This option controls the color of the highlight bar in Message Windows that also present choices. Alternate Selected Text - This option controls the color of the highlight bar when unavailable options are selected. Screen Blank (Clock): This option enables you to change the color used to display the on screen clock during screen blanking and hard disk parking. Screen Grabber Box: This option enables you to customize the color of the Screen Grabber's "Grab Box." Swapping In/Out Message: This option enables you to customize the color of the message that appears on the bottom line of the screen while ProSwap is swapping into or out of memory. The Hot Keys Menu: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The second selection on the Main Menu is to customize the Hot Keys used by ProPak. When you select it you will see the following Menu. PCustom: The Customizing Program 111 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - (Due to space limitations and printer incompatibilities, this figure appears only in the printed User's Guide.) Figure 13: Customize Hot Keys Submenu This Menu enables you to change each of the five Hot Keys used by ProPak. For each option you will be presented with a list of eight of the most useful Hot Keys, plus an option called "Other" through which you may select key combinations that are not shown in the initial list. The Hot Keys appearing in the list are key combinations like <LeftShift><Ctrl> or <Ctrl><RightShift> which cannot be entered interactively through the "Other" option. If you were to attempt to choose this type of key combination through the "Other" option, PCustom would not have any way of knowing if you wanted <Ctrl><Alt> or if you intended to follow it up with another letter like <Ctrl><Alt>. Those two modifier key combinations don't normally produce a scan code. You can prove this by trying them on The Keystroke Reference Center. PCustom presents a list of these types of keys and accepts what you pick from that list. (Due to space limitations and printer incompatibilities, this figure appears only in the printed User's Guide.) Figure 14: Hot Keys Submenu The same eight Hot Keys are listed for each of the five tools or functions that use Hot Keys. Any key which is dim is already in use. You cannot select the same Hot Key for two functions. The five tools or functions are the following: Calculator and Attachments - This option changes the Hot Key used to pop up The Programmer's Calculator. Because the current attachment might be The ASCII Chart or The Keystroke Reference Center rather than the Calculator, this option effectively controls the Hot Key used to pop up any of the Calculator attachments. Control Center Menu - This option enables you to select the Hot Key used to pop up The Control Center. Screen Grabber - This option controls the Hot Key that pops up the Screen Grabber's Grab Box. Start Recording - This option enables you to select the Hot Key used to turn on or start the recording of keystrokes. PCustom: The Customizing Program 112 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - Stop Recording - This option enables you to select the Hot Key used to turn off or stop the recording of keystrokes. Pop-Up DOS Shell - This option enables you to select the Hot Key used to activate the Pop-Up DOS Shell capability in ProSwap. Note: As mentioned in the TIP on page 84, you should avoid <Alt><LeftShift> and <Ctrl><LeftShift> as hot keys. The Sound Effects Menu: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The third choice on the Main Menu enables you to customize the sound effects produced by ProPak. Selecting this option brings up the Sound Effects Menu. (Due to space limitations and printer incompatibilities, this figure appears only in the printed User's Guide.) Figure 15: Sound Effects Submenu This Menu provides you with a simple method of customizing the various sound effects used within ProPak. Alter each effect until it sounds the way you prefer on your particular machine. Beep Sound - The beep sound is the sound ProPak makes when you press a key it doesn't understand, or when something occurs that you should know about. You will be able to set the frequency or pitch of the tone and its duration. Click Sound - The click sound is the sound ProPak makes when you switch formats or toggle the sign in The Programmer's Calculator. You will be able to set the frequency or pitch of the tone and its duration. Error Sound - The error sound is the sound ProPak makes when an error occurs or when ProPak is unable to carry out your instructions. This sound is produced differently than the other two sounds. The error sound is made by sounding the beep, pausing, sounding the click, pausing, and then repeating this a specified number of times. You can easily change the duration of the pause and the number of times the sounds are repeated in order to obtain the error effect. PCustom: The Customizing Program 113 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - The Advanced Options Menu: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The fourth option on the Main Menu is Advanced Options. This is perhaps the most frequently chosen Main Menu option. This option leads to several submenus that enable you to change many features that do not fall under the other Main Menu choices. This could almost be called the "Miscellaneous Options" choice on the Main Menu. Selecting this option will bring up the Advanced Options Menu. When this option is selected you will see the following Menu appear: (Due to space limitations and printer incompatibilities, this figure appears only in the printed User's Guide.) Figure 16: Advanced Options Submenu The following information explains each of the seven options and what features it enables you to customize. Calculator: This option brings up a Submenu that enables you to change the default mode and format for the Calculator when it is first popped up. Start up Numeric Mode: This option enables you to determine whether The Programmer's Calculator initially starts up in Signed or Unsigned mode. Start up Numeric Format: This option enables you to select the numeric format (Decimal, Hexadecimal, Binary, or Octal) The Programmer's Calculator will be in when it is first started. cApture: This option enables you to make permanent changes to the Screen Capture facility. The "A" is capitalized to indicate that this feature can be selected by pressing the <A> key. Character Filter Method: This option enables you to select the filter method ProPak will use when capturing screen images to disk files. Filtering simply means that ProPak will examine each character to see if it is one of the characters that needs to be replaced with another character. Why is this important? Some characters are used as control codes for your printer, end-of-file marks for DOS, etc. By filtering out these characters and replacing them with a dot ("."), an asterisk ("*") or whatever, the need to edit your screen image files before printing them, will disappear. PCustom: The Customizing Program 114 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - There are three levels of filtering available. 1) No filtering at all. When this level is chosen, no filtering takes place. Each character will be copied exactly as it appears on the screen. 2) Minimal filtering (also called Filter for Screen). The following ASCII characters are filtered in this level: 0 (Null), 10 (Line Feed), 12 (Form Feed), 13 (Carriage Return), 26 (SUB - often used as an end-of-file marker), and 127 (DEL - looks like Null to many printers). 3) The third level of filtering, Filter for Printer, filters out characters with ASCII codes from 0 to 31 (the control codes) as well as 127 (looks like null to many printers). This is the recommended option, and is the one set when ProPak is shipped. Replacement Character: The replacement character is the character that replaces characters that have been filtered out. This is done to prevent the alignment of the screen image from changing when a character is filtered out. The replacement character is chosen by simply typing in the character you wish to use. The normal replacement character is a dot, but you can change that to anything you wish. If, for some reason, you wish to use an extended ASCII character (one with a code greater than 127) as the replacement character, you should enter it so that PCustom can recognize it. You may be accustomed to holding down the <Alt> key while you enter an ASCII code on the numeric keypad, in order to obtain a character from the extended ASCII character set. Since ProPak and PCustom both make use of keystrokes like <Alt><Up> Arrow, the <Alt> number keypad trick will not work. To get around this simply hold down <Alt> and a shift key and then enter the ASCII code on the numeric keypad. For more complete information refer to the explanation on page 69. Screen Capture File Extension: This enables you to change the extension ProPak uses for screen image files. When ProPak captures a screen image to be written to disk, it prompts you for a file name, and adds a default extension to that file name. By using this option you can change the .SCN extension with which ProPak was shipped. PCustom: The Customizing Program 115 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - Grabber: This option enables you to change the default size, location, and color of the Screen Grabber's Grab Box. Color of Grab Box: This is the one option that can be changed from two different places in PCustom's Menu system. You may change the color from within the "Customize Colors" Submenu, or, for the sake of convenience, you can change the color of the Grab Box from the same Submenu you use to change the size and location of the Grab Box. Size and Location of Grab Box: This option enables you to select how big the Grab Box should be when it pops up, as well as where it should be located on the screen when it pops up. To change the size and location, use exactly the same keys you would use if you were actually grabbing text off the screen. The difference here is that instead of grabbing text off of the screen, PCustom remembers the size and location of the Grab Box when you exit, and instructs ProPak to use those values as the default whenever the Screen Grabber is activated. Pressing <Enter> saves the changes you have made. Pressing <Esc> cancels the changes. Swap Control: This option opens up a sub-menu with several options which control how ProSwap handles the swapping operation. First Swap Path: When ProSwap swaps to disk it swaps into files that are marked with the "hidden" attribute. This option controls where the first swap file will be placed. PCustom will verify your input, so be sure to specify only valid (existing) drives and directories. Floppy disks are not acceptable for swapping purposes, but Bernoulli drives are fine. This is the same path that will be used by the pop-up DOS shell for it's swap file as well. Do not specify a filename, only a pathname. Second Swap Path: This option is just like the previous option except it controls the path for the second swap file. If you use the "-M" command line option, or choose "Sacrifice speed for space" under the "Swap Tuning" option (below) then the second swap file will not be used at all. Pop-Up DOS Shell: This determines whether the pop-up DOS shell capabilities will be available when ProSwap is resident. The only time you will not want the pop-up DOS shell enabled is when you are using a DOS version earlier PCustom: The Customizing Program 116 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - than 3.0, or when you are trying to avoid conflicts with another program. Max Size of DOS Shell: The size of the DOS shell can be controlled to a certain extent. The smallest it can be is about 124K bytes. The largest it can be is the amount of memory that was available when ProSwap was loaded (less about 20K). Why would you want to change the size of the DOS shell? The larger the shell, the longer it will take to swap in and out, and the more disk space or EMS/XMS memory it will require. By decreasing the maximum size of the DOS shell you will conserve resources and speed up the swapping process. The default is "All Available Memory". EMS Swapping: This option controls whether EMS (Expanded) memory may be used for swapping purposes. It may be enabled or disabled. The default is "Enabled". XMS Swapping: This option controls whether XMS (Extended) memory may be used for swapping purposes. It may be enabled or disabled. The default is "Enabled". Swap Message (EMS/XMS): This controls the display of the "Swapping In/Out" message that appears on the bottom line of the screen during the swapping operation. Generally the message should be displayed. If, for some reason, you don't want this message, simply turn it off here. Prefer EMS over XMS: When both EMS and XMS memory swapping are enabled, this option controls which one is tried first. ProSwap will try one, if there's not enough memory available it will try the other. This option controls whether EMS is tried before XMS memory, or vice versa. Disk Swapping: This option controls whether swapping to disk is allowed. Normally ProSwap will swap to disk only when absolutely necessary (when there is insufficient EMS or XMS memory, or when EMS/XMS swapping is disabled). With this option you can instruct ProSwap to abort during loading if there is not enough EMS or XMS memory - in other words, never use disk swapping. Swap Tuning (XMS/Disk only): When swapping to disk or XMS memory, ProSwap normally uses two files or two memory blocks. This takes up more disk space or more XMS memory, but it results in a very fast swapping operation. If you prefer conserving disk space or XMS memory, at the expense of speed, this option makes it easy. PCustom: The Customizing Program 117 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - Registered To: We keep track of registered versions by serial number, but most people don't like being just a number. This option enables registered users to record their name or company name so that ProPak and ProSwap will display "Registered to <your name>" when they start. This lets you personalize ProPak and ProSwap. Rename ProPak: There are several important issues involved if you want to change the name of the PROPAK.EXE file. First, ProPak uses overlays so it must be able to find itself on disk at all times. Second, PCustom must be able to locate PROPAK.EXE in order to perform some customizations. This option lets you safely rename PROPAK.EXE. As long as you rename it using this option, PCustom will be able to find it in the future, and ProPak will know what file to look for to load overlay files. The main restriction here is that the new name cannot be the name of an existing file, it must be a "new" name. Miscellaneous: This option takes you a step deeper into ProPak's inner workings. It enables you to specify how ProPak is to use memory, handle the cursor, handle disk parking, handle Keystroke Recording and Playback, etc. Key Recording FileName Extension: By default ProPak assigns an extension of .KEY to the names of files containing Keystroke Recordings. This option enables you to change that extension if you desire. Read Key Recordings from File: This option controls how Keystroke Recordings will be read from a file. With this option you can instruct ProPak to replace any currently defined Keystroke Recordings with the ones being read from the file, or to merge the ones read from the file with the currently defined Keystroke Recordings. This option enables you to control how much memory ProPak sets aside for Keystroke Recordings. You may specify any value from 1K (1,024) bytes to 98K (100,352) bytes. The default is 2K (2,048) bytes. Keystroke Playback Delay: This option enables you to set a permanent keystroke Playback delay value. The Playback delay value is the number of milliseconds ProPak should pause between playing back each character in a Keystroke Recording. This may be any value from 0 to 100. Generally a value of 0 will suffice. PCustom: The Customizing Program 118 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - Memory Reserved for Recordings: ProPak is capable of having up to 100 Keystroke Recordings active at any given time, and up to 1,000 keystrokes in each recording. In order to actually define that many recordings you must have set aside enough memory for the recordings to be stored in memory. If you use a lot of Keystroke Recordings you will want to set aside more memory for them. If, on the other hand, you use only a few Keystroke Recordings at a time, you will want to reserve less memory for these recordings thus lowering ProPak's memory requirements. (Due to space limitations and printer incompatibilities, this figure appears only in the printed User's Guide.) Figure 17: Miscellaneous Sub-Submenu DOS Print, File Pick Window: If you have used the file "pick window" which enables you to use a "point and shoot" method of choosing files to be submitted to the DOS background PRINT facility, then you have noticed that it always starts with the current directory. You can change it to start with the root directory if you prefer. By selecting the root directory as a starting point, you could easily point and shoot your way into any subdirectory. This simplifies matters if you often need to print files that are not stored in the current directory. Screen Blanking Options: When ProPak blanks your screen and displays a moving clock, it also parks your hard disk. If you have two hard disks, ProPak will park both of them. Parking simply means positioning the read/write heads over the last cylinder on the hard disk. This is simply a preventive measure or safety feature. If you prefer, you may instruct ProPak to NOT park the hard disk or disks when blanking the screen. This submenu option enables you to do that if you desire. Use EMS Memory for overlays: Normally ProPak will place the overlay file into EMS memory when it starts. This has two advantages. First, transferring from EMS memory to RAM memory is much faster than transferring from disk to RAM, therefore, the size of the overlay buffer can be smaller. This means that not only will ProPak perform better, it will do so using less memory than if EMS memory were not used. This technique also saves one file handle because ProPak will not need to use the overlay file once it is loaded. PCustom: The Customizing Program 119 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - If you do not have EMS memory, or not enough EMS memory is available for ProPak to use, then ProPak will automatically leave the overlay file on disk and use it from there. This covers about 99 percent of the situations that may arise. However, if you are a developer working on a project and testing something using EMS memory, there will be times when, even though you have plenty of EMS memory available, you will not want ProPak to use it. This option enables you to instruct any of the versions of ProPak to not use EMS memory even if it is available. Return to application with: This option is really only of use to those who have EGA cards. When ProPak opens up a window it records the previous cursor size and position so that the cursor can later be restored exactly as it was when ProPak was popped up. Sometimes the cursor size will not be restored properly due to a bug in the EGA's ROM BIOS extensions. To get around this problem, this option enables you to instruct ProPak to always restore the common two line cursor (a cursor with the bottom two scan lines blinking). Most user's will never need this option. You'll know if you are one of those who needs to use it. Overlay Buffer Size Supplement: This option is intended to improve the performance of ProPak.EXE on systems that do not have EMS memory. This option is highly recommended for users who have floppy disk only systems! Choosing this option enables you to increase the size of the overlay buffer in ProPak.EXE. Even hard disk users can greatly improve ProPak's performance by increasing the size of the overlay buffer. Of course, this option will have no effect if ProPak is using EMS memory. The size of the overlay buffer supplement is increased or decreased in 3K byte increments. The reason for this is because 3K bytes is the smallest change that will significantly affect ProPak's performance. The minimum size for the overlay buffer supplement is 0 bytes. This is automatic when EMS memory is in use. The maximum size for the overlay buffer supplement is 12K (12,288) bytes. For those who do not have EMS memory, the actual size you will need can be determined by the speed of your hard disk and your particular preference. The higher the value the more memory ProPak will require, but, at the same time, the better will be its performance. Floppy disk only users should set the overlay buffer PCustom: The Customizing Program 120 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - supplement to the maximum value (12K bytes). Those with fast hard disks will require a smaller value while those with slower hard disks should consider a larger value. If you have EMS memory and ProPak is allowed to use it, then the value chosen here will not matter. ProPak will automatically set a small size for the overlay buffer. Microsoft Quick Environment Fix: This option is only important to people who use the newer versions of the Microsoft Quick Environments - such as QuickBasic 4.5, Quick C 2.0, etc. This option will enable ProPak to safely pop-up over these environments. Also, when operating in non-swapping mode (the "-N" or "-T" command line option), ProSwap will normally not work with the Quick Environments. This option tells ProSwap to deal with this special case when it is running in non-swapping mode. The Exit PCustom Menu: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The fifth option on the Main Menu is Exit PCustom. This will take you back to the DOS prompt. You can also select whether to save or cancel the changes you have made, or whether to limit the files which are customized. If you select this option the Exit PCustom Menu will appear. When this option is selected you will see the following Menu: (Due to space limitations and printer incompatibilities, this figure appears only in the printed User's Guide.) Figure 18: Exit PCustom Submenu Save Changes: This option tells PCustom to write the changes you have specified into the files themselves. The files you instructed PCustom to alter, when you first started PCustom, will automatically be updated when you select this option. The changes you have made are "permanent", meaning they are permanent until you change them again using PCustom. Select (Alt-Q): This option enables you to change your mind about updating any of the files you chose when PCustom was first started. When you choose "Select" PCustom will again show you the menu where you can choose to modify any one of the three files or modify all versions present. If you had originally chosen to modify all versions present, you can now limit your changes to any one of the versions by selecting it with the highlight bar and pressing <Enter>. You cannot choose to modify a version that you originally did not choose PCustom: The Customizing Program 121 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - to modify. PCustom only read the files which you selected at the beginning. If you decide not to modify any of the versions, simply press <Esc> at this point and you will be back at the DOS prompt without having altered a thing. The reason "Alt-Q" appears as part of the choice is that it is a "short cut key" which will quickly take you to this point from almost any other point in the Menu system. Cancel Changes: This option enables you to return to DOS without altering the files in any way. This option cancels any changes you have made and exits from PCustom. PCustom: The Customizing Program 122 of 143 - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - ----------------------------- Miscellaneous Information ----------------------------- EXE Compression Utilities: ========================== Many people are now starting to use a free utility called "LZE" to compress executable files while still allowing them to run normally. LZE is a wonderfully useful tool, but it does have a few drawbacks. The main reason PCustom changed from modifying the .EXE files directly, to using configuration files, was to allow you to compress the programs using LZE or a similar utility. Unfortunately, there are a few problems. There have been numerous reports of LZE-compressed programs corrupting DESQview memory blocks when they load. Since many of you operate in the DESQview environment it may not be safe for you to compress the programs. If you do not use DESQview, and wish to compress the programs using your copy of LZE (if you have a copy), then here is the information you need: PCustom may be compressed with LZE without causing any difficulties. ProPak cannot be safely compressed with LZE because of the overlays built onto the tail-end of the ProPak.EXE file. ProSwap cannot be safely compressed with LZE because of an undetermined problem that affects the pop-up DOS shell capability. This problem only affects some systems. ProSwap may or may not work in compressed form on your system. The only way to know for sure is to try it yourself. We are currently looking into alternatives for compressing the executable files. There are several utilities available or under development which may do the trick. Unfortunately, we are not allowed to talk about them due to nondisclosure agreements. Change History: =============== Please refer to the HISTORY.DOC text file for the complete change history of the Programmer's Productivity Pack. Miscellaneous Information 123 of 143 Appendix A - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - ------------ Appendix A ------------ The Bits and the Bytes: ======================= This appendix provides basic information concerning bits and bit level operations. The primary source for this brief overview was Charles Petzold's "PC Tutor" column in the August, 1987, issue of "PC Magazine" (Volume 6, Number 14). TIP: If you are new to hexadecimal and binary arithmetic, we recommend that you find a copy of Jeff Duntemann's excellent book "Assembly Language from Square One", published by Scott, Foresman and Company. Chapter One of this book contains the clearest and most entertaining introduction to the binary and hexadecimal numbering systems that we have ever seen.TIP For the sake of simplicity, we'll discuss the details of bits from the standpoint of 16 bit systems. 16 bit systems include IBM PC's, XT's, AT's, and some PS/2's. For this discussion, when we say "16 bit system" we are referring to the microprocessor itself, not necessarily all the hardware to which it is connected. If you work with 32 bit systems like the newer 80386 machines, they are just twice the size, in bits, of 16 bit systems. On the most basic level, your computer works with bits. A bit is a concrete, real value in your computer. A bit is simply a state - on/off, yes/no, true/false, or 1/0, depending upon how you like to think of them. Handling bits one at a time would be a very complicated and inefficient process for us humans, so we deal with bits in groups. The most common group of bits is called a "byte," which is simply a group made up of 8 individual bits. Bits are usually represented using the numbers one (1) and zero (0). In fact, these are the only numbers that a single bit can represent. Numbers consisting solely of 1's and 0's are called binary numbers, because only two digits make up the entire number system. We are more accustomed to the Decimal system in which 10 digits (0-9) make up the entire number system. Performing mathematical operations on binary numbers is much like performing mathematical operations on decimal numbers, except only 2 digits (0 and 1) are used. Bits and Bytes; A Brief Tutorial 124 of 143 Appendix A - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - For example, in Decimal format, "1 + 1 = 2", but binary numbers don't have a digit like "2", so we carry the 1, just like we do with decimal numbers. In decimal numbers when you add "9 + 1" there is no digit to represent a value higher than 9, so we carry one place as follows: Decimal: 9 + 1 ---- 10 Binary is the same: 1 + 1 ---- 10 With decimal numbers, each time a digit is moved left one place, the number increases by a power of 10. If you take the decimal value 10 and move it left one place you get the number 100 which is 10 times greater than the value with which you started. Binary numbers work like this too. Each time you move a binary value left one place the value increases by a power of two. The following chart shows a byte size value (8 bits) and the result each time a digit is shifted left one place, this should give you a better picture of how binary numbers work: Binary Decimal value equivalent -------- ---------- 00000000 0 00000001 1 00000010 2 00000100 4 00001000 8 00010000 16 00100000 32 01000000 64 10000000 128 ProPak's Calculator is an excellent tool to help see this first hand. ProPak's Calculator enables you to shift values left and right, rotate them left and right, and perform a myriad of different operations, all the while showing you the individual bit settings. Watching the bit settings in the binary values will show you exactly what is happening as you perform each operation. Bits and Bytes; A Brief Tutorial 125 of 143 Appendix A - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - The following chart shows the binary values corresponding to the decimal numbers from 1 to 10, this should give you a good idea of how binary numbers are used to add, subtract, and do other mathematical operations: Binary Decimal value equivalent ------ ---------- 0001 1 0010 2 0011 3 0100 4 0101 5 0110 6 0111 7 1000 8 1001 9 1010 10 As you can see: in Binary: 1 + 1 --- 10 then adding another 1: 10 + 1 --- 11 and another: 11 + 1 --- 100 and so forth. Why is all this binary stuff important? What does it have to do with programming my computer? Well, your computer's microprocessor manipulates groups of bits in its registers. A register is simply a storage location built right into the chip itself. This means the processor can manipulate values in these registers very quickly, because it doesn't have to get the value from memory somewhere else in the system. The types of microprocessors we are discussing generally manipulate 8 or 16 bits at a time in their registers. The registers, by the way, are either 8 or 16 bits wide. Bits and Bytes; A Brief Tutorial 126 of 143 Appendix A - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - In virtually every field of business, science, and life in general, we make up names for things. The computer field is no different. When we group bits together into logical units, we have a name for each unit. We've already discussed the "BYTE" which is a collection of 8 bits that are treated as a single unit or group. A unit with 4 bits is half of a byte, so logically, it is called a "NIBBLE" (also spelled "nybble"). Moving in the other direction, a group of 16 bits (two bytes), is called a "WORD". A group of 32 bits (four bytes) is called a "DOUBLE WORD". Knowing this, much of the mystique behind these terms should now be cleared up. Learning a few new terms is not unique to the computer industry, if you were a stock broker you would have to learn the difference between a put and a call, if you were a sailor you would have to learn the difference between port and starboard. The computer field is like any other field. There are new terms to learn, but the result is it will be easier to say exactly what you mean and have others understand exactly what you are talking about. Let's take a look at the range of values that can be represented by various groups of bits. Obviously, when you have a known amount of space in which to store a number, there is a limit to the size of the number that can be stored there. Along these same lines, if you have enough space to store anything from 0 to 10 but you want to add the ability to use negative numbers as well, then the same storage space will hold anything from -5 to +5. After all, we can only store a limited number of unique values in a particular storage space. An 8 bit value, a byte, can represent any decimal number (whole number) between 0 and 255. If you want to be able to include negative numbers, then we can represent any value from -127 to +128 with 8 bits. Numbers that can be either positive or negative are called "SIGNED" numbers. Logically, numbers that can only be positive are called "UNSIGNED" numbers. A 16 bit value, a word, can represent any decimal whole number between 0 and 65,535. If you are using signed numbers, a 16 bit word can represent any decimal whole number from -32,767 to +32,768. A 32 bit value, a double word, can represent any decimal whole number between 0 and 4,294,967,295. A signed 32 bit double word can represent any whole number between -2,147,483,648 and +2,147,483,647. Bits and Bytes; A Brief Tutorial 127 of 143 Appendix A - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - This should help to explain why so many software products on the market have similar limits for various operations. When working with a computer you have to stay within the limits of what it is able to accomplish using its particular design. Of course we haven't even touched on the subject of numbers that can have something after the decimal point. Fractional numbers, often called "floating point" numbers in the computer industry, are an entirely different subject and we won't go into detail on them here. Suffice it to say, unless you are using a math coprocessor chip, floating point math must be performed with software as the processor itself does not understand fractional values. Let's take a brief look at the "logical" operations that your computer can perform. This will also help you to understand the various operations available within ProPak's Programmer's Calculator. The first operation we'll look at is one of the most commonly used. The "AND" operation. Notice we said "AND" and not "ADD". "AND" and "ADD" are two entirely different operations. AND - When you AND two bits together they produce a 1 only if both of the original bits are a 1. 0 0 1 1 AND 0 AND 1 AND 0 AND 1 ----- ----- ----- ----- equals 0 0 0 1 This is usually shown by way of a "truth table" which shows how the operation works. A truth table for the AND operator might look something like this: AND| 0 | 1 ----+-----+----- 0 | 0 | 0 ----+-----+----- 1 | 0 | 1 You read the table by picking one value from the top line and drawing an imaginary line straight down, pick the other value from the left side and draw an imaginary line horizontally to the right. Where these two imaginary lines intersect is the result you get when you AND the values together. Bits and Bytes; A Brief Tutorial 128 of 143 Appendix A - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - Taking this concept further, to 8 or 16 bit numbers, merely involves lining up the numbers one above the other like so: 00101011 AND 01001000 -------- 00001000 As you can see, only one of the bits in these two bytes have matching 1's, therefore only that bit produces a 1 for an answer. NOT - The NOT operator is a little bit different than the AND operator. NOT works only on one value, rather than comparing two values with each other. NOT converts all 0's to 1's and vice versa. The NOT truth table looks like this: NOT | 1 | 0 -----+---+--- | 0 | 1 The result is what is known as a "one's complement." In 8086/8088 assembly language there is a similar instruction called NEG. NEG goes one step further than NOT, after obtaining the one's complement of a number, the NEG instruction adds 1 to it, giving you the "two's complement" of the original value. Using ProPak's "Change Sign" command produces the same results as the NEG instruction. OR - The OR operator, like the AND operator, compares two values and produces a result. OR produces a 1 if either of the two inputs are a 1. The truth table for an OR looks like this: OR | 0 | 1 -----+-----+----- 0 | 0 | 1 -----+-----+----- 1 | 1 | 1 Bits and Bytes; A Brief Tutorial 129 of 143 Appendix A - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - XOR - The XOR (eXclusive OR) operator produces a 1, if one and only one of the inputs is a 1, if both inputs are 1 it will produce a 0. The XOR truth table follows: XOR | 0 | 1 ------+-----+----- 0 | 0 | 1 ------+-----+----- 1 | 1 | 0 This can sometimes be easier to understand and picture when you think of it like this: the XOR operator produces a 1 for a result whenever the two bits being compared are different from each other. If the two bits are the same, the answer is 0, if the two bits are different, the answer is 1. SHL and SHR - The Shift Left and Shift Right operators do exactly what their names imply, they shift a value left or right. For instance: take the value: 00001111 shift it left 4 places: 11110000 then shift it right 2 places: 00111100 One interesting aspect to these operators is that they can be used as very fast multiplication or division operators. Shift Left 1 place is the same as multiplying by 2, Shift Left 2 is the same as multiplying by 4, shift left 3 is the same as multiplying by 8, and so forth. Shifting right is the same except the effect is like dividing by 2, 4, 8, etc., rather than multiplying. There are two similar instructions called Shift Arithmetic Left (SAL) and Shift Arithmetic Right (SAR). These are very similar to the shift instructions except the value of the sign bit is retained throughout the shift operation. As with the other operators, the best way to see how this works is to fire up ProPak's Calculator and tinker with a few examples. This way you'll be able to see first hand what these operators actually do. Now let's take a brief look at some of the rotate operations. The rotate operations are very similar to the shift instructions. Understanding the differences is really a matter of considering what happens when a bit is shifted off of one end of a number. When shifting, if you shift a bit right off the end, it is no longer a part of your value. The rotate operations deal with this a little differently. Bits and Bytes; A Brief Tutorial 130 of 143 Appendix A - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - The rotate operations function just like their name implies. The rotate operations shift values in the registers, but instead of losing the bit that comes off the end, it is rotated around and inserted into the other end of the register. Something like this: |---->--------------------------->----| | | |----| | |-------------------------------| | | CY |<-----| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |<-| |----| |-------------------------------| Rotate Left At the same time that the bit is rotated around to the other end, it is also placed in the carry flag (a particular bit position within the "flags" register). Both the Rotate Left (ROL) and Rotate Right (ROR) instructions work by taking the bit that "falls off of the end" and rotating it around to be put right back into the other end of the register. Another instruction of this type is the Rotate through the Carry instruction (RCL and RCR). It is very similar to the regular rotate instruction, except that the bit that comes off the end is passed through the carry flag. In other words, the value that comes in one end of the register is the value that was previously in the carry flag. Here's how it would look: |----------------------->-----------------------| | | | |----| |-------------------------------| | |<-| CY |<--| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |<--| |----| |-------------------------------| Rotate through the Carry Left |-----------------------<-----------------------| | | | |----| |-------------------------------| | |->| CY |-->| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |->-| |----| |-------------------------------| Rotate through the Carry Right How do you use such strange operations when you are programming? Well, as you start getting more involved with using MS-DOS or your ROM BIOS, you will more and more frequently find the need to Bits and Bytes; A Brief Tutorial 131 of 143 Appendix A - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - compare bit patterns, to find out if a particular bit is set in a number, and even to shift the bits around in order to see what they really represent. As your programs become more intimate with the hardware of the computer, your need to understand and be able to use other numbering systems will grow as well. This is especially true when you program in languages like "C" or "Turbo Pascal", where much can be done when you are able to work with binary, hexadecimal or octal numbers. If you deal with assembly language then you know by experience what we're talking about. We certainly hope that this has answered your questions, and that ProPak's Programmer's Calculator will make your programming a little easier and much more productive. Happy ProPak'n! Bits and Bytes; A Brief Tutorial 132 of 143 Appendix B - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - ------------ Appendix B ------------ Understanding Two's Complement Numbers: ======================================= When manipulating signed values, your computer must be able to tell the difference between a positive and a negative number. It does this through the use of a "sign bit." The leftmost bit is the sign bit. When this leftmost bit is a zero (0) the number is positive, when that bit is a one (1) the number is negative. Of course, when you are treating a number as an UNsigned value, the leftmost bit is just a part of the number, and all values will be considered positive. There's a little more to negative numbers than just a sign bit. To your computer, negative numbers are actually what is called the "two's complement" of positive numbers. While this may sound complicated, it is actually very simple and reasonable. Here is a brief explanation of what "two's complement" really means, and a simple example to illustrate how it actually works. Let's use an 8 bit value for the sake of simplicity, and the number 5. In binary, the number 5 looks like this: 00000101 Now, to obtain the two's complement of that number, we must do two things. First we must complement each bit, simply change each 1 to a 0, and each 0 to a 1. In essence we are just reversing each digit. This is called the one's complement. Here is what our results will look like: Before changing: 00000101 After changing: 11111010 A quick way to do this using ProPak's Calculator is to use the "NOT" operator. It will instantly show you the one's complement of the current value. The next (and final) step we must perform is just as easy. Simply add 1 to the number, like this: 11111010 + 1 _________ 11111011 Two's Complement Numbers 133 of 143 Appendix B - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - That is the binary representation of -5. We have just converted a positive 5 to a negative 5 in two simple steps. As you might imagine, those two steps are exactly the kind of thing your computer is good at, and can do very quickly. By using this technique, the computer is able to subtract one number from another simply by adding the two's complement of the value to the first value. In this way the processor is able to perform two different kinds of math using basically the same internal circuitry. Just to show that this really does work, let's change the negative 5 back into a positive 5, using the same steps. Here goes: Before changing (-5): 11111011 After changing: 00000100 Now, add 1: 00000100 + 1 --------- 00000101 There you have it! We've converted 5 to -5 and back to 5, using the same technique employed by your computer. With this information under your belt, it will be much easier to understand overflow flags and the like when you are working on the assembly language level. In 8086/8088 assembly language, the "NEG" instruction performs the two's complement for you. The Programmer's Calculator produces the same result with the "Change Sign" command. Two's Complement Numbers 134 of 143 Appendix C - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - ------------ Appendix C ------------ For Those New to MS-DOS: ======================== Due to space limitations, this information appears only in the printed User's Guide which comes with the registered version. Directories and Paths: A Brief Tutorial 135 of 143 Appendix D - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - ------------ Appendix D ------------ Background Information: ======================= Due to space limitations, this information appears only in the printed User's Guide which comes with the registered version. Background Information 136 of 143 Appendix E - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - ------------ Appendix E ------------ Sources for Additional Information: =================================== Due to space limitations, this information appears only in the printed User's Guide which comes with the registered version. Sources for Additional Information 137 of 143 Appendix F - Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.60 - ------------ Appendix F ------------ What is Falk Data Systems? ========================== Falk Data Systems is a small software company owned and operated by Bob Falk. At Falk Data Systems we believe that the PRIMARY purpose of business is service, not profit. This concept is fundamental to our approach to product development, production and marketing. Falk Data Systems has been producing top quality computer software at reasonable prices, continuously, since 1987. Please feel free to contact me (Bob Falk) at any time if you have any questions, comments or suggestions. I can be reached by mail at the following address: Bob Falk Falk Data Systems 5322 Rockwood Court El Paso, Texas 79932-2412 U.S.A. I can also be reached by voice or electronically as follows: Phone: (915) 584-7670 FAX: (915) 584-1540 Orders Only: (800) 326-5615 CompuServe: 71420,2431 Internet: 71420.2431@COMPUSERVE.COM Other Products From Falk Data Systems: ====================================== Please refer to the PRODUCTS.DOC text file for a complete list of other products available from Falk Data Systems. Other Products From Falk Data Systems 138 of 143 --- INDEX --- A Capture Screen to disk 44, 57, Add 48 65 Advanced options menu 114 Carry flag 50, 131 Alt-Q 103, 122 Change Bits (^C) 37, 45 AND 49, 128 Change Hot Key 39, 44, 76, 84, ANSWERS.DOC 11 85, 112 ASCII and Color Attribute Change Sign (^-) 45, 129, 134 Chart 52 Circular queue See: Linked Reference Guide 55-57 list Tutorial 53-54 Clear All (^A) 45, 47, 48 ASCII poster 15 Clear Entry (^E) 46, 49 ASP 2 Click sound 113 Ombudsman 2 Clipper 61, 63 Assembly language 35, 42, 51, Color attribute set 105 134 Colors menu 104 Attachments 52, 55, 57, 65 Command line AUTOEXEC.BAT 29 DOS 20 Command line parameters 26, B 99, 100, 102 Background task 10, 25, 61 -U 26 Batch files 29 ProSwap 21 BCD See: Binary Coded Decimal -? 24 Beep Sound 113 -D 22 Benefits 2 -E 22 Binary Coded Decimal 51 -H 22 Binary format 34, 36, 40, 42, -M 23 43, 45 -N 23 Binary numbers 108, 124, 125, -P 23 133 -S 24 Bit level operations 49 -T 23 Bit manipulation facility 37, -U 24 45 -X 24 Bits 37, 45, 49, 124 Communications programs 20 Blank screen 46, 54, 66, 119 CompuServe 2 Bypassing 18 Conflicts with other TSR's 29 Bytes 124, 127, 133 Control Center 26, 85 Customizing 110, 112 C Menu 76 Calculator and Attachments 33, Reference Guide 76-82 85, 112 Tutorial #1 68-71 Calculator menu 42, 108 Tutorial #2 72-75 Cancel Changes 101, 103, 122 Copy screen to file 79 Ctrl-@ 44 Falk Data Systems 139 of 143 --- INDEX --- Current value 46, 48, 49 Fractions 128 Custom attribute set 105 Custom colors menu 106 G Customizing program See: Get status info 80, 92 PCustom Grab box Change size 94, 116 D Color 116 dBASE 58, 61 Move 93 DEBUG 21 Graphics mode 20, 31 Decimal format 34, 36, 37, 40, Gray scale attribute set 105 43, 125 Decimal point 49, 128 H Delete Digit 49 Hard Disk 19 DESQview 10, 21, 25 Hardware Interrupt Handlers 20 Disable disk parking 46 HEAP 17 Divide 49 Hexadecimal format 14, 34, 37, DOS ERRORLEVEL 29 40, 43, 45, 46 DOS Shell 19, 20 High memory 20 DOS version 3.0 19 Hot key Double word 127 Tips 44, 84 Dual monitor systems 6, 13 Hot Keys menu 111 E I EDLIN 21 INKEY() 58, 61, 63 EMS memory 6, 7, 16, 17, 19, Insert a Value (^I) 46 30, 31, 119 Installation 10 End-of-line characters 95 Floppy disk 11 Enhanced keyboard 14, 48, 61, Hard disk 11 64, 84 Integer division 48 Environment block 17 Intermediate value 46, 48, 49 Error messages 30, 109 Internal stacks 17 Error sound 101, 113 ISR 20 ERRORLEVEL 29 Exchange Double Words See: K XCHG DD KEY extension 74, 75, 78, 92, Exchange Words See: XCHG DW 118 Exclusive OR See: XOR Keyboard 13 Exit PCustom 103, 121 Keyboard interrupt 14, 48 Exit the ASCII Chart 54, 57 KeyRef 52, 58 Exit the Calculator 46, 47 Keystroke Playback Delay 73, Exit The Control Center 71 77, 85, 91, 118 Exit The Keystroke Reference Keystroke Recordings Center 59, 65 Delete 79, 92 Extended characters 56, 69 Limits 90 List 77, 91 F Memory 119 F11 and F12 84 Merge 92 Filter See: Screen Capture, Playback 85, 91 114 Read from file 78, 86, 92, Final result 47, 48, 49 118 FoxBase 61 Reference Guide 89-95 Falk Data Systems 140 of 143 --- INDEX --- Replace 92 Multitasking version 7, 10, Start 85, 90 25, 47 Stop 85, 90 Tutorial 72 N Write to file 78, 91 Name Keystroke Reference Center 52, changing 18, 26 109 NEG 129, 134 Reference Guide 61-65 Negative to positive 45 Tutorial 58-60 Network shells 20 Nibble 127 L Non-Registered Users 3 License 1 Normal messages 111 Linked list See: Recursion NOT 50, 129, 133 Loading ProPak 16 Numeric Format 43, 114 Logical operations 49, 128 Switching 37, 43 Numeric Mode 45, 114 M NumLock 14, 34, 48, 56, 59 Marketing 138 Mathematical operations 47 O Memory Octal format 34, 40, 43 conserving 7 Ombudsman 2 EMS 6, 7, 16, 19 OmniView 6, 10, 25 high 20 One's complement 133 XMS 6, 7, 19 Opening screen Memory requirements 7 Bypassing 18 Memory-resident version 7, 10, OR 50, 129 16, 17, 46, 61 Overlay buffer 17, 120 Memory slots 46, 47 Supplement 120 Memory Usage Info 18 Overlay file 7, 16, 17, 30, Miscellaneous 118 31, 119 Missing overlay file 30 Modes See: Video modes P Modifier keys 13, 44 Park Disk(s) and Blank Screen Modify Current Settings 46, 54, 57, 66, 66-67 submenu 83 PCustom 100 Modify Options 77 Alt-Q 122 Reference Guide 83-88 Cancel Changes 122 Tutorial 68 Reference Guide 102-122 Modulus 49 Save changes 121 Monitors Select 122 Black-and-white 12, 100, Tutorial 100-101 102, 106 PCustom.EXE 10 Color 12, 55, 105 PCustom menus Gas plasma 12, 100, 102 Advanced options menu 114 Gray scale 12, 100, 102, Colors menu 104 105, 106 Custom colors menu 106 LCD 12, 100, 102 Exit PCustom menu 121 Monochrome 12, 105, 106 Hot Keys menu 111 Moving the display 51, 64 Main menu 104 Multiply 48 Sound effects menu 113 Multitasking system 20, 25, 61 Pick list 46, 47 Falk Data Systems 141 of 143 --- INDEX --- Playback See: Keystroke Rotate Left See: ROL Recordings Rotate Right See: ROR Pop-Up DOS Shell See: DOS Rotate through the Carry Left Shell See: RCL Customizing 113 Rotate through the Carry Right PopCalc 29 See: RCR Portability Note 58, 59, 64 Positive to negative 45 S Poster See: ASCII Poster SAL 51, 130 PRINT 28, 71, 77, 98, 119 SAR 51, 130 Print facility 80 Save a Value (^S) 46 Reference Guide 98-99 Scan code 58, 61, 63 Tutorial 68 SCN extension 44, 53, 57, 70, ProComm 20 96, 115 Program Segment Prefix 16 Screen Blank Programmer's Calculator Clock 111 Customizing 107, 114 Screen Capture 44, 57, 65, 114 Reference Guide 40-52 Filter method 87 Tutorial 33-39 Reference Guide 96-97 ProSwap 19 Tutorial 68 Screen Grabber 85, 91, 93, 111 Q Tutorial 73 QEMM 20 Screen Refresh (^R) 47 QRAM 20 ScrollLock 59 QuickSilver 61 Shareware 1, 2 Quit PCustom 103, 121 Shift Arithmetic Left See: SAL Quit the ASCII Chart 54, 57 Shift Arithmetic Right See: Quit the Calculator 46, 47 SAR Quit The Control Center 71 Shift keys 13 Quit The Keystroke Reference Shift Left See: SHL Center 59, 65 Shift Right See: SHR SHL 50, 130 R Show Result 49 RAM 7 SHR 50, 130 RAM Disk 19 Sidekick version 16, 27 Range of values 40 Sign bit 133 RCL 50, 131 Signed mode 37, 40, 42, 45, 47 RCR 51, 131 Signed numbers 127, 133 Read/Write heads 46 Sound effects menu 113 Recursion See: Circular queue Stacks See: Internal stacks Recycled Paper 3 Stand-alone version 19, 25 Registered Users 1, 3 Start recording keystrokes 85 Registration 1, 3 Starting PCustom 102 Remainder 49 Status bytes 59 Rename 18, 26 Stop recording keystrokes 85 Replacement character 115 Subtract 48 Returning to the Calculator Supplement 120 52, 57, 65 Swapping 19 ROL 50, 131 Swapping Message 111 ROR 50, 131 System requirements 6 Falk Data Systems 142 of 143 --- INDEX --- T Unsafe to pop up 31 TAPCIS 20 Unsafe to unload 39 TaskView 6, 10, 25 Unsigned mode 37, 41, 42, 45, Technical Support 1 47 Text mode 31 Unsigned numbers 127, 133 386MAX 20 Updates 3 TIP 44, 69, 76, 77, 78, 79, 81, 84, 87, 92, 102, 103, V 124 Video Toggle Adapters 6 Bits 45 Video modes Modes 42, 47 Display height 13 Toggle Sign Mode (^T) 47 Display width 13 Trigger Key 72, 73, 74, 75, Graphics 13, 20 77, 79, 86, 87, 89, 90, 91, Text 13 92 Virtual screen 25 Truth tables 128-130 Try-before-you-buy 1 W Two line cursor 120 Warranty 1 Two's complement 133, 134 Word 127 Two seconds 31 X U XCHG DD 51 Unblank screen 46 XCHG DW 51 Unload from memory 47, 81 XMS memory 6, 7, 19 Unloading ProPak 26, 81 XOR 50, 130 Unpark disk 46 Falk Data Systems 143 of 143