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SoapBox Writer Version 1.00 Copyright 1988-1989 SoapBox Software, All Rights Reserved SoapBox Writer Page One Welcome to SoapBox Writer! This is a word processor written in the belief that most people don't need a program that takes up a megabyte of disk space and comes in an expensive, ten pound package. Don't miss understand that statement. Products such as WordPerfect and Microsoft Word do have their place. SoapBox Writer is a word processing program perfect for the person who wants a simple to use interface, a small program that will run even on a basic 256 kilobyte IBM compatible. The fact that SBW can provide either a WordStar (tm) compatible file or a clean ASCII file that can be imported into Aldus Pagemaker (tm) or Xerox Ventura Publisher (tm) without a hassle is a plus for folks who use those programs. SoapBox Writer meets those needs. Originally designed for a friend with a one diskette drive IBM PCjr and only 256kb of RAM, the same program is perfect for the laptop owner. One program can perform editing duties on a batch file one minute and create a detailed report of an important meeting the next. That means fewer diskettes to carry and fewer commands to learn. Speaking of commands, SoapBox Writer has multiple levels. Use the pulldown menus for an easy to use guide to the most used features or keep your fingers flying by using the familiar commands made well-known by WordStar. If you wish, a combination of both works just fine. If you are using IBM DOS 4.0 or another product that follows that SAA guidelines, you'll like that the same F10 key used in the DOS shell to pulldown the menu, works here. The F3 key allows you to exit the program cleanly and hitting the ESCape key drops you back a level. The folks at SoapBox Software Company hope you like our latest shareware offering and will register your copy soon. Please feel free to give a full copy to your friends for them to try. This version of SBW is not a limited demonstration copy or crippled so that you can not fully enjoy it. We hope that you will transmit your thoughts, either electronically to us on Compuserve or at the address listed in the manual. Thank you for trying SoapBox Writer. SoapBox Software Bob Perry [72300,654] Saul Ehrmann [71750,3604] SoapBox Writer Page Two INSTALLATION SoapBox Writer (SBW) is easy to install. There are no long programs included to create directories and load file after file on your disk (fixed or floppy). You don't need one. There are only a few files to copy and you can do it faster that most any program could. Your disk includes the following files: SBW.COM (the main program file) SBW.000 (the overlay file--must be in the same place as the program file or nothing will run.) SBWERROR.MSG (the error message file--SBW will run without but won't give verbal reasons for any errors, just a code.) Those three files are all that's required for a full working copy. Even on a 360 kilobyte floppy diskette, you have over 200kb of room! There are four more files including on the release disk: 1989.DOC (Some legal things we want you to be aware of.) README.1st (A small text file you can "type" or read in SBW that contains the latest comments on the current release or notes on things we have found.) MANUAL.DOC (The file you are looking at. The short guide to using SoapBox Writer.) SBWSTRIP.COM (A quick utility to provide a clean ASCII file by stripping out the control codes used by SoapBox Writer. This program will also work on WordStar files. We have tested WordStar files from versions up to and including their version 4.0.) OK? Got everything? Good, let's get going! SoapBox Writer Page Three For floppy diskette users: At the "A>" prompt, type in the command: COPY a:SBW*.* b: . If you only have one floppy (a Toshiba T1000, a PCjr, or whatever) type: COPY a:SBW*.* a: and switch diskettes until done. For hard disk owners: At the "C:\>" prompt, type in the command: MD \SBW . Then, type: CD \SBW to change directories. Now type: COPY a:SBW*.* . This will copy the required files (and the manual) to the directory \SBW. (Yes, users of MS/PC-DOS version 3.2 or higher can type: XCOPY a:SBW*.* c:\SBW, tell the program it is a directory when prompted and copy the same files to the same directory.) The directory need not be \SBW to run. Use your imagination. SoapBox Writer knows what kind of video hardware your computer has and adjusts itself. SBW supports CGA, EGA, VGA and monochrome graphics such as Hercules(tm) video adapters provide. Even laptop users find SBW easy to read. SoapBox Writer Page Four STARTING THE PROGRAM You can start SoapBox Writer by changing to the directory \SBW and typing "SBW". This will bring up the start-up screen and ask you for a filename to load. If you have a name in mind or have already started a file, type it in using the DOS filename structure of up to eight letters-a dot or period-and a three letter extension. The use of the extension is completely optional as SBW does not add any extension of it's own. The rule of thumb here is: If it makes sense to you, it's alright. Don't feel pressured to come up with a filename yet. By pressing ENTER, you may start with a clean screen and an untitled file. Later, when you go to save your work, you will have the chance to name it. If you already know the name of the file you wish to edit and don't need to see the start-up screen, type SBW <filename> at the DOS prompt and SoapBox Writer will load it and be ready to go. SoapBox Writer Page Five USING THE PROGRAM MENUS Now (one way or another) you are facing your video display and a pulldown menu. Press the F10 key and the menu is highlighted. Press ENTER or the first letter of one of the menu selections and the menu drops down. Use the cursor keys to move across or down the menu(s) and use the ENTER key to select a choice or type the capital letter shown on the menu. The commands used the most-- (Open File, Close File, Save, Quit) are all grouped under the first menu heading "File". The other menu selections cover things like blocking text for ease of editing, spell checking and searching for a phrase or word in your text. Let's look at the menu choices one at a time: FILE OPEN FILE Retrieve an existing file or start a new file. At the prompt for a filename enter the name for a file already stored or press the ESC key to begin with a blank page and an untitled new file. Entering a filename not found in the directory will result in a message telling you that the file is new and asking if you wish to continue. CLOSE FILE To exit a file and begin a new one. Upon choosing this item you will be asked if you wish to save your changes. If you answer "Y" for yes, and filename has already been chosen, SBW will write the current file and prompt you for the next file to edit. Pressing the ESC key will allow you to begin a new file. or enter the name of an existing file. SAVE Use this selection for saving your work in progress. There is also a QWK-key for this choice: press the F6 function key to save your file without needing to invoke the menu. Remember that frequent saving of a file lessens the chance of losing work when a power loss or other calamity happens. SAVE AS... If you wish to save your edit file under a different name, use this. Great for noting different revisions. A note for Aldus Pagemaker users: Save your document to be placed in Pagemaker as a ".DOC" extension. Use the WordStar v. 3.3 option in "Place" to correctly filter your file from SoapBox Writer. DIRECTORY OF FILES Call up a directory of files. Use the optional mask to specify only certain files. SoapBox Writer Page Six WORKING DIRECTORY Change the directory that SBW looks in for your files. PRINT FILE Print the current file or another file in the background while you continue to edit normally. COPY FILE Save a file to another name or drive or directory. Allows you to perform the DOS copy function without exiting SBW. RENAME FILE Change the filename of any file. Another DOS function. ERASE FILE Deletes any file. A DOS function. QUIT SOAPBOX WRITER Exit program after prompt to save changes to file. The QWK-key for this function is the F3 key. If the edit file has been changed since the last save, SBW will ask if you want to "Save Changes?" before exiting. BLOCK BEGIN Mark the beginning of the block. QWK-key is F7. END Mark the end of the block. QWK-key is F8. After marking the block it is highlighted. COPY Allows you to repeat the marked block. MOVE Move the marked block to a different part of the file closing the gap left behind. READ Read a marked block from another file. If there are no blocks marked in other file, entire file is read in. Perfect for boilerplate letters. WRITE Writes block to a filename. DELETE Erases marked block. HIDE/SHOW Toggles marked block invisible or visible. SPELL CHECK Optional. If Borland's Turbo Lightning is memory resident, performs spell check. (See manual under Spell Check for more information.) Error message appears if program if not loaded. SoapBox Writer Page Seven ABOUT SOAPBOX WRITER Find information on version of program, notes and addresses to contact us. SEARCH FIND Searches text of file for a word or phrase. Using the available options makes a search easier. Options(*): N = finding 'N' occurrences Useful to locate the next ten occurrences or search the entire file without using the "next" command. Hint: Use a number greater than the number of words in your file (99999999, for instance) to insure that FIND will find all occurrences of your string. B = searching Backward Use to reverse the usual order of the search. "Find" will start any cursor location and proceed toward the beginning of the file. Hint: Searching backwards through a long file may produce a "disk-full" error if your file is very long. To search the entire file, return to the top of the file first. W = Whole words only The option W will make FIND search for whole words only. For example, CURRENTLY contains the character string CURRENT and a standard search will locate this word, unless you specify the Whole word option. U = Upper or lower-case Use this option to have FIND search for the string in lower or upper case. The default search is case-sensitive. (*) These options work with both FIND and FIND/REPLACE. FIND/REPLACE Find a word or phrase and replace it with a different word or phrase. Options: N = No approval needed Use this option to replace character string without prompting. The default is to ask you before replacement. SoapBox Writer Page Eight G = Global replacement Use G to search your entire file, from beginning to end. The cursor returns automatically to the start of the file to search. You will be prompted before each replacement. After answering 'Y' or 'N', the cursor moves to the next occurrence; you needn't use the NEXT command. There are two variations on the Global command: 1. When you choose the global option (G) along with the backwards option (B), SoapBox Writer sends the cursor to the end of the file and begins the search from there to the beginning. 2. If you use the global option (G) in conjunction with the no-approval option (N), SBW will go to the first character in your file and change each occurrence of the string, moving on to the next without asking your approval. NEXT Look for the next occurrence of selected word or phrase in file. GO TO TOP OF FILE Allows quick movement to top of selected file. End of file Cursor goes to the bottom of selected file. Begin block Cursor goes to beginning of marked block. end blocK Cursor goes to the end of the marked block. Line Send cursor to selected line number in file. Column Send cursor to selected column. Go marker Cursor goes to selected marked. Set marker Set marker in file. Up to nine markers may be set. SoapBox Writer Page Nine DEFAULTS These settings allow you to customize your workspace to the way you like a word processor to act. Changes can be made for the editing session only or made permanent by saving the settings. (You can change them "permanently" again later, don't worry.) Insert ON allows you to insert characters in a line. Toggling the INS key changes this feature temporarily. Word wrap ON wraps your words at the right margin when on. Auto indent OFF allows you to indent at the beginning of a paragraph. Left margin: 1 set to where the line should start. Right margin: 65 set to where the line should end. Tab size: 5 how far indents and tabs go in spaces. Undo limit: 20 the ESC key recalls deleted text. Adjust how many characters you can recall here. Save settings Save your settings directly to the program. WINDOW Select If you have more than one window open, you can toggle between them from the menu. The "QWK-key" is F9. Open Open an editing window up to 16 columns. Close Close unwanted editing window. SoapBox Writer Page Ten Having looked at the menu choices, let's examine the commands that wait for you on the keyboard. As we have done through out the manual, the " ^ " or carat stands for the CTRL key on the keyboard. __________________________________________________________________ SOAPBOX WRITER "QWK"-KEY COMMAND CHART __________________________________________________________________ COMMAND DESCRIPTION __________________________________________________________________ ^A LEFT WORD Moves cursor to the left one word. ^S LEFT CHARACTER Moves cursor one character to left. ^D RIGHT CHARACTER Moves cursor one character to right. ^F RIGHT WORD Moves cursor to the right one word. ^E UP LINE Moves cursor up one line. ^X DOWN LINE Moves cursor down one line. ^R UP PAGE Moves cursor up one complete page. ^C DOWN PAGE Moves cursor down one complete page. ^W SCROLL UP Scrolls cursor up screen. ^N INSERT LINE Adds new line at cursor. ^G / DEL DELETE CHARACTER Removes character from screen. BKSP BACKSPACE Moves cursor back over existing line. TAB TAB Moves cursor number of spaces set in "DEFAULTS" menu under tab size. ^T DELETE WORD Deletes word at cursor. ^Y DELETE LINE Deletes entire line at cursor. ^B REFORMAT PARAGRAPH Rejustifies current paragraph. ^V / INS TOGGLE INSERT MODE Switch between insert & overwrite. ^L FIND NEXT When searching for text, looks for next occurrence. ^J BEGINNING /END OF LINE Moves cursor to one end of current line or the other, depending on position of cursor. HOME BEGINNING OF LINE Moves cursor to beginning of current line. END END OF LINE Moves cursor to end of current line. ^P INSERT CHARACTER BY ASCII Add ASCII code after command to insert character in document. ^OO OPEN NEW WINDOW Opens new editing window. ^OL SET LEFT MARGIN Brings up menu to set left margin. ^OR SET RIGHT MARGIN Brings up menu to set right margin. ^OC CENTER LINE Centers current line of text on page. ^OK CHANGE CASE Changes case of letter at cursor. ^OS SET UNDO LIMIT Change number of characters that can be undone by hitting ESC key. ^OW TOGGLE WORDWRAP Changes mode of wordwrap on or off. ^OG / F9 GOTO OTHER WINDOW Works when second editing window is active to toggle between windows. ^OI GOTO COLUMN Brings up menu to move cursor to column number on screen. SoapBox Writer Page Eleven SOAPBOX QWK-KEY COMMANDS (continued) ^ON GOTO LINE Brings up menu to move cursor to line nmuber on screen. ^OY CLOSE WINDOW Closes editing window. ESC UNDO LAST CHANGE Brings back characters deleted from screen. F2 SPELL CHECK If Turbo Lightning is present, begins spell check (Optional). F3 EXIT PROGRAM Exits SoapBox Writer after inquiring on saving work. F6 SAVE FILE Performs write to disk of current file. F7 START BLOCK Marks the beginning of a block of text. F8 END BLOCK Marks end of block. F9 GOTO OTHER WINDOW Works when second editing window is active to toggle between windows. F10 ACTIVATE MENUS Allows access to pulldown menus. ^QS TO LEFT OF LINE Go to left of current line. ^QD TO RIGHT OF LINE Go to right of current line. ^QJ JUMP TO MARKER Go to marker in text. ^QI TOGGLE AUTOINDENT Allows for automatic indenting of paragraphs during editing. ^QR TO TOP OF FILE Go to top line of current file. ^QC TO END OF FILE Go to bottom line of current file. ^QB TO BEGIN OF BLOCK Go to start of marked block of text. ^QK TO END OF BLOCK Go to end of marked block of text. ^Q1 JUMP TO MARKER 1 Go to marker #1. ^Q2 JUMP TO MARKER 2 Go to marker #2. ... ... ... ^Q9 JUMP TO MARKER 9 Go to marker #9. ^QY DELETE LINE RIGHT Delete text to the right of cursor. ^QF FIND PATTERN Search text for word or phrase. ^QA FIND & REPLACE Search text for word or phrase and replace with other word or phrase. ^KS SAVE FILE & RESUME Saves current file without exiting. ^KD SAVE & OPEN FILE Saves current file & opens new file. ^KX EXIT TO DOS Exits SoapBox Writer after inquiring about saving current file. ^KQ ABANDON & OPEN FILE Closes file without saving and opens new file. ^K1 SET MARKER 1 Sets marker 1 in text. ^K2 SET MARKER 2 Sets marker 2 in text. ... ... ... ^K9 SET MARKER 9 Sets marker 9 in text. ^KB BEGIN BLOCK Marks beginning of block of text. ^KK END BLOCK Marks end of block of text. ^KH HIDE BLOCK Hides marked block of text from view. ^KC COPY BLOCK Copies marked block of text. ^KV MOVE BLOCK Moves marked block of text to new location in file. ^KY DELETE BLOCK Erases marked block of text from file. ^KW WRITE BLOCK Writes marked block of text. ^KR READ BLOCK Read marked block of text from file. ^KM SET MARKER Sets marker in text. (Like ^K1..^K9 but asks for number. ^KT DEFINE TAB WIDTH Sets size of tab. ^KL SPELL CHECK (Optional) If Turbo Lightning is present, begins check of spelling. ALT-F6 THESAURUS (Optional) If Turbo Lightning is present, checks word at cursor. SoapBox Writer Page Twelve SOAPBOX WRITER QWK-KEY COMMANDS (continued) [Print Commands] ^PS UNDERLINE Underlines all characters bracketed by this command. ^PD DOUBLE STRIKE Double strikes all characters bracketed by this command, producing a light boldface. ^PB BOLDFACE Boldfaces all characters bracketed by this command. ^PX STRIKEOUT Prints hyphens (----) over all charcters (not spaces) bracketed by this command. ^PH OVERSTRIKE Causes next character to print over character in same column. ^P (CR) OVERSTRIKE LINE Causes next line to print over current line. (CR) means carriage return. ^PY COLOR CHANGE If printer is equipped for color, prints characters bracketed by command in alternate ribbon color. ^PV SUBSCRIPT If printer allows, prints characters bracketed by command a fractional line below other text, producing subscript. ^PT SUPERSCRIPT If printer allows, prints characters bracketed by command a fractional line above other text, producing superscript. ^PF PHANTOM CHARACTER For some letter quality printers, prints a character not seen on keyboard. ^PG PHANTOM RUBOUT For some letter quality printers, prints a character not seen on keyboard. [Page Layout] ^PA SET PITCH (ELITE) For letter quality printers, sets pitch at 12 characters per inch (elite). ^PN SET PITCH (PICA) For letter quality printers, sets pitch at 10 characters per inch (pica). ^PO DO NOT SEPARATE Inserts a non-break space between two characters, preventing word wrap or paragraph reformatting from separating two words. ^PI INSERT TAB Inserts a fixed-tab space, eight characters wide. ^PJ INSERT LINE FEED Inserts a line feed while printing present line. ^PL INSERT PAGE BREAK Inserts a page break while printing present line. SoapBox Writer does not support WordStar(tm) DOT (.) printer commands. SoapBox Writer Page Thirteen Legal Stuff SoapBox Writer is a copyrighted, commerical software package, protected by United States law and international treaty provisions. It is neither free nor in the public domain. Shareware copies of SoapBox Writer downloaded from a bulletin board system or on-line service may be "packaged" differently from diskette versions purchased directly from SoapBox Software. However, the files listed below must be included, unaltered, in any compressed archival file: README.1ST Last minute changes or other comments on this release. MANUAL.DOC The manual for SoapBox Writer. SBW.COM The program file SBW.000 The overlay file SBWERROR.MSG The error message file SBWSTRIP.COM A SoapBox Software Utility for converting SBW format files to ASCII. You are granted a thirty day evaluation period to try SoapBox Writer. If you wish to continue to use the program after that time, we request that the fee of $29.95 U.S. be sent via check or money order to our mailing address: Product Registration SoapBox Software Box 17998 Boulder, CO 80308 This is how "Shareware" works as a marketing concept. Try before you buy. Registration provides you with a registered version of the program, two free upgrades and notice of future upgrades; gives you access to technical support; and supports the shareware concept. We hope that you will make copies of the unregistered version of SoapBox Writer and its files to pass along to friends or bulletin board systems (BBS). SoapBox Software wishes that you only use Phil Katz's fine PKZIP/PKUNZIP utility to compress our files and that the resulting file use the ".ZIP" extension. PKWare's shareware programs deserve your support and are available from the better on-line services and BBS's. (PKWare and Mr. Katz is in no way connected with SoapBox Software, we just like his work.) WordStar, Turbo Lighting, PKZIP and other trademarks used in our manual and/or notes are the registered trademarks of their respective companies.