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Autosave
Version 1.0
User's Guide
Autosave 1.0 User's Guide
(c) Copyright 1987 Biologic Company
All Rights Reserved
Biologic Company
P.O. Box 1267
Manassas, VA 22110
703-368-2949
Disclaimer of Warranty
Biologic company excludes any and all implied
warranties, including warranties of merchantability
and fitness for a particular purpose. Biologic
does not make any warranty of representation,
either express or implied, with respect to this
software program, its quality, performance,
merchantability, or fitness for a particular
purpose. Biologic shall not have any liability for
special, incidental, or consequential damages
arising out of or resulting from the use of this
program.
Introduction
Autosave helps you avoid losing your current
worksheet or document due to power failure or other
mishap by automatically saving it at regular time
intervals.
How It Works
When started, Autosave remains resident in
memory as you use your spreadsheet program or word
processor. After a few minutes, it waits for a
moment of keyboard inactivity and automatically
enters the keystrokes necessary to save your file.
Autosave doesn't do anything else. Your program
interprets the keystrokes (just as if you had
entered them yourself), saves the file, and returns
you to the point where you left off. Autosave
continues to save your work every few minutes until
you exit the program.
Requirements
Autosave is compatible with almost all programs.
It's flexible because it doesn't save your file; it
enters the keys that instruct your spreadsheet or
word processor to save a file. When starting
Autosave, you must tell it what keystrokes will
save your document and that sequence of keys must
work at any time in the program.
Autosave works best when used with a hard disk.
Since a file can be written to a hard disk
relatively quickly, "autosaving" your file every
few minutes shouldn't be an inconvenience. Floppy
drives are much slower, though, and it may be
better to manually save your work only when you
feel it's necessary.
Starting Autosave
Format
Begin by typing "autosave" followed by required
and optional parameters. The last entry on the
command line should be the command you normally use
to start your spreadsheet program or word
processor, including the name of the file to be
edited, if appropriate.
Example
If you normally type "123" to start Lotus 123,
"123" should be entered at the end of the Autosave
command line:
AUTOSAVE (parameters) 123
(Note: The file name entered at the end of the
Autosave command must be a COM or EXE file; it
cannot be a BAT file.)
Parameters begin with a hyphen and a lower-case
letter; the corresponding upper-case letter will
have no effect. All parameters are required,
unless indicated as optional, and can be entered in
any order.
The complete format for the command line is:
AUTOSAVE -kn[,n...,*,n...] [-f<name>] [-in]
[-tn] [-u] <program>
(Note: The character n represents any allowable
number--see below.)
Parameters
-k This parameter tells Autosave the
sequence of keys that save a file. Keys are
specified using numbers (see table in appendix),
and separated by commas. An asterisk can be used
to indicate the point at which the file name, as
specified by the -f parameter, is entered.
Example
With 123, you save a file by typing /FS,
entering the file name, and pressing ENTER. If the
file already exists, you also have to press R to
confirm the save. Listed below is a sequence of
keys to save a file in 123:
47,70,83,*,13,82
To ensure that this sequence of keystrokes will
save a file even when in a menu, a few ESCs are
added to the beginning. In addition, an ESC is
appended to the end to erase the R that will be
displayed if the file does not already exist:
27,27,27,27,27,27,47,70,83,*,13,82,27
The command to start 123 with autosave is shown
below:
AUTOSAVE
-k27,27,27,27,27,27,47,70,83,*,13,82,27 -fsave
123
(note: Use a batch file to avoid entering this
command every time you start 123. See the section
on batch files below.)
Example
When using PC-Write, you can save your file by
pressing F1 and then F3. Use the command below to
automatically save your file while using PC-Write:
AUTOSAVE -k315,317 ed <filename>
(note: It's important to use a key sequence that
works at all times regardless of what you're doing
in your program. This may take a little
experimentation and testing.)
-f (optional)
Specifies the file name to be included in the key
sequence in place of the asterisk. In the example
for 123, above, the file is saved as "save.wk1".
If the list of keys specified by -k includes an
asterisk, this parameter is required.
-i (optional)
Sets the length of idle time (in seconds) that must
occur before Autosave will save a file. If you set
the idle time to 20, your file will be saved after
you have not pressed a key for at least 20 seconds.
This is useful if you do not want to be interrupted
while typing or, for example, when selecting a
Lotus 123 command. If you do not indicate an
idle time, Autosave will use a default time of 60
seconds.
Example
AUTOSAVE -i20 (other parameters)
(Note: this option is supported in the registered
version only.)
-t (optional)
Sets the minimum time interval (in minutes) between
saves. Autosave will wait this length of time
before checking for sufficient idle time to save
the file. If you do not specify a minimum time
interval, a default of 5 minutes will be used.
Example
With idle time set to 20 and the minimum time
interval set to 0, your work will be saved every
time your keyboard is idle for 20 seconds. If you
set the idle time to 20 and the minimum time
interval to 10, your work will be saved after an
idle time of 20 seconds, provided at least 10
minutes has passed since the last save.
AUTOSAVE -i20 -t10 (other parameters)
(Note: this option is supported in the registered
version only.)
-u (optional)
Displays help screen.
Using a Batch File
Obviously, you won't want to type the entire
Autosave command line every time you use your
spreadsheet program or word processor. A simple
solution is to set up a one line batch file with
the Autosave command in it for each program. Give
it a short name, like "1.bat" for Lotus 123, and
put it in the directory with your program files.
Be sure to put "autosave.exe" in this directory
also, or include the directory where Autosave is
located in the PATH string (read about the PATH
command in your DOS manual).
The appendix has sample batch files for a few
popular programs.
Using Autosave
Although Autosave writes your file to disk every
few minutes, you should save your work, as you
normally do, when exiting. Autosave does not
automatically save your file when you exit a
program.
In the example for Lotus 123 discussed previously,
Autosave saves the worksheet under the name
"save.wk1" in the default directory. The worksheet
you are working on may have any name, "foo.wk1" for
example. If for some reason you lose your work,
"save.wk1" will contain the most recent copy of
your worksheet. Just retrieve it, and save it as
"foo.wk1".
Appendix
Key Codes
Code Key Code Key Code Key Code Key
8 Backspace 75 K 306 Alt-M 366 Alt-F7
9 Tab 76 L 315 F1 367 Alt-F8
13 Enter 77 M 316 F2 368 Alt-F9
27 Esc 78 N 317 F3 369 Alt-F10
32 Space 79 O 318 F4 373 Ctrl-End
33 ! 80 P 319 F5 374 Ctrl-PgDn
34 " 81 Q 320 F6 375 Ctrl-Home
35 # 82 R 321 F7 376 Alt-1
36 $ 83 S 322 F8 377 Alt-2
37 % 84 T 323 F9 378 Alt-3
38 & 85 U 324 F10 379 Alt-4
39 ' 86 V 327 Home 380 Alt-5
40 ( 87 W 328 Cursor Up 381 Alt-6
41 ) 88 X 329 PgUp 382 Alt-7
42 * 89 Y 331 Cursor Left 383 Alt-8
43 + 90 Z 333 Cursor Right 384 Alt-9
44 , 91 [ 335 End 385 Alt-0
45 - 92 \ 336 Cursor Down 386 Alt-Hyphen
46 . 93 ] 337 PgDn 387 Alt-=
47 / 94 ^ 338 Ins 388 Ctrl-PgUp
48 0 95 _ 339 Del 513 Ctrl-A
49 1 96 ` 340 Shift-F1 514 Ctrl-B
50 2 272 Alt-Q 341 Shift-F2 515 Ctrl-C
51 3 273 Alt-W 342 Shift-F3 516 Ctrl-D
52 4 274 Alt-E 343 Shift-F4 517 Ctrl-E
53 5 275 Alt-R 344 Shift-F5 518 Ctrl-F
54 6 276 Alt-T 345 Shift-F6 519 Ctrl-G
55 7 277 Alt-Y 346 Shift-F7 520 Ctrl-H
56 8 278 Alt-U 347 Shift-F8 521 Ctrl-I
57 9 279 Alt-I 348 Shift-F9 522 Ctrl-J
58 : 280 Alt-O 349 Shift-F10 523 Ctrl-K
59 ; 281 Alt-P 350 Ctrl-F1 524 Ctrl-L
60 < 286 Alt-A 351 Ctrl-F2 525 Ctrl-M
61 = 287 Alt-S 352 Ctrl-F3 526 Ctrl-N
62 > 288 Alt-D 353 Ctrl-F4 527 Ctrl-O
63 ? 289 Alt-F 354 Ctrl-F5 528 Ctrl-P
64 @ 290 Alt-G 355 Ctrl-F6 529 Ctrl-Q
65 A 291 Alt-H 356 Ctrl-F7 530 Ctrl-R
66 B 292 Alt-J 357 Ctrl-F8 531 Ctrl-S
67 C 293 Alt-K 358 Ctrl-F9 532 Ctrl-T
68 D 294 Alt-L 359 Ctrl-F10 533 Ctrl-U
69 E 300 Alt-Z 360 Alt-F1 534 Ctrl-V
70 F 301 Alt-X 361 Alt-F2 535 Ctrl-W
71 G 302 Alt-C 362 Alt-F3 536 Ctrl-X
72 H 303 Alt-V 363 Alt-F4 537 Ctrl-Y
73 I 304 Alt-B 364 Alt-F5 538 Ctrl-Z
74 J 305 Alt-N 365 Alt-F6
Sample Batch Files
Lotus 123
AUTOSAVE -k27,27,27,27,27,27,47,70,83,*,13,82,27
-fsave 123
PC-Write
AUTOSAVE -k315,317 ed <filename>
Symphony
AUTOSAVE -k27,27,27,27,27,27,323,70,83,
323,27,*,13,89,27 -fsave symphony
User Feedback
We value your opinions. Please let us know what
you like and dislike about Autosave. We're
dedicated to developing the most innovative and
useful software available--and selling it at
reasonable prices. Your support helps make this
possible.
Please send all comments and suggestions to either:
Biologic Company The Thompson Partnership
P.O. Box 1267 10, Church Croft,
Manassas, VA 22110 Bramshall,
USA UTTOXETER,
Staffs. ST14 5DE
THANK YOU.
Multiple Copy License Form
Autosave
Biologic offers a multiple copy license that allows
a company to make copies of the distribution disk
and User's Guide for use at its place(s) of
business. Purchasers of this license will receive
written permission from Biologic to make
copies.
Number of copies: ____10 £150
____50 £300
____100 £500
____Over 100 £600
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