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READ.ME
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DRAFT Choice Ver 2.00 Copyright 1985-92, TRIUS, Inc.
P.O. BOX 249, North Andover, MA 01845
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Orders ONLY!: 800-GO-TRIUS (800-468-7487)
Info: 508-794-9377 FAX: 508-688-6312 BBS: 508-794-0762
This READ.ME file contains information about DRAFT Choice that did
not make it to the printed manual of Ver. 2.00. It also lists the
files distributed with Ver 2.00, and explains how to upgrade from
previous versions.
Please READ THIS FILE THOROUGHLY! It contains very important
information, and reading it now will probably save you time and
trouble later on!
You can print this file by COPYing it to your printer with the
following command:
copy READ.ME prn
If you want to look at the other On-Disk DRAFT Choice documentation,
see the file list below, which lists all of the documentation files,
and see the section on the On-Disk User's Manual.
Shareware and the Association of Shareware Professionals
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
_______
____|__ | (tm)
--| | |-------------------
| ____|__ | Association of
| | |_| Shareware
|__| o | Professionals
-----| | |---------------------
|___|___| MEMBER
The shareware concept has made it possible for you to obtain extremely
powerful software at a price you can afford, and it gives you the
opportunity to try the software before you register.
Shareware is kept alive by YOUR support.
Evaluate the program for 30-days and give copies to your friends for
evaluation. If, after the 30 days, you continue to use the program,
then register it by sending us the registration/order form included in
this help file or by calling 800-468-7487 (Orders Only!). You will
receive the Latest version, Printed manual, 90-day free Technical
Phone Support, BBS Technical Support, Newsletter, and Reduced price
Upgrades.
Support new developments in DRAFT Choice, register your copy today!
Thank you for your support!
DRAFT Choice is produced by 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 member's products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at:
ASP Ombudsman
545 Grover Road
Muskegon, MI 49442-9427
or send a Compuserve message via CMail to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536.
GETTING STARTED
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The information provided below is to help you start the program for
your hardware configuration. For more details about the operation of
the program press the F1 (function) key once you have started the
program.
Once installed (see below for installation procedure) DRAFT Choice is
started from DOS using the command:
C:> DC /Option1/Option2/Option3/..... [ENTER]
where Option1, Option2, etc. are options specifying the type of
memory to use, the type of graphics video adaptor, etc. For a
complete description of these options, please print and consult the
on-disk user's manual.
Ordering Information
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Remember that a shareware copy is an EVALUATION copy that you can use
for up to 30 days. If you continue to use the program, Registration
is Required! You may register using the order form in the ORDER.ME
file, or by calling TRIUS, Inc. and charging your purchase on your
credit card. We suggest that you call, since prices are subject to
change without notice.
You may also order your copy on-line by calling our TRIUS Support BBS
at (508) 794-0762 [12/24/9600,N,8,1 - 24 hrs].
If you live outside the US and Canada you may want to contact
TRIUS, Inc. for a dealer in your country. Purchasing through
these dealers can save you the delay and inconvenience which
may be involved in dealing with currency conversions and
international shipping and in many cases will provide you with
faster technical support.
Files on the DRAFT Choice Distribution Disk(s)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DC20.FLS - Compressed Archive
READ.ME - Start-Up instructions (This file)
ORDER.ME - Ready-to-print order form
LICENSE.DOC - Please Read This!!
VENDOR.DOC - Info on Distributing Shareware Copies
INSTALL.EXE - Automated SetUp File
Installation on Floppy or Hard Disk:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Although the program will work if installed on 360k diskettes, we
recommend that the program is installed either on a hard disk, or a
high density floppy diskette, since this will permit the help file,
and other auxiliary files, to be available to the user.
* If you Install and run DRAFT Choice from a floppy disk, without
* Expanded memory (EMS), or if the /NE command line switch is
* used, and you remove the DRAFT Choice program disk from
* the drive while the program is running, you will get an
* error message and will be instructed to re-insert the disk.
If installing on 360k disks, you need to have at least two 360
drives, e.g., A and B. You cannot install the program on a
computer with a single 360 K disk drive and no Hard Disk!
* Place the DRAFT Choice original diskette in drive A: (or B:)
* Make sure the current logged drive is A: (Type A:, or B:, and
press ENTER, if it is not).
* Type INSTALL and press [ENTER]. Then, follow the simple on-screen
instructions to install your copy of the program on the desired disk(s)
and/or subdirectory.
Note: If you are installing on 360K floppy disks, you will
need multiple blank formatted diskettes!
On-Disk Documentation
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The installation process extracts a file called DC20.MAN. This is a
ready-to-print formatted, User's manual for the program.
Following the installation, make sure that the DC20.MAN file is
indeed on your default directory. Then, to print this manual:
(1) Make sure that the your printer is ON and there is enough
paper in it (the manual is about 100 pages).
(2) From the DOS prompt, type
COPY DC20.MAN PRN and press [ENTER]
Note that if your printer is connected to a SERIAL port,
then you need to use the command COPY DC20.MAN COM1, or
COPY DC20.MAN COM2 (depending on which serial port your
printer is connected to).
A NOTE ON PLOTTING
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The maximum number of dots that can be handled by DRAFT Choice (when
plotting to a printer), is based on a 360 dpi and 13" max plot width (hex
density on 24-pin printers). The string of bytes sent to the printer for
each line is preceded and followed by 2 bytes (4-bytes total) which are
needed by the program.
If a user is trying to plot a 16" wide drawing on a 9-pin printer (high
density), the max number of dots sent is [240 dpi * 16"] + 4 = 3844 dots.
Some printer buffers, however, cannot handle any more that 3840 dots per
line and the results, on such printers, would be unpredictable.
If the user wishes to make sure that such a printer buffer overflow will
not occur, in the example given above, then the width should be set to
something slightly less that 16" (e.g., 15.95 inches).
A NOTE ON MACROS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please, note that macro sequences (Option, Macro) are not saved with the
drawing file they are created in. In order to save the macro sequences
you have created, you need to save the configuration file (File, Config,
Save Config). Then, whenever you re-start the program the macros are
available to you.
NEW FEATURES in Ver 2.0 (NOT IN THE MANUAL)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1. A new toggle switch is available Options, Toggle, EXTENTS.
If EXTENTS is OFF, then an Image, All command sets the viewing
window based on the scale/drawing border. If it is ON then Image,
All sets the viewing window based on the calculated extents of
the drawing elements.
2. When File selection dialogs are displayed, a file may now be
selected by quickly double clicking on the file name.
3. UNDO is no longer limited to Edit, Delete operations!
Furthermore, multiple UNDOs are now possible. Created/Modified
elements are placed in an UNDO buffer. By repeatedly selecting
UNDO, you can now Un-Draw, Un-Move, Un-Delete and in general
reverse any previous action. When the UNDO buffer is full, new
actions get added to the buffer, while the 'oldest' ones get
eliminated. The user may PURGE the UNDO buffer at any time.
CAUTION: When the UNDO buffer is purged, any operations prior
to that point cannot be UNDONE!
4. When entering RELATIVE coordinates, if a third coordinate (Z) is
specified then X and Z are interpreted as isometric coordinates,
based on the current ISO angle (default is 30 degrees).
5. The maximum dot line buffer was increased to 4680 in order to
support hex density on 24-pin, wide carriage printers, i.e., max
image width = 13" x 360 dpi = 4680 dots.
6. When specifying hatching patterns, in the DC.PAT file, the
horizontal and vertical displacement is indirectly, tied to the
drawing units through the 'SPACE' parameter in the Option, Style,
or Alter, Style sub-menus.
7. A new option is available under Measure, Dimension, Setup. This
new option specifies that there will be no dimension line drawn
and that the dimension will be placed parallel to the second end
point specified.
8. When importing VALUE files, if a third coordinate (Z) is specified
then X and Z are interpreted as isometric coordinates, based on
the current ISO angle (default is 30 degrees), and relative to the
X=0, Y=0 origin.
Major New Features/Modifications in DRAFT Choice Ver 2.0d
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1. A modification was made to correct the process of drawing an ellipse
using the point method. In earlier versions, the program would draw
an ellipse where the major axis would be the diameter of the circle
passing through the three points.
2. The program was changed so that the file name of an imported symbol
library or drawing file is not not automatically displayed as the
name of the current drawing (until Image, Update).
3. A problem was corrected with importing WPG files. DRAFT Choice would
normally connect the end-points of a polyline that has a fill pattern
assigned to it. Now, if a WPG polyline is not closed, the fill
pattern is turned off.
4. The Edit, Array, Path command was modified to use real instead of
integer coordinates for the slope interpolation. This corrects the
problem that might appear sometimes where each of the copied
element(s) would be at different angles with the defined path.
5. The bottom layer color indicator is now updated as soon as a new
layer is selected as active.
6. A correction was made to the keyboard routine to avoid the problem of
ending up with a temporarily corrupted screen if the TAB key was
pressed when a value entry was expected by the program.
7. The coordinate display is now temporarily disabled if the user is in
the Measure, Query mode, in order to avoid the problem of the echoed
coordinates overwriting the total segment length displayed at the
bottom of the screen.
8. A click was added to signify Pen Down and Pen Up during the Draw,
Freehand mode.
9. A modification was made to the routine that checks for the active
drives available to the computer, by checking the DOS LASTDRIVE
environment variable. If LASTDRIVE=E, then drives A through E will
be checked, otherwise, drives A through Z will be checked. This
should clear up some problems users were experiencing when using
systems with multiple drives and using the DRIVER.SYS.
10. A modification was made not to allow values less than 1 to be entered
as mouse sensitivity. In earlier versions, a value of zero would
result in problems because of the mouse driver.
11. The WPG exporting module was modified to correctly handle exporting
arcs. In earlier versions, the complementary arcs would be exported
as closed polygons.
12. A correction was made to the Edit, Scale routine so that pressing
escape now aborts the scale operation. In earlier versions, the
scaling would proceed even after ESC was pressed.
13. A modification was made so that the error message "... Unable to
Open..." appears if a File, Save operation is executed with a write
protected drive, or an attempt is made to save a symbol library with
an illegal character in the filename. In earlier versions, the error
message "...Unable to Erase..." would appear instead.
14. A modification was made to the way the attach mode works. In earlier
versions, attach would be disabled for objects tagged for an editing
operation, during the "FROM:" phase. Now, attach is fully
permissible during "FROM" and "TO" phases of an editing operation.
15. A modification was made so that the cross hair, now, does not assume
the line style and thickness of the last line drawn, as it did in
earlier versions.
16. A correction was made to the Measure, Query, Length command
operation, so that complex lines drawn afterward are visible during
the drawing process. In earlier versions, the complex lines would not
become visible until they were completely drawn (ESC was pressed).
17. The program was modified so that filled complex entities do not
disappear from the drawing after they are exploded.
18. The Scanned PCX import module was updated so that it does not corrupt
text within a drawing when it is executed.
19. The help engine was modified to avoid the problem of generating an
EMM386 exception error #12, when F1 was pressed many times in a row
(earlier versions would try to re-enter the DC-Help routine every
time.)
------------------------------------------------------- End ----------