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A N S I of L o s A n g e l e s
by
Eric Lambart/Cavan International
Version 1.05
Valentine's Day, Saturday, February 14, 1987
Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction 1
1.1 Overview 1
1.2 EasyWare 1
1.3 Future Revisions for ANSI of LA 2
1.4 Program Credits 2
2.0 Getting Ready To Use ANSI of LA 2
2.1 Distribution of ANSI of LA 2
2.2 ANSI of LA On a Hard Disk 3
2.3 Nomenclature 3
3.0 Operations 3
3.1 Startup 3
3.2 The Editing Screen 4
4.0 Summary of Commands 5
4.1 Moving the Cursor 5
4.2 Function Key Command Summary 5
4.3 Alternate Key Command Summary 5
4.4 Other Command Summary 6
5.0 Function Key Command Details 6
[F1] - Toggle Menu 6
[B]igLetter Mode 6
[C]olor Mode 6
[D]raw Mode 6
[F2] - Ruler Line 7
[F3] - Get Color at Cursor 7
[F4] - Put Current Color at Cursor 7
[F5] - Toggle ShowColor on/off 7
[F6] - Flip Screens 1 Through 3 7
[F7] - Mark for Copy 7
[F8] - Copy Marked Text 8
[F9] - Swap Foreground and Background Colors 8
[Shift-F7] - Mark for Wipe Command 8
6.0 Alternate Key Command Details 8
[Alt-A] - ASCII Table 8
[Alt-B] - Set Background Text Color 8
[Alt-D] - Set Cursor Direction 8
[Alt-F] - Set Foreground Text Color 9
[Alt-H] - Show Help Screen 9
[Alt-I] - Show/Print Order Form 9
[Alt-L] - Load a Screen File 9
[A]SCII Format 9
[B]ASIC Format 9
[C]olor Format 9
[D]ump Format 9
[Alt-O] - Go to Object Library Menu 9
[S]ave an Object 9
[L]oad an Object 10
[Alt-Q] - Quote Next Key Pressed 10
[Alt-S] - Save a Screen File 10
[A]SCII Format 10
[B]ASIC Format 10
[C]olor Format 10
[D]ump Format 10
[Alt-W] - Wipe Current Screen 11
[A]ttributes Only 11
[B]oth Attributes and Characters 11
[C]haracters Only 11
[F]ill Screen 11
[Alt-X] - Exit to DOS 11
[Alt-Key1..Key9] - Set Cursor Direction 11
[Alt-_] - Save Screen for Undo 11
[Alt-=] - Undo Recent Changes 12
[Alt-1..0] - Select Character Set 12
[Alt-Key10..Key255] - Enter Special Characters 12
7.0 Other Commands 12
[Ctrl-\] - Clear Current Line 12
[Shift-Key1..Key9],[Key-],[Key+] - Enter Characters in Set 12
[Tab] - Move to Next Tabstop 12
[Shift-Tab] - Move to Previous Tabstop 13
[Ins] - Insert a Space at Cursor 13
[Del] - Delete Character at Cursor 13
[Shift-Ins] and [Shift-Del] - Move Columns 13
[Scroll Lock] - Toggle Insert Mode 13
Appendix A. Using Turbo Pascal with ANSI of LA 14
SCRTEST1.PAS 14
SCRTEST2.PAS 15
Appendix B. Using BASICA with ANSI of LA 17
SCRTEST.BAS 17
Appendix C. ANSI of Los Angeles Revision History 18
1.00 - July 23, 1986 18
1.01 - July 26, 1986 18
1.02 - July 28, 1986 18
1.03 - August 2, 1986 18
1.04 - October 5, 1986 19
1.05 - February 14, 1987 20
1.0 Introduction
1.1 Overview
Welcome to ANSI of LA, the latest and greatest in ANSI screen editing
software. ANSI of LA (also called AoLA) has been written in Turbo
Pascal to make it fast, and it has been specifically designed for ease
of use. With ANSI of LA, you can easily create pictures, color
advertisements, menus for use with DOS batch files, and color menus or
welcome files for your Computer Bulletin Board, limited ONLY by your
imagination and the IBM PC's extended-ASCII character set which ANSI
of LA uses for drawing. Some of the unique (to the best of our
knowledge) features of ANSI of LA are:
o Work can be save in an "Optimized" form which automatically
limits each line to 70 characters wide for uploading into
bulletin board message systems (Only supported by one other
ANSI program, to the best of our knowledge).
o Cursor direction can be changed rapidly to allow text and
graphics to be put onto the screen from left to right, right
to left, bottom to top, and top to bottom, at the touch of a
key.
o Three separate screen are available for editing, at the same
time, and work may be moved around between the different
screens using Block Commands.
o AoLA will edit ASCII (Plain text), BASIC (BSAVE-type format)
Color (Using the ANSI x3.64 graphics commands), or Dump (An
exact copy of video memory) screens.
o On-line help summary instantly available via the [Alt-H] key
o AoLA now allows you to easily create large block characters
in a new "Big Letters" mode. Soon, we will support multiple
font and character sizes as well.
o Object libraries are one of ANSI of LA's best exclusive
features. An object library is a file full of pictures to
be used in color screens, traded, and stored all together in
one file.
1.2 EasyWare
ANSI of Los Angeles is a new addition to the list of excellent
EasyWare programs in existence. Easyware is a novel new software
distribution concept (also known as "Shareware" or "Freeware"), where
program(s) can be freely distributed to friends or computer bulletin
boards, but if you try a EasyWare program, and continue to use it, you
are obligated pay the author for the program's use.
If you enjoy ANSI of LA, and use it (more than just trying it out),
then please send us a very reasonable $20 (plus $2.50 Postage &
Handling) and you will get your own registered copy of the latest
__________________________________________________________________________
ANSI of LA 1.05 1 February 14, 1987
version of ANSI of Los Angeles. If someone registers for ANSI-LA, and
says that the copy they have has your serial number on it, you will
receive a $7.50 BONUS CHECK in the mail!
If you are a registered user of AoLA 1.04, just send $7.50 to upgrade.
Please send your Check or Money-Order, payable to Cavan International,
and include your name and address so we can send you your personal
registered copy of ANSI of LA. If possible, when you order, send in
the order form from the [Alt-I] command.
Cavan International
Post Office Box 2,
Santa Monica, California 90406-0002
1.3 Future Revisions for ANSI of LA
We will soon support multiple font files for large block characters.
You will also be able to configure the default status-line color and
all the character sets. You will also be able to edit text on the
25th line. Future versions will also allow editing of multiple-page
screens. In the last version, we promised Animation would be in this
one, but we haven't been able to get it done in time.
1.4 Program Credits
Author (Programmer) & Documentation:
Eric C. Lambart, III
Documentation Rewrite:
Paul Liles
Beta Testers:
Alex Boyle
Peter Clarke
Jim Fouch
Quincy Frost
Jim Gorczyca
Ken Wilson
Tom Wyrick
Jeff Zabarsky
2.0 Getting Ready To Use ANSI of LA
2.1 Distribution of ANSI of LA
ANSI of LA is distributed in an archive file (AOLA105.ARC for this
version) containing the following programs/files:
AOLA COM - ANSI of Los Angeles version 1.05
AOLA 000 - Overlay - Necessary for OBJect Libraries, Saving/
Loading Screens, Setting Colors, and the Order
Form.
AOLA105.DOC - This DOCumentation file - The Manual for AoLA
SAMPLE .COL - Sample Color Screen File
SAMPLE .OBL - Sample OBJect Library File
__________________________________________________________________________
ANSI of LA 1.05 2 February 14, 1987
2.2 ANSI of LA On a Hard Disk
If you have ANSI of LA in a subdirectory on your hard disk, and wish to
be able to run it from any other directory, you must put the directory
name in your DOS PATH, and set an "environment" variable. If you do
not have a PATH set up, put the following two lines in your
AUTOEXEC.BAT file (assuming C:\PROGRAMS is the directory where you
keep ANSI-LA*:
path=C:\PROGRAMS
set AOLA=C:\PROGRAMS
If you do not have an AUTOEXEC.BAT file, you must create one. Type
the following while at the DOS prompt:
copy con \AUTOEXEC.BAT
path=C:\PROGRAMS
set AOLA=C:\PROGRAMS
prompt $p$g
echo System Startup Complete.
^Z (press [Ctrl-Z] or [F6]), and then press [Enter].
* Note : If you already have an environment variable, "ANSI-LA", set
up per instructions in ANSI of LA version 1.04, this will still
work.
2.3 Nomenclature
Throughout this manual, the following symbols will be used to minimize
confusion:
[Alt] The gray or beige key labeled "Alt".
[Ctrl] The gray or beige key labeled "Ctrl".
[Shift] Either of the two gray or beige keys marked with
a hollow arrow pointing upwards.
[Esc] The gray or beige key labeled "Esc".
[Tab] The gray or beige key with two arrows, pointing
left and right (above the [Ctrl] key).
[Enter] The gray or beige key with a crooked-arrow
pointing to the left, also called the "Return" or
"Carriage Return" key.
[Ins] The white key labeled "Ins", usually located under
the numeric- or cursor-keypad.
[Del] The white key labeled "Del", usually located under
the numeric- or cursor-keypad.
Key A key on the numeric- or cursor-keypad. Used in
conjunction with another symbol. i.e. [Alt-Key1]
means hold down the [Alt] key, and press the "1"
key on the keypad.
3.0 Operations
3.1 Startup
The program is started by executing of the AOLA.COM file. Enter
"AOLA" from the DOS prompt, optionally followed by one of these
__________________________________________________________________________
ANSI of LA 1.05 3 February 14, 1987
parameters:
/A Use ANSI.SYS or your installed ANSI driver instead of the
built-in ANSI emulation. Use this if you have any problems
loading ANSI files, and please report such problems to us.
FName If you specify the name of the file to edit, on the command
line, you will automatically enter the Load-File process once
the program loads.
Example: AOLA \LABBS\WELCOME.COL
The logo-screen for the product will first appear. At this point, you
may hit ANY key to proceed to the editing. If you do not press a key
within a short amount of time, it will dissappear automatically.
The editing screen consists of a status line, at the bottom of the
screen, and 24 lines above for your graphic screen.
REMEMBER: A command summary is always readily accessible by simply
depressing [Alt-H]. To return to the editing screen, from the help
screen, simply press ANY key.
3.2 The Editing Screen
The editing screen has a one-line status-line to keep you aware of the
modes and configuration of the program.
Current screen (1,2, or 3) (see [F6] key)
|
| Current Mode (see [F1] key)
| |
| | Caps Lock Indicator
| | |
| | |Num Lock Indicator
| | ||
| | ||Insert Mode Indicator
| | |||
| | ||| Cursor Column
| | ||| |
| | ||| | Cursor Row
| | ||| | |
| | ||| | |
1 Draw CNI 1, 1 White on Black Color>Set :123456789/-
| | | |
| | | |
Color At Cursor Current Color | |
(see [F5] key) | |
(see [Alt-Key1..Key9]) |
|
Current Character Set
(see [Alt-1..0])
__________________________________________________________________________
ANSI of LA 1.05 4 February 14, 1987
4.0 Summary of Commands
Commands are generally grouped into cursor movement and mode/operation
commands. The cursor commands are straight forward with little
variance from standard editors. The mode and operations commands use
Alternate- or Function-keys.
4.1 Moving the Cursor
[Up-Arrow] Move up one Row
[Down-Arrow] Move down one Row
[Left-Arrow] Move left one Column
[Ctrl-Left-Arrow] Move left one Word.
[Right-Arrow] Move right one Column.
[Ctrl-Right-Arrow] Move right one Word.
[Home] Move to first Column on current Row.
[Ctrl-Home] Move to first Row on current Column.
[End] Move to last Column on current Row.
[Ctrl-End] Move to last Row on current Column.
[Tab] Move to the next Tabstop
[Shift-Tab] Move to the previous Tabstop
4.2 Function Key Command Summary
[F1] Toggle Menu
[F2] Ruler Line
[F3] Get Color at Cursor
[F4] Put Current Color at Cursor
[F5] Toggle ShowColor on/off
[F6] Flip Screens 1 Through 3
[F7] Mark for Copy
[F8] Copy Marked Text
[F9] Swap Foreground and Background Colors
[Shift-F7] Mark for Wipe Command
4.3 Alternate Key Command Summary
[Alt-A] ASCII Character Table
[Alt-B] Set Background Text Color
[Alt-D] Set Cursor Direction
[Alt-F] Set Foreground Text Color
[Alt-H] Show Help Screen
[Alt-I] Show/Print Order form
[Alt-L] Load a Screen File
[Alt-O] Object Library Menu
[Alt-Q] Quote Next Key Pressed
[Alt-S] Save a Screen File
[Alt-W] Wipe Current Screen
[Alt-X] Exit to DOS
[Alt-_] Save Screen for Undo
[Alt-*] Undo Recent Changes
[Alt-1..0] Select Character Set
__________________________________________________________________________
ANSI of LA 1.05 5 February 14, 1987
[Alt-Key1..Key9] Set Cursor Direction
[Alt-Key10..Key255] Enter Special Characters
4.4 Other Command Summary
[Ctrl-\] Clear Current Line
[Shift-1..9],[Key-],[Key+] Enter Chars from Current Set
[Ins] Insert a Space at Cursor
[Del] Delete Character at Cursor
[Shift-Ins],[Shift-Del] Move Columns
[Esc] Universal Abort/Exit
5.0 Function Key Command Details
[F1] - Toggle Menu
Pressing [F1] will present you with a short menu. Press the
corresponding to your choice to toggle that mode. If mode other than
your choice is currently active, you will hear a short beep.
You may also turn off any of these modes by pressing [Esc] at the
editing screen.
Option Status-Line Indicator
__________________________________________________
[B]igLetter Mode "BigL"
ANSI of LA allows you to easily create large block characters in the
"BigLetter" mode. These letters are 8x8 characters in size, for an
effective screen resolution of 10x3 letters. After selecting
[B]igLetter mode, you will be asked for the character to use for
drawing the letters. If you press [Enter] at this point, the letter
itself will be used for drawing; i.e. if you are drawing a large "B",
it would be made out of "B"'s. Otherwise, enter the ASCII code for
the character you wish to use, or the character itself. If you enter
an invalid answer, you will get a short beep. To abort, press [Esc].
Once you are in BigLetter mode, "BigL" will appear on the status-line.
Whatever you type will be displayed in these large letters.
NOTE : All the cursor movement keys will move in units of eight
characters or rows while in this mode.
[C]olor Mode "Color"
To change the color in an area of text, without retyping it or moving
the cursor and pressing [F4], you may use the "Color" mode. In this
mode, WHEREVER you move the cursor, the character under it will be
changed to the current color.
[D]raw Mode "Draw"
Draw mode is an EASY way to draw boxes and lines on your screen.
Rather than using the relatively-cumbersome [Shift-Key1..Key9], [Key-]
and [Key+] keys to draw lines or boxes, you can activate draw mode and
use the keypad cursor-keys to draw lines wherever you move the cursor.
__________________________________________________________________________
ANSI of LA 1.05 6 February 14, 1987
Draw mode only works for character sets 1 through 5. If you try to
enter draw mode while not in sets 1 through 5, you will hear a short
beep. (See [Alt-1..0]).
If you switch to Character-Sets 6 through 10 while in this mode, the
program will automatically turn it off.
[F2] - Ruler Line
If you want to line up objects or text in a vertical column, you can
set Tabstops, and then press the [Tab] or [Shift-Tab] keys to move to
a certain position.
When you first press the [F2] key, a blank "ruler" line will appear in
place of the status-line, with every tenth column marked. To set or
reset a Tabstop, move the cursor to the position on the ruler line,
and press the [Space Bar]. Press [Esc], [Up-Arrow], or [F2] again to
exit the ruler line.
[F3] - Get Color at Cursor
Pressing [F3] will change the current color to the color of the
character that the cursor is upon at the time. The "Color" indicator
on the status-line will then be displayed in the selected color.
[F4] - Put Current Color at Cursor
Pressing [F4] will change the color of whatever character the cursor
is upon, to the current color.
[F5] - Toggle ShowColor on/off
The default ShowColor mode is ON. ShowColor simply means that ANSI of
LA will display on the status-line, in English, the color of whatever
character the cursor is on.
[F6] - Flip Screens 1 Through 3
ANSI of LA allows you to edit up to three separate screens in memory,
at the same time! To toggle through the screens, simply press [F6].
The current screen number is displayed in the first position on the
status line.
[F7] - Mark for Copy
With ANSI of LA, you can copy portions of one screen to another
position on the same screen, or to one of the other two editing
screens.
To mark a block of the screen, position the cursor at the upper-left-
hand corner of the desired area, and press [F7]. Then, move the
cursor to the lower-right-hand corner, and press [Enter] or [F7]
again. To abort marking, press [Esc]. While marking, the current
cursor position and the words "Mark Block" will be displayed on the
bottom row of the screen in place of the status-line.
__________________________________________________________________________
ANSI of LA 1.05 7 February 14, 1987
[F8] - Copy Marked Text
To copy a block of text previously marked with [F7], press [F8]. Then
position the block using the cursor-control keys, and press [Enter].
Press [Esc] to abort the copy.
[F9] - Swap Foreground and Background Colors
Rather than pressing [Alt-F] then [Alt-B] to set your foreground and
background colors for an reverse-video (a color with a non-black
background), you can just press [F9], and the current background color
will become the foreground, and the current foreground color will
become the background. You can see what the new combination looks
like by looking at where it says "Color" on the status-line. Note
that a bright foreground will be changed to a dark background, and if
you press [F9] again, the foreground will remain dark.
[Shift-F7] - Mark for Wipe Command
For the [Alt-W] (Wipe Current Screen) command to only affect a portion
of the editing screen, mark it using this command.
To mark a block of the screen, position the cursor at the upper-left-
hand corner of the desired area, and press [Shift-F7]. Then, move the
cursor to the lower-right-hand corner, and press [Enter] or [F7]. To
abort marking, press [Esc]. While marking, the current cursor
position and the words "Mark Block" will be displayed on the bottom
row of the screen in place of the status-line.
The word "Block" will appear on the status-line. After performing a
Wipe on this area, or to abort, press [Esc].
6.0 Alternate Key Command Details
[Alt-A] - ASCII Table
Most of IBM's extended character set are represented in the different
ANSI of LA character sets, but some are not. To see the full range of
extended-ASCII characters, press F10, and a table of the ASCII
characters number 128 through 255 will be displayed.
To enter any of the characters on the table onto your current screen,
simply hold down the [Alt] key while entering the code number on the
KEYPAD, and then release the [Alt] key.
[Alt-B] - Set Background Text Color
This will set the current Background color. For normal text, set it
to black. If you want reverse-video, try setting it to another
color. The color options are [B]lack, [C]yan, [G]reen, b[L]ue,
[M]agenta, [R]ed, [W]hite and [Y]ellow.
[Alt-D] - Set Cursor Direction
This command has been brought back only for use on machines that do
not allow the entering extended-ASCII characters through the keypad.
__________________________________________________________________________
ANSI of LA 1.05 8 February 14, 1987
To set the cursor direction, after pressing [Alt-D], just press the
corresponding cursor movement key on the keypad.
See [Alt-Key1..Key9] (Set Cursor Direction) for more information and a
full explanation of this command.
[Alt-F] - Set Foreground Text Color
This will set the current Foreground color. Anything you type in will
be in this Foreground combined with the current background color.
After you select [B]lack, [C]yan, [G]reen, b[L]ue, [M]agenta, [R]ed,
[W]hite or [Y]ellow, you will be asked two questions : "Bright [y,N]?"
(Bright foreground color) and "Blink [y,N]?" (Blinking foreground
color).
[Alt-H] - Show Help Screen
This will display the ANSI of LA command-summary help screen. After
viewing it, press ANY key to return to the editing screen.
[Alt-I] - Show/Print Order Form
This will display the order form to use when registering your copy of
ANSI of LA. To print this screen, press ANY key besides [Esc]. To
return to the editing screen without printing the form, press [Esc].
If you attempt to print and your printer is not ready, you will hear a
short beep.
[Alt-L] - Load a Screen File
This will load an existing graphics screen. You will first be
prompted for the filename, which may include a valid DOS path. Next,
if the file exists, you will be prompted for the screen type:
[A]SCII - Straight text screen (any color lost).
[B]ASIC - BASIC BLOAD-format screen file.
[C]olor - Graphics screen containing ANSI x3.64 commands.
[D]ump - A 4,000-byte file containing an exact dump of video
memory.
To abort, press [Esc] when prompted for the filename or file type.
Note that no "wildcard" ("*" or "?") characters are allowed in the
filename.
[Alt-O] - Go to Object Library Menu
Object libraries are one of ANSI of LA's exclusive features. An object
library is a file full of pictures to be used in color screens. The
sample library (Sample.OBL), included with ANSI of LA, contains 5 such
objects.
At the Object-Library Menu, you will be presented with two choices :
[S]ave an Object
If you create a picture, and want to save it in an object library
(OBL), position the cursor at the upper-left-hand corner of the
__________________________________________________________________________
ANSI of LA 1.05 9 February 14, 1987
picture and press [Alt-O], then [S]. Next, you will be prompted for
the name of the OBL. If the file already exists, the new object will
be appended to the file, and if it's a new file, it will be saved as
the first object in that file.
You should now be in block-mark mode. Move the cursor to the lower-
right-hand corner of the object, press [Enter] or [F7], and the object
is saved. To abort marking, press [Esc]. While marking, the current
cursor position and the words "Mark Mode" will be displayed on the
bottom row of the screen in place of the status-line.
[L]oad an Object
To read in an object from an Object Library (OBL), position the cursor
where you want the upper-left-hand-corner of the object to sit, then
press [Alt-O], then [L]. Next, you will be prompted for the name of
the OBL.
If the file exists, the first object will be displayed on the screen.
At this point, you may use [PgDn] and [PgUp] to page through the
various objects. When you find the one you want, press [Enter], and
the object will be inserted at the position you selected. To abort
press [Esc].
[Alt-Q] - Quote Next Key Pressed
To enter such unusual characters as [Esc], [Ctrl-Z], etc., that cannot
be typed in directly, press [Alt-Q]. The word "Quote" will appear on
the status line. Then type in the character.
[Alt-S] - Save a Screen File
This will save the active graphics screen to a file. You will first
be prompted for the filename, which may include a valid DOS path. If
the file exists you must verify that you wish to overwrite it. Next,
you will be prompted for the screen type:
[A]SCII - Straight text screen (any color lost).
[B]ASIC - BASIC BSAVE-format screen file - The header indicating
the memory location will be set at the page-0 location
for the current video mode.
[C]olor - Graphics screen containing ANSI x3.64 commands. After
selecting this option, you will be asked if you wish
to clear the screen first. If you select "Y", you
will also be given the option of Optimizing the file
for Bulletin Board System (BBS) messages, which will
limit the width of all lines to 70 columns which is
the normal margin of most BBS message bases.
[D]ump - A 4,000-byte file containing an exact dump of video
memory.
To abort, press [Esc] when prompted for the filename or file type.
Note that no "wildcard" ("*" or "?") characters are allowed in the
filename.
__________________________________________________________________________
ANSI of LA 1.05 10 February 14, 1987
[Alt-W] - Wipe Current Screen
This command will modify the entire screen at once, unless you have
marked a portion using the [Shift-F7] command. You will be presented
with four options:
[A]ttributes - This will change the colors of the area, leaving
the existing characters unmodified. You will be
prompted for the foreground and background colors
to use.
[B]oth - This will clear the screen, erasing all
characters and setting all colors to white upon
black.
[C]haracters - This will erase all characters on the screen,
leaving all colors intact.
[F]ill. - This will prompt you for the foreground and
background colors, and the character with which
you wish to fill the screen. It will then fill
the entire screen with the selected character, in
the selected color.
[Alt-X] - Exit to DOS
This will terminate ANSI of LA and return to DOS. If you have
modified any screens without saving them, ANSI of LA will allow you to
save each modified screen before exiting the program.
[Alt-Key1..Key9] - Set Cursor Direction
Setting the cursor travel direction is another exclusive ANSI of LA
feature. Normally, when you type any character in an editor, the
cursor will move one space to the right. ANSI of LA allows this
direction to be selectable by the user.
Up/Down/Left/Right - If you want to put characters on the screen left
to right or top to bottom, with ANSI of LA, hold down the [Alt] key,
press the cursor key corresponding to the direction that you wish the
cursor to travel, and then release [Alt].
Diagonal - You can also set diagonal directions by using [Alt] with
the [Home] (Up-and-Left), [End] (Down-and-Left), [PgUp] (Up-and-
Right), and [PgDn] (Down-and-Right) keys.
Direction Indication - You will see the direction arrow on the status
line change to point the current direction of travel. The current
direction of travel is indicated by the arrow just before the word
"Set" on the status line. Due to the lack of diagonal arrows in the
IBM extended-ASCII character set, a "\" represents either Up-and-Left
or Down-and-Right cursor travel, and a "/" represents either Up-and-
Right or Down-and-Left.
[Alt-_] - Save Screen for Undo
If you are about to make some major changes which could destroy your
screen, press [Alt-_]. This will save the current screen in a
__________________________________________________________________________
ANSI of LA 1.05 11 February 14, 1987
temporary hold-area. If you want to go back to the old screen, press
[Alt-=] (see next option).
[Alt-=] - Undo Recent Changes
Whenever you load a screen or toggle edit areas with [F6], the new
screen is automatically saved in a temporary hold-area so it may be
brought back if anything on the screen is accidentally erased or
destroyed. You can force a save of the screen by pressing [Alt-_]
(see previous option).
To bring back the saved screen, simply press [Alt-=].
[Alt-1..0] - Select Character Set
Pressing Alt-1,Alt-2,...,Alt-0 will select ANSI of LA character sets 1
through 10, respectively. Sets 1 through 5 support line drawing (see
[F1] command). The characters in the current set are displayed on the
status-line, on the lower-right-hand side. There are eleven (11)
symbols per set. Be sure you use the numbers on the TOP of the
keyboard, not the keypad. See [Shift-Key1..Key9], [Key-], and [Key+]
below.
The [Alt-H] help screen displays all of the sets for easy reference.
[Alt-Key10..Key255] - Enter Special Characters
To enter any ASCII character, simply hold down the [Alt] key, enter
the ASCII code of that character, and then release [Alt]. The 8
exceptions to this are [Alt-1,2,3,4,6,7,8 and 9] (see above). You can
enter these by pressing the control-key codes anyway since they aren't
commands.
7.0 Other Commands
[Ctrl-\] - Clear Current Line
If you need to clear the contents of the current line, simply press
[Ctrl-\] twice. You must press it twice as a safeguard against
accidental erasure.
[Shift-Key1..Key9],[Key-],[Key+] - Enter Characters in Set
Any of the eleven (11) characters from the selected AoLA character set
can be entered onto the screen by using the shifted keypad keys, or
the keypad in NumLock mode. The keypad [Key1] through [Key9], [Key+]
and [Key-] keys correspond to the eleven symbols on the selected set,
respectively. The "Set" indicator on the status-line displays the
current set.
[Tab] - Move to Next Tabstop
Pressing the Tab key will move the cursor to the next preset Tab
position. If there are no more tabs to the right of the cursor, it
will go to the end of the line. To set tabs, see the [F2] command
description.
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ANSI of LA 1.05 12 February 14, 1987
[Shift-Tab] - Move to Previous Tabstop
The action of [Shift-Tab] is exactly opposite of [Tab]. Pressing
[Shift-Tab] will move the cursor to the prior preset Tab position, or
to the beginning of the line if there are no more tabs to the left of
the cursor position. To set tabs, see the [F2] command description.
[Ins] - Insert a Space at Cursor
If you press the [Ins] key, a blank space will be inserted in the
current cursor Row, at the current cursor Column.
CAUTION: The right-most character in the line will be
destroyed when you do this.
To move a whole column to the right, simply insert the desired number
of spaces on the FIRST line, move down to the next, and then use
[Shift-Ins] to move lines below over by the same amount.
[Del] - Delete Character at Cursor
If you press the [Del] key, ONE character will be deleted from the
current cursor Row, at the current cursor Column.
To move a whole column to the left, simply delete the desired number
of spaces on the FIRST line, move down to the next, and then use
[Shift-Del] to move lines below over by the same amount.
[Shift-Ins] and [Shift-Del] - Move Columns
To move whole columns of text to the right or left, simply insert or
delete the desired number of spaces on the FIRST line (with the [Ins]
or [Del] keys), move down to the next, and then use [Shift-Ins] or
[Shift-Del] to move lines below over by the same amount.
[Scroll Lock] - Toggle Insert Mode
To automatically insert a space for each character you type (as
opposed to overwriting the existing text), turn on Insert mode. To
toggle Insert mode on or off, simply press the [Scroll Lock] key. If
it is on, a "I" will be displayed on the status-line.
Note that, in Insert Mode, [Back Space] will also delete the character
to the left, as it moves the cursor.
CAUTION: The right-most character in the line will be
destroyed for every character you type, as the
program inserts a space in the line.
[Esc] - Universal Abort/Exit
Pressing the [Esc] key will exit the current drawing, block, big
letters, or color modes, and will usually abort almost any operation
at a prompt.
__________________________________________________________________________
ANSI of LA 1.05 13 February 14, 1987
Appendix A. Using Turbo Pascal with ANSI of LA
It is very simple to make fantastic screen displays in any Turbo
Pascal program, using AoLA. This section will contain several methods
and sample programs for using AoLA Screen Dumps.
When you save a screen in the [D]ump format, ANSI of LA writes a
4,000-byte file containing an EXACT copy of Video Memory at the time.
This memory is formatted in pairs of characters and attributes as
follows :
1 2 3 4 3,999 4,000
[Character][Attribute] [Character][Attribute] .... [Character][Attribute]
Figure #1 : SCRTEST1.PAS
program ScreenTestOne(input,output,ScrFile);
{ This program is included with ANSI of Los Angeles as a demonstration of one
of the uses of AoLA screen dump files, in Turbo Pascal }
type
ScrType = array[1..4000] of byte;
var
Vmode : byte absolute $0040:$0049; { Current Video Mode }
Page0Seg: integer; { RAM Segment for Video Page Zero }
PageZero: ^ScrType; { Points to Video RAM Page Zero }
ScrFile : file of Scrtype; { File Containing AoLA Screen Dump }
Filename: string[30]; { Filename for Screen Dump File }
begin { ScreenTestOne }
writeln('SCRTEST1.PAS - Cavan International');
writeln('Portions of this program may be freely used in any Public Domain, ShareWare, or');
writeln('Commercial program, with no royalties.');
writeln;
if Vmode=7 then
Page0Seg:=$B000 { MDA Video Page Zero Segment Address }
else
Page0Seg:=$B800; { CGA Video Page Zero Segment Address }
PageZero := ptr(Page0Seg,0);{ Point PageZero at Video Page Zero Address }
write('Enter the Screen Filename : ');
readln(Filename); { Enter Screen Filename }
if Filename='' then begin { No Filename? Abort! }
writeln('Aborted.');
halt;
end;
{$I-} { Turn off I/O checking }
assign(ScrFile,Filename);
reset(ScrFile);
{$I+} { Turn on I/O checking }
__________________________________________________________________________
ANSI of LA 1.05 14 February 14, 1987
if ioresult <> 0 then begin { Check for I/O errors }
writeln('File not found.');
halt;
end;
gotoxy(1,1);
read(ScrFile,PageZero^); { Read page into Video RAM }
close(ScrFile);
repeat until keypressed; { Allow user to press key before continuing }
clrscr;
end. { ScreenTestOne }
Figure #2 : SCRTEST2.PAS
program ScreenTestTwo(input,output);
{ This program is included with ANSI of Los Angeles as a demonstration of one
of the uses of AoLA screen dump files, in Turbo Pascal. This is the way
ANSI of LA screen dump files are used in AoLA itself, in the opening, help,
ASCII, and order-form screens. }
type
ScrType = array[1..4000] of byte;
var
Vmode : byte absolute $0040:$0049; { Current Video Mode }
Page0Seg: integer; { RAM Segment for Video Page Zero }
DumpScr, { Points to built-in Dump Screen }
PageZero: ^ScrType; { Points to Video RAM Page Zero }
procedure ScreenDump; external 'Yourfile.Scr';
{ When you define an EXTERNAL procedure in Turbo Pascal, it includes that
entire file into the code segment at that point. Thus, you can point a
variable at the address of this procedure, and there you have it - a 4,000-
byte screen.
To use this demo program, create a screen, save it as a [D]ump file, and
place the filename within after the word "external" in the procedure
declaration above.
If you were to call this procedure, you would have serious problems, and
your PC would probably lock up. Hence, a WARNING : Do not call these
screen "procedures" from Turbo Pascal!
Remember, this will also take up your Code Segment, which is very dear
to any programmer writing large programs in Turbo. These procedures may
be included within an overlay procedure, and then moved into the DATA
segment, by simply putting the declaration after the overlay procedure
declaration. }
begin { ScreenTestTwo }
writeln('SCRTEST2.PAS - Cavan International');
writeln('Portions of this program may be freely used in any Public Domain, ShareWare, or');
writeln('Commercial program, with no royalties.');
__________________________________________________________________________
ANSI of LA 1.05 15 February 14, 1987
writeln;
write ('Press [Enter] to Display Built-In Screen : ');
readln;
if Vmode=7 then
Page0Seg:=$B000 { MDA Video Page Zero Segment Address }
else
Page0Seg:=$B800; { CGA Video Page Zero Segment Address }
PageZero := ptr(Page0Seg,0);{ Point PageZero at Video Page Zero Address }
DumpScr := ptr(cseg,ofs(ScreenDump)); { Point DumpScr at External Procedure
Address }
move(DumpScr^,PageZero^,4000); { Move Built-in Dump to Video RAM Page Zero }
repeat until keypressed; { Allow user to press key before continuing }
clrscr;
end. { ScreenTestTwo }
__________________________________________________________________________
ANSI of LA 1.05 16 February 14, 1987
Appendix B. Using BASICA with ANSI of LA
It is also very simple to make fantastic screen displays in any BASICA
program, using AoLA. This section will contain a sample program for
using AoLA BASIC-Format files.
When you save a screen in the [B]ASIC format, ANSI of LA writes a
4,007-byte file containing a header, and an EXACT copy of Video Memory
at the time. The header contains the memory address of Video Memory
for the current video mode. For this reason, any program using this
method, written on a Color machine, will not work on a Monochome, and
vice-versa. This is, indeed, a severe limitation, but it can be used
nevertheless. The other 4,000 bytes are formatted in pairs of
characters and attributes as follows :
8 9 10 11 4,006 4,007
[Character][Attribute],[Character][Attribute],...,[Character][Attribute]
Figure #1 : SCRTEST.BAS
1000 Rem SCRTEST.BAS - Cavan International
1010 Rem This program may be used in part or in its entirety in any Public
1020 Rem Domain, ShareWare, or Commercial software without royalties.
1030 Rem
1040 Rem This is an example of how to load ANSI of Los Angeles BSAVE
1050 Rem Format Screens in MS-DOS(r) BASICA. Create a screen in ANSI of
1060 Rem LA, save it in the [B]ASIC format, and then run this program.
1070 Rem
1080 Input "Please Enter the File Name : ",FileName$
1090 If FileName$="" Then GoSub 1140
1100 BLoad FileName$
1110 If Inkey$="" Then 1110
1120 Cls
1130 End
1140 Print "Aborted."
1150 End
__________________________________________________________________________
ANSI of LA 1.05 17 February 14, 1987
Appendix C. ANSI of Los Angeles Revision History
1.00 - July 23, 1986
o Original release
1.01 - July 26, 1986
o Fixed bug -- Screen did not clear before loading ASCII file,
causing it to overlay old screen.
o Added "undo" command to undo mistakes
o Added resettable tabstops, with [Tab] and [Shift-Tab] keys.
o Added command ([Ctrl-\]) to clear current line
1.02 - July 28, 1986
o Fixed bug -- AoLA did not properly sense the presence of a
monochrome card, and would not work with one.
o Instead of resetting the screen when you enter AoLA, it just
leaves it in its present state and clears the screen. This is
for users of Genoa, Paradise, Compaq, and other video cards
that emulate a monochrome mode, but are really "color" cards,
so even if AoLA senses a color card, it will still use
whatever the current video mode is, sensed by the fix above.
o Eliminated all "blue" colors from the startup screen, help
screen, and ASCII table so that it won't underline and look
messy on a monochrome screen.
1.03 - August 2, 1986
o Added display of X,Y position on the status line.
o Improved optimization feature when saving ANSI screen images.
Now, files should be even shorter line-wise. This improved
optimization ONLY works if you start with a clear screen. If
you do not, it will just optimize as before.
o Fixed a bug -- When you pressed [Ctrl-Left] Arrow, and there
was no beginning of a word to the left, it would stop at the
second column. Now it stops at the first column.
o Fixed a "bug" -- This one was not a definite bug, but after
you saved an ANSI screen image, AoLA would leave the color in
the file the same as the last color used. Thus, if you TYPE'd
the file in DOS, or read it on a BBS message, the colors would
be messed up. Now, it sets the color to white on black.
o Fixed a bug -- When we attempted to load an ANSI file we had
downloaded from a BBS, AoLA crashed because the lines in the
file were LONG - up to 500 characters per line, and the limit
for AoLA was 255. Now, rather than reading in a line at a
time, AoLA will read ONE CHARACTER AT A TIME, which may seem
a bit slower, but will allow you to read lines with unlimited
lengths. However, when loading ASCII files, the limit is
still 255 characters.
o Added a new feature! When you have an ANSI file that is more
than 24 lines long, rather than letting it scroll by, AoLA
will STOP, and prompt you whether you want to stop there, or
continue to the next page. Thus, you can load long files, a
screen at a time, then save them separately (i.e. Screen 1:
"Screen.001", 2: "Screen.002", etc. Then, to paste them
together again, you can use the DOS COPY command: "copy
Screen.001+Screen.002 Screen.Col" then clean it up with a text
editor.
__________________________________________________________________________
ANSI of LA 1.05 18 February 14, 1987
o Allowed user to have Blinking Black foreground -- Yes, you can
have a blinking black, if you have a non-black background...
1.04 - October 5, 1986
o All commands that were previously used by pressing [Esc] first
are now used in conjunction with the ALT key.
o To quit AoLA, press [Alt-X], rather than [Esc]Q.
o The top-number keys now actually enter numbers, not characters
in a set. Thus, the sets have been moved up one, so set 2 is
now set 1, etc. To enter the character set codes, use the
shifted-keypad keys or the keypad in NUMLOCK mode.
o To enter a control-code that is not that is an AoLA command,
you can now hold down the [Alt] key, press the ASCII code of
that character, and then release [Alt]. The 8 exceptions to
this are [Alt-1,2,3,4,6,7 and 8] (see above). You can enter
these by pressing the control-key codes anyway since they
aren't commands.
o If you try to enter draw mode while not in sets 1 through 5,
it will beep at you.
o If you switch sets to sets 6 through 10 while in Draw mode,
it'll turn Draw mode off.
o Many major bugs with saving ANSI screens with non-black
backgrounds have been fixed. Everything should Save great!
o Removed the extra blank space as the last character in saving
ANSI files.
o Made the [Ins] key repeatable.
o Added the [Alt-I] command to display and print the order form
for AoLA
o Greatly enhanced the [Alt-W]ipe command. See the description
in the manual above.
o You probably noticed that we have now been forced to use an
overlay file (AOLA.000) as much as we wished to avoid it. The
[Alt-S]ave, [Alt-L]oad, and [Alt-O]bject Library commands are
in the overlay... pressing any of these keys will load the
overlay from disk.
o Added an X,Y position display to the [F7] and Object Library
mark modes.
o Made [Caps Lock], [Num Lock], and [Scroll Lock] indicators on
the status-line. The [Scroll Lock] key actually toggles Insert
mode, so the indicator is an "I". Remember, the [Ins] key
inserts a blank, but with the Insert Mode on (with [Scroll
Lock]), whatever characters that are typed are inserted
automatically.
o Now, to enter the 10th or 11th character in a set while not in
Draw mode, you MUST use the KEYPAD '-' or '+' keys. '\','/',
[Top-] and [Top+] now just enter their respective characters.
o While saving ANSI screens, the default for "Optimize for BBS
messages?" is NO, since you usually do not need this. Now you
can just quickly press [Enter] twice to save, without
unecessarily optimizing.
o Any blank lines will now be replaced with two spaces, so that
blank lines will not cause problems while ASCII-uploading
optimized messages onto Bulletin Boards.
o You may now define an environment variable, "AOLA", to specify
the path where the AoLA overlay files are kept. Example: type
"set AOLA=C:\PROGRAMS".
__________________________________________________________________________
ANSI of LA 1.05 19 February 14, 1987
o To move whole columns to the right or left, you may simply
insert or delete the desired number of spaces on the FIRST
line, and then after moving down to the next line, use [Shift-
Del] or [Shift-Ins] to move lines below over by the same
amount.
o [Shift-F1] will now invoke a "Color" mode where simply moving
the cursor will change the color of whatever the cursor lands
on. This makes it easy to re-color boxes and such simply by
moving the cursor around the border of the box.
1.05 - February 14, 1987
o [Shift-Ins] will now repeat!
o AoLA now supports BASIC-BLoad/BSave-format files. When
you save or load, select [B]ASIC format. This is the same as
a [D]ump but with a 7-byte BASIC header. It will use the
header for whatever video mode you're in.
o [Ctrl-Z]'s in the middle of a screen [D]ump-format file will
no longer mess up the screen.
o Pressing [Ctrl-Z] will now do nothing, since it is the End-of-
File mark for DOS and causes problems. If you really need a
[Ctrl-Z], type [Alt-Q] [Ctrl-Z].
o Much different when you use [F8] to copy a block... We won't
explain it - just try it! Actually, for a demo, try [D]ump-
Loading MOVEDEMO.SCR in this ARC.
o Try pressing [Shift-F7] and marking yourself a nice, neat
block! A "Block" indicator will light on the status-line, and
whatever operations you do before hitting [Esc] will affect
that block only. For now all I can think of to affect anyway
is the [Alt-W]ipe command - try marking a block then wiping it
or filling it with a pattern.
o Changed [F10] - ASCII table to [Alt-A]SCII table - more mnemonic,
no? And why not use [F10] for something more useful! Anyone
got any ideas?
o You no longer need ANSI.SYS to run ANSI of LA - that's right,
AoLA has built-in ANSI now.
o You no longer have to wait for AoLA to Initialize when it starts
up. That was for Animation anyway, which never really worked.
This should also fix compatibility problems with programs like
LIST.
o The snow during switching screens will NOT dissappear because
the alternative is to slow them down by about 100-150%. But
everything else is summerized (No snow during summer...
right?)
o Block marking should be considerably faster now.
o [D]ump file loads and saves are now about 500% faster - rather
than saving one byte-at-a-time, all 4000 bytes are now saved
at once.
o If your clock is set (i.e. date <> '01-01-80'), it will put
the current date in the [Alt-I] order form - otherwise it will
just put '__-__-__' so the user can put it in themselves.
o Screen switching should be about 33% faster now.
o No more [Alt-C] - We're going to use that for something else.
Did anyone ever use it? - Just use [Alt-F] then [Alt-B].
o You can now use Object Library Filenames without a .OBL, if
you want.
__________________________________________________________________________
ANSI of LA 1.05 20 February 14, 1987
o [F1] is no longer just the Draw Mode toggle - it's the General
Toggle key - press F1, then select [B]igLetter (see below),
[C]olor mode, or [D]raw mode.
o Tired of tediously making nice, big block letters by hand?
Well, now it's automatic! Press [F1], then select
[B]igLetters. Then select the drawing character - If you hit
[Enter] it will draw with whatever character you're drawing -
i.e. a big "A" made out of A's. Otherwise you can hit any
ASCII code you want. Try characters 222, 223, 219, and 240 -
When in this mode, the cursor keys, backspace, return, etc are
all working for these big char sizes. It's only 10x3
"resolution" - but you can squeeze more together if you
manually proportional space. This will only work for
characters 1-126.
o The biggest thing, maybe it should be first, are the new
screen write routines - the snow should be 85-90% gone - the
only snow should be while switching screens, etc, and that
will be gone too, soon. And they are so FAST!
o [Alt-W]ipe Screen now lets you select the colors to use when
wiping out attributes. And it is SO much faster!
o New Help and ASCII table screens.
o Old [Ctrl-*] (Save for Undo) is now [Alt-_]
o Old [Ctrl-_] (Undo) is now [Alt-=] (See, now Save for Undo
and Undo are right next to each other. Also you can use
[Ctrl-_] which enters an upside-down triangle.)
o You can now have a Bright Black, which is really Dark Gray.
Don't use this too much, though, because you can't read it on
many monitors. The only time to use it is with a non-black
background.
o Default for replacing a file when saving is No. Same with
Bright and Blinking Colors.
o [BackSpace] will now delete, not just erase, if you are in
Insert mode.
o At the last minute, added the /A command-line switch to use
the ANSI.SYS driver.
o At the last minute, modified the code so it will automatically
enter the [Alt-L]-Load Screen process if you specify a
filename on the command line.
o H A P P Y V A L E N T I N E ' S D A Y !
__________________________________________________________________________
ANSI of LA 1.05 21 February 14, 1987
