Media Share 9

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ Media Share 9 / MEDIASHARE_09.ISO / utility / rread105.zip / RR.DOC < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1993-03-22 | 24KB | 543 lines

≡ The RaLin Reader ≡ The Mammoth Text File Viewer ───────────────────────── Version 1.05 (C) Copyright 1993 Rand Nowell RaLin Enterprises ────────────────────── "Putting Bits Together" (tm) - Program Documentation - ** CONTENTS ** General License..............................1 Vendors......................................1 Warranty.....................................1 Future Versions..............................1 System Requirements..........................2 Placement of Files...........................2 Special Note.................................2 Overview...................................2,3 The Tutor File, TUTOR.RR.....................3 Starting the Reader..........................3 Line Lengths.................................3 The Reader screen..........................3,4 Prompt Editing Keys..........................4 Movement Command Keys........................5 Other Command Keys Ctl-P: Printer Mode....................5 Ctl-F: Form Feed.......................5 Ctl-L: Line Feed.......................6 Alt-L: Print one line..................6 F9: Print view window...............6 F10: Print File......................6 Alt-P: Toggle print to File/Prn........6 Word/Phrase Search Alt-C: Toggle case.....................6 F: Find............................6 N: Find Next.......................6 Alt-E: Edit File...........................6,7 Alt-N: Load New File.........................7 Alt-D: DOS Shell.............................7 Program Configuration........................7 New Functions................................7 Contacting the author........................8 Closing Remarks..............................8 Credits......................................8 Thats it....no more! The Reader Any text file, any size, any time! Page 1 ** GENERAL LICENSE INFORMATION ** This program is supplied as "Shareware" in the "try before you buy" concept. It is not free and is not public domain. You are free to try it for a period of ***** 30 DAYS *************, if after that period you wish to continue using it, register it. If not, please delete it from your system. The Shareware version of this program may be freely given to others and/or sent to Bulletin Board Systems, as long as all files in this archive are included. See the README file for a list of files. This program was originally distributed in an authenticated ZIP file. I would prefer that you distribute it in the same un-altered archive. If you feel you have obtained an incomplete copy of the program, one may always be obtained from our BBS, first time callers may download, or via file request with a mailer program using the name READER. ** VENDORS ** Disk vendors are encouraged to include this program in your collection. We do ask that you contact us via mail or phone first. We will send the most recent shareware version along with a Vendor License. The license and your contact information will insure that you always have the most recent version of our program(s) for your clients. Please insure that your clients understand that paying your fee, does not register the program for their continued use. ** WARRANTY/GUARANTEE: ** Huh??? This program is released "AS IS" there IS NO guarantee other than it =WILL= take up disk space. The author will NOT be responsible for any damage to your data, system, peace of mind or anything else. By using this program, YOU assume all responsability for its use. If you receive this or any other program developed by the author, on a magnetic medium, from the author, we =will= guarantee the quality of the medium that the program(s) are supplied on. Any defective disks will be replaced by the author, for a period of 90 days from date of purchase. As always, we try to produce bug free products, but occasionally one sneaks in. Should this be the case, I would like to hear about it, so the problem can be corrected as soon as possible. The "FIRST" user to report a legitimate "bug" will receive a replacement copy via NetMail(only) on my dime with the fixes in place. But seriously, there should be no damage to your files. The RaLin Reader itself does not change your data in any way. FUTURE VERSIONS: Though the plan is to continue to enhance on the concept of The RaLin Reader, and release future versions as time goes by....... The author, is not obligated to produce further versions of this program. The author also reserves the right to move =ANY= Shareware type software to the status of Commercial type software if he sees fit to do so. We've only just begun. Join up now, at the start! The Reader Any text file, any size, any time! Page 2 ** SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS ** The RaLin Reader should have at least 100K memory available in order to call an Editor and use the DOS shell. The reader uses about 50K of avaialble memory. Screen writes are done at high speed, directly to video memory. This WILL cause "snow" on older CGA monitors. There are no switches to over-ride this. You need a newer CGA, or an EGA/VGA monitor in order to use the reader. DOS Version needs to be 3.0 or newer. Will run on a floppy, and read from floppies, though rather slowly. A hard disk is reccomended. ** PLACEMENT OF FILES ** All executable files for The RaLin Reader should be placed in a directory that is in your DOS "PATH" statement, such as \UTIL...you do have a "UTIL" type directory don't you? <grin>..... This allows the reader to be called from anywhere on your system. If you do not do this, you will have to change to the reader's "home" directory before it can be run. ** SPECIAL NOTE ** There are a couple of functions that are only available in the Registered version, these will be marked with {+} wherever referenced in the manual, and are also marked as such on the built in Help Screen in the reader. Accessing these registered only functions in the reader will sound a tone, and do nothing else. ** OVERVIEW ** The RaLin Reader is capable of viewing a text file of ANY size. It uses an index system with a seeking procedure to seek a certian position in the text file, and display that line and the next 21 to the view window. This allows the reader to view a text file over a megabyte in size, and still not use more than about 50k of memory. The procedures used are assembler procedures, and do the seeking and writing to screen at high speed. Because the program needs to read the file, in order to set up the file index, the intial loading of the file takes more time than many other viewers, but once loaded, all other functions such as END HOME Jump to line number are much faster than most of the other viewers available. A speed test was conducted on an IBM clone XT with an 8088 processor, using a 1.2 megabyte text file. It took about 1 minute and 40 seconds to index and load the file. Now, it's true this is a longer loading time than most viewers use, but remember, NONE of the file is stored in memory, just the index, and once the file has been indexed, operations run much faster than the other viewers. I think you will find that the trade off in loading speed, is more than We've only just begun. Join up now, at the start! The Reader Any text file, any size, any time! Page 3 balanced by the handling of the loaded file. The RaLin Reader is still a new creation, and is in store for many new enhancements and additions in the future. To see what is in store for future versions refer to the WHATSUP.DOC included in this package. ** THE TUTOR FILE ** A text file has been included to help you test some of the readers functions, it is named TUTOR.RR. Load this file into the reader with the command RR TUTOR.RR.... read the file and follow its directions, then you may want to load this manual into the reader for further reading, and mabey "Find" areas of the manual that you wish to review. ** STARTING THE READER ** If you have already read the tutor file, then you know how to load a file into the reader. If not, the command to view a file with The RaLin Reader is: RR <filename>....simple! The reader does NOT search the drive or path statement for the specified file. If you give it only a filename, it expects to find that file in the directory you were in when you called the reader. If the file resides in another directory, you must supply the directory and file name. If it's on another drive, specify that too. For instance, a file called MYNOTES.TXT on drive D: would be loaded like this: RR D:\MYNOTES.TXT A small opening screen will display, it will show a program header, copyright notice and display the name of the file being loaded, the size of the file, and keep a running total of the lines processed as it builds the index. ** DISPLAY COLORS ** When The RaLin Reader fires up, it searches your PATH directories for its configuration file. If found it will use those settings, if not found it will use the built in defaults. ** LINE LENGTHS ** The RaLin Reader is designed to display files with lines of text no more than 80 characters long. If the line is longer, it will be cut off at column 80. BUT....when you print a line, the display or the file, lines will be printed in their entirety, up to 255 characters per line. ** THE READER SCREEN ** Once the file has been indexed, you will be placed in view mode, with the first 22 lines of the file displayed. An example screen is shown below. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ≡The RaLin Reader 1.05≡ Top: 1 Lines: 3287 File: RR.DOC Print Mode: NORMAL ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── . . . 22 lines of text displayed . We've only just begun. Join up now, at the start! The Reader Any text file, any size, any time! Page 4 . . ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┬──────┬───────┬────────┐ ├∙∙∙∙∙PgUp∙PgDn∙∙Home∙End∙∙J:Jump∙∙Esc:Quit∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙│Case:s│Print:p│∙F1:Help│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┴──────┴───────┴────────┘ The above is a close representation, not all line characters show on the actual screen, used here for clarity. At the top is the information header, it contains the following: Top line upper left is the program name, followed by the Top: line number, this is the number of the line that is currently at the top of the view window. Next is the Lines: line count, the total number of lines in the text file, blank lines are counted. These line number readings can be very useful in using the JUMP function. The second line shows the name of the file being viewed, and at the far right, the print mode that will be used when sending text to the printer, this may read NORMAL or COMPRESSED and can be toggled in the program, more on that later. At the screen bottom is the status line. It shows the movement command keys and some other information. Also the Help key and the command to Exit the reader. The Case field shows the current setting for text searching, the lower case 's' means that searcing will be case INSENSITIVE, an upper case 'S' means text will be searched for "exactly" as entered. This may also be toggled in the reader. The Print field show whether the printed text (displayed text) will be sent to the printer or to a {+} file, (registered only). This can also be toggled, in the registered version. The status line is also where other messages are displayed, and where you enter values for text searching, print to file, load new file etc. Now it's time to cover all the movement keys and other functions available in the reader. If you are reading this manual in The RaLin Reader, pressing F1 will call up the Help Screen for reference. ** PROMPT FIELD EDITING KEYS ** Before we begin the command keys, there are times when you will be prompted for information. This takes place in the status line. At times a default value will be pre-entered for you. You have several editing keys available when you are in these prompt fields. Editing keys are - DeleteKey - Delete character at the cursor. LeftArrow - Nondestructive move cursor to the left. RightArrow - Nondestructive move cursor to the right. End - Move cursor to end of input string. Home - Move cursor to start of input string. Backspace - Delete character to the left of cursor. Ins - Toggles insert mode, cursor changes to block. Enter/Return - Accepts value(s) as entered. Esc - Aborts the entry process, also accepts the default We've only just begun. Join up now, at the start! The Reader Any text file, any size, any time! Page 5 value(s) if supplied. ** MOVEMENT COMMAND KEYS ** ArrowUp - ArrowDn Will move you one line in either direction. If you are at the top line of the file, and attempt to move upwards, an error tone will sound. If you are at the last line of the file, and attempt to move down, an error tone will sound, and an End Of File message will be displayed. NOTE: If you are on the last "page" of text via the PgDn key, pressing down arrow will allow you to scroll donwards until the last line of the file is at the top of the window. PgUp - PgDn Will move you in either direction 22 lines at a time. Attempting to Page up or down past the start or end of the file will sound an error tone. If PgDn is pressed near the end of the file, say with only 10 lines left, those 10 lines plus the preceeding 12 lines will be displayed. PgDn "always" displays the last 22 lines of the file, if pressed when you are withing the last 22 lines of the file. Attempting to PgDn past the last line of the file will sound an error tone. Home Returns you to the TOP page of the file. End Places you on the last page, last 22 lines of the file. Esc Exits the reader, closing all open files. F1 Calls the Help Screen, pressing any key will put it away. J:Jump Allows you to jump to any line in the file. You will be prompted for a line number, you will not be allowed to enter a line number less than the first line, or greater than the total number of lines in the file. When the line number prompt appears, it contains the line number of the line that is currently the "top" line. Enter the line number you wish to move to, and press enter. The line you requested will be placed at the top of the view window, floowed by the next 21 lines of text. Before acepting the entry you may edit it, refer to the prior section on Editing Keys. ** OTHER COMMAND KEYS ** This section will cover all the other command keys, not shown on the status line. These may be referenced by pressing F1 for the Help Screen. Printer Commands: CTL-P : Toggles NORMAL/COMPRESSED print mode. CTL-F : Sends a Form Feed to the printer. We've only just begun. Join up now, at the start! The Reader Any text file, any size, any time! Page 6 CTL-L : Send a Line Feed to the printer. ALT-L : Print top line of displayed text. If the line at the top of the window is blank, nothing is done. Otherwise, that line is sent to your printer. F9 : Print text displayed in view window. This will send the 22 lines of text in the view window, to the printer. F10 : Print complete file. Prints the complete file. When any of the Printer commands are accessed, the reader first checks the printer status. If it is not ready and error tone will sound, and an error message will be displayed. Correct the problem, and repeat the desired command. Print to File/Printer ALT-P {+} : Registered Feature. This will toggle the programs printer output. If you are in printer mode (lower case 'p') pressing ALT-P will put you in print to file mode. You will be prompted for a file name. If the file exists, you will be asked if you wish to (A)ppend output to the file, (O)verwrite the existing file, or (S)kip the whole thing. When you are in print to file mode, an upper case 'F' will be displayed in the Print: status area. While in print to file mode, all printer output will be sent to this file. This filename remains in effect until you toggle back to printer. If you wish to change the filename you must first toggle back to printer ('p') then toggle file again ('F') then specify a new name. This "is" a bit of a hassle, and will be fixed in a future version. Currently this option is only available with the F9 Print Displayed Text. It will be added to the "line print" function. While in print to file mode, pressing ALT-P will toggle you back to print to printer mode. Word/Phrase Search ALT-C : This toggles the search case sensitivity. In the Find: box you will see either a lower case 's' or an upper case 'S'. The lower case means that the word/phrase will be found regardless of how you enter it, entering Help will find HELP, helP HeLp etc. If the upper case 'S' is shown then text will be searched for "exactly" as you enter. Using the above example, any line found containing Help would be displayed, nothing else. F: FIND....will prompt you for the text or phrase to be searched for. When the line is found, it will be displayed on line 2 of the view window, in the "found text" color. N: NEXT....searches for the next occurance of the word/phrase. Again, as the file is NOT stored in memory, the reader must check the disk file, but the search function is quite fast. Be advised that the NON CASE SENSITIVE search 's' is somewhat slower than the CASE SENSITIVE 'S' one. Edit File ALT-E : Allows you to call your favorite editor to edit the current file if you wish. We've only just begun. Join up now, at the start! The Reader Any text file, any size, any time! Page 7 The evaluation copy will only work with an editor named QE.EXE, if you wish to use this function you will have to rename your editor. The registered version allows you to specify the editor name in RRCONFIG{+}, the configuration program. Upon return from the Editor, the reader will re-build the index and load in the edited copy. As many editors do not give an exit code to tell if a file has been changed or not, and the code is different between those that do, the reader will re-scan and load the file regardless if changes have been made or not. Upon returning, you will be placed at the same screen of text you were at when you called the editor. Load New File {+} ALT-N : Available only in the Registered version. You will be prompted for a new file name to load. The reader first closes the old file, and attemps to find and load the new one. If the file cannot be found, an error tone will sound, a message will be displayed, and The RaLin Reader will exit. DOS Shell ALT-D : Loads a second copy of COMMAND.COM and places you at the DOS prompt. A one time message will be displayed to remind you to type EXIT to return to the reader. **WARNING** Never load a TSR (Terminate and Stay Resident) type program while you are in a DOS shell from any program. This WILL corrupt memory, and generaly require you to reboot the PC. You may perform any DOS commands, run other programs etc while you are in the Shell. Type EXIT to return to the reader. NOTE: The RaLin Reader uses about 50K of memory, and does not currently swap any of it's code out during a shell or running the Editor. So when the reader is running, you will have 50K less memory to work with. Swapping is a function that will be added in a future version. ** PROGRAM CONFIGURATION ** RRCONFIG.EXE {+} The configuration program is a utility you receive when you register The RaLin Reader. It allows configuration of the colors used, and you can specify which editor program to call with the ALT-E command key. A DEMO version has been included. It is identical to the current RRCONFIG that is available except...it will NOT actually save the new configuration settings. In all other aspects its a working copy. Please refer to RRCONFIG.DOC for more information. ** NEW FUNCTIONS ** The RaLin Reader is a new program, and new functions are being added all the time. You may, in fact, have additional functions in the registered copy you receive. See the file WHATSUP.DOC for a list of the additions planned for the reader. We've only just begun. Join up now, at the start! The Reader Any text file, any size, any time! Page 8 I hope you find The RaLin Reader to be of use to you, and I look forward to welcoming you to the RaLin Family of Users. Please see REGISTER.FRM for information on registering the reader, and what you can expect for your registration fee. ** CONTACTING THE AUTHOR ** The author can be contacted via several means. Snail Mail: Rand Nowell RaLin Enterprises 40728 Sundale Dr. Fremont, Ca. 94538 FIDO Netmail 1:161/710 Voice Phone: 510-651-0253 BBS : 510-651-0253(4 second pause)3322 Echos FIDO - Shareware, RA_Util ** CLOSING REMARKS ** The RaLin Reader is on the ground floor of creation. Many new things are in store, and user inout will help direct these new additions. Get in on the beginning, register now! Thanks for taking time to evaluate The RaLin Reader. Rand Nowell ** CREDITS ** The RaLin Reader was written in Turbo Pascal 6.0 Thanks to Trevor Carlsen for some of his Public Domain source modified and used for several of the reader functions. A special THANK YOU! to my wife Linda, who puts up with my countless programming hours!! And many Thanks to my registered users, who give me the incentive to continue on and develop better programs for all of you. We've only just begun. Join up now, at the start!