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PC\PAD USER'S GUIDE 4/08/83 PC\PAD (ver. 1.3) A Word Processing/Spreadsheet Program For the IBM Personal Computer (c) 1983 by P. Fraundorf P.O. Box 11394 St. Louis MO 63105 TABLE OF CONTENTS I. General Information II. Getting Started III. The MS-BASIC full-screen line-editor IV. The Twenty Programmed Functions V. View and Help VI. Window Movement Keys VII. Text Processing Keys VIII. Spreadsheet Programming IX. Saving and Printing X. Future Directions XI. Disclaimer If you are using this program and find it of value, a contribution ($20 suggested) will be appreciated. Regardless of whether you make a contribution, you are encouraged to copy and share this program. I. GENERAL INFORMATION: PC\PAD is a word processing/ spreadsheet (or "wordsheet") program designed around the MS-BASIC full-screen line-editor to provide text-editing, spreadsheet computation, and printing capabilities with minimum complication. Its design is based on the thought that many users of such software would prefer a simple set of useful functions (with option to expand to meet special needs) instead of the general capability (and hence complexity) built into bigger programs. It uses the programmable function keys on the IBM keyboard to build on capabilities of the resident editor. This approach economizes on program size (around 9K bytes) while providing full support of the familiar BASIC editing protocols. Commands, especially at the character and word level, once mastered for either PC\PAD or the BASIC editor, are thus automatically mastered for both. The program is itself written in BASIC, with a modular structure for easy modification or expansion. In addition to making the BASIC editor available for work on text files, PC\PAD provides: (i) a 256-character (16 column) by N-row text area* which is spreadsheet programmable using simple BASIC routines; (ii) the programmed line-operations of Enter, Yank, Put, Block-Insert, Block-Delete and Right-Justify for manuscript preparation; and (iii) a routine for IBM/EPSON printing with variable margins, line-spacings, and even subscripts if needed. Along with this user's guide (file PC\PAD.DOC), PC\PAD provides an on-line "help file" to aid user's in implementing these functions. PC\PAD as written is set up for an IBM-PC with 64K of memory (48K should work), a single disk drive, and an 80-column monitor. A printer is optional, although probably desirable. As indicated above, it also requires IBM's disk BASIC (or BASICA) to run. The BASIC workspace has room for nearly 30K characters of text with a 64K system, probably around 14K with 48K. A limited license is granted to all users of this program, to make copies and distribute them to other users, on the following conditions: 1. that the notices contained in lines 20 through 180 of the program are not altered or removed; 2. that the program is distributed along with this documentation to others in unmodified form; and 3. that no fee is charged for copying or distributing the program without an express written agreement with the author. The PC\PAD marketing philosophy of voluntary user support bears similarities to that employed in the marketing of FREEWARE (a trademark of The Headlands Press, Inc.). User response is welcome, in the form of ideas and/or funds in return for a useful product. My ability to issue upgrades through established distribution channels (I am NOT equipped to provide program copies on request) will reflect the extent of that response. *N depends on RAM available in the BASIC program buffer. With a 64K system, this file (nearly 400 lines) fits, but speed suffers. II. GETTING STARTED: There are numerous files on your disk. As you may have discovered, the file PC\PAD.DOC contains this user's guide. The program itself is in file PC\PAD.BAS. This program can be run in the usual way from BASIC (type: run "pc\pad"), or started from DOS by using the batch file PC\PAD.BAT (type: pc\pad). Because PC\PAD utilizes the disk operating system and BASIC, it is helpful to transfer the PC\PAD files to a system disk containing BASIC. This also serves to "back up" your original copy of the program. These files can be transferred individually (only PC\PAD.BAS is needed to run the program), or the full set can be transferred using the batch file "COPYPAD.BAT" (in DOS type: copypad). Note that drives A and B refer to source and target disks, respectively. Finally, a demo "wordsheet" file (DEMOPAD) to provide a taste of PC\PAD capabilities, and a general purpose spreadsheet instruction program for keeping row-column totals (ROWCOL.BAS), are included on the disk as well. When you run PC\PAD, the program begins with a title/information page, and the prompt "any key to continue...". Push any single key, and the program then lists the files on the disk, and requests a disk file name. If none is given, it assumes that you want to start from scratch. In either case, it then asks for a working file name: the filename under which the product of this editing session is to be stored. Perhaps the best way to get a feel for the program is to initially specify DEMOPAD as the disk file, and DEMOPAD.J as the working file name (it's OK to specify filenames in lowercase for convenience). Then follow the instructions shown in the file. Where starting is first discussed, quitting should also be mentioned. Key [F10] saves a working file to disk. Pressing backslash twice, the letter q, and Enter initiates request for a new filename without saving the working file. This sequence is intentionally complicated, because it should not be executed thoughtlessly without first saving an important file. Two consecutive Enters after that (to each of the filename prompts) exits the program. Ctrl-Break at most any time does that as well. III. THE MS-BASIC FULL-SCREEN LINE-EDITOR. Possibly one of the most economical things that PC\PAD does is that it makes the BASIC program editor available for work on text files. Now if you edit BASIC programs, you don't need to master new protocols to edit text, and vice versa. The editor functions that become available include character operations (Destructive-Backspace, Insert, Delete, Alt-###), cursor movements (Up, Down, Left, Right, Next-Word, Previous-Word, Home, End), tab, erase line (Esc), erase to end of line (Ctrl-End), and print screen (Shift-PrtSc). These functions are documented in some detail on pp. 2-13 through 2-31 of the IBM BASIC Manual (2nd Edition, ver. 1.1), and hence will not be discussed here. The Enter function, perhaps the most fundamental for operation of the BASIC editor, plays a similar role for PC\PAD. However unlike the functions mentioned above, the PC\PAD Enter function is a programmed operation which differs from the BASIC Enter function. First, it Enters into the working file ONLY the physical screen line immediately above the cursor position after execution; not the literal line (which may take up several screen lines due to wraparound) as in the case of the BASIC screen editor. For this reason, if a screen gets "contaminated" with wraparound lines (for example when the cursor is allowed to run off the right edge of the screen and logically link two screen lines), then the best bet is to relist the screen using the View function [F1] before trying to read modifications back into the file. Secondly, because PC\PAD Enter is programmed in BASIC, it operates a bit slower than the BASIC editor version, and hence is a prime candidate for an assembler routine in future upgrades. Suggestions are invited. IV. THE TWENTY PROGRAMMED FUNCTIONS. In addition to making BASIC editor functions available for work on text, PC\PAD provides a set of add-on functions, chosen to make PC\PAD able to perform a wide range of word processing and spreadsheet operations. The set of available functions has been kept small and simple so that telling the computer what you want to do is also simple. Although there is no reason why you couldn't expand this set of functions, it is also possible to stick with it while specializing individual functions to your needs (or eliminating them altogether). Most individual functions are sandwiched in the program listing (PC\PAD.BAS) between rows of double-dashes (=====) for easy identification. The programmed functions that have been chosen for this version of PC\PAD fall naturally into five operational categories, each of which will be taken up in succeeding sections. In order to implement these functions, a particular ASCII character (here the "backslash" symbol 092) has been given special status as a control character. If you try to Enter a screen line containing this character in combination with control words (like "view "), the line will not be Entered but instead the indicated function performed. Also control characters cannot be Entered at all during Line-Insert mode. Although "backslash" is a convenient choice of control symbol for my applications, a different one may suit yours, and hence the program is written to allow redefinition of the control character (variable CC$) in line 190 of the program. V. VIEW AND HELP. View and Help are two "information" functions assigned to the [F1] key. By their nature, they change no parameters, but are designed simply to inform you of an existing state of affairs. The Help function, invoked with backslash [F1], simply lists the 20 programmed functions and their key assignments for reference when needed. The View function, invoked with [F1], puts an image of the present "window" into the working file up on the screen. Since the screen can be changed independently of the file, it is often useful to push [F1] to clarify the file status if there is reason to think that correspondence between screen and file has been lost. This function is automatically invoked on completion of some of the other function calls, so that the operator is updated appropriately concerning changes in the file, or the window into it. VI. WINDOW MOVEMENT KEYS. As indicated earlier, the working file (or wordsheet) is made up of a 256-character (16 "column") by N-line text area. The division of the wordsheet into equally spaced "columns", each 16 characters wide, is done to simplify spreadsheet programming. Through use of the View function, the screen provides an 80-character (5 "column") by 23-line window onto that wordsheet. The 25th line of the screen provides the usual function key labels, while the 24th line pinpoints the location of the window. When the file is first opened, the window is located in the upper left hand corner of the wordsheet. On the screen one sees lines 0 to 22, and "columns" 0 to 4. Movement of this window is controlled with the window movement keys [F3] through [F6]. [F3] and [F4] move the window up and down one line, respectively. Pressing backslash before either of these keys results in the same function being executed, except with 20-line instead of 1-line motion increments. Keys [F5] and [F6] perform a similar function for movements of the window left and right. Without a prior backslash, the motion is a half-"column" (8 characters), whereas with a prior backslash, the motion is a full 4 "columns" (64 characters). Rather than performing this motion with a scroll, these window movement routines update the screen by simply invoking the View function on completion. Assembler scrolling routines might be an interesting area for concentration in program updates. VII. TEXT PROCESSING KEYS. One of the major advantages of a computer worksheet over a typewriter worksheet lies in the ability to reorganize whole lines in a manuscript. The BASIC editor is weak in this area, and hence several programmed functions have been designed to provide this ability. Emphasis has been on easy-to-remember line operations with optional block capability, for the benefit of those whose use of the computer for text processing is only part time. The two simplest functions are Yank [F7] and Put [F8]. The first simply "yanks" a copy of a block of lines, beginning at the cursor position, and puts it into memory variable M$(). The Delete function (backslash+[F7]) provides a "destructive" Yank, in which the chosen block is copied into memory and removed from the text. Thus it provides a way to delete whole lines. The Put function [F8], as you might guess, simply inserts the last Yanked block into text at the indicated cursor location. One can, for example, insert blank lines into text where needed by simply Yanking one blank line, and then replicating it using Put at the desired locations. For the occassions when one wants to insert new text into the midst of pre-existing text, the Line-Insert command (backslash+[F8]) causes the existing cursor to "split", opening up a new line of text. This insertion loop only accepts text typed into the newly opened line. As each line is Entered into the working file in the usual way, another "insertion" line is opened up after. Any other command key or just the backslash will put the cursor back together into one piece, close up the present "insertion" line, and return you to the full screen editor. The last (and longest) of the text processing functions, Justify, allows you to right-justify text to an arbitrary width. This trick is quite difficult to do with an ordinary typewriter. The desired linewidth is requested the first time the Justify key [F9] is pushed. Afterwards, it can be respecified with the J-Options function (backslash+[F9]). This function also allows you to right-justify arbitrarily large blocks, rather than doing it line by line. One of the reasons for the amount of code requried by the Justify function is that it gives special status to indented lines, lest it be tempted to run paragraphs together. Although this implemented logic allows one to use Justify automatically on whole blocks of text at once, it also prevents it from operating (at least in the current version) on indented paragraphs. If you must justify indented text, it is therefore recommended that you type the text without indentation, justify it, and then indent (either with the editor, or while printing). Finally, although Justify adds spaces between words when they are needed, it has not been allowed to remove them. For that reason, lest you want spaces to multiply without bound, it is best to justify each line no more than once. Obviously, then it is also best to begin with the first line in a paragraph, and work your way down. VIII. SPREADSHEET PROGRAMMING. Given a large wordsheet with text editing capabilities, wouldn't it be nice to also have the option of programming it, so that various portions of the sheet automatically reflect the state of other portions of the sheet? Thanks to the string handling and computational ability of MS-BASIC, this is a remarkably easy thing to do. PC\PAD aids the user in doing this by providing a set of subroutines for wordsheet access, and a Computation function [F2] for merging and running BASIC instructions for wordsheet formatting. The 4 subroutines available in this version of PC\PAD are (a) the function FNV(I,J) which reads the "numerical value" (see the BASIC function VAL) from the wordsheet cell in line I, column J; (b) subroutines 9900 and 9920 which insert, respectively, the number X and the string X$ into the cell at line I, column J in the wordsheet; and (c) subroutine 9630 for forming column and row sums given line/column of the top-left cell (NROW0/NCOL0) and the number of rows and columns to be summed (NROW/NCOL). An example of the use of these subroutines is illustrated in the demonstration file DEMOPAD using the 5-line instruction program ROWCOL.BAS. Once the instruction program is in place (it is first merged, on naming, into program lines 10000 and up), one simply presses [F2] to update the computations. The flexibility of MS-BASIC for this kind of application is impressive, and I look forward to an expanding library of specific solutions as the spreadsheet capability of PC\PAD has a chance to mature. User ideas and suggestions are most welcome. PC\PAD requires of the instruction program that it: (i) has lines numbered from 10000 and up; (ii) includes the statement "ON ERROR GOTO 5000" to invoke error trapping which seems to be cancelled during the CHAIN MERGE operation; (iii) return program control to the View function (line 450) after completion; and (iv) be stored as an ASCII file on disk. Because of the need for specific line references in the main program, one must also be careful about renumbering the main routine independently. IX. SAVING AND PRINTING. As already mentioned, the Save function [F10] places the current working file on disk in a file with the working filename. The working filename can be changed using the Reset Filenames function (backslash+[F2]) mentioned above. You should make it a habit to save your work periodically during a long working session, to minimize the loss in case of a power failure or memory lapse later on. The other method for outputting the file is to print it using the Print routine (backslash+[F10]). This routine asks a lot of questions, but basically if you want to print the whole file in normal 80-column format without indenting, you just answer all the questions with return. I usually work with un-indented text files (for use with the Justify routine), and print rough drafts in this default format except for 1" margins and a 10 space indentation. The large number of questions that are asked allow you to access a wide range of printer options. In doing scientific writing, for example, in which superscripts and subscripts are abundant, I create a triple-spaced text file in the computer, with super and sub-scripts on the intervening lines, and then print out using 1/3 normal line spacing: Viola!..... professional-looking super and sub-scripted single-spaced text in a variety of character sizes and intensities. X. FUTURE DIRECTIONS. One shortcoming of this version of PC\PAD that becomes apparent with larger files (probably because of the variable storage size of BASIC strings) is speed. Two easy things that could help are (a) "squishing" of the listing to remove comments and increase number of commands per line; and (b) compiling. If I can come up with a compiled version, I will try to make it available with the next upgrade. Moreover, if there is tangible user support for the design philosophy of this program, some assembler programming of crucial routines would be one of the first items on the menu. XI. DISCLAIMER. In no event will the author be liable to you for any damages, including any lost profits, lost savings or other incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use of or inability to use these programs, even if the author has been advised of the possibility of such damages, or for any claim by any other party.