ftp.barnyard.co.uk/2015.02.ftp.barnyard.co.uk.tar/ftp.barnyard.co.uk/robot-pd/21100.ZIP/21100B.DSK/zde.new

Text File | 1998-02-03 | 15KB | 304 lines

                            New in ZDE

                     Z-System Display Editor

                     Version 1.0   10 Mar 89

  ZDE and its documentation are copyright 1989 by Carson Wilson,
  all rights reserved.  They may not be circulated in any
  incomplete or modified form without written permission of the
  author.  Any commercial use of ZDE, defined as any situation
  where the duplicator receives revenue by duplicating or
  distributing ZDE by itself or in conjunction with any hardware
  or software product, is expressly prohibited unless authorized
  in writing by Carson Wilson.


                             CONTENTS

               1.  Functional Enhancments.
                    1.1.  File Datestamp Capability.
                    1.2.  Named Directory Capability.
                    1.3.  Line Queue Capability.
                    1.4.  Other Enhancements.
               2.  Bugs Fixed.
               3.  ZDENSTAL.
               4.  Notes to DosDisk Users.
               5.  Planned Enhancements.
               6.  Development History.


1.  Functional Enhancments.

1.1.  File Datestamp Capability.

     Under ZSDOS, the Create date and time of files edited with
ZDE are maintained across editions.  If .BAK files are being
created, the create dates of new files will be the same as their
.BAK files.  Note that if a file with the name of a block being
saved with ^KW or ESC-W already exists, the saved block will have
the same Create stamp as the (previously) existing file.  I hope
to address this side-effect in future versions by prompting before
erasing existing files during ^KW commands.

1.2.  Named Directory Capability.

     ZDE will now accept ZCPR named directories when loading,
renaming, and erasing files, and when requesting a directory
listing with the ^KF command.  The named directory (if available)
is also displayed as part of the current file name in the status
line.
     Since ZCPR directory names can occupy up to eight columns on
the status line, it was necessary to move the rest of the status
line over by eight columns.  I was able to gain an extra column by
putting only one space between the filetype and the "[x"
specifier, but the result is that if your terminal displays less
than 55 columns the current column number will not be visible in
your status line.
     This is unfortunate, but the status line is already about as
compressed as possible.  To include all of the information I would
have to add a second status line for narrow terminals, which would
add a good deal of code and complexity to what is already a
complicated program.  Since most CP/M terminals (including my own)
have 80 columns, I have decided in favor of the majority in this
instance.
     You may also notice that the ^QA prompt "Chg? (Y/N/*)" has
been shortened to "Chg?" and the "Wait..." message is now "Wait".
These changes were also necessary because of the decrease in
available space on the status line.

1.3.  Line Queue Capability.

     A third functional enhancment is the new ^QQ command, which
causes ZDE to skip to line numbers stored in ZCPR's user-defined
message bytes.  Under ZCPR3, up to eight line or page numbers may
be passed to ZDE.  The original idea was to use the interface to
produce a Turbo Pascal-like integrated environment for program
development, but the interface is certainly not limited to
programmers.
     The numbers are stored in ZCPR's 16 user-defined message
bytes, and ZDE treats these bytes as a packed array of up to eight
elements.  ^QQ causes ZDE to cycle through the array, going to the
stored locations sequentially until the end of the array or a zero
element is reached, at which point ZDE returns to the first stored
location.
     The numbers are stored as inverted 2-byte hex words (LSB
first), so for example to store the lines 12, 44, and 108 a
program would set the 16 user-defined bytes as follows:

         0C 00 2C 00 6C 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

In this example, when ZDE reaches the fourth word (00 00) it
returns to the start of the array and goes to line 12 (0C 00).
     Any ZCPR program, or even an alias (using Jay Sage's powerful
ARUNZ parameters) can now give ZDE the locations of up to eight
line numbers of interest.  With a little imagination we could
probably create an integrated text search/edit environment which
searches multiple files for a string and points ZDE to the exact
location of each match for editing.  Thanks to Cameron Cotrill and
Al Grabauskas for suggesting this feature.

1.4.  Other Enhancements.

     In response to a suggestion by Phil Newman, ZDE now properly
accepts and displays user areas between 16 and 31.  While I do not
normally suggest storing files in these areas because many CP/M
programs do not handle them properly, they are useful occasionally
on very large disks or for security purposes, and are supported by
ZCPR and ZSDOS, so I have included them in ZDE.
     For NewWord compatibility, I have changed the "To Mark"
command from ^QP to ^QZ.  This is also better mnemonically, since
the "place mark" command is ^PZ.
     The search and replace functions now match upper or lower
case by default.  To search for an exact match by case, you must
enter "/c/" or "/C/" (for Case) before the search string.  The
"/i/" option is no longer active.  I have changed default
find/replace wildcard character to ^Z so that ZDE can find strings
with literal '_' characters.  Use the ^QZ command to find a
literal ^Z.
     ^KB, ^KK, ^KU and ^QY no longer cause unnecessary redisplays.
     For faster operation, ZDE no longer resets drives under ZSDOS
(same as CP/M Plus).
     Under ZSDOS and CP/M Plus, ZDE sets the error mode to 0FEh.
All BDOS errors are displayed on the screen, but ZDE retains
control.
     For your protection, ZSDOS Path and Public files are Read
Only under ZDE.  That is, you can access files via Path or Public
but you cannot erase Path or Public files.  If you get a ZSDOS
"File W/P" error when saving data with the ^KS, ^KD, ^KX, or ^KW
commands or when erasing a file with ^KE, you may have given the
name of a ZSDOS Path or Public file.  Try again with a new name.


2.  Bugs Fixed.

     If just a drive letter in given during the ^KF (display
files) command, files in the current user area are displayed
rather than files in user area 0 (thanks to Ben Cohen).
     ZDE no longer crashes if no name is given in response to the
^KW prompt (thanks to Eric Meyer for finding this one).
     ^KB and ^KK now behave properly when entered at the rightmost
column of the screen.
     The "Chg?" prompt is now properly erased in all circumstances.
     Full disk errors caused CP/M Plus and ZSDOS systems to report
the wrong amount of free space.  This has been corrected by
closing the output file after full disk errors (thanks to Howard
Goldstein for this idea).
     File read-only errors no longer set the drive byte to "^@"
under CP/M 2.2 (thanks again to Phil Newman for finding this one).
     Backwards replace now finds the first occurrence of the
string before the cursor even if the cursor is only one character
to the right of the string.  If the string is replaced, the cursor
now returns to the START of the new string instead of one after it
as before (this may change the effects of some ZDE key macros).
     Ben Cohen noticed that VDE's left margin (Lnn) print option
sometimes failed to indent the first line.  This has been fixed.
ZDE also prints the header text at the same location no matter
what left margin is used, rather than indenting the header and
causing it to wrap to the next line.  Print option verification is
also much more rigorous now than in previous versions.
     ^KS, ^KD, and ^KX file name requests now abort with a
carriage return as well as ^U, and ^U now returns you to ZDE in
response to the ^KX filename request.
     The bug fix published in VDE266.FIX has been incorporated.
     Several ZDE bugs affecting use with DosDisk have been
eliminated (see below for bugs IN DosDisk 1.00, however).
     Tabs displayed in the last column of the last row no longer
cause the screen to scroll.
     Virtual screen displays no longer show garbage at the end of
the line if the cursor is at the left side of the screen, and
moving to the left edge of the screen with ^A no longer causes
redisplay.
     ^A now moves to the first character on line 2 before jumping
to line 1 when line 1 is empty.
     ^PZ now causes a horizontal scroll if it moves the cursor
beyond the right edge of the screen.
     Block and place markers no longer set file status to
"Changed."
     The cursor no longer jumps around when moving left from
columns after 254.  The cursor now stops at column 254 instead of
255, and the status line says "Col 255" for any column past 254.
Text past column 254 CAN actually be edited, but it will not be
displayed by ZDE.
     Strings can now be found with ^QA even if they are the very
last item in the file (credit goes to Cameron W. Cotrill for
finding this one).
     "^OI@" now removes all soft tab stops "as advertised" in
VDE266.DOC instead of setting them all to 1, making it possible to
set new tabs after entering "^OI@".  "^OI#" has the same effect.
     ^^ now sets file status to "Changed" when converting from
lower-to-upper case as well as upper-to-lower.
     "Wait..." message now disappears after disk operations with
ruler on and status line off.  VDE266 forgot to erase the message
in this situation.
     Backwards find and replace operations now work properly
instead of repeating the prompt indefinitely when the replace
string is shorter than the find string (thanks to Ben Cohen for
pointing this out).
     VDE restored INSert to its entry status just BEFORE the final
byte of the macro, resulting in irregular behavior and sometimes
causing macro elements to appear after the "INS" indicator in the
status line.  ZDE waits until the entire macro has executed before
restoring entry status.  Due to ZDE's code structure, the INS
status line indicator does not change during macro execution.
     ZDE restores INSert to entry status when macros abort due to
errors (e.g., "[[[ Not Found ]]]").


3.  ZDENSTAL.

     Included in this library is ZDENSTAL.COM, the new install
program for ZDE.  ZDENSTAL it is very similar to VINST in
operation, but adds the feature of displaying the actual print
toggles and switches at all prompts, rather than the default ones.
So if you change the first default print toggle character to ^K
for example, all other prompts referring to that toggle now
reflect the change.
     Files for use with ZDENSTAL must have the type ".ZDE" (option
installation), ".ZDP" (printer installation), or ".ZDK" (macro
keys), but are otherwise compatible with files used to install VDE
2.66.  With Fred Haines' permission, I have adapted his wonderful
VDKCOM.COM utility for use with ZDE, and renamed it (what else?)
ZDKCOM.COM (see ZDKCOM.DOC).
     ZDENSTAL also corrects the bug which prevented VINST from
loading installation files whose archive bits were set.


4.  Notes to DosDisk Users.

DosDisk users are advised of a bug in DosDisk 1.00 which appeared
during the development of ZDE.  Calling Reset 13 while DosDisk is
active can cause DosDisk to think other active drives are all
drive A:.  Bridger Mitchell, author of DosDisk, is aware of this
bug and is working on a fix.  In the meantime, users of CP/M 2.2
and ZRDOS who wish to edit files on MS-DOS disks should NOT log
into the MS-DOS drive while editing with ZDE, as this causes ZDE
to do a Reset 13 when writing to the MS-DOS drive.  To edit files
on the MS-DOS drive, run ZDE from drive A: or another non-MS-DOS
drive.

Users of ZSDOS and CP/M Plus need not worry about this problem
with ZDE, as ZDE never resets disks under ZSDOS or CP/M Plus.  By
the same token, however, ZSDOS and CP/M Plus users must not change
disks in the MS-DOS drive from within ZDE, because DosDisk (like
CP/M 2.2) requires a disk reset or warm boot when disks are
changed (see DosDisk manual, p. 7).


5.  Planned Enhancements.

     If time permits, future versions of ZDE may contain the
following enhancements:
     An improved ZDENSTAL which directly accepts ASCII files for
key definitions, along the lines of ZDKCOM.
     Bridger Mitchell has suggested command "bindings" which would
allow any control key or meta key sequence to be linked to any ZDE
command.  This idea will be familiar to users of Perfect Writer.
Key bindings would allow ZDE to simulate EMACS, for example.
     Bruce Morgen and others have suggested automatic terminal
installation under ZCPR, allowing the same copy of ZDE to be used
with any terminal.
     Allow more than two default filetypes available and fixed
disks.
     It may be possible to preserve file create datestamps under
CP/M Plus and Z3PLUS.


6.  Development History.

1984:  VDE began as Eric Meyer's set of improvements on the tiny
       (4k) "VDO" memory- mapped editor by Fritz Schneider (1982),
       as adapted by George Peace (1984) for the Osborne Executive.

1985:  The first terminal adaptation, VDE-PX for the Epson PX-8.
       Ongoing improvements also in parallel Osborne versions
       VDE-OS.

1986:  The unified VDE(M) version 2.00, with generic terminal
       installation.  Versions 2.1-2.3 added new features
       including macros; global replace; tighter compression; many
       Print options; file directory; undelete.

1987:  2.4 (1/87):  Improved scrolling and screen functions; more
                    screen sizes supported; WordStar file mode;
                    place markers; ^OZ; block print; larger macro
                    keys; VINSTALL terminal menu.

       2.5 (3/87):  User area support; variable tabs; double
                    spacing; search wildcards; more standard block
                    functions; improved format- ting; many
                    additions to VINSTALL.

       2.6 (7/87):  Greater WordStar compatibility; many new
                    functions; more free RAM; faster scrolling;
                    search options; keyboard buffer.

1988:  Development through v2.64, with new functions; top margin;
       doublespaced printing; auto mode filetypes.

      2.65 (4/88):  Auto indent; tab set enhancements; small fixes.

      2.66 (6/88):  Printer left margin; small fixes.

1989:  First version of ZDE.