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Software of the Month Cl…Business) - New Member 21
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DRAFTCH
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READ.ME
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1995-07-07
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DRAFT Choice Ver 2.15 Copyright 1995, TRIUS, Inc.
P.O. BOX 249, North Andover, MA 01845
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Orders ONLY!: 800-GO-TRIUS (800-468-7487)
Info: 508-794-9377 FAX: 508-688-6312 BBS: 508-794-0762
This READ.ME file contains information about DRAFT Choice that did
not make it to the manual of Ver. 2.15. It also contains other
useful information.
Please READ THIS FILE THOROUGHLY! It contains very important
information, and reading it now will probably save you time and
trouble later on!
You can print this file by COPYing it to your printer with the
following command:
copy READ.ME prn
If you want to look at the other On-Disk DRAFT Choice documentation,
see the file list below, which lists all of the documentation files,
and see the section on the On-Disk User's Manual.
SHAREWARE
~~~~~~~~~
DRAFT Choice is distributed using the Shareware concept. Shareware
is NOT Free and it is not a specific type of Software. It's rather a
means of allowing you to use copyrighted software for a limited
period of time (as stated by the author), so that you can decide
whether you will purchase the complete, licensed product. All rights
to software distributed as Shareware are reserved by the Software
author/developer unless otherwise stated.
Evaluate DRAFT Choice for 30-days and give copies to your friends for
evaluation. If, after the 30 days, you continue to use the program,
then you need to purchase a licensed copy ("Register the Shareware"),
by sending us the registration/order form included on the disk or
within the program, or by calling 800-468-7487 (Orders Only!). You
will receive the Latest version of the program without the
registration reminder screens and without the "Unregistered"
watermark on the printed output). You will also receive a high-tech,
printed, illustrated manual, 90-day free Technical Phone Support, BBS
Technical Support, Newsletter, and Reduced price Upgrades.
Support new developments in DRAFT Choice, register your copy today!
Thank you for your support!
GETTING STARTED
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The information provided below is to help you start the program for
your hardware configuration. For more details about the operation of
the program press the F1 (function) key once you have started the
program.
Once installed (see below for installation procedure) DRAFT Choice is
started from DOS using the command:
C:> DC /Option1/Option2/Option3/..... [ENTER]
where Option1, Option2, etc. are options specifying the type of
memory to use, the type of graphics video adaptor, etc. For a
complete description of these options, please print and consult the
on-disk user's manual.
Ordering Information
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Remember that a shareware copy is an EVALUATION copy that you can use
for up to 30 days. If you continue to use the program, Registration
is Required! You may register using the order form in the ORDER.ME
file, or by calling TRIUS, Inc. and charging your purchase on your
credit card. We suggest that you call, since prices are subject to
change without notice.
You may also order your copy on-line by calling our TRIUS Support BBS
at (508) 794-0762 [12/24/9600/14,400 - N,8,1 - 24 hrs].
If you live outside the US and Canada you may want to contact TRIUS,
Inc. for a dealer in your country. Purchasing through these dealers
can save you the delay and inconvenience which may be involved in
dealing with currency conversions and international shipping and in
many cases will provide you with faster technical support.
Installation on Floppy or Hard Disk:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Although the program will work if installed on 360k diskettes, we
recommend that the program is installed either on a hard disk, or a
high density floppy diskette, since this will permit the help file,
font files, and other auxiliary files, to be available to the user.
* If you Install and run DRAFT Choice from a floppy disk, without
* Expanded memory (EMS), or if the /NE command line switch is
* used, and you remove the DRAFT Choice program disk from
* the drive while the program is running, you will get an
* error message and will be instructed to re-insert the disk.
If installing on 360k disks, you need to have at least two 360
drives, e.g., A and B. You cannot install the program on a
computer with a single 360 K disk drive and no Hard Disk!
* Place the DRAFT Choice original diskette in drive A: (or B:)
* Make sure the current logged drive is A: (Type A:, or B:, and
press ENTER, if it is not).
* Type INSTALL and press [ENTER]. Then, follow the simple on-screen
instructions to install your copy of the program on the desired disk(s)
and/or subdirectory.
Note: If you are installing on 360K floppy disks, you will
need multiple blank formatted diskettes!
On-Disk Documentation
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The installation process extracts a file called DC215.MAN. This is a
ready-to-print formatted, User's manual for the program.
Following the installation, make sure that the DC215.MAN file is
indeed on your default directory. Then, to print this manual:
(1) Make sure that the your printer is ON and there is enough
paper in it (the manual is about 80 pages).
(2) From the DOS prompt, type
COPY DC215.MAN PRN and press [ENTER]
Note that if your printer is connected to a SERIAL port,
then you need to use the command COPY DC215.MAN COM1, or
COPY DC215.MAN COM2 (depending on which serial port your
printer is connected to).
A NOTE ON PLOTTING
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The maximum number of dots that can be handled by DRAFT Choice (when
plotting to a printer), is based on a 360 dpi and 13" max plot width (hex
density on 24-pin printers). The string of bytes sent to the printer for
each line is preceded and followed by 2 bytes (4-bytes total) which are
needed by the program.
If a user is trying to plot a 16" wide drawing on a 9-pin printer (high
density), the max number of dots sent is [240 dpi * 16"] + 4 = 3844 dots.
Some printer buffers, however, cannot handle any more that 3840 dots per
line and the results, on such printers, would be unpredictable.
If the user wishes to make sure that such a printer buffer overflow will
not occur, in the example given above, then the width should be set to
something slightly less that 16" (e.g., 15.95 inches).
A NOTE ON MACROS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please, note that macro sequences (Option, Macro) are not saved with the
drawing file they are created in. In order to save the macro sequences
you have created, you need to save the configuration file (File, Config,
Save Config). Then, whenever you re-start the program the macros are
available to you.
U P D A T E D R E L E A S E S
------------------------------------------------------------
Modification/Corrections in Release 2.15a
------------------------------------------------------------
1. The laserjet and deskjet printer drivers were updated
to correct a condition where parts of a drawing ended
up printed on a second page. (This behavior depended
on the "skip perforation" dip switch setting on the
particular printer).
2. A modification was made to store the current global
path in the DC.CFG file, if the File, Config,
SaveConfig command is executed.
3. The program was modified so that it keeps track of FNT
(single stroke) and FOT (outline) fonts. Due to this
modification, FNT-type fonts are no longer filled or
hatched.
4. The program was modified to avoid a condition where
if a font had not been loaded, subsequent loading of
drawings would abort.
5. A correction ws made to the Alter,Style and Option,
Style dialogs so that they are now synchronized as to
what line style is currently selected.
6. All Tickmark selection names were preceded with a
number to avoid conflicts with the O.K. dialog button.
7. The limit of vertices that could be used for defining a
complex shape (during a Import, Value file operation),
was increased to 200.
8. In v2.15, deleted elements (which stay in the
internal element list, available to the UNDO
operation), would be taken into account when using the
Image, All command. In this release, elements placed
in the delete/undo buffer are NOT used in the Image
operations.
9. A modification was made to the Image, View dialog, so
that the checkmark correctly appears next to the
currently used View.
10. A number of options in dialog boxes were slightly
modified to avoid conflict with the O.K., CANCEL and
other selection buttons in these dialogs. The
functionality of these options has NOT changed.
11. A correction was made to the Draw, Text, Setup dialog
to re-activate the CANCEL button. In v2.15, only the
Esc key or O.K. button would permit you to exit this
dialog.
12. The generic dialog box manager was modified to correct
a condition where using the up arrow to make a
selection, from a scroll list, would not permit access
to the first item on the list.
13. The Layer manager module was modified so that Layer
names are now always padded to 12 characters to provide
some separation between name and color in all Layer
dialogs.
14. A modification was made to make certain the the Pick
and Window selection mode icons are synchronized and
never appear selected at the same time.
15. A modification was made so that the Dot/in and V/H in
the File, Config, Default dialog box, display the
correct information based on the printer device selected.
16. A modification was made to the Postscript driver to
correct a problem where printed images were 1/4 the
selected/actual size.
17. When the selection highlight is in a dialog list, the
PgUp and PgDn keys can now be used to scroll the list.
(Formerly, only the croll bar could be used).
------------------------------------------------------------
Modifications/Corrections in Release 2.15b
------------------------------------------------------------
1. A modification was made to the algorithm used for
"Thick", and "Fat" lines. If one of these two line
attributes were applied to a complex line with more
that 62 points, earlier releases of the program would
incorrectly reproduce the line style with unpredictable
results and possibly partially filled polygons.
2. A correction was made to the Symbol Library module. In
earlier releases, use of the Symbol, Reset command
would not free up the memory used to store the symbol
icons, and repetitious use of the command could result
in the system needing to be re-booted, as it ran out of
memory.
3. Repetitious use of the Symbol, Reset command, would
also sometimes result in clipping out object icons,
i.e., the symbols would appear on the scrollable list,
but the corresponding icons would be missing. That
error was corrected in this release.
------------------------------------------------------------
Modification/Corrections in Release 2.15c
------------------------------------------------------------
1. A problem was discovered with retrieving files
containing Beziers, Splines etc., created with a very
high "LEVEL" value (under File, Config, Default). Since
the number of vertices exponentially increases with the
value of LEVEL, this version will now NOT permit that
value to be set higher than 5.
2. A correction was made to the printing algorithm for
filled fonts, which would result in unpredictable
behavior when printing in the lower portion of the page
on HP Laserjet and compatible systems, in HIGH density.
This was happening due to the large number of scan
lines (and memory) required for filling at high
resolution. The program now will accomodate 8.5"x11"
(7.5"x10" printable area) high density laser printouts
containing filled fonts.
3. The size of the editing Pick Box (under File, Config,
Default), is now saved with the configuration file
DC.CFG (when the File, Config, SaveConfig command is
executed).
4. A correction was made so that the paper and drawing
size ratio (in File, Plot), is now calculated and
reported accurately when SI units are selected in File,
New.
5. The ProDOT toggle command in now operating as intended,
changing the line style of elements on protected layers
to dotted only when toggled ON.
6. An error was corrected that would not permit Horizontal
and Vertical Lines on Protected layers to display a
dotted line Style.
7. A modification was made to permit Leader line entities
in drawings created with earlier versions of the
program to be correctly imported to DC v2.15c.
8. Splines and Arcs may now be assigned a 'fat' line style
attribute, which was not possible in earlier releases.
9. The Local coordinate option (which appeared in the
Keyboard coordinate entry mode dialog box) was
implemented as intended.
10. Image,Zoom now lets the user specify local origin
coordinates, which are used for entering coordinates
while drawing and/or editing the drawing.
11. A correction was made to adjust the X and Y offsets
(when plotting a drawing), which were off by a factor
of 4 due to an incorrect internal scaling adjustment.
12. A new command line switch was introduced to permit the
user to specify that symbols with the same name should
be over-written by symbols in a Symbol library file
imported using the File, Import, SYM command. This new
command line switch is /SO. The File, Import, SYM
command also redraws the screen to reflect any changes
to the drawing due to new symbols being loaded.
------------------------------------------------------------
Modification/Corrections in Release 2.15d
------------------------------------------------------------
1. A correction was made to avoid clipping of some symbol
icons in the second row of the display window.
2. The data entry module was updated to include the Shift
modifier when typing-in Relative or Bearing coordinates.
This modifier was inactive in earlier releases of the
program.
3. A modification was made to correct the behavior where
Bezier lines would be shortened if their line style was
changed to thick or fat (they would return to their
original length if the line style was changed to slim
again).
4. A correction was made to the dimensioning module to avoid
dropping off the leading digit when internal radius
dimension line lengths exceeded three digits.
5. The commands in the Image, Zoom dialog box were modified
to avoid conflicts with the command hot letters used to
activate them.
6. The commands in the File, Config, Default dialog box were
modified to avoid conflicts with the command hot letters
used to activate them.
7. A modification was made to the printing module to correct
the problem of sending the 'Begin S' setup string to the
printer as text rather than as a control code.
8. A modification was made to the Alter, Explode command so
that when exploding a radius dimension line, the dimension
value ends up as a string entity rather than a collection
of small line segments (like exploded text).
------------------------------------------------- End ----------
