Software of the Month Club 1997 February

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THE ELECTRONIC TEXT PUBLISHING SYSTEM (tm) Description: The Electronic Text Publishing System (or "E-Text" for short) is used to make "electronic" books or magazines, such as tutorials, training manuals, or even works of literature. The E-Text system allows you to create professional looking programs with little effort. E-Text uses text files that you create and compiles them into a menu driven "electronic" book, complete with a table of contents. If you know how to use a word processor, then you have all the skills necessary to publish your own "electronic" books on a disk. The electronic books that you create with E-Text can be copied, distributed and sold, royalty free. Share your knowledge, research, your works of poetry, fiction, or your sales products with others by using E-Text! Features: E-Text allows you to customize nearly every aspect of your finished catalog. Consider the following... E-Text allows you to... + Create a "Table of Contents" (Main menu) + Customize the size and location of the Main Menu + Customize the attributes of the Main Menu, such as colors, border frame, elevator bar, drop shadow, etc. + Define the colors of each screen. + Use background wallpaper to create eye-catching screens. + Invoke screen special effects - for example, screen wipes from left to right, right to left, top to bottom, opening curtains, splits, clock sweeps, etc. + Run DOS commands, execute batch files or other programs. E-Text can be used to create your own program menus or shell. + Consolidates all your .TXT files into just one compact data file. In fact, after compilation, only two files are necessary to make your electronic book available to your audience (READ.EXE and READ.DAT). This makes disk distribution file management a breeze. + Display 256 color .PCX graphic images (Pro version only). + Include sub-menus within your Main Menu (Pro version only). Special requirements: No special system requirements or hardware is required to use E-Text except a DOS version greater or equal to version 3.0. A hard disk does make the compilation process much easier and faster, however. Before we get started: If you obtained E-Text through a shareware vendor, or BBS, or CD-ROM, make sure that no files are missing. A file called VENDINFO.DIZ contains a listing of all the files required to run E-Text. If you have problems with E-Text, check the files that you have obtained with the VENDINFO.DIZ listing. If you find files missing, please notify your vendor, or BBS sysop, or feel free to contact the author via our 24-hour BBS at (540) 372-9680 N-8-1 ANSI. The latest evaluation version can always be downloaded from our BBS as ETEXT*.ZIP in the PKSOFT directory. Before you compile your very own electronic book we recommend that you browse through one that has already been created. You should find a file AESOP.DAT on your disk, which contains a short collection of Aesop's Fables. To view this electronic book from the DOS prompt enter: READ AESOP then press [ENTER]. Browse through this electronic book and get a feel for what E-Text can do. If you like what you see, and would like to create similar e-text documents, resume reading these instructions and proceed with your first compilation. Terms and definitions: There are several terms that will be used throughout this documentation and that need to be fully understood by the user before you create your own electronic books. Please review these definitions carefully: ASCII FILE: This is a term used to describe any file that you create and save with an editor such as DOS' EDIT or Window's Notepad. An ASCII file contains only characters that can be found on a standard IBM keyboard. Most word processor programs (like Word Perfect) can save files in ASCII format IF you know how to. E-Text does NOT come with an editor because most users already have a favorite text editor or word processor that they feel comfortable with. We saw no reason to force the user to use another editor and have consequently not included one. CHAPTER: A chapter is any ASCII .TXT file that you create that you want to become part of your electronic book. Each selection from the Main Menu "Table of Contents" is considered a chapter. Chapters preferably should be less than 32,000 bytes in size. E-Text handles chapters more efficiently when .TXT files are 32k or smaller. You can use larger chapter files (up to 5000 lines) but there will be a performance penalty when the READ.EXE module accesses these larger sized chapters. COMPILER: The compiler is the program that gathers all of your ASCII chapter text files (*.TXT), and binary wallpaper files (*.BIN) together, and prompts you step by step for specific details about how you want your final electronic book to look (screen colors, Table of Contents (Main Menu) size, location, shadows, etc. The compiler merges and can compress this information into a single data file (READ.DAT). DATA FILE: The data file is a specially formatted file that contains ALL of your chapters, wallpaper, and screen definitions. This data file is created by using the E-Text compiler (COMPILE.EXE), and once it has been created it can be identified by the default filename "READ.DAT". This data file is one of the two necessary files that must be placed on your distribution disk in order for others to read your electronic book. Data files can be renamed if you wish, however to use them with the "reader" you must specify its new file name on the DOS command line. For example, AESOP.DAT was originally named READ.DAT, but was renamed in order to preserve its contents from future compilations that would have created a new READ.DAT file and overwritten it. In order to use AESOP.DAT with the "reader", the user needs to start the electronic book from the DOS command line in this manner: READ AESOP.DAT By using this method inside a batch file, the author can create several electronic books on one floppy disk, needing only one "reader". READER MODULE: This refers to the file "READ.EXE". This is the program that reads the information in your data file and displays it to your audience. Remember, in order to create an electronic book for distribution on a floppy diskette, two files must exist on that disk: 1) READ.EXE and 2) READ.DAT. TEXT FILE: Text files and ASCII files all refer to the same thing (see ASCII FILE above). WALLPAPER: If you have never used Microsoft Windows, then the term "wallpaper" may conjure up ideas of colored paper and wheat paste. With E-Text, however, wallpaper refers to background screen designs that can be used to liven up your electronic book. Wallpaper files should end with a .BIN file extension. How do you create wallpaper files? When you register E-Text you will be sent, as a bonus, the E-Text Screen Composer program that allows you to create your own wallpaper files. Several wallpaper .BIN files have been included with the evaluation copy, so feel free to use them. You may also use any text screen design program that generates BLOADable binary files. The "Laughing Dog Screen Maker" and "The Draw" are two popular shareware screen designers that can also create wallpaper files. You can find these programs on most large BBS's for downloading. As an incentive to register, you will be sent a screen design program written by the author at no additional charge. Please remember, wallpaper files are NOT graphic bitmaps images like .PCX or .BMP files, but rather they are colored text files used as a background beneath your Main Menu, and chapter text displays, or as opening and closing screens. Getting started: You will need to create all of the ASCII .TXT text files that you wish to include in your "electronic" book BEFORE you run the compiler (COMPILE.EXE). Use your favorite word processor or text editor (like DOS' EDIT) to compose the individual "chapters". If you are using a word processor, like Word Perfect, then it is absolutely essential that you save each "chapter" as an ASCII file. Most word processors add "control characters" to your document as you compose it. Control characters are used to identify italics, highlighting, underlines, margin spacing, etc. When using a word processor, these control characters will create problems if they are not removed. By saving a word processing document as an ASCII file, all the control characters will be removed. In Word Perfect 5.0/5.1, you can save your document as an ASCII file by pressing CTRL+F5, then selecting "1 DOS Text", then select "1 Save". If you are using DOS' EDIT, or the Windows' Notepad, then you do not need to worry about control characters, for their native file formats are ASCII. Each "chapter" of your "electronic" book MUST exist as an ASCII file, with a ".TXT" file extension. Valid file name examples are: "AESOP1.TXT", "TUTOR-3.TXT", "POEMS_5.TXT". The compiler looks automatically for all files with .TXT file extensions, and will ignore all other files. Rename your files to include a .TXT extension should you have failed to do so earlier. In each of your "chapter" .TXT files, you must reserve the very first line (top most) for a "header". This header consists of various parameters (commands) that are necessary for the reader (READ.EXE). This header line must absolutely be on line #1. If during the compilation process (using COMPILE.EXE) the compiler detects a .TXT file with a missing header, the compiler will flag this to your attention, and prompt you to correct the discrepancy. The header line can have many different parameters (commands), some of which specify the screen colors, size of the text view window, screen effects, and more (see advanced options later in this documentation). There are two parameters that are ALWAYS required in the header line: 1) the Table of Contents order number or character, and 2) a chapter title. A typical .TXT header will look like this: ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ 2|The Life of Aesop │ │ │ │ <─── body of .TXT file ──> │ Please note that the Table of Contents "order number" is separated from the chapter title by a "|" (pipe) character. This character always separates parameters on the header line. The "|" character is found on most IBM PC keyboards with the "\" (backslash) key. The Table of Contents "order number" determines the ORDER OF APPEARANCE that the chapter title will appear in the Main Menu. In other words, in the example above, the chapter "The Life of Aesop" will appear as the second chapter in the Table of Contents Main Menu. Now, to slightly contradict the instructions, the "order number" does not necessarily have to be a number. There is one exception where the letter "A" or "a" is used in place of the order number. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ A|The Life of Aesop │ │ │ │ <─── body of .TXT file ──> │ What the "A" does is instruct the reader (READ.EXE) to sort the chapter titles in ALPHABETICAL ORDER. If there are 10 chapters in your electronic book, and 9 of them have numeric values for the order number, and 1 of them has the letter "A", then the ENTIRE Table of Contents will be sorted in alphabetical order. Just one "A" in just one file is enough to cause all the other chapters to fall into alphabetical order. Additional header parameters: The "order number" and "chapter title" are required parameters that MUST exist in each .TXT file that you create. These 2 parameters, however, are not the only parameters that can exist on the header line. You can customize the appearance of each chapter in your electronic book by combining different parameters. Here's an example: ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ 2|The Life of Aesop|FORE=15|BACK=3|SCFX=6|MARG=10|COLS=14 │ │ │ │ <─── body of .TXT file ──> │ In the example above, "FORE", "BACK", "SCFX", etc. are each an individual header parameter. Please note that each parameter is separated by a "|" (pipe) character. Here is a listing of all the parameters available to you, which if used, must appear on the first line of your .TXT file, separated by a "|" character: FORE=## This is used to specify the color of the foreground text of an individual chapter, where ## is replaced with a color number from 0-15 (see valid colors below). BACK=## This is used to specify the color of the background text of an individual chapter, where ## is replaced with a color number from 0-7 (see valid colors below). 0 = black 6 = brown 12 = light red 1 = blue 7 = gray 13 = light magenta 2 = green 8 = dk. gray 14 = yellow 3 = cyan 9 = light blue 15 = white 4 = red 10 = light green 5 = magenta 11 = light cyan SCFX=## This is used to specify the type of special screen effect of an individual chapter, where ## is replaced with a number from 1-17 (see below). 1 = Clock sweep 10 = Slide Left & In 2 = Curtain 11 = Slide Left & Out 3 = Diagonal 12 = Slide Right & In 4 = Diamond 13 = Slide Right & Out 5 = Lines 14 = Slide Up & In 6 = Hole 15 = Split Horz. & Out 7 = Box 16 = Split Vert. & In 8 = Slide Down & In 17 = Split Vert. & Out 9 = Slide Down & Out MARG=## This parameter is used to specify the left margin where your chapter text contents will be displayed. ## specifies the screen column, and valid entries are from 1-60. If MARG=## is absent from the .TXT header, then a default of 7 will be used. ROWS=## This parameter specifies how large your chapter's text display window is in height. Valid values are from 1 to 23 rows in height. If no ROWS=## is used, then a default of 22 rows will be used to define the text window height. TOPR=## Specifies the starting row of the chapter's text window location, where ## is a value between 1-23. If no TOPR=## is specified, a default value of 2 will be used to position the beginning row of the text window. COLS=## Specifies how wide (in columns) the chapter's text display window is. Valid range in columns for ## is 1-79. If no COLS=## is indicated in the header line of your .TXT file, a default width of 75 columns will be used. Please note that E-Text does NOT perform word wrapping. You must insure that your .TXT files fit within the defined COLS parameter before compiling. BINF=xxxx Specifies the name of the wallpaper binary file to be loaded beneath the chapter's text display window. "xxxx" is replaced with the COMPLETE file name (with extension) which contains your binary wallpaper (e.g. BINF=HEADER.BIN, or BINF=MAIN.BIN). If no BINF=xxxx parameter exists, no wallpaper will be used behind your text window. LINE=# Use this parameter in your header to change the default of single line spacing. LINE=2 will double space each line of your chapter's text automatically. Valid range for line spacing is 1-4. TAB=## This parameter instructs how many columns that the text will scroll RIGHT when a user presses the TAB or right arrow keys. The default value is 9. Why would you wish to scroll your text left and right? If you have a really W-I-D-E text file (greater than 80 characters) then obviously part of your file will not be displayed initially on the screen (remember, a typical monitor can only display 80 columns of text at any time). Therefore by using the TAB or right arrow keys, the user can view any additional text that may be hidden beyond column 80. With the preceding header parameters, you can mix and match them to customize the layout of each chapter in your electronic book. Please remember that each parameter must be separated by a "|" character. Although all these header parameters allows you to customize your text display windows, you may elect not to use the text display window parameters such as COLS=, MARG=, TOPR=, etc. You can create eye-appealing text windows automatically by just making sure that your .TXT files are no larger than 70 columns wide and that they are left justified. If you are using a word processor, you can achieve such specs by using a fixed font such as Courier 10cpi, and 1 inch left and right margins. When you export/save your chapter files to ASCII, you will find that your .TXT files are less than 70 columns wide. This size will work well with the default text window values that the E-Text reader uses. Password protection: Let's say that you have gone to much effort, time and expense to create your electronic publication. How do you obtain a return on such an investment? Many registrants use E-Text to sell their works to others. Often a demo or incomplete version of your publication is distributed freely in the hope that users will want the full version. In order to help you along in this approach you may wish to use a password protection scheme. By including the parameter LOCK=Y on the first line of a .TXT file you will be able to password protect that specific file. Here's an example... ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ 9|Secrets of Aesop|FORE=15|BACK=3|SCFX=6|LOCK=Y │ │ │ │ <─── body of .TXT file ──> │ After your electronic publication has been compiled any user who attempts to access those chapters that contain LOCK=Y parameters will be asked to enter a password. Without the password they will not be able to read the chapter (.TXT file) that you protected. When they do enter the password correctly ALL protected files are unlocked immediately. Through this method you can encourage users obtaining evaluation copies of your publication to send you money to obtain the password which will unlock the full version. Where does the password originate from? When you step-by-step through the compiler you will be prompted to enter a password. This password will be encrypted and embedded in the resulting compiled READ.DAT file. Please note that the password protect lock feature is only available with the Professional version of E-Text. Special header parameter "EXECUTE": E-Text is not limited to just displaying ASCII text files (chapters). E-Text can also run other programs or be instructed to carry out a series of DOS commands. The "EXECUTE" header parameter is used inside a .TXT file, placed after the chapter title on line 1, and specifies that this .TXT file is different. Different in that the contents of this .TXT file will NOT be displayed in a text window, but rather each line of the .TXT file will be executed (i.e., run from the DOS command line). ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ 7|Display all AESOP files|EXECUTE │ │ DIR AESOP*.* │ │ <─── body of .TXT file ──> │ In the example above, the header parameter "EXECUTE" will instruct the program to treat the lines which follow as DOS commands. You are not limited to just one line of DOS commands or instructions. The example below shows how one can stack a series of commands, which will be run in sequence, one after the other: ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ 12|Delete all *.BAK files on all drives|EXECUTE │ │ DEL C:\*.BAK │ │ DEL C:\DOS\*.BAK │ │ DEL C:\WINDOWS\*.BAK │ │ DEL C:\TEMP\*.BAK │ │ DEL A:*.BAK │ │ DEL B:*.BAK │ │ <─── body of .TXT file ──> │ Neither are you limited to simple DOS commands. You can execute .BAT batch files, .COM and .EXE's (memory space permitting) when the end user selects a "chapter" in which you have the EXECUTE parameter. At the end of executing all the commands inside the selected .TXT file, the E-Text reader will return back to the Main Menu (Table of Contents). Graphic support: E-Text Pro supports 256 color .PCX graphic images. You can add colorful graphic images to your E-Text documents by creating any size .PCX file less than or equal to 640 pixels in width and 480 pixels in height with a paint program such as PC-Paintbrush, or Photo-Shop, Paint Shop Pro or PhotoStyler, etc. To include a .PCX image, the image must first exist in the same directory as your .TXT files, and you must include a dedicate a .TXT file for the names of the .PCX images, along with a special header line. For example, let's say we have the following graphic images that we wish to display: APPLE.PCX, ORANGE.PCX, BANANA.PCX. In order to have E-Text Pro display these images in sequence, you must first create a dedicated .TXT file. For example, let's create a file FRUIT.TXT (we could also use GOODIES.TXT or YUM_YUM.TXT). ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ 14|We sell only super fresh fruit!|PCX256 │ │ APPLE.PCX │ │ ORANGE.PCX │ │ BANANA.PCX │ │ <─── body of .TXT file ──> │ Please note in the above example, you must include the menu order number (in this case "14") along with a menu description (e.g. "We sell only super fresh fruit!") followed by the "PCX256" parameter (separated by "|" characters). The "PCX256" parameter will instruct E-Text Pro to display the images that follow (APPLE.PCX, ORANGE.PCX, etc.) in 256 color format (if your customer's hardware supports 256 VGA). After you have this header line in your .TXT file, simply include a list of the .PCX images you wish to include in this "chapter" of your document. Do not place any text in this .TXT file! Only the filenames of .PCX images can appear in a .TXT file when the "PCX256" parameter is used. If your .PCX image is less than the standard 640x480 pixels screen dimensions, your .PCX image will be CENTER justified automatically. Also, your .PCX images will be automatically compressed and stored in the READ.DAT file when your compile your document. You do NOT need to distribute any .PCX files with your final product. Just place READ.DAT and READ.EXE on your distribution disk and all will go well. Note: E-Text Lite does NOT support graphic images, only the PRO version includes 256 .PCX support. Although E-Text Lite does not support graphic .PCX file support directly, you can still incorporate high-resolution graphics in your E-Text Lite documents. This is achieved indirectly by using the EXECUTE parameter (see above) in a .TXT file, where one of the executable lines contain the file name of a graphic image THAT HAS BEEN CONVERTED INTO AN .EXE FILE. For those who do not understand what this means... There are shareware graphic utilities like "Grabber" or "Graphics Workshop" that will convert a .PCX or .BMP or screen snapshot into a self-executing .EXE file. For instance, FLOWER.PCX can be converted using these utilities into a stand alone FLOWER.EXE file, where typing FLOWER from the DOS prompt will display the graphic image without the assistance of any other program or viewer. Inset's HiJaak will also create these type of .EXE files from any graphic image. Once you have a graphic .EXE file, you can include its file name in a .TXT file, using the EXECUTE header parameter. One suggestion, if you do use this method of displaying graphic images (i.e., to shrink the size of the resulting graphic .EXE file that you will be distributing) consider investing in a shareware program called "PKLite". "PKLite" will compress an .EXE to a fraction of its original size AND YET STILL REMAIN SELF-EXECUTING. This will give you more free disk space on the distribution floppy you will be using, and will cause the image to display faster. This also brings up another important point. Any graphic .EXE images that you create MUST BE INCLUDED ON YOUR DISTRIBUTION DISKETTE! It is not E-Text's responsibility to pack your graphic .EXE's into the .DAT file. E-Text Lite expects any such graphic .EXEs that you create to be separate files on the distribution diskette. So in review, E-Text PRO will automatically include any .PCX images into your READ.DAT file. E-Text LITE does not directly support .PCX graphics. If you want to use the EXECUTE parameter with either PRO or LITE versions, you must INCLUDE all .EXE files that you want to have distributed on your final distribution disk. Line color highlighting: Even though you can color customize each chapter .TXT file in respect to foreground text and background colors using a header parameter (FORE=/BACK=), you may wish to add emphasis to one particular line (or lines) of text in a chapter. This can be done by adding to the end of a line of text a color code. A color code consists of a caret symbol "^" followed by a color number from 0-15 (see color code chart above). Here is an example... ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ 5|The Eagle, the Cat, and the Wild Sow|MARG=10|SCFX=3 │ │ │ │ The Eagle, the Cat, and the Wild Sow^15 │ │ │ │ AN EAGLE made her nest at the top of a lofty oak; a │ │ Cat, having found a convenient hole, moved into the │ │ middle of the trunk; and a Wild Sow, with her │ │ Cat cunningly resolved to destroy this chance-made │ │ │ │ <─── body of .TXT file ──> │ In the example above, the title line "The Eagle, the Cat..." is followed by the color code "^15". What the "^15" will do is instruct the reader (READ.EXE) to use color 15 (bright white) on that particular line (background remains unchanged). Such color highlighting is useful for titles, new paragraph description headings, or important passages that need to grab the reader's attention. You can use as many color codes as you like in a chapter file, however only one code per line of text is permitted (i.e., a line of text cannot have more than one color). To make a color blink (on and off), add 16 to a color's value. For example, color 15 is bright white. To use blinking bright white in your document, add 16 to 15. Use ^31 for the color code in this case. If you have an actual caret symbol in your chapter that is not to be confused with a color code (highly unlikely, but for math statements it is possible), then precede that caret with another caret (e.g., Mathematicians, solve for x, where x+5^^2=30). One word of warning when using colors, especially when you run the compiler and choose your Main Menu colors... Certain colors will disappear when you view your E-Text document on a MONOCHROME monitor or monochrome LCD display. Although you may think that old PC's and XT's are extinct, monochrome monitors do still exist on 286 and 386 machines. And monochrome laptop LCD displays are quite common, so you should be careful when choosing your colors. Here is how certain colors appear when displayed on monochrome monitors: Foreground colors: 0 - Black 1 - White with underline 2-7 - White 8 - Black 9 - Bright white with underline 10-15 - Bright white Background colors: 0-6 - Black 7 - White The common mistake many authors fall into is using a Main Menu color scheme where the highlight bar turns invisible when viewed in the Main Menu on a monochrome monitor. This happens, for instance, if the highlight marker bar is foreground 15 (white) and background 1 (blue) and the Main Menu in which the marker bar appears has a foreground color of 15 (white) and background 4 (red). The conflict on a monochrome or LCD display is that the background colors 1 and 4 both turn black (see chart above), which makes the marker bar impossible to detect. In other words, your client/customer will not be able to see where in the Main Menu they are IF your E-Text document is viewed on a monochrome display. What is the best solution? Use a Main Menu background of white and a marker bar background of black or blue or red. Or use a Main Menu background of black, blue, red with a marker bar background of white/gray (color 7). Think sharp contrast! Sub-menus: At times it is inappropriate to stuff all your .TXT files under the Main Menu. Instead, you may wish to use a series of "sub-menus" branch off from your Main Menu. For instance, you may wish to have the following items in your Main Menu: ┌────────────┐ Upon selecting "Cats" from this Main Menu │ Cats... >─┼─┐ you could branch off by display a sub-menu │ Dogs │ │ such as: │ Fish │ │ ┌────────────┐ │ Reptiles │ │ │ Himalayan │ │ Rodents │ └────────────> │ Persian │ └────────────┘ │ Siamese │ └────────────┘ And then upon selecting "Persian" in the example sub-menu above, you can have text displayed that pertains to this sub-menu choice. How is this accomplished? First, only the Pro version of E-Text supports sub-menus. Assuming that you have obtained the Pro version, here is how sub-menus are easily added to your compiled document. Using the example above, let us create a file CATS.TXT and insert the following lines of text into it: ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ 1 │ 1|Cats...> │ 2 │ 1-1|Himalayan|SCFX=1|FORE=15|BACK=0|MARG=28 │ 3 │ │ 4 │ The Himalayan is a long-haired cat that features the │ 5 │ color point pattern of the Siamese. This gentle and │ 6 │ fluffy sweetheart is a favorite among cat lovers. │ 7 │ Blah, blah, blah.... │ 8 │ │ 9 │ 1-2|Persian|SCFX=2 │ 10 │ │ 11 │ A Persian-type longhair has a short, compact body, a │ 12 │ short tail, and a large, rounded head with a short │ 13 │ nose and small ears. Blah, blah, blah... │ 14 │ │ 15 │ 1-3|Siamese │ 16 │ │ 17 │ Blah, blah, blah... │ 18 │ │ │ <─── body of .TXT file ──> │ The first line of the above file contains the menu order number "1" and the text to appear in the Main Menu (in this example "Cats..." will appear). I like to add the "..." dots to any Main Menu item that will branch to a sub-menu, but this is totally up to you. Also, the ">" character if placed at the end of the header line will display a graphic right arrow pointer in your final Main Menu. Again, this is totally optional on your part. I like to add these embellishments to any Main Menu choices that trigger sub-menus, but perhaps you may not care for them. It is all optional. However, only the Main Menu order number and the Main Menu text should appear on line #1 when creating a .TXT file that will contain sub-menus. Do not add header parameters on line #1 when creating sub-menu .TXT files! On line #2, you should add another header line which will pertain specifically to a sub-menu choice in the sub-menu. In the example above, line #2 is shown as: 1-1|Himalayan|SCFX=1|FORE=15|BACK=0|MARG=28 Although it would appear similar to a normal Main Menu header line, what is unique about this header line is that the menu order number is hyphenated "1-1". The "1-1" specifies that "Himalayan" will occur at position 1 in a sub-menu, and that this sub-menu is a branch off from Main Menu selection #1 (which in this example is "Cats...>". On lines #3-8 (see example above) you can insert whatever text that pertains to this sub-menu selection (Himalayan). You could insert text into lines #3 to 3000 that would pertain to the Himalayan if you so wish. The number of lines that follow a sub-menu header is up to you (not to exceed 32k bytes in size however). Whenever you wish to add a new sub-topic into the sub-menu, just insert a new sub-header line. In the example above, a new sub-menu selection occurs on line #9 (Persian). Since "Persian" is the SECOND sub-topic to appear in our sub-menu, we need to use the menu order number "1-2". And for the THIRD sub-topic in our sub-menu, we can add "Siamese" in this manner: 1-3|Siamese And then follow this header with whatever text you wish that pertains to "Siamese" cats. Shareware: Shareware is a try-before-you-buy marketing concept that allows you a trial period in which to evaluate a software program. The Electronic Text Publishing System is shareware software and continued use of the program requires that you support the author. Once you have registered, you will receive the latest version of E-Text that will permit you to begin distributing your electronic books (*.DAT files) legally and the E-Text reader (READ.EXE) freely without royalties. Distribution of this program: The unregistered, shareware version can be distributed by BBS's as long as NO FILES ARE DELETED from the original group of files (see PACKING.LST for original .ZIP contents). Shareware vendors are permitted to charge a small fee, not exceeding $6.00, in exchange for their services in providing evaluation copies to others. CD-ROM publishers are permitted to include E-Text in any compilations as long as the .EXE file date stamp is less than 2 years old. Once you have registered E-Text with the author, you are then granted a license to distribute the reader (READ.EXE) royalty free. The compiler, however, is limited in license, and can only be used on one computer at any given time. If you plan on using the compiler on more than one computer, contact the author for site license arrangements. All in the family: Attention: merchants and product distributors! If you would like to publish and distribute INTERACTIVE on-disk CATALOGS that display product items ALONG WITH INDIVIDUAL PRICES, AND CAN PRINT ORDER FORMS, please contact us and inquire about THE DISK VENDOR line of software. The Disk Vendor is for those businesses who want an alternative to a traditional printed paper product sales catalog. The Disk Vendor system handles credit cards, sales tax, shipping charges, personalized opening & closing screen, discounts on purchases, printed catalogs, order forms, and more. Create professional looking catalogs quickly and with little effort! You can also download a fully functional evaluation copy of The Disk Vendor from our 24-hour BBS, at 540-372-9680. The latest file can be downloaded as VEND??GB.ZIP where two ?? will automatically catch the current program version. You will also find this program (along with all our software) at our Internet Web site: http://members.aol.com/shareware/ Program author: Philip P. Kapusta 406 Monroe Avenue Falmouth, Va. 22405 USA If you wish to send correspondence to us, we would prefer an e-mail message left on our BBS (540) 372-9680 instead of paper mail. We are also available at 74170.3550@compuserve.com