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NSCHART Version 1.05 Shareware User Manual for IBM PC, XT, AT and Compatibles SILTRONIX, Inc. COPYRIGHT (c) 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990 by SILTRONIX All Rights Reserved Program License Agreement Copyright: The program and its related documentation are copyrighted. You may not use, copy, modify, or transfer the program or documentation or any copy except as expressly provided in this agreement. Information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of SILTRONIX, Inc. License: You have the nonexclusive right to use the enclosed program. You may physically transfer the program from one computer to another. You may not distribute copies of the program or accompanying documentation to others for profit, excepting a reasonable duplication fee. You may not modify or translate the program or documentation. Terms: This license is effective until terminated. You may terminate the agreement by destroying the program and all copies thereof and its documentation. This license will also terminate if you fail to comply with any terms or conditions of this agreement; you agree upon such termination to destroy all copies of the program and documentation. Use of the program constitutes your acceptance of these terms. Warranty SILTRONIX does not warrant anything. THIS WARRANTY IS IN LIEU OF ALL OTHER EXPRESS OR STATUTORY WARRANTIES, AND THE DURATION OF ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, IS HEREBY LIMITED TO SAID NINETY (90) DAY PERIOD. SILTRONIX LIABILITY IS LIMITED SOLELY TO THE REPLACEMENT OF THE DEFECTIVE PRODUCT AND SHALL NOT IN ANY EVENT INCLUDE DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF USE, OR LOSS OF ANTICIPATED PROFITS OR BENEFITS, OR OTHER INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL COSTS, EXPENSES, OR DAMAGES INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ANY DATA OR INFORMATION WHICH MAY BE LOST OR RENDERED INACCURATE, EVEN IF SILTRONIX HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. NSChart is a trademark of SILTRONIX, Inc. Microsoft and MS-DOS are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation. SILTRONIX Post Office Box 82544 San Diego, California 92138-2544 (619)541-2502 Preface This document is intended ONLY as a minimal introduction to NSChart. If you wish to receive the real manual please register your copy of NSChart with Siltronix by phoning the number above and paying the $35 registration fee. Command Summary This section is a quick reference guide to using NSChart by function, parameter, keystroke, command, or screen. Function Keystroke Command Screen About this program; A Main Menu change Directory; D Main Menu draw Chart; C Main Menu Exit; E Main Menu file Mask; M Main Menu Hard copy; H Main Menu Options; O Main Menu Prettify input file; P Main Menu Select input file S Main Menu Parameter Meaning Screen \subdir use subdirectory in root Change Directory chart width width of chart (excluding margin) Options Menu; chart length length of chart (excluding margin) Options Menu file name input file name appears on printed Options Menu chart file Mask Mask to screen input files Main Menu; left margin white space to left of chart Options Menu line width thickness of graphic lines in bits Options Menu paper width width of paper in printer Options Menu paper length length of paper in printer Options Menu sideways printed output rotated 90 degree Options Menu subdir use subdirectory of current dir. Change Directory top margin white space above chart Options Menu Command Meaning Screen . cancel(use current directory) Change Directory .. change to parent directory Change Directory *.* any file File Mask; *.ext any file ending in ".ext" File Mask unit1.* all "unit1." files with any ext. File Mask a?. two letters starting with "a" File Mask b*.* any file beginning with "b" File Mask C draw Chart Main Menu; <CTRL>-End move view to bottom right corner Draw Chart; <CTRL>-Home move view to top left corner of chart Draw Chart <CTRL>-left ar. move view one window left Draw Chart <CTRL>-right ar. move view one window right Draw Chart D change Directory Main Menu down arrow move view 8 pixels up Draw Chart E Exit Main Menu End move vertically to bottom of chart Draw Chart H Hard copy Main Menu Home move vertically to top of chart Draw Chart left arrow move view 8 pixels to left Draw Chart M file Mask Main Menu O Options Main Menu P Prettify input file Main Menu Pg Up move view one window up Draw Chart Pg Down move view one window down Draw Chart right arrow move view 8 pixels to right Draw Chart S Select input file Main Menu up arrow move view 8 pixels down Draw Chart Screen Action Function Main Menu D change Directory; M file Mask; S Select input file; P Prettify input file; C draw Chart; H Hard copy; O Options; A About this program; E Exit change Directory . cancel (use current directory) .. parent \subdirectory use subdirectory in root subdirectory use subdirectory of current directory file Mask........*.ext any file with an extension of "ext" unit1.* all "unit1" files with any extension b*.* all files beginning with "b" a?. two-letter file names beginning with "a" and no ext. draw Chart left arrow move view 8 pixels to left right arrow move view 8 pixels to right down arrow move view 8 pixels up up arrow move view 8 pixels down <CTRL>-left arrow move view one window left <CTRL>-right arrow move view one window right Page Up move view one window up Page Down move view one window down Home move vert. to top of chart End move vert. to bottom of chart <CTRL>-Home move view to top left corner of chart <CTRL> -End move view to bottom right corner of chart N redraw chart at normal size E redraw chart expanded R redraw chart reduced F redraw chart to fit on screen Options Menu paper width width of paper in printer paper length length of one sheet of paper in printer left margin white space to left of chart top margin white space above chart chart width width of chart (excluding margin) chart length length of chart (excluding margin) line width thickness of graphic lines in bits sideways printed output rotated 90 deg. when selected file name input file name appears on printed chart when selected Structured Language for NSChart NSChart and the user must communicate. NSChart needs syntactically predictable input. NSChart's input is an ASCII text file. The syntactical rules of NSPDL define a structured language, a program design language (PDL). Because it pertains to Nassi-Shneiderman charts, the NSChart structured language is called NSPDL. Text strings always appear in the chart centered in their box. They may either be labels or process descriptions. Any string that describes a process may be replaced by a more complex structure. This allows you to start with a very simple overview that becomes more detailed as the design of the program is refined. Text to be printed in the flow diagram must be enclosed within a pair of " (quotation marks); -- "like this". Any character except the quotation mark may be used in the enclosed text. A text string can also be empty -- "". This is useful where NSPDL requires a text string but you do not want any text to appear on the NS chart. The .key words used by NSChart relate to general key words referenced by structured programming languages. They tell the NSChart program what to draw, but do not themselves appear in the chart. The list of NSChart key words is as follows: begin do endcase endrepeat if then block else endfor endwhile loop title call end endif for of until case endblock endloop goto repeat while Except for the basic process statement, each control statement must include at least one key word, indicating to NSChart the type of symbol to be drawn. Key words are case independent, i.e., they may be in upper or lower case or even a mixture of the two. The minimum requirement for an NSChart input file is that it must contain at least one valid statement that produces a cohesive Nassi- Shneiderman flow diagram. The different kinds of control statements are explained below. NSPDL Syntax Discussion In the syntax descriptions of the key words in this section, the symbol "<text>" refers to any string of zero or more characters; the word "statement" itself refers to any NSPDL construct. In the examples that accompany each NSPDL construct, the NSPDL text is shown. Items in braces may be filled with other NSChart control statements to allow for nested logic. Title directive The title; directive is optional; its key word is, appropriately, "title". The text string enclosed in quotation marks following it appears as the title of the NS chart. The title directive is different from all other NSChart key words in that it can appear only once and only at the beginning of the text file and that it is the only key word construct whose output is not enclosed in any sort of box. The syntax of the title directive is: [ title "<text>" ] Here is an example: title "Sample Nassi-Shneiderman Chart" This directive produces the title, "Sample Nassi-Shneiderman Chart", centered at the top of the chart above the line defining the top boundary of the chart. PROCESS statement The basic control statement is the PROCESS statement;. It does not require a key word. It is created by entering a string of displayable ASCII characters enclosed in " (quotation marks);. This produces a simple flow; symbol with the PROCESS statement inside it. The syntax of the PROCESS statement is: "<text>" Here is an example: "Read the next record." CALL statement The CALL statement; is used to draw attention to a process that appears elsewhere in the flow chart and continues where the call statement leaves off. Its key word is "call". It produces a simple- flow symbol lightly highlighted inside and next to its borders to indicate that the process is expanded elsewhere. The syntax of the CALL statement is: CALL "<text>" Here is an example: call "X5INBUF -- Read and decode next input buffer." GOTO statement The GOTO statement; is a deviation from structured programming based on pragmatism. In the real programming world there are situations which force compromise, such as an abnormal exit from a process when the elegant solution carries too much overhead (in the opinion of the chief decision maker). The GOTO statement indicates a direct transfer of control to a process that appears elsewhere in the flow chart. Its key word is "goto". It produces a simple-flow symbol heavily highlighted inside and next to its borders to indicate not just that control is transferred to a process that is expanded elsewhere, but that this transfer is an abnormal break in the flow. The syntax of the GOTO statement is: GOTO "<text>" Here is an example: goto "Power failure emergency shut-down routine" IF statement The IF statement; depicts a transfer of control based upon a Boolean condition. Its key words are: "if", "then", and "endif"; an optional key word is "else". Note that only the conditional statement requires any text. Text for labels and their dependent statements may be void. The syntax of the IF statement is: IF "<text>" then [ [ "<text>": ] [ { statement(s) } ] ] [ else [ [ "<text>": ] [ { statement(s) } ] ] ] endif Here is an example: if "Am I going on a trip?" then "yes" : "Take out traveler's checks." else "no" : "Take out cash." endif CASE statement The CASE statement; marks the beginning of a case block and transfers control to a set of statements based upon the clause contained within the statement itself. Its key words are "case", "of", and "endcase". The CASE statement syntax requires at least two cases. There is no upper limit on the number of cases. The syntax of the CASE statement is: CASE"<text>" of "<text>" : { statement(s) } { "<text>" : { statement(s) } } endcase Here is an example: case "I didn't get out of bed today because" of "faulty alarm" : "no excuse -- go to work" "lazy" : "call in sick" "sick" : "go see doctor" "weekend" : "relax & enjoy" endcase FOR/WHILE statement Looping structures where the conditional item is tested at the top of the loop; can be produced by two different but functionally identical statements. The first of these, the FOR statement;, has two sets of key words: "for", "do", and "endfor"; and "for", "loop", and "endloop". FOR loops are used for traversing an entire range, such as searching an array. The syntax of the two corresponding FOR statements is: FOR "<text>" do FOR "<text>" loop { statement(s) } -- or -- { statement(s) } endfor endloop The second of these two loop structures is the WHILE statement;. Its keywords are: "while", "do", and "endwhile"; and "while", ".loop", and "endloop". WHILE loops (as opposed to FOR loops) terminate based on a change of some condition within the loop. The syntax of the WHILE statement is: WHILE "<text>" do WHILE "<text>" loop { statement(s) } -- or -- { statement(s) } endwhile endloop Here is an example of each statement type; note that the chart looks the same for both: for "during break" do while "during break" do "eat lunch" -- or -- "eat lunch" endfor endwhile REPEAT statement The REPEAT statement; is used to produce a loop;ing structure where the conditional item is tested at the bottom of the loop. It has two sets of keywords: "repeat" and "until", and "repeat" and "endrepeat". The syntax of the two sets of key words is: REPEAT REPEAT { statement(s) } -- or -- { statements(s) } until "<text>" endrepeat "<text>" Here is an example: repeat "Say 'Play it again, Sam!'" until "Stop when Sam plays it again." BLOCK/LOOP statement A functional blocking structure is provided by the BLOCK statement and/or LOOP statement;. Its function is to define a scope, i.e., to set limits -- "begin" to "end" in some languages -- around a functionally discrete process. By extension, the block construct can be used to indicate a generic loop, where the process is iterative, yet it is not known nor perhaps par-ticularly relevant to define it as either a while or repeat loop. This statement has two sets of key words which are functionally identical: "block" and "endblock", and "loop" and "endloop". The syntax of the BLOCK or LOOP statement is: BLOCK "<text>" LOOP "<text>" { statement(s) } -- or -- { statement(s) } endblock "<text>" endloop "<text>" Here is an example of each statement type; note that the chart looks the same for both: block "Give all neighborhood kids a dollar." "Give kid a dollar and go to next house." endblock "Kids are rich and you're broke." -- or -- loop "Give all neighborhood kids a dollar." "Give kid a dollar and go to next house." endloop "Kids are rich and you're broke." BEGIN-END statement The BEGIN-END statement; is an aid for generating correctly nested NSPDL. It has no effect on the diagram produced by NSChart. Its key words are "begin" and "end". Text nested within these key words produces the same chart as though these two delimiters had not been there. Also, there is no requirement for any text to appear between "begin" and "end". The syntax of the BEGIN-END statement is: begin [ { statement(s) } ] end Here is an example: begin call "Get the next input (ABC function)." "Be sure to replace this node with the logic structure of the random transcendental number generator once it is designed." call "Save the new results (XYZ function)." end ----------------end-of-author's-documentation--------------- Software Library Information: This disk copy provided as a service of Public (software) Library We are not the authors of this program, nor are we associated with the author in any way other than as a distributor of the program in accordance with the author's terms of distribution. Please direct shareware payments and specific questions about this program to the author of the program, whose name appears elsewhere in this documentation. If you have trouble getting in touch with the author, we will do whatever we can to help you with your questions. All programs have been tested and do run. To report problems, please use the form that is in the file PROBLEM.DOC on many of our disks or in other written for- mat with screen printouts, if possible. 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