Computer Installation Guide - Dragon Clan Series

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ Computer Installation Guide - Dragon Clan Series / CD2.iso / PHOTO / GRABBER / DOCFILES.SFX / GRTXT.DOC < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1995-08-01 | 32.2 KB | 689 lines

GRABBER/TXT(tm) Version 2.10 Shareware Issue The Text Screen Capture Program for MS-DOS and IBM-PC Compatibles ---------------------- DOCUMENTATION AND TECHNICAL NOTES August 1, 1995 Copyright 1987-1995 by Gerald A. Monroe All rights reserved. +-------------------------------------------------+ | Although they are shareware, GRTXT and this | | documentation file are copyrighted. They are | | not in the public domain and they are not | | "freeware." Please consult page 6 of the | | REGISTER.DOC file for important copyright | | information and license provisions. All use, | | copying or distribution of GRTXT.EXE or this | | document is governed by the terms and condi- | | tions of the Shareware License contained in | | the REGISTER.DOC file. | +-------------------------------------------------+ Thank you for your interest in the GRABBER(tm) screen cap- ture system! The GRABBER package is being marketed in this special form as shareware. This means you have the opportunity to use and evaluate it for 30 days before you decide whether to buy. If you continue to use GRTXT.EXE or any of the other programs in the GRABBER package beyond such 30-day period, then you are required to send your registration fee to the publisher according to the instructions in the REGISTER.DOC file. When you register, you will receive a copy of the latest release of the registered GRABBER package that you order. You may not continue using GRABBER beyond such 30-day period without registering. For registration in- structions and a complete statement of your license to use this software, please consult the REGISTER.DOC file. (IBM and PC are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. MS-DOS and Windows are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Other trademarks referenced herein are the proper- ties of their respective owners.) Table of Contents Overview of GRTXT.EXE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 About This Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 System Requirements for GRTXT.EXE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Types of Screens that GRTXT.EXE Can Capture . . . . . . . . . 3 GRTXT.EXE Can Capture Text Screens, Not Graphics Screens . . 4 How to Install GRTXT.EXE in Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 How to Capture the Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Ascending Two-Tone Chirp Indicates a Successful Capture . . . 5 Three Low-Pitched Beeps Indicate a File System Error . . . . 5 One Low-Pitched Beep Indicates a Graphical Mode . . . . . . . 6 Changing the Destination Drive or Directory . . . . . . . . . 6 Configuration Options for GRTXT.EXE . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Options Also Supported by GRABBER.EXE (See GRABBER.DOC for more information): - INT=nn - INT=OFF - PROMPT and NOPROMPT - MOUSE and NOMOUSE - SOUND and NOSOUND - BATCHCAPTURE[:] - NOSWAP - NOEMS - NOUMB - UNLOAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 CROP and NOCROP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 1FORM, 2FORM, 3FORM, 4FORM, 5FORM, or NOFORM . . . . . . . 7 PERMANENT=filename . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 NOPERMANENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 APPEND and NOAPPEND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 How GRTXT.EXE Names Offspring Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 More Explanation of GRTXT.EXE's Filename Prompts . . . . . 10 How to Control GRTXT.EXE's Crop Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Changing GRTXT.EXE's Hotkey Combination . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Calling GRTXT.EXE From Your Own Software . . . . . . . . . . 13 How to Contact the Publisher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 GRTXT.EXE Documentation and Technical Notes Page 3 of 14 1. Overview of GRTXT.EXE GRABBER/TXT, or "GRTXT.EXE," is an alternative version of the GRABBER.EXE screen capture program. It is a memory-resident screen capture program designed exclusively for capturing character-based text images directly to plain ASCII text files from programs running under the MS-DOS operating system. The text files which GRTXT.EXE creates are referred to throughout this documentation as "offspring" files. Because they consist of plain ASCII text characters, GRTXT.EXE's offspring files can easily be imported into most word processing, spreadsheet and other programs that accept external files. GRTXT.EXE does not capture graphics images, and it does not capture screens from Microsoft Windows or Windows applications. 2. About This Documentation This document must be read in conjunction with GRABBER.DOC, which is the documentation file for GRABBER.EXE. This is because GRTXT.EXE is installed in memory and operated in almost exactly the same way as the GRABBER.EXE program. This document does not explain in detail how to install and operate GRTXT.EXE, but instead explains the few operational differences between GRTXT.EXE and GRABBER.EXE. 3. System Requirements for GRTXT.EXE To use GRTXT.EXE, you will need the following: - An IBM-PC, PC-XT, PC-AT, PS/1, PS/2, or 100% compatible computer. - At least one "local" floppy disk drive or hard disk drive. - MS-DOS, or IBM PC-DOS, Version 3.0 or later. 4. Types of Screens that GRTXT.EXE Can Capture GRTXT.EXE is designed to capture screens from programs that run in "real mode" or "virtual 8086" mode under MS-DOS. GRTXT.EXE can capture virtually any text image that is smaller GRTXT.EXE Documentation and Technical Notes Page 4 of 14 than or equal to 132 characters horizontally by 60 lines vertically. GRTXT.EXE's offspring files consist of the text characters that make up the captured screens. GRTXT.EXE formats these text characters in plain ASCII text format. 5. GRTXT.EXE Can Capture Text Screens, Not Graphics Screens GRTXT.EXE captures only character-based text screens, not graphical images. This means that GRTXT.EXE cannot be used to create ASCII text files from graphical images that contain text information. 6. How to Install GRTXT.EXE in Memory To use GRTXT.EXE, load it into your computer's memory by entering a command that follows this example: GRTXT x:\pathname GRTXT.EXE will not stay resident in memory (and you will not be able to capture screens) until you tell GRTXT.EXE where to place its offspring files, using the syntax shown above. For more information, see Section 4 of GRABBER.DOC. When you install GRTXT.EXE in memory, it will display a start- up message in a brown box in the corner of your screen. The start-up box is followed by a several lines of information about the way GRTXT.EXE is currently configured to run on your system. If you want to change this configuration, you can do so at the time you install GRTXT.EXE in memory by adding additional parameters on the command line after your "x:\pathname" parameter, or you can change it after GRTXT.EXE is already installed. See Section 11 of this document for more information about changing the destination path for offspring files. 7. How to Capture the Screen After you press the hotkey, you will hear a short, high- pitched beep from your computer speaker, and a filename prompt will appear in the upper left corner of your screen. GRTXT.EXE is waiting for you to enter a name for the offspring file to which the current screen image will be saved. If this is the GRTXT.EXE Documentation and Technical Notes Page 5 of 14 first screen you have requested GRTXT.EXE to capture since installing the program in memory, then you must enter your own filename at the prompt. Otherwise, GRTXT.EXE will suggest a default filename that is the same as the last offspring file that it captured. To use the suggested default filename (if any), just press [Enter]. If you want to use a different filename, or no default was suggested, type the new name and press [Enter]. If you want to cancel the screen capture entirely, press [Esc] until the filename prompt disappears from the screen. (GRABBER.EXE will not allow you to change the extension of the offspring file name from ".TXT" to something else.) After you press [Enter], the filename prompt disappears from the screen, and GRTXT.EXE goes to work, saving the text information in the current screen image to an offspring file which has the name you entered. The file will be located in the "Drive/path for .TXT files" as listed in the start-up information screen. 8. Ascending Two-Tone Chirp Indicates a Successful Screen Capture If you hear an ascending, two-tone chirp from your computer's speaker, it means that GRTXT.EXE has successfully completed the screen capture, and the offspring file containing the current screen image is located in the "Drive/path for .TXT files." 9. Three Low-Pitched Beeps Indicate a File System Error If you hear three low-pitched beeps from your speaker, it means that no offspring file was created. GRTXT.EXE was unable to complete the screen capture for one of the following reasons. Correct the error condition and try to capture the screen again. Possible errors include: - The destination disk is write-protected. - The destination disk is full. - The destination disk has no more directory entries available. - The destination disk has a critical surface defect. - The door is open on the destination disk drive, or the drive is otherwise indicating a "not ready" status. GRTXT.EXE Documentation and Technical Notes Page 6 of 14 - The "FILES=" command in your CONFIG.SYS file does not specify enough files; increase the number and reboot your computer. 10. One Low-Pitched Beep Indicates a Graphical Mode If you hear one low-pitched beep from your computer's speaker when you press the hotkey, it means that no offspring file was created. GRTXT.EXE detected that the video display is currently operating in a graphical (i.e., pixel-based) mode, and not a character-based text mode. As noted above, GRTXT.EXE does not capture graphical screens. 11. Changing the Destination Drive or Directory To change the drive or directory where GRTXT.EXE deposits offspring files, enter another GRTXT.EXE command like the one described in Section 6 of this document. From that point forward, GRTXT.EXE will place offspring files in the new destination you specify. 12. Configuration Options for GRTXT.EXE GRTXT.EXE responds to many of the same command-line switches used by GRABBER.EXE, which are described in Section 12 of GRABBER.DOC. These switches allow you to modify the way in which GRTXT.EXE performs certain operations. GRTXT.EXE also responds to several additional command-line switches that are not available under GRABBER.EXE. The following command-line switches are available under GRTXT.EXE as well as under GRABBER.EXE. For an explanation of what these switches do under GRTXT.EXE, how to activate them, and any limitations on their usage, refer to GRABBER.DOC. The switches, and the locations in GRABBER.DOC where they are explained, are: - INT=nn (Section 12.1) - INT=OFF (Section 12.2) - PROMPT and NOPROMPT (Section 12.3) - MOUSE and NOMOUSE (Section 12.4) GRTXT.EXE Documentation and Technical Notes Page 7 of 14 - SOUND and NOSOUND (Section 12.5) - BATCHCAPTURE[:] (Section 12.6) - NOSWAP (Section 12.7) - NOEMS (Section 12.8) - NOUMB (Section 12.9) - UNLOAD (Section 12.10) In addition to the command-line switches listed above, several other command-line switches can be used under GRTXT.EXE. These additional switches are described below in this Section 12. Note that you may specify any of the following switches on the GRTXT.EXE command line when you initially install GRTXT.EXE in memory, or after GRTXT.EXE is already resident in memory. 12.1 Options: CROP and NOCROP Use the CROP option to enable GRTXT.EXE to capture only the part of the screen which you select. When CROP is enabled and you request a screen capture, GRTXT.EXE does not capture the screen right away. Instead, it first prompts you to enter a file name for the offspring file (if the PROMPT option is enabled), then it asks you to indicate which portion of the screen you wish to capture to a .TXT file by drawing a box on top of the current screen image, which you can move and reshape to your preference. Instructions for moving and reshaping this "crop box" are given below in Section 15 of this document. The default setting is NOCROP (i.e., crop box is disabled). When the NOCROP setting is active, GRTXT.EXE captures the entire screen image to a .TXT file, and does not prompt you to indicate which portion you wish to capture. The command GRTXT CROP can be used to enable the crop box. The crop box will then remain enabled until the next GRTXT NOCROP command is issued. 12.2 Options: 1FORM, 2FORM, 3FORM, 4FORM, 5FORM, or NOFORM The 1FORM through 5FORM options enable GRTXT.EXE's ability to insert a "form feed" character after a specified number of screens have been captured to the same .TXT file. This option only has an effect in the following situations: 1) When the NOPROMPT setting and the APPEND setting are both active, or GRTXT.EXE Documentation and Technical Notes Page 8 of 14 2) When the PROMPT setting is active and you are appending subsequent screen captures to the same .TXT file. Using the 1FORM through 5FORM options, you can tell GRTXT.EXE to insert a form feed character (12 decimal, 0C hexadecimal) after 'n' screens have been captured to the same .TXT file, where 'n' can be any single digit from 1 to 5. For example, when the 1FORM setting is active, GRTXT inserts a form feed character after each screen is written to the .TXT file. When the 2FORM setting is active, GRTXT inserts a form feed character after every second screen written to the .TXT file, and so forth. To prevent GRTXT from inserting any form feed characters into the .TXT file, specify the NOFORM setting. Inserting form feed characters can be useful for printing the data in the captured .TXT file later, because the form feed character causes most standard (non-Postscript) printers to automatically eject the current page and start a new page at the point where the character appears. The default setting for this feature is NOFORM (i.e., no form feed characters will be inserted into the offspring file). The command GRTXT 1FORM (or GRTXT 2FORM, GRTXT 3FORM, etc.) can be used to enable the insertion of form feeds. Form feeds will then remain enabled until the next GRTXT NOFORM command is issued. 12.3 Options: PERMANENT=filename NOPERMANENT These options tell GRTXT.EXE whether to capture all screens to the file represented by "filename". The "PERMANENT=filename" option allows you to force GRTXT.EXE to capture all screen data to a certain filename that you specify. For example, to capture all screens to a file in the current directory called TEXTDATA.TXT, you would include this option on the GRTXT command line: GRTXT [other options] PERMANENT=TEXTDATA.TXT Your "filename" can also include a drive and path specification, for example: GRTXT [other options] PERMANENT=C:\PICTURES\TEST.TXT GRTXT.EXE Documentation and Technical Notes Page 9 of 14 If you have told GRTXT to capture all data to a certain filename using the "PERMANENT=" option, you can tell it to stop forcing data into that file by including the NOPERMANENT option on the command line. Note that when you use the "PERMANENT=" option, it automatically has two side effects. First, PERMANENT= automatically sets the NOPROMPT option, which means you will not be prompted on the screen to enter a filename each time you request a screen capture. Second, PERMANENT= automatically sets the APPEND option (see Section 12.4 in this document), which means that all screen data will be appended to the same .TXT file while the PERMANENT= setting is active. The default setting for this feature is NOPERMANENT (i.e., text data will not be forced into a specific file). 12.4 Options: APPEND and NOAPPEND These options enable and disable the "Append Mode" when you have told GRTXT.EXE not to use on-screen filename prompts by using the NOPROMPT command switch. These switches have no effect when the PROMPT option is enabled. When filename prompts are disabled (i.e., NOPROMPT is active) and you specify APPEND, then GRTXT.EXE will create only one .TXT file, and will append the contents of each subsequent screen to that file until you enable the filename prompts again. When filename prompts are disabled and you specify NOAPPEND, then GRTXT works in its "Overwrite Mode," which means that it will create a separate .TXT file for each screen capture you request. The default setting for this feature is NOAPPEND (i.e., each screen will be captured to a separate offspring file). 13. How GRTXT.EXE Names Offspring Files When the PROMPT setting is active, GRTXT.EXE prompts you on the screen to enter a name for the captured .TXT file. However, when the NOPROMPT setting is active, GRTXT.EXE does not prompt you to enter a filename. Instead, it composes a filename by itself and assigns it to the offspring file in the same manner GRTXT.EXE Documentation and Technical Notes Page 10 of 14 that GRABBER.EXE uses when its NOPROMPT setting is active. For more information, see Section 12.3 of GRABBER.DOC. 14. More Explanation of GRTXT.EXE's Filename Prompts The most significant difference you will notice between GRTXT.EXE and GRABBER.EXE is in the area of the on-screen filename prompts. The following discussion only applies when the PROMPT setting is active. The first time you call up GRTXT after installing it, there is no default filename shown on the screen. You must supply your own file name. After your first .TXT screen capture, however, subsequent filename prompts will offer you a default filename which is identical to the previous one you specified. You may accept this default filename by pressing [Enter], or you can enter another name. After you press [Enter], you will then see this additional prompt, which is not present under GRABBER.EXE: FILENAME exists -- (A)ppend, (O)verwrite, (C)ancel ? (In this example, "FILENAME" stands for the actual name of the .TXT file that you entered.) If you wish to retain the contents of "FILENAME.TXT" and simply append the current screen to the bottom of it, just press <A> or [Enter]. If you wish to overwrite (i.e., erase and replace) the contents of the original "FILENAME.TXT" file, then press <O>. If you decide not to work with this name and wish to enter a different name instead, press <C> (for "Cancel"). GRTXT.EXE Documentation and Technical Notes Page 11 of 14 15. How to Control GRTXT.EXE's Crop Box When the CROP option is enabled, (see Section 12.1 above in this document), you can move and reshape GRTXT.EXE's crop box on your screen by using the following keys: <Esc> . . . . . . . . . . Abort the screen capture and exit back to the foreground program. <Return> . . . . . . . . Accept the area enclosed or covered by the crop box, and begin capturing. <Left Arrow>, <Right Arrow>, <Up Arrow> or <Down Arrow> . . . . . . Move the crop box in the direction indicated, without changing the shape of the box. <Shift><Left Arrow> . . . Shrink the box horizontally. <Shift><Right Arrow> . . Expand the box horizontally. <Shift><Up Arrow> . . . . Shrink the box vertically. <Shift><Down Arrow> . . . Expand the box vertically. <Insert> . . . . . . . . Toggle between coarse and fine increments for moving or reshaping the box. <Home> . . . . . . . . . Move the box to the upper left-hand corner of the screen. <End> . . . . . . . . . . Move the box to the lower left-hand corner of the screen. <Ctrl><PgUp> . . . . . . Move the box to the upper right-hand corner of the screen. <Ctrl><PgDn> . . . . . . Move the box to the lower right-hand corner of the screen. <PgUp> . . . . . . . . . Move box to top edge of the screen. <PgDn> . . . . . . . . . Move box to bottom edge of the screen. GRTXT.EXE Documentation and Technical Notes Page 12 of 14 <Ctrl><Left Arrow> . . . Move box to left edge of the screen. <Ctrl><Right Arrow> . . . Move box to right edge of the screen. 16. Changing GRTXT.EXE's Hotkey Combination The default hotkey combination which activates GRTXT.EXE is [Alt]-[=]. If you wish, you can change this default hotkey combination to something else, and save the change permanently to the GRTXT.EXE file so that the change will automatically take effect each time you install GRTXT.EXE in memory. To accomplish a hotkey change, use the "SHIFT=" and "KEY=" command-line options. To save a hotkey change permanently, use the "SAVEHOTKEY" command-line option. All of these options work exactly the same way under GRTXT.EXE as under GRABBER.EXE. See Section 15 of GRABBER.DOC for a description of the SHIFT=, KEY= and SAVEHOTKEY options and how to use them. Refer to Appendices A and B of GRABBER.DOC for a list of the codes that must be used with the SHIFT= and KEY= options to specify a new hotkey. GRTXT.EXE Documentation and Technical Notes Page 13 of 14 17. Programmers' Note: Calling GRTXT.EXE From Your Own Software If you are a programmer developing your own software, you can invoke GRTXT.EXE to capture the screen from within your own pro- gram, assuming that GRTXT.EXE is already resident in memory. This is accomplished by using GRTXT.EXE's external programming hook, which is a customized call to Interrupt 16h, described below. You can write a routine to implement this hook in 80x86 assembly language or in any high-level programming language which supports BIOS-level interrupt calls. INTERRUPT 16h, FUNCTION 4754h On entry: AX = 4754h DL = 0 (to check only if GRTXT.EXE is resident) DL = 1 (to capture the current screen) On return: AX = 5447h (if GRTXT.EXE is installed in memory) For DL=0 or DL=1: BL contains the logical drive to which the capture would be attempted (for DL=0), or was attempted (for DL=1). 0 = default drive, 1 = drive A, 2 = drive B, and so forth. For DL=1: If CF=0: Capture was successful. ES:DX points to an ASCIIZ string which contains the [drive:][\path\]filename of the newly created offspring (the drive is also coded in BL; see above). If CF=1: If DX = FFFFh, then a capture attempt failed due to a critical disk error or disk-full error on the logical drive encoded in BL (see above). Speaker will beep. If DX does not equal FFFFh, capture was not attempted. GRTXT.EXE was busy servicing a prior capture request, or some other disk I/O was occurring, or DOS was not in a reenterable state. Try again momentarily. GRTXT.EXE Documentation and Technical Notes Page 14 of 14 18. Technical Questions? Reporting a Problem or Bug? >> Do not contact the Public Software Library if you are experiencing a technical problem with GRTXT.EXE or if you have any questions about how GRTXT.EXE is supposed to work. Instead, contact the publisher directly, as described in this section. << The publisher wants to know if GRTXT.EXE ever fails to function on your system as documented in this manual. Also, if you feel there is an aspect of the program which is not clearly or completely described here, we appreciate your suggestions. Please read all of the documentation before submitting a problem report. This way you can be certain whether there really is a problem, or whether the program is being put to a use for which it is not designed or intended. When submitting a problem report, be as specific as possible about what happens and in what sequence or situation. Be sure to list these specific things: (1) All of the information provided on the screen after you enter the GRTXT command at the DOS prompt with the program already resident in memory. (2) Your brand and model of video adapter. (3) Your brand and model of PC. (4) Your brand and version of DOS (for example, MS-DOS V6.20, DR-DOS V5.0, PC DOS V4.0, etc.). (5) Your brand and model of video adapter. (6) The program from which you are trying to capture when the problem occurs. (7) The contents of both your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files. Without all of this information, it is difficult to solve a problem, and a response will be delayed. The publisher can be reached at the following addresses: Mail: Gerald A. Monroe Fax: (216) 333-6299 P.O. Box 16296 Telephone: (216) 333-6075 Cleveland, Ohio 44116 U.S.A. CompuServe: 72321,1257 Internet: 72321.1257@compuserve.com * * * End of GRTXT.DOC * * *