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STREADER.DOC
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Text File
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1990-06-22
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29KB
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485 lines
THIS IS THE DOCUMENT FILE FOR ST READER.
THE COMPLETE ST READER PACKAGE SHOULD CONTAIN
STREADER.DOC, STREADER.LST, and the STREADER.PRG
THESE FILES MAY BE GIVEN (NOT SOLD), COPIED, AND PASSED AROUND
GENERALLY, PROVIDED ALL THESE FILES ARE INCLUDED.
PLACED IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN JUNE 15, 1990
p********************************************************************q
p* *q
p* *q
p* S T R E A D E R *q
p* *q
p* Version 3.10 *q
p* *q
p* *q
p* © 1990 By Sterling K. Webb, SKWare One, Inc. *q
p* P. O. Box 277, Bunker Hill, IL 62014 *q
p* *q
p* *q
p********************************************************************q
The ST READER is a text viewing program which can be used both
with installed application filetypes (that means that ST Reader will
be called when you double-click on a file of that type from the
Desktop) or as a stand-alone program called directly by double-
clicking on STREADER.PRG.
ST READER will display text files in 80 columns no matter what
resolution you're operating in, even low (by jumping into medium
resolution and back to low again when you exit.)
The length of file ST READER can load into memory is limited
only by how much memory is available (maximum file length is roughly
half the available memory).
To view document files from the Desktop, highlight the ST READER
icon by clicking on it, then select the "Install Application" choice
from the Options Menu. Enter the extent of the text files you wish
to view (such as .DOC, .TXT, .MSS, .LST, and so forth). Then, when
you double-click on a file with those extents, ST READER will be
called to display the file for you. The application filetype will
be saved if you save the Desktop after installation.
If you have not installed an application filetype for ST READER,
a Fileselect appears when you start the ST READER from the Desktop.
You will first be given the opportunity to select the drive from
which you wish to read files, to set the path for those files, and
to specify a mask for filetypes. (These can be changed later, at
any time you wish; see below.)
When the file is displayed, you will notice that the bottom or
memo line of the screen is printed in reverse video. Pressing the
<Esc> key will advance you to a new memo line. The memo lines
contain a summary of all of ST READER's commands. Pressing the
<Tab> key moves you backward through the sequence of memo lines.
You can scroll through a text using the following keystroke
commands: The Up-Arrow and Down-Arrow keys page-flip; the Left-Arrow
and Right-Arrow keys smooth-scroll up and down. You can jump to the
start of a document with the <CLR/HOME> key, or jump to the end of
the document with CNTL+<Clr/Home> (this means: hold down the CONTROL
key while pressing <Clr/Home>). You can exit the display with the
<UNDO> key. You will be given the option of selecting another file
to read or avoiding an exit to GEM.
You can also page forwards and backwards by half-pages using
CNTL+(Left-Arrow) and CNTL+<Right-Arrow> keys. Pressing one of the
number keys (from 1 to 9) will repeat the previous document movement
command that many times. For example, pressing Down-Arrow and then
the <9> key will advance you 10 pages in the document.
If you load a .DOC file that turns out to be a 1stWord file,
no problem; ST READER will convert 1stWord files to Ascii text.
Just press the <Help> key. (This converts the entire file, not just
the displayed screen.) Conversely, you can convert a Ascii file into
the 1stWord format by pressing the CNTL+<Help> key. This conversion
is to text that matches 1stWord's definition of a Word-Processing
text, so that 1stWord will perform all of its "WP" operations on the
text, such as reformat or justify paragraphs. Tabular matter is
preserved intact.
Such converted files (or any file or portion of a file, for
that matter) can be saved by CNTL+<S> under whatever filename you
select. The file to be saved can consist of the complete file as
loaded or only a portion of the file, using the same block commands
as the print option (which will be explained in the next paragraph).
CNTL+<P> will send the file you are viewing to your printer.
ST READER will give you an alert to set the Top-of-Form on your
printer and will check to see if the printer is on-line before
printing the file. The lines of text to be printed are highlighted
(with yellow or blue on a color monitor and a dot screen line in
monochrome). Lines are advanced off the screen when the screen is
scrollable or un-highlighted as each line is sent to the printer (or
saved). You will be querried as to whether or not to skip over the
form perforations (the interval is fixed at a three-line top and
bottom margin with 60 lines to the page).
You also have the option of printing (or saving) only a
portion of the file as a specific block from the document. When you
choose this option a marker (a line or space printed in reverse
video) will appear at the top of the screen. This marker can be
moved down the screen by CNTL+<D> and up the screen by CNTL+<U>.
When you shift the screen using the cursor arrow keys, the marker
line advances with you, maintaining its screen position as the text
moves.
When you have placed the marker on the line that you wish to
specify as the beginning of the block, press CNTL+<A>. Move to the
screen where the block ends and position the marker on the line you
wish to be the LAST LINE TO BE PRINTED (not the end of the block!)
and press CNTL+<Z>. (That is, in ST READER, the marks are included
in the block.) Marking the start of a block produces a one-bell
ring; marking the last line of a block produces a two-bell ring.
If you create an inconsistant marking (like having the end
before the beginning), all lines will be unmarked and you will be
asked to repeat the block-marking operation from scratch. The
printing operation, once begun, can be ABORTed at any time by
pressing CNTL+<P> again.
The selected drive, path, and mask can be changed at any time by
pressing CNTL+<R>. First, an alert will inform you of the current
selection of drive (A:, B:, etc.), the current selection for path
(the open directory on that drive, like "\TEXT" or "\DOCUMENT" or
the root directory which is indicated by "\"), and the "mask" which
indicates which filetypes to list in the Fileselect (like "*.*" for
all files, or "*.TXT" for all files with the extent of ".TXT"). The
"*" means all possible terms of whatever length; "?" means any
single letter. For example, "*.P??" would search for all .PRG files
and all Degas pictures and any files whose extent starts with the
letter "P."
If you click on "OK" in the drive alert, no changes are made; if
you select "Reset," the ledger line at the bottom of the screen
changes to let you alter the drive, path and mask. Use <Backspace>
to erase characters and <Esc> to clea