The Business Master (3rd Edition)

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BatMaster 1.11 Copyright 1987/88/89/90 by New-Ware All Rights Reserved (tm) ┌─────────┐ ┌─────┴───┐ │ MEMBER ───│ │ │──────────────── │ ┌──────┴──┐ │ Association of │ │ ├──┘ Shareware └──┤ ■ │ Professionals ──────│ ║ │─────────────────── └────╨────┘ Contents 1 PROLOG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2 REGISTRATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 3 VERSION HISTORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 4 GENERAL DESCRIPTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 5 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 6 PROGRAM LIMITATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 7 PROGRAM OPERATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 STARTING THE EDITOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 THE EDIT SCREEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 THE STATUS LINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 THE SCROLL BAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 THE FILE NAME LINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 COMMAND STRUCTURE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 CURSOR CONTROL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 INSERTION/DELETION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 TEXT BLOCKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 TEXT FORMATTING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 SEARCH AND REPLACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 TEXT MARKERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 FILE COMMANDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 MISCELLANEOUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 FUNCTION KEY COMMANDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 F-1 KEY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 F-2 KEY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 F-3 KEY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 F-4 KEY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 F-5 KEY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 F-6 KEY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 F-7 KEY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 F-8 KEY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 F-9 KEY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 F-10 KEY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 HELP INFORMATION PASTING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 FILE LIST OPERATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 DIRECTORY TREE OPERATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 CHANGING DRIVES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 MOUSE OPERATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 EXITING BATMASTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 FILE BACKUP PROTECTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 HELP SYSTEM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 USER DEFINED MACROS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 i EXECUTION OF FILES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 8 GENERAL INFORMATION AND CREDITS . . . . . . . . . . . 16 GENERAL INFORMATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 CREDITS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Index 17 ii 1 PROLOG The program author, John J. Newlin, is an active member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). The ASP wants to make sure that the Shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a Shareware related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at P.O. Box 5786, Bellevue, WA 98006 or send a Compuserve message via EASYPLEX to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536. DISCLAIMER New-Ware hereby disclaims all warranties relating to this product, whether express or implied, including without limitation any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. New- Ware cannot and will not be liable for any special, incidental, consequential, indirect or similar damages due to loss of data or any other reason, even if New-Ware or an authorized New-Ware agent has been advised of the possibility of such damages. In no event shall the liability for any damages ever exceed the price paid for the license to use software, regardless of the form and/or extent of the claim. The user of this program bears all risk as to the quality and performance of the software. LICENSE BatMaster is a Shareware product. As such, it is made available to the general computing public for evaluation. Users are licensed to operate BatMaster on their personal computers for the purpose of test and evaluation on a trial basis for a limited trial period. It is not possible to reasonably define any definitive limits of a fair and equitable time period for evaluation, therefore it is left to the user's judgment and sense of fair play as to the time required to make a decision as to its usefulness. If the user decides the program is not of sufficient merit to warrant purchase through registration with New- Ware, the program should be removed from their personal computer. Otherwise, if the program is deemed useful and is in regular use on the user's personal computer system, registration with New-Ware is required. Registered users are those users that elect to pay for BatMaster and register that payment with New-Ware. By virtue of registration and payment for the program, registered users are granted a license to continue to utilize the program on their personal computer for as long as they choose. This license authorizes the user to use the program on any personal computer system he or she may own so long as the program is operated on only one computer system at a time. - 2 - 2 REGISTRATION BatMaster is sole property of New-Ware Shareware products. The Shareware version, and ONLY that version, may be freely copied and transferred to individual parties for evaluation purposes. The Shareware version, and ONLY that version, may be posted on Bulletin Board systems (BBS) for electronic access as long as NO FEE is charged for its distribution except for private BBS operations that charge a regular user subscription fee. Computer information services such as Compuserve (CIS), Genie, etc., are authorized to post this product for subscriber access. The Shareware version of BatMaster may NOT be distributed on diskette by any disk distributor/vendor that charges more than $10.00 for the diskette upon which the program and attendant files are recorded without written consent from New-Ware. BatMaster is a fully functional Shareware product. Shareware is a computer program distribution/marketing method that permits potential buyers to thoroughly try the program prior to purchase. It is NOT free and it is not in the Public Domain. If, after evaluating the program, you find it to be useful enough to use it on a regular basis, you are expected to pay for it by registering with New-Ware. The registration fee is $25.00 and the registered version, which is NOT distributed as Shareware, will not contain the opening Shareware screen nor the closing messages. You may register BatMaster in one of three ways: 1) By mail with check or money order to: New-Ware 8050 Camino Kiosco San Diego, CA 92122-1820 2) By telephone with Visa/Mastercard to: New-Ware (619) 455-6225 3) Electronically through the New-Ware BBS: New-Ware Shareware Products BBS Running Wildcat! version 2.10p (619) 450-3257 - Node #1 1200/2400/9600 (HST) 455-5226 - Node #2 1200/2400 The New-Ware Shareware Products BBS operates 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Node #1 is dedicated to registered users only. Nodes #2 is open to all callers. Users registering via the BBS receive access to - 3 - the latest registered version within 1 day after leaving their credit card data. Users who register by mail or phone may also access the registered version by BBS, but you MUST log on and leave a comment to the sysop to the effect that you are a registered user and desire access. The author can also on CIS via PPN 71535,665 (please use EASYPLEX). This Shareware version of BatMaster may be freely copied and passed on to other individual users for their evaluation. Disk vendors and/or distributors that desire to distribute BatMaster must adhere to the guidelines presented in VENDOR.DOC. Press F-1 to bring up the main help topic window and then select the REGISTRATION topic to view the BatMaster registration form. This form may be blocked and pasted into the editor at the current editor cursor position by using the F-7 key (or ^K,B) to mark the block start, the F-8 key (or ^K,K) to mark the end of the block. Press the Ins key to return to the editor, move the cursor to the desired position in the editor, and press Ctrl-K,A to insert the blocked registration text. The form can then be filled out in the editor and printed with the F-7 (print entire edit buffer) key or by blocking the form text and pressing Ctrl- K,P. Registration Form Name: __________________________ Address: __________________________ Address: __________________________ City, State ______________________ __ Zip Code: _____-____ MasterCard/Visa # ____ ____ ____ ____ Expiration Date: __/__ Telephone: (___) ___-____ Circle One: Check MC Visa Money Order Enclosed is my registration fee for BatMaster $25.00 Sales Tax (California Residents MUST include) 1.81 ______ Total Remitted: CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS MUST INCLUDE 7.25% STATE SALES TAX! - 4 - I support my software. One of the great strengths of the Shareware concept is the interaction between the program author and the users. Many of the features contained in BatMaster are the result of user input. If you have a problem evaluating this program or desire to make a suggestion or comment (or even a complaint), please do not hesitate to contact me. Even if you register BatMaster, if you later determine that it is unsuitable for your use, you may contact me for a refund. It is not necessary that you be a registered user to contact me for technical support. Technical support will be available through the U.S mail, telephone, or the New-Ware BBS. 3 VERSION HISTORY 1.10 - 08-20-90 - Initial release. 1.11 - 80-22-90 - Fixed problem with file list display not returning to the last selected drive:\directory. 4 GENERAL DESCRIPTION BatMaster, hereafter abbreviated as BM, is a powerful, full- featured text editor designed primarily to support creation and maintenance of DOS batch files. In addition to a full range of text editing commands and functions, BM provides rapid access to the AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files and to the DOS master environment. Extensive on-line, context sensitive help provides fast access to help information on CONFIG.SYS, DOS, and batch commands. BM is one of the few text editors available with complete integral mouse support. Access to all drives and all subdirectories in the user's system is also provided. 5 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS BM is designed to operate on systems compatible with the IBM PC/XT/AT and PS/2 family computers. DOS 2.0 or greater is required. Video text mode support is offered for monochrome, Hercules, CGA, EGA, and VGA video systems. Although BM may be operated successfully on floppy disks, it is primarily designed for larger fixed disk systems. Approximately 300K of free RAM is required at run time. - 5 - 6 PROGRAM LIMITATIONS BM is currently limited to editing files of 63K bytes or smaller. Any ASCII text file of that size or smaller may be loaded into the editor. Any size DOS environment up to the maximum of 32K may be edited. The maximum editor line length is limited to 250 characters. Note that BM does not expand tab characters (^I) during file loading, but does expand tabs in the saved file. 7 PROGRAM OPERATION STARTING THE EDITOR The editor can be started simply by entering the program name, BM, at the DOS command prompt. If a file name is added as a command parameter, BM will attempt to load that file from the current directory. If the specified file is not found, BM will enter the edit mode assuming that creation of a new file is desired. If no file name is entered at runtime, the BM file entry window will be presented. BM will automatically detect the monitor type at run time but will be poorly presented on laptop monitors. To avoid this, place a one-line text file named LAPTOP.BM in the DOS path with the one line as "MONO" or "mono". This will force BM into a two-color mode that will be much more presentable on the laptop variety of video systems. The file entry window makes it easy to specify a file for editing. The user may type the file name in and press Enter to load the file. If the entered file name includes any DOS wildcards ("*","?"), BM will present a list of files from the current directory that match the entry. A file may be selected for loading from this list by moving the cursor bar to the target file name and pressing the ENTER key. The file entry window also supports single key loading of AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS. Press the F-1 key to load AUTOEXEC.BAT, the F-2 key to load CONFIG.SYS. Pressing the F-3 key while in the window will cause BM to present a list of all .BAT files in the current directory for selection. THE EDIT SCREEN The BM edit screen contains an editor status line on the top row, the current file name on the next to last row, and abbreviated function key assignments on the last row. The last column (80) on - 6 - the right hand side of the screen contains a scroll bar with a marker that indicates the current relative position of the edit screen in the file. THE STATUS LINE The BM status line occupies the first row of the screen. It dynamically displays the current line number, column number, number of bytes in the buffer and buffer size, insert/overwrite status, tab function status, word wrap and modification status. Pressing the Ins key toggles the editor insert/overwrite mode. This status is also indicated by the cursor size, which is large when in the insert mode and small when in the overwrite mode. Any changes or additions to the file through the editor sets the modification flag, which is used to prevent inadvertently exiting without saving the altered file. Word wrap works in conjunction with the right margin value, which has a default setting of 78 columns. Word wrap may be toggled on/off with the Ctrl-O,W command. Tabs may be set to the fixed or "smart" mode and that status is included on the status line. THE SCROLL BAR The vertical scroll bar on the right side of the screen serves two purposes. It contains a slider that will move to indicate the relative position of the current editor window in the file. Mouse users may use the mouse cursor to point to a relative position on the bar and click the left button to move the editor window to that position. THE FILE NAME LINE Row 24 on the screen contains the full DOS path and name of the file currently being edited. The last line on the screen contains abbreviated reminders of the function key commands. If information pasting from a help screen is in progress, a blinking "Paste" will appear following the file name. COMMAND STRUCTURE The BM editor command structure is very similar to that used by the popular WordStar word processor. Some commands operate by pressing the Ctrl key and a letter key simultaneously. For example, the line delete command is Ctrl-Y. Others operate by - 7 - pressing the Ctrl key and a letter key simultaneously followed by a single keystroke of a letter key. An example is the quit and save command, Ctrl-K,X. Note that whenever BM is expecting an additional keystroke following a Ctrl key command sequence such as Ctrl-K, the message "^K and.." will appear at the end of screen line 24. The most important and useful commands have been grouped in the set of ten function keys. CURSOR CONTROL The primary cursor control commands reside in the cursor pad keys on the keyboard with alternative Ctrl commands. Char Left LeftArrow Ctrl-S Char Right RightArrow Ctrl-D Up Line UpArrow Ctrl-E Down Line DnArrow Ctrl-X Word Left Ctrl-A Word Right Ctrl-D Line Begin Ctrl-LeftArrow Line End Ctrl-RightArrow Scroll Up Ctrl-W Scroll Dn Ctrl-Z Page Up PgUp Ctrl-R Page Dn PgDn Ctrl-C Screen Top Ctrl-Home Ctrl-Q,E Screen Bottom Ctrl-End Ctrl-Q,X File Top Home Ctrl-Q,R File Bottom End Ctrl-Q,C Jump To Line Alt-J INSERTION/DELETION Delete Character Del Ctrl-G Delete Left Char BackSpace Ctrl-H Delete Word Ctrl-T Delete Line Ctrl-Y Delete To End Line Ctrl-Q,Y New Line Enter Ctrl-M Insert Line Ctrl-N Tab Tab Ctrl-I TEXT BLOCKS Note that the block read/write commands read/write from/to a file. The block change case command toggles the case in a block. Mark Block Begin Ctrl-K,B Mark Block End Ctrl-K,K - 8 - Mark Word as Block Ctrl-K,T Go to Block Begin Ctrl-Q,B Go to Block End Ctrl-Q,K Hide/Show Block Ctrl-K,H Copy Block Ctrl-K,C Move Block Ctrl-K,V Delete Block Ctrl-K,Y Indent Block Ctrl-K,I Unindent Block Ctrl-K,U Block Upper Case Ctrl-O,U Block Lower Case Ctrl-O,V Block Change Case Ctrl-O,O Block Read Ctrl-K,R Block Write Ctrl-K,W Block Print Ctrl-K,P TEXT FORMATTING The reformat commands only work if the word wrap toggle is set to ON the results depend upon the current right margin setting. Reformat Global Ctrl-K,G Reformat Paragraph Ctrl-B Insert Mode Toggle Ins Ctrl-V Indent Ctrl-O,I Word Wrap Toggle Ctrl-O,W Tab Toggle Ctrl-O,F Set Tab Size Ctrl-O,T Set Right Margin Ctrl-O,R Set Indent Size Ctrl-O,B SEARCH AND REPLACE Search and replace functions are limited to a target string length of 30 characters. Search Ctrl-Q,F Search & Replace Ctrl-Q,A Continue Search Ctrl-L TEXT MARKERS A maximum of four (0..3) text markers may be inserted at any one time. When setting a mark, press Ctrl-O, Ctrl-K, followed by a digit from 0 to 3. The goto last cursor command is only effect after an operation like block copy, block move, move to top of file, etc. is performed. Set Mark (0..3) Ctrl-O,Ctrl-K,0..3 - 9 - Go To Mark (0..3) Ctrl-O,Ctrl-Q,0..3 Show Mark Toggle Ctrl-M Go To Last Cursor Ctrl-Q,P FILE COMMANDS The BM exit command, Alt-X key, exits immediately and does NOT save the current file nor prompt to do so. All other commands that involve refilling the edit buffer result in an opportunity to save the file if it has been modified. Ctrl- K,X will save the file and then exit without a save file query. Save, Do Not Quit Ctrl-K,S Load New File F-2 Abandon File Ctrl-K,Q Save, Load New Ctrl-K,D Save, Rename Ctrl-K,N Save and Quit Ctrl-K,X MISCELLANEOUS The restore line command will restore the current line to its original contents providing that the cursor has not been moved off the line. It does NOT restore a deleted line. Restore Line Ctrl-Q,L FUNCTION KEY COMMANDS Most of the main BM file and directory operations are available through the ten function keys. F-1 KEY The F-1 key calls the main BM help index. See the HELP SYSTEM topic later in this document for more details. F-2 KEY The F-2 key is used to load new files. When F-2 is pressed, the file entry window will appear that prompts for a file name. A specific file name that may optionally include the full DOS drive:\path name may be entered. The entered file name may also include DOS wild cards, in which case BM will display a list of files that match the entered mask. Pressing the Enter key with no - 10 - file name entered will call the file list with a mask of "*.*". Rapid access to AUTOEXEC.BAT, CONFIG.SYS, and the DOS master environment is available via a single keystroke while in the file entry window. F-1 loads AUTOEXEC.BAT, F-2 loads CONFIG.SYS, and F-4 loads the master environment. The F-3 key is used to call the file list with a mask of "*.BAT". The F-4 key is used to locate and load a new user- defined macro file. Pressing this key will invoke the file list with a mask of "*.MAC" in the current directory. Selection of a .MAC file will cause it to be loaded. F-3 KEY The F-3 key is used to directly call up the file list window. This window will display a list of all subdirectories and files in the current directory. A list of valid system drive letters appears at the top of the file list. Selecting one of the drives changes to that drive and presents a list of files from the active directory on that drive. Selecting a subdirectory will change to that subdirectory and present a list of files from that subdirectory. Selecting a file will load that file into the editor. F-4 KEY The F-4 key calls the CONFIG.SYS command help topic index. See the HELP SYSTEM section below for details. F-5 KEY Pressing the F-5 key displays a window that contains a graphic tree of the directories on the current drive. The cursor bar can be moved with the cursor pad keys or the mouse. Pressing Enter will cause BM to display a file list for the directory under the cursor when the key was pressed. Use the Esc key to exit the tree with no action. F-6 KEY The F-6 key calls DOS/BATCH command help index. See the HELP SYSTEM section below for details. - 11 - F-7 KEY The entire contents of the file in the editor may be sent to the printer with the F-7 key. Text blocks can be printed by marking the block and then pressing Ctrl-K,P. F-8 KEY The F-8 key implements a powerful BM feature that provides instant context-sensitive access to the CONFIG.SYS and DOS/BATCH command help topics. To get help on a specific command, place the cursor anywhere in a word (not case sensitive) that is a valid CONFIG.SYS, DOS, or batch file command and press F-8. A help window containing information on that command will appear. The mouse may be used to accomplish the same thing by placing the mouse cursor over the word and pressing both mouse buttons. Note that any of the information in the help window may be pasted into the editor at the location of the text cursor. See the HELP INFORMATION PASTING section for details. F-9 KEY The F-9 key is used to view and select one off up to 30 user defined macros. A window will appear that permits scrolling and selection of the list of 30 user- defined macro strings. If a macro is selected by pressing Enter with the highlight bar over a defined macro string, that string will be inserted into the editor at the current cursor position. F-10 KEY The F-10 key provides access to the DOS master environment. The environment may be edited and saved just like any file. When the F-10 key is pressed, the master environment is loaded and the editor buffer is re-sized to the current size of the environment less 2 bytes. This is done to prevent the user from adding more to the environment than it's size will permit. The environment size may be set with the CONFIG.SYS SHELL = command and the system must be rebooted for the new size to take effect. Since the maximum line length of the BM editor is 250 characters, it is possible to insert a "PATH=" environment string that is up to 250 characters in - 12 - length. When the "PATH=" command is used from the DOS command line or in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file, the path string is truncated by DOS to 123 characters. HELP INFORMATION PASTING Textual information from any help topic window may be inserted into the editor via a pasting operation. To accomplish this, use F-1, F-4, or F-6 to select a help topic or go directly to a topic via the F-8 key. Each help topic window has a movable cursor and a mouse cursor. Mark the text to be pasted by using the F-7 key (or ^K,B) to mark the beginning of the block and the F-8 key (or ^K,K) to mark the end of the block. When the desired information is blocked, press the Ins key. The help topic window will disappear and line 24 of the editor screen will contain a blinking "Paste" just after the file name. Move the cursor to the position in the file to insert the blocked help text and press ^K,A. The paste function may be canceled prior to actual pasting by pressing ^K,Z. FILE LIST OPERATIONS A file may be loaded into the BM editor by selecting it from a scrollable file list. To accomplish this, press F-2 and then either press Enter, enter a file mask with DOS wildcards, or press F-3 ("*.BAT"). A window will appear that contains a sorted list of files in the current directory. Three different sorts are supported. The F-1 key sorts by file name, the F-2 key by file date, and the F-3 key by file size. The list may be browsed by using the cursor pad keys or the mouse and the scroll bar. Select a file with the mouse by moving the cursor to the file, clicking the left button to move the cursor to the file, and pressing the left button again to select the file. Pressing Enter will select the file under the cursor bar. Use the Esc key to exit the list with no selection. Note that the file list also contains the names of any subdirectories in the current directory. Selecting a subdirectory will change to that subdirectory and display the list of files therein. Also note that the position of the directories in the file list will depend upon the type sort that is currently in use. System drive letters are displayed at the top of the file list. Selection of a drive letter will redisplay the list with files and subdirectories from the new drive. If no file name is provided on the command line when BM is executed, the file entry window appears. Otherwise, BM will attempt to load the file entered as a command line paramter. If is unable to load the file, an error message will appear, followed by the file entry window. - 13 - If the F-4 key is used to access a macro file when first executing BM, the selected macro file is processed and loaded and the macro source file will be loaded into the editor as well. DIRECTORY TREE OPERATIONS To access files in any directory on the current drive, press the F-5 key. A window will appear that contains a graphic representation of the directory tree structure on the current drive. Selecting a directory to change to is accomplished in a manner similar to that described for the file list. When a directory is selected, BM will display a file list for that directory. CHANGING DRIVES Changing drives is accomplished via the file list, which can be directly accessed via the F3 key while editing or indirectly through the file name entry window. Changing drives, or directories for that matter, affects only the directory or file lists displays. It does NOT affect the drive:\path of the currently loaded file. The active drive letter will appear at the end of the top status line. MOUSE OPERATIONS BM provides full support for the Microsoft mouse and compatibles. The mouse cursor appears as a solid block that will show a character beneath it in a highlight color. The cursor may be positioned on any window scroll bar and the left button pressed to move to that relative position. Each scroll bar also has an up arrow at the top of the bar and a down arrow at the bottom of the bar. Clicking with the mouse cursor over one of the arrows pages up or down as appropriate. In the editor, the left mouse button moves the text cursor to the position of the mouse cursor and the right button does nothing. In an auxiliary window, the left button acts as the Return key and the right button acts as the Esc key. Pressing both buttons in the editor activates the context sensitive help function which will attempt to match the word under the mouse cursor with a help topic. EXITING BATMASTER There are several means for exiting BM. Pressing the Alt-X key just about anywhere in the system will immediately exit BM and will NOT save the current file. Pressing Ctrl-K,X in the editor will automatically save the current file and then exit. Pressing Ctrl-K,Q will prompt for a file save before exiting if the file has been modified. - 14 - FILE BACKUP PROTECTION BM automatically makes a backup file of any file that is loaded into the editor. If the file being saved in the editor exists, BM will rename the existing file with an extension of ".BAK" before the new version of the file is saved. HELP SYSTEM BM employs a comprehensive on-line help system to support modification of CONFIG.SYS and batch file programming. Three help files are included in the BM package: EDIT.HLP, CONFIG.HLP, and DOS.HLP. In order for BM to have constant access to the extensive help information contained in these files, they should be placed in a directory that is identified in the DOS PATH string. If a needed .HLP file is not on the DOS PATH or in the BM.EXE start up directory, no action will occur when that help file is called. Pressing one of the help keys will display an indexed topic list. A cursor bar that can be moved with the cursor pad keys or the mouse is used to select a topic for viewing. Press Enter or the left mouse button to view information on the topic under the cursor. Press Esc to return to the topic list and once again to exit help. See the HELP INFORMATION PASTING section for information on how to import text from the help topic windows into the text editor. USER DEFINED MACROS BM supports the definition of up to 30 user defined macro strings. These strings may be assigned to the SHIFT, CTRL, and ALT function keys and are defined in an external text file with the default extension of .MAC. Assigning a macro string (40 characters maximum) to a function key allows insertion of that string into the editor at the cursor position whenever the assigned key is pressed. Pressing the F-9 key while in the editor will display a list of macro assignments to view or from which to select a specific string to insert. Macro definition files are prepared in accordance with the format specified in the sample file BM.MAC included in the BM package. Any number of these files may be created and any specific definition file may be loaded by pressing the F-4 key while in the file entry window. This will bring up a file list in the current directory that matches the mask "*.MAC". Selecting one of the displayed files will cause BM to load that file in place of the current macro definitions. Upon start-up, BM looks for BM.MAC in the current directory and if it finds it, it will load it. If F-4 is pressed from the file entry window when BM is first loaded, - 15 - selection of a .MAC file will load both the actual .MAC text file into the editor and the definitions into the macro list. EXECUTION OF FILES Any executable .BAT, .COM, or .EXE file may be run from the BM file list. Access the file list via the file entry window (F2) or the directory tree (F5). To execute a file, move the cursor bar to the target file name and press Ctrl-Enter. 8 GENERAL INFORMATION AND CREDITS GENERAL INFORMATION BM has been written and developed using Borland International Turbo Pascal 5.5 and TurboPower Software Object Professional 1.0. The development environment was an 20mhz AST 386 with 4MB of RAM running under DOS 3.3 and QEEM. This document was prepared using the Borland International Sprint word processor. CREDITS No decently functional software can be produced in the absence of good, solid programming tools. New-Ware is grateful to Sammy Mitchell of Sem-Ware, the author of the famous QEDIT, for his outstanding text editor. BM is not meant to compete with QEDIT or other more powerful text editors, but instead is meant to provide task specific support for the creation and maintenance of batch and CONFIG.SYS files. New-Ware is also most grateful to TurboPower Software whose Object Professional 1.0 package was used extensively in the design and development of BM. No Pascal programmer should go near a keyboard without it! Special thanks to Randy Davilla, Dave Hardy, and Tom Kellen for their outstanding contributions. - 16 - Index A F-3 key 6, 11 Abandon File 10 F-4 key 11 Alt-X key 10, 14 F-5 key 11, 14 ASP 2 F-6 key 11 ASP Ombudsman 2 F-7 key 12 F-8 key 12 B F-9 key 12, 15 Block Change Case 9 File Bottom 8 Block Lower Case 9 file list 13 Block Print 9 File Top 8 Block Read 9 Block Upper Case 9 G Block Write 9 Genie 3 BM exit command 10 Go to Block Begin 9 Go to Block End 9 C Go To Last Cursor 10 Char Left 8 Go To Mark 9 Char Right 8 command structure 7 H Compuserve 3 Hide/Show Block 9 Continue Search 9 Copy Block 9 I Indent 9 D Indent Block 9 Delete Block 9 Ins key 7 Delete Character 8 Insert Line 8 Delete Left Char 8 Insert Mode Toggle 9 Delete Line 8 Delete To End Line 8 J Delete Word 8 Jump To Line 8 Down Line 8 drive letters 13 L laptop monitors 6 E Line Begin 8 edit screen 6 Line End 8 editor status line 6 Load New File 10 F M F-10 key 12 Macro definition 15 F-1 key 6, 10 macro strings 15 F-2 key 6, 10 main help topic 4 - 17 - Mark Block Begin 8 Save and Quit 10 Mark Block End 8 Screen Bottom 8 Mark Word as Block 8 Screen Top 8 modification flag 7 scroll bar 7 mouse 14 Scroll Dn 8 Move Block 9 Scroll Up 8 Search 9 N Search & Replace 9 New Line 8 Set Indent Size 9 New-Ware 3 Set Mark 9 Set Right Margin 9 O Set Tab Size 9 on-line help system 15 Shareware 2 Shareware Products BBS 3 P Show Mark 10 Page Dn 8 status line 7 Page Up 8 pasting operation 13 T Tab 8 R Tab Toggle 9 Reformat Global 9 Tabs 7 Reformat Paragraph 9 text markers 9 register 2 Registration Form 4 U REGISTRATION topic 4 Unindent Block 9 Restore Line 10 Up Line 8 S W Save Word Left 8 Do Not Quit 10 Word Right 8 Load New 10 Word wrap 7 Rename 10 Word Wrap Toggle 9 - 18 -