The Business Master (3rd Edition)

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***************** TOUR OF THE MAIN MENU ***************** THIS MANUAL WILL NOW TAKE YOU ON A TOUR OF THE OPTIONS ON THE MAIN MENU, INCLUDING GENERAL NOTES ABOUT THE MULTIMEDIA WORKSHOP AS THEY RELATE TO THE DISCUSSION. This is the main menu which appears at the bottom of the screen: ┌──────┬───────┬───────┬───────┬──────┬──────┬───────┬──────┐ │ File │ Paint │ Sound │ Write │ Time │ View │Option │ Build│░ └──────┴───────┴───────┴───────┴──────┴──────┴───────┴──────┘░ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ To navigate the main menu, use the left and right arrow keys or move the mouse left or right. To select a sub-menu, click the left mouse button or press [Enter]. To cancel most sub-menus, click the right mouse button or press [Esc]. Once a sub-menu pops up, you can select the next sub-menu to the left or right simply by pressing an arrow key again or moving the mouse. You can select a sub-menu item by moving the mouse up or down or by pressing the up or down arrow keys. ------------------------------------------------------------- THE FILE MENU ┌────────────────────────┐ │ Switch To Another File │░ │ General Help │░ │ Add A File │░ │ Temporary Layer A File │░ │ Report On A .PCX File │░ │ Add a .PCX File │░ │ Save As │░ │ Dos Window │░ │ Quit Program │░ └────────────────────────┘░ ╔═░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░────┬──────┬──────┬───────┬──────┐ ║ File ║ Paint │ Sound │ Write │ Time │ View │ Option│ Build│░ ╚══════╝───────┴───────┴───────┴──────┴──────┴───────┴──────┘░ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ------------------------------------------------------------- SWITCH TO ANOTHER FILE This service lets you pick another script file or create a new one. When selected, a sub-menu pops up: ┌──────────────────┐ │ Pick File │░ │ New │░ │ Type Filename │░ │ Change Disk\Dir │░ │ Exit │░ └──────────────────┘░ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ PICK FILE The PICK FILE service pops up a list of files which already exist in the currently selected disk and directory. Use the mouse or arrow keys to select a file then press [Enter] or click left mouse button. If more files exist than will fit in the menu, use [Page Down], [Page Up], [Home] or [End] to see more. This list will show many types of files. Be careful to avoid picking any files which are not script files. If you want to create a new file, or change to another directory, press [Esc] and select the correct service. NEW Use this service to type the name of a new script file. You can precede the filename with standard drive and sub-directory information if you wish. A filename must be DOS-legal, meaning no more than 8 letters, optionally followed by a period and up to 3 more letters. The computer makes no distinction about capital letters, and the program can use any extension after the period, except .COM, .BAT, .EXE, .CHR, .PCX, .DOC, .TXT and other common extensions used by other programs for other purposes. These examples are legal: Jeff.scr c:\STUFF\bigthing c:\stuff\more\hOusE.xXX TYPE FILENAME Use this service to manually type the name of a file instead of looking it up with PICK FILE. This is useful if you like typing more than point & clicking, or if you have many files on your list. Interestingly, TYPE FILENAME and NEW can be used interchangeably. CHANGE DISK/DIR Select this service if you want to change to another disk drive or directory (or sub-directory). Simply type the name of the new location and press [Enter]. The PICK FILE service will now access that disk/directory. NEW and TYPE FILENAME will use the chosen disk/directory. You can enter just a drive letter for the root directory of that drive, or you can type as much information as needed. Final backslash and/or colon are optional. These examples are ok: d c: c:\mystuff a:\ c:\Mass\Boston\ As with many variables maintained by The Multimedia Workshop, your most recent selection of CHANGE DISK/DIR is saved, even if you quit and restart The Multimedia Workshop. EXIT This is to leave the SWITCH FILES service without changing to another script file. If a filename is required by the program, yet you choose Exit, the filename "NONAME" will be assigned to your file. ------------------------------------------------------------- GENERAL HELP This service offers three screens of general information about using The Multimedia Workshop. Those who would rather experiment than read long .DOC files might find this option easier than reading the file you are now reading! ------------------------------------------------------------- ADD A FILE With this service you can combine two or more files into one. This is very useful for working with collections of clip-art or clip-sounds. In other words, let's say you are making a presentation about cattle: You can pre-create several different pictures of cows, then easily "draw" complicated pictures by merely adding several cow pictures to each of your main script files. When this service is selected, the same sub-menu pops up which is used by SWITCH TO ANOTHER FILE. See above. In this case, however, if you select EXIT, or press [Esc], no picture will be added. ------------------------------------------------------------- TEMPORARILY LAYER A FILE Use this service to create templates for precise alignment of animations or picture elements. A file can be made which continues outlines showing you where you want things to line up. You can double-expose this "template" file over your current file, add your picture elements precisely over the outlines, then when you select VIEW, or other services which re-draw the script file, the template will disappear. ------------------------------------------------------------- REPORT ON A .PCX FILE .PCX files are pictures saved on disk in a special format which records the color at every pixel location on screen, then compresses that information. This is called a bitmapped file. There are actually several varieties of bitmapped files, with .PCX being the most common. Within the .PCX format, there are several more variations. Most will work with The Multimedia Workshop, as long as they were created in one of the video modes supported by The Multimedia Workshop and your computer's video system. However, you must use a script file created in the proper video mode for your chosen .PCX file to work. You can't use a Hercules .PCX file in a CGA-LO script, for instance. This service will examine any .PCX file and recommend the proper video mode to use. ------------------------------------------------------------- ADD A .PCX FILE This service will put a line in your script file calling on TMW or MSHOW.EXE to display a chosen .PCX file. Once displayed, you can continue to draw over the .PCX image, add sounds, animations, etc. Because the video mode of the .PCX file must match that of the current script file, the .PCX is first checked. If there is a potential mis-match, you are warned, but may opt to ignore the warning. Sometimes this will work fine, (sometimes you can mis-match video modes successfully) but in some cases the computer may crash, requiring reboot. ------------------------------------------------------------- SAVE AS With this service you can rename a file. Actually, you are asked to type a filename. If a file by the name you have entered already exists, the service aborts without change. Otherwise, a new file is created and the current script file is copied into the new file. Then The Multimedia Workshop switches to the new file. ------------------------------------------------------------- DOS WINDOW This service allows you to jump out of The Multimedia Workshop and run another program, then return to exactly where you left off. This is useful to take a note when the phone rings, or switch to a calculator program, or jump into an ASCII editor to modify a script file. To return, type EXIT at the DOS prompt. If you do not have sufficient RAM, DOS WINDOW request is ignored. ------------------------------------------------------------- QUIT This is the way to exit The Multimedia Workshop. Your current script file is saved automatically upon exit. ------------------------------------------------------------- THE PAINT MENU There are two variations of this menu, graphics-based and text-based. The default (start-up) menu style is graphics-based, which uses icons to represent the drawing services in the PAINT menu. Within the graphics-based version, move the arrow to point to a desired item and then press [Enter] or click the left mouse button. For help, move the pointer to the icon in question and press the [F1] key. To exit the graphics-based PAINT menu, move the arrow out of the menu area, press [Esc] or click the right mouse button. The services offered are the same as the ones below. To switch between the graphics-based and text-based PAINT menu, select MORE OPTIONS from the OPTIONS menu, then select PAINT MENU STYLE. ┌──────────────┐ │ Change Color │░ │ Lines │░ │ Rectangle │░ │ Circle │░ │ Ellipse │░ │ Blocks │░ │ Fill │░ │ Undo │░ │ Pixel Edit │░ │ Pattern │░ │ Freehand │░ │ More │░ └──────────────┘░ ┌──────╔═░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░───────┬──────┬──────┬───────┬──────┐ │ File ║ Paint ║ Sound │ Write │ Time │ View │Option │ Build│░ └──────╚═══════╝───────┴───────┴──────┴──────┴───────┴──────┘░ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ------------------------------------------------------------- CHANGE COLOR Use this service to change the current drawing color. The chosen color will be used for pictures elements such as lines, circles and rectangles, as well as for text, until another color is chosen. In 16- and 256-color modes, simply point to a color and press [Enter] or click the left mouse button. Press [Esc] or click the right button to cancel. In other video modes with fewer colors, a menu will pop up with the available options. In EGA-HI and VGA-HI modes, although only 16 colors can be shown on screen at one time, these 16 can be any of 64 possible colors. In VGA-LO, the 256 on-screen colors can be chosen from approximately 262,000 possibilities. To change the on-screen color possibilities, select CHANGE PALETTE COLORS on the OPTION menu. ------------------------------------------------------------- LINES Use this service to draw straight lines. If using a mouse, click the left button to start a line, then click the left mouse button again to 'set' the line, or click the right button to cancel the line. When done with LINE, click the right mouse button again. If using the keyboard, use the [Enter] key to simulate the left mouse button and the [Esc] key to simulate the right mouse button. When using the mouse or the keyboard, it might be desirable to float a partially completed line to a new location. You can toggle FLOAT MODE by clicking the spacebar. Then click the spacebar again to return to STANDARD MODE. This can lead to confusion. If a line misbehaves, try clicking the spacebar to toggle to STANDARD MODE. Normally the coordinate display in the lower left corner reflects the starting point of the line, but when SIZE MODE is toggled with the right mouse button or the spacebar, the coordinate display shows the dimensions of the line. ------------------------------------------------------------- RECTANGLE Using the mouse, hold down the right mouse button to change the size or shape of a rectangle, then click the left button when done. SIZE MODE can also be toggled with the spacebar. Using the keyboard, click the spacebar to toggle SIZE MODE to change the size or shape of a rectangle, then click it again to return to MOVE MODE. Click [Enter] when done. When SIZE MODE is toggled (with the spacebar or the right mouse button) the coordinate display in the lower left corner will reflect the dimensions of the rectangle. When not in SIZE MODE, the coordinates indicate the upper left corner unless you have inverted the rectangle. Rectangles cannot be cancelled with [Esc] or the right mouse button. If you have made an incorrect rectangle, use UNDO from the PAINT menu. ------------------------------------------------------------- CIRCLE Circles are drawn in the same manner as rectangles, but you can't change the shape of a circle, only it's size. Size is affected by vertical movements of the mouse, or the up and down keys, but not affected by horizontal movement. You can use the spacebar to toggle between SIZE and MOVE MODE. Circles cannot be cancelled with [Esc] or the right mouse button. If you have made an incorrect circle, use UNDO from the PAINT menu. ------------------------------------------------------------- ELLIPSE Ellipses are drawn in the same manner as circles. In some cases, ellipses can be made more 'round' than circles, such as in a presentation made to display on a laptop computer with a compressed CGA screen, or when drawing in a graphics mode not designed for the computer it will eventually be displayed on. The ELLIPSE service can also be used to draw arcs. This modification is easily made on the fly with the ELLIPSE TYPE service within the OPTION menu. Ellipses cannot be cancelled with [Esc] or the right mouse button. If you have made an incorrect ellipse, use UNDO from the PAINT menu. ------------------------------------------------------------- BLOCKS This brings up a submenu: ┌───────────────┐ │ Block Erase │░ │ Block Copy │░ │ Block Move │░ │ Copy Style │░ │ Block Animate │░ └───────────────┘░ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ BLOCK ERASE With this service you place a rectangle around an area on the screen, and then it is erased, leaving background color (usually black). When selected, a dotted rectangle appears. You can change it's size and shape by holding the right mouse button or by toggling SIZE MODE with the spacebar. When you press the spacebar the first time, any movement of mouse or arrow keys causes the rectangle to change size, not position. Pressing the spacebar again returns to MOVE MODE, in which the rectangle can be moved, but remains the same size and shape. When satisfied, press [Enter] or click the left mouse button and the area will disappear. BLOCK COPY As with BLOCK ERASE, you can throw a rectangle around an area. But when you press [Enter] or click the left mouse button, a copy of the area seems to become loose. You can move this copy to a new location. When satisfied, press [Enter] or click the left mouse button again. BLOCK MOVE This service works just like BLOCK COPY (above), but the original area disappears, leaving background color. COPY STYLE The normal COPY STYLE is OPAQUE, meaning the copied area will entirely replace whatever was under it. You can also choose TRANSPARENT, where the copy blends into whatever it overlays. This is most useful if you have copied a block from an area with black background, but the new area has a different background. Your choice of COPY STYLE remains in effect unless you later change it again. BLOCK ANIMATE This is a wonderful service. It starts like BLOCK COPY, where you make a rectangle around an area on the screen. But, then, as you move it, your motion is remembered and written into the script file. In the finished product, the movement will exactly follow what you have done. You are asked to name an amount of time between "steps." A typical number for a medium speed animation is 20 milliseconds. You can pick any number between 0 and 30000 milliseconds. 1000 milliseconds equals one second. For best results, don't move the mouse fast, but instead, move it very slowly and carefully (or better, use the arrow keys), then pick a fairly large (like 50 millisecond) time between steps, so your animations look smooth and natural. A certain amount of time is required between steps to actually move the animated area, and so the millisecond timing between steps is not really accurate. In fact, because of the time needed to move large areas, moving as small an area as possible is recommended. On the other hand, it is sometimes required to get at least an extra pixel's with of background around the area to be animated, to end up with an accurate animation. If you select BEGIN LOOP before a block animation, and END LOOP after (from TIME menu), then if your animation ends where it started, you'll be able to make an animation which continues over and over until the end user presses a key. ------------------------------------------------------------- FILL With this service, you can FILL an area in a picture with solid color or a pre-selected pattern. To choose a pattern, select PATTERN on the PAINT menu. FILLs are tricky. In most video modes, the current drawing color must be the same as the border of the area to be filled. Even one missing pixel in a border will cause the FILL to leak out into the rest of the picture. In VGA-LO 256-color mode, FILLs work a bit differently. There are only two FILL patterns. You can FILL an area with any color, as long as the border is not black. FILLs must sometimes be selected several times to completely fill an irregular area. ------------------------------------------------------------- UNDO This service will repair most mistakes. It works by deleting the last line in the script file and then replaying the script. Some services add several lines to the script, and others are seemingly invisible, and so UNDO must sometimes be selected several times. You can Undo as much as you like, even clear back to the beginning of the script file. UNDO deletes blocks of text one line at a time. UNDO works for sound effects and music, too. Since PIXEL EDIT, FREEHAND, BLOCK ANIMATE, and many sound effects can write hundreds of lines for seemingly small changes, UNDO will not work well for correcting these things. ------------------------------------------------------------- PIXEL EDIT When this service is selected, a rectangle appears on screen. It's size cannot be changed, but you can move it to surround an area you want to work on in close detail. Move the rectangle to the area you want to edit and press [Enter] or click the left mouse button. Then the original area will be pictured in it's normal size in the upper left corner, and the rest of the screen will be a very blown up version. You can point to any enlarged pixel and click the left mouse button or press [Enter] to change it's color to the current drawing color. Press [Esc] or click the right mouse button when done. To change many pixels to a new color, toggle GO MODE with the spacebar. To change to another color, exit PIXEL EDIT (press [Esc] or right mouse button), select the new color with CHANGE COLOR on the PAINT menu, and then reselect PIXEL EDIT. PIXEL EDIT rapidly uses lots of disk space, so use it sparingly in large presentations. ------------------------------------------------------------- PATTERN Use this service to select a pattern for use with the FILL service. In 256-color mode, there are only two patterns available. ------------------------------------------------------------- FREEHAND With this service, you can move the mouse or use the arrow keys to draw freehand lines as if you were drawing with a pen. With a mouse, hold the left button to start drawing, and let it go when you want to move the arrow to another location or quit drawing. When done, click the right button. From the keyboard, press the spacebar to start drawing, and press it again if you want to move the arrow or quit drawing. When done, press [Esc]. FREEHAND requires lots of disk space, so use this service sparingly in large presentations. ------------------------------------------------------------- MORE There are even more drawing services. This menu brings up a submenu: ┌──────────────┐ │ Zoom │░ │ Spraypaint │░ │ Hidden Note │░ │ Line Style │░ │ Mark Centers │░ │ Take Breath │░ └──────────────┘░ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ZOOM A rectangle appears on the screen. Move it to surround an area who's size or shape you want to change. You can change the size and shape of the rectangle by holding the right mouse button or by toggling SIZE MODE with the spacebar. When satisfied, press [Enter] or the left mouse button. Then you can change the size and shape of the rectangle (although it remains anchored in position). When satisfied, again click the left button or press [Enter]. The area will change size. This is a slow service, especially on XT-class machines, so it is recommended that you zoom as small an area as possible. SPRAYPAINT With this service, you can spray the current drawing color on your picture, just like using a can of spray paint. When selected, an arrow appears. Move to the desired location, and hold the left mouse button or toggle SPRAY MODE with the spacebar. When done SPRAYPAINTing, click the right mouse button or press [Esc]. You can change the size of the spray pattern and the density of the spray with SET SPRAYS on the OPTION menu. SPRAYPAINT is also a space-intensive service, so if making a large presentation, you may want to use this sparingly. HIDDEN NOTE Use this service to create a note in the script file which will never appear on screen. This is useful if you edit your script file with a text editor. For instance, let's say you are in the middle of a complex picture and want to create a hand. Perhaps you fear the hand won't come out right on your first try. You could do this: Select HIDDEN NOTE and write: "Hand starts here." Then draw your hand. If it is not correct, use the text editor and find the note, "Hand starts here." Delete everything south of that note, save the file, and try drawing the hand again. Another interesting use for HIDDEN NOTE is to embed keywords for a Search. MSHOW.EXE, when showing a presentation, has a SEARCH feature. When the user selects SEARCH, any script file in the presentation containing text matching the user's request will be displayed. Normally, this would be used for pictures showing text. But what if the user types "elephant," hoping to find the unlabeled picture of a elephant? If you embed the word "elephant" in that file, the picture will be displayed upon a SEARCH request. LINE STYLE For use with the LINE, FREEHAND and RECTANGLE services, you can control line style and thickness. There are thin and thick, solid, dotted and dashed line styles available. You can select one from the menu that will pop up. Circles and ellipses are also affected, but can be drawn only in thin or thick solid lines. MARK CENTERS Normally, a circle or an ellipse is drawn without indication of where it's center is located. In technical drawings, you often want to leave marks at these centers. Also, in situations where you want to align concentric circles or ellipses, you can temporarily mark the centers. A menu pops up offering these choices. Your selection remains in effect until you reselect a different option. TAKE BREATH This is a unique service to The Multimedia Workshop. Because script files using ASCII-Vector-Graphics can become large in presentations with lots of animation, music, etc, only a portion is read from disk at one time, that portion is played, then more is read from disk. You don't want your presentation to stop in the middle of a time-sensitive event to read more from disk. Therefore, you can select this service to reset the file before proceeding. If the disk is freshly read, the program can go through over 16,000 bytes of script before it will need to look at the disk again, and therefore, you can be fairly assured that your time-sensitive portion will run without a 'hitch.' TAKE BREATH can be added to a script file at any time. It is ignored if it is in a loop (see TIME menu). ------------------------------------------------------------- SOUND MENU ┌───────────────┐ │ Music │░ │ Sound Library │░ │ Noise │░ │ Silence │░ │ Custom │░ │ PC Speech │░ │ Sound Blaster │░ └───────────────┘░ ┌──────┬───────╔═░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░─────┬──────┬───────┬──────┐ │ File │ Paint ║ Sound ║ Write │ Time │ View │Option │ Build│░ └──────┴───────╚═══════╝───────┴──────┴──────┴───────┴──────┘░ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ This menu contains the services for sound effects. Because you have to hear the sounds as you use these services, programs sounds (if selected) are temporarily turned off. All these effects except SOUND BLASTER can be played through the standard IBM-Pc speaker. The timing of the sounds will be the same whether played on a 4.77 mhz XT or a 50 mhz '486. ------------------------------------------------------------- MUSIC When this service is selected, a graphical menu pops up. It allows you to compose melodies using standard music notation. Generally, you select timings first, from the lower staff. If you point to a quarter note and click the left mouse button (or press [Enter]), for instance, notes then selected from the upper staff will play for 250 milliseconds (a quarter of a second). You can select as many notes as you like up to approximately 1500 in a row! Timings remain in effect until you select a different timing note from the lower staff. You can also select rests from the lower staff, to put rests in your music. There are three "attacks" available, Regular, Staccato, and Slur. When you choose one of these, all notes selected will be of that type until you select a different attack. The general services within the MUSIC menu are available by pointing into the box labeled, "CLICK HERE FOR MENU." They are: ┌──────────────────┐ │ Preview Melody │░ │ Delete Last Note │░ │ Delete Melody │░ │ Save Melody │░ │ Quit │░ └──────────────────┘░ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ PREVIEW MELODY Select this service to hear how your melody currently sounds. DELETE LAST NOTE This erases the last note in the melody. Delete Last Note can be selected over and over again, clear up to the beginning of the melody. DELETE MELODY To remove the entire melody. SAVE MELODY This service writes the melody into the current script file and quits the MUSIC menu. QUIT Just like SAVE MELODY, this service writes the melody into the current script file and quits the MUSIC menu. ------------------------------------------------------------- SOUND LIBRARY ┌───────────┐ │ Pink │░ │ Liquid │░ │ Wind Up │░ │ Wind Down │░ │ Bugle │░ │ Sorry │░ │ Freefall │░ │ Twinkle │░ │ Exit │░ └───────────┘░ ░░░░░░░░░░░░ This is a menu of pre-created sound effects which will play on all ordinary computers (Sound Blaster not required). PINK, LIQUID, WIND UP, WIND DOWN, BUGLE, SORRY, FREEFALL, TWINKLE These are pre-made sound effects. You can hear them merely by selecting them from the menu. You are asked if you want to "accept" them. If you answer [y] or click the left mouse button, the sound effect is added to the script file. Some ask you to enter a time in milliseconds for length of play. One thousand milliseconds = one second. The acceptable range is 1 to 30000 milliseconds. If you need more time than 1/2 minute, select the same sound effect several times. ------------------------------------------------------------- NOISE This service creates a general cacaphony. You are asked to type an amount of time in milliseconds. One second = 1000 milliseconds. The range is 0 to 30000. If you need more time, choose NOISE several times in a row. If entering an amount of time larger than 3 digits, do not use a comma. ------------------------------------------------------------- SILENCE This service asks you to enter an amount of time in milliseconds. 1000 milliseconds = one second. The allowable range is 1 to 30000 milliseconds. If you need more than 1/2 minute of silence, select SILENCE several times in a row. ------------------------------------------------------------- CUSTOM With this service, you can build your own sound effects, or create music if you don't know music notation. You can even build your own clip-sounds library, a collection of sounds which you can add to script files as you need them. Sounds are created one note at a time. You are first asked to enter a number representing a frequency. The acceptable range is 20 - 30000. Middle A is usually 440. The highest sound most folks can hear is around 20000. Then you must enter a duration in milliseconds. When entering numbers larger than 3 digits, do not use commas. ------------------------------------------------------------- PC SPEECH Good, intelligible-quality speech is possible from most standard IBM-PC speakers! This service is an option made possible by PC-TALK.EXE, a product of C.S.S. Inc. In order to use this option, you must purchase THE SPEECH LIBRARY, a collection of over 1,000,000 bytes of digitized speech and sound effects. The price is a very reasonable $29.50 including postage within the United States. The SPEECH service works like this: The Multimedia Workshop, or MSHOW.EXE runs a sub-program on disk called PC-TALK.EXE which runs one or more synthesized speech files from the disk. There are 8 speech files included with The Multimedia Workshop, just so you can experiment with this service and see whether you might want to incorporate speech into your presentations. These files are: SPEECH.SP ANYKEY.SP BYE.SP HELLO.SP HI.SP REGISTER.SP THANKYOU.SP WORKSHOP.SP To use one, select SPEECH from the SOUND menu, type the name of one of these files, then press [Enter]. The speech is now a part of the script file, and will play when the script files is played. REMEMBER: PC-TALK.EXE plus the speech files you are using must be copied onto your final disk. To order THE SPEECH LIBRARY send check with order to: C.S.S. Inc. 3005 Glenmore Ave. Baltimore, MD 21214 (410) 665-0193 Credit card orders, phone: 1-800-847-0309 C.S.S. can also supply custom phrases at $20 per phrase/sentence. Write to them for details. ------------------------------------------------------------- SOUND BLASTER The Multimedia Workshop now plays standard Sound Blaster .VOC files which you can create if you have a Sound Blaster card. These are generally used for synthesized speech, but may also be used for excellent, multi-instrument music and sound effects. A Sound Blaster card is required to replay these sounds. If attempted on a computer without a Sound Blaster card, nothing will happen. To use this service, simply type the name of the .VOC file you want played. The .VOC file must be copied along with your script files onto your finish product disks. The end-users' computers must have have a path to VPLAY.EXE, which comes with the Sound Blaster card. There is no support for sound cards by other manufacturers, unless they are fully Sound Blaster compatible, but you may be able to jury-rig something if you are working with an Ad Lib or Sound Master card. ------------------------------------------------------------- WRITE MENU ┌───────────────┐ │ Change Color │░ │ Choose Font │░ │ Regular Text │░ │ Title │░ │ Import Text │░ │ Justification │░ └───────────────┘░ ┌──────┬───────┬───────╔═░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░────┬───────┬──────┐ │ File │ Paint │ Sound ║ Write ║ Time │ View │Option │ Build│░ └──────┴───────┴───────╚═══════╝──────┴──────┴───────┴──────┘░ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ This menu handles text services. ------------------------------------------------------------- CHANGE COLOR Use this service to change the current color. The chosen color will be used for picture elements such as lines, circles and rectangles, as well as for text, until another color is chosen. In 16- and 256-color modes, simply point to a color and press [Enter] or click the left mouse button. Press [Esc] or click the right button to cancel. In other video modes with fewer colors, a menu will pop up with the available options. ------------------------------------------------------------- CHOOSE FONT There are up to 10 fonts available and most can be scaled both vertically and horizontally. (In VGA-LO mode, there are only 2 fonts available.) When this service is selected, a picture of all available fonts pops up. Point to the one you want and click the left mouse button or press [Enter]. Then a sample of that font appears in a box. You can change it's vertical size and horizontal size independently, stretching it this way or that with the mouse or arrow keys. (The first font, BITMAP, can only be adjusted for overall size.) When satisfied with it's size and shape press [Enter] or click the left mouse button again. The first two fonts, BITMAP and TRIPLEX, are built into the programs TMW.EXE and MSHOW.EXE. The rest of the fonts live externally in .CHR files on disk. If any of the .CHR files are missing, The Multimedia Workshop will let you know, then substitute the BITMAP font for them in the CHOOSE FONT chart. If you use a font other than BITMAP or TRIPLEX in your presentations, the corresponding .CHR file(s) must be on the disk distributed with your presentation. ------------------------------------------------------------- REGULAR TEXT When this service is selected, a rectangle appears on screen. You can change it's size and shape by holding the right mouse button or by toggling SIZE MODE with the spacebar. Move it to the desired location and press [Enter] or click the left mouse button. While in SIZE MODE you'll notice that the coordinate display in the lower left corner changes to show the size of the box in characters using the currently selected font and font dimensions. The first number becomes the number of characters per line, and the second number is the number of lines. The first number is approximate, because it is based on the size of an average character, since not all are the same width. Once the text area is selected, you can simply type text. Word wrap is automatic when you reach the right hand edge of the chosen text area. You can use the backspace key for deleting mistakes. Press [Esc] when done entering text. If right justification is selected from the last item on the WRITE menu, (JUSTIFICATION) then extra spaces will be put between words so that the last character in each line is against the right edge of the text area. If you try to select an area smaller than 2 characters wide or one character tall in the current font, the service will abort and return you to the main menu. You can, of course, select an area larger than you need. ------------------------------------------------------------- TITLE When selected, an arrow appears. Move it to the desired location and press [Enter] or click the left mouse button. You can then type a line of text centered around where the arrow was. The current color, font and font dimensions will be used. To center a line of text in the exact middle of the screen, use the coordinate display in the lower left corner. In most video modes, 320 is the middle of the screen. In VGA-LO and CGA-LO, the center position is 160 and in Hercules, it is 360. ------------------------------------------------------------- IMPORT TEXT Even though there is a simple word processor built into The Multimedia Workshop, you might have already composed text in a different program, or might prefer to use a full-blown word processor to make text, then import it into your picture. There are two modes available from within IMPORT TEXT: ------------------------------------------------------------- FLOWED IMPORT: This is an interesting automated feature. You will be asked to name an ASCII file containing the text you want to incorporate into your picture(s). Then you must indicate the upper left corner of the area the text will be allowed to fill by moving the cursor arrow and pressing [Enter] or clicking the left mouse button. The program then reads the text file, and places as much of the text as will fit in the picture, starting at the area you have indicated. No text will occur left of the area you indicated. Text will stop before anything drawn to the right, and continue down to the next line. It is right justified to flow around obstacles! Text will stop at the bottom of the screen, or when an obstacle is encountered at the bottom of the area. If there is more text than will fit in the area, the rest is saved in a temporary disk file. When you next select FLOWED IMPORT, indicating another area in the same picture, or in another picture, the text continues to flow from where you left off. Until you use up all the text in the text file, you will not be asked to name any other text files, it automatically knows when you haven't used it all up. You can take advantage of FLOWED IMPORT's intelligence by drawing temporary lines (or use TEMPORARY LAYER A FILE from within the FILE option) to restrict the area in which you will allow text. FLOWED IMPORT mode uses the currently selected typeface, font size and color. These settings can optionally be changed from one flow to the next even with the same ASCII file. Pure standard ASCII text is required. Almost all word processing programs do this, although with some you may have to take a careful look at your owner's manual to figure out how it's done. There should be no border or blank spaces to the left of the text in the ASCII file, except paragraph indentations. Paragraph indentations are respected, but completely blank lines are skipped. Formatting text into columns is easy. For two columns, you can place a vertical line in the middle of your picture. Flow text into the left side, and then flow more into the right side. ------------------------------------------------------------- BLOCK IMPORT: This option will transfer text from an ASCII file verbatim, except it will use the currently selected typeface and font size. You must first prepare your text. It must be in standard ASCII format. Almost all word processors can make ASCII files (plain text) but many use non-ASCII formats to include coding for fonts, special right justification and other special things. Each word processor handles ASCII differently, so you'll have to read your word processing program's documentation to use ASCII format. There are some good shareware word processors that use normal ASCII as their own standard format. One is called Galaxy-Lite. If your text file contains more text than would fit in a single picture, you must break it up into several smaller disk files, each containing the text for one picture. Each of these files must have the text formatted into a block which will fit on the screen. Lines of text 75 columns wide, will not fit in a space half as wide as a whole picture, for example. Each block must contain no more than the number of lines a picture can contain. How many columns and lines are allowable? There is no easy answer, because different graphic modes and different fonts require different amounts of text space. Generally, using the smallest BITMAP font, the graphics modes with 640 pixels horizontally - CGA-HIGH, EGA, Hercules and VGA, can handle lines of text up to 76 characters wide. In the case of 200 vertical pixels, such as CGA-HI, and EGA-LO, you can fit as many as 18 lines of text when using the smallest font. To get your text block sizes to fit really well, you'll have to experiment a bit. To use IMPORT TEXT, you will be asked to name a file. This is the file containing ASCII text to import. Then a dotted rectangle will appear on your picture representing the amount of area your text will require. Move the rectangle to the proper location, then click [Enter] or the left mouse button. If IMPORT TEXT overwrites the background of a picture, simply select something from the VIEW menu to see the finished product. ------------------------------------------------------------- JUSTIFICATION With this service you can choose right justification for use with REGULAR TEXT and IMPORT TEXT. Right justification puts extra spaces between words so that the right-most character in each line of text aligns with the right-hand edge of the text area. ------------------------------------------------------------- TIME MENU ┌──────────────────┐ │ Use Preset Delay │░ │ 5 Milliseconds │░ │ 10 Milliseconds │░ │ 50 Milliseconds │░ │ 200 Milliseconds │░ │ 1 Second │░ │ 5 Seconds │░ │ Custom Delay │░ │ Wait For User │░ │ Change Preset │░ │ Start Loop │░ │ End Loop │░ └──────────────────┘░ ┌──────┬───────┬───────┬───────╔═░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░─┬──────┐ │ File │ Paint │ Sound │ Write ║ Time ║ View │Option │ Build│░ └──────┴───────┴───────┴───────╚══════╝──────┴───────┴──────┘░ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ This menu is something you'll never see in a typical paint program! Because of the nature of ASCII-Vector-Graphics scripting, you can partially develop a picture, then alternate some delays with additional picture development, making custom animations and presentations that evolve at the speed a viewer can comprehend. ------------------------------------------------------------- USE PRESET DELAY If CHANGE PRESET has been previously selected from this menu, when USE PRESET DELAY is selected, a delay of the amount of time you specified will be added to the script file. For instance, you can specify 15 milliseconds, then make a small block move, select Use PRESET DELAY, make another small block move, select USE PRESET DELAY again, and so on. Then you'll end up with a smooth animation which waits 15 milliseconds between steps. ------------------------------------------------------------- 5, 10, 50, 200 MILLISECONDS, 1, 5 SECONDS As soon as you select any of these services, a delay is written into the script file. 1000 milliseconds equals one second, so, for instance, 50 milliseconds is 1/20 of a second. ------------------------------------------------------------- CUSTOM DELAY When this service is selected, you are asked to enter a number of milliseconds to delay the development of the script. 1000 milliseconds = one second. The allowable range is 0 to 30000. If you need more than 30 seconds delay, select this service several times in a row. For numbers larger than 3 digits, do not use commas. ------------------------------------------------------------- WAIT FOR USER This is a neat, but also a tricky service. When selected, a halt is written into the script. The computer then waits for the user to press any key before continuing. This is useful in cases such as this: Let's say you are demonstrating the four strokes of a four-cycle engine. First you picture the intake stroke. In your picture is a caption, "Intake Stroke" plus the words, "Press any key to continue..." After the WAIT FOR USER, you erase the position of the piston and contents of the cylinder and draw the compression stroke. You also erase the caption and replace it with, "Compression Stroke." So, when the user presses a key, the picture changes to show the compression stroke. And, you repeat this with two more WAIT FOR USERs and two more changes to illustrate the firing stroke and the exhaust stroke. The reason WAIT FOR USER is "tricky" is that it may fool end users, and even you, the author, if you forget to put the words, "PRESS ANY KEY..." or something similar in your pictures. The presentation will stop until a key is pressed, and the end user may think the computer has locked up or broken. I've been fooled several times by this myself as I was developing scripts with WAIT FOR USER in them. ------------------------------------------------------------- CHANGE PRESET With this service you can select an number of milliseconds for Use Preset Delay. The number you have selected remains in effect until you again select CHANGE PRESET. ------------------------------------------------------------- START LOOP You can cause a section of the script file to repeat over and over again until the user presses a key. First, you must mark the beginning of the loop by selecting this service. ------------------------------------------------------------- END LOOP When you have come to the end of a section of script which you want to repeat over and over, select this service. The portion between your selection of START LOOP and END LOOP will repeat endlessly until the user presses a key. The maximum amount of script file which can be looped is 16380 bytes. Normally, this is plenty of space, but PIXEL EDITing, FREEHAND drawing and SPRAYPAINTing can use it up quickly. You must be careful to consider all effects within a loop. For instance, if you have a BLOCK MOVE within your loop which moves an area that has been changed by another portion of the loop, the effects from that point forward will be different the second time the loop executes. ------------------------------------------------------------- VIEW MENU ┌───────────────────┐ │ View Full Script │░ │ Fast View │░ │ Grid │░ │ View Presentation │░ └───────────────────┘░ ┌──────┬───────┬───────┬───────┬──────╔═░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░┐ │ File │ Paint │ Sound │ Write │ Time ║ View ║Option │ Build│░ └──────┴───────┴───────┴───────┴──────╚══════╝───────┴──────┘░ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ This menu contains services for viewing your scripts. Sometimes you want to see exactly what the end user will see. Also, many services within The Multimedia Workshop temporarily mess up the picture. To restore it, select one of these options. ------------------------------------------------------------- VIEW FULL SCRIPT This is true WSYWYG (What You See is What You Get), including animations and sound effects. Select this service, and the screen will clear, then the current script file will be played in it's entirety. ------------------------------------------------------------- FAST VIEW Select this service if you want to skip animation and sound effect delays. The static picture will be correct, but animations will appear speeded up, and sound effects will not play. The screen is cleared, and the script is then replayed as quickly as possible. WAIT FOR USERs and LOOPs are also skipped. ------------------------------------------------------------- GRID This service temporary lays a grid over your picture. This is useful when you need to align picture elements precisely. You will be asked to type a number of pixels between points. The range is 3 to 100, and 10 is a typical number. Once you enter a number, the screen will be cleared, the script will be replayed, and a grid of evenly spaced white dots will be overlaid. These white dots are easily overwritten as you work on your picture. To restore the grid, select VIEW FULL SCRIPT, FAST VIEW or reselect GRID. To get rid of an existing grid, simply reselect GRID, but answer [n] when you are asked if you want a grid. To change it's size, simply answer [y] then enter a new number. ------------------------------------------------------------- VIEW PRESENTATION A presentation is made up of two or more script files. When this feature is selected, your entire presentation can be viewed, almost as if you were an end user using MSHOW.EXE. It doesn't matter what script file is currently loaded, VIEW PRESENTATION simply looks for the file MSHOW.CFG, (created with the BUILD PRESENTATION option on the BUILD menu) and displays the files found there. Because VIEW PRESENTATION emulates MSHOW.EXE while The Multimedia Workshop is loaded in the background, some services are not available which are part of MSHOW.EXE. Simply too much RAM is required. Most programs built into MSHOW.CFG (with BUILD option) will be ignored. SPEECH synthesis will also be ignored if RAM space is tight. While VIEW PRESENTATION is in effect, the main menu changes to emulate the menu in MSHOW.EXE. When you select QUIT from this menu, the normal main menu returns, and the script file previously loaded is replayed. ------------------------------------------------------------- OPTION MENU ┌───────────────────────┐ │ View all Settings │░ │ Line Style │░ │ Hidden Note │░ │ Paper Copy │░ │ Mark Centers │░ │ Ellipse Type │░ │ Set Sprays │░ │ Change Palette Colors │░ │ Grid │░ │ More Options │░ └───────────────────────┘░ ┌──────┬───────┬───────┬───────┬──────░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ │ File │ Paint │ Sound │ Write │ Time │ View ║Option ║ Build│░ └──────┴───────┴───────┴───────┴──────┴──────╚═══════╝──────┘░ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ This menu contains services which control the ways in which The Multimedia Workshop behaves, plus some services not found elsewhere in the program. ------------------------------------------------------------- VIEW ALL SETTINGS This service puts a chart on the screen showing all the current settings of The Multimedia Workshop. These include current script file, current directory, current font, color, pattern style, delay, grid status, and much more. Press any key when done viewing this chart. ------------------------------------------------------------- LINE STYLE For use with the LINE, FREEHAND and RECTANGLE services, you can control line style and thickness. There are thin and thick, solid, dotted and dashed line styles available. You can select one from the menu that will pop up. Circles and ellipses are also affected, but can be drawn only in thin or thick solid lines. ------------------------------------------------------------- HIDDEN NOTE Use this service to create a note in the script file which will never appear on screen. This is useful if you edit your script file with a text editor. For instance, let's say you are in the middle of a complex picture and want to create a hand. Perhaps you are concerned that the hand won't come out right on your first try. You could do this: Select HIDDEN NOTE and write: "Hand starts here." Then draw your hand. If it is not correct, use the text editor and find the note, "Hand starts here." Delete everything south of that note, save the file, and try drawing the hand again. Another interesting use for HIDDEN NOTE is to embed keywords for a SEARCH. MSHOW.EXE, when showing a presentation, has a SEARCH feature. When the user selects SEARCH, any script file in the presentation containing text matching the user's request will be displayed. Normally, this would be used for pictures showing text. But what if the user types "elephant," hoping to find the unlabeled picture of a elephant? If you embed the word "elephant" in that file, the picture will be displayed upon a SEARCH request. ------------------------------------------------------------- PAPER COPY Select this option to print a screen to paper. You will be asked to verify that your printer is ready. If you answer yes, the picture will be printed in a nearly correct aspect ratio. In some video modes, the printed picture ends up larger than in others. NOTE: The PAPER COPY option may not work with all printers. If your printer is not properly supported, or the aspect ratio of the printout is inaccurate, you can use the GRAPHICS.COM TSR program which comes with MS-DOS. Type GRAPHICS at the DOS prompt before using TMW.EXE or MSHOW.EXE, then hold [Shift] and press [Print Screen] to get a printout. When a picture is printed, all colors which are not black are printed. In other words, a paper copy will not reflect differences in color except between black and everything else. Actually, as is typical when printing color graphics onto paper, all non-black colors become black, and black is white. Try it, you'll see what I mean. In order to accommodate the widest variety of printers and video modes, the size of the resulting paper copy may vary from one video mode to another. If you want something larger or smaller, and if your computer supports them, experiment with different video modes. ------------------------------------------------------------- MARK CENTERS Normally, a circle or an ellipse is drawn without indication of where it's center is located. In technical drawings, you often want to leave marks at these centers. Also, in situations where you want to align concentric circles or ellipses, you can temporarily mark the centers. A menu pops up offering these choices. Your selection remains in effect until you reselect a different option. ------------------------------------------------------------- ELLIPSE TYPE In addition to full 360 degree ellipses, you can draw just the top, bottom, left or right halves of an ellipse. You can also choose custom ellipse parameters. Simply point to the portion of an ellipse you want and click [Enter] or the left mouse button. If you choose CUSTOM, you will be taken to a sub-menu with additional instructions. Your choice of ELLIPSE TYPE remains in effect until you use this service again and change your selection. ------------------------------------------------------------- SET SPRAYS Use this to control how the SPRAYPAINT service works. You can control the density (speed) of paint flow, and you can control the width of the pattern. If you are drawing from the keyboard, the SPRAYPAINT service tends to run too fast. Readjust to suit your tastes with this option. You are asked to type numbers for density and pattern width. The range is 1 to 40. A high density causes lots of paint to flow quickly and a small number is a lighter spray, but easier to control. A large number for pattern width results in a wide spray, and a small number sprays paint over a small area. Your settings will remain in effect until you reselect this service and change them. ------------------------------------------------------------- CHANGE PALETTE COLORS This function is only available for EGA-LO, EGA-HI, VGA-HI and VGA-LO video modes. You see: In EGA-LO mode, the computer allows up to 16 colors on the screen at one time, but they may be switched around so that what was white can be yellow, etc. In EGA-HI and VGA-HI, there can be only 16 colors on the screen at one time, but these 16 can be chosen from a group of 64 different colors. In VGA-LO, each of the 256 colors can be composed of 0 to 63 parts of red, blue and green, resulting in somewhere around 242,000 possibilities. When this feature is selected an arrow appears. Point to any area of your picture containing the color you want to change. In the 16-color modes, roll the mouse up or down or use the up and down arrow keys to change the color amongst it's 16 or 64 possibilities. Press [Enter] or click the left mouse button when you come to a color you like. In 256-color mode, you can also click [R], [G] or [B] on your keyboard to add or subtract varying amounts of negative Red, Green or Blue. Sometimes this color selection is important after hooking a .PCX file, since they often change the color palette, and you might want to change some of it back. Color palette changes are immediately written to your script file on disk. ------------------------------------------------------------- GRID This service temporary lays a grid over your picture. This is useful when you need to align picture elements precisely. You will be asked to type a number of pixels between points. The range is 3 to 100, and 10 is a typical number. Once you enter a number, the screen will be cleared, the script will be replayed, and a grid of evenly spaced white dots will be overlaid. These white dots are easily overwritten as you work on your picture. To restore the grid, select VIEW FULL SCRIPT, FAST VIEW or reselect GRID. To get rid of an existing grid, simply reselect GRID, but answer [n] when you are asked if you want a grid. To change it's size, simply answer [y] then enter a new number. ------------------------------------------------------------- MORE OPTIONS ┌────────────────────────────┐ │ Coordinate Display │░ │ Bottom Help Bar │░ │ Program Sounds │░ │ Force Pointer to White │░ │ Take Breath │░ │ Change Printer Type │░ │ Paint Menu Style │░ │ Hook A Program Into Script │░ │ Restore All Defaults │░ └────────────────────────────┘░ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ COORDINATE DISPLAY With this service you can turn on or off the little box in the lower left corner containing a coordinate display. BOTTOM HELP BAR With this service you can turn on or off the status/help bar which often appears at the bottom of the screen when the main menu is not present. PROGRAM SOUNDS These are sound effects which give indications of program status. For instance, when an operation is completed, you get a twinkle sound, or when a menu pops up, a pop-up sound occurs. These can be turned on or off. They are not related in any way to sounds built into script files. FORCE POINTER TO WHITE Sometimes after hooking a .PCX file, the color palette is changed by the file, and the cursor (arrow) becomes an invisible color. You can force it back to which with this service. TAKE BREATH Because script files using ASCII-Vector-Graphics can become large in presentations with lots of animation, music, etc, only a portion is read from disk at one time, that portion is played, then more is read from disk. You don't want your presentation to stop in the middle of a time-sensitive event to read more from disk. Therefore, you can select this service to reset the file before proceeding. If the disk is freshly read, the program can go through over 16,000 bytes of script before it will need to look at the disk again, and therefore, you can be fairly assured that your time-sensitive portion will run without a 'hitch.' TAKE BREATH can be added to a script file at any time. It is ignored if it is in a loop (see TIME menu). CHANGE PRINTER TYPE If you switch back and forth between a dot-matrix and a laser printer, you may need this service. PAINT MENU STYLE This services lets you choose between a graphics-based or text-based PAINT menu. The graphics-based menu uses icons to represent the drawing services, but runs a bit more slowly and requires more RAM space. HOOK A PROGRAM INTO SCRIPT This is a powerful service, but a tricky one. You are asked to name an executable program file or a batch file. Whatever you type here will be built into the script file, and will execute when the script is 'viewed.' Because most programs write some output to the screen, and most reset the display when they start, the screen is cleared before a hooked program is run. Whatever exists on the screen before the hooked program executes is lost. After the hooked program is done, you can of course, redraw your picture, or draw a new one. Lots of RAM space is reserved by MSHOW.EXE or by TMW.EXE while running a hooked program, so the hooked program cannot be one which will use lots of memory itself. The usual result of using a hooked memory-hog is simply that the call to run the hooked program will be ignored, but complete crashes are possible. RESTORE ALL DEFAULTS Select this service if you want to reset all parameters used by The Multimedia Workshop. Ellipses will be reset to full 360 degrees, the drawing color will be reset to white, pattern style will be solid fill, text will be smallest BITMAP font, etc. ------------------------------------------------------------- BUILD MENU ┌───────────────────┐ │ Build/Modify List │░ │ View Presentation │░ └───────────────────┘░ ┌──────┬───────┬───────┬───────┬──────┬───░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ │ File │ Paint │ Sound │ Write │ Time │ View │Option ║ Build║░ └──────┴───────┴───────┴───────┴──────┴──────┴───────╚══════╝░ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ This menu is for connecting several script files together into a presentation. A presentation is two or more script files chained together. This is done by listing them in a special file called MSHOW.CFG. When the run-time program MSHOW.EXE or TMW.EXE sees this file, it reads it to find out which files you want presented and in what order. You can list up to 132 files in a presentation. They will be shown one after another unless the end user selects options such as SEARCH, GOTO or BACK. ------------------------------------------------------------- BUILD/MODIFY LIST Use this service to build or modify the list of files to be presented. When selected, a full-screen spread-sheet like menu appears. If there is no existing MSHOW.CFG file, all cells will be empty. If there is a previous MSHOW.CFG file, then the menu will contain the files listed in MSHOW.CFG. You can delete existing files and add your own. Simply move to the cell where you want a file to appear, then type the name of that file. The program reads the first column from top to bottom, then moves to the next column, etc. Do not use drive and path designators with file names. The files which are to be displayed should all be in the same directory as MSHOW.EXE or TMW.EXE. When the end user gets a disk with your presentation on it, the script and MSHOW.EXE will all be on the same disk (or in the same Zipped BBS file). If you try to add drive or directory information here, and if the end user's computer is not configured like yours, Bloooie! Although you can leave spaces between files, it is not a good practice to do so. When done with the BUILD menu, press [Esc]. The new MSHOW.CFG file will automatically be written to disk. If you have an important version of MSHOW.CFG already, you ought to make a back up copy first. In addition to script files, you can also include .EXE, .COM, .BAT or .PCX files in this menu, and these programs/files will be executed or displayed properly. ------------------------------------------------------------- VIEW PRESENTATION A presentation is made up of two or more script files. When this feature is selected, your entire presentation can be viewed, almost as if you were an end user using MSHOW.EXE. It doesn't matter what script file is currently loaded, VIEW PRESENTATION simply looks for the file MSHOW.CFG, (created with the Build Presentation option on the BUILD menu) and displays the files found there. Because VIEW PRESENTATION emulates MSHOW.EXE while The Multimedia Workshop is loaded in the background, some services are not available which are part of MSHOW.EXE. Simply too much RAM is required. Most programs built into MSHOW.CFG (with BUILD option) will be ignored, and SPEECH synthesis will also be ignored. While VIEW PRESENTATION is in effect, the main menu changes to emulate the menu in MSHOW.EXE. When you select QUIT from this menu, the normal main menu returns, and the script file previously loaded is replayed. _____________________________________________________________ end of chapter.