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The Electronic Alveary
A word match program for crossword solvers and setters
by
Ross Beresford
Version 1.00
12th April 1992
Copyright (c) J Ross Beresford 1992
All Rights Reserved
The Electronic Alveary is a FREEWARE
package: it can be freely copied and
distributed under the terms of the
licensing agreement at the end of
this document.
The program author can be reached on the following systems:
CIX
Phone +44 81 399 5252
Account name rberesfo
Internet address rberesfo@cix.compulink.co.uk (preferred)
rberesfo%cix@uknet.ac.uk (if above fails)
Golly!
Phone +44 734 320812
Account name Ross Beresford
Fidonet address 2:252/21
Internet address ross.beresford@f21.n252.z2.fidonet.org
MANIFEST
--------
This release of TEA should contain the following files:
READ.ME Quick start document
TEA100.DOC This manual
TEA.EXE The TEA pattern matching program
TEA.RSC The default (colour) configuration file
COLOUR.RSC Colour screen configuration file
MONO.RSC Monochrome screen configuration file
WORDS.nn TEA database files
A compression program that builds TEA database files from an
ASCII word list is distributed separately as TEABDnnn.ZIP,
where nnn is the version number. This includes 'C' source and
an MS-DOS binary.
CONTENTS
--------
1. Introduction
2. Interactive Mode
3. Command Line Mode
4. Patterns
5. Controls
Appendix A. Messages
Appendix B. Video Modes
Appendix C. Resource File
Appendix D. Release History
Appendix E. Licensing Information
1. INTRODUCTION
------------
TEA can be run in either command line mode or interactive
mode.
The first two sections give information about how to use TEA
in each of these modes.
The remaining sections describe the underlying functionality
of TEA which is the same for both modes.
2. INTERACTIVE MODE
----------------
In this mode, TEA runs continuously and its behaviour is
controlled using a text mode user interface.
TEA determines the colours used in the interactive mode
display from a resource file. TEA is pre-configured for a
colour screen. If you have a monochrome screen, make sure TEA
uses the monochrome resource file before you start by typing:
copy mono.rsc tea.rsc
See "Appendix C. Resource File" for more information about the
format of the resource file.
To enter interactive mode, just type the name of the program:
tea
All the command line mode options may also be entered as
options when starting interactive mode: they become the
initial settings.
By default, TEA assumes the dictionary database files are
named WORDS.nn and are stored in the same directory as
TEA.EXE. If you have moved the database files to a different
directory, or renamed them, you must use the -d option to
specify their path, for example:
tea -d d:\dict\words
Once TEA has started, you can begin to enter match patterns
immediately. To exit TEA at this point, press Esc; pressing
Ctrl-C or Ctrl-Break at any time will also cause TEA to exit.
See the PATTERNS section for a description of the types of
pattern that can be specified.
Help: Once interactive mode has started, you can
get help at any time by pressing F1.
Pressing a key when the help screen is
displayed returns you to the program.
Field editing: The field being edited is displayed in a
different colour. Characters can be entered
at the cursor in the usual way.
The Ins key toggles between insert and
overwrite mode (the default is insert mode);
the Left and Right arrow keys move the
cursor along a field; Home and End move the
cursor to the beginning and end of a field;
Del deletes the character at the cursor.
The Return key accepts a changed field; the
Esc key causes any changes to be abandoned.
Matching: The program starts matching when Return is
pressed after the pattern has been edited.
Matching can be paused by pressing any key.
Pressing the space bar resumes the match;
any other key aborts the match.
While matching is paused, the output buffer
can be scrolled, printed or written to a
file.
Scrolling output: If the matched output for a pattern
overflows the output window, it is stored
in a buffer up to a limit of 200 lines.
This buffer can be scrolled: a line at a
time using the Up and Down arrow keys; a
page at a time using PgUp and PgDn; to the
top using Ctrl-PgUp and to the bottom using
Ctrl-PgDn.
Printing output: To print the contents of the output buffer,
use ALT-W and then press Return.
Filing output: To dump the contents of the output buffer to
a file, press ALT-W, enter the name of the
file to be created and then press return.
Note that the output buffer size is limited
to 200 lines. If you want to dump large
amounts of output (for example, all the
words of a particular length), it is better
to use command line mode and DOS file
redirection.
Editing controls: The options affecting pattern matching are
displayed just above the pattern in the TEA
main screen. They can be changed by pressing
ALT with the letter highlighted in the
option name. Press:
ALT-S to change the shortest word length
ALT-L to change the longest word length
ALT-P to toggle the playfair filter setting
ALT-A to change the alternate word filter
ALT-I to change the included word filter
See the CONTROLS section for a description
of how the controls affect pattern matching.
TEA tries to adapt to the active video mode when it starts up:
if the active video mode is one it supports (see "Appendix B:
Video Modes" for a list), then it con