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THE ELECTRONIC TEXT PUBLISHING SYSTEM
Description:
The Electronic Text Publishing System (or "E-Text" for short)
is used to make "electronic" books or magazines, such as
tutorials, training manuals, or even works of literature. The
E-Text system allows you to create professional looking
programs with little effort. E-Text uses text files that you
create and compiles them into a menu driven "electronic" book,
complete with a table of contents. If you know how to use a
word processor, then you have all the skills necessary to
publish your own "electronic" books on a disk. The electronic
books that you create with E-Text can be copied, distributed
and sold, royalty free. Share your knowledge, research, your
works of poetry, fiction, or your sales products with others by
using E-Text!
Features:
E-Text allows you to customize nearly every aspect of your
finished catalog. Consider the following... E-Text allows you
to...
+ Create a "Table of Contents" (Main menu)
+ Customize the size and location of the Main Menu
+ Customize the attributes of the Main Menu, such as colors,
border frame, elevator bar, drop shadow, etc.
+ Define the colors of each screen
+ Use background wallpaper to create stunning screens
+ Invoke screen special effects - for example, screen wipes
from left to right, right to left, top to bottom, opening
curtains, splits, clock sweeps, etc.
+ Run DOS commands, execute batch files or other programs.
E-Text can be used to create your own program menus or shell.
+ Consolidates all your .TXT files into just one compact data
file. In fact, after compilation, only two files are
necessary to make your electronic book available to your
audience (READ.EXE and READ.DAT). This makes disk
distribution file management a breeze.
Special requirements:
No special system requirements or hardware is required to use
E-Text except a DOS version greater or equal to version 3.0.
A hard disk does make the compilation process much easier and
faster, however.
Before we get started:
If you obtained E-Text through a shareware vendor, or BBS, or
CD-ROM, make sure that no files are missing. A file called
PACKING.LST contains a listing of all the files required to run
E-Text. If you have problems with E-Text, check the files that
you have obtained with the PACKING.LST listing. If you find
files missing, please notify your vendor, or BBS sysop, or feel
free to contact the author via our 24-hour BBS at (540)
372-9680 N-8-1 ANSI. The latest version can always be
downloaded from our BBS as ETEXT*.ZIP.
Before you compile your very own electronic book we recommend
that you browse through one that has already been created. You
should find a file AESOP.DAT on your disk, which contains a
short collection of Aesop's Fables. To view this electronic
book from the DOS prompt enter --> READ AESOP then press
ENTER. Browse through this electronic book and get a feel for
what E-Text can do. If you like what you see, and would like
to create similar e-text documents, resume reading these
instructions and proceed with your first compilation.
Terms and definitions:
There are several terms that will be used throughout this
documentation and that need to be fully understood by the user
before you create your own electronic books. Please review
these definitions carefully:
ASCII FILE: This is a term used to describe any file that you
create and save with an editor such as DOS' EDIT or Window's
Notepad. An ASCII file contains only characters that can be
found on a standard IBM keyboard. Most word processor programs
(like Word Perfect) can save files in ASCII format IF you know
how to. E-Text does NOT come with an editor because most users
already have a favorite text editor or word processor that they
feel comfortable with. We saw no reason to force the user to
use another editor and have consequently not included one.
CHAPTER: A chapter is any ASCII .TXT file that you create that
you want to become part of your electronic book. Each
selection from the Main Menu "Table of Contents" is considered a
chapter.
COMPILER: The compiler is the program that gathers all of
your ASCII chapter text files (*.TXT), and binary wallpaper
files (*.BIN) together, and prompts you step by step for
specific details about how you want your final electronic book
to look (screen colors, Table of Contents (Main Menu) size,
location, shadows, etc. The compiler merges and can compress
this information into a single data file (READ.DAT).
DATA FILE: The data file is a specially formatted file that
contains ALL of your chapters, wallpaper, and screen
definitions. This data file is created by using the E-Text
compiler (COMPILE.EXE), and once it has been created it can be
identified by the default filename "READ.DAT". This data file
is one of the two necessary files that must be placed on your
distribution disk in order for others to read your electronic
book. Data files can be renamed if you wish, however to use
them with the "reader" you must specify its new file name on
the DOS command line. For example, AESOP.DAT was originally
named READ.DAT, but was renamed in order to preserve its
contents from future compilations that would have created a new
READ.DAT file and overwritten it. In order to use AESOP.DAT
with the "reader", the user needs to start the electronic book
from the DOS command line in this manner --> READ AESOP.DAT By
using this method inside a batch file, the author can create
several electronic books on one floppy disk, needing only one
"reader".
READER MODULE: This refers to the file "READ.EXE". This is
the program that reads the information in your data file and
displays it to your audience. Remember, in order to create an
electronic book for distribution on a floppy diskette, two
files must exist on that disk: 1) READ.EXE and 2) READ.DAT.
TEXT FILE: Text files and ASCII files all refer to the
same thing (see ASCII FILE above).
WALLPAPER: If you have never used Microsoft Windows, then the
term "wallpaper" may conjure up ideas of colored paper and
wheat paste. With E-Text, however, wallpaper refers to
background screen designs that can be used to liven up your
electronic book. Wallpaper files should end with a .BIN file
extension. How do you create wallpaper files? When you
register E-Text you will be sent, as a bonus, the E-Text Screen
Composer program that allows you to create your own wallpaper
files. Several wallpaper .BIN files have been included with
the evaluation copy, so feel free to use them. You may also
use any text screen design program that generates BLOADable
binary files. The "Laughing Dog Screen Maker" and "The Draw"
are two popular shareware screen designers that can also create
wallpaper files. You can find these programs on most large
BBS's for downloading. As an incentive to register, you will
be sent a screen design program written by the author at no
additional charge. Please remember, wallpaper files are NOT
graphic bitmaps images like .PCX or .BMP files, but rather
they are colored text files used as a background beneath your
Main Menu, and chapter text displays, or as opening and
closing screens.
Getting started:
You will need to create all of the ASCII .TXT text files that
you wish to include in your "electronic" book BEFORE you run
the compiler (COMPILE.EXE). Use your favorite word processor
or text editor (like DOS' EDIT) to compose the individual
"chapters". If you are using a word processor, like Word
Perfect, then it is absolutely essential that you save each
"chapter" as an ASCII file. Most word processors add "control
characters" to your document as you compose it. Control
characters are used to identify italics, highlighting,
underlines, margin spacing, etc. When using a word processor,
these control characters will create problems if they are not
removed. By saving a word processing document as an ASCII
file, all the control characters will be removed.
In Word Perfect 5.0/5.1, you can save your document as an ASCII
file by pressing CTRL+F5, then selecting "1 DOS Text", then
select "1 Save".
If you are using DOS' EDIT, or the Windows' Notepad, then you
do not need to worry about control characters, for their
native file formats are ASCII.
Each "chapter" of your "electronic" book MUST exist as an ASCII
file, with a ".TXT" file extension. Valid file name examples
are: "AESOP1.TXT", "TUTOR-3.TXT", "POEMS_5.TXT". The compiler
looks automatically for all files with .TXT file extensions,
and will ignore all other files. Rename your files to include
a .TXT extension should you have failed to do so earlier.
In each of your "chapter" .TXT files, you must reserve the very
first line (top most) for a "header". This header consists of
various parameters (commands) that are necessary for the reader
(READ.EXE). This header line must absolutely be on line #1.
If during the compilation process (using COMPILE.EXE) the
compiler detects a .TXT file with a missing header, the
compiler will flag this to your attention, and prompt you to
correct the discrepancy.
The header line can have many different parameters (commands),
some of which specify the screen colors, size of the text view
window, screen effects, and more (see advanced options later in
this documentation). There are two parameters that are ALWAYS
required in the header line: 1) the Table of Contents order
number or character, and 2) a chapter title.
A typical .TXT header will look like this:
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 2|The Life of Aesop │
│ │
│ <─── Body of document ───> │
Please note that the Table of Contents "order number" is
separated from the chapter title by a "|" (pipe) character.
This character always separates parameters on the header line.
The "|" character is found on most IBM PC keyboards with the
"\" (backslash) key.
The Table of Contents "order number" determines the ORDER OF
APPEARANCE that the chapter title will appear in the Main Menu.
In other words, in the example above, the chapter "The Life of
Aesop" will appear as the second chapter in the Table of
Contents Main Menu.
Now, to slightly contradict the instructions, the "order
number" does not necessarily have to be a number. There is one
exception where the letter "A" or "a" is used in place of the
order number.
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ A|The Life of Aesop │
│ │
│ <─── Body of document ───> │
What the "A" does is instruct the reader (READ.EXE) to sort the
chapter titles in ALPHABETICAL ORDER. If there are 10 chapters
in your electronic book, and 9 of them have numeric values for
the order number, and 1 of them has the letter "A", then the
ENTIRE Table of Contents will be sorted in alphabetical order.
Just one "A" in just one file is enough to cause all the other
chapters to fall into alphabetical order.
Additional header parameters:
The "order number" and "chapter title" are required parameters
that MUST exist in each .TXT file that you create. These 2
parameters, however, are not the only parameters that can exist
on the header line. You can customize the appearance of each
chapter in your electronic book by combining different
parameters. Here's an example:
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 2|The Life of Aesop|FORE=15|BACK=3|SCFX=6|MARG=10|COLS=14 │
│ │
│ <─── Body of document ───> │
In the example above, "FORE", "BACK", "SCFX", etc. are each an
individual header parameter. Please note that each parameter
is separated by a "|" (pipe) character.
Here is a listing of all the parameters available to you, which
if used, must appear on the first line of your .TXT file,
separated by a "|" character:
FORE=## This is used to specify the color of the foreground
text of an individual chapter, where ## is replaced
with a color number from 0-15 (see valid colors
below).
BACK=## This is used to specify the color of the background
text of an individual chapter, where ## is replaced
with a color number from 0-7 (see valid colors
below).
0 = black 6 = brown 12 = light red
1 = blue 7 = gray 13 = light magenta
2 = green 8 = dk. gray 14 = yellow
3 = cyan 9 = light blue 15 = white
4 = red 10 = light green
5 = magenta 11 = light cyan
SCFX=## This is used to specify the type of special screen
effect of an individual chapter, where ## is replaced
with a number from 1-17 (see below).
1 = Clock sweep 10 = Slide Left & In
2 = Curtain 11 = Slide Left & Out
3 = Diagonal 12 = Slide Right & In
4 = Diamond 13 = Slide Right & Out
5 = Lines 14 = Slide Up & In
6 = Hole 15 = Split Horz. & Out
7 = Box 16 = Split Vert. & In
8 = Slide Down & In 17 = Split Vert. & Out
9 = Slide Down & Out
MARG=## This parameter is used to specify the left margin
where your chapter text contents will be displayed.
## specifies the screen column, and valid entries
are from 1-60. If MARG=## is absent from the .TXT
header, then a default of 7 will be used.
ROWS=## This parameter specifies how large your chapter's
text display window is in height. Valid values are
from 1 to 23 rows in height. If no ROWS=## is
used, then a default of 22 rows will be used to
define the text window height.
TOPR=## Specifies the starting row of the chapter's text
window location, where ## is a value between 1-23.
If no TOPR=## is specified, a default value of 2
will be used to position the beginning row of the
text window.
COLS=## Specifies how wide (in columns) the chapter's text
display window is. Valid range in columns for ##
is 1-79. If no COLS=## is indicated in the header
line of your .TXT file, a default width of 75
columns will be used. Please note that E-Text does
NOT perform word wrapping. You must insure that
your .TXT files fit within the defined COLS
parameter before compiling.
BINF=xxxx Specifies the name of the wallpaper binary file
to be loaded beneath the chapter's text display
window. "xxxx" is replaced with the COMPLETE file
name (with extension) which contains your binary
wallpaper (e.g. BINF=HEADER.BIN, or BINF=MAIN.BIN).
If no BINF=xxxx parameter exists, no wallpaper will
be used behind your text window.
LINE=# Use this parameter in your header to change the
default of single line spacing. LINE=2 will double
space each line of your chapter's text
automatically. Valid range for line spacing is
1-4.
TAB=## This parameter instructs how many columns that the
text will scroll RIGHT when a user presses the TAB
or right arrow keys. The default value is 9. Why
would you wish to scroll your text left and right?
If you have a really W-I-D-E text file (greater than
80 characters) then obviously part of your file will
not be displayed initially on the screen (remember,
a typical monitor can only display 80 columns of
text at any time). Therefore by using the TAB or
right arrow keys, the user can view any additional
text that may be hidden beyond column 80.
With the preceding header parameters, you can mix and match
them to customize the layout of each chapter in your electronic
book. Please remember that each parameter must be separated by
a "|" character.
Although all these header parameters allows you to customize
your text display windows, you may elect not to use the text
display window parameters such as COLS=, MARG=, TOPR=, etc.
You can create eye-appealing text windows automatically by just
making sure that your .TXT files are no larger than 70 columns
wide and that they are left justified. If you are using a
word processor, you can achieve such specs by using a fixed
font such as Courier 10cpi, and 1 inch left and right margins.
When you export/save your chapter files to ASCII, you will find
that your .TXT files are less than 70 columns wide. This size
will work well with the default text window values that the
E-Text reader uses.
Special header parameter "EXECUTE":
E-Text is not limited to just displaying ASCII text files
(chapters). E-Text can also run other programs or be
instructed to carry out a series of DOS commands. The
"EXECUTE" header parameter is used inside a .TXT file, placed
after the chapter title on line 1, and specifies that this .TXT
file is different. Different in that the contents of this .TXT
file will NOT be displayed in a text window, but rather each
line of the .TXT file will be executed (i.e., run from the DOS
command line).
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 7|Display all AESOP files|EXECUTE │
│ DIR AESOP*.* │
│ <─── Body of document ───> │
In the example above, the header parameter "EXECUTE" will
instruct the program to treat the lines which follow as DOS
commands.
You are not limited to just one line of DOS commands or
instructions. The example below shows how one can stack a
series of commands, which will be run in sequence, one after
the other:
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 12|Delete all *.BAK files on all drives|EXECUTE │
│ DEL C:\*.BAK │
│ DEL C:\DOS\*.BAK │
│ DEL C:\WINDOWS\*.BAK │
│ DEL C:\TEMP\*.BAK │
│ DEL A:*.BAK │
│ DEL B:*.BAK │
│ <─── Body of document ───> │
Neither are you limited to simple DOS commands. You can
execute .BAT batch files, .COM and .EXE's (memory space
permitting) when the end user selects a "chapter" in which you
have the EXECUTE parameter.
At the end of executing all the commands inside the selected
.TXT file, the E-Text reader will return back to the Main Menu
(Table of Contents).
Graphic support
Although EText does not support graphic .PCX/.BMP/.GIF file
support directly, you can still incorporate high-resolution
graphics in your EText documents. This is achieved indirectly
by using the EXECUTE parameter (see above) in a .TXT file,
where one of the executable lines contain the file name of a
graphic image THAT HAS BEEN CONVERTED INTO AN .EXE FILE. For
those who do not understand what this means... There are
shareware graphic utilities like "Grabber" or "Graphics
Workshop" that will convert a .PCX or .BMP or screen snapshot
into a self-executing .EXE file. For instance, FLOWER.PCX can
be converted using these utilities into a stand alone
FLOWER.EXE file, where typing FLOWER from the DOS prompt will
display the graphic image without the assistance of any other
program or viewer. Inset's HiJaak will also create these type
of .EXE files from any graphic image. Once you have a graphic
.EXE file, you can include its file name in a .TXT file, using
the EXECUTE header parameter.
One suggestion, if you do use this method of displaying
graphic images... To shrink the size of the resulting graphic
.EXE file that you will be distributing, consider investing in
a shareware program called "PKLite". "PKLite" will compress
an .EXE to a fraction of its original size AND YET STILL
REMAIN SELF-EXECUTING. This will give you more free disk
space on the distribution floppy you will be using, and will
cause the image to display faster. This also brings up
another important point. Any graphic .EXE images that you
create MUST BE INCLUDED ON YOUR DISTRIBUTION DISKETTE! It is
not EText's responsibility to pack your graphic .EXE's into
the .DAT file. EText expects any such graphic .EXEs that you
create to be separate files on the distribution diskette.
Line color highlighting:
Even though you can color customize each chapter .TXT file in
respect to foreground text and background colors using a header
parameter (FORE=/BACK=), you may wish to add emphasis to one
particular line (or lines) of text in a chapter. This can be
done by adding to the end of a line of text a color code. A
color code consists of a caret symbol "^" followed by a color
number from 0-15 (see color code chart above). Here is an
example...
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 5|The Eagle, the Cat, and the Wild Sow|MARG=10|SCFX=3 │
│ │
│ The Eagle, the Cat, and the Wild Sow^15 │
│ │
│ AN EAGLE made her nest at the top of a lofty oak; a │
│ Cat, having found a convenient hole, moved into the │
│ middle of the trunk; and a Wild Sow, with her │
│ Cat cunningly resolved to destroy this chance-made │
│ │
│ <─── Body of document ───> │
In the example above, the title line "The Eagle, the Cat..." is
followed by the color code "^15". What the "^15" will do is
instruct the reader (READ.EXE) to use color 15 (bright white)
on that particular line (background remains unchanged). Such
color highlighting is useful for titles, new paragraph
description headings, or important passages that need to grab
the reader's attention. You can use as many color codes as you
like in a chapter file, however only one code per line of text
is permitted (i.e., a line of text cannot have more than one
color).
To make a color blink (on and off), add 16 to a color's value.
For example, color 15 is bright white. To use blinking bright
white in your document, add 16 to 15. Use ^31 for the color
code in this case.
If you have an actual caret symbol in your chapter that is not
to be confused with a color code (highly unlikely, but for math
statements it is possible), then precede that caret with
another caret (e.g., Mathematicians, solve for x, where
x+5^^2=30).
Shareware:
Shareware is a try-before-you-buy marketing concept that allows
you a trial period in which to evaluate a software program.
The Electronic Text Publishing System is shareware software and
continued use of the program requires that you support the
author. Once you have registered, you will receive the latest
version of E-Text that will permit you to begin distributing
your electronic books (*.DAT files) legally and the E-Text
reader (READ.EXE) freely without royalties.
Distribution of this program:
The unregistered, shareware version can be distributed by BBS's
as long as NO FILES ARE DELETED from the original group of
files (see PACKING.LST for original .ZIP contents). Shareware
vendors are permitted to charge a small fee, not exceeding
$6.00, in exchange for their services in providing evaluation
copies to others. CD-ROM publishers are permitted to include
E-Text in any compilations as long as the .EXE file date stamp
is less than 2 years old.
Once you have registered E-Text with the author, you are then
granted a license to distribute the reader (READ.EXE) royalty
free. The compiler, however, is limited in license, and can
only be used on one computer at any given time. If you plan
on using the compiler on more than one computer, contact
the author for site license arrangements.
All in the family:
Attention: merchants and product distributors! If you would
like to publish and distribute INTERACTIVE on-disk CATALOGS
that display product items ALONG WITH INDIVIDUAL PRICES, AND
CAN PRINT ORDER FORMS, please contact us and inquire about
THE DISK VENDOR line of software. The Disk Vendor is for those
businesses who want an alternative to a traditional printed
paper product sales catalog. The Disk Vendor system handles
credit cards, sales tax, shipping charges, personalized opening
& closing screen, discounts on purchases, printed catalogs,
order forms, and more. Create professional looking catalogs
quickly and with little effort!
You can also download a fully functional evaluation copy of
The Disk Vendor from our 24-hour BBS, at 540-372-9680. The
latest file can be downloaded as VEND??GB.ZIP where ??
represents the current program version.
Program author:
Philip P. Kapusta
P.O. Box 5423
Falmouth, Va. 22403
USA
If you wish to send correspondence to us, we would prefer an
e-mail message left on our BBS (540) 372-9680 instead of paper
mail.