Shareware Overload Trio 2/Shareware Overload Trio Volume 2 (Chestnut CD-ROM).ISO/dir26/epi601_2.zip/FILES07.EXE/BLOCK.EPA

Text File | 1994-08-22 | 12KB | 424 lines

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        -- LESSON 5 --

        BLOCK COMMANDS

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 One of the advantages of word processing is the
 ability to "cut and paste" portions of your document
 without having to retype the entire document.  These
 capabilities are called BLOCK COMMANDS.
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 The topics covered in this lesson include:

   * defining a block of text

   * copying, moving or deleting blocks

   * writing blocks to another file

   * reading files into the current file as
     a block
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 A BLOCK consists of any contiguous portion of text --
 it may be as short as a line or as long as an entire
 document.

 Before you can use any of the block commands, you must
 first define the block.  Once the block is defined, you
 can then copy, move or delete the block, or write the
 block to another file.

 All of the block commands can be found in the <F8>-BLK
 menu.

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 To define the block of text, you must mark the beginning
 and end of the block using the <F8>-"Begin block" and
 "End block" commands or <Ctrl-K B> and <Ctrl-K K>.

 To mark the BEGINNING OF A BLOCK:

   *Move the cursor to the first character of the
    block.

   *Press <F8>, select the "Begin block" option using
    the up and down arrow keys, and press <Enter> or press
    <Ctrl-K B>.

 To mark the END OF A BLOCK:

   *Move the cursor to the space just beyond the last
    character of the block.

   *Press <F8>, select the "End block" option using
    the up and down arrow keys, and press <Enter> or press
    <Ctrl-K K>.
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 At the next screen, you will first retrieve a file and
 then practice the first two block commands:

    *Press <F2> and select "Open file this window".

    *Type the filename DOC1.TXT in the prompt box
     and press <Enter>.  The file will appear on
     the screen.

    *Choose any part of the file to be the block.  Move
     the cursor to the first character of the block.
     Press <F8>, select "Begin block" and press <Enter>
     (or <Ctrl-K B>).

    *Move the cursor just beyond the last character in
     the block.  Press <F8>, select "End block" and
     press <Enter> (or <Ctrl-K K>).  The block will
     appear highlighted on the screen.
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[<F2>-Open file, file = DOC1.TXT; <F8>-Begin blk, then End blk]
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 As you noticed, after you marked the beginning and end
 of the block, it appeared highlighted on the screen.
 In order to invoke the block commands, the block must
 be highlighted.

 Once the command has been performed, you can remove the
 highlight in one of two ways:  by using the <F8>-"Hide
 block display" command, or by pressing <Ctrl-K H>.
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 The next block command to review is the COPY BLOCK command.
 This is helpful if you have any portion of text that is
 repeated throughout the document.

 The COPY command places a duplicate of the block at the
 specified point in the document; the original block is left
 intact in its original position.
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 To use the COPY BLOCK command:

  *Mark the beginning and end of the block using
   the <F8> pop-up menu or <Ctrl-K B> and <Ctrl-K K>.

  *Move the cursor to the point in the document
   where the block should be COPIED TO.

  *Press <F8>, select "Copy block to here", and
   press <Enter> or press <Ctrl-K C>.

  *The block will be copied, and will appear
   highlighted.  Press <F8>-"Hide block display"
   and then <Enter> (or <Ctrl-K H> to unhighlight
   the block.
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 The next screen will take you back to the file
 DOC1.TXT.  Practice using the <F8>-"Copy block
 to here" command after marking the beginning and
 end of the block.
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_OPENFILE DOC1.TXT
[Define block with <F8>, move cursor, <F8>-Copy block to here]
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 The next block command is MOVE BLOCK TO HERE.  This is similar
 to the Copy command except that the block of text is actually
 moved, rather than copied, to the new location.  The remaining
 text moves to the left to fill the empty space left by the
 block that was moved.

 To use the MOVE command:

   *Define the block of text to be moved.

   *Move the cursor to the position where the block
    should be moved.

   *Press <F8>-"Move block to here" and then press <Enter>
    or press <Ctrl-K V>.

   *Unhighlight the block using <F8>-"Hide block display".
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 Now return to the file and practice using the MOVE
 BLOCK command.  Notice how the text moves to fill
 the space left when the block was moved.

 To review the command again:

     *Define the block using the <F8> menu.

     *Place the cursor at the location where
      the block will be moved.

     *Press <F8>-"Move block to here" and
      press <Enter>.
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_OPENFILE DOC1.TXT
[Define block, move cursor to new location, <F8>-Move block]
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 Another useful block command is DELETE BLOCK.
 If you decide to remove a portion of the document,
 this command allows you to do it more easily than
 by deleting one line at a time.

 One word of caution when deleting a block of text:
 there is no way to undelete or restore a block in its
 entirety.  EPED stores only the last 20 lines that were
 deleted, and allows you to undelete these 20 lines with
 the <F4>-"Undelete" command.  So, for example, if the
 block that is deleted is 30 lines long, you could recall
 the last 20 lines but the first 10 lines will be lost.
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 To use the DELETE BLOCK command:

   *Define the block to be deleted using the
    <F8> menu.

   *Press <F8>, select the "Delete block" option
    and press <Enter>.

   *The block will disappear from the screen and
    the remaining text will move up to the point
    where the block had been located.

 At the next screen practice the DELETE BLOCK command.
 Notice the remaining text as it is repositioned on the
 screen.
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_OPENFILE DOC1.TXT
[<F8> Begin block & End block, then Delete block]
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 The next two block commands involve interaction with
 other files.

 The first command allows you to WRITE A BLOCK TO A
 FILE.  This copies the block to another file while
 leaving the original block and file intact, as it did
 in the Copy Block command.

 The second command is READ FILE IN AS BLOCK.  This
 copies another file into your current document at the
 cursor location.  The file from which the block is read
 remains unchanged.
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 These two commands are useful if there is a portion
 of text that is used frequently in letters or some
 other document.  You can write this portion of text
 to a separate file.

 When you create the next document that should include
 this text, you simply read this separate file into
 the new document.  This eliminates the need to retype
 the text each time it is required in a new document.
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 Now let's review both of these commands in more detail.

 To WRITE A BLOCK TO A FILE:

   *Define the block in the current file using the
    <F8> menu.

   *Press <F8>, choose "Write block to file..", and
    press <Enter>.

   *In the prompt box, type the name of the file TO
    WHICH the block should be written.

   *Press <Enter> and the block will be written to
    the other file.
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 At the next screen, you will be back to the file
 DOC1.TXT.  Practice writing a block to another
 file called TEMP.  To review the steps again:

   *Define the block with the <F8> menu.

   *Press <F8>-"Write block to file..", and press
    <Enter>

   *Type the filename TEMP in the prompt box and
    press <Enter>.
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_OPENFILE DOC1.TXT
[Define block, <F8>-Write block to.., file = TEMP, then <Enter>]
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 If you want to verify that the block was written to
 the new file, you can simply retrieve the new file
 using the <F2>-FILE menu.  To do this:

   *Press <F2> and select "Open file this window".

   *At the prompt box, type the name of the file
    that the block was written to.

   *Press <Enter> and the file will be displayed
    on the screen.

 At the next screen, retrieve the file TEMP to verify
 that the block you defined was written to this file.
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[<F2>-Open file, filename = TEMP, press <Enter>]
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 The second command, READ FILE IN AS BLOCK, copies
 another file into the file in which you are currently
 working.  After the file is read into your current
 document, the text will appear highlighted as a block.
 You can hide the block display using the <F8>-"Hide
 block display" command.
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 The steps for reading a file in as a block are:

   *Begin in the file INTO WHICH you want
    to read the other file.

   *Move the cursor to the location in the
    document where you want the text to be
    copied.

   *Press <F8>-"Read file in as block", then
    type the name of the file that contains
    the text to be read into your current file.
    Press <Enter> and the text from the other
    file will be copied into your current file.
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 Now you will return to the file DOC1.TXT.  Practice
 reading the file TEMP into the current file DOC1.TXT.

 To review the steps again:

     *While in the current file DOC1.TXT, move
      the cursor to the location where you want
      the text to appear.

     *Press <F8>, select "Read file in as block"
      and press <Enter>.

     *At the prompt box, type the filename TEMP,
      and press <Enter>.  The contents of the file
      TEMP will now appear as a highlighted block
      in your current file.  Move the cursor down
      to see the highlighted block of text.
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_OPENFILE DOC1.TXT
[Move cursor, <F8>-Read file in.., file = TEMP, then <Enter>]
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 The last command in the <F8> menu, FORMAT CURRENT BLOCK,
 is useful if you want to reformat a portion of your
 document, or to reformat a block of text that was read
 into the current document from another file.  This is
 similar to the "Reformat paragraph" command, except that
 it allows you to reformat more than one paragraph at a
 time.  This command functions only if word wrap is On.

 The steps are similar to the other block commands:

     *Define the block using the <F8> menu.

     *Select "Format current block" and press
      <Enter>.  The text in the entire block will
      be reformatted.
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 That completes the introduction to BLOCK COMMANDS.
 Let's review once again all of the commands included
 in the <F8>-BLK menu:

   *In order to perform the block commands, you
    must first define the block, and make sure
    that the block is highlighted.

   *To DEFINE A BLOCK, mark the beginning and end
    of the block using the "Begin block" and "End
    block" commands.
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 *COPY BLOCK TO HERE places a duplicate of the
  block at the specified location in the document.

 *MOVE BLOCK TO HERE moves the specified block to
  a new location in the document.  Remaining text
  moves left to fill the space where the block
  was originally located.

 *DELETE BLOCK removes the defined block from the
  file.  Remaining text moves left to fill the blank
  spaces.
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 *WRITE BLOCK TO FILE copies a block to another
  file, leaving the original block intact.

 *READ FILE IN AS BLOCK copies another file into
  the current file.

 *FORMAT CURRENT BLOCK reformats an entire block of
  text rather than one paragraph at a time, as in
  the <F4>-Format paragraph command.  This command
  is functional only if word wrap is On.
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 That concludes Lesson 5.  Now you will return to
 the Tutorial Menu, where you can choose another
 lesson or exit from the tutorial.
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