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Information about “SCREEN MACHINE”
Would you like to save time generating screens for your programs?
SCREEN MACHINE is an excellent tool to free you from the dull and
boring work of designing screens.
This screen editor can generate actual source code for BASIC, C,
assembler, Turbo Pascal and dBASE. Editing screens is a snap with
support for macros, box and line drawing, color, text centering,
extended character set, and even an ``undo'' function for line and
block operations.
SCREEN MACHINE has a memory resident utility to capture screens from
other programs. The captured screens then can be changed into binary
code to be edited with this program or into a text file that can be
altered with a text editor or word processor. Creating interactive
demonstration programs can be done very easily with SCREEN MACHINE.
Different screen images can be linked to create a ``slide show'', a
prototype, or demonstration program.
SCREEN MACHINE manages to offer a complete solution to reduce your
program development time, create screen prototypes, and generate
source code for your programs -- all for a very low registration fee.
FILE2303.TXT
Disk No: 2303
Disk Title: Screen Machine
PC-SIG Version: S1
Program Title: Screen Machine
Author Version: 2.0
Author Registration: $9.95
Special Requirements: None.
If you are a person who would like to save time generating screens for
your programs, SCREEN MACHINE is an excellent tool to free you from the
dull and boring work of designing screens.
This screen editor can generate actual source code for BASIC, assembler,
C, Turbo Pascal and dBase. Editing screens is a snap with support for
macros, box and line drawing, color, text centering, extended character
set, and even an undo function for line and block operations.
SCREEN MACHINE has a memory resident utility to help you capture screens
from other programs. The captured screens can be changed into binary
code which can be edited by this program, or into a text file that be
altered with a text editor or word processor.
Creating interactive demonstration programs can be accomplished easily
with SCREEN MACHINE. Different screen images can be linked to create a
"slide show", a prototype , or demonstration program.
SCREEN MACHINE manages to offer a complete solution to reduce your
program development time, create screen prototypes, and generate
source code for your programs all for a very low registration fee.
PC-SIG
1030D East Duane Avenue
Sunnyvale Ca. 94086
(408) 730-9291
(c) Copyright 1989 PC-SIG, Inc.
GO.TXT
╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ <<<< PC-SIG Disk #2303 SCREEN MACHINE >>>> ║
╠═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣
║ For documentation and program instructions, type: ║
║ COPY SM.TXT PRN (press Enter) ║
╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
(c) Copyright 1990, PC-SIG Inc.
SM.TXT
Screen Machine
Screen Development System
for Programmers
Version 2.00
Published by
ASMicro Co.
21175 Tomball Parkway, Suite 304
Houston, TX 77070
U.S.A.
Copyright (C) 1985, 1990 ASMicro Co.
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America
Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Configuring and Starting SCREEN.EXE . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
The Screen Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Screen Capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Using SHOW for Disk Management & Menus . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Advanced SHOW Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Appendix A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Appendix B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i
Trademarks
The following trademarks are used throughout this manual. When
you come across them, please remember that they are the
registered trademarks of the companies shown below.
IBM, IBM PC, IBM PC XT and IBM PC AT are trademarks of
International Business Machines Corporation.
MS-DOS and Microsoft Word are trademarks of Microsoft
Corporation.
Turbo Pascal, SideKick and SuperKey are trademarks of Borland
International.
dBASE II, dBASE III and dBASE III Plus are trademarks of Ashton-
Tate Corporation.
Lotus 1-2-3 is a trademark of Lotus Development Corporation.
i
Licensing and Ordering Information
DISCLAIMER
ASMicro hereby disclaims all warranties relating to this
software, whether express or implied, including without
limitation, any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness
for a particular purpose. ASMicro will not be liable for any
special, incidental, consequential, indirect or similar damages
due to loss of data or any other reason, even if ASMicro or an
agent of ASMicro has been advised of the possibility of such
damages. In no event shall ASMicro's liability for any damages
ever exceed the price paid for the license to use software,
regardless of the form of the claim. The person using the
software bears all risk as to the quality and performance of the
software.
ii
Licensing and Ordering Information
LICENSE
Screen Machine is not, and has never been, in the public domain.
Screen Machine is not free.
Non-registered users are granted a limited, 90-day license to use
Screen Machine to determine whether or not the program meets
their needs. Continued use of Screen Machine beyond the 90-day
valuation time period requires registration of the package. Use
of non-registered copies of Screen Machine beyond the original
evaluation period is strictly prohibited.
No one may modify Screen Machine for any reason, in any way,
including but not limited to, decompiling-compiling, patching,
disassembling, or reverse engineering the program. These
restrictions also apply to all Screen Machine screen displays
such as the opening screen, help screen, and all other
proprietary program output.
Screen Machine may be copied and distributed to others, subject
to the above restrictions and the following:
Screen Machine must be copied in unmodified form, including the
file containing this license information.
Complete Screen Machine documentation and online-help must be
included.
No copying fee of any type may be assessed other than basic
charges for the cost of the copying medium.
Screen Machine may not be distributed with any other software or
hardware product(s) without the express written permission of
ASMicro Corp.
Sysops (bulletin board SYStem OPerators) may make Screen Machine
available for downloading by their users as long as all above
conditions are met.
This agreement supersedes any and all previous agreements. No
blanket authorization has been issued by ASMicro Corp., for
commercial distribution of its products.
iii
Licensing and Ordering Information
ORDERING INFORMATION
When you register your copy of Screen Machine, you are granted a
license to use the package as often as you wish. There are
distinct advantages to registering your copy of Screen Machine:
1. You may contact ASMicro Co. through the mail with
technical questions.
2. Automatic notification of upcoming major new releases or
enhancements through the mail.
In order to register your copy of Screen Machine, send a
completed Registration form and a check for $9.95. We will
assume that you have already obtained the program and
documentation elsewhere. For an additional $10 ($19.95 total),
you will receive the latest version of Screen Machine,
documentation, and utilities on diskette.
Non-U.S. residents: please send checks or money orders drawn on
U.S. Banks or in U.S. Funds. All foreign orders are subject to
current U.S. foreign trade and technology exchange restrictions.
iv
Licensing and Ordering Information
Order Form
Remit To: ASMicro, Co.
21175 Tomball Parkway, Suite 304
Houston, TX 77070
Qty. Description Amount
____ Screen Machine Registration $9.95 ea _________
____ Latest Version (Diskette only) $10.00 ea _________
Subtotal _________
(TX residents add appropriate sales tax) Tax _________
Total _________
Payment: Check [ ] Money Order [ ]
Name: _________________________________________________________
Company:_________________________________________________________
Address:_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
Work Phone: (____) ____________ Home Phone: (____) ___________
Signature: ________________________________________
v
Screen Machine Introduction
Screen Development System
Introduction
What is Screen Machine ?
This package is a total screen management system, consisting
of three main executable programs:
SCREEN.EXE allows you to easily design screens and to
automatically generate source code to reproduce the screens
you design.
CAPTURE.COM lets you capture any text screen in any program
and store it on disk so that you can edit it with SCREEN.EXE
or a text editor, or load it directly into video memory.
SHOW.COM is used for creating program prototypes and
interactive demonstration programs. This program can also
be used for DOS management via a menu system.
System Requirements
___________________
The system requirements for this package are:
* An IBM PC, XT, AT or close compatible
* PC-DOS or MS-DOS 2.10 or later.
* 192K of RAM
* 1 Diskette drive (320K or larger)
* 80 column monitor
Program Distribution
____________________
You may freely distribute your screens (in binary format)
and executable programs created by SHOW.COM (See section
6). You do not need to put any ASMicro copyright notices in
your programs, nor do you need to pay any royalties.
You are NOT licensed to distribute any of the other programs
and/or files on the Screen Machine diskette.
1-1
Screen Machine Introduction
Screen Development System
Organization of This Manual
___________________________
Section 1 covers the configuration and startup of
SCREEN.EXE, the screen editor.
Section 2 discusses the use of SCREEN.EXE, after it has been
started.
Section 3 explains the use of CAPTURE.COM for capturing
screen images to disk.
Section 4 shows you how to use SHOW.COM to create disk
management menu systems.
Section 5 explains the advanced features of SHOW.COM and how
to use SHOW.COM to create slide shows, prototype programs
and demos.
Section 6 tells you how to create runtime programs for
distribution of your demos and prototypes.
Appendix A contains charts showing keyboard scan codes on
IBM and compatible computers.
Appendix B contains a listing of the syntax errors generated
by each of the executable programs.
Files Included in the Product
_____________________________
CAPTURE.COM is the memory-resident program used for
capturing screen displays to disk files. See Section 3.
DEMO1.BAT demonstrates how to use the advanced SHOW features
(as described in Section 5).
DEMO1.DAT contains the commands used by DEMO1.BAT.
DEMO1.001 through DEMO1.005 are screen data files used by
DEMO1.BAT.
DEMO2.BAT demonstrates how to use the advanced SHOW features
(as described in Section 5). This demonstration emulates
SCREEN.EXE.
DEMO2.DAT contains the commands used by DEMO2.BAT.
1-2
Screen Machine Introduction
Screen Development System
DEMO2.001 through DEMO2.004 are screen data files used by
DEMO2.BAT.
HELC1.@#$ and HELC2.@#$ are the two SCREEN.EXE help screens
for the extended (graphics) character set. See Section 2.
HELP1.@#$ is the first main help screen presented by
SCREEN.EXE when the <F1> key is pressed. See Section 2.
HELP2.@#$ is the second main help screen presented by
SCREEN.EXE when the <F1> key is pressed. See Section 2.
HELP3.@#$ is the third main help screen presented by
SCREEN.EXE when the <F1> key is pressed. This screen is
meant to contain definitions of the macros you use in
SCREEN.EXE. Therefore, if you modify your macros on a
permanent basis, you may wish to edit this screen
accordingly. See Section 2.
HELPC.@#$ is the COLOR help menu displayed by SCREEN.EXE if
you press the <F1> key when the color changing menus are on
the display. See Section 2.
MAINMENU.BAT is a sample disk management menu system.
MAINMENU.001 is a screen data file used by MAINMENU.BAT. See
Section 4.
MENU1.@#$ is the main menu displayed by SCREEN.EXE. See
Sections 1 and 2.
READ.ME may not be present on your diskette. This ASCII text
file is present if minor revisions are made to the programs
prior to our being able to reprint the manual.
SCREEN.CFG is the default SCREEN.EXE configuration file. See
Section 1.
SCREEN.EXE is the full screen editor program. See Sections 1
and 2.
SHOW.COM is the screen display/demo program. See Sections 4
and 5.
SAMPLE.C is a sample Microsoft C routine which can be used
to display the C language structures generated by Screen
Machine.
1-3
Screen Machine Configuring and Starting
Screen Development System
Configuring and Starting SCREEN.EXE
What is SCREEN.EXE ??
SCREEN.EXE is a screen editor and screen source code
generator. The screen editor has on-line help and support
for designing screens with color and graphics characters.
This makes SCREEN.EXE perfect for designing menus and other
screens with fancy attributes and borders. Using this
program, you will create more readable screens in a fraction
of the time it would otherwise take.
The source code that will reproduce the screens you design
can be automatically generated in a variety of formats. This
eliminates the drudgery of writing code which locates the
cursor, sets the appropriate colors and prints the text or
graphics characters. It allows you to be more creative and
to painlessly lay out your screen displays with perfect
centering. The screen editor allows centering within
graphics character borders and even shifting of the entire
screen.
Once you have formatted a screen and elected to save it, a
screen data file is written using a filename you specify.
When the screen is saved, the actual source code to
reproduce the screen is also generated and stored. For
example, if your data filename is "menu1", and SCREEN is
configured to generate BASIC source code, the screen data is
stored in "MENU1" and the BASIC source code to produce the
display is stored in "MENU1.BAS".
SCREEN can be configured to generate screen source code in
five major languages:
BASIC
Additional parameters you may define when generating BASIC
source code are:
* starting line number.
* line number increment.
* whether attributes (and resulting color statements)
are to be included.
* maximum number of characters per line of source code
1-4
Screen Machine Configuring and Starting
Screen Development System
(or one line of source code per line of screen
display).
Assembler Language
SCREEN will generate DB statements for inclusion in
Assembler language programs. You supply the configuration
program with segment names and classes as well as alignment
types.
dBASE II, dBASE III and dBASE III Plus
If you use one of these products, you can have SCREEN
generate program statements automatically.
Turbo Pascal
SCREEN can generate Turbo Pascal Code.
C
SCREEN can generate an array of C structures which describe
the screen data. The C structures can be displayed by
programs that you write or you can use the sample C code
provided on the SCREEN MACHINE disk to display the C
structures (See the file: sample.c).
1-5
Screen Machine Configuring and Starting
Screen Development System
Starting the SCREEN Program
____________________________
To start the program, type SCREEN at the system prompt and
press the <Enter> key. You will be presented with three
options:
* [F1] Configure System
* [F2] Edit Screen Data File
* [Esc] Exit SCREEN
This section describes the first option, "Configure System".
Section 2 describes how the SCREEN program operates once you
have selected the "Edit Screen Data File" option.
Configuration File
__________________
One of the files included in this product is named
"SCREEN.CFG". When you start SCREEN for the first time, the
program will use the options set in this default
configuration file.
Configuring SCREEN.EXE
______________________
Whenever it is started, SCREEN looks for its configuration
file. The search takes place as follows:
* If you specified a screen name on the command line,
the directory containing the screen file is searched.
* If you did not specify a screen name on the command
line, or if you did but the configuration file was not
found there, the current directory is searched.
* Lastly, SCREEN.EXE will search the directory
specified in the DOS environment variable SCREEN. See
the next subsection.
If the configuration file is still not found, you will be
asked if you wish to create one.
If you do not elect to create the configuration file, the
program will end, since SCREEN cannot run without this file.
1-6
Screen Machine Configuring and Starting
Screen Development System
If you DO want to create a new configuration file, type a
"Y" and press the <Enter> key.
Setting an Environment Search Path
__________________________________
You can tell SCREEN.EXE to look in a pre-defined
subdirectory for the configuration and help files by setting
the DOS environment variable SCREEN. For example, from the
DOS prompt, or within your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, enter:
SET SCREEN=C:\MACHINE\CONFIG
What this does is to tell SCREEN.EXE to search the directory
"C:\MACHINE\CONFIG" for the file SCREEN.CFG and all the help
files (with an extension ".@#$").
This is handy when you want only a single configuration
file, but you want to be able to call up SCREEN.EXE from
anywhere in your system (this presumes you have set the DOS
path to include the subdirectory containing SCREEN.EXE).
Changing the Configuration File
_______________________________
You can "override" the configuration that SCREEN uses, after
having started the program, by choosing the first option
from the main menu. The most likely use for this would be
to temporarily do something differently (for example, if you
normally generate dBASE code but you want to create BASIC
source code for this particular screen). You may find this
the easiest way to create your first configuration file,
overriding the default file on your distribution diskette
and then saving the configuration.
When you select the configuration option, you will be asked
a series of questions; most are self-explanatory and require
simple yes or no replies, while others require you to choose
from a set of "legal" replies.
For your replies, you may enter upper or lower case and you
must press the enter key after each response, even if the
reply is a single character.
All prompts are displayed with the "default" response
printed directly after the question, enclosed in square
brackets [ ]. To choose the default response, simply press
the <Enter> key.
1-7
Screen Machine Configuring and Starting
Screen Development System
Note that you can stop the configuration process at any time
by pressing the 'ESC' key. If you do, you will go directly
to the end of the configuration routine and will be asked if
you want to make the changes permanent (see the end of this
section), with the remaining, un-asked questions taking on
the default values. The default answers are those you gave
during previous configuration sessions.
The following are typical of the questions you will see on
the screen during the configuration process, in question
and answer format (Q: and A:):
Save With Attributes
Q: SCREEN normally saves files with color attributes
included. You may, however, save files in 'text' mode,
without color attributes. The file is then a simple DOS
text file that can be merged into other programs, or typed,
etc.
Do you wish files to be saved with attributes [Y] ?
A: Since 'Y' is the default response, pressing the Enter key
will leave the answer at 'Y'. Alternatively, you may press
'y', 'N' or 'n' as a response.
A "Y" response to this prompt will cause SCREEN to save
files with color attributes included. That is, if your
screen had several different colors mixed on the display,
the color information will be saved in the disk file.
The response to this prompt also affects the code generation
for each of the major languages, described later in this
section (if you have elected to generate code). If you
reply "Y", source statements will be generated that display
color and the assembler code will have attribute bytes
included in its data.
If you respond with an "N", the file is saved without color
information and has a carriage return/line feed appended to
each screen line. The saved file is an ASCII text file, and
can be merged into your text editor, word processor, etc.
Generate BASIC Code
Q: Do you want BASIC source code automatically generated for
the screen [N]?
1-8
Screen Machine Configuring and Starting
Screen Development System
A: 'Y' or 'N'
Replying "Y" will cause BASIC source code to be written to a
disk file of the same name as your screen file (but with the
extension of ".BAS") whenever you save a screen.
If you will not be generating BASIC code, respond with an
"N". You may then skip to the section on dBASE code (on
page 1-10), since the configuration routine will not prompt
you for the rest of the questions pertaining to BASIC.
Starting Line Number
Q: You must specify certain values for the BASIC code to be
generated.
Starting line number of generated code [100]
A: If you want a line number other than 100, type it in and
press the <Enter> key.
This is simply the line number you wish SCREEN to place on
the first statement it generates. SCREEN can be made to
generate code for the newer BASIC compilers (i.e. without
line numbers) by responding with a "0" to this question. In
this case, do not simply press <Enter> as it will cause the
program to use the default starting line number.
Line Number Increment
Q: Line number increment [10]
A: A number greater than zero
You can cause line numbers to increment by any amount you
wish, although it is your responsibility to prevent line
numbers from exceeding the BASIC maximum of 65535.
Length of Source Code Lines
Q: SCREEN can write any number of characters from a single
statement up to 255 characters.
How many characters do you want placed on a single line
[220] ?
1-9
Screen Machine Configuring and Starting
Screen Development System
A: A number from 1 to 255
By default, SCREEN will generate one source code line for
each line of the screen which contains attributes or data
to be displayed. The source code line will consist of one
or more BASIC language expressions (e.g. "LOCATE", "COLOR",
"PRINT") separated by colons.
However, in some cases it is useful to vary the number of
expressions placed on a single line of source code. For
example, since each line of BASIC source code requires
additional memory (except for newer compilers), it
occasionally becomes necessary to pack as many expressions
as possible on a single BASIC source code line.
SCREEN will place BASIC expressions on a single source code
line until the total number of characters contained in the
expressions meets or exceeds the number you enter here.
When the maximum number of characters is reached, SCREEN
will complete the expression being generated and advance to
a new source code line number. Thus, a low value entered
here would cause SCREEN to generate only one BASIC
expression for each line of source code.
You may specify any value from 1 to 255. The exact number
of characters will vary from this number by some small
amount. If you plan to take advantage of the feature of
SCREEN described in the next prompt (we highly recommend
that you do), you may answer this question with any legal
value -- it will be ignored anyway.
One Source Line Per Screen Line
Q: To make your BASIC code more readable, you can cause
SCREEN to ignore the preceding value and generate one source
line for each line of the screen.
Do you want to do this [Y]?
A: Y or N
SCREEN offers the capability to write one BASIC source line
(up to 255 characters) for each of the lines of the screen
being saved. In other words, the first source line contains
all of the code necessary to recreate the first non-blank
line of the screen, the second source line, the second non-
blank line of the screen, etc. This will often make the
1-10
Screen Machine Configuring and Starting
Screen Development System
code more readable. To enable this feature, type a "Y" and
press <Enter>.
Generating 'C' Code
Q: SCREEN can generate 'C' code.
Do you want C source code automatically generated for each
screen [N]?
A: Press <Enter> for the default response or type in 'Y' or
'N'.
If you want SCREEN to automatically generate C source code
that displays your screen, answer 'Y' at the prompt.
Generating dBASE Code
Q: SCREEN can generate source code for either dBASE II or
dBASE III.
For dBASE II, enter 'II'; for dBASE III, enter 'III'.
To skip generation of dBASE code, enter 'N'.
A: Enter 'N', 'II', or 'III'.
Generating Assembler Code
Q: SCREEN can generate a source file containing the
assembler DB statements which define your screen. The module
can then be assembled and linked with a user program.
Do you want this code automatically generated for each
screen [N]?
A: Press <Enter> for the default or enter 'Y' or 'N'.
In order to generate assembler code, respond with a "Y" when
prompted. If you will not be generating any assembler code,
respond with an "N". You may then skip to the section
entitled "Generating Turbo Pascal Code".
If you answer 'Y', you will be prompted to answer more
questions. It is assumed you are familiar with the
assembler, as well as linking multiple modules with the
linker.
1-11
Screen Machine Configuring and Starting
Screen Development System
The questions you will be asked are:
Q: When creating an assembler source file, SCREEN uses two
segments; a data segment and a code segment. The code
segment is empty and the data segment contains the DB
statements (both segments may have the same name).
Name for data segment [DATA]?
A: Press <Enter> for the default or type the name of your
data segment. This name is limited to 8 characters in
length.
Q: The data segment will be given a combine type of PUBLIC.
You must specify the align type to use. Legal align types
are: BYTE, WORD, PARA, or PAGE.
Align type for data segment [WORD]:
A: Press <Enter> for the default or type in one of BYTE,
WORD, PARA or PAGE.
Q: You may now specify a class name to be associated with
the data segment and passed to the linker. The assembler
requires the class name to be enclosed in quotes; however,
SCREEN will enclose the name in quotes for you.
Class name for data segment [DATA]:
A: Press <Enter> for the default or enter a class name.
This name is also limited to eight characters and SCREEN
will enclose the name in single quote characters for you.
Q: Name for code segment [CODE]:
A: Press <Enter> for the default or enter a segment name.
Both segments (e.g. code and data) may be the same by giving
them the same name and attributes (which will be necessary
to create a .COM file).
Q: Align type. Remember, legal align types are: BYTE, WORD,
PARA or PAGE.
Align type for code segment [BYTE]:
1-12
Screen Machine Configuring and Starting
Screen Development System
A: Press <Enter> for the default or type in one of BYTE,
WORD, PARA or PAGE.
Q: Class name for code segment [CODE]:
A: Press <Enter> for the default or enter a class name.
Generating Turbo Pascal Code
Q: SCREEN can also generate source code for Turbo Pascal.
Do you want TURBO source code automatically generated for
each screen [N]?
A: Press <Enter> for the default response or type in 'Y' or
'N'.
If you want SCREEN to automatically generate Turbo Pascal
code that displays your screen, answer 'Y' at the prompt.
A: Press <Enter> for the default response or type in 'Y' or
'N'.
Default Colors
Q: The following are acceptable color choices:
0. Black
1. Blue
2. Green
3. Cyan
4. Red
5. Magenta
6. Brown
7. White
8. Dark grey
9. Light blue
10. Light green
11. Light cyan
12. Light red
13. Light magenta
14. Yellow
15. Intense white
Choose color for default foreground [7]:
1-13
Screen Machine Configuring and Starting
Screen Development System
A: Press <Enter> for the default or enter the number
corresponding to your selection.
Q: The following are acceptable color choices:
0. Black
1. Blue
2. Green
3. Cyan
4. Red
5. Magenta
6. Brown
7. White
Choose default color for background [0]:
A: Press <Enter> for the default or enter the number
corresponding to your selection.
The foreground and background colors which you select here
will be your default working colors. The SCREEN program
screens (including all help screens) will be displayed in
these colors.
If you have elected to save screens with attributes (see
"Save With Attributes" near the beginning of this section),
any source code generated will use these colors by default
for areas of the screen where no specific colors have been
chosen.
If you have a monochrome monitor, you should select a white
or intense white foreground on a black background. Other
colors may be selected, however they will appear as either
black and white or underlined on your monochrome monitor.
For example, a blue foreground causes the data on the screen
to be underlined. See your BASIC manual's description of
the COLOR statement for a further discussion of the
monochrome monitor display equivalents of the various color
combinations.
Saving Your Configuration
_________________________
When you have responded to all of the configuration prompts,
the following prompt will appear:
Make these changes Permanent [N]
1-14
Screen Machine Configuring and Starting
Screen Development System
If you want to permanently store the configuration options
which you have just selected, type a "Y" and press <Enter>.
This will cause SCREEN to replace the contents of SCREEN.CFG
with your newly defined configuration.
If you do not wish to permanently save the configuration
options just selected, press the <Enter> key. The changes
you made, if any, will apply only to your current session
with SCREEN.
Loading a Screen Data File
__________________________
If you select main option 2 from the menu, you will be
prompted with the following message:
Below, enter the filename that will be used to store
your screen data. This filename will also be used
(with appropriate extension, e.g. ".BAS") when
generating the source code to reproduce the screen. To
select from a list of screen data files, enter the file
specification to search for (e.g. "\dat\*.*").
Enter Filename:
Press <Esc> to return to main menu.
At this point you may press <Enter> or <Esc> to return to
the main menu.
To continue, enter either a specific file name or a search
specification. Both of these options are discussed below.
In addition, if you have just exited from the screen editor
(with or without saving the screen), you may press the <F3>
key to automatically re-enter the name of the last screen
file edited.
Entering Specific File Names
____________________________
You can enter a valid DOS filename, in the following format:
d:\path\xxxxxxxx.ext, where:
d: (optional) is the disk drive on which the file is to be
loaded/saved. If it is not specified, the default drive
will be used.
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\path\ (optional) is the path name to be used when
loading/saving files. If it is not specified, the current
directory will be used.
xxxxxxxx (required) is a legal DOS filename of 1-8
characters in length. Do not use DOS wildcards in the name,
unless you want SCREEN to display the names of files (see
next heading).
If you are editing a new file, the filename should be
different from any other existing files in the specified
subdirectory.
EXT is the optional 3 character filename extension. Note
that if the extension is specified, it should not be ASM,
BAS, PAS or PRG, since source code files with these
extensions are created if you have configured SCREEN to
generate source code.
If a valid file is found that matches your input, it will be
loaded and displayed on the monitor and you will be placed
in edit mode (see next section). A valid file is either
2050 bytes (without attributes) or 4000 bytes (with
attributes) in length.
If the file is not found, SCREEN will assume that you want
to create a new file and will place you in edit mode. In
addition, the words "New File" will flash at the bottom of
the screen until you press another key.
Enter a Search Specification
____________________________
If you would like SCREEN to display the available valid
screen files, enter a search specification. The
specification takes the same format as a DOS DIR command:
d:\path\xxxxxxxx.ext
d: (optional) is the disk drive which will be searched. If
it is not specified, the default drive will be used.
\path\ (optional) is the path to be used when searching. If
it is not specified, the current directory will be used.
xxxxxxxx (required) is a combination of characters and
wildcards ('*' and '?') of 1-8 characters in length.
EXT is the optional 3 character filename extension and may
also contain DOS wildcard characters.
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After entering the search specification, SCREEN will search
for all valid files (e.g. 2050 bytes or 4000 bytes in
length) and display the names of the files on the screen.
One of the names will be highlighted and you can move the
highlight with the cursor keys.
Press <Enter> to load the highlighted file or <Esc> to
return to the "Load a file" menu.
If you load a highlighted file, you will be placed into edit
mode (see next section).
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The Screen Editor
Keyboard Usage and Online Help
______________________________
While you are in the full screen editor, you can use any of
the alphanumeric keys to enter text on your screen.
The function keys <F1> through <F10> are reserved for the
editor's functions. Similarly, the use of the <ALT> and
<Ctrl> keys in combination with the <F1> through <F10> keys
are reserved.
The use of the <Shift> in combination with the <F1> through
<F10> keys is reserved to execute saved keystrokes (see
"Keyboard Macros" in this section).
The use of each function key is explained in this section.
However, for general reference, if you need an online
reminder of the reserved key definitions, simply press the
<F1> key any time you are in the screen editor.
On-Line Help <F1>
____________
This sub-section describes the general help that is
available. There are additional help screens for graphics
characters, color and keyboard macros that are discussed
later in this section.
When you press the help key <F1> while editing a screen, the
editor will display the following screen:
Function Keys
<F1> Help <Alt>-<F1> Mark Repeat
<F2> Mark Line <Alt>-<F2> End Repeat
<F3> Copy <Alt>-<F3> Repeat Character
<F4> Move <Alt>-<F4> Reverse Video
<F5> Insert Line <Alt>-<F5> Exit W'out Save
<F6> Delete Line <Alt>-<F6> Help Graph
Characters
<F7> Shift Screen Left <Alt>-<F7> Center
<F8> Shift Screen Right <Alt>-<F8> Center in Box
<F9> Cancel <Alt>-<F9> Draw Single Box
<F10> Color <Alt>-<F10> Draw Double Box
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If this screen lists the meaning of the function key you
need to know, you can then press any key (except F1) to
return to the full screen editor.
If you need to view the meanings of other reserved keys,
press the <F1> function key while viewing the screen shown
above. The editor will display the following screen:
Function Keys Continued
<Ctrl>-<F1> Unmark Block <Ctrl>-<F6> Delete
Block
<Ctrl>-<F2> Mark Block <Ctrl>-<F7> Recall
Block
<Ctrl>-<F3> Re-mark Block <Ctrl>-<F8> Unused
<Ctrl>-<F4> Save to Memory <Ctrl>-<F9> Unused
<Ctrl>-<F5> Recall from Memory <Ctrl>-<F10> Unused
Other Keys
<Esc> Save file and exit Editor
<End> Move to end of line
<Home> Move to beginning of line
<Ctrl>-<End> Move to bottom right corner of screen
<Ctrl>-<Home> Move to top left corner of screen
<PgUp> Move to top line of current column
<PgDn> Move to bottom line of current column
** Press <F1> for more help or any other to exit **
At this point you may return to the full screen editor by
pressing any key except <F1>. If you press the <F1> key,
you will be shown the current macros assigned to the macro
keys (see the discussion on macros, later in this section.)
Note that if you change the macro keys and you want the
macro definition help screen to reflect the changes, you
must edit the file "HELP3.@#$".
Save File and Exit <Esc>
__________________
Pressing the <Esc> key while in screen edit mode
automatically saves the screen image, generates source code
according to the configuration file and returns to SCREEN's
main menu. If you wish to immediately re-load the same
screen file for editing (i.e., "save and continue"), you may
press the <F3> key. This automatically enters the name of
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the last screen file edited.
Exit Without Save <Alt>-<F5>
_________________
If you want to return to the main menu without saving the
screen image (and abandoning any changes) and without
creating source files, hold the <Alt> key and press <F5>
once.
The program will ask you to confirm that you wish to exit
without saving your work.
If you do confirm your request (by pressing 'Y'), you will
return to the main menu.
If you answer with 'N', you will be returned to edit mode.
If you return to the main menu, and if you wish to
immediately re-load the same screen file for editing (i.e.,
"save and continue"), you may press the <F3> key. This
automatically enters the name of the last screen file
edited.
Cursor Movement
_______________
You can use the alphanumeric keys to enter lines of text on
your screen. A few special keys to keep in mind when you are
entering text are:
Key Function
<End> Places the cursor in column 80.
<Home> Places the cursor at the beginning of the
current line.
<Ctrl>-<End> Places the cursor at the bottom right corner
of the screen.
<Ctrl>-<Home> Places the cursor at the top left corner of
the screen.
<PgUp> Places the cursor on the top line of the
screen in the same column it is currently in.
<PgDn> Places the cursor on the bottom line of the
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screen in the same column it is currently in.
<TAB> Moves the cursor to the next tab stop to the
right (tabs are set every 8 columns), but
not past the end of the line.
<Shift>-<TAB> Moves the cursor to the next tab stop to the
left (tabs are set every 8 columns), but not
past the beginning of the line.
The cursor control keys located on the number pad (right,
left, up and down arrows) perform their natural, instinctive
functions.
Note that the editor does not auto-wrap text when the end of
a line is reached.
Insert Characters
_________________
A true insert mode is supported. Pressing the INS key
toggles from insert to overstrike mode and back again.
When in overstrike mode, the cursor is the standard
underline type - in insert mode, the cursor is a full-
cursor.
Delete Characters
_________________
To delete characters, move the cursor to the character that
should be deleted, and press the <Del> key to remove it.
Insert a Line <F5>
_____________
To INSERT a blank line, move the cursor to the screen line
where you want a line to be inserted, and press the <F5>
key.
The cursor will remain on the newly inserted blank line.
Also, anything on the bottom line of the screen will vanish
as the remainder of the screen lines are all relocated one
line down (see Cancel function later in this section).
Delete an Entire Line <F6>
_____________________
To DELETE a screen line, move the cursor to the screen line
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which you want to delete, and press the <F6> key. All lines
below the line you delete will be moved up one line and a
blank line will be inserted at the bottom of the screen.
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Copy an Entire Line <F2> , <F3>
___________________
To COPY a screen line:
* Move the cursor to the line you want to copy (the
"source line").
* Mark the line by pressing the <F2> key.
* Move the cursor to the line to which you want to copy
the marked line (the "destination line").
* Copy the line by pressing the <F3> key.
If the destination line was blank, the copied line is simply
placed there, without altering the remainder of the screen.
If there is already some data on the destination line, the
copied line is "inserted" by first shifting all lines below
the destination line down one (and dropping the bottom line
off of the screen), and then placing a copy of the source
line onto the line where the cursor is located.
Repeated Line Copy <F3>
__________________
Once you have marked a line (by positioning the cursor on it
and pressing <F2>), you can continue to make copies of it by
placing the cursor on the desired destination lines and
pressing <F3>.
Un-Mark a Line <F2>
______________
To "unmark" the source line, either position the cursor on
that line and press <F2> again (to toggle the mark off), or
position the cursor on another line, press <F2> to mark the
new line, and then press <F2> again to toggle the new line
off.
Move a Line <F4>
___________
To MOVE a screen line:
* Locate the cursor on the line you want to move (the
"source line").
* Mark the line by pressing the <F2> key.
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* Locate the cursor on the line to which you want to move
the marked line.
* Press the <F4> key.
The original source line is deleted, the screen is adjusted
upward one line, and then the source line is copied into the
line where the cursor is located.
As with the copy line function, if the destination line was
blank, the moved line is simply placed there, without
altering the remainder of the screen. If there is already
some data on the destination line, the moved line is
"inserted" by first shifting all lines below the destination
line down one (and dropping the bottom line off of the
screen), and then placing a copy of the source line onto the
line where the cursor is located.
Cancel a Line Function <F9>
______________________
Any of the four line functions discussed above (Insert,
Delete, Copy and Move) may be "canceled" by pressing the
<F9> key before you begin any one of the four functions the
next time.
"Cancel" will restore a line deleted with <F6>, remove a
line inserted with <F5>, or "undo" the effects of a copy or
move line operation. "Cancel" always reverses the last line
operation processed.
Note that if a block is marked (see below) after a line
operation takes place, the last line operation cannot be
canceled.
Center a Line <Alt>-<F7>
_____________
To center a line of text (between the left and right edges
of the physical screen):
* Place the cursor on the screen line to be centered.
* Hold down the <Alt> key and press <F7>.
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Screen Machine Screen Editor
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Center the Screen <F7> , <F8>
_________________
To center an entire screen of material, "shift" the entire
screen one column at a time. To shift the screen to the
right, press the <F8> function key. To shift the screen to
the left, press <F7>.
All 25 lines of the screen are shifted one column for each
press of the function key. The characters which are
"shifted" off of the screen (those in column 1 when shifting
left) are lost; the columns at the other end (the right side
when shifting left) are filled with spaces.
Center Text in a Box <Alt>-<F8>
____________________
This means you can build a menu box, place text anywhere
inside of it, and then center the text within the left and
right vertical borders of the box.
All you need to use this function is a line with either
ASCII character 179 (single vertical bar) or 186 (double
vertical bar) on each side of one or more text characters on
the same line as the cursor.
You can center the text within the vertical bar characters
by moving the cursor to where any part of the text appears
and holding the <Alt> key down and pressing the <F8> key.
Note: This operation works on a single line at a time. You
will need to move the cursor to each line within the box in
order to center all of the text in a box.
If this operation would cause a marked block of text to
move, you will receive the warning message "Block operation
pending. Use unmark first."
If you have overlapping boxes, or two boxes on that pass
through the line where your text is, the text will be
centered within the box where the cursor appears. If the
cursor is inside multiple boxes, the innermost box is used
for centering purposes.
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Change Colors <F10>
_____________
You can change the colors on any part of the screen at any
time. Once SCREEN is configured for color and you are in
the SCREEN editor, you can designate certain areas for color
and select the colors of your choice.
To designate color for an area of the screen, it is easiest
to view the area as a rectangle, or window.
Changing the color for a given portion of the screen, or
even the entire screen, is performed as follows:
* Position the cursor at one of the four corners of the
window.
* Press the <F10> key
* Select the foreground color you desire from the menu
screen that appears.
* Select the background color you desire from the menu
screen.
* Move the cursor to the diagonally opposite corner of
the window.
* Press the <F10> key again and the designated area will
be changed to the colors you selected.
Note: When you press the <F10> key, if the words Mono Only
appear on the color menu screen (beneath the words
"Foreground Color"), then SCREEN is not configured for
color. This means color attributes will not be included
when your screen is saved. To configure SCREEN for color,
press <Esc> to return to the editing screen, press <Esc> to
save the screen, then press F1 to configure the screen (see
section 1 for instructions). Once you have configured
SCREEN for color, you can re-load the screen and change the
colors.
To change the color of a single character, perform the first
four steps shown above, then press <F10> immediately,
without moving the cursor from underneath the single
character.
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On-Line Help for Changing Color <F1>
_______________________________
Online Help is available for the COLOR function. To gain
access to this "help", you must be viewing either the
foreground or background color menus. At that point, press
<F1>.
Press any key to return to the color menu you were viewing
before you asked for help.
Blinking Foreground <*>
___________________
To have the foreground color blink on and off, precede the
color number or letter of the color desired with an asterisk
when entering the foreground color.
Reverse Video <Alt>-<F4>
_____________
To use the reverse video capability of SCREEN, you must
configure your system for color before you enter the full
screen editor. This is true even if you do not have a color
monitor.
To cause a single character to display in reverse video,
move the cursor to the character you want to have appear in
reverse video, then hold down the <Alt> key and press the
<F4> key.
Since whatever foreground/background color the character is
currently displayed in is reversed, you can "undo" the
reverse video function by repositioning the cursor on each
of the characters which have been changed and repeating the
<Alt>-<F4> sequence.
Graphics Characters
___________________
You can use any of the extended graphics characters to make
a special symbol appear on your screen. By using these
characters you can create boxes, bar charts, arrows and a
variety of special forms of your choice.
To use the graphic character of your choice:
* Hold the <Alt> key down. (Users of Superkey may need to
hold the <Shift> key also.)
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* Enter the decimal equivalent of the character on the
numeric keypad (not the upper row of keys on the
keyboard).
* Release the <Alt> key.
For example, 205 is entered by pressing <Alt>, tapping the
numeric keypad 2, the 0, and the 5, and finally releasing
the <Alt>.
On-Line Graphics Character Help <Alt>-<F6>
_______________________________
The decimal codes for each of the special characters can be
seen on the special graphics character help screen. To view
this screen, hold the <Alt> key down and press <F6>.
Upon pressing <F6>, your screen will display the special
characters for ASCII codes 128 through 186. Press <F1> to
see the characters for ASCII 187 through 255, or press any
other key to return to the editing screen.
Repeating Characters <Alt>-<F3>
____________________
To repeat the last character entered, hold down the <Alt>
key and press <F3>. This can be repeated as many times as
desired. This feature is helpful when you want to use the
same graphics character several times.
Drawing Lines <Alt>-<F1> , <Alt>-<F2>
_____________
Besides being able to repeat a character, SCREEN allows you
to draw vertical and horizontal lines.
To draw a line using a given character, follow these steps:
* Position the cursor on the character to be used in
drawing the line. (If the first character has not been
typed, type it first.)
* Hold down the <Alt> key and press <F1>. This tells
SCREEN where the line starts.
* Move the cursor to the point where you want the line to
end.
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* Hold down the <Alt> key and press <F2>.
The line is now filled in with the character which was at
the original cursor position. Please note that you cannot
draw a diagonal line using this method.
Mark a Block <Ctrl>-<F2>
____________
You may work with large sections of the screen in "blocks".
For purposes of discussion, a block can be thought of as a
"window", or rectangular area of the screen.
To mark a block of text on the screen:
* Move the cursor to one of the four corners of the
block.
* Hold the <Ctrl> key and press the <F2> key once. The
character under the cursor will be displayed in inverse
video.
* Move the cursor to the corner of the block that is
diagonally opposite from the first marked corner.
* Hold the <Ctrl> key and press the <F2> key once. The
entire block will be displayed in inverse video.
Copy a Block <F3>
____________
When you have marked a block and it is displayed in inverse
video, you may make a copy of the block by moving the cursor
to the top-left corner of the area on the screen where you
want the block to be copied, and pressing the <F3> key.
Move a Block <F4>
____________
Similarly, to move a block that has been marked, position
the cursor at the top left corner of the area on the screen
where you want to move the block, and press the <F4> key.
Un-mark a Block <Ctrl>-<F1>
_______________
You may un-mark a block by holding the <Ctrl> key and
pressing the <F1> key once.
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Re-mark a Block <Ctrl>-<F3>
_______________
A block can be instantly marked again (provided it was the
most recently marked block) by holding the <Ctrl> key and
pressing the <F3> key once.
Save Screen to Memory <Ctrl>-<F4>
_____________________
This feature is used when you want to experiment with "what
if" changes on your screen and you do not want to save your
screen to disk. Holding the <Ctrl> key and pressing <F4>
once will save the screen image to a safe location in memory
that can be recalled as described in the next paragraph.
Note that the program will ask you to confirm that you want
to save the screen to memory.
This feature, together with the recall feature (next
paragraph) can be used for COPY'ing entire screens from one
file to another, or if you prefer to think of it this way,
to save the current screen using a different name. This
saves you from having to exit to DOS to perform a copy.
In order to accomplish a screen copy, load the screen you
wish to copy, save it to memory <Ctrl>-<F4>, exit with <Esc>
or without saving <Alt>-<F5>, load another screen <F2>,
which can be a new screen, and finally, recall the saved
screen from memory <Ctrl>-<F5>.
Recall Screen from Memory <Ctrl>-<F5>
_________________________
When you have saved a screen to memory using <Ctrl>-<F4>,
you can restore the screen by holding the <Ctrl> key and
pressing <F5> once. Note that you must have saved a screen
before you can recall it.
Delete a Block <Ctrl>-<F6>
______________
You can delete a marked block by holding the <Ctrl> key and
pressing <F6> once. Note that "delete", as used with
blocks, means that any text present in the marked block is
replaced by blank spaces -- this function does not move any
text around your screen.
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Block Cut and Paste <Ctrl>-<F7>
___________________
When you wish to copy a block from one screen to another,
mark the block in the "source" screen (using <Ctrl>-<F2> to
mark two corners), load the "destination" screen, hold the
<Ctrl> key and press <F7> once. After confirming your
request, the block will be copied into the "destination"
screen.
Cancel Block Operation <F9>
______________________
You may "undo" the last block operation by pressing the <F9>
key.
Note that if you mark a line after performing a block
operation, the last block operation cannot be canceled.
Considerations When Using Blocks
________________________________
When a marked block is present on the screen, certain line
operations will not be allowed. You will receive a message
saying "Block operation pending. Use unmark first."
This situation is remedied by using <Ctrl>-<F1> to un-mark
the block, performing the line operation, and finally using
<Ctrl>-<F3> to re-mark the block (assuming you want it
remarked).
The operations that will cause this message are:
* <F5> Insert a line
* <F6> Delete a line
* <F7> Shift screen left
* <F8> Shift screen right
If a marked block is present on the screen, using the <F2>
key to mark a line will automatically un-mark the block.
The block can then be re-marked using <Ctrl>-<F3>.
Marking a corner of a new block will automatically un-mark
an existing block. In this case, the first block can no
longer be re-marked.
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Drawing Single Line Boxes <Alt>-<F9>
_________________________
To draw a single line box on the screen:
* Position the cursor at one corner of a rectangle that
represents the box.
* Hold the <Alt> key down and press the <F9> key once. A
box character will appear at the cursor location.
* Move the cursor to the diagonally opposite corner of
the area you want "boxed".
* Hold the <Alt> key down and press the <F9> key again.
The box will be drawn automatically.
Drawing Double Line Boxes <Alt>-<F10>
_________________________
To draw a double line box on the screen:
* Position the cursor at one corner of a rectangle that
represents the box.
* Hold the <Alt> key down and press the <F10> key once. A
box character will appear at the cursor location.
* Move the cursor to the diagonally opposite corner of
the area you want "boxed".
* Hold the <Alt> key down and press the <F10> key again.
The box will be drawn automatically.
Keyboard Macros
_______________
One of SCREEN's most powerful features is its macro
capability. With macros, you can significantly reduce the
number of keystrokes required to create or edit a screen.
A macro is simply a collection of keystrokes which can be
"played back" on command. The program retains the sequence
of keystrokes in its memory; then when the macro is "played
back", the program acts exactly as it would if you were
physically typing the keys at the keyboard.
The savings to you comes from having only to press one or
two keys to tell SCREEN to "play" a certain macro.
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Screen Machine Screen Editor
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The number of keystrokes in a macro is virtually unlimited -
- you can even define a macro which is all of the keystrokes
required to create an entire screen!
SCREEN allows a maximum of ten macros to be "active", that
is, available for playback, at any one time. A default set
of macros is loaded when you start SCREEN from DOS. These
ten macros are those which are stored in SCREEN's
configuration file.
Until you create a new configuration file, or record some
macros and save them to the configuration as you exit the
program, the ten macros which will be available are those
which are supplied with SCREEN. These macros are extremely
simple, yet are useful, and give you the feel of macro
usage.
On-Line Macro Help (HELP3.@#$)
__________________
When you press the <F1> help key while editing a screen, the
first two help screens display the meanings of all reserved
keys other than the macro keys.
If you press <F1> three times (from the main editing
screen), you will be presented with the contents of a file
called HELP3.@#$. This is a standard SCREEN file (without
attributes) that contains descriptions of the macro keys, as
they are supplied on your program disk.
You may change the screen so that your own macro definitions
are displayed as part of the help process! Simply edit and
save the screen file HELP3.@#$.
Recording a Macro <Alt>-1 to <Alt>-0
_________________
As with any recording, there are two steps to "playing" a
macro -- making the recording and playing it back.
You can change the program's active macros in one of two
ways:
* Load an entirely new configuration file. This results
in loading the ten macros which are defined in that
configuration file so that they become the new active
macros. (This assumes that you have created one or more
new macros which you have saved into a new
configuration file. The only way to do this, other
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Screen Machine Screen Editor
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than borrowing a file from someone else, is to record
a macro of your own.)
* Use SCREEN's macro record capability. With this
feature, you do not have to sit down and write out
macros, you simply "push the record button", continue
editing as usual, then when you are finished "turn the
record button" off. You see the immediate effects of
your macro while you create it.
When using the macro record feature, SCREEN acts exactly as
before, except that all of the keystrokes which you press
are remembered for future playback and saving to disk.
Actually, this is not entirely true -- if you request Help
by pressing <F1> while recording a macro, the <F1> and the
subsequent key you must strike to return to the editing
screen do not become a part of the saved macro.
To start recording a macro, hold down the <Alt> key, and
press one of the number keys along the upper row of the
typewriter section of the keyboard (not the number pad).
The number key you choose determines the number of the macro
which will be recorded. Macros are "numbered" one through
ten (pressing the zero key is for macro number ten).
When you begin to record a macro, a blinking highlighted
block will appear in the corner of the screen furthest from
the current cursor position. Inside of the block you will
see the abbreviation "Rec" for record, followed by the
number of the macro you are recording (again, a zero is
displayed for macro 10). You are now in the "macro record"
mode. This highlighted block will always be visible on your
screen for as long as you remain in the record mode.
When you have finished typing all of the keystrokes that you
want saved as the macro, repeat the <Alt>-number sequence
which you used to enter the macro record mode. If you don't
remember which number macro you are recording, just look at
the highlighted block.
You have now exited the macro record mode. Whatever text
that was under the highlighted block will now reappear.
If you want to immediately begin recording another macro,
you can hold down <Alt> and type the number key for the new
macro before exiting the record mode for the first macro.
This will automatically terminate the recording of the first
macro, and start recording the new one. In this case, the
<Alt>-number keystrokes are not saved as part of the macro
1-35
Screen Machine Screen Editor
Screen Development System
definition.
As an example, to record the word "computer" as new macro 9,
follow these steps:
* Hold down <ALT> and press the "9" key.
* Notice the block with "Rec 9" appears in one corner of
your screen.
* Type "computer" as normal. If you make an error, and
have to backspace, don't worry - the backspace(s) will
become a part of the macro definition, and when the
macro is played back, the character(s) you struck by
mistake will be pro- cessed as if you typed them, but
then the backspaces will also be processed, deleting
the unwanted characters.
* When you have typed the final "r", hold down <Alt> and
press the "9" key again. You have now successfully
redefined macro 9.
* The highlighted block now disappears, and the text
which was in that position on the screen reappears.
Instead of pressing <Alt>-9 a second time, if you had wanted
to immediately define macro 4 as the word "programming"
preceded by a space, you could have held <ALT> and pressed
the "4" key rather than "9". The definition of macro 9
would have terminated, and macro 4 would contain all of the
keystrokes you make until you hold <ALT> and press another
number key (either a "4" to terminate the record mode
altogether, or another number, which would start recording a
third macro).
Remember that as long as the highlighted block is visible on
your screen, you are still recording a macro.
When you start recording macros, you will probably notice
that as soon as you place the cursor on the same line as the
highlighted block, the block will move to the opposite
corner of the screen. The text that was under the block at
its original location is replaced.
Also, if you exit from a screen, either by pressing <Esc> or
exit without saving with <Alt>-<F5>, any macro which is
being recorded is immediately terminated. The <Esc> and
<Alt>-<F5> combinations are not made a part of saved macros.
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Screen Machine Screen Editor
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Considerations When Using Macros
________________________________
If you are new to macros, they can sometimes be confusing.
Seeing the effect of the keystrokes as you are recording
them is a great help to "writing" a macro, but there are
still some points to consider. Because SCREEN is designed
to be used within fixed borders, it is important to note how
certain keys will act inside of macros.
For example, the <Enter> and <End> keys should normally be
avoided in macros because columns will not necessarily align
(depending on the original cursor location). For instance,
if you are creating a macro which draws two upward arrows
spaced 8 characters apart horizontally, using the carat and
vertical bar characters (^,|), and, when creating the macro
you are working very near the left edge of the screen, it is
tempting to type both carats, then use <ENTER> in order to
return to the left edge of the screen in order to place the
first vertical bar character (|) on the line under the
carat. However, if you play back this macro while at a
different starting column, the <Enter> will cause the
vertical bars to be placed in the same columns at the far
left of the screen, which is probably not what you intended.
In general, then, the cursor direction keys, the space bar
and the backspace key should be used to perform horizontal
positioning.
Similarly, macros that place text on more than one line will
not work as might be expected if "played back" when the
cursor is at the top or bottom of the screen. To avoid this
type of confusion, we suggest making the first key in each
macro <Ctrl> <Home>. (Holding down the <Ctrl> key and then
pressing the <Home> key causes the cursor to be located at
the first column of the first row on the screen.) Now if
you are recording a macro which creates characters at
specific locations on the screen (such as a graphics
character border), the macro will always playback correctly
regardless of the cursor position when the macro playback is
started.
Playing Macros Back <Shift>-<F1> to <Shift>-<F10>
___________________
"Playing" a macro is a simple two-key sequence. The ten
function keys in combination with the <Shift> key will
replay the saved keystrokes for the macro whose numbered
function key was struck. In other words, <Shift>-<F1>
replays macro 1, <Shift>-<F4> replays macro 4, etc.
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Nesting Macros
______________
SCREEN allows "nesting" of macros. This means that a macro
can contain, among its saved keystrokes, a <Shift>-Function
key sequence.
In this case, SCREEN acts on the keystrokes from the first
macro until the <Shift>-Function key is read. It then
suspends the first macro, and begins to act on the saved
keystrokes of the second macro.
When all of the keystrokes of the second macro have been
acted on (it has been "played to completion") SCREEN then
continues with the keystrokes from the first macro at the
first keystroke after the <Shift>-Function key.
Notice that SCREEN does not save whatever keystrokes the
second macro consisted of at the time the first macro was
recorded, but rather saves the <Shift>-Function key. This
enables you to redefine the meaning of a macro, simply by
changing the meaning of the nested macro keystrokes.
For example, suppose that macros #1 and #2 contain the
keystrokes:
1. The <Shift>-<F2> Corporation.
2. Burroughs
When you playback macro #1, "The Burroughs Corporation" is
displayed on the screen. However, Burroughs merged with
Sperry to form "Unisys". To change this macro, re-record
macro #2 as "Unisys". Then, when macro #1 is played back,
it will type "The Unisys Corporation".
Macros can be nested as many as eight levels deep. As soon
as you attempt to nest to the ninth layer, all macro
processing is halted, and all pending macros are cleared.
Recursive Macros
________________
A recursive macro is one which calls itself. Recursive
macros are not prohibited but will always run into the eight
level nesting limitation.
Assume that #8 is "Be <Shift>-<F4>", and that macro #4 is
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Screen Machine Screen Editor
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"there <Shift>-<F8>". When you press <Shift>-<F8> to replay
macro #8:
* "Be " is printed.
* Macro #8 is suspended.
* Macro #4 is started as a nested macro.
* Macro #4 causes "there" to be printed.
* Macro #4 is suspended
* Macro #8 is started as a third-level nested macro.
Since all processing stops when the ninth level is
attempted, the result is that four "Be there" pairs are
printed.
1-40
Screen Machine Screen Capture
Screen Development System
Screen Capture
CAPTURE allows you to take snapshots of any screen (text or
CGA compatible graphics mode) displayed on your monitor at
an time. CAPTURE takes over the <Shift>-<PrtSc> function
which nomally sends the screen's contents to the printer.
CAPTURE can be directed to save screens with or without
attributes. If attributes are not desired, it stores the
screen data file in ASCII text file format, providing a
powerful tool for use in documenting systems.
You can also use the captured screen data files (text only)
as input into SCREEN (the screen editor) in order to
generate source code for the desired screen in BASIC, dBASE
II and III, Turbo Pascal and 8086/8088 Assembler language.
When dealing with switches (shown as a forward slash '/' in
this manual), please note that the current DOS switch
character must be used with CAPTURE. For MS-DOS and PC-DOS,
the forward slash is the default switch character, but some
versions of DOS allow the user to change the switch
character.
Help with CAPTURE
_________________
You may at any time request help from CAPTURE.COM by typing
"CAPTURE" and pressing the <Enter> key.
Using CAPTURE Without SCREEN
_____________________________
To start the program, type CAPTURE, followed by a filename
of 8 characters or less (no extensions are permitted -- if
you supply one, it will be ignored). If you just type
CAPTURE but do not include any valid switches, the program
automatically will use the filename "CAPTURED".
This filename will become the "base" filename under which
the captured screens are saved on your disk. (See also
"Using CAPTURE with SCREEN", on page 3-4.)
CAPTURE uses the last three characters of your filename to
"number" the screens. The first screen saved will be
designated with the three characters '000', the second
'001', etc. Note that if your filename has more than 5
characters, the filename extension is used to indicate the
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Screen Development System
screen number.
For example, you may want to save your screens into files
called EXAMPLE. To do so, simply type:
CAPTURE EXAMPLE <Enter>
Now, when you have the screen that you want to CAPTURE
displayed on your monitor, hold the <Shift> key down and
press <PrtSc>. CAPTURE will respond with a brief message on
the bottom of your screen, letting you know that it has
saved your screen in its memory area. It will then write a
screen data file for the screen as soon as the operating
system will allow. In this case, the name of the file will
be EXAMPLE.000.
You can then display another screen, press <Shift>-<PrtSc>
again, and CAPTURE will save this screen into a file named
EXAMPLE.001.
Change Filename Without Restarting CAPTURE (/C)
__________________________________________
You may change the filename under which your screens are
being saved by invoking CAPTURE and following the filename
with a '/c'. For example:
CAPTURE NEWNAME /c <Enter>
Note that if you specify a '/c' the first time you start
CAPTURE, it will respond with:
Ignore 'c' switch and install capture (Y/N)? [N]
Saving Color Attributes (/A)
_______________________
By default, CAPTURE will save all of the necessary color
information about the screen you CAPTURE. If you intend to
use the text file for documentation purposes, or for any
reason do not want to include the color information, you can
tell CAPTURE not to save this information.
To do so, either follow the filename with a '/a' on the
command line when you start CAPTURE, (For instance: CAPTURE
EXAMPLE /a) or reinvoke CAPTURE and specify '/a' (For
example: CAPTURE /a).
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Screen Machine Screen Capture
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Note that you are actually "toggling" the color attribute
switch. It is ON until you turn it OFF. If you then
specify '/a', you turn it ON again.
CAPTURE will respond by telling you that it is now saving
either "only characters" or "full attributes". To restore
the original condition, simply repeat the above procedure.
Send Screen to Printer (/P)
______________________
To tell CAPTURE to print, as well as to save a screen data
file, either follow the filename with a '/p' on the command
line when you start CAPTURE (Example: CAPTURE EXAMPLE /p) or
reinvoke CAPTURE and specify '/p' (Example: CAPTURE /p).
Again, this is a toggle switch, turning the feature on and
off and on again.
CAPTURE will respond by telling you that the "Printer echo
is now ON/OFF". To restore the original condition, simply
repeat the above procedure.
Capturing Graphics Screens (/G)
__________________________
You can capture graphics images to disk by using the '/G'
switch on the CAPTURE command line when you first start the
program. In addition to using more memory than it does for
text screens, CAPTURE will save two files each time you
press <Shift>-<PrtScr>:
* filexxx.bin - a binary image that can be loaded
directly into video memory.
* filexxx.bld - a file that can be used with BASIC's
BLOAD command. The only difference between the '.bin'
and '.bld' files is that the '.bld' file contains the 7
byte header that BASIC checks for.
Using CAPTURE With SCREEN
_________________________
You can use screen data files created with CAPTURE (text
mode) as input for SCREEN. This allows you to generate
source code in BASIC, dBASE II (or III), Turbo Pascal and
8086/8088 Assembler language for any text screen in any of
your programs.
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Screen Machine Screen Capture
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To generate source code for screens you have captured,
follow these steps:
* Load CAPTURE and specify a filename.
* Run the program that contains the screens you want to
CAPTURE.
* Use CAPTURE to generate screen data files for each of
the screens.
* Configure SCREEN to generate the type of source code
desired (see section 1).
Remember that CAPTURE automatically adds three incremental
characters to your original filename, beginning with 000.
Therefore, if the filename you told CAPTURE to save the
screens under was TREE, you must specify TREE000, TREE001,
etc. as your filenames when prompted by SCREEN.
SCREEN can then be used to load the file created by CAPTURE,
and display it. At this point you can use the full screen
editing capabilities of SCREEN, or you can generate the
source code types you are configured for by pressing the
<Esc> key. SCREEN will save your edited (or unedited) screen
data file and store it along with the source code files for
your screen.
Deactivating Capture
____________________
The Capture program can be deactivated by using the '/x'
command line switch. For example:
CAPTURE /X
Note that the memory used by CAPTURE will not be released.
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Screen Machine Using SHOW
Screen Development System
Using SHOW for Disk Management & Menus
What is SHOW ?
SHOW is a program that, in its simplest use, displays screen
files that have been created with SCREEN.
SHOW can be used to provide a main menu, or even a disk
management system, from which programs can be selected and
executed. It can also be used to create demonstration,
prototype and tutorial programs (see Section 5).
In addition to displaying data files, SHOW can be instructed
to display a screen file and then wait for the user to press
a key before SHOW terminates.
SHOW can also be told to wait for a range of valid keys.
This is useful for displaying menus and ensuring that the
user selects a valid option from the menu.
When the user presses a valid key, SHOW sets the DOS
"errorlevel" relative to the valid key range specified.
For example, if the range you specify is "59 through 68"
(corresponding to <F1> through <F10>) and the user presses
<F5>, the DOS error level is set to 5 before SHOW
terminates. (If you are unfamiliar with the DOS
"errorlevel", please consult the section on batch commands
in your Disk Operating System manual. Also, take a look at
the example below.)
Setting the errorlevel allows branching in batch (.bat)
files (see page 4-4). The program disk contains an example
of using SHOW to process a main menu. The file is called
"MAINMENU.BAT."
Note that when testing for "errorlevel" in a batch file, DOS
actually test for an errorlevel GREATER THAN OR EQUAL TO the
error level you are testing for. Therefore, care must be
taken in the order used for errorlevel checking. For
example, if you are testing for errorlevel set at 1, 2, 3 or
4, your file should appear like this:
If errorlevel 4 ....
If errorlevel 3 ....
If errorlevel 2 ....
If errorlevel 1 ....
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Screen Machine Using SHOW
Screen Development System
SHOW's simplest features are discussed in this section. See
section 5 for information on using more advanced features
and creating runtime versions of SHOW for distribution.
Invoking the SHOW Program
_________________________
You can start the SHOW program by invoking it from the DOS
prompt (just like any other program) or by having a batch
file that contains one or more lines that invoke the
program.
In addition, by using "command files", you can use show for
creating demonstrations, prototypes and tutorials (see
section 5).
Command Syntax
______________
The syntax for invoking SHOW is:
SHOW Filespec [basekey max] [/Tn] [/An]
An explanation of each of the items on the above line is
given below.
Note that the hyphen '-' and forward slash '/' can be used
interchangeably as the "switch" character. This means that
wherever '/' is used in this manual, you may substitute '-',
if you prefer.
Filespec
The name of a valid screen file (2050 bytes in length for
text only or 4000 bytes for text and attributes).
You may optionally precede the screen file name with a disk
drive letter and path. For example:
SHOW C:\SCREENS\MYSCREEN.001
Basekey
The 'basekey' is optional and represents the lowest-valued
1-46
Screen Machine Using SHOW
Screen Development System
key accepted as input from the user when the screen is
displayed. It is one of:
* A specific key, enclosed in quotation marks, e.g. "1"
or "A"
* A scan code value (unquoted), e.g. 59 for the <F1>
key. (See Appendix A for scan codes on IBM and
compatible machines.)
* An unquoted asterisk (*), which is taken to mean "any
key" (Note that "*", meaning the asterisk key, is not
the same as *, which is unquoted and means "any key").
Max
This represents the highest-valued key accepted as input and
is either:
* A quoted character, as above
* An unquoted scan code value
Note that 'max' cannot be specified unless 'basekey' is
specified -- the first key indicated is always taken as the
basekey.
'max' must be greater than or equal to 'basekey'. Note that
the program does not have provision for checking this
relationship IF the keys are specified differently (i.e one
is quoted, the other is a scan code).
Errorlevel
If you specify a 'basekey' and 'max', the user must press a
key within the specified range in order to stop the screen
display (except for Timed Delay - see below).
Pressing a valid key will cause SHOW to stop displaying the
screen and return to DOS. The DOS Errorlevel variable will
be set relative to the input range. For example, if you
specify a basekey of 59 and max of 68 (F1 through F10), and
the user presses F5, errorlevel will be set at 5.
Other Errorlevel values will occur as follows:
0 = Timed delay (see next sub-section) expired or no
1-47
Screen Machine Using SHOW
Screen Development System
key range was specified.
64 = If the user A)borts from a critical error.
65 = The "get out" key (/x switch, see section 5) was
pressed.
66 = Execution error occurred.
For example, a Return without a Gosub (see
Section 5).
67 = Unrecoverable syntax error.
For example, unable to locate a label used in a
Goto or Gosub (See Section 5).
Timed Delay (/T)
___________
/Tn (for Timed delay) is used to display a screen for a
predetermined period of time before returning to DOS.
The '/T' character is required and 'n' is a numeric value (1
to 255), which is the number of seconds to delay after a
screen has been displayed.
If a valid key (see above) is struck before the indicated
number of seconds has passed, the key is handled as if the
/T switch were not present -- in other words, SHOW
terminates immediately, setting the error level.
Screen Attributes (/A)
_________________
/An (for Attributes) specifies the screen attribute to be
used for those files which were originally saved without
attributes. Allowable values for n are:
s (the letter s) = use the screen attribute in effect
at the time SHOW is started. Example: SHOW filename/AS
p (the letter p) = use the screen attribute from the
previously displayed screen. Example: SHOW filename/AP
d = Use attribute d (a decimal number from 1-255).
Example: SHOW filename/A15 (displays in high intensity
white).
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Screen Machine Using SHOW
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Calculating Screen Attributes
_____________________________
In order to calculate the desired screen attribute, use the
following formula, where FORE=foreground color and
BACK=background color:
Attribute = BACK * 16 + FORE
Case Sensitivity
________________
All letters on the command line, as well as characters read
from the keyboard, are automatically translated to UPPER
case. Thus, if 'basekey' is specified as "a", and 'max as'
"c", the user can press 'A', 'a', 'B', 'b', 'C' or 'c' as
valid keys.
Error Messages
______________
Please refer to Appendix B for a listing of error messages
returned by the SHOW program.
Using SHOW to Organize Hard Disks
_________________________________
Since SHOW displays data files (such as menus) and waits for
the user to enter a keypress from a valid range, it is very
useful for providing a main menu from which various programs
on a hard disk can be selected and executed.
This eliminates the need for various users of a given PC to
enter (or know) the DOS commands to change to the proper
disk directory and invoke a particular program.
To use SHOW for this purpose, it must be executed from
within a .BAT file. The programs selected from a displayed
menu are executed by branching on the appropriate DOS
Errorlevel by using the DOS batch "IF" subcommand. If you
are unfamiliar with the "IF" subcommand, consult the section
on batch commands in your Disk Operating System manual.
Also, take a look at the sample below.
When SHOW is invoked with a data filename and a range of
valid keys for user option response, it waits until the
user presses a key which falls within the range specified.
When a valid key is pressed, SHOW sets the DOS errorlevel
relative to the range of valid keys, then terminates.
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Screen Machine Using SHOW
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For example, suppose SHOW is invoked with the command:
SHOW MENU "1" "4"
This command says "display the file called MENU and wait for
the user to press the "1", "2", "3" or "4" key.
Now assume the "3" key is pressed in response to the display
of the data file "menu".
SHOW will set the DOS Errorlevel to 3 before it returns to
DOS.
An "IF" statement can be used to branch within the .BAT file
to the command which executes the program for option 3.
As an example of this, suppose you have a screen called
"MENU". The screen says:
My Company Main Menu
1. Lotus 1-2-3
2. Microsoft Word
3. Run CHKDSK.COM
4. Exit to DOS
Please enter a number from 1 to 4
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Screen Machine Using SHOW
Screen Development System
Your actual batch file might look like this:
ECHO OFF
:START
SHOW MENU "1" "4"
IF ERRORLEVEL 4 GOTO EXIT
IF ERRORLEVEL 3 GOTO OPTION3
IF ERRORLEVEL 2 GOTO OPTION2
IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO OPTION1
:OPTION1
CD \LOTUS
123
GOTO START
:OPTION2
CD\WORD
WORD
GOTO START
:OPTION3
CHKDSK/F
PAUSE
GOTO START
:EXIT
1-51
Screen Machine Advanced SHOW Features
Screen Development System
Advanced SHOW Features
If you have not already read section 4, please do so before
reading this section. The reason is that the features
discussed here assume familiarity with the simpler SHOW
features discussed in section 4.
Command Files
_____________
You can build command files, similar in nature to batch
files, that instruct SHOW to perform a variety of
instructions.
SHOW reads the standard input device for a file
specification, where the named file contains one or more
commands as described below. Since redirection of input is
allowed, you can say:
SHOW < TEXT.FIL
or just SHOW <Enter> and then type in the name of the file.
The filename can be preceded by a disk drive and path, as in
"C:\DOS\TEXT.FIL".
Instructions
____________
Each of the instructions in the command file must correspond
to one the following types:
:label name
screenname [/Xn] [/R] [/N] [section 4 switches]
case [key] [range] [S: G: R:] [label name]
nul
Any line whose first non-blank character is a colon is taken
to be a label name, exactly like in DOS batch files. A line
beginning with the word 'case' is a case to be compared,
based on the key struck by the user, with action to be taken
accordingly.
If an instruction is not a label or a 'case' line, and it is
not totally blank, the line is taken to be the specification
of a screen file, optionally followed by switch options.
This applies to lines with "nul" as the screen name (see
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Screen Machine Advanced SHOW Features
Screen Development System
below).
Remarks
_______
Remarks can be placed on any line by using the characters
"/*". Any text following those characters on a line is
ignored. Note that a matching "/*" is not required to
signify the end of a comment -- the carriage return/line
feed sequence terminates the remark.
Labels
______
A label name is defined as the first 15 characters
immediately following the colon. Note that a label name
which has a blank immediately following the colon can never
be matched since the routine that parses label references
skips leading spaces.
Screen Names
____________
Screens are specified as a file specification (e.g., a file
name that can optionally be preceded by a drive letter and
path).
Key Press Specifications
________________________
The parameters allowed on the line with a file spec are as
follows:
* The options described in Section 4 (basekey, max, /Tn
and /An).
* /Xn (for eXit) is the key on which a "getout" is
performed. 'n' is specified in the same manner as
'base' and 'max', i.e. either a quoted character or an
unquoted scan code.
A "getout" will, in the order of things, be accepted
as a valid key press, perform a "return" (if one is
pending - see below), or return to DOS, setting
Errorlevel to 65 (if no return is pending).
Thus you can, for example, specify that the 'Esc' key
is the "getout" key. Then, you can test to see if it
was pressed and branch accordingly.
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Screen Machine Advanced SHOW Features
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* /R (for Read) forces this screen file to be read at
program startup (this is the default). If there are
more of these screens (marked with /R) than will fit
into available memory at one time, the program will
abort before displaying any screen.
* /N (for New read each time) forces this screen file to
be reread each time it is displayed. This feature is
useful when disk swapping must take place.
Cases (Branching)
_____
The syntax of a CASE line, repeated for convenience, is:
case [key] [range] [S: G: R:] [label name]
The case line is used to branch to a label (or Return - see
below) based on the key struck by the user.
There can be an unlimited number of "cases" for a given
screen -- a case is always associated with the last screen
name line read from the command file.
'Key' is specified in the same manner as 'basekey' in
Section 4. A range of keys may be specified exactly as in
Section 4. For example, if the valid keys are F1 to F10:
case 59 68
If [key]=* (e.g. 'case *' or "any key"), the branch is
automatically taken. There are no checks made to ensure
that the value specified in the case instruction is a legal
key in the range 'basekey' to 'max' for this screen.
Also, note that case commands are processed in the order in
which they appear in the input file, so that any case
following a * ("any key") case will never be taken.
Subroutines
___________
Following the key (or range) on the same case instruction
line is one of three "action letters", followed by a colon,
telling the program what should be done next. The allowable
"action letters" for a case line are as follows:
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Screen Machine Advanced SHOW Features
Screen Development System
S: "goSub" to the label name.
G: "Goto" the label name.
R:"Return".
If a label name is specified after the "R:", the return is
to the label name and the last gosub "return" is removed
from the "stack". In other words, the last "gosub" is
canceled and the program jumps to the specified label.
If no label name is specified, the return is to the screen
following the screen whose 'case' caused the last "gosub".
Note that the return is NOT to the next case line, but to
the next SCREEN name, which can be a "Nul" screen (see next
paragraph).
Nul Screens
___________
When you "gosub" to a screen based on a 'case', the SHOW
program will, after performing the "gosub", proceed to the
next screen to be displayed. This is as opposed to taking
action according to the next 'case *' line, for example.
In order to better control program flow, you can specify a
screen named 'nul', in which case the program interprets
'nul' as a screen name, but knows that it should not
actually display any screen.
Defaults
_________
The "default" case for all screens is simply to display the
next screen file included in the command file.
When there are no more screens in the text file, the program
terminates, setting the DOS errorlevel from the last screen
and keystroke.
Example:
________
The following command file listing has line numbers only for
identification in describing the function of each line. The
line numbers must not be included in a real command file.
An explanation of the lines is included after the example
command file.
1-55
Screen Machine Advanced SHOW Features
Screen Development System
1. :TOP
2. MENU-ONE 59 60 /X1
3. CASE 59 G:OPTION1
4. CASE 60 G:OPTION2
5. :OPTION1
6. MENU-TWO *
7. CASE * G:TOP
8. :OPTION2
9. MENU-3 "1" "3" /X1
10. CASE 1 G:TOP
11. CASE "1" S:SUB-ONE
12. CASE "2" S:SUB-TWO
13. NUL
14. CASE * G:TOP
15. :SUB-ONE
16. HELP1 *
17. CASE 59 G:HELP2
18. CASE * R:
19. :SUB-TWO
20. :HELP2
21. HELP2 *
22. CASE 59 G:HELP3
23. CASE * R:
24. :HELP3
25. HELP3 *
26. CASE * R:
Explanation of Example
______________________
1. Label TOP. The top of the file.
2. Display screen MENU-ONE.
Allowable input keys are F1 and F2 (scan codes 59 and
60). If the 'Esc' key is pressed, perform a "getout",
returning to DOS with errorlevel set to 65.
3. If the F1 key was pressed while displaying MENU-ONE, Goto
label OPTION1.
4. If the F2 key was pressed while displaying MENU-ONE, Goto
label OPTION2.
Note that no other key presses other than 'Esc', 'F1'
and 'F2' would have been accepted, so no further case
checking is unnecessary.
5. Label OPTION1.
1-56
Screen Machine Advanced SHOW Features
Screen Development System
6. Display MENU-TWO.
Accept any key as valid input.
7. In ALL cases, go back to the label TOP.
8. Label OPTION2.
9. Display screen MENU-3.
Valid input keys are "1", "2" and "3". If 'Esc' is
pressed, perform a "getout".
10. If the 'Esc' key is pressed, Goto label 'TOP'.
11. If the user pressed the "1" key, goSub to the subroutine
named 'SUB-ONE'.
12. If the user pressed the "2" key, goSub to the subroutine
named 'SUB-TWO'.
13. Nul is recognized as a screen name (that is not
displayed) so that if either the "1" or "2" keys were
pressed, the program would come here after goSub'ing to the
appropriate subroutine. If the 'Nul' were not included
here, after the subroutine was executed, program flow would
go to the next screen name (line 16).
14. In all cases, Goto the label 'TOP'.
Note that this line is reached after return from SUB-
ONE and SUB-TWO.
15. Label 'SUB-ONE'.
16. Display the screen HELP1.
Accept any key as valid input.
17. If the F1 key was pressed, Goto the label HELP2.
18. In all other cases, perform a Return.
19. The label 'SUB-TWO'.
20. Display the screen HELP2.
Accept any key as valid input.
21. If the F1 key was pressed, Goto the label HELP3.
22. In all other cases, perform a Return.
1-57
Screen Machine Advanced SHOW Features
Screen Development System
23. The label 'HELP3'.
24. Display the screen HELP3.
Accept any key as valid input.
25. In all cases, perform a Return.
1-58
Screen Machine Show Runtime Programs
Screen Development System
Runtime Programs
This section describes how to "compile" runtime versions of
SHOW.COM for distribution of demonstration and prototype
programs.
A familiarity of SHOW's features, as discussed in Sections 4
and 5, is assumed.
Creating Runtime Programs
_________________________
Creating a runtime version of SHOW.COM for distribution is a
simple process. Before doing so, you must have a valid
command file as described in Section 5.
Once you are happy with the command file, all you need to do
is run the following command:
SHOW /c Outputfile <Commandfile
The '/c' switch tells SHOW to create a file with the name
Outputfile.COM, that contains the commands present in+
Commandfile.
Note that you must not include the ".COM" extension for your
output file -- SHOW will add it automatically.
For example, if your command file is called "Mydemo" and you
want an executable runtime file called "Demo.com", your
command line is:
SHOW /c Demo <Mydemo
The resulting runtime program (in this case, DEMO.COM) can
be distributed by you without payment of royalties and
without restrictions.
If you attempt to compile a file with no output file name,
SHOW will create a file called "Demo@#$.Com"
For use with Monochrome and Composite Displays
______________________________________________
You may use the '/M' (forcing white on black displays)
switch in these ways:
1-59
Screen Machine Show Runtime Programs
Screen Development System
* On the SHOW command line, either before or after the
"/C filename". When used in this context, the
compiled output file, when executed, will display all
screens in white on black, regardless of attributes in
the screen file and regardless if a "/A" switch is on
the line for screens without attributes.
* On the command line when executing a compiled demo
program. This only applies if the "/M" switch was not
used when compiling the file.
This feature is useful when the user of a program has a
monochrome or composite monitor, or a graphics card
driving a monochrome monitor.
Screen Images
_____________
When you distribute your demos and prototypes, don't forget
to include all necessary screen image files that are used by
your executable programs!
1-60
Screen Machine Keyboard Scan Codes
Screen Development system
Appendix A
Keyboard Scan Codes
The following keyboard characters produce the same scan code
regardless of the shift status.
Key Code Key Code Key Code
A 30 J 36 S 31
B 48 K 37 T 20
C 46 L 38 U 22
D 32 M 50 V 47
E 18 N 49 W 17
F 33 O 24 X 45
G 34 P 25 Y 21
H 35 Q 16 Z 44
I 23 R 18 [ 26
] 27 \ 43 <Enter> 28
<BkSpc> 14 <Space> 57
The following key produce different scan codes depending on
the keyboard shift status (Shift, Ctrl, and Alt
combinations). Under the "Key" column on the following
pages, several abbreviations are used:
RtArr = Right arrow key Del = Delete
LtArr = Left arrow Key PgUp = Page up
UpArr = Up arrow key PgDn = Page down
DnArr = Down arrow key Ins = Insert
Ky x = "x" key on the numeric keypad.
C = <Ctrl> key held down
A = <Alt> key held down
S = Either or both <Shift> key(s) held down
US = UnShifted (no <Ctrl>, <Alt>, or <Shift>)
1-61
Screen Machine Keyboard Scan Codes
Screen Development system
US Shift C+S A+S A+S+C
1 2 2 -- 120
2 3 3 3 121
3 4 4 -- 122
4 5 5 -- 123
5 6 6 -- 124
6 7 7 7 125
7 8 8 -- 126
8 9 9 -- 127
9 10 10 -- 128
10 11 11 -- 129
- 12 12 12 130
= 13 13 -- 131
, 51 51 -- 51
. 52 52 -- 52
/ 53 53 -- 53
; 39 39 -- 39
' 40 40 -- 40
` 41 41 -- 41
Tab 15 15 148 165
F1 59 84 94 104
F2 60 85 95 105
F3 61 86 96 106
F4 62 87 97 107
F5 63 88 98 108
F6 64 89 99 109
F7 65 90 100 110
F8 66 91 101 111
F9 67 92 102 112
F10 68 93 103 113
F11 133 135 137 139
F12 134 136 138 140
UpArr 72 72 141 --
DnArr 80 80 145 --
LtArr 75 75 115 --
RtArr 77 77 116 --
Center 76 76 143 --
Home 71 71 119 --
End 79 79 117 --
PgUp 73 73 132 --
PgDn 81 81 118 --
Ins 82 82 146 --
Del 83 83 147 --
Ky + 78 78 144 78
Ky - 74 74 142 74
Ky Enter 224 224 224 166
1-62
Screen Machine Keyboard Scan Codes
Screen Development system
The following keys are found on "enhanced" keyboards where
an auxiliary set of cursor control and editing keys are
provided separate from the numeric keypad.
US Shift C+S A+S A+S+C
UpArr 72 72 141 152
DnArr 80 80 145 160
LtArr 75 75 115 155
RtArr 77 77 116 157
Home 71 71 119 151
End 79 79 117 159
PgUp 73 73 132 153
PgDn 81 81 118 161
Ins 82 82 146 162
Del 83 83 147 163
1-63
Screen Machine Error Messages
Screen Development System
Appendix B
Error Messages
SHOW.COM Fatal Errors
______________________
<pathname>: Fatal Error Ignored
When a fatal error occurs and the user chooses to (I)gnore
it, this message is displayed in the middle of an otherwise
blank screen, in place of the screen data file contents.
<pathname>: File size is invalid
This message occurs when attempting to read a file for the
first time. If the file's length is neither 2050 bytes
(text only) nor 4000 bytes (text and attributes), this
message will be displayed. Note that this error may not
occur until several screens have been successfully displayed
if this is not a /R file.
RETURN case without a matching GOSUB
This happens when an R: case (return from subroutine) is
present without a matching S: (goSub) having been performed.
Too many GOSUBs executed -- stack overflow
This message indicates that there was an attempt to "nest"
S: cases (goSub) more than 8 levels deep.
SHOW.COM Syntax Errors
_______________________
All syntax errors encountered during parsing cause the
message, "Syntax error in line: <line#>", followed by one of
the messages shown below:
Cannot locate referenced label: <labelname>
After parsing is complete, label references are
resolved. All references that cannot be resolved
generate this message.
Duplicate Label -- label ignored
Duplicate labels are not allowed. The maximum length
of a label is 15 characters, so this may indicate two
labels whose lengths are longer than 15 characters,
1-64
Screen Machine Error Messages
Screen Development System
where the first 15 characters match.
Invalid case action letter or no colon
The valid case action letters are 'S' (goSub), 'G'
(Goto) and 'R' (Return). Each must be immediately
followed by a colon.
Invalid key value for case
Key value specified in the case statement is not a
legal key for this screen. In other words, the key is
not in the range of basekey-max and is not the "getout"
key.
Invalid or no upper range for case
Either there is no key specified after a minus sign on
a case line or the key specified is less than the key
specified before the minus sign.
Invalid value for attribute
Valid attributes, when used with '/A', are in the range
1-255 or the letters 'S' and 'P'.
Invalid value for escape key
Must be a key in the range 1 to 255.
Invalid value for time delay
Must be from 1 to 255 (in seconds).
Label must be specified for Gosub or Branch
Case statements using the action letters 'G' (Goto) and
'S' (goSub) must have a label after the action letter
and colon.
Label name must follow colon -- line ignored
Case statements using the action letters 'G' (Goto) and
'S' (goSub) must have a label after the action letter
and colon.
Line exceeds 127 characters -- ignored
The maximum allowable command length is 127 characters.
MAX key specified is <= BASE key
On lines beginning with a file name (as opposed to a
case statement), the MAX key must be greater than the
BASE key.
Must specify some type of case action
This error occurs when a line says "CASE" followed by a
valid key and range, but does not indicate what to do
1-65
Screen Machine Error Messages
Screen Development System
if the case is true.
No case specified
This happens when a line simply says "CASE".
Unknown switch - remainder of line ignored
An invalid switch was used on this command line.
SHOW.COM Compiler Messages
___________________________
Cannot close compiler output file
Indicates a DOS (or fatal) error attempting to close
the .COM output file.
Cannot create compiler output file
Indicates a DOS (or fatal) error while attempting to
create the .COM output file.
Cannot write compiler output file
Indicates a DOS (or fatal) error while attempting to
write to the .COM output file.
Compile aborted
When syntax or other errors prevent complete parsing of
the input file, the "compile" is aborted, and no .COM
output file is written.
Filename extension ignored
If you supply an extension to the output file name, it
is ignored. All compiled files have the extension,
".COM".
1-66
Screen Machine Error Messages
Screen Development System
SCREEN.EXE Error Messages
__________________________
Cannot find file: <filename>
Invalid subirectory specified
Error reading configuration file
Error reading required screen file
Configuration file error:
beginning:
Not enough memory -- SCREEN MACHINE requires 72K free
SCREEN MACHINE requires DOS 2.0 or later
SCREEN MACHINE can only run in 80-column text mode: Run DOS
MODE command
Critical error creating
Critical error writing
Critical error reading
Critical error closing
Critical error opening
Critical error renaming
Disk write-protected
Unknown drive
Drive not Ready
CRC error
Unknown Internal DOS error
Sector not Found
General Write Error
General Read Error
1-67
Screen Machine Error Messages
Screen Development System
General Disk Error
No room on disk or in directory
File not found
Path not found
Too many open files
File Access denied
Unknown DOS error code
1-68
Screen Machine Index
Screen Development System
Index
/A
CAPTURE command-line switch 39
SHOW command-line switch 45
/C
CAPTURE command-line switch 39
/G
CAPTURE command-line switch 40
/M
SHOW display switch 56
/N
keypress specifier in SHOW 51
/P
CAPTURE command-line switch 40
/R
keypress specifier in SHOW 51
/T
SHOW command-line switch 45
/X
CAPTURE command-line switch 41
keypress specifier in SHOW 50
Assembler
configuring in SCREEN.EXE 5
effect of screen attributes 8
generating code 11
Segment attributes 12
BASIC
BLOAD-compatible files from CAPTURE 40
configuring in SCREEN.EXE 4
generating code 8
Length of Code Lines 9
Line Number Increment 9
Starting Line Number 9
i
Screen Machine Index
Screen Development System
Block
cancel 30
copying 28
cut and paste 30
deleting 29
marking 28
moving 28
re-marking 29
unmarking 28
Boxes
double-line 31
single-line 31
C Language Code
generating 11
Sample.C 3
Cancel
block operation 30
line operation 23
CAPTURE
changing filename 39
Color Attributes 39
command-line switches 38
deactivating 41
duplicating screen on printer 40
files generated 38
General description 38
graphic screens 40
Help option 38
loading into memory 38
Using ... with SCREEN.EXE 38, 40
with SCREEN.EXE 38
Centering
entire screen 24
lines 23
text insode a box 24
Color Attributes
Blinking Foreground 26
calculating 46
disabling in SCREEN.EXE 25
effect on filesize 16
enabling/disabling in CAPTURE 39
in CAPTURE 38
in source code 14
ii
Screen Machine Index
Screen Development System
Reverse Video 26
Saving 8
specifying in SHOW 45
Configuration
changing 7
Main Menu option 6
programming languages 4
saving 14
dBase
generating code 11
Deleting
Blocks 29
Characters 21
Lines 21
DOS Errorlevel
relative to input range in SHOW 44
set by SHOW 42
special values in SHOW 44
Editing
Configuration File 7
entering filenames 15
Screen Data File 15
searching for files 16
Error Messages
SCREEN.EXE 64
SHOW.COM 61
SHOW.COM Compiler 63
Exiting
SCREEN.EXE 20
Filenames
in SHOW 43, 50
in SHOW (NUL) 52
Files on Distribution Diskette 2
Help
accessing in CAPTURE 38
accessing in SCREEN 18
changing colors in SCREEN 26
Cursor keys 20
graphics characters 27
iii
Screen Machine Index
Screen Development System
SCREEN Function keys 18
shifted function keys 19
Inserting
Characters 21
Lines 21
Keyboard Macros 31
default set 32
help file 32
Help screen 19
maximum active 32
nested 36
number of keystrokes 32
recording 32
recursive 36
replaying 35
special considerations 35
Keyboard Scan Codes
listing(s) 58
used in SHOW 44
Line
centering 23
copying 22
delete 21
drawing 27
insert 21
marking 22
moving 22
repeated copy 22
unmarking 22
Saving
new configuration 14
Screen Data Files 19
SCREEN.CFG 6, 7
saving a new 14
search path 7
SCREEN.EXE
Configuring 6
Environment variables 7
Keyboard Usage 18
Starting 6
iv
Screen Machine Index
Screen Development System
SHOW
... starting 43
Advanced features 49
Basekey parameter 43
Command Files 49
command-line syntax 43
Comment lines (Remarks) 50
Labels 50
Max parameter 44
organizing hard disks 46
Runtime Programs 56
Using ... 42
System Requirements 1
Turbo Pascal
generating code 13
v
Directory of PC-SIG Library Disk #2303
Volume in drive A has no label
Directory of A:\
CAPTURE COM 4844 4-20-89 4:06p
DEMO1 001 4000 4-20-89 4:06p
DEMO1 002 4000 4-20-89 4:06p
DEMO1 003 4000 4-20-89 4:06p
DEMO1 004 4000 4-20-89 4:06p
DEMO1 005 4000 9-04-89 7:52p
DEMO1 BAT 23 4-20-89 4:06p
DEMO1 DAT 548 4-20-89 4:06p
DEMO2 002 2050 2-04-90 7:41p
DEMO2 003 2050 2-04-90 7:41p
DEMO2 004 2050 2-04-90 7:41p
HELPC @#$ 2050 2-04-90 7:43p
DEMO2 BAT 21 4-20-89 4:06p
DEMO2 DAT 590 4-20-89 4:06p
DEMO2 001 2050 2-04-90 7:41p
HELC2 @#$ 2050 4-20-89 4:06p
HELP1 @#$ 2050 4-20-89 4:06p
HELP2 @#$ 2050 4-20-89 4:06p
HELP3 @#$ 2050 4-20-89 4:06p
SCREEN CFG 279 2-05-90 8:04p
MAINMENU 001 4000 4-20-89 4:06p
MAINMENU BAT 911 4-20-89 4:06p
MENU1 @#$ 2050 12-02-89 7:08p
READ ME 4825 2-03-90 7:24p
SHOW COM 7332 4-20-89 4:06p
SM TXT 167602 2-05-90 7:45p
SCREEN EXE 34672 2-06-90 8:18p
HELC1 @#$ 2050 2-04-90 7:38p
SAMPLE C 5142 11-08-89 9:35p
FILE2303 TXT 2961 8-28-90 1:43p
GO BAT 40 1-01-80 6:00a
GO TXT 496 1-01-80 5:17a
32 file(s) 276836 bytes
25600 bytes free