T H E P R O G R A M M E R ' S
---------------------------------
P R O D U C T I V I T Y P A C K
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Version 2.50
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U S E R ' S G U I D E
--------------------------
Copyright (c) 1988,1989,1990 by Falk Data Systems.
All Rights Reserved.
August, 1990 Edition
Falk Data Systems
5322 Rockwood Court
El Paso, Texas 79932
U.S.A.
Phone: (915) 584-7670
CompuServe: 71420,2431
_______
____|__ | (R)
--| | |-------------------
| ____|__ | Association of
| | |_| Shareware
|__| o | Professionals
-----| | |---------------------
|___|___| MEMBER
Contents
General Information ........................................... 1
The Programmer's Productivity Pack (ProPak) ................ 1
The Shareware Concept ...................................... 1
License .................................................... 3
Warranty ................................................... 5
Registration ............................................... 5
Why Payment Must be in US Funds Drawn on a US Bank ......... 6
Benefits of Becoming a Registered User ..................... 7
Additional Benefits to Registered Users .................... 7
Technical Support .......................................... 13
ASP Ombudsman Statement .................................... 14
Obtaining Updates .......................................... 14
Trademarks Mentioned ....................................... 16
Introduction ................................................. 17
What is ProPak? ............................................ 17
System Requirements ........................................ 18
Memory Requirements ........................................ 19
How To Use This Manual ..................................... 20
How to Install ProPak ........................................ 22
Which Files Do I Need? ..................................... 22
Installing On A Hard Disk System ........................... 23
Installing On A Floppy Disk System ......................... 24
Setting ProPak For Your Monitor ............................ 25
The 80 Column Text Mode .................................... 25
The Modifier Keys .......................................... 26
ProPak and Your Keyboard ................................... 26
The ASCII Poster ........................................... 27
How To Load And Unload ProPak ................................ 28
Loading ProPak ............................................. 28
Bypassing the Opening Screen ............................. 30
Renaming PROPAK.EXE ...................................... 30
Using ProSwap .............................................. 30
Loading ProSwap .......................................... 31
ProSwap Command Line Options ............................. 33
ProSwap as a Stand-Alone Program ......................... 37
Renaming PROSWAP.EXE ..................................... 38
Unloading ProPak or ProSwap ................................ 38
Sidekick Considerations .................................... 39
The DOS PRINT Program ...................................... 41
In Case of Conflicts With Other Memory-Resident Programs ... 41
ProPak and Batch Files ..................................... 41
ProPak Error Messages ...................................... 42
Beeps and Doesn't Pop Up ................................. 43
Doesn't Beep or Pop Up ................................... 43
Table of Contents i
Contents
The Programmer's Calculator and Attachments .................. 45
The Programmer's Calculator .................................. 45
The Quick Start Tutorial ................................... 45
The In-Depth Reference Guide ............................... 52
The Range Of Values Available ............................ 52
The Programmer's Calculator Display ...................... 53
The Quick Reference Menu ................................. 54
Signed And Unsigned Modes ................................ 54
The Four Numeric Formats ................................. 55
The Calculator Commands .................................. 56
The Mathematical Operations .............................. 60
Logical and Bit Manipulation Operations .................. 62
Moving The Calculator's Display .......................... 64
Going To The Attachments ................................. 64
The ASCII and Color Attribute Chart .......................... 66
The Quick Start Tutorial ................................... 66
The In-Depth Reference Guide ............................... 68
25, 43, And 50 Line Screens .............................. 68
The Columns On The Chart ................................. 68
The Extended Characters .................................. 69
Moving Around The Chart .................................. 69
Other Available Commands ................................. 70
Returning to the Calculator .............................. 70
The Keystroke Reference Center ............................... 71
The Quick Start Tutorial ................................... 71
The In-Depth Reference Guide ............................... 74
How To Access The Keystroke Reference Center ............. 75
The Display .............................................. 75
Scan Codes and INKEY() Values ............................ 76
Portability Notes ........................................ 77
Moving the Display ....................................... 77
Other Available Commands ................................. 78
Park Disk(s) and Blank Screen ................................ 79
The In-Depth Reference Guide ............................... 79
The Control Center ........................................... 81
Quick Start Tutorial #1 .................................... 81
Quick Start Tutorial #2 .................................... 85
In-Depth Reference Guide ................................... 89
How To Access The Control Center ......................... 89
The Control Center ....................................... 89
Modify Options ........................................... 90
List Key Recordings ...................................... 90
Write Keys to File ....................................... 91
Read Keys From File ...................................... 91
Delete Key Recordings .................................... 92
Copy Screen To File ...................................... 92
Table of Contents ii
Contents
Print Facility .......................................... 93
Get Status Info ......................................... 93
Unload From Memory ...................................... 94
The Modify Options Feature ................................... 96
In-Depth Reference Guide ................................... 96
The Modify Current Settings Submenu ...................... 96
Keystroke Recording and Playback ............................ 102
In-Depth Reference Guide .................................. 102
How to Start Recording Keystrokes ....................... 103
Important note! ......................................... 103
How to Stop Recording Keystrokes ........................ 103
How To Play Back a Keystroke Recording .................. 104
Setting The Playback Speed .............................. 104
The Screen Grabber ...................................... 104
List Key Recordings ..................................... 105
Write Keys To File ...................................... 105
Read Keys From File ..................................... 105
Delete Key Recordings ................................... 105
Get Status Info ......................................... 106
Keystroke Recording TIPS: ............................... 107
The Screen Grabber Feature ................................ 107
To Move The Grab Box .................................... 108
To Change The Size Of The Grab Box ...................... 109
How To Use The Grab Box ................................. 109
End-of-Line Characters .................................. 109
The Screen Capture Facility ................................. 111
In-Depth Reference Guide .................................. 111
The Print Facility .......................................... 113
In-Depth Reference Guide .................................. 113
PCustom: The Customizing Program ............................ 115
The Quick Start Tutorial .................................. 115
The In-Depth Reference Guide .............................. 117
Starting PCustom ........................................ 117
Selecting Which Versions To Modify ...................... 117
How PCustom Works ....................................... 118
The PCustom Menus ....................................... 119
The Main Menu ........................................... 119
The Colors Menu ....................................... 120
The Hot Keys Menu ..................................... 127
The Sound Effects Menu ................................ 128
The Advanced Options Menu ............................. 129
The Exit PCustom Menu ................................. 137
Miscellaneous Information ................................... 139
EXE Compression Utilities ................................. 139
Change History ............................................ 140
Table of Contents iii
Contents
Appendix A
The Bits and the Bytes. ................................... 143
Appendix B
Understanding Two's Complement Numbers .................... 152
Appendix C
For Those New to MS-DOS: .................................. 154
Appendix D
Background Information .................................... 155
Appendix E
Sources for Additional Information ........................ 156
Appendix F
What is Falk Data Systems? ................................ 157
Other Products From Falk Data Systems ..................... 157
Easy Format ............................................. 157
Easy Format Tech Kit .................................... 158
Index ....................................................... 160
Table of Contents iv
Figures
Figure 1: Opening Screen .................................... 28
Figure 2: Programmer's Calculator Display ................... 53
Figure 3: The Quick Reference Menu .......................... 54
Figure 4: Decimal Box Display ............................... 60
Figure 5: ASCII Chart Display ............................... 68
Figure 6: Keystroke Reference Center Display ................ 76
Figure 7: Control Center Menu ............................... 89
Figure 8: Modify Current Settings Submenu ................... 96
Figure 9: PCustom Main Menu ................................. 119
Figure 10: PCustom Colors Menu ............................... 120
Figure 11: Custom Colors Submenu ............................. 121
Figure 12: Calculator Sub-Submenu ............................ 122
Figure 13: Customize Hot Keys Submenu ........................ 127
Figure 14: Hot Keys Submenu .................................. 127
Figure 15: Sound Effects Submenu ............................. 128
Figure 16: Advanced Options Submenu .......................... 129
Figure 17: Miscellaneous Sub-Submenu ......................... 134
Figure 18: Exit PCustom Submenu .............................. 137
Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
---------------------
General Information
---------------------
The Programmer's Productivity Pack (ProPak):
============================================
"The Programmer's Productivity Pack" is a very long title! To
help keep things brief we will often refer to the Programmer's
Productivity Pack as "ProPak". When we use the word "ProPak" as
a shortened form of "Programmer's Productivity Pack" we are
referring to the entire package and all the programs in the
package (including ProPak, ProSwap, and PCustom).
The Shareware Concept:
======================
If you are familiar with the idea behind Shareware, then you know
that Shareware is the ultimate in money back guarantees.
Most money back guarantees work like this: You pay for the
product and then have some period of time to try it out and see
whether or not you like it. If you don't like it or find that it
doesn't do what you need, you return it (undamaged) and at some
point - which might take months - you get your money back. Some
software companies won't even let you try their product! In
order to qualify for a refund, the diskette envelope must have an
unbroken seal. With these "licensing" agreements, you only
qualify for your money back if you haven't tried the product.
How absurd!
Shareware is very different. With Shareware you get to try it
for a limited time, without spending a penny. If you decide not
to continue using it, you throw it away and forget all about it.
No paperwork, phone calls, or correspondence to waste your
valuable time.
Software authors who use this method of distribution feel that
shareware is the best way to try a product. You are able to try
it on your own system(s), in your own special work environment,
with no sales people looking over your shoulder. Have you ever
purchased a car and realized that if you could have test driven
it for 30 days your purchase decision might have been different?
With shareware these problems can be avoided - you DO have a 30
day test-drive!
After trying a Shareware product and deciding to continue to use
it, then - and only then - do you pay for it. Not only that, but
Shareware is traditionally MUCH less expensive simply because you
General Information 1
Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
are paying for the software, not the advertising and marketing
that comprises the majority of the cost of most software (a one
page add in PC Magazine, one time, can cost upwards of $20,000).
If the try-before-you-buy concept sounds like an ideal way to
make your purchase decisions, you're right!
Some companies burden their products with annoying copy
protection schemes because they don't trust their users.
Shareware developers not only don't use copy protection, they
freely distribute their products because they DO trust their
users.
Someone once said that you should never trust software which
doesn't trust you. This makes a lot of sense - no wonder
Shareware is becoming so popular among users and developers.
The Programmer's Productivity Pack is Shareware. You may copy it
and pass it out to your friends and associates. We not only
don't mind if you do, we encourage you to pass it out. What
better testimony to the usefulness of a product, than the word-
of-mouth (or disk) advertising by the people who actually use the
product? If you like it, chances are your friends will too.
The only requirement to passing out the Programmer's Productivity
Pack, is that you pass it out as a complete package - including
the documentation files and executable programs - and that you
don't alter or modify any part of the package in any way.
If you use the product for more than 30 days you must become a
registered user. Registration comes with an impressive list of
benefits, for more details please refer to page 5.
Shareware is a distribution method, NOT a type of software.
Shareware is produced by accomplished programmers, just like
retail software. There is good and bad shareware, just as there
is good and bad retail software. The primary difference between
shareware and retail software is that with shareware you know if
it's good or bad BEFORE you pay for it. Registration of
shareware products, in addition to being required, is also an
incentive for programmers to continue to produce quality software
for the shareware market.
There is another significant advantage to shareware - it allows
small companies (like Falk Data Systems) to make software
available without the hundreds of thousands of dollars in
expenses that it takes to launch a traditional retail software
product. There are many programs on the market today which would
never have become available without the shareware marketing
method. Please show your support for shareware by registering
those programs you actually use and by passing them on to others.
General Information 2
Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
License:
========
This software and accompanying documentation are protected by
United States Copyright law and also by International Treaty
provisions. Any use of this software in violation of Copyright
law or the terms of this agreement will be prosecuted to the best
of our ability.
The Programmer's Productivity Pack is NOT a public domain
program. It is Copyright (c) 1988, 1989,1990 by Falk Data
Systems. The conditions under which you may copy this software
and documentation are clearly outlined below.
You are granted a limited license to use the software described
in this manual. The software may be used or copied only in
accordance with the terms of this license.
Under the terms of this limited license you are granted
permission by Falk Data Systems to use this software - for
evaluation purposes - for a period not to exceed 30 days. If you
intend to continue using the product after the 30 day evaluation
period you MUST make a registration payment to Falk Data Systems.
Using this software after the 30 day evaluation period, without
registering the software is a violation of the terms of this
limited license.
Falk Data Systems intends to vigorously prosecute any and all
copyright violations.
Individuals are granted permission by Falk Data Systems to copy
the Programmer's Productivity Pack diskettes for their own use or
for other individuals to evaluate, ONLY when the following
conditions are met. Computer User Groups, clubs, and bulletin
boards are granted limited permission by Falk Data Systems to
copy the diskette and share it with their members, ONLY when the
following conditions are met.
o The Programmer's Productivity Pack package - including all
related program files and documentation files - CANNOT be
modified in any way and must be distributed as a complete
package, without exception. The PACKING.LST text file
contains a list of all files that are part of the
Programmer's Productivity Pack package.
o No price or other compensation may be charged for the
software. A distribution cost may be charged for the cost
of the diskette, shipping and handling, as long as the
total does not exceed $10.00 in the U.S. and Canada, or
$15.00 internationally.
General Information 3
Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
o The Programmer's Productivity Pack package CANNOT be sold
as part of some other inclusive package. Nor can it be
included in any commercial software packaging offer,
without a written agreement from Falk Data Systems.
o The PRINTED User's Guide may not be reproduced in whole or
in part, using any means, without the written permission
of Falk Data Systems.
o The Programmer's Productivity Pack package cannot be
"rented" or "leased" to others.
o The person receiving a copy of the Programmer's
Productivity Pack MUST be made aware that each disk or
copy is ONLY for evaluation, and that Falk Data Systems
has not received any royalties or payment for the product.
o The person receiving a copy of the Programmer's
Productivity Pack MUST be made aware that he or she does
not become a registered user until Falk Data Systems has
received payment for registration of the software.
Technical support will only be provided to registered
users (those who have registered the software with Falk
Data Systems).
o Any group, person, or organization, which purchases
advertising space in any publication CANNOT distribute the
Programmer's Productivity Pack under the "computer club"
conditions without written permission from Falk Data
Systems.
o Falk Data Systems prohibits the distribution of outdated
versions of the Programmer's Productivity Pack, without
written permission from Falk Data Systems.
U.S. Government Information: Use, duplication, or disclosure by
the Government is subject to restrictions as set forth in
subdivision (b)(3)(ii) of the Rights in Technical Data and
Computer Software clause at 252.227-7013.
General Information 4
Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
Warranty:
=========
Falk Data Systems MAKES NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESSED OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY AND/OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
Falk Data Systems does not assume any liability for the use of
this software beyond its original registration price.
In no event will Falk Data Systems be liable to you for any
additional damages, including any lost profits, lost savings or
other incidental or consequential damages arising from the use of
or inability to use this software, even if Falk Data Systems has
been advised of the possibility of such damages.
Registration:
=============
The Programmer's Productivity Pack is NOT a public domain
program. It is Copyright (c) 1988, 1989,1990 by Falk Data
Systems.
The Programmer's Productivity Pack is distributed on a try-
before-you-buy basis. If you use the software after the
evaluation period, you must make a registration payment to Falk
Data Systems.
Please refer the the REGISTER.FRM text file for complete
information on obtaining a registered version of the Programmer's
Productivity Pack.
General Information 5
Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
Why Payment Must be in U.S. Funds Drawn on a U.S. Bank:
=======================================================
Most U.S. software companies require payment in U.S. funds drawn
on a U.S. bank. Are they just lazy or what?
When we first started in this business we didn't enforce this
inconvenient restriction, but we soon found out why others do.
When we received the check for our first order from Canada, the
bank charged us $9.00 more than the check was worth, to cash it.
When we received the check for our first order from Europe (West
Germany), the bank charged us $35.00 to cash the check.
In some cases we were losing money on every sale. When you lose
money on every sale you can't afford to make any more sales.
This is rather absurd for a business that has bills to pay and
people to support.
Because of these problems we are now forced to require that every
payment be in U.S. funds, drawn on a U.S. bank. This is not
because we are lazy or inconsiderate, it is simply the only way
we can stay in business.
General Information 6
Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
Benefits of Becoming a Registered User:
=======================================
When you become a registered user of ProPak you are entitled to
many benefits. With your registration fee, and completed
registration form, you get additional benefits including:
o A printed User's Guide and the most current version on
disk (in a sealed envelope). An ASCII Poster Set
including a large 26" X 20", two-color poster of the
entire ASCII and IBM extended character sets, and a
smaller 8 1/2" X 11" reproduction.
Note: We are gradually moving towards using recycled
paper exclusively. At some point all our printed User's
Guides may also be printed on recycled paper.
o The next version sent to you on disk, automatically, at no
extra charge.
o Free technical support.
o Additional programs, utilities, and shareware packages, as
outlined below.
o Discounts on other products from Falk Data Systems.
o Automatic notification of future changes, modifications,
and new versions, as long as we have your current address
(so that mail can reach you).
o Automatic notification of other products and releases from
Falk Data Systems.
o The opportunity to get new versions sometimes weeks or
months before non-registered users.
o The opportunity to have ALL future versions shipped to you
automatically as soon as they are released.
When we receive your registration form and payment, we will mail
you a receipt for your payment. We will also send you the most
current version on disk in a sealed envelope, a printed User's
Guide, and more.
Additional Benefits to Registered Users:
========================================
The following will be provided to registered users of the
Programmer's Productivity Pack (as a minimum):
General Information 7
Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
o A free CompuServe IntroPak, which includes a $15.00 usage
credit and a complimentary subscription to CompuServe
Magazine, is available to ProPak registered users who do
not yet subscribe to CompuServe. CompuServe will open the
door for a whole new world of information, services, and
interesting people. CompuServe is also the best place to
obtain technical support for products from Falk Data
Systems (and many other vendors and developers). This
CompuServe IntroPak (a $39.95 value) is provided to ProPak
registered users compliments of CompuServe, Inc., and
Falk Data Systems.
o An evaluation copy of TAPCIS, from OMNI Information
Resources, Inc., and Support Group, Inc. TAPCIS stands
for The Access Program for the CompuServe Information
Service. TAPCIS is a tool that makes using CompuServe
easier and more efficient. TAPCIS will save you hours of
online time and make using CompuServe fun. TAPCIS is a
shareware program and is provided for evaluation only. If
you continue to use TAPCIS after the evaluation period you
must register it with Support Group, Inc. TAPCIS
registration includes toll free technical support by
calling 800-USA-GROUP, and a two layer money back
guarantee. First, since TAPCIS is shareware, you may use
it during the evaluation period without committing a
penny. Second, when you register you also get a full 90-
day money back guarantee. This is, without a doubt, one
of the best money back guarantees in the industry! TAPCIS
registration is only $79.00.
o A free copy of TurboPower Software's world famous TSR
Utilities. These utilities make it easy for you to keep
track of your PC's memory usage and to control the memory
resident programs you use. The TSR Utilities include:
MAPMEM to give you a picture of your PC's memory usage and
how much memory is actually used by your memory resident
programs.
DEVICE does for device drivers, what MAPMEM does for other
memory resident programs.
MARK to allow you to "mark" sections of memory and later
unload memory resident programs loaded above your "mark"
(or marks). There is also a version called FMARK which
performs the same service using even less memory, and
MARKNET which is even useful in a network environment.
General Information 8
Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
RELEASE to remove memory resident programs from memory
even if they were not designed to be removed (like the DOS
background PRINT program). RELNET is similar to RELEASE
but is even useful in a network environment.
DISABLE can temporarily disable (or reactivate) memory
resident programs, without the need to unload them from
memory.
WATCH to keep an extra close watch over your memory
resident programs.
Other useful utility programs include EATMEM and RAMFREE.
TurboPower Software's TSR Utilities are an impressive set of
programs which Falk Data Systems has been licensed to
distribute to registered users of ProPak. See the article
on the TSR Utilities in the June 26, 1990 issue of PC
Magazine (page 175).
o The best shareware virus protection system available
today. We evaluated several virus protection systems and
found, from a technical perspective, the one that is most
effective. A major determining factor was that the
program should not only protect you from known virus
strains but should also have a good chance of protecting
you from new virus strains that may appear in the future.
Registered users of ProPak will receive an evaluation copy
of Flu Shot Plus, to help protect them from the threat of
computer virus infections. Flu Shot Plus is provided for
evaluation only. If you continue to use Flu Shot Plus
after the evaluation period you must register it with
Software Concepts Design.
o Because the virus problem is becoming more and more
important to computer users, we felt that some accurate,
detailed information would help to keep you informed and
knowledgeable. So registered users of ProPak will also
receive a copy of a very informative article dealing with
the computer virus problem. This article, written by Rob
Rosenberger, will dispel the myths and media hype
surrounding the virus problem today. If you want accurate
information and a solid understanding of the problem and
its background, then this article is for you.
o An evaluation copy of 4DOS, the best DOS "shell" available
for programmers, developers, and power users. Most DOS
shells are geared towards the user - pull down menus,
point and shoot file operations, etc. For developers and
power users these shell programs only get in the way and
slow you down. 4DOS is different. 4DOS is a replacement
General Information 9
Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
for COMMAND.COM. 4DOS provides all the features of
COMMAND.COM, with many improvements and extensions as well
as over 40 new commands. 4DOS is provided for evaluation
only. If you continue to use 4DOS after the evaluation
period you must register it with JP Software.
See the article on 4DOS in the June 26, 1990 issue of PC
Magazine (page 49). There is also an article about 4DOS
in the July, 1990 issue of PC World (page 129).
Have you ever wished you could copy all files with a .TXT,
.DOC, and .ASM extension to drive A:, all in one command.
With 4DOS it's easy. Simply type "COPY *.TXT *.DOC *.ASM
A:" <Enter>. That's it!
The extensions provided by 4DOS are phenomenal. 4DOS is
one of those programs which, after you try it, you'll
wonder how you ever lived without it. Here are a few of
the powerful capabilities provided by 4DOS:
- Minimal Memory Usage
- Faster Batch Files
- On-line Help
- Command Line Editing
- Command History
- Flexible Wildcards
- File Descriptions
- Multiple Commands on a Single Line
- Expanded and Editable Environment and Environment
Variables
- Aliases
- Expanded Command Line
- Conditional Commands
- Additional Redirection Options
- EGA/VGA Support
- Network Support
General Information 10
Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
- and much, much more
o An evaluation copy of BOOT.SYS, a very handy configuration
control program written by Hans Salvisberg in Switzerland.
BOOT.SYS makes it easy to control your system
configuration at boot time through an easy to use menu
system. See the article on BOOT.SYS in the July, 1990
issue of PC Magazine (page 46).
BOOT.SYS makes it possible to display one or more menus at
boot-up time and to have different parts of CONFIG.SYS
and/or AUTOEXEC.BAT executed depending on which menu
options are chosen.
Many people need different versions of CONFIG.SYS
depending on what application they are going to run. In
the past you had to either rename or edit your start-up
files and reboot to get a different setup. Now this
process has become much easier and safer by using
BOOT.SYS.
BOOT.SYS was written for IBM-compatible Personal Computers
running under MS-DOS or PC-DOS 2.11 or higher.
The following features make BOOT.SYS a must-have for every
sophisticated PC installation:
- easy installation, detailed examples for every
level of sophistication
- up to nine options per menu (one line per option)
and a freely definable prompt area at the top of
the screen
- up to 25 consecutive menus, each defining a
different aspect of your system configuration
- up to 25 levels of nested menus (submenus),
simplifying a systematic approach to systems
configuration
- only one version of CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT; no
copying/renaming of files and no rebooting
- select menu options by pressing the corresponding
digit key or by moving an arrow
- user-definable timeout and default option for each
menu
General Information 11
Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
- switch to an external monitor on boot-up for some
laptop computers
- edit individual CONFIG.SYS lines on the fly while
booting up
- insert comments into CONFIG.SYS without generating
error messages
- uses less than 200 bytes of resident DOS memory
- do a warm or a cold boot from the DOS command line
or from a batch file; change Ctrl-Alt-Del to do a
cold boot or disable it altogether
- includes PAUSE.SYS for debugging complex CONFIG.SYS
set-ups
BOOT.SYS is provided for evaluation only. If you continue
to use BOOT.SYS after the evaluation period you must
register it with Hans Salvisberg.
o Additional bonuses may also be included in the package
sent to registered users of the Programmer's Productivity
Pack.
These additional programs and offers are made available solely as
a service to Programmer's Productivity Pack registered users.
Falk Data Systems receives no payments for distributing any of
these products, even when you register them with the author.
This is simply another means for Falk Data Systems to support its
registered users and to help you get the most out of your
computer systems.
General Information 12
Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
Technical Support:
==================
Free technical support is available to all registered users of
the Programmer's Productivity Pack.
If you are a registered user and have a question, problem, or
need help in any way, please feel free to contact us for
technical support. We are here to help you. Falk Data Systems
wants its customers to be happy with our products. We will do
our best to help you get the most out of the Programmer's
Productivity Pack.
Most technical support questions are answered in the ProPak
User's Guide (this document). So before contacting us for
technical support, please try to find the answer to your question
in the User's Guide. Please check the ANSWERS.TXT text file for
the answers to the most commonly asked questions regarding
ProPak. If you are unable to find the information you need, then
please feel free to contact us. Perhaps you've come across
something that should be included in the User's Guide in the
future.
The best way to obtain technical support is through CompuServe.
You may send CompuServe Mail messages to us on CompuServe
[71420,2431]. We check our messages every working day, and
frequently on weekends too. If you are not a CompuServe
subscriber be sure to check the appropriate box on your
registration form and we will provide you with a free CompuServe
IntroPak and a $15.00 usage credit.
You may obtain technical support by writing or calling Falk Data
Systems.
You may write to us at the following address:
Falk Data Systems
ProPak Technical Support
5322 Rockwood Court
El Paso, Texas 79932
U.S.A.
Or you may call our technical support line at (915) 584-7670.
Our hours are 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, Mountain time, Monday through
Friday.
General Information 13
Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
ASP Ombudsman Statement:
========================
This program is produced by a member of the Association of
Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the
shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve
a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the
member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can
help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but
does not provide technical support for members' products. Please
write to the ASP Ombudsman at P.O. Box 5786, Bellevue, WA 98006
or send a CompuServe message via easyplex to ASP Ombudsman
70007,3536.
Obtaining Updates:
==================
Distributing a new version of a shareware product can be more
expensive than most people realize. Hundreds of disks must be
sent to shareware distributors, computer user groups, clubs and
organizations, magazine editors, and more. This is in addition
to sending copies to all the registered users who are entitled to
the new version. The process is costly not only in postage, but
also in time and energy. Therefore, we don't always send out
updates and modifications to all the usual channels. This is one
of the reasons registered users are often able to acquire updates
and new versions long before non-registered users.
Another reason why registered users are often able to receive
updates months before non-registered users is because of the lead
time involved in updating the catalogs of the disk vendors. Most
disk vendors update their catalogs every 1-3 months (depending
upon the frequency of catalog releases). This means that even
after a vendor receives an update it may be several months before
you find out about it. If you happen to miss a catalog issue or
overlook an update notice then it could take even longer for you
to find out about an update.
When we release a new version it is sent FIRST to all registered
users who are entitled to the new version. Their copy goes in
the mail even before copies to magazine editors and columnists.
Some versions are sent ONLY to registered users and NOT to anyone
else.
Unless you are a registered user, you have no reliable way of
knowing whether you have the most current version or an older,
less capable version. This clearly shows yet another benefit to
becoming a registered user.
General Information 14
Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
When you become a registered user of ProPak, we will send you the
most current version on disk in a sealed envelope along with a
printed User's Guide*. The next version will also be sent to you
on disk, automatically, as soon as it becomes available.
If you are a long time registered user, and have already received
your free update, we have other opportunities for you to receive
automatic updates at substantially reduced costs. Complete
information is sent automatically to registered users who have
already received their free update.
* Note: We are gradually moving towards using recycled
paper exclusively. At some point all our printed User's
Guides may also be printed on recycled paper.
General Information 15
Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
Trademarks Mentioned:
=====================
Falk Data Systems, ProPak, and the Programmer's Productivity Pack
are trademarks of Falk Data Systems.
BRIEF is a trademark of UnderWare, Inc.
CompuServe is a trademark of CompuServe Incorporated.
dBASE is a trademark of Ashton-Tate, Inc.
DESQview is a trademark of Quarterdeck Office Systems.
Hercules is a registered trademark of Hercules
Computer Technology, Inc.
IBM, PC-DOS, PC/XT/AT and PS/2 are registered trademarks of
International Business Machines Corporation.
Microsoft and MS-DOS are trademarks or registered trademarks of
Microsoft Corporation.
OPTASM is a registered trademark of SLR Systems.
TaskView and OmniView are trademarks of Sunny Hill Software.
Periscope is a trademark of The Periscope Company.
Solution Systems is a trademark of the Software
Developer's Corporation.
Turbo Professional is a registered trademark of Sunny
Hill Software, used under license to TurboPower
Software.
TurboPower Software is a trademark of TurboPower Software.
Turbo Pascal, Turbo Assembler, Turbo Debugger, Sidekick and
SideKick Plus are registered trademarks of Borland International.
WordStar is a registered trademark of MicroPro International
Corporation.
Some of the trademarks of other companies mentioned in this
user's guide appear for identification purposes only.
General Information 16
Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
--------------
Introduction
--------------
What is ProPak?
===============
The Programmer's Productivity Pack, ProPak, is a software package
designed to provide the utilities and reference tools most
frequently needed by programmers. What's more, each individual
tool or "attachment" within the ProPak package was designed to be
the best, most powerful, most flexible, and easiest to use in its
category.
For instance, The Programmer's Calculator, which is only one of
the tools built into ProPak, is the best Programmer's Calculator
on the market, bar none! Integrating all of these tools into one
program and placing them at your disposal at one time will make
the time you spend programming more productive than ever.
ProPak provides you with:
o A Programmer's Calculator that works simultaneously in
decimal, binary, hexadecimal, and octal.
o Addition, subtraction, multiplication, integer division,
and modulus mathematical functions.
o SHL, SHR, ROL, ROR, SAL, SAR, RCL, RCR bit manipulation
functions.
o AND, NOT, OR, and XOR logical functions.
o Exchange word and exchange double word functions.
o An ASCII and color attribute chart.
o A keystroke reference utility that returns both the BIOS
scan codes and the dBASE INKEY() values.
o Keystroke Recording and Playback that allows up to 100
Keystroke Recordings of 1,000 keystrokes each.
o A Screen Grabber utility to grab text off the screen and
play it back like a Keystroke Recording.
o A Screen Capture facility that allows filtering for screen
or printer.
o Access to the DOS background PRINT facility.
Introduction 17
Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
o A screen blanking facility that will park your hard disk
(or disks) while the screen is blanked.
o A pop-up DOS shell capability which allows you to shell to
DOS from any program, with as much as 600K bytes of memory
available in the DOS shell.
o Complete control of all the Hot Keys, colors, sound
effects, file extensions, memory usage, and more, through
PCustom, the customizing program.
All this and more. All in one smoothly integrated package. The
Programmer's Productivity Pack includes tools which can run
stand-alone, memory-resident (even with Sidekick), memory-
resident with swapping, or as a background task in a multitasking
environment. And since ProPak provides you with the ability to
customize every detail, it not only helps you to be more
productive, it also gives you the freedom to adapt it to your
particular needs and preferences.
The Programmer's Productivity Pack can handle dual monitor
systems, EMS and XMS memory, multitasking systems like DESQview
and TaskView/OmniView, and more. Each version can be easily and
safely unloaded from memory when the need arises. You even have
three different methods by which it may be unloaded.
The Programmer's Productivity Pack is even compatible with
Borland's Sidekick. It is so compatible that it can be safely
loaded AFTER Sidekick.
All things considered, the Programmer's Productivity Pack should
become one of your most often used utilities, and you might find
yourself wondering how you ever got along without it.
Congratulations on one of your best software acquisitions!
System Requirements:
--------------------
The Programmer's Productivity Pack requires PC/MS-DOS 2.0 or
higher, on an IBM PC, XT, AT, PS/2, or close compatible. ProPak
will work on a floppy disk only system, but a hard disk is
recommended.
ProPak supports all common video adapter and monitor
combinations, including dual monitor systems. ProPak has been
tested with the following adapter types: MDA, CGA, EGA, MCGA,
and VGA, as well as the Hercules and Hercules InColor cards.
EMS and/or XMS memory is helpful but not required.
Introduction 18
Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
Memory Requirements:
--------------------
The actual memory requirements will vary depending upon which of
the two versions you use, how swapping is handled, the amount of
memory you reserve for Keystroke Recordings, etc.
The swapping version, ProSwap, retains only about 7K bytes of
memory while resident (and swapped out). The minimum memory
requirement for ProPak is about 96K bytes.
ProPak is shipped with 2K bytes (2,048 bytes) of memory set aside
for Keystroke Recordings.
The customizing program, PCustom, requires 256K bytes of RAM.
ProSwap uses as little memory as possible. ProSwap can swap
itself to disk, to EMS memory, or to XMS memory. All this
flexibility means that ProSwap is the ideal choice when memory is
scarce.
In order to conserve as much of your precious memory as possible,
ProPak makes extensive use of overlays (ProSwap does not). An
overlay is a technique which allows a program to run without
having all of its machine instructions in memory at the same
time. When you pop up the Calculator, the machine instructions
for The ASCII Chart, Keystroke Reference Center, etc., remain on
disk, and only the machine instructions needed for the Calculator
will be in memory. This has the advantage of requiring less
memory (a definite virtue for memory-resident programs), but it
means that ProPak must go to the disk at certain times to get
instructions on what to do next.
There is a number of things you can do to maximize ProPak's
performance and customize its memory usage. The biggest
improvement will be obtained through the use of EMS memory. If
you have EMS memory, and if you allow ProPak to use it, the
entire overlay file will be placed into EMS memory. This means
two things. First, the overlay file on disk will no longer be
needed, which will save you one file handle. Secondly, reading
the necessary sections of the overlay file will occur much faster
because it will be a simple memory transfer rather than a disk
access, therefore, the size of the overlay buffer can remain
minimal. This also conserves the maximum amount of RAM (Random
Access Memory) for the use of your other programs.
Introduction 19
Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
How To Use This Manual:
-----------------------
This manual is designed to get you up and running with the
Programmer's Productivity Pack as quickly as possible. Besides
being written in a simple, conversational style there are five
special features which will help you get the most from ProPak in
the minimum amount of time.
The Quick Start Tutorials
The "Quick Start Tutorials" are designed to help you begin
using the individual tools in the Programmer's Productivity
Pack in an efficient and productive manner as quickly as
possible.
There are six Quick Start Tutorials in this manual. Each
one is complete in itself. This means that they don't have
to be read together or in any particular order. Each
tutorial should take about 15 minutes or less to complete.
Although the tutorials don't cover every single feature of
the program in detail, they will get you comfortable and
familiar with the major functions in each tool quickly and
painlessly. It would be to your benefit to read the Quick
Start Tutorials, even if you never looked at the rest of the
manual. They will help you get your money's worth out of
this software package. Take advantage of them. You'll be
glad you did!
Since ProPak was written to be easy to learn and use (to be
"intuitive") you will probably find that the Quick Start
Tutorials are all you will need to start working profitably
with it.
The In-Depth Reference Guides
There are ten In-Depth Reference Guides in the ProPak User's
Guide covering each one of the tools and utilities
individually. As the name implies, this is where you can
find a complete listing and description of each and every
feature of that tool or program. Every command and option
will be given, along with any necessary information on how
and when to use it.
The In-Depth Reference Guides contain a tremendous amount of
helpful information and we suggest that you consult them.
They are written in the same simple, conversational style
and should be just as comfortable to read as the tutorials.
Introduction 20
Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
Tips and Tricks
Wherever we have been able to develop helpful tips and
tricks to make the use of ProPak even more efficient we have
put them in the User's Guide and marked them with "TIP:".
Using these techniques does not require any more expertise
than using any other feature of the program. They are just
the by-product of the many hours the author, beta-testers,
and users have spent using the program. In future upgrades
we will include any other tips that we find or develop or
that you bring to our attention. Our desire is to provide
you with the best tools possible.
The Appendices
There are five appendices following the User's Guide that
will be of special value to any of you that are new to
programming. They may even help some of you old pros to
fill in a few gaps in your understanding. We have
endeavored to make ProPak a useful tool for both the student
and the professional programmer.
The Index
The Index at the back of the User's Guide is as
comprehensive as we could make it. To keep its completeness
from being counterproductive we have marked the page or
pages where the feature is most completely covered with bold
print. Therefore, even if there is a dozen page listings
after an entry in the index, going to the one in bold print
will probably be the most useful. However, all the listings
are there for the person who wants to know as much as is
available about any given feature.
Introduction 21
Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
-----------------------
How to Install ProPak
-----------------------
ProPak is distributed on two 5¬ inch, 360K floppy diskettes or
one 3« inch, 720K diskette, and/or in a compressed format.
Which Files Do I Need?:
=======================
The following discussion outlines the files included in the
Programmer's Productivity Pack.
ProPak.EXE: This is the MS-DOS memory-resident version of the
Programmer's Productivity Pack. ProPak uses overlays
extensively. Early versions required a separate overlay file
called ProPak.OVR. Beginning with version 2.50 the overlay file
is appended to the tail-end of the ProPak.EXE file.
ProSwap.EXE: This is the flexible-loading version. ProSwap can
run as a memory-resident "swapping" version, a standard memory-
resident version, a background task under DESQview or
OmniView/TaskView, or as a stand-alone program under MS-DOS.
PCustom.EXE This is the customizing program which will enable you
to customize both versions of ProPak. In fact, you can even
customize both versions at the same time.
The customizing program does not need to be present to make
changes in the program "on the fly". You can always make changes
in memory using the "Modify Options" submenu within the ProPak
Control Center. The customizing program DOES have to be used if
you want the changes to be "permanent". That is, written to disk
and available to you the next time you turn on your computer.
Changes made from within ProPak are not "permanent" because they
are made in memory and will be lost when you unload ProPak or
turn off your computer. Both methods of customizing are simple
to use whenever needed.
Those are the files that make up the Programmer's Productivity
Pack, but, there are also several other files on the distribution
diskettes.
You will find a file called "ANSWERS.TXT", which answers the most
commonly asked questions concerning the use of the Programmer's
Productivity Pack.
Installing ProPak 22
Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
With this information you can decide which version or versions
will be the most useful to you. Whichever files you decide to
use, we recommend that they all be placed into the same
subdirectory, preferably in your DOS path. If the concept of
directories or paths is new to you please read Appendix C, at the
back of the User's Guide. More information is available from
your MS-DOS User's Guide.
By the way, PCustom, the customizing program, is not required for
the operation of ProPak or ProSwap, but, it is nice to have on
hand. Unless disk space is at a premium, keep it available at
all times.
Installing On A Hard Disk System:
=================================
The first step, which should be taken BEFORE you install the
programs on your hard disk, is to make backup copies. This is a
very important safety measure which you should take with every
new program. This protects your investment in case a disk
becomes damaged or erased. We provide extra labels with the
registered version for you to place on your backup copies.
Finally, we recommend that you use the copies as "working
copies" and place the original diskettes in a safe place.
Installing the Programmer's Productivity Pack on your hard disk
is simply a matter of deciding which files you want to copy to
your hard disk, and which subdirectory you want to place them in.
Running an actual "installation" program is not required. Any
one of the two versions will run fine. There is no "PInstall"
program.
PCustom allows you to customize various features of the program,
but it is not necessary in order to get ProPak up and running.
In fact, ProPak is sophisticated enough to determine for itself
if you are using a color or monochrome monitor, EMS memory, etc.
We should add however, that if you are using a black-and-white
monitor, such as an LCD or gas plasma display, or other gray
scale type of monitor, you will probably want to run PCustom to
change the screen colors to the gray scale values. This is
covered in the section "Setting ProPak For Your Monitor" (page
25). ProPak is already set to look good on monochrome and color
monitors.
Installing ProPak 23
Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
Installing On A Floppy Disk System:
===================================
Because ProPak uses overlays and ProSwap uses swapping to
conserve memory, we recommend that it be run from a hard disk
rather than from the slower floppy diskette drives. But, if you
do not have a hard disk, don't worry. You can still use the
Programmer's Productivity Pack. You will, however, need to have
the diskette present in the disk drive whenever you are using any
of the ProPak programs.
You can greatly improve the performance of ProPak by using
PCustom to modify it for your floppy disk only system. For
specific details refer to the In-Depth Reference Guide for
PCustom on page 136.
As with every software product you purchase, your first step
should be to make backup copies of the distribution diskettes.
This will protect your investment in case something unexpected
happens to the original diskettes. We provide (with the
registered version) printed labels for you to place on your
backup copies. Finally, we recommend that you use the backup
diskettes as the "working copy" and place the original diskettes
in a safe place.
We recommend that you make a separate diskette for each version
(ProPak and ProSwap) and that you include PCustom on each
diskette. This way you will be able to customize the program
whenever you wish. However, PCustom is not required for ProPak
or ProSwap to run.
Running an actual "installation" program is not required. Any
one of the two versions will run fine. There is no "PInstall"
program.
PCustom allows you to customize various features of the programs,
but it is not necessary in order to get ProPak up and running.
In fact, ProPak is sophisticated enough to determine for itself
if you are using a color or monochrome monitor, etc. We should
add however, that if you are using a black-and-white monitor,
such as an LCD or gas plasma display, or another gray scale type
of monitor, you will probably want to run PCustom to change the
screen colors to the gray scale values. This is covered in the
next section "Setting ProPak For Your Monitor". ProPak is
already set to look good on monochrome and color monitors.
If you are new to MS-DOS and are not sure how to copy files from
one disk to another, then Appendix C (page 154) contains some
basic information about directories, subdirectories, and other
MS-DOS information. You should also consult your DOS manual to
Installing ProPak 24
Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
familiarize yourself with DOS and to answer any questions that
may arise.
Setting ProPak For Your Monitor:
================================
You do not have to do anything to set up ProPak (or ProSwap) for
your monitor if you are using either a color or monochrome
monitor. ProPak is sophisticated enough to know which one you
have without asking you.
However, gray scale type monitors (LCD, gas plasma, etc.) look
like color monitors to any software. If you don't tell ProPak
that you really have a black-and-white display then some of the
screens will not be very clear. PCustom enables you to set
ProPak to look good on a black-and-white monitor.
To set ProPak to look good on your black-and-white monitor,
simply type "PCUSTOM" <Enter>. When the PCustom Main Menu
appears choose "Modify All Versions Present". Wait for a second
and another Menu will appear. Choose "Colors". When the
"Colors" Submenu appears choose "Gray Scale Attribute Set". Move
the highlight bar with the <Down> arrow key and press <Enter>
when "Gray Scale Attribute Set" is highlighted. Now go to "Exit
PCustom" and press <Enter>. Choose "Save Changes" and you are
done.
Refer to the section on PCustom (page 120) for more detailed
information.
You do not have to make any special arrangements to use ProPak
with a dual monitor system.
The 80 Column Text Mode:
========================
In general, the features provided by ProPak are only available
while in an 80 column text mode. ProPak will recognize and take
advantage of 25, 43 and 50 line modes. ProPak is not designed to
pop up while in graphics mode. This is due to the fact that much
more memory would be needed to save a graphics screen than a text
screen. For the same reason, ProPak was not designed for use in
132 column mode (which is rarely used). Also, since most of
ProPak's displays cannot fit on a 40 column screen, it will not
pop up under those conditions.
Installing ProPak 25
Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
The Modifier Keys:
==================
Many times in both the manual and the on-screen menus, a
keystroke command is listed with a caret (^) in front of the key.
For instance, the Calculator's Quick Reference Menu is opened
using <^M>. ProPak is not excessively picky about keystrokes.
To make things as easy as possible such keys can actually be
entered in a number of different ways. Let's use the "^M"
example. <^M> can be entered as Ctrl-M, Alt-M, Shift-M, or just
plain "M". This makes keystroke commands very easy to remember.
There are only two categories of exceptions to this rule and they
will always be explained as they are encountered. The two
general categories are outlined below.
When you are in Hexadecimal format in The Programmer's
Calculator, the letters "A" through "F" correspond to the
hexadecimal values 0A hex (10 decimal) through 0F hex (15
decimal). Therefore, to use one of these letters as anything
other than a hexadecimal value, they must be preceded by either
<Ctrl> or <Alt>.
Some keys such as <Tab> or <F1> mean the opposite when they are
modified with <Ctrl>, <Alt> or a <Shift> key.
ProPak and Your Keyboard:
=========================
Knowing how ProPak uses your keyboard can help you get the most
out of ProPak. ProPak is able to use more key combinations than
most software. The reason for this is twofold.
When ProPak is installed, it hooks into the BIOS keyboard
interrupts (Interrupts 09h and 16h) and adds several additional
capabilities to those interrupts. These additional features are
much more apparent to those of you who do not have enhanced
keyboards. ProPak is able to recognize many key combinations
that are normally usable only with an enhanced keyboard. Also,
for users of enhanced keyboards, ProPak is able to use about a
dozen key combinations that are not normally recognized by the
BIOS alone. This enhancement to normal keyboard functionality is
at a very low level, meaning that you do not have to do anything
special to obtain this benefit.
On a higher level, ProPak goes to extreme lengths to recognize
keys logically according to the context in which they are typed.
For instance, if you are using The Programmer's Calculator and do
not have NumLock set and you press the <Up> Arrow key, it is
fairly obvious that you intended to enter the number 8. This
Installing ProPak 26
Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
concept helps to make ProPak so easy to use. It even works with
the number 5 key, the center key on the numeric keypad, when
NumLock is NOT on.
By being aware of ProPak's efforts to make your keyboard more
functional, you can often think of additional ways to improve
your productivity. After all, who knows more about the kinds of
things you use your computer for than you do?
The ASCII Poster:
=================
(Included in the registered version!) This 20" x 26" poster
gives you the character, decimal value, and hexadecimal value of
the 256 ASCII and extended ASCII characters. It also has the
often needed box drawing characters arranged logically and large
enough to see from a distance. If you put this in a convenient
spot near your computer you will never have to look for an ASCII
chart in a manual again!
Installing ProPak 27
Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
-------------------------------
How To Load And Unload ProPak
-------------------------------
Now that you have chosen which files you want to use and have
installed them on your system, all that remains is to use them.
Loading ProPak:
===============
When we are speaking in general terms about the Programmer's
Productivity Pack we use "ProPak".
To load ProPak into memory type "PROPAK" at the DOS prompt and
press <Enter>.
After a brief pause while the program is read from disk, you will
see a screen appear that is full of information. You might like
to take a moment to read over the information on your screen.
(Due to space limitations and printer incompatibilities,
this figure appears only in the printed User's Guide.)
Figure 1: Opening Screen
Figure 1 is a sample of ProPak's opening screen. It was actually
captured using ProPak's Screen Capture facility (edited for the
ASCII documentation). Referring to Figure 1, or better yet, to
the actual display on your screen, you will see that ProPak
provides you with all the information you are likely to need, or
that you may be curious about.
The upper portion of the screen provides you with information
concerning EMS memory. This information includes the presence or
absence of EMS memory, the status of EMS memory as reported by
the Expanded Memory Manager, and most importantly, whether or not
ProPak is using EMS memory for its overlay file.
The lower portion of the screen provides detailed information
regarding how much normal RAM memory is being used by ProPak, as
well as an approximate breakdown of HOW it is being used. Here
is a brief explanation of each of these values:
o Program Segment Prefix (PSP) - PC/MS-DOS always places a
256 byte chunk of memory at the beginning of each program
it executes. This 256 byte area contains information that
the program may use or refer to during execution.
Loading and Unloading ProPak 28
Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
o Environment Block (at least) - The is the area of memory
where MS-DOS stores any global parameters. These are
strings like your path command, any "SET=?" strings, etc.
ProPak does not know how much memory is reserved for the
environment block, but it does know how much of the
environment block is actually in use storing parameters.
o CODE (??,???) DATA (??,???) - "CODE" refers to the memory
used for machine instructions. "DATA" refers to the
memory used for storing internal variables, data
structures, etc.
o Internal Stacks - A "stack" is a storage area that your
computer uses to keep track of information on a temporary
basis. ProPak has five internal stacks, one for each of
the tools accessed with a Hot Key. To minimize memory
usage ProPak uses a sophisticated scheme that allows one
internal stack to "overflow" onto another internal stack
safely.
o Overlay Buffer - The overlay buffer is very similar to the
CODE area mentioned above. The overlay buffer contains
machine instructions needed by ProPak to perform various
tasks. However, the Overlay Buffer does not always
contain the same information. It contains only the
machine instructions needed at any given time. Machine
instructions not currently needed remain on disk in the
.OVR file, or in EMS memory if it is in use. This is a
common technique used to conserve memory.
o HEAP (where dynamic storage occurs) - The "HEAP" is simply
an area of memory set aside for use by ProPak as needed.
For example, when you pop up ProPak it saves an area of
the screen before it overwrites it. This is how ProPak is
able to restore your screen when it is finished. The area
of the screen is saved on the "HEAP".
If this information is confusing to you, don't worry. You don't
need to memorize any of these values. This information is there
for those who like to know exactly how much memory is being used
by ProPak, and for what it is being used. Pressing any key will
clear the screen and return you to the DOS prompt.
ProPak is a memory-resident program. What this means is that
when you first run the program, it will install itself in memory
and then return control to DOS. So when you find yourself back
at the DOS prompt after pressing any key, don't worry, you're
doing just fine.
Loading and Unloading ProPak 29
Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
Once you are back at the DOS prompt, you will see two key
combinations listed. These are the keys that will activate
ProPak when they are pressed. One will pop up The Programmer's
Calculator and the other will pop up The Control Center. These
activation keys are called "Hot Keys." But don't press them yet.
First, we will show you how ProPak can be removed from memory.
Bypassing the Opening Screen:
-----------------------------
Sometimes you may prefer to start ProPak without viewing the
Opening (memory usage) screen. To do this simple start ProPak
with ANY command line parameter. That's right. Type "PROPAK"
followed by a space and anything you want, then press <Enter>.
This tells ProPak to "shut-up" and proceed without displaying the
opening memory status display.
Renaming PROPAK.EXE:
--------------------
ProPak uses overlays which are attached to the end of the
PROPAK.EXE file. This means that ProPak must always be able to
find itself on disk (unless EMS memory is used for the overlays).
Even though most options are controlled through the configuration
file (PROPAK.CFG), some options require PCustom to modify the
.EXE file itself. To do this, PCustom must be able to find the
PROPAK.EXE file.
To enable you to rename PROPAK.EXE, so that it knows it's new
name, and so that PCustom can find it later, you should always
use PCustom to rename PROPAK.EXE. PCustom has a new option which
will make this easy for you.
Never change the name of the configuration file (PROPAK.CFG). If
you change the name of the configuration file, then ProSwap or
PCustom will simply write a new PROPAK.CFG file the next time
they run. The new file will have all the default values and will
not retain any customizations you may have made.
Using ProSwap:
==============
ProSwap is an extremely flexible program containing the most used
features of The Programmer's Productivity Pack.
Loading and Unloading ProPak 30
Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
o ProSwap can be loaded as a swapping memory resident
version which swaps most of itself out of memory when not
in use. When loaded in this fashion ProSwap retains only
about 7K bytes of memory while resident. ProSwap can swap
itself to:
- XMS memory.
- EMS memory.
- a RAM disk.
- a hard disk.
o ProSwap can be loaded as a traditional memory resident
program (no swapping).
o ProSwap can also be run as a stand-alone DESQview aware
program which does not remain memory resident.
ProSwap has one additional capability not found in ProPak:
ProSwap provides a pop-up DOS shell capability. When activated,
this capability swaps the currently running program out, freeing
as much memory as possible, then loads a secondary copy of the
command processor, and places you at the DOS prompt. This
capability enables you to shell to DOS from programs that do not
have this capability built in.
Important Note: To use the pop-up DOS shell capability you must
have PC/MS-DOS 3.0 or later. If you are using an earlier version
of DOS you will have to disable the DOS shell capability using
PCustom, before you can use ProSwap.
Loading ProSwap:
----------------
To start ProSwap simply type "PROSWAP" <Enter> at the DOS prompt.
This will start ProSwap in it's default (normal) mode. Several
command line options are available and are described in detail
below. Before we discuss the command line options, you should be
aware of some limitations.
ProSwap is designed to provide you with as much usable memory as
possible while it is resident. To accomplish this ProSwap must
be able to swap itself into and out of memory. Because of this
swapping behavior there are several things you must avoid.
o ProSwap cannot be loaded into "high" memory using
utilities such as QRAM, QEMM, 386MAX, or any similar
utility.
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Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
o ProSwap should not be loaded before programs that contain
hardware interrupt handlers. Examples of such programs
are network shells, multitasking operating systems, and
communications programs. If you are going to use ProSwap
in these environments you should load it after the network
shell or multitasking operating system is installed.
o It is possible to load ProSwap and still run
communications programs like ProComm or TAPCIS, providing
you follow some simple guidelines. Do NOT pop ProSwap up
over your communications program while it is online,
uploading or downloading, or waiting to answer an incoming
call. When ProSwap pops up it swaps the current
application out - essentially trading places with it in
memory. This will be a problem if the other program was
trying to deal with com ports or some other hardware
related activity. Of course, if you are using a program
like ProComm or TAPCIS and the program is not online or
waiting to answer an incoming call, then it is safe to pop
up ProSwap.
o ProSwap will not pop up over a program operating in
graphics mode. ProSwap does not know how to save and
restore a graphics screen. So to prevent problems,
ProSwap will simply beep and refuse to pop up when your
video system is in graphics mode.
There are also some important restrictions regarding the pop-up
DOS shell capabilities.
o You cannot pop to a DOS shell while you are at the DOS
command line. The problem has to do with the way DOS
handles its internal stacks. You're probably wondering
"why would I want to shell to the DOS command line when
I'm already at the DOS command line?". Well, there's
really no reason to do this, so this isn't much of a
limitation. Unfortunately, this is one of the first
things users try to do when they start experimenting with
ProSwap.
o This same conflict arises if you pop up a TSR from the DOS
command line and then try to pop to a DOS shell using
ProSwap. Even though you popped up another TSR,
technically you are still at the DOS command line.
o The DOS programs DEBUG and EDLIN are very similar to the
DOS command line in terms of how internal DOS stacks are
managed. Because of this you cannot pop to a DOS shell
from within DEBUG or EDLIN.
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o It is possible, under a multitasking system such as
DESQview, for ProSwap to not recognize that you are at the
DOS command line. So be very careful when using ProSwap
under a multitasking operating system - don't try to pop
to a DOS shell from the DOS command line.
o Finally, the most important restriction: Do NOT install
another memory resident program while you are within the
ProSwap DOS shell. When you exit from the DOS shell
ProSwap will swap the new memory resident program out and
the results will not be pretty.
When ProSwap is swapping to disk, it must be absolutely
guaranteed that it will have access to it's swap files when it
swaps itself into or out of memory. This requirement, coupled
with the speed issue, means that ProSwap's swap file cannot be
located on removable media such as a floppy diskette. ProSwap
checks for this and will refuse to load if you specify a floppy
drive as the location for the swap files. Even though the media
is technically removable, you may still use a Bernoulli drive as
the location for the swap files.
ProSwap Command Line Options:
-----------------------------
Some programs are overly picky about how a command line option is
entered. Some programs expect each option to be preceded by a
space and a backslash. Even worse, some programs are case
sensitive - a command line option must be lower case, or it must
be upper case, or some other limitation. Command line options
with ProSwap are very easy.
For instance, if a command line option is "/X" - the "X" may be
either upper or lower case. Furthermore, it may be preceded by a
forward slash (/), a backslash (\), a dash (-), or a space ( ).
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Here is a brief list of each option. The list is followed by a
detailed description of each option.
-D force swapping to Disk only
-E force swapping to EMS memory only
-H Help (same as "-?")
-M Minimize swap size (XMS and Disk only)
-N No swapping (TSR mode - same as "-T")
-P Preserve mouse state within the DOS shell
-S Stand-alone (non-resident), DESQview aware mode
-T TSR mode (no swapping - same as "-N")
-U Unload the previously loaded copy of ProSwap from
memory
-X force swapping to XMS memory only
-? shows a list of all available command line options and
returns to the DOS command line (help - same as "-H")
(D) Force Swapping to Disk Only:
This option forces ProSwap to swap to disk even if
sufficient EMS or XMS memory is available. Swapping to disk
is inevitably slower than swapping to EMS or XMS memory.
The speed of the swapping process can be further controlled
by the "-M" option described below.
This option can be permanently controlled using PCustom.
(E) Force Swapping to EMS Memory Only:
This option forces ProSwap to swap to EMS memory. If there
is not enough EMS memory available, then ProSwap will abort
without attempting to swap to either disk or XMS memory.
This option can be permanently controlled using PCustom.
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Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
(H) Help:
Displays a list of command line options and returns to DOS
without going resident. This can be accomplished using any
command line option that is not recognized by ProSwap. This
option is the same as "-?" described below.
(M) Minimize Swap Size:
This option applies only when ProSwap is swapping to disk or
to XMS memory (it is ignored when swapping to EMS memory).
When swapping to disk, two swap files are used. When
swapping to XMS memory, two blocks of memory are used. One
is used for storing the memory under the control of ProSwap,
the other is used for storing the memory under the control
of the application being swapped out. This allows the
swapping operation to occur as quickly as possible - at the
expense of using more disk space, or more XMS memory.
When the "-M" option is used, ProSwap will use only one file
when swapping to disk, or one memory block when swapping to
XMS. In effect, the two swap images "trade places" with
each other during the swapping operation.
This option causes ProSwap to use much less disk space, or
much less XMS memory. The price you pay for conserving
these resources is speed. Swapping takes much longer in
this mode.
This option can be permanently controlled using PCustom.
(N) No Swapping, and
(T) TSR Mode:
These options are identical. Use the one that is easiest
for you to remember.
When ProSwap is loaded in TSR mode, it will load just like
ProPak. It will remain in memory until it is unloaded - no
swapping will be performed. This means that it will pop-up
instantly when a hot key is pressed, but it will take much
more memory away from your other programs. The pop-up DOS
shell capability is not available in this mode.
This option can be permanently controlled using PCustom.
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(P) Preserve Mouse State:
Most people won't pop to DOS from a program that uses a
mouse and then run another program that uses a mouse. So
there is usually no need for ProSwap to preserve the mouse
state when it pops to DOS and restore it when it returns
from DOS. Some newer mouse drivers are annoyingly slow at
initializing (which happens every time you pop to DOS),
which is yet another reason why ProSwap does not normally
preserve the state of the mouse.
This option tells ProSwap to preserve the mouse state before
it shells to DOS, and to restore the mouse state when it
returns from the DOS shell. If you use a mouse often, you
will want to start ProSwap with the "-P" option.
(S) Stand-Alone Mode:
This option tells ProSwap to run like a traditional program.
This means that ProSwap will not go memory resident. When
you are finished using ProSwap and exit, you will return to
DOS. In this mode ProSwap is DESQview aware and sends all
screen output to the buffer provided by DESQview rather than
directly to video memory.
This option can be permanently controlled using PCustom.
(U) Unload From Memory:
Tells ProSwap to look for a copy of itself already loaded
into memory, and to unload that copy if found. When this
option is used, ProSwap will unload the resident copy and
then return to DOS.
This is the safest way to unload ProSwap from memory!
If ProSwap was not previously loaded then this option is
ignored.
* When this option is used it should be the *only* option
used.
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Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
(X) Force Swapping to XMS Memory Only:
This option forces ProSwap to swap to XMS memory. If there
is not enough XMS memory available then ProSwap will abort
without attempting to swap to either disk or EMS memory.
NOTE: XMS swapping is only available with XMS (Extended
Memory Specification) extended memory - not with simulated
extended memory or extended memory which doesn't conform to
the XMS standard.
This option can be permanently controlled using PCustom.
(?) Help:
Displays a list of command line options and returns to DOS
without going resident. This can be accomplished using any
command line option which is not recognized by ProSwap.
This option is the same as "-H" described above.
ProSwap as a Stand-Alone Program:
---------------------------------
By now you have a good grasp of how a memory-resident program is
loaded into memory. Now let's examine some of the differences
between the memory-resident and the stand-alone or multitasking
capabilities of ProSwap. ProSwap, when loaded with the "/S"
option, is designed to run as a stand-alone program under MS-DOS
or as a background task under DESQview or TaskView/OmniView.
The memory-resident versions of ProPak write directly to video
memory when they output information to the screen. There are
several advantages to this technique. First and foremost,
writing directly to video memory is much faster than sending all
screen output through the operating system. Additionally, direct
screen writing allows ProPak to retain more control over the
screen.
Programmers running ProSwap under DESQview or TaskView/OmniView
should consider the subject of "windows". In deciding how to set
up ProSwap you should be aware that some features use the entire
screen. For instance, The ASCII and Color Attribute Chart will
use the entire 25, 43 or 50 lines available on the screen
(depending upon the current video mode and hardware
capabilities). Of course, before overwriting anything currently
displayed on the screen, both versions of ProPak will copy the
screen contents to their own internal buffer, and then restore
the screen before exiting. If you specify a window size smaller
than the entire screen, sometimes ProSwap will write outside the
Loading and Unloading ProPak 37
Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
boundaries of that window. It will always restore it when it is
finished, so don't worry.
When ProSwap is running under a multitasking system it may not be
the only program using the screen. If another program is using
the screen, it would be very rude for ProSwap to overwrite the
other program's output. To avoid this, ProSwap sends its screen
output to the "virtual screen" provided by the multitasking
system, rather than directly to video memory. This allows the
multitasking system to retain control over which application has
access to the actual screen at any given time.
What this means to multitasking systems is that ProSwap is very
considerate of any other programs that might be running
simultaneously.
Another consideration is that these multitasking systems provide
their own keyboard macro (Keystroke Recording and Playback)
capabilities, and their own screen cut and paste (Screen Grabber)
facilities. This includes all the features contained in The
Control Center. To conserve memory and avoid redundancy, ProSwap
does not have those features which the operating environment is
already providing.
Renaming PROSWAP.EXE:
---------------------
You are free to change the name of PROSWAP.EXE to any other name
as long as the .EXE extension is not changed. PCustom does not
need to be able to find PROSWAP.EXE to customize it. However,
you must not change the name of the configuration file
(PROSWAP.CFG).
If you change the name of the configuration file, then ProSwap or
PCustom will simply write a new PROSWAP.CFG file the next time
they run. The new file will have all the default values and will
not retain any customizations you may have made.
Unloading ProPak or ProSwap:
============================
At the DOS prompt type "PROPAK -U" and press <Enter>. If you are
using ProSwap type "PROSWAP" instead of "PROPAK". This will
unload ProPak from memory (if it is safe to do so). You may use
"-U", "/U", "\U", or " U" to unload ProPak from memory (the "U"
may be upper or lower case). This is the safest way to unload
ProPak from memory.
Loading and Unloading ProPak 38
Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
Whether you are at the DOS prompt or not you can unload ProPak
from memory by popping up The Programmer's Calculator and
pressing <Alt><U>, <Alt><U>. That's right, press it twice. If
you prefer you can press <Ctrl><U>, <Ctrl><U>. We told you
ProPak wasn't picky. Another alternative is to pop up The
Control Center and choose the "Unload from Memory" option. More
complete information regarding the safest possible method of
unloading memory-resident programs is listed on pages 94 through
95.
If at any time you are unsure if ProPak is loaded in memory
simply try to install it again. It won't allow itself to be
installed twice and will give you a message to the effect that it
is already resident. Pressing the Hot Keys will also tell you if
it is resident or not.
Sidekick Considerations:
========================
If you are a Sidekick user, especially if you have been one for
some time, you have probably noticed that Sidekick can cause
difficulties for other memory-resident programs. Specially for
programs loaded after Sidekick. If you are a dedicated Sidekick
fan, and there are many of them around, then it would be
beneficial for you to understand a little about Sidekick's inner
workings.
Sidekick is an important consideration for anyone designing
memory-resident programs. Sidekick is really an industry wide
standard because of its popularity. How well a memory-resident
program gets along with Sidekick often determines how well a
memory-resident program gets along with its users.
With that in mind here are a few tips that could help you with
all the programs you use while Sidekick is resident.
As you read in Sidekick's manual, Sidekick should always be the
last memory-resident program loaded into memory. There is a very
practical reason for this requirement. The gist of the problem
lies in Sidekick's use of the BIOS keyboard services. In order
to ensure that Sidekick will always be able to see any keystrokes
directed to it, it takes steps to ensure that it gets first crack
at all keystrokes. How does Sidekick accomplish this feat?
Well, not only does Sidekick grab the keyboard hardware interrupt
when first loaded, it also monitors that interrupt constantly.
If Sidekick sees another program grab the same interrupt,
Sidekick grabs it right back. While this may seem rude, it is
actually a pretty good idea. The problem is that Sidekick may
grab it back more than once! If the keyboard hardware interrupt
is grabbed a second time, by any program at all, Sidekick grabs
Loading and Unloading ProPak 39
Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
the vector again, which fouls up the ISR chain (and hangs your
system to demonstrate its disapproval).
Today this seems to directly contradict our view of how a well
behaved program should conduct itself. But before you pass
judgment on Borland you should remember that Sidekick became
available "way back when". When memory-resident utilities were
rarely seen and little understood. At the time Sidekick was
written there were very few programs that grabbed the keyboard
hardware interrupt. Primarily because there were very few
memory-resident programs around. Of course, one could argue that
Borland should have corrected the problem in a later release. If
you've tried SideKick Plus, the next generation of Sidekick,
you've seen that Borland has in fact corrected this problem.
With this brief historical background out of the way, we can get
down to the business of dealing with Sidekick's stingy attitude
towards the keyboard interrupt. Even though SideKick Plus is now
available, there are still hundreds of thousands of people using
Sidekick. It is to these people that this information will be
the most useful.
Once you understand Sidekick's refusal to share with other
programs, you will be able to prevent problems from arising.
Simply make sure not to incur Sidekick's wrath by taking the
keyboard interrupt away from it. This holds true for any
program, memory-resident or stand-alone. Sidekick must always be
catered to when dealing with the keyboard hardware interrupt.
Both versions of ProPak grab the keyboard hardware interrupt
twice. Once when they are loaded, and a second time when The
Keystroke Reference Center is displayed. That's how ProPak is
able to show you the contents of the BIOS keyboard status bytes.
It is for these reasons that ProPak and ProSwap were specially
designed to work with Sidekick. ProPak (or ProSwap), during the
process of loading itself into memory, alters Sidekick internally
to prevent it from hogging up the keyboard interrupt. This is
very similar to the technique used by SideKick Plus when it is
used in conjunction with Sidekick. This technique works so well
that ProPak can safely be loaded AFTER Sidekick, and Sidekick
will not mind the company at all.
There is a side effect to this technique (isn't there always?).
When ProPak is loaded after Sidekick, Sidekick loses its ability
to detect whether or not it has already been loaded into memory.
This means that you could load a second copy of Sidekick into
memory if you forget that it is already loaded. Actually that's
a very minor inconvenience compared to the alternative (Sidekick
throwing up its hands and hanging your system).
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The DOS PRINT Program:
======================
The DOS PRINT program was not designed to be unloaded from memory
except by rebooting your system. The reason we mention this here
is because ProPak will not be able to unload itself if PRINT is
loaded after it. The obvious solution is to load PRINT before
you load ProPak. This will help to retain ProPak's ability to
unload itself from memory. Of course you still have the problem
of unloading PRINT from memory when you no longer need it. We
also have a solution for that problem. Read on.
In Case of Conflicts With Other Memory-Resident Programs:
=========================================================
ProPak and ProSwap were carefully designed to ensure that they
are well behaved and can get along with other memory-resident
programs. Of course today there are so many memory-resident
utilities available that it simply wasn't possible to test ProPak
with all of them.
As a general rule, whenever you encounter a memory-resident
program that doesn't get along well with ProPak, simply load
ProPak before loading the other program. In virtually every
instance, this should solve any problems you may encounter with
other memory-resident programs.
One example is PopCalc from BellSoft, Inc. PopCalc is extremely
rude in the way it deals with other memory resident programs. As
pointed out here, the way to avoid conflicts is to load ProPak
before loading PopCalc.
ProPak and Batch Files:
=======================
Many people like to include ProPak (or ProSwap) in their
AUTOEXEC.BAT(ch) file so that it will be loaded automatically
each time the machine is turned on. There is a number of details
that should be taken into consideration before positioning ProPak
in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file.
First, if you want to be able to unload ProPak from memory, you
should endeavor to load ProPak last among your memory-resident
programs. Of course if your other memory-resident programs can
also be removed from memory then you may load them in any order.
Just be sure to unload them in the reverse order from which they
were installed. This will avoid having "holes" in memory between
programs. For a more complete explanation of the safest methods
Loading and Unloading ProPak 41
Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
of unloading a memory-resident program refer to pages 94 through
95.
One other consideration when using batch files is the DOS
ERRORLEVEL value returned by other programs.
The programs that come with the Programmer's Productivity Pack
all provide clear and detailed error messages if an error should
occur. But they also return values in the DOS ERRORLEVEL for any
errors that result in program termination. The vast majority of
you will never need this information, but for the sake of
consistency it is provided for those who may find it useful.
DOS ERRORLEVEL will contain the following values under the
specified conditions:
00 No error occurred.
01 Attempt to load a memory-resident program that was
already resident in memory.
02 Attempt to load a memory-resident program after
Sidekick
03 Could not go resident due to an unsafe Hot Key.
04 Incorrect DOS version. Requires DOS 2.0 or above.
05 A file access error occurred.
06 Program aborted by the user.
07 An EMS memory error occurred.
08 Insufficient RAM memory to continue.
09 Insufficient EMS memory to continue.
10 Error with overlays.
55 Any other error.
99 Internal program error.
ProPak Error Messages:
======================
Unlike many programs that display a meaningless code for each
error, the ProPak programs all display simple, clear messages
when an error occurs. In almost every case you will understand
Loading and Unloading ProPak 42
Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
any error messages you encounter without needing any additional
information.
There are a few error situations in which the problem may not be
so obvious. Two errors that fall into this category are a
missing overlay file, and incorrect video modes. The following
information describes each of these two situations in detail.
Beeps and Doesn't Pop Up:
-------------------------
If you press a Hot Key and ProPak beeps instead of popping
up there can be two possible causes.
Missing Overlay File. First, if you are not using EMS
memory, ProPak must always have access to itself (the
overlays are contained with ProPak.EXE). If the ProPak.EXE
file is deleted, moved, or renamed, ProPak will beep instead
of popping up. This is to avoid a more serious error when
something is needed from the inaccessible overlay file. The
solution is to put the ProPak.EXE back where ProPak expects
it, but even better is to prevent the problem from ever
arising. Don't rename ProPak.EXE without first consulting
the information provided on page 30.
Not in 80 Column Text Mode. Another situation which would
cause ProPak (or ProSwap) to beep rather than popping up, is
pressing a Hot Key while the system is in graphics mode, or
in 40 or 132 column text mode. The solution is to switch
back to an 80 column text mode before popping up ProPak (or
ProSwap).
There are also two situations in which ProPak will not pop
up, but no beep sound will be generated to indicate a
problem. This is because these situations are not errors,
rather they are safety measures to prevent errors from
arising. These situations are explained below.
Doesn't Beep or Pop Up:
-----------------------
Unsafe to Pop Up. There is one other situation where no
error message will appear to explain the current situation.
This occurs when you attempt to pop up ProPak (or ProSwap)
at a time when it is not safe for ProPak to pop up. This is
a safety measure designed to prevent problems from arising.
When you press a Hot Key, ProPak does a number of things
before actually popping up on your screen. First and most
importantly, ProPak checks the current state of your system
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Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
to see if it is safe to pop up. If ProPak determines that
it may not be safe to pop up at that particular time, then
it will instead monitor the system very closely for the next
two seconds in case things become safe during that time. If
ProPak determines that the system is in a state that enables
ProPak to pop up safely, then ProPak will pop up. However,
if the two seconds pass without any significant change in
the state of things, ProPak will simply not pop up. You
will rarely, if ever, encounter this situation. But if you
do, then you'll know that ProPak is not asleep at the
switch, but rather it is taking steps to ensure that you
encounter no unexpected surprises.
When is it unsafe for ProPak (or ProSwap) to pop up? For
instance, ProPak uses a DOS service to read the overlay file
on the disk. If another program is using that same DOS
service then ProPak should wait until the service is
completed before interrupting the other program. In other
words, ProPak avoids interrupting any services that ProPak
will need to use.
In Record Keystrokes Mode. There is one situation in which
everything is normal but the Hot Keys will not pop up
ProPak. This occurs while ProPak is recording keystrokes.
While in Record Keystrokes Mode, the only Hot Key available
is the one that turns off Keystroke Recording (<Alt><->).
For more complete information refer to the Keystroke
Recording and Playback Quick Start Tutorial on page 85.
There is also a special case regarding the pop-up DOS shell
capability of ProSwap. You cannot pop-up the DOS shell if you
are already at the DOS command line (this includes popping up
another TSR over the DOS command line, then attempting to pop up
a DOS shell).
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Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
---------------------------------------------
The Programmer's Calculator and Attachments
---------------------------------------------
The Programmer's Calculator and its attachments, The ASCII and
Color Attribute Chart and The Keystroke Reference Center, are an
integrated set of tools that are powerful, flexible, and fun to
use.
Not even a hand-held programmer's calculator could provide all of
the features that are built into The Programmer's Calculator.
The Programmer's Calculator has enough features to satisfy the
professional programmer and yet remains simple enough to be
useful to the newcomer or student. The Quick Start Tutorial for
The Programmer's Calculator begins below. The In-Depth Reference
Guide begins on page 52.
The ASCII and Color Attribute Chart provides a wealth of
information on the different ASCII characters, color attributes,
monochrome attributes, and extended characters. Now you can
press a key instead of leaving your work to find a reference
book. The Quick Start Tutorial for The ASCII and Color
Attributes Chart begins on page 66. The In-Depth Reference Guide
begins on page 68.
After you try The Keystroke Reference Center you may ask yourself
how you ever got along without it. A programmer's dream! BIOS
scan codes and dBASE INKEY() values on screen at the touch of a
key. The Quick Start Tutorial for The Keystroke Reference Center
begins on page 71. The In-Depth Reference Guide begins on page
74.
The Screen Blanking and Disk Parking utility is available from
any one of the attachments to The Programmer's Calculator. The
separate In-Depth Reference Guide on page 79 gives you all the
information you need concerning the Screen Blanking and Disk
Parking capability.
The Quick Start Tutorial:
=========================
This Quick Start Tutorial is designed to familiarize you with the
functions and capabilities of The Programmer's Calculator.
Be sure that ProPak is resident in memory. Type "PROPAK" <Enter>
at the DOS prompt. Once you are sure that ProPak is resident in
memory you may activate, or pop up, the Calculator, by holding
down the <Alt> key and pressing <LeftShift>. This will bring up
The Programmer's Calculator display.
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Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
As you can see, you have six outlined boxes making up The
Programmer's Calculator display. The boxes are: The Decimal Box;
The Hexadecimal Box; The Binary Box; The Octal Box; The Program
Information, Date and Time Box; and The Saved Values Box.
If you look at the box titles you will see that the Decimal Box
is highlighted on your screen. This means that you are currently
in Decimal format. In other words, numbers are entered as
Decimal numbers. You will still be able to see the same values
appear in each of the other numeric formats simultaneously. The
Signed heading is also highlighted. This means you can enter
numbers as positive or negative values.
To enter numbers into The Programmer's Calculator, you can use
the top row of number keys, or the numeric keypad. ProPak does
not care whether NumLock is set or not. It is smart enough to
know that if you press the <PgUp> key, you want it to enter the
value "9", because that is the key that shares <PgUp>.
The Programmer's Calculator will accept any digit from 0-9 in
Decimal format. In Hexadecimal format, the Calculator will
accept any value from 0-9 and A-F. In Binary Format the
acceptable digits are 0 and 1. In Octal Format the acceptable
digits are 0-7.
Common operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication, or
division, are performed by pressing their corresponding key.
Press <+> for addition, <-> for subtraction, <*> for
multiplication, and either </> or <\> for division.
Since we don't always enter our numbers correctly it is helpful
to know how to clear values, delete digits, and even start from
scratch all over again. Use the <BackSpace> or <Delete> keys to
delete a single digit at a time, or use <^E> to clear the current
Entry. Use <^A> to Clear All (to reset the whole Calculator).
Remember, <^E> means Ctrl-E, Alt-E, or just plain "E", as
explained on page 26.
Let's start with a simple problem. Type the following, watching
the screen to see what happens:
<5> <+> <5> <=>
There you have it! A Calculator can't get much easier to operate
than that!
A whole series of calculations can be performed before ever
requesting a final result. For instance, type the following:
<5> <+> <7> <+> <2> <-> <1> <=>
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As you entered the numbers you noticed that the values
accumulated in the top value until you requested a final result
by pressing <=>. Then the answer appeared on the bottom line. A
final result can also be obtained by pressing <Enter> instead of
<=>. Type the following:
<100> <-> <50> <-> <25> <+> <10> <Enter>
Now let's try multiplication. Type the following:
<16> <*> <4> <*> <4> <=>
Division works the same. Type the following:
<64> </> <2> <\> <2> <=>
Since this is integer division you will not get any fractional
answers. As an example of this, type the following:
<49> </> <10> <=>
Ten will only go into 49 four times. There is no floating
decimal point or remainder given. To get the remainder you would
need to use the operation known as "Modulus" which is explained
in the In-Depth Reference Guide (page 61).
If you have been watching the screen closely you have noticed
that even though you have only entered values in Decimal format
the operations have been carried out simultaneously in each of
the other numeric formats.
Even after you have finished this tutorial you probably won't
remember all of the features available within The Programmer's
Calculator. To help you remember, there is a built-in Quick
Reference Menu. To activate the Menu simply press <M>.
If you have done any assembly language programming, then you are
probably familiar with all of the abbreviations used in the Menu;
such as SHL for Shift Left and ROR for Rotate Right, etc.
However, if you are not familiar with these abbreviations, don't
worry. Every single Menu option is explained in the In-Depth
Reference Guide (page 52). Besides, you're going to get familiar
with a few of them in just a minute.
You don't have to bring up the Menu in order to execute a
command. The Menu exists solely as a quick reference tool to
help you remember which keys perform which operations. Once you
have used the Calculator a few times you will find that many
times you won't need the Menu at all.
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When you press a key that corresponds to an operation the Menu
will disappear and the action will be executed. Pressing <Esc>
makes the Menu disappear without executing any other action. Try
pressing <Esc>.
Let's try one of these functions. Enter the value "57" into the
Calculator and press <M> to bring up the Menu. Shift Left is
executed by pressing <F3>. We are going to shift the value left
4 times. Press <F3> once. Each time you press <F3>, the value
will be shifted left 1 bit position. You can see this clearly by
watching the Binary Box as you press <F3> three more times.
Now we are going to shift it back to the right 4 times. Type <M>
to bring up the Menu. Shift Right (SHR) is <^F3>. Remember, "^"
means <Ctrl>, <Shift>, or <Alt>. Press <^F3> to shift the value
to the right. If you do this 4 times you will have the original
value back.
The Shift Arithmetic Left <F7> and Right <^F7> and the Rotate
Left <F5> and Right <^F5> operations function the same way. Each
time you press the corresponding key, the value is shifted or
rotated one bit position. Try it a few times. If these
functions are new to you, perhaps you would like to take the time
now to read Appendices A (page 143) and B (page 152) at the back
of The User's Guide. They should help clarify these operations
for you.
Rotate through the Carry Left <F6> and Right <^F6> operate a
little differently. The reason for this is that in order to
properly retain the value of the carry flag during the rotate
operation, we must do the entire operation in a single step.
Let's try it.
Enter any value you wish and press <F6>. You will see a small
window open asking you how many bit positions to rotate the
value. For this example, press <8> <Enter>, and watch the
Calculator carry out your command. To rotate back to the right
press <^F6>. Press <8> and <Enter> again and you have your
original value back.
Ok. Let's move on to something new. Press the <TAB> key a few
times and watch the screen as you do. As you can see, the <TAB>
key moves you from one numeric format to the next in a clockwise
direction. If you were to press <Ctrl><Tab>, <Alt><Tab>, or
<Shift><Tab> instead, you would move counterclockwise from one
format to the next.
Now, using the <TAB> key, return to Decimal format again. A
shortcut to switching numeric formats is to press the first
letter of the format you wish to be in. For instance, press <O>
and you will be in Octal format, press <B> and you will be in
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Binary format. Now press <H> for Hexadecimal format. When you
are in Hexadecimal format, the letters A through F correspond to
the hexadecimal values A through F. Obviously, pressing <B> will
not move you into Binary format, but will rather enter the value
0B Hex (11 decimal). So will <Shift><B> (upper case). Try it.
However, if you press <Ctrl><B> or <Alt><B> you will move to
Binary format. Just remember that in Hexadecimal format the
letters A through F are numeric values.
Get into Binary format now, using whichever method you prefer.
<^C>, as you may have noticed on the Menu, operates the feature
"Change Bits", ProPak's bit manipulation facility. <C> or
<Alt><C> brings up the Change Bits option as well (as explained
on page 26). The line above the 32 bit value in the Binary Box
is highlighted. There is a small arrow pointing to one of the
bits. You can move back and forth using the <Left> and <Right>
arrow keys. Try it. The <Home> key takes you directly to the
leftmost bit and the <End> key takes you directly to the
rightmost bit. When you are positioned over a bit that you want
to change simply press the <Space> bar to toggle the bit. See
how it affects the values in the other numeric formats. After
you have changed the particular bit or bits that you wanted to
change, press <Enter> to keep the changes, or press <Esc> to
cancel the changes. Pressing <Esc> will always get you out of
the bit manipulation facility.
Now, move back to Decimal format. Once you are in the Decimal
Box, press <C> again. As you can see, this option is available
from each of the four numeric formats. When you are finished
manipulating bits and press <Enter> or <Esc> you will be returned
to the format you were in before.
As you might have guessed, when you are in Hexadecimal format <C>
is a value. Therefore, you need to press <Ctrl><C> or <Alt><C>
to activate the bit manipulation facility.
To toggle the current value from positive to negative, or from
negative to positive, simply press <^-> (<Ctrl><Minus>). Enter a
value. Press <Ctrl><Minus>. Press it again. Press it again.
In the Decimal format nothing changes, except the sign. Watch
what it's doing in the other numeric formats.
The Signed mode allows positive and negative values. The
Unsigned mode does not. Enter the positive value 256 in Decimal.
To switch to Unsigned mode press <^T>. That Toggles the sign
mode. Obviously you can't toggle the sign of the current value
in Unsigned mode. Try it. Press <Ctrl><Minus>.
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Wow! 4,294,967,040 sure doesn't look like 256 or -256! We won't
go into this now, but, if you read the section on "Range Of
Values" (page 52) and "Signed And Unsigned Modes" (page 54) they
will help to explain this phenomenon.
How about saving, or storing, values for use later, and then
inserting them back into your calculations? Well, as the Menu
shows, the <F9> key is used to save values, and <Ctrl><F9>,
<Alt><F9>, or <Shift><F9> are used to insert the values back into
a later calculation.
Here's how it works. First clear the Calculator with <^A>.
Enter a value. Press <F9>. Since you have only one value
present, ProPak knows which one you want to save and saves it
automatically. Now enter <+> and another value. Press <F9>
again. Since you have more than one value present a window will
open with a simple pick list asking you which one you want to
save. Like other moving bar Menus, simply use the arrow keys to
highlight the value you wish to save and press <Enter> to save
it. Pressing <Esc> will cancel the save operation.
Likewise, if all four memory slots are full, a pick list will
appear asking you which one to overwrite.
You can use <^S> to Save a value if you don't like using a
function key. You can use <^I> to Insert a value instead of
<^F9> if you prefer.
Now you are ready to Insert a saved value into the current
calculation. Press <^F9> or <^I>. If only one memory slot has a
value saved in it, that value is automatically inserted. Since
there is more than one saved value, a pick list will appear
asking you which value to insert. Pick one and press <Enter>.
That's about as easy to use as you can get!
What if you need to leave the computer for a few minutes to do
something else? Well, you will probably want to blank your
screen to prevent it from getting screen burns as a result of
having the same pixels lit for a long time. You should also park
your hard disk (or disks) in case something happens while you are
gone. All these things are available at the touch of a key!
Press <^P> for Park and Blank. Your screen will blank and a dim
clock will appear (so you'll know that your computer is still
on), and your hard disk (or disks) will also be parked on the
last cylinder.
By the way, this dim clock will never burn your screen because
every 60 seconds it will move to another position. This means
that for every minute that a pixel is lit, it will be blank for
over 3 hours!
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To return to what you were doing when you come back to your
computer simply press any key.
What if you want to change the Hot Key that pops up the
Calculator? As you can see on the Menu, pressing <^Z> will
enable you to change the Hot Key "on the fly". We won't do it
now, but this is how it's done. Refer to the In-Depth Reference
Guide (page 56) for complete information.
Here is a feature that many people will find useful. It is the
ability to capture the screen image (including the Calculator,
with or without the Menu) to a disk file. To use this feature,
simply press <Ctrl><Enter> or <Alt><Enter>. The screen will be
saved to disk.
What if you pop up the Calculator and it covers up something on
the screen that you need to refer to? Well, just move the
Calculator out of the way.
To move the Calculator up or down simply hold down the <Alt> key
and press the <Up> or <Down> arrows. Each time you press
<Alt><Up> or <Alt><Down> the Calculator will move one line up or
down. You can move quickly to the top or bottom of the screen
using <Alt><PgUp> or <Alt><PgDn>. When moving the display you
must use <Alt> and a direction key. <Shift> and <Ctrl> will not
work here. Don't feel constrained, though. You can use <Home>
instead of <PgUp> and <End> instead of <PgDn>.
You can unload ProPak from memory right from within the
Calculator. Press <Alt><U>, <Alt><U> (be sure to press <Alt><U>
twice). Of course, <Ctrl><U>, <Ctrl><U> will also work. A
Message Window will open informing you whether it is safe or
unsafe to unload. Regardless of whether it's safe or not,
pressing <Esc> will return you to the Calculator. If it is, in
fact, safe to unload, pressing any key other than <Esc> will
unload ProPak from memory.
Well, that completes the Quick Start Tutorial for The
Programmer's Calculator. After tinkering with it for a while,
you will find that it is extremely powerful, flexible, and very
easy to learn and use.
You've covered a lot of ground already! You know how to perform
mathematical calculations and just about every low level bit
manipulation you can think of in four numeric formats, as well as
how to change the Hot Key, move the display, save and insert
values, capture the screen to a file, toggle the sign, blank your
screen and park your hard disk(s). Congratulations! We told you
the Calculator would be easy to use!
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---------------------------------------------
The Programmer's Calculator and Attachments
---------------------------------------------
The In-Depth Reference Guide:
=============================
The Programmer's Calculator that is built into ProPak is a very
flexible and powerful Programmer's Calculator. As a matter of
fact, there are currently no Programmer's Calculators available
(even hand-held types) that provide all the features available in
the ProPak Programmer's Calculator.
The following pages provide detailed information on the commands
and operations available in this Programmer's Calculator, as well
as helpful information concerning its use.
The Range Of Values Available:
------------------------------
The Programmer's Calculator provides full 32 bit (double word)
values in four numeric formats and in both Signed and Unsigned
modes. The ranges of these values are as follows.
In Signed mode:
Decimal format:
-2,147,483,648 to +2,147,483,647
Hexadecimal format:
8000 0000 to 7FFF FFFF
Binary format:
10000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
to
01111111 11111111 11111111 11111111
Octal format:
20000000000 to 17777777777
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In Unsigned mode:
Decimal format:
0 to 4,294,967,295
Hexadecimal format:
0000 0000 to FFFF FFFF.
Binary format:
00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
to
11111111 11111111 11111111 11111111.
Octal format:
000000000000 to 37777777777.
The Programmer's Calculator Display:
------------------------------------
Once ProPak is loaded into memory, The Programmer's Calculator is
accessed by pressing its Hot Key. The default Hot Key is
<LeftShift><Ctrl>. You can change the default Hot Key using
PCustom. Pressing the Hot Key will bring up The Programmer's
Calculator display.
The Programmer's Calculator display is designed to allow you to
view all the values in the four numeric formats simultaneously.
This feature is especially helpful to those who are just learning
about other numeric bases. It also helps you to get a feel for
the relationship between the different numeric bases commonly
used in the computer industry.
(Due to space limitations and printer incompatibilities,
this figure appears only in the printed User's Guide.)
Figure 2: Programmer's Calculator Display
In addition, the display tells you which numeric format you are
currently in, whether you are in Signed or Unsigned mode, whether
there is any mathematical operation pending, what values (if any)
are saved, the version of ProPak that you are using, the date,
and the time.
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The display is also designed to allow you to see whatever was on
the screen before the Calculator was popped up. This is
accomplished by moving the Calculator display to uncover what is
underneath it, whenever the need arises.
The Quick Reference Menu:
-------------------------
A Quick Reference Menu is available to refer to while learning to
use the Calculator, or to access operations that may not be used
often enough to memorize.
(Due to space limitations and printer incompatibilities,
this figure appears only in the printed User's Guide.)
Figure 3: The Quick Reference Menu
To open the Menu press <^M>. Of course, as explained on page 26,
you can use <M>, <Ctrl><M>, <Alt><M> or <Shift><M>.
The Menu lists all of the functions available in The Programmer's
Calculator. There are, however, more keystrokes than those
listed here to operate each of the functions.
Signed And Unsigned Modes:
--------------------------
The Programmer's Calculator gives you the ability to choose
whether the values will be treated as Signed or Unsigned. Signed
values may be negative or positive. Unsigned values may only be
positive. This allows the Calculator to much more closely mimic
the actual operations available at the assembly language level.
Refer to "The Range of Values Available" (page 52) to see what
the numeric limitations are in each of the modes and formats.
To toggle (switch back and forth) between Signed and Unsigned
modes use <^T>.
If you switch into Unsigned mode while you have a negative number
in the display the Calculator will treat it according to its
value in Binary format. You will go from a small, negative value
to a huge, positive value instantly. If this is unclear to you,
refer to Appendix B, "Two's Complement Numbers" (page 152).
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The Four Numeric Formats:
-------------------------
The Programmer's Calculator provides you with four numeric
formats through which values may be entered. Values can only be
entered in the format which is current (the format which is
highlighted on the display). However, any values which are
entered will always be displayed in all four formats
simultaneously. Values may be entered as either decimal,
hexadecimal, binary, or octal, depending upon which format is
current.
The Programmer's Calculator will only accept values that are
relevant to the current format. In Decimal it will accept 0-9.
In Hexadecimal it will accept 0-9 and A-F. In Binary it will
accept 0 or 1. In Octal it will accept 0-7. Attempting to enter
a value which is not a part of the digit set for a particular
format will cause The Programmer's Calculator to beep and ignore
the keystroke.
Switching formats is easy. There are several ways you can do it.
<Tab> The <Tab> key switches to the next numeric format
clockwise in the display. It will go from Decimal to
Hexadecimal to Binary to Octal and back to Decimal.
<^Tab> Pressing <Shift><Tab>, <Alt><Tab> or <Ctrl><Tab> moves
backwards, or counterclockwise, through the display.
You may also switch formats using the first letter of the numeric
format.
<^D> switches to Decimal format.
<^H> switches to Hexadecimal format.
<^B> switches to Binary format.
<^O> switches to Octal format.
When you are in Hexadecimal format, the <B> and <D> keys
represent the hexadecimal values 0B Hex (11) and 0D Hex (13), so
be sure to use either the <Alt> or <Ctrl> key in conjunction with
the letter to switch to Binary or Decimal format.
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The Calculator Commands:
------------------------
When you are in The Programmer's Calculator you have all of these
commands at your disposal. They are all listed on the Menu, but
the Menu does not have to be visible for you to use the commands.
Capture Screen to Disk - To capture the current screen to disk
press <Ctrl><Enter> or <Alt><Enter>. This will copy the contents
of the screen to a disk file that you name in the current
subdirectory. A disk file with that name may or may not already
exist. If a file with that name exists, you will be asked if you
want to overwrite it. ProPak will automatically give the file an
.SCN extension, unless you change the default using PCustom. The
screen will be filtered, partially filtered, or not filtered,
according to the options you specify with PCustom, or "on the
fly" with the "Modify Options" choice of The Control Center. For
more detailed information refer to the In-Depth Reference Guide
on page 111.
Change Hot Key - To change the Hot Key that activates the
Calculator, press <^Z>. This will open a window asking you to
press the key combination you would like to use to pop up the
Calculator. If you press a key combination that is already in
use for another pop-up, such as The Control Center, it will beep
and wait for you to enter another key. Also, if you press a
normal typing key like <A> or <B> or <F5>, that is used often,
ProPak will beep and wait for you to enter a different key. You
should always use a combination of at least two keys. Either
<Shift>, <Alt>, or <Ctrl> should always be one of the keys in the
key combination used as a Hot Key. ProPak will not accept a Hot
Key made up of two modifier keys, either, "on the fly". You
cannot enter <Alt><LeftShift> or any other such combination as a
Hot Key from within the program. That is why we didn't have you
change Hot Keys in The Quick Start Tutorial. You could not have
gone back to the default <Alt><LeftShift> without using PCustom.
If you decide not to change the Hot Key after having invoked this
option, press ^@. You could also view this as <Ctrl><TopRow2>
since the shift key need not be pressed. The Hot Key will remain
unchanged and you will be able to return to the Calculator by
pressing any key.
If you are using ProSwap, you may also change the hot key for the
pop-up DOS shell through this option.
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TIP: Some Hot Keys are more effective than others. In order to
determine which Hot Keys are most effective, keep in mind
how most software views your keyboard. Most software
ignores unrecognized keystrokes. This is important because
many of the keystrokes they don't recognize, they also don't
pass on to other programs that may be present. Using
partial key combinations like <Alt><LeftShift> or
<Ctrl><Alt> will many times circumvent this problem. Since
most programs expect something along with these modifier
keys they will not take any action on key combinations such
as these. Therefore, ProPak will be able to see its Hot Key
regardless of how your other programs deal with
unrecognizable key combinations.
Of course, ProPak also expects something other than modifier
keys (like <Alt><LeftShift>) when it is waiting for keyboard
input. To provide you with a means of selecting these
modifier key combinations as Hot Keys, PCustom presents them
in a simple pop up menu from which you may choose.
For more information on hot keys containing only modifier keys
refer to page 82.
Change Bits - This very handy bit manipulation facility allows
you to toggle the setting of any bit or bits in a value. You do
not have to be in Binary format to use this feature. If you are
not in Binary format when you invoke the Change Bits facility you
will be placed temporarily in Binary format. Upon completion you
will be returned to whatever format you were in previously.
The Change Bits feature is invoked by pressing <^C>. Of course,
if you are in Hexadecimal format <C> or <Shift><C> is a value, so
you would need to use <Alt><C> or <Ctrl><C>.
Once invoked, use the <Left> and <Right> arrow keys to move back
and forth until the arrow is pointing at the bit you want to
toggle. You can also use the <Home> key to go to the leftmost
bit and the <End> key to go the rightmost bit. Pressing <Space>
toggles the bit. You can toggle the bit on or off as many times
as you wish. You can change as many bits as you wish. The
changes you make here are reflected instantly in each of the
other numeric formats. When you are finished, pressing <Enter>
saves your changes, while pressing <Esc> cancels your changes.
Change Sign - This is not the same as "Toggle Sign Mode" which
changes the overall mode of the Calculator from Signed to
Unsigned or from Unsigned to Signed. The "Change Sign" operation
converts the current value from negative to positive, or from
positive to negative. This operation is performed by pressing
<Ctrl><Minus>. You may use either the top row minus key, or the
numeric keypad minus key.
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Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
This is one case where you must use <Ctrl> with <Minus>. <Alt>
and <Shift> will not activate it. Changing the sign will not
function as you expect if you are in Unsigned mode.
Clear All - Press <^A>. This command resets the Calculator and
redraws the display. All values, including those which are saved
in memory slots, will be reset to zero. When you are in
Hexadecimal format the <A> key corresponds to the value 0A Hex
(10). Therefore, to execute the Clear All command be sure to use
either <Alt><A> or <Ctrl><A>.
Clear Entry - Press <E>, <Alt><E>, <Shift><E>, or <Ctrl><E>.
This command resets the current value and the pending operation
(Add, Subtract, etc.). If you accidentally enter the wrong value
you can delete one digit at a time using <Del> or <BackSpace>.
If, however, you accidentally enter the wrong mathematical
operation you would use the Clear Entry command. The Clear Entry
command will affect only the current value, not the intermediate
value (the top value). Since <E> and <Shift><E> correspond to a
value in hexadecimal be sure to use <Alt><E> or <Ctrl><E> when in
the Hexadecimal format.
Insert a Value - This command takes a value that was previously
saved to one of the Calculator's four memory slots and inserts it
into the current value. You can invoke it in two different ways.
Either press <^I>, or, as listed on the Menu, press <^F9>.
Inserted values are always inserted into the current value.
Inserting the value does not remove it from the memory slot. You
can insert the same value many times.
If more than one memory slot contains a non zero value ProPak
will ask you which value to insert. A pick list will appear with
one of the four memory slots highlighted. The pick list window
will always display the values in decimal. Use the <Up> and
<Down> arrow keys to select the proper value and press <Enter>.
Park Disk(s) and Blank Screen - To blank the screen and park your
hard disk (or disks) simply press <^P>. This will blank the
screen and display a clock. The clock will move every 60
seconds. When the screen is initially blanked, your hard disk
(if present) will also be "parked" on the last cylinder of the
drive. If you have two hard disks, both will be parked. Parking
simply means that the read/write heads will be positioned over
the last cylinder. This will not prevent other programs from
"unparking" the disk, but if no other programs are active the
disk will remain parked as long as the screen is blanked. The
hard disk parking option may be disabled with PCustom, if
desired. Pressing any key "unblanks" the screen and returns you
to the Calculator.
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Quit the Calculator - To exit from the Calculator simply press
<Esc>. If you are using ProPak or ProSwap, <Esc> will quit the
current pop-up, but ProPak will remain in memory ready to be
called up again when needed. If you are using ProSwap in stand-
alone mode, <Esc> will quit the program and return you to DOS.
Quitting the Calculator will not undo any customizing that you
have done "on the fly", using either The Programmer's Calculator
or The Control Center (in ProPak only). Only unloading from
memory or turning off the computer will undo your changes.
Customizing done with PCustom is not affected either way since it
is written to disk.
Save a Value - This is the companion operation to Insert a Value.
To save a value to one of the Calculator's four memory slots,
press <^S>, or, as listed on the Menu, <F9>. The Save function
operates very intuitively. If there is only one value present it
will be saved to the first available memory slot.
If more than one value is present, a pick list will appear and
ProPak will ask you which one to save. The pick list window will
always display the value in decimal. However, the Saved Values
Box always displays the saved values in the current numeric
format. You choose by moving the highlight bar with the <Up> or
<Down> arrow key until it highlights the correct value. Press
<Enter> and it is saved. If all the memory slots are filled, a
pick list will appear and ProPak will ask you which one to
overwrite. Again, use the arrow keys and <Enter> to select.
A value that is saved to memory stays in that memory slot even if
it is inserted into the current value. This lets you use that
same value repeatedly. Pressing <^A> clears all values in the
Calculator, including those saved in the memory slots.
Screen Refresh - <^R> will redraw the screen. The Screen Refresh
command will not change any values. It will simply redraw the
Calculator display should the need ever arise.
Toggle Sign Mode - To toggle between Signed and Unsigned modes
press <^T>. This will change the way the values are treated
during calculations and display. Signed values may be negative
or positive, whereas Unsigned values may only be positive. See
"The Range Of Values Available" (page 52) if you want to know how
this affects numeric ranges.
Unload from Memory - To unload ProPak from memory press <Alt><U>,
<Alt><U> (<Alt><U> twice in a row). You may also use <Ctrl><U>,
<Ctrl><U>. ProPak will first check to see if it is safe to
unload. If it is in fact safe it will give you a chance to press
<Esc> to return to the Calculator, or any other key to actually
unload ProPak from memory. This is different than quitting the
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Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
Calculator using <Esc>. Pressing <Esc> returns you to DOS, or to
whatever program you were in when you invoked ProPak, but it
leaves ProPak in memory, ready to be called again. If you unload
ProPak from memory you would have to load ProPak again before
using it.
When ProSwap is run in stand-alone (multitasking) mode, the
unload command functions exactly like pressing <Esc>, it returns
you to DOS.
The Mathematical Operations:
----------------------------
All mathematical operations are carried out by entering a value,
pressing the key corresponding to an operation, entering another
value, and pressing <Enter> or <=> to request a final result. A
whole series of calculations can be performed before requesting a
final result.
In The Programmer's Calculator, the top value in the display is
called the "Intermediate Value", the middle value (where the
cursor is positioned) is the "Current Value", and the lower value
is the "Final Result". Regardless of which numeric format you
are using, values are always entered into the Current Value (the
middle number).
|---------------------
| Decimal |
| 5 | <-- Intermediate Value
|ADD 5 | <-- Current Value
| ------------- |
| 10 | <-- Final Result
|---------------------
Figure 4: Decimal Box Display
If you do a series of calculations without requesting a final
result, the Calculator performs the operation and updates the
value in the Intermediate Value slot. That way you can see where
your calculations have brought you so far, the current value
entered, and the mathematical function to be performed. Also, a
final result is not erased until you request another final result
or Clear All (^A). This keeps the result of a prior computation
available without having to store it to a memory slot.
By the way, it does not matter whether or not NumLock is set.
The numeric keypad can be used with or without NumLock set.
Since ProPak modifies the BIOS keyboard interrupts it is able to
detect all the numeric keypad keys (including the center or 5
key) regardless of the status of NumLock.
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Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
All of the available mathematical operations are explained in
detail below.
Add - Addition is chosen by pressing <+> (Plus). You may use the
top row <Plus> key or the numeric keypad <Plus> key.
Subtract - Subtraction is chosen by pressing <-> (Minus). You
may use the top row <Minus> key or the numeric keypad <Minus>
key.
Multiply - Multiplication is chosen by pressing the <*> key. The
asterisk key can be either the top row asterisk or the asterisk
that shares the <PrtSc> key. On 101/102 key enhanced keyboards
there is a separate numeric keypad asterisk which can also be
used.
Divide - Integer division is performed using the </> (Slash) or
<\> (Backslash) key. This is integer division, which means that
there are no fractional answers or decimal points. It does not
give a remainder, either. To obtain the remainder you would need
to use Modulus. Also, since Division (DIV) is the logical
counterpart to Modulus (MOD), which uses the <F4> key, Division
may also be performed by using <^F4>.
Modulus (Remainder) - Modulus (MOD) is chosen by pressing <F4>.
Modulus returns the remainder of a division operation. Modulus
works by dividing the intermediate (top) value by the current
(middle) value, and returning the remainder of the division (or
zero if it divided evenly).
Show Result - Obtaining a result is done by pressing either the
<Enter> or the <=> (Equals) key. This displays the final result
of the calculation. If no calculation was entered, that is, if
the only value present is the current value, the result will
equal the current value.
The final result will remain displayed until another final result
is requested. This is very handy when you need to refer to the
value later, but don't want to save it to a memory slot.
Another thing that happens when a final result is requested is
that the current and intermediate values are automatically reset
to zero internally. However, the screen will still display the
old values until any other key is pressed. The reason for this
is that The Programmer's Calculator does its best to display as
much useful information as possible for as long as possible.
Delete Digit - Use the <BackSpace> or <Del> keys to delete one
digit at a time from the current value. If you need to change
too many digits in the current value, or if what you need to
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Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
change is the mathematical operation, use Clear Entry (^E)
instead.
Logical and Bit Manipulation Operations:
----------------------------------------
If you are new to low level bit manipulation instructions such as
AND, OR, XOR, NOT, etc., then please refer to Appendix A (page
143) which explains each operation in detail.
AND - AND is selected by pressing the <F1> key. AND performs a
logical AND on two values. It uses the intermediate value (top
value) and the current value (middle value). It will return a
value of 1 whenever both values have a 1 in the same bit
position.
NOT - NOT is selected by pressing <^F1>. NOT performs a logical
NOT operation on the current value. NOT is the same as
performing a "one's complement". It complements each bit in a
value by converting all 1's to 0's and all 0's to 1's. The best
way to see this is to watch the Binary Box as you perform the
operation.
OR - OR is chosen by pressing <F2>. OR performs a logical OR
operation, ORing the intermediate value with the current value.
It will return a value of 1 wherever either or both of the values
have a 1 in that bit position.
XOR - XOR is selected by pressing <^F2>. XOR performs a logical
eXclusive OR operation, XORing the intermediate value with the
current value. It will return a value of 1 wherever either, but
not both, values have a 1 in that bit position.
Shift Left - Shift Left (SHL) is selected by pressing <F3>.
Shift Left affects only the current value by shifting it left one
bit position each time <F3> is pressed. This has the same effect
as multiplying by 2.
Shift Right - Shift Right (SHR) is chosen by pressing <^F3>.
Shift Right affects only the current value by shifting it right
one bit position each time the command is invoked. This has the
same effect as dividing by 2.
Rotate Left - Rotate Left (ROL) is chosen by pressing <F5>.
Rotate Left affects only the current value. Rotate Left
"rotates" the value left by one bit position each time <F4> is
pressed. In rotation the bit that "falls off" one end of the
value is inserted into the other end. This can be more clearly
visualized by watching the Binary Box as the operation is
performed.
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Rotate Right - Rotate Right (ROR) is chosen by pressing <^F5>.
Like Rotate Left, Rotate Right affects only the current value.
The value will be rotated to the right by one bit position each
time the Rotate Right command is invoked. The bit that "falls
off" the right end is reinserted on the left side.
Rotate through the Carry Left - Rotate through the Carry Left
(RCL) is chosen by pressing <F6>. RCL affects only the current
value. The RCL operation is similar to the ROL (Rotate Left)
operation in that it "rotates" the value by a certain number of
bit positions. The difference between RCL and ROL lies in the
fact that with RCL the bit that "falls off" one end of a value is
inserted into the carry flag and on the next rotate the bit that
is stored in the carry flag is rotated into the other end of the
value. This can be more clearly seen by watching the Binary Box
as this operation is executed.
Unlike the other shift and rotate operations that move the value
by one bit position each time they are invoked, RCL asks you how
many bit positions to rotate the value. This is because the
value of the carry flag must be preserved between each rotation.
If this is difficult to visualize, Appendix A (page 143) provides
a detailed explanation, complete with a diagram.
Rotate through the Carry Right - Rotate through the Carry Right
(RCR) is chosen by pressing <^F6>. RCR functions exactly like
RCL except that the value is rotated right instead of left.
Shift Arithmetic Left - Shift Arithmetic Left (SAL) is chosen by
pressing the <F7> key. Shift Arithmetic Left (SAL) is especially
useful when using Binary Coded Decimal (BCD) values at the
assembly language level. SAL is very similar to the more
commonly used Shift Left (SHL) instruction. The major difference
between the two lies in the fact that SAL preserves the sign of
the value throughout the shift operation. You could think of the
high bit as being shifted into itself. The best way to see this
in action is to watch the Binary Box as you execute the
instruction.
Shift Arithmetic Right - Shift Arithmetic Right (SAR) is chosen
by pressing <^F7>. SAR shifts the current value right one bit
position each time it is invoked, but the value of the high bit
(the sign bit) is preserved.
Exchange Words - Exchange words (XCHG DW) is activated by
pressing <F8>. Exchange words affects only the current value.
This operation swaps the two low order words in the current
value.
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Exchange Double Words - Exchange Double Words (XCHG DD) is chosen
by pressing <^F8>. Exchange Double Words affects the current
value by swapping the low and high order double words. The best
way to visualize this operation is to watch either the Binary or
Hexadecimal Box as you execute the instruction.
Moving The Calculator's Display:
--------------------------------
The Programmer's Calculator is designed to let you see as much of
the screen you were working on as possible. However, the
Calculator may cover up exactly what you most need to see. To
move the Calculator's display, use the following commands:
Move Up - <Alt><Up>
Move Down - <Alt><Down>
Move to Top - <Alt><PgUp> or <Alt><Home>
Move to Bottom - <Alt><PgDn> or <Alt><End>
Going To The Attachments:
-------------------------
Attachments are tools in the Programmer's Productivity Pack that
are accessed through other tools. There are two attachments to
The Programmer's Calculator. In other words, they are reached
from the Calculator. These are two commands we have not looked
at yet.
The Keystroke Reference Center - <F10> is marked "KeyRef". This
is the command that invokes The Keystroke Reference Center. This
attachment shows you the BIOS Keyboard Status Bytes, and a wealth
of other information. Rather than explain it here, we suggest
that you go on to The Quick Start Tutorial (page 71) and The In-
Depth Reference Guide (page 74) for The Keystroke Reference
Center.
There is one point that should be covered here that pertains to
both attachments. Once you have moved to the attachment, you
must to use <Alt><Esc> to return to The Programmer's Calculator.
If you use <Esc> you will return to the DOS prompt, or wherever
you were when you popped up ProPak (or ProSwap). This is not a
bug, it's meant to save you time. Now, whenever you press the
Hot Key for the Calculator you will go directly to the
attachment. ProPak figures that if that's where you were last,
that's probably where you want to be now.
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Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
The ASCII and Color Attribute Chart - <^F10> (Either <Shift>,
<Alt>, or <Ctrl> with <F10>) is marked ASCII. This is the
command that invokes The ASCII and Color Attribute Chart. This
is the subject of the next Quick Start Tutorial.
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Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
-------------------------------------
The ASCII and Color Attribute Chart
-------------------------------------
The Quick Start Tutorial:
=========================
Load ProPak into memory and press the Hot Key (<Alt><LeftShift>)
for The Programmer's Calculator. When the Calculator display
pops up, press <M> to bring up the Menu. The command <^F10> is
marked ASCII.
Pressing <^F10> closes the Calculator and opens The ASCII and
Color Attribute Chart attachment.
There is a lot more to this chart than can fit on one screen,
regardless of the monitor you have. That is why the most
important commands for you to learn are the ones that move you
around the chart.
To scroll up one line at a time press <Up> Arrow.
To scroll down one line at a time press <Down> Arrow.
To scroll up a screenful at a time press <PgUp>.
To scroll down a screenful at a time press <PgDn>.
To go directly to the beginning of the chart press <Home> or
<Ctrl><PgUp>.
To go directly to the end of the chart press <End> or
<Ctrl><PgDn>.
To go directly to the middle of the chart press <5> on the
numeric keypad.
Why not take a little time and just explore your new reference
chart?
The information on the chart is self-explanatory, but, in case
something isn't clear it is all explained in the In-Depth
Reference Guide that follows this tutorial (page 68).
Several of the commands you learned in the Calculator work in The
ASCII Chart, too. Remember how to capture a screen to disk? It
works exactly the same in The ASCII Chart. Press <Ctrl><Enter>
(or <Alt><Enter>). Give the file a name and ProPak saves it to
disk for you with an .SCN extension.
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If you need to leave your computer for a while and want to blank
the screen and park the hard disk (or disks), just press <^P>.
The screen will blank and display a clock. Your hard disk (or
disks) are now parked over the last cylinder. Any key restores
the display when you return.
Press <Esc>. You have left The ASCII Chart and are back at the
DOS prompt, or wherever you were when you popped up The
Programmer's Calculator. Now press <LeftShift><Ctrl> (the hot
key). Instead of going to the Calculator you have come back to
The ASCII Chart! The Hot Key will always return you to the tool
or attachment from which you quit or <Esc>aped.
Now that you are back in The ASCII and Color Attribute Chart
press <Alt><Esc>. This returns you to the Calculator. If you
quit the Calculator now with <Esc> and then press the Hot Key,
you will go to the Calculator and not the chart.
Return to The ASCII Chart now by pressing <^F10>. You cannot
unload ProPak from memory from an attachment. Try pressing
<^U><^U>. All you get are little beeps. You need to return to
the Calculator or to the DOS prompt to unload ProPak from memory.
That is all for this Quick Start Tutorial. For more insight into
all of the information that The ASCII and Color Attribute Chart
puts at your disposal read The In-Depth Reference Guide that
follows.
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Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
-------------------------------------
The ASCII and Color Attribute Chart
-------------------------------------
The In-Depth Reference Guide:
=============================
The ASCII and Color Attribute Chart is an attachment to The
Programmer's Calculator. The ASCII Chart is called an
"attachment" because it is attached to the Calculator, and is
accessed through the Calculator.
You access The ASCII Chart from the Calculator by pressing
<^F10>. That closes the Calculator and opens The ASCII Chart.
25, 43, And 50 Line Screens:
----------------------------
The ASCII Chart is designed to work with any of the common text
modes in use today. Most systems operate with 25 lines of text
visible on the screen at a time. ProPak will use all 25 lines to
show you as much of The ASCII Chart as possible.
If you have EGA and are in 43 line mode (43 lines of text visible
on screen at a time), The ASCII Chart will use all 43 lines to
show you as much information as possible.
If you have VGA and are in 50 line mode (50 lines of text visible
on the screen), The ASCII Chart will appear on all 50 lines.
The Columns On The Chart:
-------------------------
(Due to space limitations and printer incompatibilities,
this figure appears only in the printed User's Guide.)
Figure 5: ASCII Chart Display
On the left hand side of the Chart there are several columns.
The first two columns give you the decimal and hexadecimal values
for each character. The third column displays the character that
the ASCII code represents. The fourth column is made up of three
asterisks in the actual color that those values represent. The
colors are only visible on color monitors, obviously. The
asterisks will be in whatever brightness or other quality that
value represents to the type of monitor that you have. The next
three columns describe the foreground color, the background
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Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
color, and the attribute as it would appear on a monochrome
display.
The Extended Characters:
------------------------
On the right hand side of the Chart there is an enlarged
representation of all the graphics and box drawing characters.
These are much easier to see than the dinky little characters
that are actually represented by each code.
If you are at the beginning of the Chart (ASCII code 00), the
field at the right will display all the single line box
characters and their codes. Moving towards the end of the Chart
(ascending ASCII values), the field at the right will display all
the double line boxes and their codes. On a 25 line monitor you
can go from one field to the next by simply using <PgDn>. The
third field shows all double horizontal and single vertical boxes
and their codes. The fourth field shows all the single
horizontal and double vertical boxes and their codes. The next
field shows the graph and block characters and their codes. The
next two fields display the common math symbols and their codes.
The remaining fields show all the control codes.
Moving Around The Chart:
------------------------
The following commands will move you around the chart whether
NumLock is set or not. It makes no difference. You can easily
scroll or page through The ASCII Chart to find the information
you need.
Scroll Up - To scroll up one line press the <Up> arrow key.
Scroll Down - To scroll down one line press the <Down> arrow key.
Page Up - To scroll up one page or screenful at a time press
<PgUp>.
Page Down - To scroll down one page or screenful at a time press
<PgDn>.
Go to Beginning - To move instantly to the beginning of the Chart
(ASCII code 00) press <Home> or <Ctrl><PgUp>.
Go To Center - To move instantly to the center of the Chart
(ASCII code 127) press the numeric keypad <5> key (the center
key).
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Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
Go to End - To move instantly to the end of the Chart (ASCII code
255) press <END> or <Ctrl><PgDn>.
Other Available Commands:
-------------------------
Park Disk(s) and Blank Screen - As in the Calculator, if you need
to park your hard disk(s) and blank your screen while you go off
to do something else, simply press <^P>. Any key will restore
your screen when you return.
Capture Screen To Disk - To capture the current screen to disk,
press <Ctrl><Enter>, or <Alt><Enter>. This will copy the
contents of the screen to a disk file that you name in the
current subdirectory. The file will be given an .SCN extension
unless you change the default using PCustom. A file may or may
not already exist with that name. If a file already exists with
that name ProPak will ask you whether to overwrite it or not.
The screen will be filtered, partially filtered, or not filtered,
according to the options you specify with PCustom or "on the fly"
with the "Modify Options" choice of The Control Center. For more
detailed information on filtering refer to the In-Depth Reference
Guide on page 100.
Exiting ProPak from The ASCII Chart - To exit from The ASCII
Chart and return to DOS, or to the program you were in when you
popped ProPak up, simply press <Esc>. <Esc> always exits the
pop-up, saving your place for when you return.
Because The ASCII Chart is an "attachment" to the Calculator,
pressing the same Hot Key that normally activates the Calculator
will now instead pop up The ASCII Chart. This saves you the
trouble of going through the Calculator itself to get back to The
ASCII Chart when it is the attachment that you were last using.
Returning to the Calculator:
----------------------------
To return to the Calculator from The ASCII Chart, press
<Alt><Esc> instead of <Esc>.
That completes the In-Depth Reference Guide for The ASCII and
Color Attribute Chart. As you have seen, it is a lot more useful
than most of the pop up ASCII charts you have used in the past.
You now have one more tool to help you save time while working
with source code or other text files. Not bad for a few minutes
of reading!
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Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
--------------------------------
The Keystroke Reference Center
--------------------------------
The Quick Start Tutorial:
=========================
We were rather surprised to find that this quickly became the
favorite attachment for the people who tested ProPak before it
was placed on the market. You are about to see why!
This Quick Start Tutorial is designed to familiarize you with The
Keystroke Reference Center in 15 minutes or less. You'll enjoy
this utility!
First, be sure that ProPak is loaded into memory. Type "PROPAK"
<Enter> at the DOS prompt. Next, pop up the Calculator using
<Alt><LeftShift>. When the Calculator's display appears, press
<M> to bring up the Menu. On the Menu you will see that command
<F10> is marked "KeyRef" . This attachment is called The
Keystroke Reference Center. Press <F10> to pop up The Keystroke
Reference Center, and say goodbye to all your charts and lists of
scan codes and INKEY() values!
Take a while to look over the display on your screen. At the top
it says Keystroke Reference Center, so you know you're in the
right place. Below it are three boxes. The highlighted box on
the left gives you the dBASE INKEY() value. The highlighted one
on the right gives you a BIOS scan code. The center box tells
you the version of ProPak you are using, the date, and the time.
Below that it says "Press a key or key combination:". Okay,
press the <Space> bar.
Presto! You instantly have the scan code returned by the BIOS
(used in most programming languages) in the right hand box, and
the INKEY() value returned by the dBASE dialects (including dBASE
III Plus, Clipper, Foxbase, QuickSilver, and presumably dBASE IV
as well) in the left hand box.
Now press <A>. Now <Shift><A>. Press <3> on the top line.
Press <F7>. The information on each of those keystrokes appears
instantly.
Now press <F1>. A "Portability Note" has opened which gives you
some important information about the dBASE INKEY() value for this
keystroke.
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Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
Now press <Alt><Up> Arrow. This time you get a different
Portability Note. Now try pressing <Alt><BackSpace>. Another
Portability Note appears. As you can see, just about all the
information you will ever need about keyboard return codes is now
available at the touch of a key!
With NumLock off, press <5> on your numeric keypad. More
information!
You will probably want to press every key and key combination on
the board just to see how much information is available, but, we
need to move on right now.
Below where you have been entering the keystrokes there is a live
(real time) display of the values in the BIOS keyboard status
bytes in low memory. Watch them as you press <Alt>, <Ctrl>, the
<LeftShift> and <RightShift> keys, <ScrollLock>, <NumLock> or
whatever. As you can see, the screen is instantly updated to
show you any changes in the bit settings in the BIOS keyboard
status bytes.
As with the Calculator, The Keystroke Reference Center can be
moved around the screen. Since it uses 25 lines on the screen,
you will only be able to move it up and down if you have EGA 43
line mode, or VGA 50 line mode.
Press <Alt><Left> Arrow. The display moves one space to the
left. You also get the information on the key combination you
just pressed, complete with a Portability Note. Press <Space>
and the Portability Note disappears. Now press <Alt><Right>
Arrow. The display goes back to the right one line. You get all
the information on this keystroke, too.
Press <Alt><Home>. Clear the Portability Note (press <Space> for
instance) and press <Alt><End>. This takes you right across the
screen.
If you have 43 or 50 lines available on your screen, you can move
the display up and down, also. Press <Alt><Up> Arrow and
<Alt><Down> Arrow to move a line at a time, and <Alt><PgUp> and
<Alt><PgDn> to move the height of the whole screen.
To return to DOS, or to the program you were in before you
activated ProPak, press <Esc>. Try it. Notice that it pauses to
allow you to see the return codes for the <Esc> key. Pressing
any key returns you to DOS.
Now, press <Alt><LeftShift> to again pop up ProPak. There you
are, right back where you left off. To return to the Calculator
from The Keystroke Reference Center, simply press <Alt><Esc>
instead of <Esc>. Again, it will pause to allow you to examine
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Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
the return codes for the <Alt><Esc> key combination. Pressing
any key will return you to the Calculator.
That was pretty easy. You have just completed the Quick Start
Tutorial for ProPak's interactive Keystroke Reference Center.
And you have also added another tool to your productivity
toolbox. Happy ProPak'n!
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--------------------------------
The Keystroke Reference Center
--------------------------------
The In-Depth Reference Guide:
=============================
The Keystroke Reference Center is an elegant solution to a simple
yet common problem.
In virtually every program you write you'll find the need to
identify a keystroke in order to determine what action to execute
next. In most cases this keystroke will be identified by way of
all or part of the "Scan Code" returned by the system's ROM BIOS.
Other specialized application development tools or languages such
as dBASE and its various counterparts (Clipper, FoxBase,
QuickSilver, and others), return a key code that is different
than the one normally returned by the ROM BIOS.
To further complicate matters, not all keyboards are the same.
There are the older 83 key PC/XT keyboards, the newer 84 key
PC/AT style keyboards, the 101/102 key "enhanced" keyboards, and
then the compact keyboards found on many laptop computers (many
of which are configured to act like an enhanced keyboard by
having the same key return different values according to various
conditions).
What all this means is that most of us keep reference charts from
books or technical manuals close at hand while programming. We
then refer to these books when we need to know what value is
returned from a specific key. Of course these books or charts
usually do not list all of the possible key combinations. So we
often end up writing a separate little utility to display the
return value from each key pressed, which we then use whenever we
need to find out the value of a particular key or key
combination.
Needless to say, neither of these methods is an ideal solution.
ProPak's interactive Keystroke Reference Center provides the
solution to this common problem!
First, because ProPak is memory-resident it is always available
at the touch of a key. Second, because we don't always use the
same languages and tools when developing applications, ProPak's
interactive Keystroke Reference Center provides the information
needed for the most common keystroke return values, the BIOS scan
codes and the dBASE INKEY() return codes, simultaneously. Third,
to take the solution a step further, The Keystroke Reference
Center displays a "Portability Note" whenever a key or key
combination requiring additional information, is pressed.
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Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
To round out The Keystroke Reference Center, a live (real time)
display of each individual bit in the two BIOS keyboard status
bytes is displayed in the lower half of the screen.
Another piece of information that may be of interest to many of
you is that ProPak modifies the normal keyboard interrupts (Int
09h and 16h) in order to identify and use more keystrokes than
are normally available through the BIOS services alone. Of
course, if you press one of these special key combinations a
Portability Note will let you know about it.
Using The Keystroke Reference Center is as simple as it could
possibly be. Instead of paging through a long chart, simply
press the key or key combination that you are interested in, and
you'll instantly have all the necessary information.
How To Access The Keystroke Reference Center:
---------------------------------------------
The Keystroke Reference Center is an attachment to The
Programmer's Calculator. This means that it is attached to and
accessed through the Calculator.
You access The Keystroke Reference Center from the Calculator by
pressing <F10>. That closes the Calculator and opens this
attachment.
The Display:
------------
The Keystroke Reference Center display provides you with a great
deal of information.
The highlighted box at the top left gives the dBASE INKEY() value
for any keystroke. The highlighted box at the top right gives
the BIOS scan code for any keystroke. These will be set to the
values of <F10> when you first access The Keystroke Reference
Center because that is the key you used to access it.
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Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
|-----------------------------------------------------|
| Keystroke Reference Center |
|-----------------------------------------------------|
| dBASE Key Code: | ProPak: | BIOS Scan Code: |
| 11111111 11110111 | Version 2.5 | 01000100 00000000 |
| Hex FFF7 | 12-JAN-90 | Hex 4400 |
| Dec -9 | 02:50:00 am | Dec 17,408 |
|-----------------------------------------------------|
| Press a key or key combination: <F10> |
|-----------------------------------------------------|
| BIOS Keyboard Status Bytes: |
| Byte at 0040:0017H | Byte at 0040:0018H |
| -------------------------+------------------------- |
| 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 | 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 |
| | | | | | | | Rt Shift | | | | | | | | Left Ctrl |
| | | | | | | Left Shift | | | | | | | Left Alt |
| | | | | | Ctrl Pressed | | | | | | Sys Req Press |
| | | | | Alt Pressed | | | | | Hold State |
| | | | Scroll Lock | | | | Scroll Lock Press |
| | | Num Lock State | | | Num Lock Pressed |
| | Caps Lock State | | Caps Lock Pressed |
| Insert State | Insert Pressed |
|-----------------------------------------------------|
| Press <Alt-Escape> to return to the Calculator. |
|-----------------------------------------------------Ù
Figure 6: Keystroke Reference Center Display
The box between the two highlighted boxes tells you what version
of ProPak you are using, the date, and the time.
The lower half of the display gives you a live (real time)
display of the values in the BIOS keyboard status bytes in low
memory.
Scan Codes and INKEY() Values:
------------------------------
When you press a key or key combination on your keyboard, the
software you are using must have some means of identifying or
recognizing the key you pressed. To enable software to recognize
keystrokes, the BIOS in your computer translates each keystroke
into a particular code. Your software then uses that code to
identify which key was pressed. We refer to this code by various
names, but the most common name is "Scan Code." The Keystroke
Reference Center displays the scan code for each key you press.
The dBASE language, including the various compilers like
Clipper, from Nantucket, return codes that are different than the
BIOS scan codes. To determine which key was pressed you would
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use the built-in INKEY() function. The INKEY() values are also
provided by The Keystroke Reference Center.
Portability Notes:
------------------
Some keys are only available on enhanced keyboards. For
instance, F11 and F12. Some key combinations are recognized only
with certain keyboards. How do you remember which is which? If
you use an enhanced keyboard for software development, how do you
make sure that users who don't have an enhanced keyboard can also
use your program?
The Keystroke Reference Center points out special keys or key
combinations that not every keyboard can utilize. The Keystroke
Reference Center does this by way of "Portability Notes" which
provide you with the information you need regarding the various
keyboards.
Moving the Display:
-------------------
There are a few keystrokes that have special meaning in The
Keystroke Reference Center. These include the keys used to move
The Keystroke Reference Center display around the screen.
Although these keystrokes are commands within The Keystroke
Reference Center they will still be processed just like any other
keystroke. All their information, as well as any Portability
Notes concerning them, will be displayed as the action is carried
out.
Move Left - To move the display one column left press <Alt><Left>
(left arrow).
Move Right - To move the display one column right press
<Alt><Right>.
Move to the Left Side - To move the display all the way to the
left side of the screen press <Alt><Home>.
Move to the Right Side - To move the display all the way to the
right side of the screen press <Alt><End>.
Move Up - To move the display one line up, press <Alt><Up> (up
arrow). You must have more than 25 lines of text visible on your
screen to use this feature.
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Move Down - To move the display one line down, press <Alt><Down>.
You must have more than 25 lines of text visible on your screen
to use this feature.
Move to Top - To move the display all the way to the top of the
screen, press <Alt><PgUp>. You must have more than 25 lines of
text visible on your screen to use this feature.
Move to Bottom - To move the display all the way to the bottom of
the screen, press <Alt><PgDn>. You must have more than 25 lines
of text visible on your screen to use this feature.
Other Available Commands:
-------------------------
Capture Screen to Disk - To capture the current screen to disk,
press <Ctrl><Enter>, or <Alt><Enter>. This will copy the
contents of the screen to any disk file that you specify. The
disk file may or may not already exist. The screen will be
filtered, or not filtered, according to the options you specify
with PCustom or "on the fly" with the "Modify Options" choice on
The Control Center. For more detailed information on filtering
refer to the In-Depth Reference Guide on page 100.
Returning to the Calculator - To return to the Calculator from
The Keystroke Reference Center, press <Alt><Esc>.
Exit from ProPak - Press <Esc> to exit from the pop-up. This
will allow you to pop back to the same place you left the next
time you pop up ProPak. Because The Keystroke Reference Center
is an "attachment" to the Calculator, pressing the same Hot Key
that normally activates the Calculator will instead pop up The
Keystroke Reference Center. This saves you the trouble of going
through the Calculator itself to get back to The Keystroke
Reference Center when it is the attachment you were last using.
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-------------------------------
Park Disk(s) and Blank Screen
-------------------------------
The In-Depth Reference Guide:
=============================
You are probably aware that when the same characters are
displayed in the same position on your screen for long periods of
time they tend to burn a permanent image of themselves into the
phosphorescent coating of your screen. To avoid this many people
use automatic screen blanking programs that blank the screen
after a predetermined period of keyboard inactivity. Such
utilities are certainly useful and necessary, but many people
feel that there is a better way to accomplish the same goal.
There are some very obvious disadvantages to those particular
utilities. The screen is often blanked unexpectedly, which can
sometimes be rather unsettling. While the screen is blank it is
not necessarily obvious whether or not the computer is turned on,
which is an important consideration when more than one person
might be using the machine. Some of these utilities "eat" the
next keystroke entered, while some do not. Also, while you are
away from your computer, your monitor is protected from screen
burns, but your hard disk is not protected against head crashes.
ProPak provides an alternative to the many "automatic" screen
blanking programs. Most users prefer to stop using their older
screen blanking programs once they start using ProPak!
ProPak never blanks your screen "automatically" (i.e.
unexpectedly). You are always in control. Furthermore, when
ProPak blanks your screen it also displays a clock on the screen
so that you know that the computer is actually turned on. This
clock will never produce screen burns because it moves to a new
position on the screen every 60 seconds. This means that for
every minute the clock is in a certain position, there are over
three hours when that same position is blank. To top it all off,
when ProPak blanks your screen it also parks your hard disk by
moving the read/write heads to the last cylinder. If you have
two hard disks, both will be parked.
If you do not want to use the Disk Parking feature when you blank
your screen you can disable that part of the utility with
PCustom. Refer to the PCustom In-Depth Reference Guide (page
135) for complete information on how to disable disk parking.
ProPak's Screen Blanking and Disk Parking feature can be
activated from either The Programmer's Calculator or from The
ASCII and Color Attribute Chart. In either case, the Screen
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Blanking and Disk Parking feature is invoked by pressing <P> for
<P>ark. You can also use <Ctrl><P> or <Alt><P>.
Once activated, you may "unblank" the screen and return to where
you left off by pressing any key.
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--------------------
The Control Center
--------------------
The Control Center is present only in ProPak.EXE.
It is through The Control Center that you can customize many
aspects of ProPak "on the fly"; that is, while you are actually
using ProPak. It is also through The Control Center that you
have access to some of ProPak's most useful features.
There is so much to The Control Center that we have divided it
into two Quick Start Tutorials. The first will cover the Modify
Options feature, the Screen Capture facility, and the Print
feature. The second will cover Keystroke Recording and Playback
and the Screen Grabber feature.
The five In-Depth Reference Guides are:
1. The Control Center..................................... 89
2. The Modify Options Feature............................. 96
3. Keystroke Recording And Playback (This includes the Screen
Grabber feature) ..................................... 102
4. The Screen Capture Facility........................... 111
5. The Print Facility.................................... 113
Quick Start Tutorial #1:
========================
This Quick Start Tutorial is intended to familiarize you with The
Control Center and what it can do for you. As with the other
tutorials, you should be able to complete it in about 15 minutes.
Enjoy!
If you want to be able to use the background Print facility be
sure to load the DOS "Print" program before doing this Quick
Start Tutorial.
At the DOS prompt, type "PRINT". When PRINT asks you for the
device to send the output to just enter the correct response
(usually PRN). Be sure that your printer is connected and turned
on, too.
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Be sure that ProPak is resident in memory. Type "PROPAK" <Enter>
at the DOS prompt. Ok. Let's pop up The Control Center. Press
<Ctrl><RightShift>. This will bring up The Control Center.
There are nine options on the list. Some will be bright, while
others will be dim. The reason for this is that some of the
options are not yet available. You cannot, for instance, list
Keystroke Recordings if you haven't yet recorded any.
For now, we'll take a look at the choice that was first
highlighted when you popped up the Menu. The "Modify Options"
choice. With the "Modify Options" choice highlighted, press
<Enter> to select it. This brings up the Modify Options Submenu.
There are nine options on this Submenu. The first five allow
you to change any of the five "Hot Keys" while ProPak is
resident. We call this changing Hot Keys "on the fly". They are
pretty straightforward and self explanatory. Let's not change
any Hot Keys just yet.
TIP: If you frequently enter extended ASCII codes into your
source code or other text files using the <Alt> key and the
number keypad, then you should know about ProPak's
modification of the BIOS keyboard services. In order to use
key combinations like <Alt><Up> to move the Calculator up
for instance, ProPak has to modify the BIOS keyboard
interrupts (Interrupts 09h and 16h).
Because of this, when ProPak is resident in memory, instead
of holding down the <Alt> key and entering the number
corresponding to the extended character you wish to insert
into your document, you will now have to hold down the <Alt>
key AND a <Shift> key to enter extended ASCII characters.
However, since both the <Alt> key and the shift keys are
used as Hot Keys within ProPak, you will need to change the
Hot Keys for the Control Center and the Calculator.
Changing them to <Ctrl><LeftShift> and <Ctrl><RightShift>
will retain all the benefits of using only modifier keys for
these Hot Keys as mentioned on page 57, as well as retain
the ability to enter extended ASCII characters.
Remember that any Hot Keys you change "on the fly" are
changed in memory only. The .EXE file is unchanged. If you
unload ProPak from memory all of the options modified
through the Control Center will be "forgotten". You must
use PCustom, the customizing program, to make "permanent"
changes in ProPak.
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The next option is "Keystroke Recording/Playback", and as the
right side of the menu indicates, it is "Enabled." Highlight
this option and press <Enter>. Now it is "Disabled". You have
now disabled the Keystroke Recording and Playback feature. Press
<Enter> again and the feature is once more "Enabled". Toggle it
as often as you wish, but be sure you leave it "Enabled" or the
next tutorial isn't going to function for you.
We will cover all of the other features that deal with Keystroke
Recording and Playback in the next tutorial.
Keystroke Playback Delay is handled on page 86.
Read Key Records from File is handled on page 88.
The last option is "Screen Capture Filter Method". Pressing
<Enter> three times will take you through the three options; "Do
not filter at all", "Filter for screen", and "Filter for
printer". Leave it at "Filter for Printer" and press <Esc>.
This brings you back to the main Menu. The Filtering feature is
explained more fully in the In-Depth Reference Guide (page 100).
One of the options here in The Control Center is "Copy Screen to
File". This simply means taking what is currently on the screen
and copying that information to a disk file. The last option on
the "Modify Options" Menu allowed you to set the filter method
for the screens you capture.
Press the letter <C> to select the "Copy Screen To File" option.
You could have used the arrow keys to move the highlight bar, but
we wanted you to see that you could also use the first letter of
the option. With "Copy Screen To File" highlighted, press
<Enter>.
A window will open informing you of the current directory and the
built-in .SCN file name extension. The extension may be changed
using PCustom if you don't like the default .SCN extension. For
now, simply enter a name for the file. Let's use "TEST" for this
example, and press <Enter>. When you press <Enter>, the window
will disappear restoring the underlying screen. The underlying
screen will then be copied to a disk file called "TEST.SCN".
This is a little different than the Screen Capture facility in
The Programmer's Calculator. In the Calculator it was operated
by pressing <Ctrl><Enter> and would copy the screen complete with
Calculator, Menu, ASCII Chart, or Keystroke Reference Center,
whichever were present. In the Control Center it is operated
from this Menu and the underlying screen is copied in its
entirety, without the Menu. There is no difference in the .SCN
files that they are copied to, though. Your word processor, or
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text editor, can access the files the same, regardless of which
tool in ProPak performed the Screen Capture.
In order to use the "Print Facility" feature, you must be using
DOS 3.0 or above, and you must have loaded the DOS "PRINT"
program. The DOS "PRINT" program is an excellent tool that
allows you to print files in the background while your computer
is doing other things (like taking you through this tutorial).
ProPak allows you to submit files to the queue for printing, or
cancel the files that are already in the queue.
Can you think of some file you would like to print while you
complete this tutorial? Well, if you can, then select "Print
Facility" and press <Enter>. This will bring up a window which
will give you the option to "Submit a File to Print" or to
"Cancel All Print Files". Select "Submit a File to Print" and
press <Enter>. This will bring up the File Mask Editor. Enter
the path and name of the file you want to print and press
<Enter>. This brings up the "DOS Print Request Status" window to
tell you that your file is being printed, but by now the sounds
coming from your printer have already confirmed this. Pressing
<Esc> brings you back to the Menu. You can finish this tutorial
while that job is printing.
ProPak can be unloaded from memory by selecting the "Unload from
Memory" option on The Control Center. Just like in the
Calculator, a window will open letting you know if it is safe to
unload. <Esc> tells ProPak that you changed your mind about
unloading, while any other key instructs ProPak to go ahead and
unload.
If you want to exit The Control Center, but leave ProPak resident
for later use press <Esc> while at The Control Center. Any
modifications you made using the Modify Options feature will
still be in effect the next time you access either The
Programmer's Calculator or The Control Center.
We haven't gone through every option in this tutorial, but, this
is a good time to stop and consider what we've seen so far.
There is a great deal more information in the In-Depth Reference
Guides for each of these features. The next tutorial will cover
the subject of Keystroke Recordings.
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--------------------
The Control Center
--------------------
Quick Start Tutorial #2:
========================
This Quick Start Tutorial may well open the door to the single
biggest productivity enhancement offered by the Programmer's
Productivity Pack. We will cover much more than simply recording
keystrokes and playing them back later. We will also look into
alternative methods of acquiring Keystroke Recordings, how you
can save Keystroke Recordings to a file or even a group of files,
and how you can later read these Keystroke Recordings from a file
and make them available for use.
First, what is a Keystroke Recording? It is a string or
collection of keystrokes that are recorded in memory so that they
can be played back at the touch of a single key or combination of
keys. Many utilities provide what they call keystroke "macros",
which are basically the same thing ProPak calls Keystroke
Recordings. However, we decided to avoid the use of the term
"macro" because it is confusing to many people. A macro in
Quattro Pro is different than a macro in assembly language, which
is different than a macro in word processing programs like
SPRINT. The term "macro" is really not very descriptive or
precise. So, to simplify matters let's just keep things
straightforward and call them Keystroke Recordings.
There are several ways to produce and use Keystroke Recordings.
Let's start with a simple example, straight from the DOS prompt.
First, ensure that ProPak is resident in memory. Next, press
<Alt><=>. <Alt><=> is the Hot Key that starts recording
keystrokes. A window will pop up asking you to which key you
would like this recording assigned. We call the key and key
combinations that play back Keystroke Recordings "Trigger Keys".
This differentiates between them and the Hot Keys ProPak uses.
Select something simple like <Alt><F10>. Hold down the <Alt> key
and press <F10>. The window will then close. From this point
on, every key you type will be recorded. To keep this example
simple, type your full name and then press <Alt><->. Use the top
row minus key. <Alt><-> is the Hot Key that turns off Keystroke
Recording.
WHILE RECORDING KEYSTROKES, ALL OTHER FEATURES OF PROPAK ARE
DISABLED. If you ever find yourself unable to access ProPak when
you know it is in memory, check that you are not in record
keystrokes mode (by pressing <Alt><->).
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At this point another window opens up and you are given a chance
to assign a name to that recording. Since this is our only
Keystroke Recording, we really don't need a name, but let's give
it one anyway just for practice. Call it "MY NAME" and press
<Enter>. A window will then let you know how much memory is
being used to store that recording. Pressing any key returns you
to the DOS prompt.
Now that we are back at the DOS prompt, we can test our Keystroke
Recording to see what it does. Clear the DOS command line using
the <Backspace> key. Now, press <Alt><F10>. That was the
Trigger Key you assigned the recording to. Your name appears
instantly at the DOS prompt.
Did you notice how fast the keystrokes appeared on your screen?
The keystrokes can play back as fast as 1,000 characters per
second! As you might imagine, some word processors and text
editors can't keep up with this pace and lose a keystroke here
and there. To get around this problem ProPak provides you with
the Keystroke Playback Delay option. Let's use it now.
Press <Ctrl><RightShift>. Once you are in The Control Center,
select the "Modify Options" choice and press <Enter>. Move the
highlight bar to the "Keystroke Playback Delay" choice and press
<Enter>. Another window will then open which asks you to enter a
value from 0 to 100. Type in "100" and press <Enter>. This will
give you a good example of the difference in Playback speeds.
Now you'll need to use the <Esc> key to return to The Control
Center, and use the <Esc> key again to return to DOS. Once you
are back at the DOS prompt, press <Alt><F10> to play it back one
more time. Notice the difference in speed?
How do you know if you need to use a delay value or not? Well,
normally you can leave the delay value set to 0 which will allow
the keystrokes to be played back at maximum speed. If you find
an application where some keystrokes are lost because the program
can't keep up with the high speed keystrokes, then simply insert
a Playback delay. Experimenting is really the best method of
determining how much of a delay, if any, will work best with the
various programs you use.
Let's say you want to make a Keystroke Recording of your usual
heading for source code files. There is a way to record this
without typing it all in! You could open up one of your program
files using your usual editor, then use ProPak's Screen Grabber
feature to grab a chunk of text off the screen and turn it into a
Keystroke Recording.
Here's how to do it. At the DOS prompt, type in "DIR" <Enter>
just to get some text onto the screen. Now press <Alt><SPACE> to
pop up the Screen Grabber.
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The box that pops up on your screen is called the "Grab Box".
This is the box you use to surround the text you would like to
grab from the screen.
Use the <Up> and <Left> arrow keys to position the Grab Box at
the top left corner of the directory listing on your screen. Now
hold down <Alt> and use the <Down> and <Right> arrow keys to
enclose the entire directory. Experiment with it for a few
seconds and you'll get the hang of it.
Before we actually grab part of the directory, you should
remember that later we will be playing back exactly what is
grabbed. So you might not want to grab a bunch of file names
that DOS might try to execute when you play back the Recording.
Try grabbing something other than complete file names, or you may
find DOS executing each line of your Keystroke Recording when it
is played back.
Once you have the Grab Box positioned and sized the way you want
it, press either <Enter> or <Esc> to "grab" the text that was
highlighted. This doesn't remove it from the screen, it just
copies it into memory.
Now you see a simple Menu of choices for the end of line
character. Usually the <Enter> choice will suffice. <Enter> is
the same as a carriage return. All of the options are explained
in the In-Depth Reference Guide (page 107).
Once you have chosen an end-of-line character you will be given a
chance to assign a name to the recording, and asked which key you
would like to use to play back the recording. Choose <Alt><F9>
as the Trigger Key, then choose a name for this recording.
Return to the DOS prompt and press <Alt><F9>, or whatever you
chose for a Trigger Key. There it is, but, boy is it slow!
Remember that ProPak is now waiting 100 milliseconds between
characters on Playback. You know how to change the delay back to
0. Do it and then play back this Keystroke Recording again.
Up till now your Keystroke Recordings are only in memory. You
can save these recordings to a file if you want them to be
available tomorrow morning when you turn your computer on. To do
this pop up The Control Center by pressing <Ctrl><RightShift>.
Select "Write Keys to File" on the Menu, and press <Enter>. You
will then be asked for a name for the file. The file extension
is set to ".KEY" in order to ensure consistency and to help you
identify Keystroke Recording files easily. If you don't like the
".KEY" extension, it can be changed using PCustom. One other
point, the keystroke recording files will always be placed in the
same directory from which ProPak was loaded. This simplifies
many things, especially finding the files later.
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While you are still in The Control Center, select the "List Key
Recordings" option and press <Enter>. This will display a list
of all the current Keystroke Recordings, their Trigger Keys, and
how many keystrokes are in each recording. Press <Esc> to return
to The Control Center.
Select "Read Keys from File". Reading Keystroke Recordings back
from a file is basically the same process as writing them to a
file, except that you will be choosing a file already in
existence.
There are two ways that Keystroke Recordings can be read from a
file. You saw the options "Merge" and "Replace" when we looked
at "Modify Options" in the last tutorial. If you left it set on
the default "Merge with Existing Key Records" they will be added
or merged with any current Keystroke Recordings. We say "merged"
because if any recordings in the file use Trigger Keys that are
currently defined, then the Keystroke Recording in the file will
replace the one currently defined, while other recordings will
simply be added to those already in use.
If the option was set to "Replace Existing Key Records" reading
the Keystroke Recordings from a file would first cause all the
Keystroke Recordings in memory to be deleted. Then the set of
Keystroke Recordings in the file would replace them.
Don't "Read Keys from File" just yet. Instead, select the
"Delete Key Records" option and press <Enter>. This option
allows you to delete one or all of the current Keystroke
Recordings. For now, let's delete "all" the current Keystroke
Recordings. Go ahead and delete them all, the process should be
self-explanatory.
Now select "Read Keys from File". A window opens up and you see
the file you wrote to disk with a .KEY extension. Press <Enter>.
Your two Keystroke Recordings are back! Press the Trigger Keys.
Sure enough, they work.
Well, now you have even more tools to help you in your pursuit of
increased productivity. The Keystroke Recording and Screen
Grabber features can be used in a wide variety of ways, be
inventive. Perhaps you have noticed, too, that despite all of
ProPak's power and flexibility, its greatest feature is its ease
of use. ProPak was designed to be just plain "friendly"!
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--------------------
The Control Center
--------------------
In-Depth Reference Guide:
=========================
The features of the Control Center have been divided into five
separate Reference Guides to make each feature easier to find and
study. This Reference Guide will cover accessing and exiting The
Control Center and getting status Information.
How To Access The Control Center:
---------------------------------
The Control Center is accessed by way of a Hot Key, as long as
ProPak is resident in memory. The default Hot Key is
<Ctrl><RightShift>. If you are not sure if ProPak is in memory
type "PROPAK" <Enter> at the DOS prompt. This will load ProPak
or produce a message that ProPak is already resident.
TIP: Along with the message telling you that ProPak is already
resident, there will be two lines reminding you what the Hot
Keys for The Programmer's Calculator and The Control Center
are. Even if you change the Hot Keys "on the fly" (after
ProPak is resident), the message will correctly identify the
current Hot Key assignments! So if you ever forget the Hot
Keys, simply attempt to load ProPak again, and you will be
able to determine what keys are currently in use. This can
be a handy feature to remember.
The Control Center:
-------------------
|--- Control Center ----|
| Modify Options |
| List Key Recordings |
| Write Keys to File |
| Read Keys from File |
| Delete Key Recordings |
| Copy Screen to File |
| Print Facility |
| Get Status Info |
| Unload from Memory |
|-----------------------|
Figure 7: Control Center Menu
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Accessing The Control Center will bring up The Control Center
Menu. The "Modify Options" choice will be highlighted. Some of
the other options will be bright and some dim. An option is dim
if it is not currently available. For instance, if the "List Key
Recordings" option is dim it means that there are no Key
Recordings to list. If the "Print Facility" is dim it means that
the DOS Print program is not loaded in memory and, therefore, not
available.
There are nine options on the Menu grouped according to function.
The first option, and the one that is highlighted when you first
access the Menu, is "Modify Options" because that will probably
be the the most common reason for going to the Menu. The
Keystroke Recording and Playback function may be used more often,
but, it is operated directly from the keyboard, without going to
the Menu. The next four options all deal with the Keystroke
Recording and Playback function. The last four options are for
the Screen Capture facility, the Print facility, status
information, and unloading from memory.
We will look at all of these options here, but, complete
information on the Modify Options feature, Keystroke Recordings,
Screen Capture, and Print functions can be found in their
respective In-Depth Reference Guides.
Modify Options:
---------------
Selecting this option will bring up the Modify Current Settings
Menu. You can change the five major Hot Keys used by ProPak,
enable and disable Keystroke Recording, set the keystroke
Playback delay, and set the methods for reading Keystroke
Recordings and filtering screens captured to disk.
Full details may be found in The Modify Options feature of the
In-Depth Reference Guide (page 96).
List Key Recordings:
--------------------
This option lists all of the current Keystroke Recordings by
Trigger Key; the key or keys used to play them back. It also
gives the name, if there is one, and how many keystrokes are
actually contained in each recording.
TIP: If you are wondering about the memory required for Keystroke
Recordings you should know that each keystroke requires two
bytes of memory, regardless of whether it is a single key or
a key combination (like <Ctrl><F1>). Also, a small amount
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of information is stored with each Keystroke Recording which
ProPak uses to keep track of things.
Write Keys to File:
-------------------
This option will write all of the Keystroke Recordings that are
currently in memory to a file. This lets you reuse the same
Keystroke Recordings from day to day as needed. If Keystroke
Recordings are not saved to a file they will be lost when the
computer is turned off.
Writing Keystroke Recordings to a file does not remove them from
memory. They will still be active and available until they are
deleted or replaced.
Keystroke Recording files will always be stored in the same
directory that ProPak was loaded from. ProPak will automatically
put a .KEY extension on whatever name you choose for the file
(unless you change the extension using PCustom).
TIP: The size of the file will depend upon how many Keystroke
Recordings are currently defined. Each Keystroke Recording
written to a file will take the same amount of disk space as
it took in memory. In addition, each Keystroke Recording
file has a short header inserted into it which contains
information needed by ProPak. This header is less than 100
bytes in length.
Read Keys From File:
--------------------
This option provides you with the ability to read Keystroke
Recordings from a file of previously saved Keystroke Recordings.
This is an extremely handy feature that allows you to reuse
Keystroke Recordings over and over without having to redefine
them each time ProPak is loaded into memory.
Whether the Keystroke Recordings read from the file are merged
with the current Keystroke Recordings or replace the current
recordings is determined by the method currently set on the
Modify Options Menu.
When you select this option, ProPak looks into the directory from
which ProPak was loaded for files with the extension .KEY (or the
extension you specified using PCustom). ProPak then displays the
names of all the files with that extension. You choose the file
you wish to load by moving the highlight bar over the name of the
file you want and pressing <Enter>.
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Before loading the Keystroke Recordings from the file into
memory, ProPak checks to be sure that the file actually contains
Keystroke Recordings. If it doesn't, an error message will
appear and the file will not be read.
TIP: The maximum number of Keystroke Recordings that can be
active at one time is 100. You'll probably never have that
many keys redefined at once, but this should be considered
when merging recordings from a file. The currently active
recordings plus the ones from the file must add up to no
more than 100 or ProPak will not read the recordings from
the file.
Delete Key Recordings:
----------------------
This option provides two methods for deleting Keystroke
Recordings that are no longer needed.
Delete All Recordings - Choosing this option allows you to delete
all the current Keystroke Recordings. Of course, this does not
affect recordings that are stored in disk files. When this
option is chosen a window will open asking you to confirm that
you really want to delete all the Keystroke Recordings currently
stored in memory. Choosing "no" cancels the operation while
choosing "yes" allows ProPak to carry out your request.
Delete One Recording - When this option is chosen a window will
open in which all the current Keystroke Recordings will be
listed. Each recording will be identified by the Trigger Key
used to Playback the recording and the name of the recording, if
one is assigned.
To select a particular Keystroke Recording for deletion, simply
position the highlight bar over the one you wish to delete, and
press <Enter> to delete the recording, or <Esc> to cancel the
delete operation. As with the "Delete All Recordings" option, a
window will open asking you to confirm whether or not you wish to
actually delete the recording.
Copy Screen To File:
--------------------
This feature allows you to capture the contents of the screen
beneath the Menu to a disk file. The text on the screen is
copied with a carriage return at the end of each line. The
screen will be filtered according to the method currently chosen
on the Modify Current Settings Menu.
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Complete information on this feature is available in the In-Depth
Reference Guide (page 111).
Print Facility:
---------------
This feature gives you access to the DOS background PRINT
facility at all times. Through this option you may submit files
to be printed in the background, or you may cancel files that
have already been submitted.
There are two prerequisites to using this feature. First, the
DOS background PRINT program must be installed in memory.
Secondly, you must be using DOS version 3.0 or later.
Complete information on this feature is available in the In-Depth
Reference Guide (page 113).
Get Status Info:
----------------
The "Get Status Info" option is a quick and easy way for you to
find out information about Keystroke Recordings and memory usage.
When you select this option the following information is
provided:
o The first line tells you how many Keystroke Recordings are
currently defined and available.
o The second line tells you how much memory is actually
being used to store these Keystroke Recordings. This is
especially useful when you are considering using PCustom
to change the amount of memory that will be set aside for
Keystroke Recordings. Once you have an idea of the kinds
of Keystroke Recordings you'll be using, you can decide
how much to raise or lower the memory allocated for
Keystroke Recordings. The default allocation is 2,048
bytes (2K).
o The third line tells you how much heap memory is still
available for use. Heap memory is basically memory held
in reserve in case it is needed at any time. There are
two things that use this heap memory on a regular basis.
Keystroke Recordings are stored in this area, as you might
have guessed. Also, whenever ProPak displays something on
the screen, the contents that were on the screen before
are stored in this heap memory area.
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o The fourth line tells you the total amount of memory
ProPak is occupying.
Unload From Memory:
-------------------
ProPak may be unloaded from memory by selecting the "Unload From
Memory" option on The Control Center. This option performs the
same function that <Alt><U>, <Alt><U> performs within The
Programmer's Calculator. When this option is selected, ProPak
examines each interrupt vector it uses to determine if any other
programs have hooked into them since ProPak was loaded. If no
other programs have hooked these same interrupts, then ProPak
will report that it is safe to unload.
If ProPak determines that it is safe to unload, then it will give
you another opportunity to change your mind. Pressing <Esc> will
return you to The Control Center, while pressing any other key
will unload ProPak from memory.
ProPak will not unload itself if doing so could possibly harm
another program. Even with all these built-in safety features,
there are still steps you should take to ensure the safest
possible operation of your system.
Consider the DOS memory management techniques in use by current
versions of MS-DOS. If you have other programs loaded above
ProPak in memory, even programs that are not memory-resident, and
you unload ProPak out from under them, the memory will not
actually be made available to other programs. The reason for
this is that DOS is not designed to handle these "holes" in
memory between programs. At the very least this will prevent the
memory from actually becoming available until any programs that
were loaded after ProPak have also been unloaded. In a more
negative situation, DOS could become confused by this "hole" in
memory and the results could be unpredictable.
TIP: The safest possible method of unloading any memory-resident
program is to do it from DOS rather than from within another
program. For example, you are inside WordStar and pop up
ProPak. Then you instruct ProPak to unload itself from
memory. ProPak would probably be able to do it safely from
the point of view of the interrupts involved. But, a better
method would be to exit from WordStar back to the DOS level
and then pop up ProPak and tell it to unload itself. While
both methods work, and you may never experience any
difficulties with either method, unloading from the DOS
level is much safer, and, as a general rule, is the
preferred method.
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This does not mean that you have to use only the "PROPAK -U"
(command line) method of unloading ProPak from memory. You
may also pop up ProPak using a Hot Key and unload it using
one of its built-in methods. The important point here is
that you should be at the DOS prompt when you pop it up for
the purpose of unloading it from memory.
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----------------------------
The Modify Options Feature
----------------------------
In-Depth Reference Guide:
=========================
The Modify Options feature was designed to allow you to customize
many features of ProPak while it is actually resident in memory.
PCustom enables you to make permanent changes to ProPak, but, the
"Modify Options" Menu provides you with a means of making changes
that only affect ProPak until it is unloaded from memory.
With ProPak in memory, press <Ctrl><RightShift> to access The
Control Center. Modify Options is the default option when you
first access this Menu. If Modify Options is already highlighted
then just press <Enter>. If Modify Options is not highlighted,
either move the highlight bar using the arrow keys or press <M>
to select it.
The Modify Current Settings Submenu:
------------------------------------
ProPak gives you the freedom to customize many features, but with
this freedom comes some responsibility (doesn't it always?). The
first five Menu choices enable you to change any of the Hot Keys
"on the fly," while ProPak is actually in use. Before we look at
these, we should mention that some key combinations work very
well as Hot Keys while others do not. The following information
should help you in deciding which keys to use as Hot Keys, and
which ones to avoid.
|------------------- Modify Current Settings --------------------|
| The Control Center <Ctrl><RightShift> |
| Start Recording Keystrokes <Alt><=> |
| Stop Recording Keystrokes <Alt><-> |
| Screen Grabber <Alt><Space> |
| Calculator and Attachments <LeftShift><Ctrl> |
| Keystroke Recording/Playback ENABLED |
| Keystroke Playback Delay 0 |
| Read Key Recordings from File MERGE WITH EXISTING KEY RECORDS |
| Screen Capture Filter Method FILTER FOR PRINTER |
|----------------------------------------------------------------|
Figure 8: Modify Current Settings Submenu
First and foremost, you should always use a combination of two or
more keys as a Hot Key. Using a single key as a Hot Key is not
only risky, but it usually will not work at all. A good rule of
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thumb is to always use two or more keystrokes, at least one of
which is either the left or right <Shift> key, or a <Ctrl> or
<Alt> key.
The most obvious consideration is that you wouldn't want to use
any key combinations that are used normally in the course of your
daily computer use as a Hot Key. For instance, most word
processing programs already make use of the function keys and
many key combinations. So when choosing a new Hot Key, you
should make sure it doesn't override another key combination that
is used for something else.
Another consideration is the extra keys on enhanced keyboards.
Some of these keys just don't work very well as Hot Keys. For
instance, functions keys F11 and F12 are very unreliable when
used as part of a Hot Key combination. Because of this, ProPak
will not accept Hot Keys that include F11 or F12 as part of the
key combination.
The best way to determine which keys to use, if you do actually
need to change any of the defaults, is to experiment. Try a
different Hot Key. If it conflicts with some other program then
change it. If it works wonderfully then stick with it.
TIP: The default Hot Keys like <LeftShift><Ctrl> are keys that
don't include regular keys. Because of this, you won't be
able to specify a Hot Key like <LeftShift><Ctrl> from within
ProPak itself. If you want to use these kinds of
keystrokes, those that have only "shift" or "modifier" keys,
you will need to use PCustom to make the changes.
There are two key combinations which you may want to avoid.
If you frequently enter extended ASCII characters using the
<Alt><numpad number> technique then you should avoid using
<Alt><LeftShift> as a hot key. This is due to the
extensions ProPak applies to the keyboard. In order to
enter extended ASCII characters you will have to hold down
the <Alt> key AND the <LeftShift> key, while entering the
ASCII code on the number keypad. This will interfere with
the hot key if the hot key is <Alt><LeftShift>.
If you are using an enhanced keyboard (with dedicated cursor
movement keys) then you should avoid <Ctrl><LeftShift> as a
hot key. This is due to scan code similarities between key
combinations such as <Ctrl><cursor pad key> and
<Shift><numpad number> as used on a non-enhanced keyboard.
If you choose <Ctrl><LeftShift> as a hot key on an enhanced
keyboard you will frequently find ProPak popping up in
response to key combinations such as <Ctrl><PgUp>,
<Ctrl><PgDn>, etc.
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Having discussed this information, let's take a look at each of
the options available on the Modify Current Settings Menu.
The Control Center (Menu) - This option allows you to change the
Hot Key that is used to pop up The Control Center. When ProPak
was shipped, this Hot Key was set to <Ctrl><RightShift>.
Remember, if you change this Hot Key you will not be able to
reset it to the default again without going to PCustom.
Start Recording Keystrokes - Selecting this option enables you to
change the Hot Key that is used to START the Keystroke Recording
feature. The default Hot Key is <Alt><=>.
Stop Recording Keystrokes - Selecting this option tells ProPak
that you wish to change the Hot Key used to STOP Keystroke
Recording. The default Stop Recording Hot Key is <Alt><->.
Screen Grabber - This option allows you to change the Hot Key
used to pop up the Screen Grabber feature. The default Hot Key
is <Alt><Space>.
Calculator and Attachments - This is the option you would select
if you wanted to change the Hot Key used to pop up The
Programmer's Calculator and its various attachments. This Hot
Key can also be changed from inside the Calculator itself should
the need arise. The default Hot Key for The Programmer's
Calculator is <LeftShift><Ctrl>.
If you change this Hot Key you will not be able to reset it to
the default again without going to PCustom.
Keystroke Recording/Playback - Using this Menu choice you can
easily turn the Keystroke Recording and Playback feature on or
off. When the keystroke recording and Playback feature is
enabled, pressing the appropriate keys will cause a Keystroke
Recording to be played back. If this feature is disabled, the
Keystroke Recording will NOT be played back when you press the
key to which the recording is assigned. Additionally, you will
not be able to record keystrokes with this option disabled. You
may enable and disable this feature as often as needed.
Keystroke Playback Delay - ProPak is capable of playing back
keystrokes as fast as 1,000 characters per second. This Menu
option allows you to change the Playback Delay Rate, the delay
(in milliseconds) inserted between each keystroke played back,
whenever the need arises.
Some word processors can't handle rapid fire keystroke input, and
in attempting to keep up, they sometimes lose a keystroke here
and there. In these situations accuracy is far more important
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than speed. After all, what good is a software product that
executes at warp 19, when the end result is that it quickly comes
up with the wrong answer?
With ProPak, you decide how quickly it plays back each keystroke.
This Menu option will accept any value from 0 to 100. This means
that you instruct ProPak to pause from 0 to 100 milliseconds
between each keystroke that it plays back.
Read Key Records from File - This option allows you to determine
exactly how ProPak should handle Keystroke Recordings that are
read from a file of previously saved Keystroke Recordings. There
are two methods available, either of which may be set as the
default using PCustom. For those times in which you need to
change the method at run time, this Menu option makes it easy.
The first method available, which is also the default method, is
to merge the Keystroke Recordings that are read from the file
into the current Keystroke Recordings. The reason it's called
"merging" will be clear in a moment.
As you know, you can give a name to each Keystroke Recording.
This makes it easier for you to identify different recordings
later. ProPak itself does not use that name to identify a
particular recording. ProPak identifies each recording based
upon the key or keys that trigger its Playback.
Let's say we have a Keystroke Recording that is played back every
time you press <Alt><F1>. To ProPak, <Alt><F1> is the most
important identifying characteristic of the recording because
that is the key combination ProPak must watch for in order to
know when you want the recording to be played back. With ProPak
you can give the same name to two or more Keystroke Recordings,
but only one recording at a time can be assigned to a particular
Trigger Key. You can have only one Keystroke Recording assigned
to <Alt><F1> at a time, for instance.
With this in mind it is easier to see how ProPak handles
Keystroke Recordings that are read in from a file. If a
recording has a Trigger Key that is not already in use by another
recording, ProPak will add that Keystroke Recording to the list
of current recordings. However, if a file contains a Keystroke
Recording that has the same Trigger Key as a current Keystroke
Recording, the one in the file will replace the current one and
become the recording associated with that particular Trigger Key.
Reading Keystroke Recordings from a file in this manner is called
"merging."
There is also another way that ProPak can be instructed to handle
Keystroke Recordings that are read in from a file. ProPak can be
told to replace the current Keystroke Recordings with the ones in
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the file. When this method is specified, ProPak will delete all
the current recordings right before it reads the file. Then the
Keystroke Recordings from the file replace the ones that were in
memory.
The method best for you will, of course, depend upon the kinds of
recordings you use and your normal work habits.
TIP: When you merge recordings, there is always the possibility
that one of the Keystroke Recordings in the file uses the
same Trigger Key as a recording already in memory. A good
safety precaution to take before reading in a Keystroke
Recording file, is to write the current recordings to a file
with a unique name. Having done this, you will always be
able to get those Keystroke Recordings back when you need
them.
Screen Capture Filter Method - Almost every programmer and
computer user has used some method of capturing the information
currently displayed on the screen. Perhaps you have used a
utility that allows you to save screens to disk, or maybe you
have simply used the "print screen" feature built into your
computer. You now have another alternative.
Perhaps you have run across a situation where characters like
happy faces and other strange symbols appeared on your screen,
but, when you tried to print them your printer protested. Or
perhaps a character representing an end-of-file mark tricked the
DOS "TYPE" command into thinking that it marked the end of the
file (even though there was more text in the file after that
mark). Dealing with special characters like this is what the
filter option in ProPak's Screen Capture facility is all about.
By turning off filtering, ProPak's Screen Capture facility
operates much like other similar utilities. When activated it
copies the contents of the screen to a disk file that you
specify. But to give you more control, you also have two
additional levels of filtering available.
By "filtering" we mean that before copying the screen contents to
a disk file, ProPak will check to see if any of the characters
present are in the list of characters to be filtered out. If a
character is in the list of characters to be filtered out, ProPak
will replace that character with a dot ("."). Of course if you
don't like the dot, PCustom allows you to specify any other
character that you wish, as a replacement character.
The reason ProPak replaces the character with another character
is to prevent the alignment from changing. By doing so, ProPak
ensures that your captured screen images will still look good,
regardless of how they were filtered.
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There are three levels of filtering available.
o Do Not Filter. The first is no filtering at all. The
screen will be copied to disk without altering any
characters.
o Filter for Screen. The second level of filtering filters
out characters with ASCII codes 0 (null), 10 (line feed),
12 (form feed), 13 (carriage return), 26 (SUB - used as an
end-of-file marker), and 127 (DEL - looks like null to
many printers).
o Filter for Printer. The third level of filtering filters
out characters with ASCII codes from 0 to 31 (the control
codes) as well as 127 (looks like null to many printers).
This is the recommended option, and is the one set when
ProPak is shipped.
Changing the level of filtering is easy. Simply press the
<Enter> key to switch from one level to another.
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----------------------------------
Keystroke Recording and Playback
----------------------------------
In-Depth Reference Guide:
=========================
You are probably familiar with the concept of "keystroke macros"
or "keyboard macros". Those "macro" capabilities are essentially
the same as ProPak's Keystroke Recording and Playback capability.
We avoided the use of the term "macro" because it has so many
different meanings in different contexts that it is often a
source of confusion to those unfamiliar with the concept.
Instead we chose to call this feature "Keystroke Recording and
Playback", which we felt was a more accurate description.
The Keystroke Recording and Playback capabilities built into
ProPak are very easy to use. This capability can save you a
great deal of time while working on a variety of programming
projects, regardless of the languages or environments you use for
development.
The basic process of Keystroke Recording and Playback involves
three steps.
1. Tell ProPak when to start recording your keystrokes.
2. Tell ProPak when to stop recording your keystrokes.
3. Play back the recordings as often as necessary.
It's that simple!
ProPak enables you to assign up to 1,000 keystrokes to a single
key or key combination. This gives you the ability to "remap"
your keyboard and control the way it actually functions.
Furthermore, you can have up to 100 individual Keystroke
Recordings active at one time. This gives you the ability to
almost completely reconfigure your keyboard to whatever best
meets your needs.
The ability to save Keystroke Recordings to disk and read them
back later gives you even more control. By taking advantage of
the Keystroke Recording file capability you can have an unlimited
number of Keystroke Recordings available whenever they are
needed.
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How to Start Recording Keystrokes:
----------------------------------
To begin recording keystrokes press <Alt><=>. When you press
<Alt><=> a window will open asking you which key should be used
as a Trigger Key to play back the recording later. This Trigger
Key is not the same as a Hot Key like you would use to pop up the
Calculator for instance. Because the Trigger Key is not a Hot
Key, you couldn't use a key combination like <Ctrl><Alt><F10>,
but you could use either <Ctrl><F10> or <Alt><F10>. Once you
have selected the key combination you wish to use, the window
will close. Once the window closes, ProPak has shifted into
Record Mode where each and every keystroke you type, including
<Enter>, <Esc>, or any other key, is recorded.
Important note!:
----------------
WHILE RECORDING KEYSTROKES, ALL OTHER FEATURES OF PROPAK ARE
DISABLED. You can't, for instance, pop up The Programmer's
Calculator while keystrokes are being recorded. If you ever find
yourself unable to access ProPak when you know it is in memory,
check that you are not in record keystrokes mode (by pressing
<Alt><->). Even though ProPak will only record the first 1,000
keys you press, it will allow you to keep pressing keys until you
signal it to stop recording.
How to Stop Recording Keystrokes:
---------------------------------
When you have finished typing the keystrokes you wish to record
you must tell ProPak to stop recording. To do this simply press
<Alt><->. Be sure to use the top row <minus> key, not the
<minus> key by the numeric keypad.
When you have turned off the recording feature, you will be given
an opportunity to assign a name to this particular recording. Of
course a name is not necessary, but if you have five or six
Keystroke Recordings present at the same time, giving each a
unique name can be a great help later on. ProPak will also tell
you exactly how much memory is being used to store the Keystroke
Recording. This information can be put to good use. By taking
note of the memory usage of each of your Keystroke Recordings you
can get a much clearer picture of how much memory you should set
aside for these Keystroke Recordings in the future (using
PCustom).
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As you have seen, the process of recording keystrokes is very
simple and straightforward. Simply tell ProPak when to start
recording and when to stop recording. ProPak does the rest.
How To Play Back a Keystroke Recording:
---------------------------------------
To use the Keystroke Recording, simply press the key or key
combination you assigned the Keystroke Recording to when you told
ProPak to start recording. If you forget which key was assigned,
use the "List Key Recordings" option on The Control Center. This
will tell you not only the Trigger Keys used to play back each
recording, but will also show you the names (if any) of the
recordings and exactly how many keystrokes are recorded in each
one.
Setting The Playback Speed:
---------------------------
To control the speed at which the Keystroke Recording is played
back go to the "Modify Options" choice on The Control Center.
Then select the "Keystroke Playback Delay" option on the "Modify
Current Settings" submenu. You can also change the Playback
delay value more permanently using PCustom.
The range of delay is between 0 and 100 milliseconds.
The Screen Grabber:
-------------------
Along the lines of Keystroke Recording and Playback, we should
also discuss another method by which Keystroke Recordings may be
obtained. You don't have to record keystrokes as you type them,
you can also make a Keystroke Recording out of text that is
already available on the screen. Simply pop up the Screen
Grabber and "grab" the text you want to use as a recording. This
capability is discussed in detail at the end of this In-Depth
Reference Guide (page 107).
Keystroke Recordings that are "grabbed" off the screen function
exactly the same as ones that are typed in. Use whichever method
is easier for you in any given situation.
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List Key Recordings:
--------------------
First of all, "Key Recordings" is short for Keystroke Recordings.
There were some space limitations in some of the Menus.
Selecting this option on The Control Center will tell you how
many Keystroke Recordings are currently in memory. It will list
them by Trigger Keys and tell you their names, if any, and how
many keystrokes are in each recording.
Write Keys To File:
-------------------
Since Keystroke Recordings are in the volatile memory of your
computer they are lost when you unload from memory or turn off
the power. Rather than rewrite your Keystroke Recordings every
day, you can save sets of recordings to a file for future use.
You could have a different file for each type of job that you do
on your computer.
Selecting this option of The Control Center will copy all of the
current Keystroke Recordings to a file. You select a name for
the file and ProPak marks it with a .KEY extension. You can
change the default extension using PCustom.
Read Keys From File:
--------------------
This is the option on The Control Center that will read your .KEY
files and place a set of Keystroke Recordings in memory for you.
You select the set of Keystroke Recordings that you want by the
name of the file they are in.
The Keystroke Recordings in the file will either Replace or Merge
with the current Keystroke Recordings. You set that option with
either Modify Options or PCustom.
Delete Key Recordings:
----------------------
With this option you can erase one or all of the current
Keystroke Recordings from memory. It doesn't affect any that
have been written to files.
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Get Status Info:
----------------
This option of The Control Center tells you, among other things,
how many Keystroke Recordings are currently in memory. You would
still need to List Key Recordings to see what the individual
Trigger Keys, names, and sizes are. It also indicates how much
memory is currently in use by ProPak.
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Keystroke Recording TIPS:
-------------------------
The Keystroke Recording and Playback capability was really
intended to be much more than a quick way to type "Dear Sir or
Madam". As an example of how this feature might be used,
consider the following idea.
Let's say that you like to always start your source code files
with a Copyright statement and other basic information. Perhaps
your file headers look something like this:
**********************************************
*
* Junior's Custom Software Development
* and Whatcha-Ma-Call-It Widget Manufacturing
*
* Phone: BR-549
*
* Copyright (c) 1989, by Junior Samples
*
**********************************************
Of course your file headers probably contain much more
information, but this example suits our purposes here. Why not
make a Keystroke Recording of that header, either by recording
keystrokes as you type them, or by using the Screen Grabber to
grab an existing header. By doing this you will be able to
insert the entire header at the top of each new source code file
at the touch of a key. You can also record other often used key
combinations and save them all to a disk file called "CODE.KEY",
for instance. This is certainly much easier and more efficient
than retyping them every time, or even copying blocks from one
file to another.
With a little imagination you should be able to come up with
numerous examples of how this capability could improve your
productivity.
The Screen Grabber Feature:
===========================
ProPak's Screen Grabber is a tool that "grabs" text from the
screen, so it can later be played back exactly like a Keystroke
Recording.
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Using the Screen Grabber is also simple and straightforward. To
activate the Screen Grabber simply press <Alt><Space>. This pops
up the "Grab Box". Once the Grab Box appears on your screen you
may use the cursor movement keys (arrow keys plus PgUp, Home,
etc.) to position and size the Grab Box over the text you want
grabbed. The keystroke commands available are very intuitive.
Using a cursor movement key by itself moves the entire Grab Box,
using a cursor movement key while the <Alt> key is held down
changes the size of the Grab Box.
To Move The Grab Box:
---------------------
<Up> Arrow - Moves the Grab Box up one line.
<Down> Arrow - Moves the Grab Box down one line.
<Left> Arrow - Moves the Grab Box left one column.
<Right> Arrow - Moves the Grab Box right one column.
<Home> - Moves the Grab Box to the far left side of the
screen.
<End> - Moves the Grab Box to the far right side of the
screen.
<PgUp> - Moves the Grab Box to the top of the screen.
<PgDn> - Moves the Grab Box to the bottom of the screen.
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To Change The Size Of The Grab Box:
-----------------------------------
<Alt><Up> Arrow - Decreases the height of the Grab Box by
one line.
<Alt><Down> Arrow - Increases the height of the Grab Box by
one line.
<Alt><Left> Arrow - Decreases the width of the Grab Box by
one column.
<Alt><Right> Arrow - Increases the width of the Grab Box by
one column.
<Alt><PgUp> - Decreases the height of the Grab Box to a
single line.
<Alt><PgDn> - Increases the height of the Grab Box all the
way to the bottom of the screen.
<Alt><Home> - Decreases the width of the Grab Box to a
single column.
<Alt><End> - Increases the width of the Grab Box all the way
to the far right side of the screen.
How To Use The Grab Box:
------------------------
The most efficient way to use the Grab Box is to place the top
left corner over the beginning of the text you wish to grab, and
then resize the Grab Box to encompass all the text that will be
grabbed.
End-of-Line Characters:
-----------------------
The Screen Grabber enables you to choose between five end-of-line
characters. When text is grabbed from the screen it is just
text, no carriage returns, line feeds, or other formatting
information is included in that text. Therefore, the Screen
Grabber allows you five different options for an end of line
character. The end of line character is the character that will
be placed at the right side of each line of grabbed text before
the text is converted into keystrokes. Each of the five options
are described below:
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Enter - This option will cause the Keystroke Recording to behave
exactly as if the <Enter> key was pressed at the end of each line
during recording. This is the default option and is also the one
that is used most often.
Space - This option will place a space (ASCII 32) at the end of
each line of text grabbed from the screen. This is especially
useful if you will be playing the Keystroke Recording back inside
a word processor that has an automatic word-wrap feature. This
will enable your word processor to wrap each line properly.
Down Arrow - This option will cause the Keystroke Recording to
have a <Down> arrow keystroke at the end of each line. This is
often useful when working in spreadsheets or data entry screens
where you would want to move to the next cell or field at the end
of each line.
Soft Space - This option places a soft space, a space with the
high bit set, at the end of each line of text grabbed from the
screen. A space (ASCII 32) with the high bit set is the
character used by most word processors to indicate a space that
may be removed at the discretion of the software. This is often
useful when reformatting or printing a document.
Nothing - This option adds nothing to the end of each line of
text grabbed from the screen. When this option is chosen, the
beginning of the next line will be placed immediately at the end
of the current line.
If these options are not clear to you now, the best way to clear
things up is to practice with them a few times.
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-----------------------------
The Screen Capture Facility
-----------------------------
In-Depth Reference Guide:
=========================
This feature allows you to capture the contents of a screen to a
disk file. This works by copying the text that is on the screen
to a disk file, with a carriage return at the end of each line.
Optionally, the screen may be filtered according to your needs.
The filtering options may be specified with PCustom, or changed
"on the fly" using the "Modify Options" choice of The Control
Center.
The filtering is actually pretty straightforward. Characters
like Form Feed, Line Feed, etc., which will mess up the screen
image when you go to print it, will be replaced with a dot "."
(or any character you choose using PCustom to customize ProPak).
This way the screen image's alignment remains unchanged, and at
the same time you save yourself the trouble of editing the file
before printing it. It will be ready to go!
The Screen Capture feature can be activated from either The
Programmer's Calculator and its attachments or The Control
Center.
From The Programmer's Calculator and its attachments it is
activated by either <Ctrl><Enter> or <Alt><Enter>. It will copy
the contents of the screen exactly as they are at the time those
keys are pressed. That means that you can copy the The
Programmer's Calculator display (with or without the Quick
Reference Menu), The ASCII and Color Attribute Chart display, or
The Keystroke Reference Center display as part of the screen.
From The Control Center, the Screen Capture feature is activated
by selecting the Copy Screen to File option on The Control
Center. When you select that option ProPak first removes the
Menu and then copies the underlying screen in its entirety.
You will be asked for the name of the file to copy the screen to,
and an extension of .SCN will automatically be appended to the
file name. If you don't like the .SCN extension, you may change
it with PCustom.
If a file by that name already exists in the current directory,
you will be asked to confirm that you wish to overwrite it. If
the file does not exist, a new file with that name will be opened
in the current directory.
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Here is an explanation of the actual process involved for those
who are interested. First, the screen is copied to an internal
array where the characters are separated from their corresponding
attribute bytes. Then, the array containing the characters will
have a carriage return appended (added) to the end of each line.
Optionally, each character will be filtered. Filtering simply
means that each character will be examined and compared against a
filter list. If the character matches one of the characters on
the list it will be replaced with the replacement character that
you specify through PCustom. The default (normal) replacement
character is a dot ".". After this is completed, the "filtered"
information will be written to the disk file.
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--------------------
The Print Facility
--------------------
In-Depth Reference Guide:
=========================
This feature of ProPak gives you access to the DOS background
PRINT facility at all times. Through this option you may submit
files to be printed in the background, or you may cancel files
that have already been submitted.
There are two prerequisites to using this feature. First, the
DOS background PRINT program must be installed in memory. It,
too, is a memory-resident program. Second, you must be using DOS
version 3.0 or later.
Using this facility you may submit files to the DOS background
PRINT facility by specifying a file name or even a mask
containing wildcards. For instance, specifying "*.TXT" will open
a window showing all the files with the extension .TXT, and allow
you to move the highlight bar over the file you wish to submit,
and press <Enter> to submit it. This "point and shoot" procedure
will place the file you specify into the "queue" of files waiting
to be printed.
You may also cancel all files that are presently in the "queue"
by selecting "Cancel ALL Print Files" from the "DOS Print
Control" Menu.
This is a very easy feature to use, which you will also find to
be very handy to have available. It will allow you to continue
working with your computer while those files are being printed.
Remember that this is not the same as sending a document to print
from your word processor. It will only format the text according
to any control codes that are embedded in the document.
If you have never used the DOS background PRINT facility, or if
you don't remember all the "command line" options available, then
read on. The following discussion does not list every option
available because you can refer to your DOS manual for a complete
list, but we will cover the most common options.
The DOS background PRINT facility is a utility program that comes
with each copy of MS-DOS. It is a memory-resident program that
is loaded into memory by typing "PRINT" <Enter> at the DOS
prompt. When loading, PRINT will ask you for the name of the
"list device" which simply means the printing device. Usually
"PRN" is the answer you want. But you could also specify "LPT1",
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"LPT2", "AUX", etc. Consult your DOS manual for more
information.
When loading PRINT into memory you may change many of its default
parameters by adding extra information on the "command line"
(between the word "PRINT" and pressing the <Enter> key). The two
options that you will most likely use are "/B:n" and "/Q:n",
which are explained below.
The "/B" option allows you to change the size of PRINT's built-in
print buffer. The buffer may be any size from 1 to 32,767 bytes.
The default is 512 bytes. We recommend 1,024. This will
probably be sufficient for your needs.
The "/Q" option allows you to change the number of files allowed
in the "queue". The queue is the waiting line. You may specify
any number from 1 to 32. We recommend the maximum, which is 32.
In both cases the option is followed by a colon (":") and a
number. The number specifies the setting you desire. By the
way, PRINT is case sensitive on this point so be sure to use
upper-case letters to enter the command line parameters.
Here's an example of loading PRINT with a 1K byte buffer and a
maximum of 32 files allowed in the queue at any one time (this is
what we recommend):
PRINT /B:1024 /Q:32 <Enter>
As you can see, PRINT is fairly easy to use. Your DOS manual
provides more complete information, including other options that
are available.
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----------------------------------
PCustom: The Customizing Program
----------------------------------
PCustom is ProPak's companion customizing program. You may never
use it. ProPak may be exactly to your liking just the way you
received it. You may like the colors we liked, the sounds we
liked, the way we allocated memory. But, it is more likely that
even though you're happy with ProPak there are just one or two
things you would have done differently. This is your gateway to
making those changes.
Before we get started with PCustom, you should know that PCustom
works by going into the actual executable file (for ProPak.EXE)
and making changes internally, and by updating the special
configuration file (file with the .CFG extension) for both ProPak
and ProSwap. This gives your custom features a "permanent" feel.
It makes the programs act as if they were actually custom written
just for you!
By the way, don't let the word permanent scare you. You can
change as many features as you want, as often as you want.
Experiment. Have fun!
The Quick Start Tutorial:
=========================
If you placed PCustom into the same directory as the other ProPak
files when you installed the package, then you are ready to
begin. If you haven't done this yet, then please do so now.
Start PCustom by typing "PCUSTOM" <Enter> at the DOS command
prompt. If you have a black-and-white (LCD, or Gas plasma)
monitor you should type "PCUSTOM -B" (or -b, /B, /b, \b, or \B).
This will make PCustom use the gray scale color set for its own
screen displays.
PCustom begins by asking you which of the ProPak files you would
like to modify. We won't actually modify any of the programs in
this tutorial, but, you should select "Modify all versions
present" and press <Enter>. Later, when you actually make
changes, this will ensure that features are consistent between
the two versions of ProPak.
Next, the Main Menu appears. The "Colors" selection is
highlighted. The text above the Menu tells you what the
highlighted selection is for. Press <Enter>.
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This brings up the Colors Menu. You can select one of the three
standard color sets or design your own custom color set. Select
"Custom Attribute Set" and press <Enter>.
This brings up the Select Colors Menu. Select "ASCII Chart" and
press <Enter>.
Here are eight different portions of The ASCII Chart that you can
customize to your liking. We won't actually change anything now,
so you can press <Esc> when you're finished looking around. That
pops you back to the Select Colors Menu.
Select "Calculator" and press <Enter>. This selection has its
own Menu. Choose one of the three options and press <Enter>.
Make any changes you wish. You can change your mind at any time,
so, don't worry. You can also restore the original colors by
choosing one of the three default attribute sets on the Colors
Submenu.
Check out some more options from the Select Colors Menu and then
<Esc> back to the Main Menu. Select "Hot Keys" and press
<Enter>.
Here are the five major Hot Keys. Select one and press <Enter>.
You can choose your own or pick from the list. What makes the
list so useful is that you couldn't normally select any of those
options from the keyboard. That's why if you change some the
default Hot Keys "on the fly" you cannot reset them to the
default value. However, you can do it from PCustom.
<Esc> back to the Main Menu and move to the "Sound Effects"
option.
Here you can modify the beeps, clicks, and raspberries (error
sounds) to be just like you always thought they should be.
Now move to the "Advanced Options" choice. Here you can set the
mode and format the Calculator starts up in, the size and color
of the "Grab Box", the extensions ProPak puts on files it saves
for you, and a host of other things.
Now move to "Exit PCustom". Highlight "Cancel Changes" and press
<Enter>. This takes you out of the program without making any
changes.
Well, that's all for this tutorial. As you can already see,
PCustom is very easy to use, but very powerful. You can modify
almost any aspect of the Programmer's Productivity Pack. Read
the following In-Depth Reference Guide for a complete explanation
of all the possibilities.
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----------------------------------
PCustom: The Customizing Program
----------------------------------
The In-Depth Reference Guide:
=============================
PCustom is your ticket to a custom made version of the
Programmer's Productivity Pack. PCustom gives you the freedom to
choose. With ProPak you do not have to adjust your work habits
and preferences to match the software. Instead you can change
the software to match your work habits and preferences. After
all, you should be telling your computer what to do, not the
other way around.
Starting PCustom:
-----------------
When you first start PCustom, by typing "PCUSTOM" <Enter> at the
DOS command prompt, PCustom will load and wait for your first
choice. Throughout the use of PCustom you will find that PCustom
avoids making decisions for you, but rather lets you stay in
control. You may modify whatever you wish, and ignore that which
you do not wish to modify. You're the boss, and PCustom knows
it.
If you have a black-and-white (gray scale, LCD, or gas plasma)
monitor you should type "PCUSTOM -B" (or -b, /B, /b,\b, or \B).
This will make PCustom use the gray scale color set for its
screen displays.
Selecting Which Versions To Modify:
-----------------------------------
The first option concerns which version or versions of ProPak you
wish to customize. PCustom looks to see which versions of ProPak
are present in the directory and allows you to change a single
version or all three at the same time. Of course, if you only
have two versions present, ProPak will simply report that it
couldn't find one of them, and will help you modify one or both
of the versions that are present.
TIP: Earlier we recommended that everyone keep both versions
available on their hard disks (ProPak and ProSwap). To take
this a step further, we recommend that when running PCustom,
you modify all versions present. By doing this you ensure
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that colors, Hot Keys, and all the other customizable
features are consistent between the two versions of ProPak.
Let's say you have all three (ProPak.EXE, ProPak.CFG, and
ProSwap.CFG) present on your hard disk and that you instruct
PCustom to modify all three. Then, after making the custom
changes, you decide that you only want to update ProSwap.CFG and
that you want both ProPak files to remain unchanged. That
doesn't present any problem. PCustom gives you the freedom to
make these kinds of decisions. You can change your mind
virtually at any time!
How PCustom Works:
------------------
Your choice of which version or versions to modify tells PCustom
which versions to read from disk in order to determine their
current settings. If you decide later to cancel the changes or
to limit the versions you wish to change, you will have that
opportunity before the changes are actually written into the .EXE
or .CFG files. But, if you initially tell PCustom not to modify
a particular file you will not be able to write to that file
later (unless you restart PCustom).
To understand how this works, it would be helpful to know a
little about what it is that PCustom actually does to the .EXE
and .CFG files. Here's the basic sequence of events that occur
during customizing:
PCustom examines the current directory for one or more of the
ProPak .EXE and .CFG files. If none are present, then PCustom
checks the same directory that it was loaded from (if you are
using DOS 3.0 or higher). If one of the ProPak files is still
not found, PCustom will check the directories in the DOS path.
Once one or more of the ProPak .EXE and .CFG files are found,
PCustom asks you which file(s) to modify. Once PCustom has
received its instructions, it will read the current settings from
the .EXE and .CFG file or files and then set its internal values
to match. At this point PCustom closes the files and works only
with its internal tables. This is why you can always change your
mind about making any of the changes permanent.
You then use PCustom's pull down menu system to customize any and
all features. When you are through making any custom changes you
desire, select the "Exit PCustom" choice on the Main Menu. This
brings up three additional choices. Choosing "Save Changes" will
instruct PCustom to install the new values into the .EXE or .CFG
files that you selected when PCustom first started. Choosing
"Select (Alt-Q)" gives you another chance to select the file or
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files to actually modify. Choosing "Cancel Changes" returns you
to DOS without altering the .EXE or .CFG files in any way.
TIP: The reason this choice lists "(Alt-Q)" is because pressing
Alt-Q is a shortcut to get to this choice from any Menu or
Submenu in the Menu system.
Here's an example of how you might use the "Select" option on the
"Exit PCustom" submenu. Let's say that you have both versions of
ProPak loaded on your hard disk (ProPak and ProSwap). When you
started PCustom you told it to modify all the files. But, when
it comes time to exit from PCustom and actually write the changes
to the files, you decide that you only want to modify ProSwap and
leave ProPak alone. The "Select" option allows you to do this.
The "Select" option allows you to write the changes to any or all
of the files that were read when PCustom first started. Of
course, if you told PCustom to ignore one of the files when it
first started, you cannot now decide to modify that file.
We use the term "permanent" when we talk about making changes to
an .EXE or .CFG file, but we mean "permanent" in the sense that
they are permanent until you change them again at some future
time. You may customize the ProPak files as often as you wish.
The PCustom Menus:
------------------
The following information outlines each option on each Menu and
Submenu available within PCustom.
The Main Menu:
--------------
The Main Menu is the first menu to appear after you choose which
versions of ProPak to customize. You will see the following:
(Due to space limitations and printer incompatibilities,
this figure appears only in the printed User's Guide.)
Figure 9: PCustom Main Menu
The Colors option is highlighted. If you press <Enter> it will
be selected. The text at the top tells you what that option is
for. You can select any one of the five options by moving the
highlight bar with the <Arrow> keys. Each of these options will
produce its own menu. Let's look at each one individually.
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The Colors Menu:
When you select the Colors option you will see the following:
(Due to space limitations and printer incompatibilities,
this figure appears only in the printed User's Guide.)
Figure 10: PCustom Colors Menu
The Colors option is the door to the many options available for
choosing the colors you prefer for each and every aspect of the
ProPak package.
Each version of ProPak has two built-in color sets, one for color
monitors, and one for monochrome monitors. If you use a color
monitor you will be able to change the color attribute set to
your preferences. If you use a monochrome monitor you will be
able to change the monochrome attribute set as desired. If you
use a gray scale (black and white) monitor then you will be
adjusting the color attribute set (not the monochrome attribute
set) to your preferences.
If you have two monitors, say one color and the other monochrome,
and two display adapters (this is common among programmers who
spend time with a debugger), then both attribute sets will be
relevant to your needs. When you pop up ProPak on your color
monitor it will automatically use the color attribute set. When
you pop it up on your monochrome monitor it will automatically
use the monochrome attribute set.
These are the four options you can select from this Menu:
Color Attribute Set - This option restores ProPak to the
same color attributes that were in use when ProPak was
shipped. This is useful when you have made changes and want
to quickly restore ProPak to a known starting point before
continuing with the customizing of individual colors, or for
just returning ProPak to its original color settings
whenever you desire.
Monochrome Attribute Set - Selecting this option
automatically restores the monochrome attribute set to the
values that were in use when ProPak was originally shipped.
You may still change individual attributes later if you
wish.
Gray Scale Attribute Set - This option sets the values of
the color attribute set to those values that look best on a
gray scale monitor. These "factory set" values will give
you a good starting place even if you prefer to change some
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of them later. You can always move down to the "Custom
Attribute Set" and fine tune any values you wish to change.
Custom Attribute Set - This option enables you to customize
the attribute set to best suit your individual tastes. If
you are using a color or gray scale monitor, you will be
adjusting the color attribute set. If you are using a
monochrome monitor you will be adjusting the monochrome
attribute set.
PCustom is smart enough to know whether you are using a
monochrome monitor or a color monitor. PCustom will
automatically determine which attribute set should be used, no
additional steps are necessary on your part. Since gray scale
monitors look just like color monitors to software, you do need
to use the "-B" command line parameter to tell PCustom that you
have a black-and-white monitor.
Select the Custom Attribute Set if you wish to customize any of
the colors on your copy of ProPak. Move the highlight bar down
until Custom Attribute Set is highlighted and press <Enter>.
This will bring up the Select Colors Menu.
When you select the Custom Attribute Set you will see the
following Menu appear:
(Due to space limitations and printer incompatibilities,
this figure appears only in the printed User's Guide.)
Figure 11: Custom Colors Submenu
This is the Select Colors Menu. You can set the colors to each
of the eight options listed on the Menu. Let's look at each of
the options.
ASCII Chart: This option provides you with the means of
customizing the colors used to display The ASCII and Color
Attribute Chart, which is one of the attachments to The
Programmer's Calculator. There are eight separate aspects
of The ASCII Chart that you can customize. If you have a
color monitor you can change the colors to any of the color
combinations listed in the Color Attribute Chart. If you
have a monochrome monitor you will be able to customize
these features to any of the monochrome attributes listed in
the Color Attribute Chart. ProPak will automatically offer
you only those options which are possible on your monitor.
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These are the eight aspects of The ASCII Chart that you can
customize.
Outline Color (Frame) - As the name implies, this
option enables you to change the color of the outline
or frame around The ASCII Chart.
Title Color (top of chart) - This option changes the
color of the title of the chart.
Column Heading Color - This option changes the color of
the text appearing at the top of each column.
ASCII Code Color (Dec & Hex) - This option changes the
color of the decimal and hexadecimal values that appear
to the left of the ASCII character.
ASCII Character Color - This option changes the color
of the ASCII character itself, in the left hand section
of the chart.
Attribute Description Color - This option changes the
color of the words that describe the color that each
attribute (ASCII code) will produce when used as an
attribute byte.
Large Character Color - This option enables you to
change the color of the enlarged ASCII characters that
display in the right hand section of the chart.
Large Code Color - Selecting this option enables you to
change the color of the decimal value listed next to
each of the enlarged characters in the right hand
section of the chart.
Calculator: This option opens the door for you to customize
the appearance of the Calculator. This option leads to a
submenu which makes available three categories of color
attributes that go into making up the overall appearance of
the Calculator.
(Due to space limitations and printer incompatibilities,
this figure appears only in the printed User's Guide.)
Figure 12: Calculator Sub-Submenu
Let's look at the three options on the Submenu.
Actual Calculator: This option enables you to change
each individual color involved in the actual Calculator
display. The different portions of the display are:
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Current Format Highlighting - When you switch from
one numeric format to another, Decimal to
Hexadecimal, etc., you will notice that the format
title and the pending operation (if any) will be
updated to appear highlighted. This option allows
you to customize the color of this highlighting.
Signed or Unsigned Title - This option controls
the color used to display the sign mode at the top
center of the Calculator display.
High Word, High Nibble - The Programmer's
Calculator is specially designed to make it easy
to separate the various pieces of information
present when handling large values. This is
tremendously useful when keeping track of 32 ones
and zeros in the Binary Box. This option, and the
next three that go with it, allows you to make a
distinct color difference between the logical
divisions of the 32 bit binary values. This
option changes the color of the highest four bits
of each value.
High Word, Low Nibble - This option changes the
color of the second to the highest four bits of
each value.
Low Word, High Nibble - This option changes the
color of the second to the lowest four bits of
each value.
Low Word, Low Nibble - This option changes the
color of the lowest four bits of each value.
Normal Values Color - This option changes the
appearance of the values in the Decimal and Octal
Boxes.
Saved Values Color - This option changes the color
of the four saved values that appear in the Save
Window.
Information Color - This option changes the color
of the various pieces of identifying information
present in the Calculator display.
Clock and Date Color - This option changes the
color of the date and time displayed in the
information window of the Calculator.
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Calculator Menu: This option enables you to change
each individual color involved in the display of the
Calculator's Menu. This option is best experimented
with to see the effect that each color change has on
the overall appearance of the Calculator.
Information Color - This option changes the colors
of the various pieces of information displayed in
the Calculator's Menu.
Description Color - This option changes the color
of the description of each command available
within the Calculator.
Function Keys Color - This choice changes the
color of the normal function key options.
Shifted Function Keys - This choice changes the
color of the shifted function key options.
Save/Insert Pick Window: This option enables you to
change each individual color involved in the display of
the "pick window" which is used to select which value
to save or insert when more than one is available.
Normal Choices Color - This is the color used to
display values that may be chosen.
Outline Color - This option controls the color of
the frame around the pick window.
Heading Color - This option controls the color of
the title of the pick window.
Selected Highlight - This option controls the
color of the pick bar, the highlighted bar that
you move up and down to select an option.
Empty Color - This is the color used to display
empty choices, choices with a value of zero.
Empty Selected Color - This is the color used when
an empty choice (one with a value of zero) is
selected.
Error Messages: This option enables you to select the
colors you prefer for error messages.
Outline Color - This is the color of the outline around
the error message window.
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Heading Color - This is the color of the title of the
error message window.
Normal Text Color - Error messages appear in two
different colors in order to highlight certain
information. This is the usual color for the text of
an error message.
Alternate Text Color - This is the color used to
highlight or bring attention to some of the information
displayed in an error message.
Keystroke Reference Center: This option leads to the
individual choices available for customizing the appearance
of The Keystroke Reference Center display.
Outline - This option changes the color of the outline
or frame around The Keystroke Reference Center.
Information - This option enables you to customize the
color of the various pieces of identifying information
present in The Keystroke Reference Center display.
Time & Date - This option enables you to customize the
color used to display the current time and date.
Instructions - This option enables you to change the
color of the instructions that appear on the screen in
The Keystroke Reference Center display.
Status Byte High - The BIOS keyboard status bytes are
displayed in two alternating colors to make it easier
to identify each bit individually. Selecting this
option enables you to change one of these colors.
Status Byte Low - This option enables you to change the
alternate color used to display the BIOS keyboard
status bytes.
Key Code Information - This option controls the color
of the information appearing within the code boxes of
the display.
Key Code Row Heading - This option controls the color
of the words "Dec" and "Hex" in the codes boxes.
Note Window Outline - This option controls the outline
of the Portability Note window.
Note Window Text - This option controls the text in the
Portability Note window.
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Control Center Menu: This option leads to the individual
choices available for customizing the appearance of The
Control Center and its various submenus.
Outline Color - This option controls the color of the
frame around The Control Center.
Heading (Title) Colors - This option controls the color
of The Control Center's title.
Normal Choice Colors - This option controls the color
of the available choices on The Control Center Menu.
Not Available Choice - This option controls the color
of the currently unavailable choices on The Control
Center Menu.
Normal Selected Color - This option controls the color
of the highlight bar on The Control Center Menu.
Not Available Selected - This option controls the color
of the highlight bar when it is positioned over an
option that is not currently available.
Normal Messages: This option leads to the individual
choices available for customizing the appearance of the
Message Window and the text it contains.
Outline - This option controls the color of the frame
around normal Message Windows.
Heading - This option controls the color of the heading
of normal Message Windows.
Normal Message Text - This option controls the color of
text displayed in normal Message Windows.
Highlighted Message Text - This option controls the
color of special information displayed in normal
Message Windows.
Alternate Message Text - This option controls the color
of unavailable options in Message Windows that also
present choices.
Normal Selected Text - This option controls the color
of the highlight bar in Message Windows that also
present choices.
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Alternate Selected Text - This option controls the
color of the highlight bar when unavailable options are
selected.
Screen Blank (Clock): This option enables you to change the
color used to display the on screen clock during screen
blanking and hard disk parking.
Screen Grabber Box: This option enables you to customize
the color of the Screen Grabber's "Grab Box."
Swapping In/Out Message: This option enables you to
customize the color of the message that appears on the
bottom line of the screen while ProSwap is swapping into or
out of memory.
The Hot Keys Menu:
The second selection on the Main Menu is to customize the Hot
Keys used by ProPak. When you select it you will see the
following Menu.
(Due to space limitations and printer incompatibilities,
this figure appears only in the printed User's Guide.)
Figure 13: Customize Hot Keys Submenu
This Menu enables you to change each of the five Hot Keys used by
ProPak.
For each option you will be presented with a list of eight of the
most useful Hot Keys, plus an option called "Other" through which
you may select key combinations that are not shown in the initial
list.
The Hot Keys appearing in the list are key combinations like
<LeftShift><Ctrl> or <Ctrl><RightShift> which cannot be entered
interactively through the "Other" option. If you were to attempt
to choose this type of key combination through the "Other"
option, PCustom would not have any way of knowing if you wanted
<Ctrl><Alt> or if you intended to follow it up with another
letter like <Ctrl><Alt><P>. Those two modifier key combinations
don't normally produce a scan code. You can prove this by trying
them on The Keystroke Reference Center. PCustom presents a list
of these types of keys and accepts what you pick from that list.
(Due to space limitations and printer incompatibilities,
this figure appears only in the printed User's Guide.)
Figure 14: Hot Keys Submenu
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The same eight Hot Keys are listed for each of the five tools or
functions that use Hot Keys. Any key which is dim is already in
use. You cannot select the same Hot Key for two functions. The
five tools or functions are the following:
Calculator and Attachments - This option changes the Hot Key
used to pop up The Programmer's Calculator. Because the
current attachment might be The ASCII Chart or The Keystroke
Reference Center rather than the Calculator, this option
effectively controls the Hot Key used to pop up any of the
Calculator attachments.
Control Center Menu - This option enables you to select the
Hot Key used to pop up The Control Center.
Screen Grabber - This option controls the Hot Key that pops
up the Screen Grabber's Grab Box.
Start Recording - This option enables you to select the Hot
Key used to turn on or start the recording of keystrokes.
Stop Recording - This option enables you to select the Hot
Key used to turn off or stop the recording of keystrokes.
Pop-Up DOS Shell - This option enables you to select the Hot
Key used to activate the Pop-Up DOS Shell capability in
ProSwap.
Note: As mentioned in the TIP on page 97, you should avoid
<Alt><LeftShift> and <Ctrl><LeftShift> as hot keys.
The Sound Effects Menu:
The third choice on the Main Menu allows you to customize the
sound effects produced by ProPak. Selecting this option brings
up the Sound Effects Menu.
(Due to space limitations and printer incompatibilities,
this figure appears only in the printed User's Guide.)
Figure 15: Sound Effects Submenu
This Menu provides you with a simple method of customizing the
various sound effects used within ProPak. Alter each effect
until it sounds the way you prefer on your particular machine.
Beep Sound - The beep sound is the sound ProPak makes when
you press a key it doesn't understand, or when something
occurs that you should know about.
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You will be able to set the frequency or pitch of the
tone and its duration.
Click Sound - The click sound is the sound ProPak makes when
you switch formats or toggle the sign in The Programmer's
Calculator.
You will be able to set the frequency or pitch of the
tone and its duration.
Error Sound - The error sound is the sound ProPak makes when
an error occurs or when ProPak is unable to carry out your
instructions. This sound is produced differently than the
other two sounds.
The error sound is made by sounding the beep, pausing,
sounding the click, pausing, and then repeating this a
specified number of times.
You can easily change the duration of the pause and the
number of times the sounds are repeated in order to
obtain the error effect.
The Advanced Options Menu:
The fourth option on the Main Menu is Advanced Options. This is
perhaps the most frequently chosen Main Menu option. This option
leads to several submenus that enable you to change many features
that do not fall under the other Main Menu choices. This could
almost be called the "Miscellaneous Options" choice on the Main
Menu. Selecting this option will bring up the Advanced Options
Menu.
When this option is selected you will see the following Menu
appear:
(Due to space limitations and printer incompatibilities,
this figure appears only in the printed User's Guide.)
Figure 16: Advanced Options Submenu
The following information explains each of the four options and
what features it allows you to customize.
Calculator: This option brings up a Submenu that allows you
to change the default mode and format for the Calculator
when it is first popped up.
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Start up Numeric Mode: This option enables you to
determine whether The Programmer's Calculator initially
starts up in Signed or Unsigned mode.
Start up Numeric Format: This option enables you to
select the numeric format (Decimal, Hexadecimal,
Binary, or Octal) The Programmer's Calculator will be
in when it is first started.
cApture: This option enables you to make permanent changes
to the Screen Capture facility.
The "A" is capitalized to indicate that this feature
can be selected by pressing the <A> key.
Character Filter Method: This option enables you to select
the filter method ProPak will use when capturing screen
images to disk files. Filtering simply means that ProPak
will examine each character to see if it is one of the
characters that needs to be replaced with another character.
Why is this important? Some characters are used as control
codes for your printer, end-of-file marks for DOS, etc. By
filtering out these characters and replacing them with a dot
("."), an asterisk ("*") or whatever, the need to edit your
screen image files before printing them, will disappear.
There are three levels of filtering available.
1) No filtering at all. When this level is chosen, no
filtering takes place. Each character will be copied
exactly as it appears on the screen.
2) Minimal filtering (also called Filter for Screen).
The following ASCII characters are filtered in this
level: 0 (Null), 10 (Line Feed), 12 (Form Feed), 13
(Carriage Return), 26 (SUB - often used as an end-of-
file marker), and 127 (DEL - looks like Null to many
printers).
3) The third level of filtering, Filter for Printer,
filters out characters with ASCII codes from 0 to 31
(the control codes) as well as 127 (looks like null to
many printers). This is the recommended option, and is
the one set when ProPak is shipped.
Replacement Character: The replacement character is the
character that replaces characters that have been filtered
out. This is done to prevent the alignment of the screen
image from changing when a character is filtered out.
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The replacement character is chosen by simply typing in
the character you wish to use. The normal replacement
character is a dot, but you can change that to anything
you wish.
If, for some reason, you wish to use an extended ASCII
character (one with a code greater than 127) as the
replacement character, you should enter it so that
PCustom can recognize it.
You may be accustomed to holding down the <Alt> key
while you enter an ASCII code on the numeric keypad, in
order to obtain a character from the extended ASCII
character set. Since ProPak and PCustom both make use
of keystrokes like <Alt><Up> Arrow, the <Alt> number
keypad trick will not work. To get around this simply
hold down <Alt> and a shift key and then enter the
ASCII code on the numeric keypad. For more complete
information refer to the explanation on page 82.
Screen Capture File Extension: This enables you to change
the extension ProPak uses for screen image files. When
ProPak captures a screen image to be written to disk, it
prompts you for a file name, and adds a default extension to
that file name. By using this option you can change the
.SCN extension with which ProPak was shipped.
Grabber: This option enables you to change the default
size, location, and color of the Screen Grabber's Grab Box.
Color of Grab Box: This is the one option that can be
changed from two different places in PCustom's Menu
system. You may change the color from within the
"Customize Colors" Submenu, or, for the sake of
convenience, you can change the color of the Grab Box
from the same Submenu you use to change the size and
location of the Grab Box.
Size and Location of Grab Box: This option enables you
to select how big the Grab Box should be when it pops
up, as well as where it should be located on the screen
when it pops up.
To change the size and location, use exactly the same
keys you would use if you were actually grabbing text
off the screen. The difference here is that instead of
grabbing text off of the screen, PCustom remembers the
size and location of the Grab Box when you exit, and
instructs ProPak to use those values as the default
whenever the Screen Grabber is activated.
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Pressing <Enter> saves the changes you have made.
Pressing <Esc> cancels the changes.
Swap Control: This option opens up a sub-menu with several
options which control how ProSwap handles the swapping
operation.
First Swap Path: When ProSwap swaps to disk it swaps
into files that are marked with the "hidden" attribute.
This option controls where the first swap file will be
placed. PCustom will verify your input, so be sure to
specify only valid (existing) drives and directories.
Floppy disks are not acceptable for swapping purposes,
but Bernoulli drives are fine. This is the same path
that will be used by the pop-up DOS shell for it's swap
file as well. Do not specify a filename, only a
pathname.
Second Swap Path: This option is just like the
previous option except it controls the path for the
second swap file. If you use the "-M" command line
option, or choose "Sacrifice speed for space" under the
"Swap Tuning" option (below) then the second swap file
will not be used at all.
Pop-Up DOS Shell: This determines whether the pop-up
DOS shell capabilities will be available when ProSwap
is resident. The only time you will not want the pop-
up DOS shell enabled is when you are using a DOS
version earlier than 3.0, or when you are trying to
avoid conflicts with another program.
Max Size of DOS Shell: The size of the DOS shell can
be controlled to a certain extent. The smallest it can
be is about 124K bytes. The largest it can be is the
amount of memory that was available when ProSwap was
loaded (less about 20K). Why would you want to change
the size of the DOS shell? The larger the shell, the
longer it will take to swap in and out, and the more
disk space or EMS/XMS memory it will require. By
decreasing the maximum size of the DOS shell you will
conserve resources and speed up the swapping process.
The default is "All Available Memory".
EMS Swapping: This option controls whether EMS
(Expanded) memory may be used for swapping purposes.
It may be enabled or disabled. The default is
"Enabled".
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XMS Swapping: This option controls whether XMS
(Extended) memory may be used for swapping purposes.
It may be enabled or disabled. The default is
"Enabled".
Swap Message (EMS/XMS): This controls the display of
the "Swapping In/Out" message that appears on the
bottom line of the screen during the swapping
operation. Generally the message should be displayed.
If, for some reason, you don't want this message,
simply turn it off here.
Prefer EMS over XMS: When both EMS and XMS memory
swapping are enabled, this option controls which one is
tried first. ProSwap will try one, if there's not
enough memory available it will try the other. This
option controls whether EMS is tried before XMS memory,
or vice versa.
Disk Swapping: This option controls whether swapping
to disk is allowed. Normally ProSwap will swap to disk
only when absolutely necessary (when there is
insufficient EMS or XMS memory, or when EMS/XMS
swapping is disabled). With this option you can
instruct ProSwap to abort during loading if there is
not enough EMS or XMS memory - in other words, never
use disk swapping.
Swap Tuning (XMS/Disk only): When swapping to disk or
XMS memory, ProSwap normally uses two files or two
memory blocks. This takes up more disk space or more
XMS memory, but it results in a very fast swapping
operation. If you prefer conserving disk space or XMS
memory, at the expense of speed, this option makes it
easy.
Registered To: We keep track of registered versions by
serial number, but most people don't like being just a
number. This option allows registered users to record their
name or company name so that ProPak and ProSwap will display
"Registered to <your name>" when they start. This lets you
personalize ProPak and ProSwap.
Rename ProPak: There are several important issues involved
if you want to change the name of the PROPAK.EXE file.
First, ProPak uses overlays so it must be able to find
itself on disk at all times. Second, PCustom must be able
to locate PROPAK.EXE in order to perform some
customizations. This option lets you safely rename
PROPAK.EXE. As long as you rename it using this option,
PCustom will be able to find it in the future, and ProPak
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Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
will know what file to look for to load overlay files. The
main restriction here is that the new name cannot be the
name of an existing file, it must be a "new" name.
Miscellaneous: This option takes you a step deeper into
ProPak's inner workings. It enables you to specify how
ProPak is to use memory, handle the cursor, handle disk
parking, handle Keystroke Recording and Playback, etc.
Key Recording FileName Extension: By default ProPak
assigns an extension of .KEY to the names of files
containing Keystroke Recordings. This option enables
you to change that extension if you desire.
Read Key Recordings from File: This option controls
how Keystroke Recordings will be read from a file.
With this option you can instruct ProPak to replace any
currently defined Keystroke Recordings with the ones
being read from the file, or to merge the ones read
from the file with the currently defined Keystroke
Recordings.
This option allows you to control how much memory
ProPak sets aside for Keystroke Recordings. You may
specify any value from 1K (1,024) bytes to 98K
(100,352) bytes. The default is 2K (2,048) bytes.
Keystroke Playback Delay: This option enables you to
set a permanent keystroke Playback delay value. The
Playback delay value is the number of milliseconds
ProPak should pause between playing back each character
in a Keystroke Recording. This may be any value from 0
to 100. Generally a value of 0 will suffice.
Memory Reserved for Recordings: ProPak is capable of
having up to 100 Keystroke Recordings active at any
given time, and up to 1,000 keystrokes in each
recording. In order to actually define that many
recordings you must have set aside enough memory for
the recordings to be stored in memory. If you use a
lot of Keystroke Recordings you will want to set aside
more memory for them. If, on the other hand, you use
only a few Keystroke Recordings at a time, you will
want to reserve less memory for these recordings thus
lowering ProPak's memory requirements.
(Due to space limitations and printer incompatibilities,
this figure appears only in the printed User's Guide.)
Figure 17: Miscellaneous Sub-Submenu
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DOS Print, File Pick Window: If you have used the file
"pick window" which allows you to use a "point and
shoot" method of choosing files to be submitted to the
DOS background PRINT facility, then you have noticed
that it always starts with the current directory. You
can change it to start with the root directory if you
prefer. By selecting the root directory as a starting
point, you could easily point and shoot your way into
any subdirectory. This simplifies matters if you often
need to print files that are not stored in the current
directory.
Screen Blanking Options: When ProPak blanks your
screen and displays a moving clock, it also parks your
hard disk. If you have two hard disks, ProPak will
park both of them. Parking simply means positioning
the read/write heads over the last cylinder on the hard
disk. This is simply a preventive measure or safety
feature. If you prefer, you may instruct ProPak to NOT
park the hard disk or disks when blanking the screen.
This submenu option enables you to do that if you
desire.
Use EMS Memory for overlays: Normally ProPak will
place the overlay file into EMS memory when it starts.
This has two advantages. First, transferring from EMS
memory to RAM memory is much faster than transferring
from disk to RAM, therefore, the size of the overlay
buffer can be smaller. This means that not only will
ProPak perform better, it will do so using less memory
than if EMS memory were not used. This technique also
saves one file handle because ProPak will not need to
use the overlay file once it is loaded.
If you do not have EMS memory, or not enough EMS
memory is available for ProPak to use, then ProPak
will automatically leave the overlay file on disk
and use it from there.
This covers about 99 percent of the situations
that may arise. However, if you are a developer
working on a project and testing something using
EMS memory, there will be times when, even though
you have plenty of EMS memory available, you will
not want ProPak to use it. This option enables
you to instruct any of the versions of ProPak to
not use EMS memory even if it is available.
Return to application with: This option is really only
of use to those who have EGA cards. When ProPak opens
up a window it records the previous cursor size and
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position so that the cursor can later be restored
exactly as it was when ProPak was popped up. Sometimes
the cursor size will not be restored properly due to a
bug in the EGA's ROM BIOS extensions. To get around
this problem, this option enables you to instruct
ProPak to always restore the common two line cursor (a
cursor with the bottom two scan lines blinking). Most
user's will never need this option. You'll know if you
are one of those who needs to use it.
Overlay Buffer Size Supplement: This option is
intended to improve the performance of all three
versions of ProPak on systems that do not have EMS
memory. This option is highly recommended for users
who have floppy disk only systems!
Choosing this option enables you to increase the
size of the overlay buffer in all three versions
of ProPak. Even hard disk users can greatly
improve ProPak's performance by increasing the
size of the overlay buffer. Of course, this
option will have no effect if ProPak is using EMS
memory.
The size of the overlay buffer supplement is
increased or decreased in 3K byte increments. The
reason for this is because 3K bytes is the
smallest change that will significantly affect
ProPak's performance. The minimum size for the
overlay buffer supplement is 0 bytes. This is
automatic when EMS memory is in use. The maximum
size for the overlay buffer supplement is 12K
(12,288) bytes.
For those who do not have EMS memory, the actual
size you will need can be determined by the speed
of your hard disk and your particular preference.
The higher the value the more memory ProPak will
require, but, at the same time, the better will be
its performance. Floppy disk only users should
set the overlay buffer supplement to the maximum
value (12K bytes). Those with fast hard disks
will require a smaller value while those with
slower hard disks should consider a larger value.
If you have EMS memory and ProPak is allowed to
use it, then the value chosen here will not
matter. ProPak will automatically set a small
size for the overlay buffer.
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Microsoft Quick Environment Fix: This option is only
important to people who use the newer versions of the
Microsoft Quick Environments - such as QuickBasic 4.5,
Quick C 2.0, etc. This option will enable ProPak to
safely pop-up over these environments. Also, when
operating in non-swapping mode (the "-N" or "-T"
command line option), ProSwap will normally not work
with the Quick Environments. This option tells ProSwap
to deal with this special case when it is running in
non-swapping mode.
The Exit PCustom Menu:
The fifth option on the Main Menu is Exit PCustom. This will
take you back to the DOS prompt. You can also select whether to
save or cancel the changes you have made, or whether to limit the
files which are customized. If you select this option the Exit
PCustom Menu will appear.
When this option is selected you will see the following Menu:
(Due to space limitations and printer incompatibilities,
this figure appears only in the printed User's Guide.)
Figure 18: Exit PCustom Submenu
Save Changes: This option tells PCustom to write the
changes you have specified into the files themselves. The
files you instructed PCustom to alter, when you first
started PCustom, will automatically be updated when you
select this option.
The changes you have made are "permanent", meaning they
are permanent until you change them again using
PCustom.
Select (Alt-Q): This option allows you to change your mind
about updating any of the files you chose when PCustom was
first started. When you choose "Select" PCustom will again
show you the menu where you can choose to modify any one of
the three files or modify all versions present. If you had
originally chosen to modify all versions present, you can
now limit your changes to any one of the versions by
selecting it with the highlight bar and pressing <Enter>.
You cannot choose to modify a version that you originally
did not choose to modify. PCustom only read the files which
you selected at the beginning.
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If you decide not to modify any of the versions, simply
press <Esc> at this point and you will be back at the
DOS prompt without having altered a thing.
The reason "Alt-Q" appears as part of the choice is
that it is a "short cut key" which will quickly take
you to this point from almost any other point in the
Menu system.
Cancel Changes: This option enables you to return to DOS
without altering the files in any way. This option cancels
any changes you have made and exits from PCustom.
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-----------------------------
Miscellaneous Information
-----------------------------
EXE Compression Utilities:
==========================
Many people are now starting to use a free utility called "LZE"
to compress executable files while still allowing them to run
normally. LZE is a wonderfully useful tool, but it does have a
few drawbacks.
The main reason PCustom changed from modifying the .EXE files
directly, to using configuration files, was to allow us to
compress the programs using LZE or a similar utility.
Unfortunately, we've encountered some problems.
There have been numerous reports of LZE-compressed programs
corrupting DESQview memory blocks when they load. Since many of
our users operate in the DESQview environment it just isn't safe
for us to compress the programs.
If you do not use DESQview, and wish to compress the programs
using your copy of LZE (if you have a copy), then here is the
information you need:
PCustom may be compressed with LZE without causing any
difficulties.
ProPak cannot be safely compressed with LZE because of the
overlays built onto the tail-end of the ProPak.EXE file.
ProSwap cannot be safely compressed with LZE because of an
undetermined problem that affects the pop-up DOS shell
capability.
We are currently looking into alternatives for compressing the
executable files. There are several utilities available or under
development which may do the trick.
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Change History:
===============
Version 2.50 (August 12, 1990):
-------------------------------
Added ProSwap - the new swapping TSR with additional features
such as the ability to pop up over an application, swap it out,
and shell to DOS with as much free memory as possible for the DOS
shell.
Deleted ProPakM - it's capabilities were incorporated into
ProSwap.
Deleted ProPakS - it's capabilities were incorporated into
ProPak.
ProPak's overlays were moved from the separate file (ProPak.OVR)
onto the end of the executable file (ProPak.EXE).
The pop-up notes for the Keystroke Reference Center were
rewritten using assembly language table look-ups for speed.
The customizing program (PCustom) received major modifications to
handle the changes and new capabilities added to ProPak and
ProSwap.
The techniques used to customize ProPak (and ProSwap) were
changed. Rather than customizing the .EXE file, PCustom now uses
configuration files (ProPak.CFG and ProSwap.CFG) for controlling
the customizable options in ProPak and ProSwap.
Provisions were added to enable you to safely rename the ProPak
and ProSwap executable files.
Since most 3270 emulators (as well as Windows 3.0) use <Alt><Esc>
as a standard (non-modifiable) hot key, <Alt><Esc> is now ignored
within the calculator. This eliminates the problem of exiting
from the pop-up when pressing <Alt><Esc>. <Alt><Esc> works
exactly the same from within the ASCII Chart and Keystroke
Reference Center as it did in previous versions.
Many other subtle internal changes were made for version 2.50.
This version represents substantial changes over previous
versions.
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Version 2.02 (October 16, 1989):
--------------------------------
o The memory resident versions (ProPak and ProPakS) were
modified to work around problems in the new Microsoft
Quick environments such as QuickBasic 4.5.
o Added a DESQview Program Information File (PP-PIF.DVP) so
those of you using ProPakM can plug it right in.
o None of the changes affect the documentation. The ProPak
User's Guide is still current.
NOTE: Version 2.02 was developed to work around a problem in the
Microsoft Quick environment. This problem appeared when
attempting to pop up ProPak or ProPakS over the Microsoft
QuickBasic editor, version 4.5. This would always result in the
system hanging and would require the user to turn the computer
off and then on in order to regain control of the system.
Further checking revealed that this behavior occurs with most
"well behaved" memory resident programs, including those which
conform to the TesSeRact standards for memory resident programs.
The problem is caused by a bug in the Microsoft Quick Editor.
The editor contains an ill-behaved Interrupt 16h handler. The
editor appears to have been designed on the assumption that it
would have sole and exclusive control of the computer on which it
runs.
Microsoft admits that they have had many complaints regarding the
behavior of memory resident programs used in conjunction with the
Quick environments. Microsoft admits that they are aware of the
problem and that they know how to fix it. However, Microsoft has
stated that they will NOT correct the problem! Microsoft's
"official policy" is that because "OS/2" and "Windows" are
available as alternatives to DOS, there is no longer any reason
to use memory resident programs. If a user needs the
capabilities provided by a memory resident program then that user
needs to purchase either Windows or OS/2.
In order to work around Microsoft's poorly written Interrupt 16h
handler, ProPak and ProPakS now use a technique similar to that
used by Borland's original SideKick. When ProPak or ProPakS is
popped up it grabs back the Interrupt 16h handler. When you
return to the application over which ProPak or ProPakS was popped
the previous Interrupt 16h handler is restored.
Miscellaneous Information 141
Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
The original version of SideKick also grabbed back the Interrupt
16h handler, however it did so on a permanent basis. ProPak and
ProPakS only grab the Interrupt 16h handler while they are
activated (popped up) and restore it when they are waiting in the
background.
Version 2.01 (May 21, 1989):
----------------------------
o Corrected a problem on some "almost-AT-compatibles."
o A minor change was made relating to the way stack
switching is performed.
o A minor bug affecting users of IBM DOS 4.00 was also
corrected.
o None of the changes affect the documentation. The ProPak
User's Guide is still current.
Earlier versions:
-----------------
Earlier versions were not widely distributed. Version 1.0 even
had a different name (PrgCalc: The Programmer's Calculator).
Miscellaneous Information 142
Appendix A Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
------------
Appendix A
------------
The Bits and the Bytes:
=======================
This appendix provides basic information concerning bits and bit
level operations. The primary source for this brief overview was
Charles Petzold's "PC Tutor" column in the August, 1987, issue of
"PC Magazine" (Volume 6, Number 14).
TIP: If you are new to hexadecimal and binary arithmetic, we
recommend that you find a copy of Jeff Duntemann's excellent
book "Assembly Language from Square One", published by
Scott, Foresman and Company. Chapter One of this book
contains the clearest and most entertaining introduction to
the binary and hexadecimal numbering systems that we have
ever seen.TIP
For the sake of simplicity, we'll discuss the details of bits
from the standpoint of 16 bit systems. 16 bit systems include
IBM PC's, XT's, AT's, and some PS/2's. For this discussion, when
we say "16 bit system" we are referring to the microprocessor
itself, not necessarily all the hardware to which it is
connected. If you work with 32 bit systems like the newer 80386
machines, they are just twice the size, in bits, of 16 bit
systems.
On the most basic level, your computer works with bits. A bit is
a concrete, real value in your computer. A bit is simply a state
- on/off, yes/no, true/false, or 1/0, depending upon how you like
to think of them.
Handling bits one at a time would be a very complicated and
inefficient process for us humans, so we deal with bits in
groups. The most common group of bits is called a "byte," which
is simply a group made up of 8 individual bits.
Bits are usually represented using the numbers one (1) and zero
(0). In fact, these are the only numbers that a single bit can
represent. Numbers consisting solely of 1's and 0's are called
binary numbers, because only two digits make up the entire number
system. We are more accustomed to the Decimal system in which 10
digits (0-9) make up the entire number system.
Performing mathematical operations on binary numbers is much like
performing mathematical operations on decimal numbers, except
only 2 digits (0 and 1) are used.
Bits and Bytes; A Brief Tutorial 143
Appendix A Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
For example, in Decimal format, "1 + 1 = 2", but binary numbers
don't have a digit like "2", so we carry the 1, just like we do
with decimal numbers. In decimal numbers when you add "9 + 1"
there is no digit to represent a value higher than 9, so we carry
one place as follows:
Decimal: 9
+ 1
----
10
Binary is the same: 1
+ 1
----
10
With decimal numbers, each time a digit is moved left one place,
the number increases by a power of 10. If you take the decimal
value 10 and move it left one place you get the number 100 which
is 10 times greater than the value with which you started.
Binary numbers work like this too. Each time you move a binary
value left one place the value increases by a power of two.
The following chart shows a byte size value (8 bits) and the
result each time a digit is shifted left one place, this should
give you a better picture of how binary numbers work:
Binary Decimal
value equivalent
-------- ----------
00000000 0
00000001 1
00000010 2
00000100 4
00001000 8
00010000 16
00100000 32
01000000 64
10000000 128
ProPak's Calculator is an excellent tool to help see this first
hand. ProPak's Calculator enables you to shift values left and
right, rotate them left and right, and perform a myriad of
different operations, all the while showing you the individual
bit settings. Watching the bit settings in the binary values
will show you exactly what is happening as you perform each
operation.
Bits and Bytes; A Brief Tutorial 144
Appendix A Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
The following chart shows the binary values corresponding to the
decimal numbers from 1 to 10, this should give you a good idea of
how binary numbers are used to add, subtract, and do other
mathematical operations:
Binary Decimal
value equivalent
------ ----------
0001 1
0010 2
0011 3
0100 4
0101 5
0110 6
0111 7
1000 8
1001 9
1010 10
As you can see:
in Binary: 1
+ 1
---
10
then adding another 1: 10
+ 1
---
11
and another: 11
+ 1
---
100
and so forth.
Why is all this binary stuff important? What does it have to do
with programming my computer? Well, your computer's
microprocessor manipulates groups of bits in its registers. A
register is simply a storage location built right into the chip
itself. This means the processor can manipulate values in these
registers very quickly, because it doesn't have to get the value
from memory somewhere else in the system.
Bits and Bytes; A Brief Tutorial 145
Appendix A Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
The types of microprocessors we are discussing generally
manipulate 8 or 16 bits at a time in their registers. The
registers, by the way, are either 8 or 16 bits wide.
In virtually every field of business, science, and life in
general, we make up names for things. The computer field is no
different. When we group bits together into logical units, we
have a name for each unit. We've already discussed the "BYTE"
which is a collection of 8 bits that are treated as a single unit
or group. A unit with 4 bits is half of a byte, so logically, it
is called a "NIBBLE" (also spelled "nybble"). Moving in the
other direction, a group of 16 bits (two bytes), is called a
"WORD". A group of 32 bits (four bytes) is called a "DOUBLE
WORD".
Knowing this, much of the mystique behind these terms should now
be cleared up. Learning a few new terms is not unique to the
computer industry, if you were a stock broker you would have to
learn the difference between a put and a call, if you were a
sailor you would have to learn the difference between port and
starboard. The computer field is like any other field. There
are new terms to learn, but the result is it will be easier to
say exactly what you mean and have others understand exactly what
you are talking about.
Let's take a look at the range of values that can be represented
by various groups of bits. Obviously, when you have a known
amount of space in which to store a number, there is a limit to
the size of the number that can be stored there. Along these
same lines, if you have enough space to store anything from 0 to
10 but you want to add the ability to use negative numbers as
well, then the same storage space will hold anything from -5 to
+5. After all, we can only store a limited number of unique
values in a particular storage space.
An 8 bit value, a byte, can represent any decimal number (whole
number) between 0 and 255. If you want to be able to include
negative numbers, then we can represent any value from -127 to
+128 with 8 bits.
Numbers that can be either positive or negative are called
"SIGNED" numbers. Logically, numbers that can only be positive
are called "UNSIGNED" numbers.
A 16 bit value, a word, can represent any decimal whole number
between 0 and 65,535. If you are using signed numbers, a 16 bit
word can represent any decimal whole number from -32,767 to
+32,768.
Bits and Bytes; A Brief Tutorial 146
Appendix A Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
A 32 bit value, a double word, can represent any decimal whole
number between 0 and 4,294,967,295. A signed 32 bit double word
can represent any whole number between -2,147,483,648 and
+2,147,483,647.
This should help to explain why so many software products on the
market have similar limits for various operations. When working
with a computer you have to stay within the limits of what it is
able to accomplish using its particular design. Of course we
haven't even touched on the subject of numbers that can have
something after the decimal point. Fractional numbers, often
called "floating point" numbers in the computer industry, are an
entirely different subject and we won't go into detail on them
here. Suffice it to say, unless you are using a math coprocessor
chip, floating point math must be performed with software as the
processor itself does not understand fractional values.
Let's take a brief look at the "logical" operations that your
computer can perform. This will also help you to understand the
various operations available within ProPak's Programmer's
Calculator.
The first operation we'll look at is one of the most commonly
used. The "AND" operation. Notice we said "AND" and not "ADD".
"AND" and "ADD" are two entirely different operations.
AND - When you AND two bits together they produce a 1 only if
both of the original bits are a 1.
0 0 1 1
AND 0 AND 1 AND 0 AND 1
----- ----- ----- -----
equals 0 0 0 1
This is usually shown by way of a "truth table" which shows how
the operation works. A truth table for the AND operator might
look something like this:
AND| 0 | 1
----+-----+-----
0 | 0 | 0
----+-----+-----
1 | 0 | 1
Bits and Bytes; A Brief Tutorial 147
Appendix A Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
You read the table by picking one value from the top line and
drawing an imaginary line straight down, pick the other value
from the left side and draw an imaginary line horizontally to the
right. Where these two imaginary lines intersect is the result
you get when you AND the values together.
Taking this concept further, to 8 or 16 bit numbers, merely
involves lining up the numbers one above the other like so:
00101011
AND 01001000
--------
00001000
As you can see, only one of the bits in these two bytes have
matching 1's, therefore only that bit produces a 1 for an answer.
NOT - The NOT operator is a little bit different than the AND
operator. NOT works only on one value, rather than comparing two
values with each other. NOT converts all 0's to 1's and vice
versa. The NOT truth table looks like this:
NOT | 1 | 0
-----+---+---
| 0 | 1
The result is what is known as a "one's complement." In 8086/8088
assembly language there is a similar instruction called NEG. NEG
goes one step further than NOT, after obtaining the one's
complement of a number, the NEG instruction adds 1 to it, giving
you the "two's complement" of the original value. Using ProPak's
"Change Sign" command produces the same results as the NEG
instruction.
OR - The OR operator, like the AND operator, compares two values
and produces a result. OR produces a 1 if either of the two
inputs are a 1. The truth table for an OR looks like this:
OR | 0 | 1
-----+-----+-----
0 | 0 | 1
-----+-----+-----
1 | 1 | 1
Bits and Bytes; A Brief Tutorial 148
Appendix A Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
XOR - The XOR (eXclusive OR) operator produces a 1, if one and
only one of the inputs is a 1, if both inputs are 1 it will
produce a 0. The XOR truth table follows:
XOR | 0 | 1
------+-----+-----
0 | 0 | 1
------+-----+-----
1 | 1 | 0
This can sometimes be easier to understand and picture when you
think of it like this: the XOR operator produces a 1 for a result
whenever the two bits being compared are different from each
other. If the two bits are the same, the answer is 0, if the two
bits are different, the answer is 1.
SHL and SHR - The Shift Left and Shift Right operators do exactly
what their names imply, they shift a value left or right. For
instance:
take the value: 00001111
shift it left 4 places: 11110000
then shift it right 2 places: 00111100
One interesting aspect to these operators is that they can be
used as very fast multiplication or division operators. Shift
Left 1 place is the same as multiplying by 2, Shift Left 2 is the
same as multiplying by 4, shift left 3 is the same as multiplying
by 8, and so forth. Shifting right is the same except the effect
is like dividing by 2, 4, 8, etc., rather than multiplying.
There are two similar instructions called Shift Arithmetic Left
(SAL) and Shift Arithmetic Right (SAR). These are very similar
to the shift instructions except the value of the sign bit is
retained throughout the shift operation. As with the other
operators, the best way to see how this works is to fire up
ProPak's Calculator and tinker with a few examples. This way
you'll be able to see first hand what these operators actually
do.
Now let's take a brief look at some of the rotate operations.
The rotate operations are very similar to the shift instructions.
Understanding the differences is really a matter of considering
what happens when a bit is shifted off of one end of a number.
When shifting, if you shift a bit right off the end, it is no
longer a part of your value. The rotate operations deal with
this a little differently.
Bits and Bytes; A Brief Tutorial 149
Appendix A Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
The rotate operations function just like their name implies. The
rotate operations shift values in the registers, but instead of
losing the bit that comes off the end, it is rotated around and
inserted into the other end of the register. Something like
this:
|---->--------------------------->----|
| |
|----| | |-------------------------------| |
| CY |<-----| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |<-|
|----| |-------------------------------|
Rotate Left
At the same time that the bit is rotated around to the other end,
it is also placed in the carry flag (a particular bit position
within the "flags" register). Both the Rotate Left (ROL) and
Rotate Right (ROR) instructions work by taking the bit that
"falls off of the end" and rotating it around to be put right
back into the other end of the register.
Another instruction of this type is the Rotate through the Carry
instruction (RCL and RCR). It is very similar to the regular
rotate instruction, except that the bit that comes off the end is
passed through the carry flag. In other words, the value that
comes in one end of the register is the value that was previously
in the carry flag. Here's how it would look:
|----------------------->-----------------------|
| |
| |----| |-------------------------------| |
|<-| CY |<--| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |<--|
|----| |-------------------------------|
Rotate through the Carry Left
|-----------------------<-----------------------|
| |
| |----| |-------------------------------| |
|->| CY |-->| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |->-|
|----| |-------------------------------|
Rotate through the Carry Right
Bits and Bytes; A Brief Tutorial 150
Appendix A Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
How do you use such strange operations when you are programming?
Well, as you start getting more involved with using MS-DOS or
your ROM BIOS, you will more and more frequently find the need to
compare bit patterns, to find out if a particular bit is set in a
number, and even to shift the bits around in order to see what
they really represent.
As your programs become more intimate with the hardware of the
computer, your need to understand and be able to use other
numbering systems will grow as well. This is especially true
when you program in languages like "C" or "Turbo Pascal", where
much can be done when you are able to work with binary,
hexadecimal or octal numbers. If you deal with assembly language
then you know by experience what we're talking about.
We certainly hope that this has answered your questions, and that
ProPak's Programmer's Calculator will make your programming a
little easier and much more productive. Happy ProPak'n!
Bits and Bytes; A Brief Tutorial 151
Appendix B Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
------------
Appendix B
------------
Understanding Two's Complement Numbers:
=======================================
When manipulating signed values, your computer must be able to
tell the difference between a positive and a negative number. It
does this through the use of a "sign bit." The leftmost bit is
the sign bit. When this leftmost bit is a zero (0) the number is
positive, when that bit is a one (1) the number is negative. Of
course, when you are treating a number as an UNsigned value, the
leftmost bit is just a part of the number, and all values will be
considered positive.
There's a little more to negative numbers than just a sign bit.
To your computer, negative numbers are actually what is called
the "two's complement" of positive numbers. While this may sound
complicated, it is actually very simple and reasonable. Here is
a brief explanation of what "two's complement" really means, and
a simple example to illustrate how it actually works.
Let's use an 8 bit value for the sake of simplicity, and the
number 5. In binary, the number 5 looks like this:
00000101
Now, to obtain the two's complement of that number, we must do
two things. First we must complement each bit, simply change
each 1 to a 0, and each 0 to a 1. In essence we are just
reversing each digit. This is called the one's complement. Here
is what our results will look like:
Before changing: 00000101
After changing: 11111010
A quick way to do this using ProPak's Calculator is to use the
"NOT" operator. It will instantly show you the one's complement
of the current value.
Two's Complement Numbers 152
Appendix B Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
The next (and final) step we must perform is just as easy.
Simply add 1 to the number, like this:
11111010
+ 1
_________
11111011
That is the binary representation of -5. We have just converted
a positive 5 to a negative 5 in two simple steps. As you might
imagine, those two steps are exactly the kind of thing your
computer is good at, and can do very quickly. By using this
technique, the computer is able to subtract one number from
another simply by adding the two's complement of the value to the
first value. In this way the processor is able to perform two
different kinds of math using basically the same internal
circuitry.
Just to show that this really does work, let's change the
negative 5 back into a positive 5, using the same steps. Here
goes:
Before changing (-5): 11111011
After changing: 00000100
Now, add 1: 00000100
+ 1
---------
00000101
There you have it! We've converted 5 to -5 and back to 5, using
the same technique employed by your computer. With this
information under your belt, it will be much easier to understand
overflow flags and the like when you are working on the assembly
language level.
In 8086/8088 assembly language, the "NEG" instruction performs
the two's complement for you. The Programmer's Calculator
produces the same result with the "Change Sign" command.
Two's Complement Numbers 153
Appendix C Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
------------
Appendix C
------------
For Those New to MS-DOS:
========================
Due to space limitations, this information appears only in the
printed User's Guide which comes with the registered version.
Directories and Paths: A Brief Tutorial 154
Appendix D Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
------------
Appendix D
------------
Background Information:
=======================
Due to space limitations, this information appears only in the
printed User's Guide which comes with the registered version.
Background Information 155
Appendix E Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
------------
Appendix E
------------
Sources for Additional Information:
===================================
Due to space limitations, this information appears only in the
printed User's Guide which comes with the registered version.
Sources for Additional Information 156
Appendix F Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
------------
Appendix F
------------
What is Falk Data Systems?
==========================
Falk Data Systems is a small privately held software developing
company committed to providing top quality software at reasonable
prices. Falk Data Systems believes that the primary purpose of
business is service, not profit. This concept is fundamental to
Falk Data Systems approach to product development, production and
marketing.
Other Products From Falk Data Systems:
======================================
Easy Format:
------------
That's right! Easy Format, the program that's winning 4 and 5
star awards from shareware disk vendors all over the world. This
is the program the Turbo User Group calls "The Most Versatile
Disk Formatter in the World!"
If you need to format large quantities of disks, even two
different sizes simultaneously in two different drives then you
simply must try Easy Format. It's easy to use, menu driven, and
fully customizable. So if you just need a replacement for the
DOS format program that's easy to use, then Easy Format is
exactly what you're looking for.
If you send disks to others and can't afford to send out faulty
disks, then you can't afford to be without Easy Format. It's
built in "Distribution Quality" mode accepts only perfect disks
and rejects all others.
Easy Format gives you complete control over every detail of the
format process - four different disk testing levels, six
different bad spot marking options, volume labels and more. You
can even place volume labels on disks and still make the disk
bootable using the DOS SYS command.
Easy Format gives you the extra touches such as custom boot
messages (which appear whenever someone tries to boot their
computer with your disk in drive A:) that make your disks
special.
Other Products From Falk Data Systems 157
Appendix F Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
Three versions including a DESQview specific background format
program are included. All this and Easy Format is lightning fast
too!
Every option - screen colors, sound effects, language (English,
German, or Spanish), and more - is fully customizable. Easy
Format can even remember your options and use them again
automatically in the future.
Order your registered version today directly from Falk Data
Systems for only $40.00. The registered version includes an 80+
page bound printed manual, a bonus disk packed full of useful
programs, and a free upgrade to the next version.
NOTE: Registered users of the Programmer's Productivity Pack
are entitled to a 15% discount on their purchase of
Easy Format.
The shareware evaluation version is available from your favorite
ASP approved disk vendor or a BBS near you.
For overseas orders please add $10.00 shipping and handling - or
order direct from: Hammer House of Shareware, 32 Edenmore
Street, Rosemount, Londonderry, Northern Ireland, BT48 7JP, Phone
0504 263779.
The Easy Format Tech Kit:
-------------------------
If you are a programmer or developer, or someone who enjoys
technical details, then we have something just for you. The
"Easy Format Tech Kit" is available to registered users of Easy
Format for an additional fee. The Easy Format Tech Kit is a
retail software product and must be paid for in advance.
The Easy Format Tech Kit comes with several items, including
those listed below.
The Easy Format Tech Kit includes a printed, 80+ page technical
reference document that tells you everything you ever wanted to
know about floppy disks and drives (and then some). You would
have to purchase over a dozen books to get all the technical
information that is condensed into this one easy to read source.
The printed manual that comes with the Easy Format Tech Kit,
contains over 200 pages of detailed information, designed to help
you get the most out of the package.
The Easy Format Tech Kit includes the following items, and more:
Other Products From Falk Data Systems 158
Appendix F Programmer's Productivity Pack 2.50
o The complete source code for FormatF.EXE - Written
entirely in assembly language. This includes the source
code, and printed documentation, for DOSLIB, an assembly
language mini-library that will make your assembly
language work much easier.
o The source code for DvFormat.EXE - Written entirely in
assembly language. This includes the source code, and
printed documentation, for DVLIB, an assembly language
mini-library designed specifically for assembly language
programming under the DESQview multitasking environment.
The DvFormat source code requires the DESQview API
Reference Manual (which comes with a disk containing
DVAPI.INC) from Quarterdeck Office Systems, in order to
reassemble the program.
o The source code for EzFormat.EXE - written in Turbo Pascal
(version 5.5) and assembly language. This source code
requires Turbo Professional (version 5.08) from TurboPower
Software in order to recompile the program.
o The source code for Txt2Obj, a utility program developed
for use in Easy Format. Txt2Obj takes a text file and
compresses it, then converts it into an .OBJ file that can
be linked directly into your programs. This is the tool
used to make Easy Format work in English, German and
Spanish.
o The assembly language source code for FormatF and DvFormat
is compatible with OPTASM, OPTLIB, and OPTLINK from SLR
Systems, Borland International's TASM, TLIB, and TLINK,
and Microsoft's MASM, LIB, and LINK. Make files are
included for the make capabilities of each brand of tools.
o The printed documentation that comes with the Easy Format
Tech Kit includes several flow charts to help you get the
most out of the source code. Eventually the documentation
for the Tech Kit may be printed exclusively on recycled
paper.
The Easy Format Tech Kit is available to registered users of Easy
Format for only $65.00.
NOTE: Registered users of the Programmer's Productivity Pack
are entitled to a 15% discount on their purchase of the
Easy Format Tech Kit.
Other Products From Falk Data Systems 159
Index
A C
Add 61 Calculator and Attachments 45,
Advanced options menu 129 98, 128
Alt-Q 119, 137 Calculator menu 54, 124
AND 62, 147 Canada 6
Answers.TXT 22 Cancel Changes 116, 119, 138
ASCII and Color Attribute Capture Screen to disk 56, 70,
Chart 65 78
Reference Guide 68-70 Carry flag 63, 150
Tutorial 66-67 Change Bits (^C) 49, 57
ASCII poster 27 Change Hot Key 51, 56, 57, 89,
ASP 14 97, 98, 128
Ombudsman 14 Change Sign (^-) 57, 148, 153
Assembly language 47, 54, 63, Circular queue See: Linked
153 list
Attachments 64, 68, 70, 78 Clear All (^A) 58, 59, 60
AUTOEXEC.BAT 41 Clear Entry (^E) 58, 62
Click sound 129
B Clipper 74, 76
Background task 22, 37, 74 Color attribute set 120
Bank charges 6 Colors menu 120
Batch files 41 COMMAND.COM 10
BBS 3, 158 Command line
BCD See: Binary Coded Decimal DOS 32
Beep Sound 128 Command line parameters 38,
Benefits 7, 8, 9, 13 114, 115, 117
Binary Coded Decimal 63 -U 38
Binary format 46, 48, 52, 54, ProSwap 33
55, 57 -? 37
Binary numbers 123, 143, 144, -D 34
152 -E 34
Bit level operations 62 -H 35
Bit manipulation facility 49, -M 35
57 -N 35
Bits 49, 57, 62, 143 -P 36
Blank screen 58, 67, 79, 135 -S 36
BOOT.SYS 12 -T 35
Bypassing 30 -U 36
Bytes 143, 146, 152 -X 37
Commercial See: Retail
Communications programs 32
Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack
Index
CompuServe 8, 13 Enhanced keyboard 26, 61, 74,
Configuration Control 12 77, 97
Conflicts with other TSR's 41 Environment block 29
Control Center 39, 98 Error messages 43, 124
Customizing 126, 128 Error sound 116, 129
Menu 89 ERRORLEVEL 42
Reference Guide 89-95 Europe 6
Tutorial #1 81-84 Evaluation 3, 9
Tutorial #2 85-88 Exchange Double Words See:
Copy screen to file 92 XCHG DD
Ctrl-@ 56 Exchange Words See: XCHG DW
Current value 58, 60, 61 Exclusive OR See: XOR
Custom attribute set 121 Exit PCustom 119, 137
Custom colors menu 121 Exit the ASCII Chart 67, 70
Customizing program See: Exit the Calculator 59, 60
PCustom Exit The Control Center 84
Exit The Keystroke Reference
D Center 72, 78
dBASE 71, 74 Extended characters 69, 82
DEBUG 32 EzFormat.EXE 159
Decimal format 46, 48, 49, 52,
55, 144 F
Decimal point 61, 147 F11 and F12 97
Delete Digit 62 Filter See: Screen Capture,
DESQview 22, 33, 37 130
Device 8 Final result 60, 61
Disable 9 Flu Shot Plus 9
Disable disk parking 58 FMark 8
Discount 158 FormatF.EXE 159
Discounts 7 4DOS 10
Distribute 2, See Also: FoxBase 74
Distribution Disk Fractions 147
Distribution 3 Future 7
Divide 61
DOS ERRORLEVEL 42 G
DOS Extensions 10 Get status info 93, 106
DOS Shell 31, 32 Grab box
DOS version 3.0 31 Change size 109, 131
Double word 146 Color 131
Dual monitor systems 18, 25 Move 108
DvFormat.EXE 159 Graphics mode 32, 43
Gray scale attribute set 120
E Guarantee
Easy Format 157 Money Back 1
Easy Format Tech Kit 158
EatMem 9 H
EDLIN 32 Hard Disk 31
EMS memory 18, 19, 28, 29, 31, Hardware Interrupt Handlers 32
42, 43, 135 HEAP 29
End-of-line characters 109 Hexadecimal format 26, 46, 49,
52, 55, 58
Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack
Index
High memory 31 M
Hot key MapMem 8
Tips 57, 97 Mark 8
Hot Keys menu 127 Marketing 1, 157
MarkNet 8
I Mathematical operations 60
INKEY() 71, 74, 77 Media Hype 9
Insert a Value (^I) 58 Memory
Installation 22 conserving 19
Floppy disk 24 EMS 18, 19, 28, 31
Hard disk 23 high 31
Integer division 61 XMS 18, 19, 31
Intermediate value 58, 60, 61 Memory requirements 19
Internal stacks 29 Memory-resident version 19,
IntroPak 8 22, 28, 29, 59, 74
ISR 32 Memory slots 58, 59
Memory Usage Info 30
K Miscellaneous 134
KEY extension 87, 88, 91, 105, Missing overlay file 43
134 Modes See: Video modes
Keyboard 26 Modifier keys 26, 56
Keyboard interrupt 26, 60 Modify Current Settings
KeyRef 64, 71 submenu 96
Keystroke Playback Delay 86, Modify Options 90
90, 98, 104, 134 Reference Guide 96-101
Keystroke Recordings Tutorial 81
Delete 92, 105 Modulus 61
Limits 103 Monitors
List 90, 105 Black-and-white 25, 115,
Memory 134 117, 121
Merge 105 Color 25, 69, 120
Playback 98, 104 Gas plasma 25, 115, 117
Read from file 91, 99, 105, Gray scale 25, 115, 117,
134 120, 121
Reference Guide 102-110 LCD 25, 115, 117
Replace 105 Monochrome 25, 120, 121
Start 98, 103 Moving the display 64, 77
Stop 98, 103 Multiply 61
Tutorial 85 Multitasking system 32, 38, 74
Write to file 91, 105 Multitasking version 19, 22,
Keystroke Reference Center 64, 38, 60
125 Myth 9
Reference Guide 74-78
Tutorial 71-73 N
Name
L changing 30, 38
Launch 2 NEG 148, 153
License 3 Negative to positive 57
Linked list See: Recursion Network shells 32
Loading ProPak 28 Nibble 146
Logical operations 62, 147 Non-Registered Users 7, 14
Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack
Index
Normal messages 126 Poster See: ASCII Poster
NOT 62, 148, 152 PRINT 41, 84, 90, 113, 135
Numeric Format 55, 130 Print facility 93
Switching 49, 55 Reference Guide 113-114
Numeric Mode 57, 130 Tutorial 81
NumLock 27, 46, 60, 69, 72 ProComm 32
Program Segment Prefix 28
O Programmer's Calculator
Octal format 46, 52, 55 Customizing 122, 129
Ombudsman 14 Reference Guide 52-65
OmniView 18, 22, 37 Tutorial 45-51
One's complement 152 ProSwap 30
Opening screen
Bypassing 30 Q
OR 62, 148 QEMM 31
Overlay buffer 29, 136 QRAM 31
Supplement 136 QuickSilver 74
Overlay file 19, 28, 29, 43, Quit PCustom 119, 137
44, 135 Quit the ASCII Chart 67, 70
Quit the Calculator 59, 60
P Quit The Control Center 84
Park Disk(s) and Blank Screen Quit The Keystroke Reference
58, 67, 70, 79, 79-80 Center 72, 78
Payment Methods 6
PC Magazine 10 R
PC World 10 RAM 19
PCustom 115 RAM Disk 31
Alt-Q 137 RamFree 9
Cancel Changes 138 Range of values 52
Reference Guide 117-138 RCL 63, 150
Save changes 137 RCR 63, 150
Select 137 Read/Write heads 58
Tutorial 115-116 Recursion See: Circular queue
PCustom.EXE 22 Recycled Paper 15
PCustom menus Registered Users 4, 5, 7, 14
Advanced options menu 129 Registration 5, 7, 14
Colors menu 120 Registration Benefits 7
Custom colors menu 121 Release 9
Exit PCustom menu 137 RelNet 9
Hot Keys menu 127 Remainder 61
Main menu 119 Rename 30, 38
Sound effects menu 128 Replacement character 130
Pick list 58, 59 Retail 2, 4, 158
Playback See: Keystroke Returning to the Calculator
Recordings 64, 70, 78
Pop-Up DOS Shell See: DOS ROL 62, 150
Shell ROR 63, 150
Customizing 128 Rosenberger
PopCalc 41 Rob 9
Portability Note 71, 72, 77 Rotate Left See: ROL
Positive to negative 57 Rotate Right See: ROR
Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack
Index
Rotate through the Carry Left T
See: RCL TAPCIS 8, 32
Rotate through the Carry Right TaskView 18, 22, 37
See: RCR Tech Kit 158
Technical Support 7, 13
S Test-Drive 1
SAL 63, 149 Text mode 43
SAR 63, 149 386MAX 31
Save a Value (^S) 59 TIP 57, 82, 89, 90, 91, 92,
Scan code 71, 74, 76 94, 97, 100, 107, 117, 119,
SCN extension 56, 66, 70, 83, 143
111, 131 Toggle
Screen Blank Bits 57
Clock 127 Modes 54, 59
Screen Capture 56, 70, 78, 130 Toggle Sign Mode (^T) 59
Filter method 100 Traditional 2
Reference Guide 111-112 Trigger Key 85, 86, 87, 88,
Tutorial 81 90, 92, 99, 100, 103, 104,
Screen Grabber 98, 104, 107, 105, 106
127 Truth tables 147-149
Tutorial 86 Try-before-you-buy 1, 5
Screen Refresh (^R) 59 TSR Utilities 8
ScrollLock 72 TurboPower Software 8, 9
Shareware 1, 5, 14 Two line cursor 136
Shift Arithmetic Left See: SAL Two's complement 152, 153
Shift Arithmetic Right See: Two seconds 44
SAR Txt2Obj 159
Shift keys 26
Shift Left See: SHL U
Shift Right See: SHR Unblank screen 58
SHL 62, 149 Unload from memory 60, 94
Show Result 61 Unloading ProPak 38, 94
SHR 62, 149 Unpark disk 58
Sidekick version 28, 39 Unsafe to pop up 44
Sign bit 152 Unsafe to unload 51
Signed mode 49, 52, 54, 58, 59 Unsigned mode 49, 53, 54, 58,
Signed numbers 146, 152 59
Software Concepts Design 9 Unsigned numbers 146, 152
Sound effects menu 128 Updates 14
Source Code 159
Stacks See: Internal stacks V
Stand-alone version 31, 38 Video
Start recording keystrokes 98 Adapters 18
Starting PCustom 117 Video modes
Status bytes 72 Display height 25
Stop recording keystrokes 98 Display width 25
Subtract 61 Graphics 25, 32
Supplement 136 Text 25
Swapping 31 Virtual screen 38
Swapping Message 127 Virus 9
System requirements 18 Virus Myths 9
Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack
Index
Virus Protection 9 X
XCHG DD 64
W XCHG DW 63
Warranty 5 XMS memory 18, 19, 31
Watch 9 XOR 62, 149
West Germany 6
Word 146
Falk Data Systems Programmer's Productivity Pack
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