³ The Silicon Frog, Inc. ³ ³ The VU Text File Viewer ³ ³ Version 1.0 ³ ³ (c) 1988-92 The Silicon Frog, Inc. All Rights Reserved Table of Contents Introduction...............................................1 Memory Requirements........................................1 Screen Colors..............................................1 Extended Video Support.....................................1 Text Files.................................................1 Starting VU................................................2 The VU Screen..............................................2 Scrolling through the file.................................2 The Help/Status Line.......................................3 Loading a new file.........................................3 VU Text Viewer 1 Introduction VU is a small, quick, and easy to use text file viewer distributed with other Silicon Frog programs for your convenience. In a nutshell, VU is an unreasonable substitute for Vern Buerg's excellent LIST/LIST Enhanced file viewer. Memory Requirements VU requires approximately 54K to operate. Although the VU.COM file is barely 12K, the program requires over 40K of dynamic DOS memory for its file buffer. Screen Colors VU operates on any standard display adapter. On a color monitor, VU will display the text in white on blue, and its title and help/status lines in inverse video. On a monochrome monitor, the program displays the text in standard video and the title and help/status lines in inverse video. Extended Video Support VU passively supports adapter/monitor combinations and video enhancers (e.g., Personics' UltraVision) which can display more than 25 screen lines. Most recent video adapters include utilities which allow you to switch video modes (i.e., 80x43, 80x50, etc.) VU will not internally change the existing text mode, but it will adapt to any mode as long as the screen width is 80 columns. Text Files VU will accurately display standard CR/LF-delimited ASCII text files such as Silicon Frog .DOC or .TXT documentation files, .BAT files, Windows' .INI files, etc. You will get unpredictable results if you attempt to view binary files or most unformatted word processor document files (these files seldom use CR/LF line delimiters). TAB characters, by default, are shown as four contiguous spaces. VU Text Viewer 2 Starting VU To start VU, type the following command at the DOS prompt: C:\>VU [D:\PATH\FILENAME.EXT] [/BW] The filename parameter, if specified, must conform to DOS coding standards. For example, if you do not specify a path, the file must be in the current directory. You may not use the ? and/or * DOS wildcards in the file name. If you do not specify a file name when starting VU, the program will prompt you for one. When the program is running, the file name is shown at the right of the Help/Status line. The /BW parameter tells VU to force monochrome operation. Use this parameter if VU is unable to recognize your monitor type or if the screen text is difficult to read (VU may not be able to correctly identify monochrome monitors attached to some EGA or VGA adapters). The VU Screen VU displays its name and copyright on the top screen line. Summary help information is shown on the bottom Help/Status line. File text occupies the area between the two. Scrolling through the file VU features horizontal scrolling to allow viewing of lines which exceed the 80-character screen width. To scroll through the file, use the following keys: Key Action ----------------- ------------------------------------ Scroll up one line Scroll down one line Scroll up one page Scroll down one page Scroll right 1 character Scroll left 1 character Top of file End of file Quit VU, return to DOS VU Text Viewer 3 The Help/Status Line The left half of the Help/Status line displays the program's help reminders (scroll keys, to load a new file, to quit). The right half of the Help/Status line displays the current file status: 1. The line number (the line at the top of the file viewing area), followed by the total number of lines in the file. VU displays (TOF) and (EOF) indicators when you reach the top or the end of the file. 2. The horizontal offset, expressed as a positive number. This value is displayed only if you scrolled horizontally and the first file position is no longer at the left edge of the viewing area. 3. The file name and extension. Loading a new file To view a new file, press . VU will display a file name prompt on the bottom line. The name of the file being viewed, if any, will appear in the edit field. The following keys are active while editing the file name: Key Action ----------------- ------------------------------------ Move 1 character to the right Move 1 character to the left Delete character at cursor Delete character at left of cursor Toggle Insert/Overstrike mode Clear field Restore original field Accept edit Cancel edit or Quit VU If VU cannot find the file, it will display an error message on the bottom line and will re-display the file prompt. If the file prompt is displayed when the program starts (i.e., you did not specify a file when you started VU), pressing will immediately terminate the program. If a file is already loaded, pressing cancels the new file request and returns you to the file viewer. VU Text Viewer 4 Quitting VU To terminate VU and return to DOS, press while in the file viewer.