WhileOut 1.0:

A Screen Saver & Message Taker

for WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS

Copyright © 1992 by Larry Kuenning

16 Huber St.

Glenside, PA 19038-3402

All rights reserved

If you find this program useful, a $10 fee (payable to me and sent to the above address) would be appropriate. You may copy WhileOut to share with others if you include all seven original files unaltered (four macros, primary and secondary merge files for display, and this documentation file) and if you don't charge for more than the reasonable costs of copying. The recipients should also send me the $10 shareware fee (per user) if they use it much.

Features

WhileOut is a manually started screen saver program that works only inside WordPerfect 5.1. It consists of a macro that calls up a document file containing six captioned pictures, which it then displays in rotation in WordPerfect's View Document screen. The screen contents are altered every 5 seconds in order to prevent burn-in.

WhileOut is also a message taker: you can use it to tell passersby where you have gone, and it allows them to leave messages that you will find when you return.

WhileOut's six images are as follows:

(1)	A newspaper, captioned "Latest news:" plus a message telling where you are. You choose this message from an initial menu (which you can customize to suit your most common reasons for leaving your desk), or compose it on the spot for the specific occasion.

(2)	A clock, with a caption which automatically tells the current time and date, along with the time you started WhileOut and left your desk. It also optionally includes the words "back soon." (The clock in the picture does not tell time; only the caption does that.)

(3)	A picture of a computer, captioned "Yes, I know I left it turned on."

(4)	A map of the world, captioned "Really I haven't gone far!"

(5)	A mailbag, with a note telling passersby to "Press F1 to leave message."

(6)	A downward-pointing arrow, labeled "F1 key is in upper left corner of the keyboard." However, if you have a mouse, this is replaced by a picture of a (live) mouse and a request, "Please don't disturb the mouse," which is necessary for technical reasons.

When a passerby follows the instruction to press F1 to leave a message, the macro guides him or her through the necessary steps. It then automatically stamps the message with the time and date and appends it to a file of messages. Upon return to the screen saver, the mailbag picture gains a small face in the corner for each message that has been left.

When you return to your desk, you simply press {Ctrl-End}. This ends the screen saver display and returns you to your document. A prompt at the bottom of the screen tells you whether any messages were left and gives you the choice whether to look at them. If you choose to look at the messages, the macro calls up WordPerfect's Look feature in List Files, where it terminates. From here you can delete the file, print it, or leave it alone and return to your document.

WhileOut is not designed for use in environments where computer security is an issue. It trusts the passerby not to do any deliberate damage to your work. It is primarily intended for low-pressure and informal situations, home use, etc.

Shareware Rules

WhileOut is shareware, not freeware. If you find it useful, a $10 fee would be appropriate (send it to me at the address given on the title page of this file). You may copy WhileOut to give to others if you include all seven original files unaltered (four macros, primary and secondary merge files for display, and this documentation file) and if you don't charge for more than the reasonable costs of copying. Recipients should also send me the $10 shareware fee (per user) if they use it much.

Since shareware is distributed user-to-user by repeated copying, I can't promise that the files you receive are uncorrupted: someone may not have followed the above rules.

WhileOut is a homemade product of amateur programming. I have tried to make it useful but it is not guaranteed to succeed at anything. Especially, I have not tested WhileOut long enough to be sure that it actually saves my screen from burn-in, let alone yours. Use it at your own risk. There are more professional (and more expensive) screen savers on the market if you want to use them. Also, of course, I can't predict what passersby at your desk might do to your documents, deliberately or by accident.

Files and Setup

Seven files are provided with WhileOut:

WHILEOUT.WPM - the macro that starts the program. You invoke it when you leave your desk.

WHIL&OUT.WPM - a second macro that continues the program. It is done as a separate file (automatically called by the first) in order to allow the first file to fit into the Macro Editor for automatic customizing.

WHIL^OUT.WPM. - another macro, also called by the first, that automatically edits WHILEOUT.WPM and the display file to customize the program.

MOUSERAN.WPM - a macro for mouse users, occasionally needed because of a technical difficulty that can be caused by a passerby trying to use the mouse when WhileOut is running.

WHILEOUT.MRG - a primary merge file that is used to generate the file of pictures and captions.

WHILEOUT.DAT - a secondary merge file that provides information needed to complete the display file in a form suitable to your computer.

WHILEOUT.WP5 - this file. If you've read this far you've probably figured out that it's a WordPerfect 5.1 document, not an ASCII text file. You need to read it but the program doesn't actually use it.

Besides the files provided, WhileOut needs to be able to find WORKBOOK.PRS, which came with WordPerfect, in the directory where you keep your WordPerfect printer files. If you can't find WORKBOOK.PRS, you can get it by running the WordPerfect installation program again. Depending on your printer, you may be able to get along without WORKBOOK.PRS, but WhileOut will probably run slower without it.

When you run the WhileOut installation program, it creates a file which it initially calls WHILEOUT.DSP (you can rename it). This is the file that will actually be displayed when the screen saver runs. Once it is created, WHILEOUT.MRG and WHILEOUT.DAT are no longer needed unless you later change your hardware setup.

Messages left by passersby are collected in a file called MESSAGES.WO (unless you specify a different name).

Use the following steps to install and run WhileOut on your computer:

1. Copy the seven files to their proper places. WHILEOUT.WP5 can go wherever WordPerfect can get at it. It can be read on-screen or printed. The four macros must go in your macro directory. If you don't know where this is, press {Setup} (Ctrl-F1) and then 6 for Location of Files. Line 2 of the resulting screen will show where you are keeping your keyboard and macro files. If nothing is shown, put the macros in your main WordPerfect directory. The two merge files can go anywhere (together); you will have to specify what directory they're in when you run the installation program.

2. Start the WhileOut main macro. (Press {Alt-F10} and enter WHILEOUT.) At the opening menu, type * to bring up the setup and customization menu. Run the first three items on this menu, in numerical order, to create the display file and configure WhileOut for your system. The program will guide you through the necessary steps, asking for the information it needs to set up WhileOut correctly. If you don't know some of the required information, you can exit the setup program to look it up.

3. You can now run WhileOut by invoking the WHILEOUT.WPM macro. If you renamed the macro during the setup procedure, you can invoke it by the new name, which can be an Alt-key or any other name that fits in with your other macros.

4. After running WhileOut a few times you will probably wish to customize the message choices on the initial menu. Type * at the initial menu to call up the setup menu again, and choose item 4. This will allow you to specify new messages for as many of the eight initial choices as you want. When you next start WhileOut, the initial menu will show your new message options.

Running WhileOut

If you leave your desk while you are using WordPerfect, start the WhileOut macro before you go. You will immediately be given a choice of messages which WhileOut can use to tell where you've gone. Select the message you want by typing a number between 1 and 8, or type 9 to fill in a special message for the occasion (it can be up to 36 characters long, not counting the final {Enter}, but it can't include any hard returns or hard page breaks). You can also type 0 at this point to cancel the macro.

If you try to enter a message that is more than 36 characters long, WhileOut will reject it and wait for another. If you press {Enter} without typing a message, WhileOut will return to its original menu. If you really want a blank message, you can type a space and then press {Enter}; but menu item 8 is supposed to serve as a non-message.

When you have chosen your message, you will be asked whether you will be "back soon"; answer Y or N. This determines whether the words "back soon" will be displayed along with the time while the screen saver is running. The default choice is No (which you can get by pressing {Enter} or anything except Y or y) because I think it's inconsiderate to trick people into waiting around for you when you're out for a long time.

If you can stick around for half a minute or so (depending on the speed of your computer) you'll see the sequence of 6 pictures and captions, the first of which is your chosen message.

There are two conditions under which WhileOut will refuse to run. If you have documents in both document screens, WhileOut will have no place to put the graphics display file. The screen you are not working in must be blank when you invoke WhileOut. (Don't switch to the blank screen first. WhileOut assumes you are working in the screen you are using when you start the macro.)

The other time WhileOut will not run is when you are printing a document. I could have written the macro to run while you are printing, but it would have interrupted your print job until you stopped the macro. This is because WhileOut uses the View Document screen, thus monopolizing WordPerfect's printing capability.

While you are out, any passerby who knows how to type (or hunt and peck) can leave a message by following the on-screen instructions. He/she must simply press {F1} (as instructed by one of the picture captions) and wait for a document screen with a memo form to appear. A prominently-displayed prompt will instruct to "Type your name & press Enter." When the passerby does this, another prompt will appear saying "Now type your message. Press F7 when done." After this WhileOut will return to the screen saver display, with a little face added to the mailbag screen to indicate that a message was left.

When you return, press {Ctrl-End} to end the screen saver display. WhileOut will return to your document, with a prompt at the bottom of the screen telling you how many messages were left. If you answer "Y" or "y" to the question "Read them?", WhileOut will move to the Look screen in WordPerfect's List Files feature, showing you a file of all accumulated messages. The macro ends here. After paging up or down through the messages, you can press {Enter} or {Exit} or {Cancel} to get out of the file, and then print it or delete it from the List Files screen if you want to before using {Exit} or {Cancel} to return to your document.

Hardware Issues

Mouse: Mouse users may find that a slight disturbance of the mouse while the macro is running seems to disable the use of the {Ctrl-End} key to end the macro. It does not actually disable the {Ctrl-End} key but delays it for a length of time that depends on how far the mouse was moved. (It also generally leaves a graphic mouse arrow somewhere on the screen as a sign that this has happened.) Instead of waiting through a delay of unknown length, try this: press {Cancel} as if to leave yourself a message, wait for the message-taker screen to appear, then press {Ctrl-Break} to stop WhileOut, and run the MOUSERAN.WPM macro (which you may have renamed during the setup process). This should clean up the remains of the WhileOut program, get you back to your document, and indicate whether any messages were left. To avoid this problem, stash your mouse out of the way before you invoke WhileOut. As a further precaution, if you tell the installation program (in step 1) that you have a mouse, it provides a mouse picture with the message "Please don't disturb the mouse" as one of the WhileOut screen saver images.

Monitor: How much of the page appears in WordPerfect's View Document screen depends on what graphics monitor you are using. I have tried to get WhileOut's installation program to create a graphics document that will display correctly on different monitors. But since this is a product of amateur home programming, I have not been able to test it on all popular types of monitors. If you find that some of the pictures or captions fall off the edge of the screen, you may wish to write me about it to see if I can produce a version that will work for you. (But please note that the first image to be displayed when WhileOut starts up always takes a few seconds to adjust to its proper position; this is a normal feature of WhileOut's operation.)

If you write, please be sure to include a sketch, screen printout, or exact description of just how much of which picture is failing to appear (or is appearing on the edge of another picture). Also--and this is critical--you must include an exact transcription of the words and numbers that appear to the right of "2 - Graphics Screen Type" when you press {Setup} (Shift-F1) and choose "2 - Display." (It even matters whether the "x" that may appear between two numbers is capital or lower-case!)

Please contact me by mail only, not by telephone, and please be patient if I can't get back to you quickly. Programming is only a sideline for me. Also, I can't afford to send a disk with a corrected version unless you pay the shareware fee. (Indicate whether you want a 5¼" or 3½" floppy disk.)

If I get enough feedback about different types of monitors, I may eventually circulate a new version that provides for them.

Disk Drives: WhileOut is written with hard-disk users in mind. You can probably get it to work on a floppy-drive system if you can arrange to have all the WhileOut files together, and always on the same drive.

Notes for Advanced Users

1. Retrieving WhileOut into a keyboard layout. If you wish to start WhileOut with a single keystroke, the easiest way to do it is to rename WHILEOUT.WPM something like ALTW.WPM. (Use WhileOut's own self-customizing feature to do this.) However, you may want to assign it to some other keystroke such as a CTRL-key combination or a function key. Do not use the "Retrieve" option in WordPerfect's Edit Keyboard feature, as this will prevent WhileOut from customizing itself. Instead, create a macro that reads "{Macro}WhileOut{Enter}" or "{CHAIN}WhileOut~" and retrieve this into a keyboard layout. Then when you later use WhileOut to customize itself, your keyboard macro will call the updated version of WhileOut. (If you rename the main WhileOut macro, of course, you will have to edit the keyboard macro to agree with the new name.)

2. Editing the WhileOut display document file. If you want to change the six pictures and captions you are welcome to try, but I suggest you keep a backup file because it is easy to get a new version that's not properly coordinated with the macro. The original WhileOut graphics all come with WordPerfect 5.1; you can replace them with any other .WPG graphic files. Be sure to retrieve the graphics into the document itself; don't use the "Graphic on Disk" option, because this will force the screen saver to reread each graphic from disk every time it rotates to the next picture.

Changing the text of the captions is riskier. The macro expects to find certain things in certain places, and if they are missing the macro will abort. For instance, the macro must be able to find the sequence "news:[HRt][HRt]" somewhere in order to insert the message chosen from the opening menu. Also, you must have the word "[TIME]" (in brackets and capital letters) somewhere so the macro can replace it with the current time when you start the macro. (Note that the "time now" feature works by using a date code--not a date text--in the document.) Finally, there must be an Endnote Option code at the spot where you want the little face (indicating a message) to appear; without this code, WhileOut won't be able to take messages. (However, you can change the contents of the Endnote Option code if you want to use some other character, such as an asterisk, to indicate messages.)

Also, the part of WhileOut's self-customizing feature that allows you to use {Esc} or {F3} instead of {F1} as a {Cancel} key expects to find the corresponding text somewhere in the document. (It looks for "Press "--with the space--and if you don't have a mouse it also looks for "key".)

Trickiest of all is to change the spacing of text and graphics on the page. This can easily put things where the macro doesn't expect them to be. But if you want to try--perhaps to make your copy of WhileOut fit a monitor I haven't ade quately provided for--then notice that the horizontal spacing is done with Column codes at the top of the document, and the vertical spacing is done with Advance codes within each column.

3. Editing the WhileOut macros. Most normal editing needs can be accomplished with WhileOut's own self-customizing feature. If you insist on editing WHILEOUT.WPM manually in the WordPerfect Macro Editor, notice that most of the things that might need changing are handled in a group of "{ASSIGN}variable~expression~" statements at the beginning of the macro. Just change the values assigned to the variables and leave everything else alone. It is critical that you keep these aligned just as they are--don't go deleting or inserting any comments or blank lines--in order for the self-customizing feature to continue to work properly.

If you change anything else in WHILEOUT.WPM, or if you try to edit WHIL&OUT.WPM, WHIL^OUT.WPM, or MOUSERAN.WPM, you had better be a real expert at WordPerfect macro programming. Nearly everything in these macros is related to something somewhere else, often in one of the other macros or in the display file. I have included comments in the macro files to help you see what is going on, but they provide only a rough outline. Edit the macros at your own risk, and expect to do a lot of debugging.

4. For Windows users. Don't try to convert WhileOut into a WordPerfect-for-Windows macro. Even if you could convert it successfully (which would be difficult), it wouldn't work as a screen saver because the window frame wouldn't change along with the graphics.

For the same reason, if you are running the DOS version of WordPerfect under Windows in 386 Enhanced Mode, display it full-screen (not just in a maximized window) when you run WhileOut.