{TDISPLAY 1.1 USER'S MANUAL }Self-Displaying Text Files from Trinity Communications~ +PRINTING:~ This executable text file displays itself when you type its name at the DOS prompt. It can be printed at any time while viewing it by invoking the Alt-P print key. This file was created with Trinity Communications' TDISPLAY shareware (see the utility list, below). +REGISTRATION:~ TDisplay is distributed as shareware. This means that you may experiment with TDisplay for up to 30 days to determine whether it suits your needs. If you decide to continue to use TDisplay, you must register the software and pay a licensing fee of $39.00. +BENEFITS OF REGISTRATION:~ In return for registering this program, you will receive the following benefits: }*~ A disk with the latest version of the program }*~ A code to disable the automatic registration reminder screen }*~ Unlimited free technical support }*~ A printed manual }*~ Full support for bug fixes, including free, prompt maintenance releases }*~ Special discounts on other software products and upgrades }*~ Money-back guarantee: If you experience any problem after registering that cannot be resolved by technical support, you may return this product for a full refund. Copy the file REGISTER.TXT to your printer to print a registration form. Fill it out and mail the form to Trinity Communications, P.O. Box 3610, Manassas, VA 22110. You may pay by check, money order or credit card. If you wish you may register over the phone by calling 703-791-2576 or by faxing the form to 703-791-4250. We appreciate your interest in Trinity Communications' software, and we thank you for taking the time to register each product that you continue to use. For further information about licensing and distribution, please read the shareware statement below. +HOW TO CONTACT TRINITY COMMUNICATIONS:~ Jeffrey A. Mirus, President P. O. Box 3610 Manassas, VA 22110 13550 Frost Drive Nokesville, VA 22123 Sales and Technical Support: 703-791-2576 FAX: 703-791-4250 CompuServe: 72037,1345 (Jeff Mirus) +TECHNICAL SUPPORT~ is available by phone on weekdays between 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. EST, by U. S. Mail, by fax, or through CompuServe mail. All Trinity software is written by Jeffrey A. Mirus. (C) Copyright Trinity Communications 1991. +SHAREWARE LICENSE AND DISTRIBUTION AGREEMENT:~ Users of TDisplay must accept this disclaimer of warranty: "TDisplay is supplied as is. The author disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability and of fitness for any purpose. The author assumes no liability for damages, direct or consequential, which may result from the use of TDisplay." TDisplay is a "shareware program" and is provided at no charge to the user for full evaluation. Shareware is developed by professional programmers and protected by copyright. The essence of this "user-supported" software distribution system is that it provides personal computer users with quality software without high prices, while also providing incentive for programmers to continue to develop new products. To continue using TDisplay beyond the trial period, you must register and pay the registration fee. The $39.00 fee will license one copy for use on any one computer at any one time. Commercial users of TDisplay must register and pay for their copies of TDisplay within 30 days of first use or their license is withdrawn. Site-License arrangements may be made by contacting Trinity Communications. You are permitted and encouraged to freely distribute TDisplay to others, provided that you distribute it in unaltered form, with all files and messages intact. Anyone distributing TDisplay for any kind of remuneration must first contact Trinity Communications for authorization. This authorization will be automatically granted to distributors recognized by the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP) as adhering to its guidelines for shareware distributors, and such distributors may begin offering TDisplay immediately. (However Trinity Communications must still be advised so that the distributor can be kept up-to-date with the latest version of TDisplay.) {THE VENTURA CONTROL! UTILITY SERIES:~ In addition to TDisplay, Trinity Communications publishes the Ventura Control! utility series. These are DOS-based utilities which work with both the GEM and Windows versions of Ventura Publisher. The utilities are: }* DECODER!,~ which strips paragraph tags and bracket codes from text files. $39. }* FILER!,~ which provides a powerful, visual file management system for Ventura chapters and publications. $79. }* INDEX!,~ which is a powerful, database driven utility which automatically builds and inserts index bracket codes into up to 100 files at a time. $79. }* FIXINDEX!,~ which enables you to use Ventura's index .GEN files without worrying about the 8000 character limit, and also format them effortlessly. Available only as bonus utility for those who register Index!. }* SWAP!,~ which enables you to jump from Ventura GEM to DOS, run any other program, and return to Ventura (EGA or VGA, Microsoft compatible mouse, and non-network environment are required). (Note: Swap! will not work with most Super VGA cards even if Ventura is run in the standard VGA mode.) $49. }* TAG!,~ which allows high-speed interactive and automatic pre-tagging of WordPerfect, Word, and ASCII files so that they load into Ventura pre-formatted. $59. {TDISPLAY USER'S MANUAL TABLE OF CONTENTS~ +I. Overview +II. Installation +III. Quick Start~ III-1. To Create a Self-Displaying Text File III-2. To Add Password Protection to a Self-Displaying Text File III-3. To Set TDisplay Defaults III-4. To Control Text Color in a Self-Displaying Text File III-5. To Display a Self-Displaying Text File III-6. To Scroll through a Self-Displaying Text File III-7. To Print a Self-Displaying Text File III-8. To Exit a Self-Displaying Text File +IV. Reference~ IV-1. ASCII File Format Used by TDisplay IV-2. Pre-Set Defaults IV-3. Assigning Text Color Code Characters IV-4. Display Features of TDISPDEF.EXE IV-5. File Structure of a Self-Displaying Text File This is a self-displaying version of the printed manual, created with TDISPLAY. Where it differs from the printed manual, it is more up-to-date. The defaults used for this file were: background color = light gray; no border; user key line displayed at bottom in light gray on blue; 1 column margin left and right; no margin top and bottom; main color = blue (associated with the tilde); second color = red (associated with the carat); third color = black (associated with the left curly brace); fourth color = yellow (associated with the right curly brace). {I. OVERVIEW~ TDISPLAY is used to create text files which can display themselves when a user types the filename. TDISPLAY supports the following features: }*~ ASCII text file format }*~ Unlimited file size }*~ File scrolling and word wrap }*~ Four user-selected text colors for each file }*~ Window border and margin control }*~ User selected background color }*~ User key prompt line }*~ Password protection }*~ Hotkey to print the file TDISPLAY consists of five files: {TDISPLAY.EXE:~ Executable file to create self-displaying text. {TDISPLAY.COD:~ The program which TDISPLAY attaches to a text file {TDISPDEF.EXE:~ The executable file used to set TDISPLAY defaults {TDSPLAY.DEF:~ Default information which TDISPLAY attaches to text {TDISPMAN.EXE:~ Self-displaying version of the manual (this file) {II. INSTALLATION~ To install TDISPLAY, simply copy all of the files on the program diskette to the directory of your choice. {III. QUICK START~ +III-1. TO CREATE A SELF-DISPLAYING TEXT FILE:~ TDISPLAY works only with pure ASCII text files. To create a self-displaying text file, simply type TDISPLAY FILENAME.EXT [ENTER] at the prompt, where FILENAME.EXT is the name of the text file (including path if necessary). +III-2. TO ADD PASSWORD PROTECTION TO A SELF-DISPLAYING TEXT FILE:~ Add the password you desire on the command line when you create the file. The form of the command is TDISPLAY FILENAME.EXT PASSWORD [ENTER]. The password may be up to 20 characters long, and will be case sensitive. +III-3. TO SET TDISPLAY DEFAULTS: ~It is not necessary to set defaults for TDISPLAY, as it will use built-in defaults if it cannot find a TDISPLAY.DEF file. But you can control the appearance of the display by running the TDISPDEF.EXE program to create your own special TDISPLAY.DEF file. Simply type TDISPDEF [ENTER] at the prompt, and make the choices as prompted on screen. You can create as many TDISPLAY.DEF files as you wish, renaming them as necessary to store different sets of defaults for different projects. +III-4. TO CONTROL TEXT COLOR IN A SELF-DISPLAYING TEXT FILE:~ When you set the defaults using TDISPDEF, you will have the opportunity to select a main text color and three alternate colors for displaying text in your file. For each color, you will be asked to choose a character which, when encountered in the text file, will be the code that TDISPLAY uses to change to the corresponding text color. For this to work properly, you must choose keyboard characters that do not occur in the text file. To enable your text file display to change colors, you simply insert the appropriate character immediately before the text you wish to display in a different color. Use the main color's code character to return to the main color, immediately following the special text (or switch to another color, as desired). If you decide to use an alternate color for more than one paragraph (in succession), repeat the color code at the beginning of each new paragraph. Consult the Reference section. +III-5. TO DISPLAY A SELF-DISPLAYING TEXT FILE:~ TDISPLAY converts a text file into a file of the same name with the extension .EXE. To display the text, type the file name (without extension) at the DOS prompt: FILENAME [ENTER]. If the file has been password protected, you must type the file name followed by the password: FILENAME PASSWORD [ENTER]. Remember that passwords are case sensitive. +III-6. TO SCROLL THROUGH A SELF-DISPLAYING TEXT FILE: ~The keys the user can use to scroll through the file are listed either at the top or bottom of the screen (as determined by the defaults). The scrolling keys are: {CursorUp~ scrolls up one line {CursorDown~ scrolls down one line {PgUp~ scrolls up one screen {PgDn~ scrolls down one screen {Home~ jumps to the beginning of the file {End~ jumps to the end of the file {Ctrl-PgUp~ works like the Home key, but is not listed on screem {Ctrl-PgDn~ works like the End key, but is not listed on screen Also listed on the key line are the print hot-key ({ALT-P~) and the exit key ({ESC~). +III-7. TO PRINT A SELF-DISPLAYING TEXT FILE:~ At any time while you are viewing the file, you can print it by using the print hot-key, ALT-P. If you have a text editor that can insert the formfeed character (e.g., byte 12 or ^L), you can use the formfeed character in your text files to force page breaks when printing. The formfeed character will not display on screen. Please note that the print function is very simple, and does not check the condition of your printer. If your printer is off-line or out of paper, a run-time error will occur. +III-8. TO EXIT A SELF-DISPLAYING TEXT FILE:~ Use ESC to exit. {IV. REFERENCE~ Some TDISPLAY features require additional information to fully explain how they work. This information is provided below: +IV-1. ASCII FILE FORMAT USED BY TDISPLAY:~ TDISPLAY can use any pure ASCII text file which uses the standard carriage-return / line-feed combination to mark the ends of paragraphs (byte 13 followed by byte 10). The optimum format would be a file which uses only the printing characters from the keyboard for text, and uses carriage returns (13,10) only at the ends of paragraphs rather than at the end of each line. If each line is ended by a carriage return, the file will display with each line as a separate paragraph. If you wish to have paragraphs displayed with space between them, use two carriage returns (13,10,13,10) or more at the end of each paragraph. The easiest way to control horizontal positioning is with the space bar. When a tab is the first character of a paragraph, it is converted to three spaces. Other tabs display as circles. ASCII files can be created in any ASCII editor and in all major word processors (by saving the file in ASCII, text, or DOS text form). For example, in WordPerfect, save the file as DOS Text (without line breaks). In Microsoft Word, save the file as Text Only (without line breaks). +IV-2. PRE-SET DEFAULTS:~ If you do not set the defaults with TDISPDEF, TDISPLAY warns you when you attempt to create a file, and asks if you wish to quit or use the built-in defaults. The built-in defaults create a full-screen borderless display with the user key line across the bottom. Text is displayed in light gray on blue, with a one column left and right margin. The key line is displayed in blue on light gray. No additional colors are used. +IV-3. ASSIGNING TEXT COLOR CODE CHARACTERS:~ When you run TDISPDEF, you must select four colors for use in displaying text in your text file. You must associate a special character (from the keyboard) with each color to be used as the code in the ASCII text file which will turn that color on. Text is automatically displayed in the main (first) color until a color character code is encountered. Characters assigned as codes to activate text display colors do not display themselves in the text file; rather, they simply cause the following text to be displayed in the color with which the character code is associated. For this to work properly, character codes must be assigned which do not otherwise appear in the file (except as codes you insert in the file to signal color changes). Sometimes you will be unable to spare four keyboard characters for coding purposes. In such situations, you must still select four colors in TDISPDEF, but you can inactivate some colors by striking any function key (F1 - F12) when prompted for the associated character code. This assigns a nul character (byte 0) to that color. A zero byte will never be encountered in an ASCII file, so any colors so assigned are simply unused. For each screen of text it displays, TDISPLAY reads backwards to the beginning of the preceding paragraph to determine the color in which the first characters on that screen are to be displayed. Therefore, if you wish to use an alternate color (anything but the main or first color) for text running continuously across paragraph boundaries, be sure to insert that color's character code at the beginning of each new paragraph. +IV-4. DISPLAY FEATURES OF TDISPDEF:~ When you set defaults with TDISPDEF, a plain and poorly designed screen is gradually transformed according to each choice you make, so that you can see whether your choices produce the result you desire. After choosing all defaults, TDISPDEF will ask you if you are satisfied. If not, the program will loop through all choices again. For convenience, after the screen border and margins are set, TDISPDEF's text prompts become very narrow, so that they will fit within the smallest window which the program allows. With larger windows, this makes the display appear off balance to the left, but note that in the first screen after setting margins, a dotted line at the top and bottom of the window show the actual text display area that will be used by TDISPLAY when it word wraps your text files. +IV-5. FILE STRUCTURE OF A SELF-DISPLAYING TEXT FILE:~ TDISPLAY creates self-displaying text by appending a text file to 13,400 bytes of program code which enables the file to display and print itself. This means that each self-displaying text file is 13,400 bytes larger than the original on which it is based. The structure of the file is as follows: {1.~ 13,730 bytes of executable code {2.~ 21 bytes of default information {3.~ 21 bytes for the password string {4.~ The original ASCII text