WordGrab 1.4 Copies Words From DOS Screen to Command Line Copyright (c) 1995-1996 by David M. Wincelberg Table of Contents I. Introduction ............................................ 1 II. How to Use .............................................. 2 III. Tips for Better Use ..................................... 4 IV. Free Upgrade Policy ..................................... 5 Appendices: A. Command Line Switches ................................... 5 B. Initialization File (WRDGRB.INI) ........................ 7 C. Registration-Reminder Screen ............................ 8 D. Troubleshooting ......................................... 9 E. Other FileJockey Software Products ..................... 10 F. License Agreement ...................................... 10 I. Introduction WordGrab is a 23K memory-resident program for quickly copying text from the DOS screen to the command line using a mouse. After displaying a directory list, you can paste a filename to the command line in the form required by DOS using a double click followed by a single click (for confirmation). WordGrab also works in a full-screen DOS session under Windows. This program is safe to run on a Pentium processor since it does not perform any floating-point divisions of large numbers. In addition, FileJockey Software does not release products with known bugs. If you decide to keep this program, paying the $10 license and registration fee will result in your receiving: 1) a code to bypass the registration-reminder screen, 2) technical support, 3) notices of upgrades and bug fixes, and 4) eligibility for a free upgrade. In addition, you will be promoting continuing product development and using this program legally. Otherwise, you may not keep the individual files on your PC. But, you may keep the .ZIP file. A registration form containing my postal address is provided for you in the file WRDGRB.REG. On CompuServe, you may GO SWREG (#5571) to register on-line. Please send comments, suggestions and problem reports to me at 71573,1023 by CompuServe e-mail, at 71573.1023@compuserve.com by Internet e-mail, or at my postal address, even if you are not currently a customer. By the third quarter of 1996, my e-mail address should also be FileJockey@compuserve.com. WordGrab requires an installed mouse, DOS 3.3 or later, and a hard disk with drive letter C. (It does not have to be installed on this disk.) II. How to Use II.A. Installing to Memory To install WordGrab, enter WRDGRB at the DOS prompt. You may wish to install this program from your AUTOEXEC.BAT start-up file. Do not install this program when you are using the go-to-DOS feature of an application program unless you remove WordGrab from memory before returning to that program. See Appendix A for program options. II.B. Unloading from Memory To remove WordGrab from memory, enter WRDGRB /U at the DOS prompt. Then, WordGrab sends an unload/deactivate order to its in-memory copy, prints the first part of the status message: WRDGRB is ... and returns to the DOS prompt. Within one second, the program will finish the status message with either "unloaded" or "trying". "trying" will be changed to either "unloaded" or "deactivated" within another 1.5 seconds, depending on whether or not any programs loaded after WordGrab are still in memory. If the "deactivated" message is printed and you still want to unload WordGrab, remove any subsequently loaded programs and issue the unload command again. To reactivate the program, enter WRDGRB again. II.C. At the DOS Screen Page 2 When you see a filename, word or other text that you want to copy to the command line, press --W to activate WordGrab and the mouse cursor. Use the mouse cursor as you normally would to highlight text. For example, position the cursor at the start of a word, press and hold down the left button, and drag the cursor to the right one space past the word. As you do so, the word will be highlighted. Release the mouse button. At this point, you may type text to go before the highlighted word. (You may also type text after activating WordGrab but before highlighting text.) Then, click the left mouse button to copy the selected text to the command line or the right button to cancel the selection. In either case, the highlighted text will be restored to how it was if you don't change its position by pressing , for example. If you double left or right click, the selection will be handled as above but the mouse cursor will re-appear to wait for another selection. See the table below. Left Button | Right Button ------------------------------------------------- Single click | send text | cancel | ---------------------------------------------------------------- Double click | send text & | cancel & | | wait for more text | wait for more text | ------------------------------------------------- You can also highlight an entire word at once by double left-clicking on it. (A word is defined to be a sequence of valid DOS filename characters plus dot (.), question mark (?) and star (*). See your DOS manual for a complete list.) The mouse cursor jumps to one space past the word. Then you can deselect characters from the end of the word by moving the mouse cursor back toward the beginning of the word while continuing to hold down the left mouse button. Once you have double clicked on a word, you can highlight text to the right by continuing to hold down the left mouse button and dragging the mouse to the right. If you highlight a filename and its extension that is part of a directory listing, WordGrab will send the name to the command line in the form FILENAME.EXT. In other words, the intermediate space(s) will be changed to a single period. One way to highlight a filename is to double-click on its basename -- the part before the dot and extension. If you also highlight the space to the right of the file extension, that space will be copied to the command line. This is useful for placing two or more filenames on the command line. Page 3 WordGrab works in the 25 x 80, 43 x 80 and 50 x 80 text- screen modes. II.D. In a Windows 3.1 or Windows 95 DOS-Session WordGrab works in a full-screen Windows 3.1 or Windows 95 DOS- session. However, you may need to add the line MouseinDOSBox=1 to the [NonWindowsApp] section of Windows's SYSTEM.INI file. If you install WordGrab after starting Windows, be sure to remove it before closing the DOS window. II.E. Copying to an Application Program Although WordGrab can be used with some application programs, it is not designed for this purpose. When doing so, be careful not to press a mouse button until you are ready to send the highlighted text to the program. In addition, you may need to press a shift key after sending text in order for the program to realize that there is keyboard input to read. Problems that may occur include your computer freezing if you later call WordGrab from DOS and losing the mouse cursor. To restore the cursor, use the application-program's go-to-DOS feature and return (by entering EXIT). The program should then redraw the screen and restore the mouse cursor. III. Tips for Better Use A WordGrab Tip: After single left-clicking to send text to the command line, there is a 1/2 second delay (by default) to see if you are planning to double-click. To stop this delay, move your mouse after you click the button. Maximizing-Available-Memory Tips: In your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, put TSR loading commands before all SET and PATH commands. This requires that you place the full path before any TSR names. While you are editing this file, make sure that your path statement contains drive letters for every entry. This tip is important since many TSRs (other than WRDGRB) do not release a region of memory called Environment. Enter Page 4 "MEM/M program" to see if "program" releases its environment. (For DOS 4 and 5, use "MEM/PROGRAM.") [PC/Computing, Nov. 1994, pp. 232-234] Some TSRs must be loaded after other ones. For example, you must install your mouse before you install WRDGRB. If not, WRDGRB will print an error message and not install itself. Except in circumstances such as this, arrange TSRs in decreasing order of maximum memory needs. (Your memory manager may have an expert mode which displays this information.) An example given in the following reference is to load your mouse driver first in AUTOEXEC.BAT since it uses much more memory to initialize than it leaves when the mouse driver is installed. [PC/Computing, Aug. 1994, tip #13, p. 109] For even more available memory, you may want to try Multimedia Cloaking by Helix Software ($39.95, (800) 451-0551). It contains a CD-ROM driver, a disk cache and a mouse driver in 8K of conventional memory and no upper memory. [PC/Computing, Sept. 1994, p. 98] You may also want to read Jeff Prosise's book "PC Magazine Guide to DOS 5 Memory Management" (Ziff-Davis Press, 1992) or article "Maximizing Memory Under DOS 6.0" (PC Magazine, Aug. 1993). IV. Free Upgrade Policy FileJockey Software will not charge an upgrade fee to registered users who provide a non-trivial suggestion or bug report that is implemented or fixed. Excluded from this policy are suggestions to make the program smaller, faster or cheaper. All policy decisions of FileJockey Software are final. The motivation for this policy is noticing that some software would be *just right* if only the author(s) made a few minor changes or bug fixes. Wouldn't be nice if we could get slightly improved or fixed software without paying extra? Now you can if you license FileJockey Software products. Appendices A. Command Line Switches Entering WRDGRB /? produces the following summary of command line switches or options: Page 5 WRDGRB [switches] /U Unload WordGrab from memory /L Allow including the last screen column /N Do not print pop-up instructions /D:sss Mouse double-click threshold (in 1/1000 seconds) /H:x Hotkey letter to use with - /R:nnnnn Recognition code: choose a 5-digit whole number < 32767 /I:initname Alternate initialization filename (with path) Follow /L or /N with '-' to override WRDGRB.INI setting(s) When you highlight text, the mouse cursor position is normally not part of the selected text. This prevents you from including characters in column 80 in the selected text. If you think that you might want to include these characters, use the /L switch. This causes WordGrab to include the following character whenever a column 79 character is highlighted. If you set this feature to be on in WRDGRB.INI, you may use /L- to turn it off when loading WordGrab. The default double click threshold is 1/2 a second. If within this time you click the same button twice, it will register as a double click. You can change the threshold to a positive time delay less than 32.7 seconds. For comparison, Windows 3.1's mouse dialog box allows thresholds between 0.1 and 0.9 seconds with a default of 0.452 seconds. Since another TSR might use the same hot key sequence, the /H switch allows you to change the letter that you press along with and to activate WordGrab. Note that PCs distinguish between the right and left shift buttons under certain circumstances. For more control over the hotkey sequence, see Appendix B. You will need to change WordGrab's or another TSR's recognition code if both use the same code and you wish to have both in memory at the same time. This code is a number WordGrab stores in memory to prevent installing two copies of itself. You will know that changing the code is necessary if either program incorrectly reports that it is already loaded. Then, if you decide to change WordGrab's code, select any positive five-digit whole number less than 32,767 and try installing WordGrab with this number using the /R option. If you changed the recognition code, you must tell WordGrab the new code when unloading the program. Once a recognition code works for you, place it on the RecognitionCode line of WRDGRB.INI. Page 6 If you decide to load WordGrab when a list of files is already on the screen, use the /N switch to reduce the number of lines the screen will scroll. In particular, WRDGRB/N does not print instructions for activating itself. This setting can be placed in WRDGRB.INI and overridden by /N-. WordGrab will display a two-part registration-reminder screen when initializing unless you place the bypass code in the initialization file. This code depends on another code, SiteCode, that appears on this screen. In addition, the first screen contains a button to write WRDGRB.REG with your computer's SiteCode on the appropriate line. For more information, see Appendix C. The switch /I allows running WordGrab off a CD-ROM. With it, the location of the initialization (.INI) file can be specified to be any writeable media, such as a hard disk. Note that WordGrab requires that your computer have a hard disk with drive letter C. B. Initialization File (WRDGRB.INI) As shipped, the initialization file looks like this: [Defaults] DoubleClick= LastColumn= HotToggle= HotLetter= RecognitionCode= NoInstructions= DblClkEntireName= [Registration] RegKey= Most of the items in the Defaults section correspond to command-line switches. DoubleClick is the mouse double-click threshold (in 1/1000 seconds). (If not specified, DoubleClick is 500 to correspond to half a second.) For LastColumn and NoInstructions, you can use a nonzero number, YES, Y, TRUE, T, or ON to select the feature. When loading WordGrab, you can turn off these features by using /L- or /N-, respectively. The purpose of LastColumn is to allow including column 80 and the benefit of NoInstructions is to reduce the number of lines that scroll off the screen when WordGrab is loaded. (If not specified, LastColumn and NoInstructions are off.) Page 7 Toggles consist of the , , , and keys. The default toggles for WordGrab's hotkey sequence are and . To specify other ones, place one or more of the letters C, A, L, and R on the HotToggle= line. To specify that no letter is to be used along with the toggle(s), put NONE on the HotLetter line. For example, using both shift keys without a letter is specified by the following settings: HotToggle=LR HotLetter=NONE (If not specified, HotToggle = CR and HotLetter = W.) You will need to change WordGrab's or another TSR's recognition code if both use the same code and you wish to have both in memory at the same time. This code is a number WordGrab stores in memory to prevent installing two copies of itself. You will know that changing the code is necessary if either program incorrectly reports that it is already loaded. Then, if you decide to change WordGrab's code, select any positive five-digit whole number less than 32,767 and try installing WordGrab with this number using the /R option. If you changed the recognition code, you must tell WordGrab the new code when unloading the program. Once a recognition code works for you, place it on the RecognitionCode line. The DblClkEntireName entry specifies whether or not to select an entire filename when its basename is double clicked in a directory listing. (Basename is the part of a filename before the optional dot and extension.) If the entire filename is selected, clicking on the left mouse button will place it on the command line in the DOS-usable form (FILENAME.EXT). (If not specified, DblClkEntireName is on.) In order to turn off the registration-reminder screen (see Appendix C), you need to place the correct code after the equal sign on the RegKey line. This code depends on information about your computer that is summarized in a SiteCode. The program will look for WRDGRB.INI in the same directory containing WRDGRB.EXE and WGINIT.EXE (unless you use the /I switch). If it doesn't find this file, it will give you the option of either editing the path and filename or not reading it. C. Registration-Reminder Screen To inspire you to register WordGrab, the program will display a two-part reminder screen before it finishes initializing itself. Page 8 Registered users can bypass this screen with the system-specific registration key (RegKey). The key for your computer depends on an eight-character code (SiteCode) that is printed on the first screen. SiteCodes are not affected by installing or deleting programs, creating or deleting files, or changing configuration files. One of the buttons on the first screen will produce a version of WRDGRB.REG that contains your SiteCode and then display the second screen. (The Continue button will skip writing this file.) On this second screen you signal your understanding of the shareware concept by typing the displayed word, such as AGREE. As part of the response to your payment and SiteCode, you will receive the appropriate RegKey by e-mail or postal mail, depending on whether or not you include an e-mail address. Place this key on the RegKey line of WRDGRB.INI. D. Troubleshooting WordGrab Cannot Initialize Itself: WordGrab calls WGINIT.EXE for initialization in order to reduce its permanent memory needs. WGINIT.EXE must be in the same directory as WRDGRB.EXE. You may need to extract WGINIT.EXE from WRDGRB.ZIP or copy it from where it is stored. ^W Appears When I Try to Activate WordGrab: If WordGrab is loaded, make sure you are pressing the key along with a key and the hotkey letter. If you forgot the hotkey letter or sequence, enter WRDGRB/N-. It will not load another copy of itself (unless you have changed its recognition code with the /R switch or RecognitionCode in WRDGRB.INI). Instead, it will re-activate the mouse and remind you of the hotkey sequence. If you are not certain if WordGrab is loaded, enter WRDGRB/N-. Or, you could use the DOS MEM command (DOS 4.0 or later) or a system-information utility to list your memory resident or TSR programs. WordGrab is Loaded But I Cannot Find the Mouse Cursor: Try moving the mouse around. Try entering WRDGRB/N-. If those approaches don't work, you may need to unload WordGrab and reload it. On rare occasions, it may be necessary to reboot your computer. Page 9 E. Other FileJockey Software Products Following is a brief list of other FileJockey Software products. All of the compressed files for these products have extension ZIP. In parentheses after the titles are the locations where the programs may be found on CompuServe and the registration/license fees. ANSort 1.1 -- Alphanumeric Filename Sorting (See SRDEMO in MSLANG, Library 3; source code: $25) C2DD 1.0 -- Change to Drive/Directory and Back (GO PCUTIL, Library 1, $0) FRMDSK 1.1 -- Enters Lines From Disk With Preview & Edit (GO PCCOM, Library 2, $5) LISTRS 2.0 -- Directory/Program List Makers With Action Options (GO PCUTIL, Library 5, $10) PROGCR 1.0 -- Prepares Programs for Copyrighting (GO PCPROG, Library 6, $10) YEARIN 1.0 -- Handles 2-Digit Year Input for Beyond 1999 (GO PCPROG, Library 8; source code: $10) F. License Agreement This is a legal agreement between you ("Licensee") and FileJockey Software ("Licensor"). Licensor owns all worldwide rights, title, copyright and other interests in and to the computer program identified as WRDGRB 1.4 ("Software"). By using the Software, you are agreeing to be bound by the following terms: 1. Licensor grants to Licensee the non-exclusive and non- assignable right to use the Software for a period of 30 days without paying a fee to Licensor. After 30 days, Licensee may continue this right by paying $10 to Licensor. 2. Licensee may distribute copies of the Software and related files to others provided Licensee informs the recipients that the Software is subject to a license agreement and that the fee you charge, if any, does not include the license fee. The attached VENDINFO data record is hereby incorporated by reference. Any distribution satisfying all the distribution requirements expressed in that data record is hereby authorized. 3. Licensor hereby alerts Licensee that the Software and accompanying documentation are provided "AS IS" without warranty Page 10 of any kind. Licensee assumes all risks involving use of the Software and its results and performance. 4. Licensee hereby acknowledges that Licensor bears no responsibility or liability which may arise or result from Licensee's use of the Software. Licensee hereby waives and releases Licensor from any and all claims for damages, losses and costs therefrom. In no event shall Licensor's liability for any damages ever exceed the price paid for license and registration, regardless of the form of the claim. 5. This license agreement shall be construed and enforced in accordance with the laws of the State of California. This agreement may not be modified except by written instrument signed by both parties. If any provisions of this agreement are found to be invalid or unenforceable by the operation of the law, then invalidity or unenforceability of such provision(s) shall not affect the validity or enforceability of the other provisions of this agreement. Any dispute arising from this agreement shall be submitted to California courts located in Los Angeles County, and Licensee hereby submits to the jurisdiction of such courts. All (registered) trademarks and (registered) service marks are properties of their respective companies. Page 11