HELP

 Help on Help

 Once in help (like you are now), the following commands
 are available :

 F1 - Help on Help (this screen)
 F2 - An ~index` (keywords) for items in the help file
 F3 - Goto the previous screen
 F5 - Zoom/Unzoom the help screen

 Enter - Get help on a highlighted keyword
 ESC   - Exits help

 Tab / Shft+Tab - Highlight the next/previous visible
                  keyword

 Arrow keys - Scroll the help screen contents left, right,
              up and down

 Page Up/Down - Move up and down a page at a time

 Home/End - Goto the beginning/end of the help info for
            the current item


 In the upper left corner of the help screen (in the
 border), you may see a number and possibly one of three
 arrow characters.

  The number is the left column, of the help info, you
  are at. If you are at column one, it will not be
  displayed.

  The arrow characters indicate if there is more info
  either above or below (or both) your position.


 A couple of notes on the help file.

 1. heXEdit expects the help file (XE.HLP) to be in the
    directory that XE.EXE is in. If it is not, you will
    get an error message when you invoke help.

 2. If you modify the help file, make sure your keywords
    are capitalized and start in column one. It will
    probably be easier to just look at the help file that
    came with heXEdit to see how it's done.

 3. There is a limit of 75 lines of information per
    keyword.

 4. Keyword information begins with it's keyword and
    ends with a slash (#47).

 5. To create a keyword in a help screen, precede the
    keyword with a tilde (#126) and end it with a
    back-quote (#96).

 6. In case you might be wondering, most of this help file
    was taken straight from the .DOC file.

/
INDEX

  Index for heXEdit

 ~Help` on Help             ~Edit`ing
 ~About`                    ~Goto` offset
 ~View`ing                  ~Load` a new file
 ~ASCII` chart              ~Mark`er stack
 ~Base` conversion          ~Retrieve` position
 ~Clear` marker stack       ~Search`
 ~Colors`                   Search ~again`
 ~Configuration` file

/
ABOUT

 heXEdit v3.0  ^^  Rob Stuntz

 If you have any questions or comments I can be
 reached at one of these spots :

 1. GEnie
    address : R.STUNTZ

 2. The Chicago Megaphile BBS  (running Spitfire software)
    312-283-4035 directly or via Circuit Net mail
    address : Rob Stuntz

 3. and of course the good ole' U.S. Postal Service at

    Rob Stuntz
    1747 Crystal Lane   #610
    Mt. Prospect, IL.  60056

/
VIEW

 Viewing Commands

 F1    - ~Help`
 A     - Show ~ASCII` chart
 B     - ~Base` conversion
 C     - Set ~Colors` (color adapters)
 D/H/O - Display offset #'s as Dec/Hex/Oct
 E     - ~Edit` the file
 G     - ~Goto` offset
 L     - ~Load` a new file
 M     - Push position on ~mark`er stack
 N     - Search ~again`
 R     - ~Retrieve` position from marker stack
 S     - ~Search` the file
 Z     - ~Clear` all entries from marker stack

 /       - Scroll up/down 1 line
 PgUp/PgDn - Scroll up/down 1 page
 Home/End  - Go to beg/end of file
 ESC/Alt-X - Quit heXEdit

/
ASCII

   ASCII Chart

 ASCII chart commands

 Left arrow key  - go back 16 characters
 Right arrow key - go forward 16 characters
 PageUp          - go back 128 characters
 PageDown        - go forward 128 characters
 D               - display numbers in decimal
 H               - display numbers in hexadecimal
 ESC or Enter    - exits ASCII chart

/
BASE

   Base Convert

 Convert a number from either decimal, hexadecimal or
 binary to the other two.

 Base convert commands

 Up/Down arrow keys - select the base of the input number
 Enter              - convert the number
 ESC                - exit the base convert routine

 Using the arrow keys, move the highlight bar to the
 base of the input number and then either 1) hit Enter
 and enter the number or 2) just start typing the
 number. After the number has been converted, hit any
 key to select the base for another conversion or hit
 ESC to exit.

 When you enter the number, I only check for validity
 with the first character. If you try to convert an
 invalid number an error message will be displayed. The
 largest number that can be accurately converted is a 32
 bit number. It has a very simple input routine, so
 don't be surprised if you can enter an invalid number.
 The conversion will be incorrect of course. I leave
 it mostly up to you to enter a valid number.

/
COLORS

   Set Colors

 This command will allow you to change the color of just
 about anything. Of course, if you're using a monochrome
 monitor this command will do nothing. You can also save
 a color ~configuration` file if you like, so that XE will
 startup with the colors you like.

 I didn't do anything fancy here. Simply select the area
 you want to change the color in by hitting a letter 'A'
 thru 'W' (with the exception of 'S'), or '1-7'. Then
 enter the number corresponding to the color you want.

 Color change commands

 F1        - get ~help`
 A-W, 1-7  - select area you want to change (except 'S')
 S         - save a configuration file with the currently
             selected colors
 ESC/Enter - exit the color change screen

 This command will save a file named 'XE.CFG'
 that defines the colors for XE to use. The file
 is saved in the same place it was found. If
 this is the first time this file has existed,
 it will be saved in the current directory.

 If you want the default colors back, simply delete the
 configuration file and the next time you start XE
 you'll have the default colors.

/
EDIT

   Editing

 Begin editing the file at the current position. If the
 file is a READ ONLY file, a short message to that
 affect will appear and you will be returned to the ~view`
 mode. Of course, you could just hit 'L' to bring up the
 ~Load`file box and change the READ ONLY attribute of the
 file with F8. And then go back and edit. But, it might
 be READ ONLY for a reason ...

 Edit commands

 F1              - get ~help`
 Alt+A           - displays the ~ASCII` chart
 Alt+B           - ~base` number conversion

 BackSpace/Left arrow  - move cursor left 1 byte
 Right arrow     - move cursor right 1 byte
 PageUp          - move cursor to first line on page
 PageDown        - move cursor to last line on page
 Home            - move cursor to beginning of line
 End             - move cursor to end of line
 TAB             - toggle cursor position between the
        hexadecimal display and the ASCII display of the
        file. The above editing commands will move the
        cursor within the area the cursor is in.
        You can edit the file making changes in both
        areas at the same time, if so desired.

 ESC/Enter       - quit editing. If you made changes
        you will be prompted to save the changes or not.
        Hit 'Y' to save the changes or 'N' to lose the
        changes. Only the portion of the file that is in
        memory is actually saved. So don't worry about
        waiting for a long save if you are editing a
        large file. You are then returned to the View
        mode.

 To change a value when in the hexadecimal portion, just
 type in it's new value. The background of the character
 will change, indicating which bytes have been changed.
 Valid values are '00' - 'FF'. Obviously, hitting a key
 like 'P' will do nothing because 'P' is not a valid
 hexadecimal character. A special note, once you change
 the left half of the byte, you must continue and change
 the right half also.

 To change a value when in the ASCII portion of the
 display, simply hit the key of the new value. Or,
 hold down the ALT key while typing the ASCII code
 of the character you want, then release the ALT
 key. Using the ALT key in this area, you can
 enter a value from 32-255. Again, the background will
 change indicating a change.

 Note - When in edit mode you will be able to change the
 characters after the EOF. It will look like you are
 changing the file but in reality nothing will be
 changed. You cannot increase the size of the file,
 only change what already exists.  (A small price
 to pay for making the coding easier on me!)

/
GOTO

   Goto offset

 You are prompted for an offset to go to. You can enter
 either a decimal number or a hexadecimal number. If you
 hit ESC while entering a number you will be placed back
 in the ~View` mode with no repositioning taking place.
 The BACKSPACE key can be used to edit your entry. If
 you enter an offset that is beyond the End-Of-File
 (or < 0) you will be prompted again for a number.

 To enter a decimal number just type in the number, no
 commas, and hit ENTER.

 To enter a hexadecimal number, type a '$' as the first
 character and then continue entering the hex number.

 Also, if at anytime while entering a number, you enter
 an 'A' through 'F' a '$' will be inserted into your
 number at the beginning and your entry will be taken as
 a hexadecimal number. For example:

        Keystroke               Screen
        3                       3
        5                       35
        1                       351
        E                       $351E
        etc ...

/
LOAD

   Loading files

 Loadfile box commands

 Up/Down arrows - move highlight bar one file at a time
 PgUp/PgDn      - move a page at a time
 Home/End       - move to beginning/end of file list
 ENTER          - load the highlighted file
 ESC            - exit without loading


 While using the Loadfile box, you may encounter an
 error, for one reason or another. Generally speaking, you
 will be given one, some or all of the options below :

 Option 1 - (A)bort : if you press 'A' XE will abort the
   operation.

 Option 2 - (R)etry : press 'R' to retry the operation.
   (Maybe the drive door was opened before you hit <ENTER>)

 Option 3 - (Q)uit XE : press 'Q' to quit XE and return to
   the DOS prompt (or wherever it was that you came from).

 Option 4 - Any other key : return to the Loadfile box.


 You can change the attributes of a file simply by hitting
 F5-F8 (providing the file is available; i.e., the disk is
 in the drive etc.) Move the highlight bar to file you
 want to work with and then simply hit one of the follow-
 ing, depending on what you want to do.

        F5 - toggles the Archive bit
        F6 - toggles the System bit
        F7 - toggles the Hidden bit
        F8 - toggles the Read_Only bit

 If the attribute change was successful you will hear a
 high pitch tone otherwise you will hear a lower tone
 indicating that the attribute could not be changed for
 one reason or another. You should also see the attribute
 change in the Loadfile box.

 *** Note *** Be sure you know what affect changing an
 attribute will have on your system. Some programs act on
 the attributes of a file or may even require certain
 attributes to be set.

/
MARK

   The marker stack

 Your current position in the file can be saved and then
 retrieved later on.

 Your position is saved on a stack. If the stack is full
 the oldest position will be deleted and the rest of the
 entries will move down the stack to make room for the
 new entry. The maximum number of positions you can save
 is 100. Also, when your position is saved, it's location
 on the stack is reported to you so you can see how full
 the marker stack is.

 This command can also be used while ~search`ing. If the
 search string is found, you can hit 'M' to save that
 position on the marker stack and then continue searching.

/
AGAIN

   Search again

 Search again using the last used search string. If
 there is no previous search string, you will be
 prompted, as if you hit 'S', to enter a search string.

/
RETRIEVE

   Retrieve position

 While ~view`ing the file, if you hit this command you
 will be moved to the location specified by the top
 ~mark`er stack entry. Once you have been moved to the new
 location, the entry you retrieved will be deleted
 from the marker stack. If there are no markers on the
 stack, then nothing will happen.

/
SEARCH

   Searching

 Search the file for a byte or text sequence.

 You will be prompted for the type of search (B)yte or
 (T)ext.

 For a byte sequence, enter the bytes in hexadecimal
 notation then hit Enter.  As with ~edit`ing, you must
 enter a complete byte, for the search to work
 correctly, although I don't check for that here.  You
 can use the backspace key to go back and make
 corrections.  The maximum length for a byte sequence is
 9 bytes. I think that is plenty long enough, even 4
 bytes would probably be enough to find what you're
 looking for. For example, you might see this prompt :

        Enter search bytes :

 Now you would just hit the numbers that make up the
 bytes you want to search for, like :

        D3 45 FF 00 C4 6E

 There is no need to enter a space between each byte as
 I do that for you while you're entering your bytes.

 For a text sequence, just type in the text to search
 for, no quotes are needed, and hit Enter. The maximum
 length for a text sequence is 25 characters. And a
 change from my earlier versions, the search is now case
 insensitive.

 If the search string is found, the display will move to
 that string's location in the file and will be high-
 lighted at the top of the screen. You can now hit any
 key to continue the search, hit 'M' to ~mark` the
 position or hit ESC to stop searching.

 Just to make things simple for myself, every search
 starts at the beginning of the file. Even on large
 files, starting at the beginning to find something you
 know is near the end doesn't take very long at all (at
 least not on my 16 Mhz 386sx!)

/
CLEAR

   Clear marker stack

 This command will delete all entries from the marker
 stack. Careful, there is no turning back from the
 results of this command.

/
CONFIGURATION

   Configuration file

 When heXEdit starts it looks for a configuration file
 that defines the colors to be used. The name of the file
 is 'XE.CFG'. XE first looks in the current directory for
 the file. If it doesn't find it there it checks the
 environment for a variable named 'XE' and looks in the
 path specified by that variable. (See your DOS manual
 for an explanation of environment variables). If XE
 doesn't find it there it then looks in the directory
 that XE.EXE is in.

 The environment variable 'XE' can be set by using the
 DOS SET command. You should include the full path, just
 so there is no confusion as to what drive the file is
 on. For example :

        SET XE=C:\UTIL\

 Also, the last back-slash character should be included
 as I just append the filename to the path you specify. If
 you do use an environment variable but XE can't find the
 file there, it will look in the same directory that
 XE.EXE is in. If you don't use the configuration file in
 the first place, XE will use a default set of ~colors`.

/
