My Little Realm DizzE (The DIZ Editor) Version 1.0 ____________________________________________________________________ Important My Little Realm's DizzE (The DIZ Editor) is protected by copyright. It is not freeware, and it is not in the public domain. This version of DizzE is Shareware. Feel free to try DizzE for 60 days to make sure it works well on your system and that it functions the way you want. If you decide to keep DizzE after that, please fill in the order form found in REGISTER.TXT and send it in with your remittance. DizzE requires 89 Kb of disk space. It can be run from a floppy or a hard disk. DizzE should run on any type of IBM compatible PC with DOS version 2.x or later. ____________________________________________________________________ Introduction/Overview DizzE allows you to perform the mundane task of DIZ editing with alacrity. DizzE checks for: 1 The separator (minus sign/hyphen) 2 Number of lines in the file (won't let you exceed ten) The separator must appear in the first two lines, or DizzE will notify you that it is missing or misplaced. You may bypass this safety check to save a DIZ file without the requisite separator. You can delete a DIZ file by loading it into DizzE, viewing it to verify that it is indeed the one you want to delete, deleting all of its lines with block-delete, and exiting the editor. DizzE will tell you that you have no lines of text, and it will ask if you wish to delete the existing file. Reply yes. If you want to really churn out the DIZ files, call up one of your best works of art, make the necessary changes, and save it to the appropriate program's directory. Then immediately go back into the editor, make more changes and save that version to another program's directory, and so on. I suggest you put DizzE in its own directory (like DIZEDIT) and simply call it from whatever directory you're working in at the time you need it. If you are lacking hard disk space, put DizzE on a floppy and call it up whenever you need it. DizzE can save files to any legitimate drive. Note: The bottom line on the screen is called the Escape Line. It will keep you apprised of the escape key's function at any point during the operation of the program. ____________________________________________________________________ Program Specifics - Creating or loading a file. The Create/Load window. ___________________________________________________________ | | | 1 Create file 2 Load file 3 Exit program | |___________________________________________________________| When you start DizzE, you're placed in the Create/Load window. You can either load an existing file or leap right into the editor. Loading a file. If you select Load File, Dizze will ask for a path. If the path is legitimate, but the file does not exist, DizzE will assume you are creating a new file with the path you gave it. You must give DizzE the complete path, but you need not enter the filename which, of course, remains a constant. After you've entered the path, you're placed in the editor. You can load an existing file from one directory, modify it to meet the needs of another program and save it to the other program's directory. This boilerplate production method speeds document creation time considerably. Creating a file. If you select the option Create File, you'll be placed in the editor immediately. Let your purple prose flow. Exiting the editor. The only key that gets you out of the editor properly is the escape key. When you've finished your literary showpiece, press to exit the editor. You'll then be placed in the Save/Print window which is described below. After you exit the editor, DizzE checks for the separator. It must appear in the first two lines. [Note: Many BBS's recommend that you put the title in uppercase, followed by the version number and then the hyphen.] Sample editor screen. 1 MY LITTLE REALM'S DIZZE V1.0 - This 2 is the DIZ editor you've been waiting for! 3 Hark the herald angels sing and all that 4 jazz. Baby it's cold outside. What's it 5 all about, Alfie? Where were you when I 6 needed you, where were you when I wanted 7 you? In my midnight confessions, when I 8 tell all the world that I love you. 9 Cherish is a word I use to describe all the 10 feeling that I have hiding here for you --- 11 inside. Can't you see I love you, please | 12 don't break my heart in two, that's not | 13 hard to do, 'cause I don't have a wooden | 14 heart. I should have known, you bid me --- 15 farewell, there's a lesson to be learned You will notice that the editor allows fifteen lines of text even though a FILE_ID.DIZ file may only have ten. The reason for this is to permit liberal use of the blocking and copying ability of the editor, allowing you to cut and paste with relative abandon. After you've got the wording just right, it's up to you to delete the excess verbiage in the remaining lines. If you don't delete the remaining lines, DizzE will notify you that there are more than ten lines of text in your edit field, and it will ask you what you want done with them. ___________________________________________________ | | | You have more than ten lines of text. | | 1 Return to editor 2 Delete excess | |___________________________________________________| Select 1 or R to go back to the editor to tidy up the file yourself, or if the top ten lines are perfect, choose 2 or D to erase lines 11 through 15. [Note: also puts you back in the editor at this juncture.] If you select Create File from the Create/Load window and exit the editor leaving the edit field blank, you'll be returned to the Create/Load window automatically. If you load an existing file, delete all of the text, and exit the editor, you'll be shown the following message: __________________________________________ | | | Working on C:\TESTING\FILE_ID.DIZ. | | Your edit field is empty. | | Delete existing file? | |__________________________________________| Press or to avoid deleting the file. To effect the delete, press . Once you've created your objet d'art, you're placed in the Save/Print window. ____________________________________________________________________ - Saving and printing files. The Save/Print window. ___________________________________________________________ | | | 1 Save file 2 Print file 3 Exit Save/Print | |___________________________________________________________| Whenever you exit the editor with text in it, DizzE displays the Save/Print window shown above. If you select Exit Save/Print before you save the file (by pressing <3> or ) or by pressing , DizzE will tell you that you have not saved the file and will display the following prompt: ____________________________________________________ | | | C:\TESTING\FILE_ID.DIZ not saved. | | 1 Editor 2 Save file 3 Confirm exit | |____________________________________________________| Selecting 1 or E will put you back in the editor, and 2 or S will put you in the Save File function. Choosing 3 or C confirms your desire to exit the Save/Print function without saving the file, and will return you to the Save/Print window. Saving your files. When you choose Save File either in the Save/Print window or in the warning prompt, DizzE tells you the current path\filename and asks how you want it saved, like so: ___________________________________________ | | | Working on C:\TESTING\FILE_ID.DIZ. | | Save as: C:\TESTING\FILE_ID.DIZ | |___________________________________________| If you want to send it off someplace else (like a floppy disk), make the appropriate changes in the Save As line and press . If the target path is different from the original path and there is an existing file at the target location, DizzE will warn you of the situation. ____________________________________________________ | | | B:\FILE_ID.DIZ already exists. | | 1 Overwrite 2 Reenter path 3 Cancel | |____________________________________________________| Select 3 or C (or press ) to return to the Save/Print window. Select 1 or O to overwrite the existing file, and, 2 or R allows you to reenter the FILE_ID.DIZ path. Printing your masterpieces. You can print your FILE_ID.DIZ files in any of three page layouts: Normal, Top Center, and Dead Center. Normal printout puts the text in the top left corner of your page. Top Center puts it where you'd imagine, and Dead Center puts the text in the approximate center (vertically and horizontally) of your page. ____________________________________________________________________ - About the editor. When in the editor, press to review the keys needed to block text, copy, delete, and so on. It's fairly standard: use + a directional key to block text; + to capture text to the buffer and + to insert buffered material into the text field. Note: For anyone interested, the editor comes from Crescent Software's QuickPak Professional library. ____________________________________________________________________ John L. Salisbury My Little Realm Enterprises 22 Church Street #103, Suite 376 Ramsey, New Jersey 07446 (201) 529-8318 CIS # 70761,2175 DizzE (The DIZ Editor) copyright 1993 John L. Salisbury All rights reserved. ____________________________________________________________________