QED Version 1.0 Preliminary Docs 9/16/90 Copyright 1988-1990 by Darren M. Greenwald All rights reserved ====================================================================== REQUIREMENTS ====================================================================== KICKSTART - 1.2 or higher RAM - 256K RAM or more. STACK USEAGE - A minimum stack size of 10000 bytes is required. ====================================================================== MAKING A BACKUP COPY OF QED ====================================================================== The first thing you should do is make a backup copy of QED, and any associated files. If you don't know how to do this, you should read through the owner's manual shipped with your Amiga before using QED, or any other program. ====================================================================== INSTALLATION ====================================================================== QED is not copy protected, and can be easily copied to any floppy disk, or hard drive. QED is a stand-alone program, and easily installed. CLI USERS: It is recommended you copy QED to the C: directory. QED may be renamed to something else if you prefer. WORKBENCH USERS: Simply drag the QED icon to any Workbench drawer. ====================================================================== STARTING QED FROM THE WORKBENCH ====================================================================== As a reminder, "QED" the program is a Workbench TOOL while the files it creates are known as Workbench PROJECTS. There are a number of ways to start QED from the Workbench including: Double click on the QED TOOL icon - QED will open a single untitled text editing window. Double click on a PROJECT icon created by QED - QED will open a single text editing window, and open the PROJECT. Multiple select PROJECTS created by QED - QED will open one, or more text editing windows, and attempt to automatically open each of the highlighted PROJECTS. The PROJECTS may exist may exist in different DRAWERS. Up to sixteen (16) project files can be automatically opened using multiple selection. Finally it is highly recommended that you use the 1.3 'ram-handler' as the 1.2 RAM: disk handler is faulty. It does not have a volume name, so QED may not be able to locate PROJECTS in the RAM disk. ====================================================================== STARTING QED FROM THE CLI ====================================================================== QED can be started from the CLI like any other program. It is assumed that the reader who uses the CLI is already familiar with how to run programs from the CLI. Up to sixteen (16) filenames may be entered as command line arguments. In this case QED will attempt to automatically open each in a separate text editing window. If no filename is specified, then a single untitled text editing window is opened. There are a number of startup switches that can be included on the command line along with a list of file names. These switches are documented further on in this manual, and can be included on the command line along with the list of filenames in any order. ====================================================================== MAKING QED RESIDENT ====================================================================== If you are using the Amiga Shell, QED is fully reentrant which means it can be made RESIDENT, and run multiple times without having to reload QED. As a reentrant program QED requires a moderate size stack of at least 10000 bytes. A memory savings technique is used which allows subsequent resident QED processes to use less memory; all memory is returned to the system when the final resident QED process is quit. Note that as of this writing, ARP's ARES command doesn't believe that QED is fully reentrant. This is a problem with ARP's definition of how a reentrant program should look, so no attempt has been made to convince ARP otherwise. ====================================================================== STARTUP ERRORS ====================================================================== QED may not be able to run for a number of reasons. In this case QED returns an error code to the CLI, and displays an error message in the CLI window, or a temporary window if started from the Workbench: Error # Description 20 Stack too small (10000 minimum) 21 Need KickStart 1.2, or higher 22 Cannot use system font 23 Error opening console.device 24 Not enough memory 25 Port name already in use 26 Unable to create ARexx port ====================================================================== STARTUP MACROS ====================================================================== When QED is started it will by default automatically attempt to execute a QED macro called "startup", and an ARexx macro called "startup.qed". Specifics on writing startup macros will be discussed in a separate document. In addition, it is worth mentioning now that you can write macros which will be automatically executed when a file is opened based on the filename's extension. These auto-executing macros allow you to configure QED to suit your default preferences, as well as customize each text editing window based on the kinds of files you are working with. The startup macros are optional. If they are not found, or ARexx is not available, these features are ignored. ====================================================================== STARTUP SWITCHES ====================================================================== There are a number of startup switches which may be entered from the CLI, or included in QED's Workbench icon as 'tooltypes' which allow you to control QED's macro capabilities. OPENING A PUBLIC AREXX PORT ---------------------------------------------------------------------- CLI: -P[optional port name] Workbench: PORT=[optional port name] This switch tells QED that you want it to open a public ARexx port. The public ARexx port is not needed to run macros from within QED; just if you want to send commands to QED from another ARexx task. If the port name is omitted, then QED will create a unique port name for you such as "QED1", "QED2", "QED3", etc. If you specify the port name, such as '-Pmyport', the name is converted to uppercase letters such as "MYPORT". The public ARexx port is by default assigned to the first text editing window opened, and clearly displayed in the window's title bar. RUNNING QED AS A HIDDEN BACKGROUND PROCESS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- CLI: -H[optional port name] Workbench: HIDDEN=[optional port name] This switch is similar to the -P switch above, and is meant for advanced users only. This command allows you to use QED as a hidden text editing engine by running QED as a hidden background process. You can send any commands to the ARexx port which you might usually use, however there is no visible screen activity, no pull-down menus, no keyboard editing, etc. This is an excellent way to run well debugged macros, and in addition your macros may run faster as there is no window drawing to be done. You can open the command mode window as part of your startup macro, and enter commands in command mode. When the -H switch is used, only one file can be automatically opened at startup. RUNNING AN ALTERNATIVE QED FORMAT STARTUP MACRO ---------------------------------------------------------------------- CLI: -Q[alternative macro] Workbench: QED=[alternative macro] This switch allows you to override the default search for a QED macro called 'startup' in your QED: directory. If the -Q switch is used alone, then no startup macro will be run. If the startup macro is not found, QED just continues, and sets up using the built-in defaults. The QED startup macro is always run before the first text editing window is made visible, and is an excellent way to quickly set-up the options, colors, keyboard, etc. to suit your preferences. RUNNING AN ALTERNATIVE AREXX FORMAT STARTUP MACRO ---------------------------------------------------------------------- CLI: -S[alternative macro] Workbench: STARTUP=[alternative macro] This switch allows you to override the default search for an ARexx macro called 'startup.qed'. If the -S switch is used alone, then no startup macro will be run. If the startup macro is not found, QED just continues, and sets up using the built-in defaults. RUNNING THE AREXX STARTUP MACRO AFTER OPENING A TEXT EDITING WINDOW ---------------------------------------------------------------------- CLI: -A Workbench: AFTER Normally QED attempts to run your ARexx startup macro before the first text editing window is made visible. However there may be times when you want to run the ARexx startup macro after the first text editing window is opened (e.g., debugging your startup macro with ARexx's tracing abilities, or when running an automated sequences of events). In this case use this flag to tell QED you want to run the ARexx startup macro AFTER the first text editing window is made visible. ====================================================================== FONTS, KEYBOARD, SCREENS, ETC. ====================================================================== When you start QED, one of the first things it does is take a look to see what kind of font you are using as your system font. The pull-down menus, requesters, and windows are automatically adjusted to make use of your system font. The pull-down menus have been designed to fit on a 640x200 screen using a font as wide as Topaz 9, and as tall as Topaz 11. QED will not run if you are using a proportional system font, or reverse path font; it is afterall a text editor, and not a desktop publishing program. QED also will not run if your system font is too large; this can result in menus which when drawn are larger than the screen, and will trash memory outside of screen memory. Blitter based fast text rendering routines are built into the program. These routines make it possible for QED to redraw text at a very fast rate. Eight bit wide fonts will be rendered the fastest, however these routines will speed up rendering of fonts of virtually any size. Those running fast 68020, or 68030 based machines may wish to turn this feature off from the command mode as a fast processor can be faster then the Amiga blitter. Some fonts such as Courier.font can be used, though they are not true non-proportional fonts. It turns out Courier.font is marked as a non-proportional font, which is not entirely true. The colors used by QED have been selected for visibility on a one bit plane screen, however support is provided for selecting preferred text rendering colors far beyond the capabilities provided by the current generation of Amiga hardware. QED also uses your system's keymap to decode the alpha-numeric keys on the keyboard, and dead-keys are supported for those using keymaps which utilize this capability. Some keys such as the RETURN key, CURSOR keys, TAB key, etc., are intercepted by QED, and are not decoded using your system's keymap (these keys can be remapped using QED commands). Text editing windows may be opened to the full size of your Workbench screen; overscan screens, NTSC or PAL displays, and the high res Moniterm monitor, or 2024 monitor can be utilized by QED. ***NOTE*** QED's font handling routines have been fully tested with Preferences, SetFont from David Haynie, and FastFonts from MicroSmiths Inc. FastFonts is being distributed with Workbench 1.3, and supports the ability to modify your system font. When running under version 2.0 of the operating system, QED uses your default screen font, which is the same font used by CLI windows to render text.