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1994-11-01
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22KB
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447 lines
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▀█▀▀ D R A W ▀▀▀█▀
v0.5α
Ansi Screen Editor
Coded By
Skull Leader & Sinned Soul
┌──────────────┐
│ Introduction │
└──────────────┘
ACiDDraw is a utility for manipulating ansi and ascii text. It is based
upon Ian Davis's Thedraw (tm). Many of it's basic features, and their
orginization parallel Thedraw. In addition to these, however, it has
many refined and added features. The authors of this utility have sought
to include, within an efficient and tightly organized program, the most
useful tools for manipulating ansi and ascii text that could be
conceived. The ideas of some of the most experienced artists in these
areas have been implemented in everyway possible, to create, what we
hope, is the most useful utility of this type to date.
┌─────────────────────┐
│ System Requirements │
└─────────────────────┘
■ 286 or above with an enhanced keyboard
■ DOS v3.30 or higher. (Not tested under Windows, or OS/2)
■ 300k Free memory. (Approx. Depends on page lengths)
■ CGA video card and monitor.
■ MCGA video card and monitor for 50 line mode and VGA viewing.
■ SVGA video card and monitor for Hi-Res viewing.
■ Microsoft or compatable mouse.
┌────────────────────────┐
│ Suggested Requirements │
└────────────────────────┘
■ 640k Free memory. (depending on page size)
■ SVGA video card, with VESA support.
■ Mouse with a Microsoft compatible mouse driver.
┌──────────────┐
│ New Features │
└──────────────┘
ACiDDraw v0.5α includes the following new features over ACiDDraw v0.1ß :
■ Mouse support
■ Supports up to 1000 lines per page
■ Supports up to 160 columns per page
■ Quick Palette
■ Proper flipping of a block
■ Tab and tab setup
■ Multi-Page support
■ Hi-Res Vga viewing
■ Binary load and save
┌────────┐
│ Notice │
└────────┘
This alpha version of ACiDDraw is being release to you as is. All bugs
should be reported to either Skull Leader or Sinned Soul. The authors take
no responsibility for lost work, or damaged equipment caused directly or
indirectly by this program. ACiDDraw cannot be modified in any way with
out the written consent of either author. Finally, the charging of monetary
fees by any unauthorized party for the circulation or use of this utility
is expressly forbidden.
┌────────────┐
│ The Editor │
└────────────┘
The editor consists of either a 80x24 or 80x49 viewable area. There are
two pages available, the page sizes are user selectable, up to 1000 lines at
80 columns or 100 lines at 160 columns. The following keys will allow you
to maneuver the viewing window within the virtual pages.
Arrow Keys : This keys allow you to move the cursor to different
positions around the viewable screen. The program
will scroll the window to allow you to view the
entire virtual page.
Page Up/Page Down : These two keys are keys which will allow you to
maneuver around the virtual screen quickly.
It will move the screen either up a page, or
down a page.
Tab : This will position your cursor to a position
preset by the tab configuration. (See tab setup)
Shift-Tab : This will position your cursor to the previous
position set in the tab configuration. (See tab setup)
Ctrl-Left : This will shift anything on the right hand side of
the cursor over to the left by one. This affects the
entire length of the virtual screen.
Ctrl-Right : This will shift anything on the right hand side of
the cursor over to the right by one. This affects
the entire length of the virtual screen.
Ctrl-Y : This will move every line below the cursor up one,
deleting the row below the cursor.
Ctrl-I : This will move every line below the cursor down one,
deleting the very last row.
F1-F10 : These keys will display special ascii characters,
these ascii characters are preset in the program.
The current character which will be display by press
any one of these keys are listed on the top right
corner of the screen. There are 15 sets of these
characters all preset, and each set can be selected.
ALT-1 to 10 : This will change the set which is currently being used,
sets 1 through to 10 can be selected using the ALT key.
Ctrl-1 to 5 : This will allow you to select the current sets from
11 through to 15.
ALT-C : This command will prompt you if you want to clear
the screen, if you agree it will proceed to
clear the current page.
ALT-E : This command will allow you to switch between
two possible pages. Each page is separate from
the other page, and is user selectable.
Note - You must select two pages from the option menu before
the second page can be activated. Each page can
have a separate length and width.
Numbers and alphanumerics can be displayed by pressing the corresponding
key on the keyboard. All shift combined with the numeric and alphanumeric
are also valid entries.
┌────────────────┐
│ Color Changing │
└────────────────┘
The editor has the ability to select between 16 normal foreground
colors, 16 blinking foreground colors, and 8 background colors. All of
these are preset and cannot be changed. The current color determines what
attribute the next character displayed will have.
Escape : This key will pull down the quick palette menu,
(Quick Palette) which allows you to easily change colors with arrow
keys. The up and down arrows allow you to change
the foreground colors. The BB beside the foreground
colors represents a blinking color. The left and
right arrows change the current background color.
The mouse can also be used to select the colors from
quick palette. (see section on mouse support) To
select a color, place the cursor on top of the colors
you want and press the left button.
Ctrl-A : This key will bring a menu which allows you to select
which color you want. All the colors are displayed, and
both the foreground and background colors must be
entered.
Ctrl-Left : This key will select the previous background color
available.
Ctrl-Right : This key will select the next background color
available.
Ctrl-Up : This key will selected the next foreground color
available.
Ctrl-Down : This key will selected the previous foreground color
available.
Alt-U : This key will change the current color to the one
located just under the cursor position.
┌──────────────┐
│ Viewing Keys │
└──────────────┘
ALT-M : This key toggles between a 25 and a 50 line display.
(Line Toggle) A 50 line display is only available with a VGA adapter.
ALT-V : This key allows you to view the current page in
(VGA Viewing) a simulated VGA environment. It will try to convert
the characters which are in text mode into a graphics
mode. The resolution which it is first displayed
is 320x200x256c. (Which is available to anybody with
a MCGA or better video card)
F1 : While viewing in the 320x200x256c mode, ACiDDraw has
the ability to change to higher resolutions. These
higher resolutions are only available to people with
a SVGA or Super Video Graphics Adapter. This key
will display the vga at 320x200x256c mode.
F2 : This will change the resolution to a 640x480x256c mode,
which is only available on a SVGA video card. The
video card is auto-detected.
F3 : This will change the resolution to a 1024x768x256c
mode, which is only available on a SVGA video card.
The video card is auto-detected.
It is possible to view each page in VGA, by selecting the proper page
in text mode, then using ALT-V to view it. If the picture does not fit onto
a single VGA screen, you will be able to scroll the VGA using the up and down
arrow keys.
┌────────────────┐
│ Setup Commands │
└────────────────┘
ALT-T : This key combination will allow you to edit the position
(Tab Setup) at which the cursor is placed when a TAB or Shift-Tab
is placed. Each marker is a place where the cursor
jump, the cursor will jump to the next marker from
its current position. You can either set each tab
location, or you can set the interval at which
a marker is placed.
ALT-O : This is the main configuration for the program.
(Configuration) These options are pretty much self-explanatory.
If you want to keep your configuration for the
next time you load ACiDDraw, you MUST type "S" to
save the configuration to disk.
The number of pages can only be either 1 or 2. With a page width of
160, only a length of up to 100 is available. Two pages at 160x1000 lines
each is not possible in this configuration since it would require over 640k.
IMPORTANT - For this version, you MUST exit the program and re-enter it
before the page sizes and numbering are re-initialized.
┌─────────────────────┐
│ Additional Commands │
└─────────────────────┘
ALT-S : This is the key combination to save an ansi.
(Save Ansi) The following save methods are available
ANSI : Standard method for storing graphics in text
mode. The length of the ansi is automatically
detected on the first blank line. The
characters per line option determine how many
characters there will be before a carriage
return. An extension of .ANS is automatically
placed onto a file with no extension.
ASCII : This method uses all the ascii characters, but
without ansi color and movement codes. The
line length is also auto-detected.
BINARY : This is a raw binary dump of the entire virtual
screen. No length and width data is mentioned
in the file. You must use sauce to determine
these.
If a file is replacing an old one, the old file will automatically
be rename with a .BAK extension.
ALT-L : This is the load menu, it is allows you to choose which
(Load Ansi) file you want to load. Any file with the extension
of .BIN is loaded with a binary format, any other file
is treated as an ansi file.
ALT-D : This menu will allow you to choose whether or not
(Sauce Description) SAUCE will be attached to the end of the file.
It will also allow you to choose a name, group and title
for your work. The date, size, dimensions, etc. are
are automatically updated for you when you save.
ALT-R : This command will restore a backed up file onto the
screen. Before a BLOCK, VGA View, Load, a binary
backup of the current screen is dumped to disk. If
you want to restore the screen before these commands,
you can use this command to restore it. (NOTE-this
command is just in a testing stage, and is not meant
to replace a genuine restore command)
Note-This temporary file is called _ADBACK_.$$$ and is
deleted after ever normal exit from ACiDDRAW. If there
was a problem and ACiDDraw exited abnormally, before you
were able to save your work, this backup file should
be rename to .BIN and loaded from ACiDDraw. Since
only certain commands will update to this backup file,
some work may not appear in the back up file.
ALT-B : This allows you to select a block and perform functions
on this selected area of screen. After blocking
a certain area certain optional are available.
Copy or Move : Copy allows you to stamp a block multiple
times onto the screen, Block moves the
blocked area to a new location.
Flip X/V : This flips the block horizontally,
"X" being a regular byte for byte flip,
while a "V" will flip any ascii characters
which have a horizonal mirror image.
Flip Y/W : This flips the block vertically,
"Y" being a regular byte for byte flip,
while a "W" will flip any ascii characters
which have a vertical mirror image.
Fill : Allows you to fill a blocked area
with either the current foreground,
background, both, or fill the blocked
area with a selected character, with or
without the current attribute.
Page : Allows you to paste your block onto a
separate page, (if another one is
available)
Outline : Allows you to outline a blocked area
with a single, double, or a mix.
The selected set determines which is
drawn, set 1 single line, set 2 double
set 3 mix, set 4 mix. The color of the
outline is determined by the current
drawing color.
Save : Allows you to save a block, using
either the ANSI, ASCII or BINARY method.
ALT-H : A multi-screen help menu can be called up using this
key combination. Inside summarizes most of the
commands. To page through all four screens, use
either the page up or page down key.
ALT-X : This command allows you to exit ACIDDRAW, if the
ACiDDraw decects that the CURRENT PAGE has been
changed before it was saved, it will prompt you
if you want to save it.
┌───────────────────┐
│ Missing Functions │
└───────────────────┘
This alpha version is missing serveral functions which keeps it from
becoming a release version. Please note these:
■ Cannot load a 160 column ansi, only 80 columns will be read.
■ Will not determine the proper size for a binary file load.
■ Ansi save with 160 column mode will only save the first 80.
These and several more functions will be added into the final release
version of ACiDDraw.
┌─────────────────┐
│ How to Register │
└─────────────────┘
1. Print out or duplicate order form below
2. Fill out the order form.
3. Mail order form along with Cheque or Money Order for $10 US or $13 CAN
4. Make all Cheques or Money Orders out to Dennis.
┌────────────┐
│ Order Form │
└────────────┘
Name: __________________________________
Address: __________________________________
Apartment #: __________________________________
City: __________________________________
State/Prov: __________________________________
Zip/Postal Code: __________________________________
Country: __________________________________
Voice #: (___) ___-____
Please Specify: 3½ [ ] or 5¼ [ ] (just one)
HD [ ] or DD [ ] (just one)
Comments and/or Suggestions:
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
Note: All information will be kept confidential.
Send order forms to:
Once again, since this version of ACiDDraw is still in testing, there
is no registration required.
┌───────────────────┐
│ Where to Reach Us │
└───────────────────┘
Comments, bug report, suggestion, etc can be forwarded to either
Sinned Soul or Skull Leader at the following locations :
ACiD Western Agora
Terra Firma (714) 963-4851
Terra Firma (714) 963-4972
via the internet:
aciddraw@cyberspace.net (ACiDDRAW Account)
┌───────────────┐
│ Final Notices │
└───────────────┘
It has been decided that since this is an alpha version, there will be no
artificial limitations or registration nags. In further, full release
versions, registration will be required. This registration will provide
you with access to all new upgrades, and the eternal gratitude of those
who've put substantial amounts of experience, energy, and time into this
venture. Will the spa hunt you down if you do not? Most likely no, but
registration will insure that the authors remain interested in creating
good programs for you and others to use in the future.
SAUCE00ACiDDraw Documentation ACiD Productions 19941101┘V P ┐