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FLODRAW 2.1 User Manual Update This update contains information about features that were added to FLODRAW 2 to make FLODRAW 2.1. To use this update: 1. Browse section 1 to see what's new. 2. Refer to section 2 to install or upgrade. Table of Contents Section 1 - Introduction .............. 1 What's New in Version 2.1 New Files Included with Version 2.1 Updated Files Included with Version 2.1 Section 2 - Installation .............. 4 Distribution Disks Using INSTALL.EXE Section 3 - Template Files ............ 8 What Are Template Files? Using Template Files Creating Template Files Section 4 - Special Characters ........ 10 Using Special Characters Defining Your Own Special Characters Section 5 - Libraries & Symbols ....... 12 Symbol Libraries Symbol Menu Section 6 - Other Edit Enhancements ... 14 Copy/Move Option to Save Keypress Small/Big Block Function Special Text Key Functions Section 7 - Printing .................. 15 Printing with Wide Carriage Printers Option for 12 Inch Form Length Printing Draft Copies with Epson LQ Printers Printing Draft Copies with Toshiba 24 Pin Printers Section 1 - Introduction 1 What's New in Version 2.1 FLODRAW 2.1 contains a number of new features that make it more flexible as a diagramming tool. The major features are described briefly below. 1. Template files (page 11). Initialize new documents with a template file that contains a skeleton diagram. The template file is merged into your diagram when you select the page format. The template file is optional. You can set the option file to use the template files or not. And you can override the option on the page format screen. 2. Special characters (page 13). Use 26 special characters on the Text Edit screen with keys Ctrl A through Ctrl Z. You can customize these characters to suit your own needs. Use them for foreign alphabet characters or small shapes. 3. Enhanced symbol menu (page 16). The symbol menu has been improved to show small symbols at 1/4 size or full size. The number of symbols allowed in a library has been increased to 144. To support the larger libraries, the symbol menu now has keypresses to display forward, backward, menu beginning, and menu end. 4. Wide carriage printer support (page 18). Users with wide carriage printers can use the first 132 columns in the large landscape page format to print diagrams on 14.5 inch paper. The option file contains a carriage width that you can override at print time. Introduction 2 5. A draft mode for Epson LQ printers (page 19). A fast draft mode is now available for Epson LQ printers. This mode compresses your diagram slightly. If your diagram is not full length, you can select a stretch option in this fast mode to make the diagram more readable. 6. A 12 inch form option for European users (page 18). This option was provided for European users who use 12 inch forms instead of 11 inch forms. You can set this option on the option file. Note that this option does not change the size of the diagram, just the form length that the printer uses. New Files Included with Version 2.1 COPYLIB.BAT is similar to LIBRARY.BAT except that it works with libraries instead of symbols. It provides an easy way to combine small libraries into a large library. FLODRAW.CHR is the FLODRAW system file that contains the descriptions of 26 special characters for the six normal size fonts and 3 small fonts. FLODRAW.T#1 These files are the template files that can FLODRAW.T#2 be used to initialize a new diagram. You FLODRAW.T#3 can edit these files to suit your needs. SPECIAL.CHR contains the pattern for FLODRAW.CHR and instructions for customizing your own version of FLODRAW.CHR. DATAFLOW.LIB is a library of symbols used to draw dataflow diagrams. Introduction 3 The following library documentation files are new files included on the library disk. These files are FLODRAW diagrams that show the symbols in the libraries. The files are named after the libraries they document. DATAFLOW.01 ELECTRON.01 and ELECTRON.02 FLOCHART.01 HIPO.01 MISC.01 ORG.01 SMALLFLO.01 Updated Files Included with Version 2.1 FLODRAW.EXE is the FLODRAW 2.1 program. It requires a minimum of 384k to run. LIBRARY.BAT was modified with improved error checking. DEMO was modified with minor corrections. ELECTRON.LIB (a library of electrical symbols) replaces ELECTRIC.LIB in previous versions. This library has been revised and expanded. ORG.LIB (a library of organization chart symbols) was dropped with version 2.0 and has been included with version 2.1. SMALLFLO.LIB (a library of small flowchart symbols) was dropped with version 2.0 and has been included with version 2.1. Section 2 - Installation 4 Use the following instructions instead of the installation instructions in chapter 2 of the FLODRAW User Manual. FLODRAW Distribution Disks FLODRAW 2.1 is distributed on two 360k disks or one 720k disk. The two 360k disks have the following names. (1) The Program disk. This disk has all the files you need to run the tutorials and create your own flowchart diagrams. (2) The Library disk. This disk has additional libraries, library documentation files, library utilities, and sample diagrams. The single 720k disk has all the files contained on the two 360k disks. Installation 5 Using INSTALL.EXE The program INSTALL.EXE is on the FLODRAW Library Disk. If you have a 3.5" distribution disk, INSTALL.EXE is in the root directory. INSTALL guides the installation or upgrading of FLODRAW 2.1. It is a series of menus and prompts that will copy the FLODRAW 2.1 files from the distribution disks to your system. INSTALL will first ask for information about your system. Then it will guide you through the installation process. INSTALL will show you which files it will copy, and it will prompt you before copying the files. The following procedure outlines the INSTALL process. 1. If you are installing or upgrading FLODRAW on a floppy disk system, you will need several blank formated disks. If you are installing, you will need three blank disks. If you are upgrading, you will need your working program disk, your working library disk, and a blank data disk. 2. After booting up your system, put the FLODRAW library disk in drive A. This will be the source drive. You can use any drive for the source drive, but for these instructions, we'll assume that the source drive is drive A. 3. Enter this command at the DOS prompt. A:INSTALL 4. INSTALL will ask you if you are installing FLODRAW for the first time or if you upgrading to FLODRAW 2.1. Reply 1 if you are installing. Reply 2 if you are upgrading. The difference between install and upgrade is that INSTALL will only copy required upgrade files when copying from the FLODRAW Program Disk. 5. Install will ask for the source drive. Reply A. Installation 6 6. Install will ask for the target drive. This is drive that you will copy files to. Reply B if you have a floppy system. Reply C if you have a hard disk. Again, you can use any drive, but for these instructions we'll assume the target drive is B. 7. INSTALL will ask if the target drive is a floppy disk or a hard disk. Reply 1 if it is a hard disk. Reply 2 if it is a floppy disk. If you reply 1, INSTALL will ask you for the directory path. INSTALL assumes a directory path of \FLO. If you are installing or upgrading to a different path than \FLO, backspace the cursor and enter your path. 8. INSTALL will display a disk selection menu. Reply '1' to copy files from the FLODRAW Program Disk. INSTALL will prompt you for the FLODRAW Program Disk. Put the FLODRAW Program Disk in drive A. If you are upgrading to a floppy system, INSTALL will also prompt you to put your working program disk in drive B. If you are installing on floppy system, put a blank disk in drive B. If you are upgrading on a floppy system, put your working program disk in drive B. If you are upgrading from a version prior to version 2.0, INSTALL will rename OPTION.FIL to FLODRAW.OPT and SYMBOL.LIB to FLODRAW.LIB. 9. INSTALL will copy the FLODRAW files in groups. INSTALL will display all the files in the group and ask you if you want to procede with the copy. You can bypass any group by replying 'N' to the copy prompt. The groups on the Program Disk are: - the FLODRAW program and system files - the FLODRAW tutorial files Installation 7 The groups on the Library Disk are: - the library utilities - the libraries - the library documentation files - the sample diagram files - the SPECIAL.CHR file After copying all the groups on the FLODRAW Program Disk, INSTALL will return you to the disk selection menu. Reply '2' to copy the files on the FLODRAW Library Disk. If you have a floppy disk system, INSTALL will prompt you to put your working library disk in drive B at the same time it prompts you to put the FLODRAW Library Disk in drive A. 11. After INSTALL has copied the libraries, all the remaining files are diagram files. If you have a floppy disk system, INSTALL will prompt you to put a data disk in drive B. If you have a hard disk, INSTALL will let you change the directory path if you want to put your diagram files on a separate directory. 12. After copying all the files on the library disk, INSTALL will return you to the disk selection menu. Press ESC to return to DOS. This completes the installation or upgrade. Save the FLODRAW distribution disks as backups. Section 3 - Template Files 8 What Are Template Files? A FLODRAW template file is a file that contains a skeleton diagram that you want to use to initialize a new diagram. When you select the page format for a new diagram, FLODRAW will merge the template file into your empty diagram. For example, you may want all your diagrams to have a description box in the upper left corner of the diagram. The description box may contain a brief description, name of the author, date, and page number. You can create a template file that contains this skeleton description box. Each time you create a new diagram, FLODRAW will merge the template file into your diagram. This will help insure that all your diagrams use the same skeleton description box. FLODRAW recognizes one template file name for each of the three page formats: FLODRAW.T#1 for portrait diagrams FLODRAW.T#2 for landscape diagrams FLODRAW.T#3 for large landscape diagrams If you are using template files, FLODRAW will look for the template file in the current directory. If it can't find the template file in the current directory, it will look in the default directory if you have one. See page 5 in this Update Manual for instructions on setting up a default directory on your hard disk. Using Template Files You can set the option file to use template files as your default procedure for new diagrams. Select J on the Setup Option menu and follow the instructions on the template option screen. You can select the Setup Option menu with F8 from the Entry menu. You can always override your default procedure on the page format selection screen when you're loading a new diagram. Template Files 9 When you load a new diagram, FLODRAW will prompt you for a page format. If your default procedure is to use template files, the template file names will show on the right side of the menu next to the corresponding page format. When you select a page format, FLODRAW will load the template file. If you want to override the default procedure for template files, you can press F10 to toggle the template files on or off. When you toggle the template files off, the template file names are removed from the menu. Creating Template Files Three sample template files are included with FLODRAW 2.1 to show you how the template files work. You can edit these files to create your own template designs. You can create your own template files as long as you give them the correct template file name. Section 4 - Special Characters 10 Using Special Characters The keys Ctrl A through Ctrl Z are used to put special characters on your diagram in Text mode. The special characters are defined in a file called FLODRAW.CHR that FLODRAW loads at startup. A default set of special characters is used if FLODRAW.CHR cannot be found. FLODRAW will look for FLODRAW.CHR in the current directory. If FLODRAW can't find it in the current directory, it will look in the default directory if you have one. Note: FLODRAW will warn you if it can't find the special character file. Just press any key to bypass the warning. The special characters are available with the six normal size fonts and the three small fonts. Special characters included with FLODRAW are foreign alphabet characters and small shapes like boxes and circles. You can see them by pressing Ctrl A through Ctrl Z or by editing the file SPECIAL.CHR. Defining Your Own Special Characters You can change the design of some or all the special characters if you like. Use FLODRAW to edit the file SPECIAL.CHR. This file contains a pattern that has all the special characters and instructions for creating a new FLODRAW.CHR file. You can edit each of the characters in the pattern. When you have finished editing the characters, save the contents of the pattern as a symbol file called FLODRAW.CHR. Move FLODRAW.CHR to your program disk or FLODRAW directory. The pattern in SPECIAL.CHR is outlined by a box. When you save the contents of the pattern as a symbol, you will use the cursor to tell FLODRAW where the boundaries of the symbol are. Don't include the box around the pattern as part of the symbol. Special Characters 11 The pattern has marking arrows to show you where to place the cursor to show the boundaries of the symbol. You can use the upper left corner as the first cursor location and also as the midpoint of the symbol. After you save the symbol FLODRAW.CHR, save the file SPECIAL.CHR since it now has your updated pattern for special characters. Now, exit FLODRAW, then run FLODRAW again to load the special character file FLODRAW.CHR that you saved. Edit a diagram and try your own special characters using Ctrl A through Ctrl Z. Section 5 - Libraries & Symbols 12 FLODRAW 2.1 has space for larger libraries with more symbols, and symbol menu commands to make it easy to handle larger symbol libraries. The symbol menu now supports small symbols by displaying them full size or one fourth size on the menu. Symbol Libraries FLODRAW will now accept libraries that are as large as 24,000 bytes. You can check the size of your library on your DOS directory listing. If your library is larger than 24,000 bytes, FLODRAW will tell you it's too large to load. You can have up to 144 symbols in each library. Although it's more likely that you'll exceed the 24,000 byte limit before you reach 144 symbols. Since these enhancements encourage you to combine some of your libraries, I've included a batch file called COPYLIB.BAT that is similar to LIBRARY.BAT. COPYLIB.BAT will combine up to 8 libraries into 1 library. Use the following format for COPYLIB: COPYLIB combined-library library-1 ... library-8 For example, suppose you want to combine your ELECTRIC.LIB with your APPLIANC.LIB and call the combined library ELECAPPL.LIB. You would enter the following command: COPYLIB ELECAPPL APPLIANC ELECTRIC This command would give you a library called ELECAPPL that had the symbols of both APPLIANC and ELECTRIC. Of course, you could still use the batch file LIBRARY.BAT to create the ELECAPPL library. But you would have to enter every symbol that was in both the APPLIANC and ELECTRIC libraries. So it would take you much longer. Libraries & Symbols 13 Symbol Menu In order to support the larger libraries, the symbol menu now has keypresses to move you forward and backward on the menu. When you have selected the symbol menu, the following keypresses are available, but are not shown on the menu. You can press Alt H to see the help screen if you forget the keypresses. Ctrl F10 - Backward menu browse Ctrl Home - Go to beginning of symbol menu Ctrl End - Go to end of symbol menu The symbols in the symbol menu are normally shown reduced to 1/16 their original size. Now, FLODRAW checks the size of the symbol. If the symbol is small, up to 3 characters wide and 2 characters high, FLODRAW will display the symbol full size. If the symbol is up to 6 characters wide and 4 characters high, FLODRAW will display the symbol reduced only to 1/4 size. FLODRAW displays a size factor to the right of the symbol function key so you can tell what the size of the actual symbol will be. The size factors have the following meaning. 1X - Full size 2X - 1/4 size 4X - 1/16 size (normal reduction) Section 6 - Other Edit Enhancements 14 COPY/MOVE Option to Save Keypress This option will save you a keypress when you do a block copy or move on the Text edit screen. The block COPY/MOVE function prompts you to move the cursor to the upper left corner of the block before pressing the function key. With this option set on, FLODRAW assumes you have already moved the cursor to the upper left corner before you started the block COPY/MOVE function. And so the first prompt you get will be for the lower right corner of your block. See option K on the setup menu. SMALL/BIG Block Function These functions expand or reduce the contents of a block that you define with the cursor. The BIG function expands the size of the block 4 times. The SMALL function reduces the size of the block to 1/4 its size. Note that when you expand several times, you can reduce the same number of times to get you back to where you started. But if you reduce, you usually cannot expand back to the symbol you started with. Special Text Key Functions Alt E erases the entire diagram. FLODRAW will prompt you before erasing to make sure that you really want to erase your diagram. Alt J (try remembering J for join) tells FLODRAW to superimpose the next symbol, merge, or copy function instead of covering. Alt J does nothing itself, but will provide a warning message that the next symbol will superimpose (If you're in the symbol menu, this warning message will be covered up by the menu line). This function is useful when you don't want the empty area of a symbol to blank information on your diagram. Section 7 - Printing 15 Printing with Wide Carriage Printers FLODRAW supports two sizes of dot matrix printer carriages. The standard carriage size is for 80 columns and prints on 8.5 inch paper. The wide carriage size is for 132 columns and prints on 14.5 inch paper. You can select the carriage size on the printer selection screen by pressing the F2 key. The F2 key toggles the carriage size between standard and wide carriage. Save your selection on the option file by pressing F10. You can override the carriage size at print time by pressing F2 on the print screen. The F2 key on the print screen will also toggle the carriage size between standard and wide carriage. If you select the wide carriage, use the large landscape page format, and keep your diagram within the first 132 columns. If you exceed 132 columns, FLODRAW assumes you want to print a 160 column wide document. And it will print it on two 8.5"X11" inch portrait format pages. FLODRAW will show you the 132 column boundary on the text edit screen to help you keep your diagram within 132 columns. Option for 12 Inch Form Length The standard form length for European users is 12 inches instead of 11 inches. Option F on the Setup Option menu provides a menu of miscellaneous printer options. Selecting the F3 option provides a menu to select form length of either 11 inches (F1) or 12 inches (F2) when using a dot matrix printer. Select F2 to force the printer to handle 12 inch long forms. Printing 16 Printing Draft Copies with Epson LQ Printers If you have an Epson LQ printer, you can select either a fast or slow print speed. The slow speed is a FLODRAW emulation of an Epson FX 80 and provides a good quality print, but at a very slow print speed. The fast speed is the Epson LQ printer emulation of a 9 pin printer. Since the character size on the LQ printer is taller than the character size on the 9 pin printer, FLODRAW compresses the print lines to fit them on one page. When compressed, the text on your diagram may be hard to read. FLODRAW will not compress the print lines on 12 inch forms. If your diagram does not take up the full page length, you may select a stretch option that does not compress the print lines. FLODRAW will show you a boundary line on the Text Edit screen near the bottom of the page. If your diagram does not exceed the boundary and you have selected the stretch option, FLODRAW will print your diagram without compressing the lines. If you exceed the boundary, FLODRAW must compress the lines to fit the diagram on one page. To use the stretch option with the fast print speed, select F on the Setup Options menu for the miscellaneous printer options. Then select F2 to toggle the LQ fast print stretch option on or off. If you want to make this a permanent option, when you return to the Setup Option screen press F10 to save your selection on the option file. Printing Draft Copies with Toshiba 24 Pin Printers If you have a Toshiba 24 pin printer with IBM ProPrinter emulation, you can use the IBM ProPrinter emulation to print your diagrams at a faster print speed. Change the FLODRAW printer option to "IBM ProPrinter - bold strike". Then change your printer to the IBM ProPrinter emulation mode.