❎Γ❎⌡Protext v4.2 Demonstration Version Instructions❎Γ❎⌡
❎ΓProtext Full Version - What extras you get❎Γ
The ability to edit files larger than 2K, limited only by disc èsize. The spell checking dictionary (over 70,000 words). (British èspellings from Arnor, American spellings from Michtron). The full 300 èpage manual. Disc based tutorial files. The full complement of printer èdrivers. The configuration program allowing dozens of options to be èset. A file conversion utility for importing and exporting various èformats. Entitlement to technical support as a registered user. èNotification of new products and special prices for updates.
❎ΓWhere to get Protext❎Γ
Protext may be purchased directly from:
Arnor Ltd.
611 Lincoln Road
Peterborough
PE1 3HA
England
Translated versions of Protext v4.2 will be available in several èlanguages.
❎ΓProtext v4.3 and onwards❎Γ
Protext is under continuous development and the product is èregularly upgraded. Every copy of Protext v4.2 comes with a èregistration card. Returning this card entitles the user to ètechnical support and ensures that details of all major upgrades are èreceived in the post.
❎ΓProtext v4.2 feature summary❎Γ
Protext has all the features you would expect from a ègood word processor - a multitude of text editing commands, print ècommands, spelling checker and mailmerge. What you wouldn't expect èthough, is the refinement and thought that has been put into the èprogram - the logical keystrokes and commands, the clear layout, the èspeed and power ... all go towards making Protext ideal for the ènovice or the experienced user alike.
A glossary of just some of Protext's features ...
ASCII files pure ASCII files may be saved for
transferring elsewhere
Background printing edit/create further files while printer is
Two file editing two documents in memory, copy text between
them
Typewriter mode direct printing for envelopes etc.
Undelete retrieve text deleted in error
User dictionary add words to the dictionary or create your own
Word count quick count at any time
Word puzzles anagram and crossword solving features
WordStar users option of using WordStar keystrokes
Wysiwyg on-screen bold, underlining, italics
Mail merge the MOST comprehensive mail merge program
available:
* read data from files from any database
program
* include file for printing
* conditional printing and loop constructs
* full floating point and string expressions
* reformat whilst printing
* insert current date or time into document
* commands to record information to a separate
file
❎ΓInstructions❎Γ
The remainder of this file contains selected extracts from the èProtext manual to enable you to make good use of the demonstration èversion. Of course, only a limited number of features are covered èhere.
❎ΓConventions used❎Γ
Protext uses a 'standard set' of commands which, as far as èpossible, are common to all versions of Protext and these are used èwherever possible to describe the function.
❎ΓEdit mode commands❎Γ
Throughout the manual a consistent form is used to describe èthe various commands, as follows: CTRL❎ÆF - means the key marked èCONTROL and the key marked F. Wherever a hyphen is used between them, èit means that the first key should be held down whilst the second key èis pressed. Most of the editing commands take this form.
CTRL❎ÆV❎æT - means that the CONTROL and V keys should be used
as described above, then released and the T key pressed.
CTRL❎ÆSHIFT❎ÆH - means that all three keys should be pressed at èthe same time. This sort of command that requires more than two keys èto be pressed at a time is rarely used and at least two of the keys èare always adjacent to each other.
CTRL❎Æ( - means that the CONTROL key and the key which has the è( on it are pressed together. It does NOT mean that SHIFT is required èas well.
❎ΓCommand mode commands❎Γ
Command mode commands are always shown in upper case, though èwhen they are being entered into the computer, they may equally well èbe entered in upper or lower case. Similarly, when entering filenames èto LOAD or SAVE a file, even though they may be shown in upper case, èlower case is acceptable and Protext will automatically convert them èto upper case if required.
❎ΓOverview of Protext❎Γ
Protext is a command driven word processor, unlike some other èprograms, which are menu driven. This means that the editing processes èare carried out by the pressing of certain key combinations, unlike a èmenu driven program, where menus are selected. However, menus are also èprovided and are most useful for commands that are used only èoccasionally.
Protext has two modes of operation, Edit mode and Command èmode. Edit mode is the mode used to create the text, whilst command èmode is where all the saving, loading and printing is carried out. The èESC key is used to switch between them.
❎ΓEdit mode❎Γ
Protext's editing commands are called by using certain keys on èthe keyboard, normally in conjunction with the CONTROL (CTRL) key, but èalso the SHIFT and ALT keys. They have been carefully chosen so that èwherever possible, there is an association between the task to be èperformed and the key used to carry it out. For example: CTRL❎ÆF to è❎ΓF❎Γormat a piece of text; CTRL❎ÆJ to turn ❎ΓJ❎Γustification on and off.
Certain commands, such as the ones to move forward or èbackwards a page, or a paragraph, or to the start or end of a document èhave been allocated the various types of opening and closing brackets. èOpening brackets mean a move towards the start of the document, whilst èclosing brackets cause movement towards the end.
Full advantage is made of the cursor keys and when used in èconjunction with SHIFT, or CTRL, the effect becomes increasingly ègreater. For example: Using the right cursor key on its own will move èthe cursor one character at a time. Using it with the SHIFT key will èmove a word at a time, whilst with CTRL, it will move to the end of èthe line.
Similarly, the commands to delete make use of the two deleting èkeys (DEL and BACKSPACE), which on their own will delete one ècharacter, but when used with SHIFT will delete a word and with CTRL èwill delete to the beginning or end of the line.
Certain features, which determine the way the text will be èprinted are initiated by the use of 'Stored commands'. The number of èlines to a page, where a new page break should be made, the width of èthe text and many other features can all be controlled with stored ècommands.
A stored command is an instruction which is inserted into the ètext and which is acted on when printing takes place, rather than èbeing printed. Stored commands take the form of a 'greater than' èsymbol (>) in column❎æ1 of the text, followed by two characters which èdefine the command. For example: '>PA' will cause a new ❎ΓPA❎Γge to be ètaken and '>PL' will define the ❎ΓP❎Γage ❎ΓL❎Γength
Additionally, features of the printer, such as the style of èprinting, whether bold or Near Letter Quality, are controlled by the èuse of printer control codes. These are single characters which are èinserted into the text and which Protext will recognise when printing èand send to the printer as the codes that the printer requires to èinitiate the function required. Printer control codes are inserted by èpressing CTRL❎ÆX and then a letter key. Printer control codes appear on èthe screen as the letter in inverse video. Again, the default settings èchosen have been selected for ease of use. For example: '❎Γi❎Γ' is used to èinitiate ❎Γi❎Γtalic printing and '❎Γb❎Γ' for ❎Γb❎Γold printing.
❎ΓCommand mode❎Γ
Command mode can be recognised by a broad band about two èthirds of the way down the screen and immediately beneath this is the ècommand mode prompt 'a>', followed by the cursor. The letter indicates èthe currently selected drive). Whenever the prompt and the cursor are èvisible, Protext is waiting for a command. Commands are words which èare typed in as instructions and may be followed by one or more èparameters.
Commands and parameters may all be entered on the same line, èwith the parameters being separated from the command by a space. If èmore than one parameter is specified, they may be separated either by èa space or a comma (,).
Any commands which need further parameters can be used just by ètyping the command and Protext will prompt for the parameters. There èare, however a number of commands which, optionally, may have èparameters specified, in which case the parameter should follow the ècommand, separated by a space. Once the command has been specified, èthe RETURN key should be pressed.
❎ΓMenu operation❎Γ
As an alternative to command mode, it is possible to access èthe commands from menus. The advantage of using the menus is that all èthe commands are listed on the screen so there is no need to remember èthe command names. The main menu can be brought up at any time by èpressing f3.
If any Gem desktop accessories are installed, these may be èaccessed from within Protext by pressing the right mouse button. This èwill cause the desktop menu bar to be displayed allowing the èaccessories to be used in the normal way.
❎ΓEntering and Correcting Text❎Γ
Once Protext has been loaded, three lines containing èinformation about the state of the program will be visible at the top èof the screen. These are the 'Status lines', the contents of which èwill be explained later. There is also a thin horizontal line, which èalways marks the end of the text and about two thirds of the way down èthe screen is another, broader, line containing further information.
At this stage the program is still in Command mode, which is èdescribed in detail later, but pressing the ESC key will put the èprogram into Edit Mode, which is the mode used for all entry and ècorrection of text. The line two thirds of the way down the screen èwill disappear, leaving the lower part of the screen clear. Pressing èthe ESC key at any time will return to command mode.
❎ΓOn screen help❎Γ
There are two types of on screen help available. One is for èhelp whilst in edit mode and the other for help in command mode.
When help is required it is available through the use of the èhelp command, CTRL❎ÆH (that is, pressing the key marked 'H', whilst èholding down the key marked CTRL), which provides a panel of èinformation at the bottom of the screen. Alternatively, f1 may be used èto call up the help panel. If required this may be left permanently èon, but once some degree of familiarity with Protext has been èattained, it would normally only be turned on when information about a èparticular command was required.
Pressing CTRL❎ÆH further times will display further panels of èhelp. SHIFT❎ÆCTRL❎ÆH will move backwards through the help panels. èPressing CTRL❎ÆV❎æH will turn the help panel off at any time and restore èediting to the full screen.
❎ΓEntering text❎Γ
Once in edit mode a flashing cursor is positioned beneath the èstatus lines and anything that is typed at the keyboard will appear on èthe screen and the cursor will be moved forward one position.
There is no need to press RETURN, the words simply being typed èin, one after the other. At the end of a line the cursor will èautomatically move onto the next line. When the end of a paragraph is èreached, the RETURN key should be pressed.
Any mistakes made whilst typing, which are noticed at the ètime, may be corrected by pressing the BACKSPACE key, which will ècancel the last character entered.
The cursor can be moved around the screen by pressing the four ècursor keys (those with arrows on them). The cursor moves one line or ècolumn for each press of a cursor key.
The cursor cannot be moved past the end of text (the thin èhorizontal line on the screen).
❎ΓUpper and lower case❎Γ
Initially the letter keys produce lower case letters, unless èSHIFT is pressed at the same time. If Caps Lock, is pressed, upper ècase letters are always produced, and this is indicated on the status èline.
Protext has commands to change the case of a letter or word. èTo make a letter upper case, press CTRL❎Æ/ when the cursor is on the èletter. This command only affects letters, so the cursor can be moved èquickly over a line to convert all letters to upper case by holding èdown CTRL❎Æ/. Similarly, CTRL❎Æ\ will convert upper case letters into èlower case. Pressing SHIFT at the same time as these commands will èconvert all characters from the cursor to the end of the word.
❎ΓDeleting❎Γ
The ability to move the cursor around, permits the correction èor alteration of text anywhere on the screen. The cursor should be èpositioned on the letter to be changed and the DEL key pressed. This èwill remove the letter at the cursor position, and move the rest of èthe line to the left. Alternatively, pressing BACKSPACE will remove èthe character to the left of the cursor and the text will again move èto the left to fill the gap.
If extra text is to be inserted, the cursor should be èpositioned where the first new character is to be added and the new ètext entered.
Just as a character can be deleted, so can a word. Pressing èSHIFT and DEL when the cursor is at the start of a word will make the èword disappear. If this is done when the cursor is in the middle of a èword, only that part of the word at and to the right of the cursor èposition will be deleted.
Similarly, pressing SHIFT and BACKSPACE will remove the word èto the left of the cursor, or if positioned in the middle of a word, èthe characters to the start of the word.
CTRL❎ÆBACKSPACE will delete all text from the character on the èleft of the cursor to the start of the line and CTRL❎ÆE will delete all ètext from the cursor to the end of the line. SHIFT❎ÆCTRL❎ÆE deletes all ètext up to the end of the sentence - that is up to and including the ènext full stop, question mark or exclamation mark as well as any èfollowing space. CTRL❎Æf3 will delete the whole line. The line is èremoved from the document and the remainder of the text moved up a èline.
❎ΓInserting❎Γ
To insert a new blank line into the text, CTRL❎ÆI should be èused. The cursor will remain where it is and all text from the current èline to the end of the document will be moved down a line.
❎ΓSwapping characters❎Γ
A common typing mistake, especially when typing quickly, is to ètype two letters the wrong way round, e.g. 'wrod' instead of 'word'. èThe CTRL❎ÆA (Alternate characters) command will put this right. The ècursor should be positioned on the first of the two offending ècharacters (on the 'r', in the above example) and CTRL❎ÆA pressed. The ètwo characters will then be exchanged.
❎ΓUndeleting all or part of a line❎Γ
Protext maintains a temporary store (called a buffer) which èalways contains the most recently deleted section of text. If a line èor part of a line, more than three characters long, is deleted, the èdeleted text will be saved in the buffer. If a section of text has èbeen accidentally deleted, it may be restored by pressing CTRL❎ÆU.
This command can also be put to good use for moving lines or èparts of a line to a different position in the text. The text to be èmoved should be deleted using one of the word or line delete commands èand the cursor moved to the position in the text where the deleted ètext is to be placed. Pressing CTRL❎ÆU will then restore the text at èthe new location.
❎ΓInsert and Overwrite mode❎Γ
Initially Protext is in insert mode and the word Insert is èdisplayed on the status line at the top of the screen to indicate èthis. This means that when text is typed, the rest of the text on the èline is moved along right to make room.
Pressing CTRL❎ÆTAB (or the Insert key) will change the status èline to Overwrite. Selecting overwrite mode can make certain editing ètasks easier and the effect of using it means that if the cursor is èpositioned over an existing piece of text and new text typed in, the èexisting text will be replaced by the new text, unlike insert mode, èwhere the existing text would be moved to the right.
If an extra character needs to be inserted whilst in overwrite èmode (for example if replacing a word by a longer word), this can be èdone by pressing CTRL and the space bar which will move the text to èthe right to make room.
❎ΓMoving the cursor more rapidly❎Γ
So far the cursor has been moved by a character at a time, but èthere are also various ways to move the cursor more quickly. These are èas follows:
(a) Pressing SHIFT❎Æ❎ə or SHIFT❎Æ will make the cursor jump a word
to the start of the next (or last) word. This feature is
useful for moving more quickly to a word which needs
correction.
(b) Pressing CTRL❎Æ or CTRL❎Æ❎ə. This moves the cursor to the
beginning or end of the line. (PC: The Home and End keys may
also be used).
(c) Pressing SHIFT❎ÆRETURN or CTRL❎ÆRETURN. This moves the cursor
to the beginning of the next line, without causing a new
line to be inserted, which would happen if the RETURN key
was used on its own.
(d) Pressing CTRL❎Æ⑧ or CTRL❎Æ⑨. This moves the cursor up or down
almost a full screen, but with a few lines overlap so that
the context may more easily be followed. By holding down
CTRL❎Æ⑧ or CTRL❎Æ⑨ the text can be rapidly scanned.
(e) Pressing CTRL❎Æ[ or CTRL❎Æ] moves the cursor to the beginning
or end of the text in memory. Pressing the same keys a
second time will move to the beginning or end of the
document.
(f) Pressing CTRL❎Æ< or CTRL❎Æ> moves the cursor backwards and
forwards by a paragraph at a time.
(g) Pressing CTRL❎Æ( or CTRL❎Æ) moves the cursor by a page at a
time. This is a page as it will be printed, not a 'screen
page'.
(h) Pressing CTRL❎Æ@❎æ[ or CTRL❎Æ@❎æ] will move to the opening or
closing block markers, if set. See chapter on Cut and Paste
editing for details of block markers.
(i) Pressing CTRL❎Æ@❎æL or CTRL❎Æ@❎æR will move to the left or right
margin on the current line.
(j) Pressing CTRL❎Æf6 or CTRL❎Æf5 will go to the next or previous
marker in the document. See 'Place markers' and 'Multiple
markers'.
(k) Pressing CTRL❎ÆL moves the cursor back to the last position.
This is particularly useful if the cursor has accidentally
been moved to another part of the text by using an incorrect
command. CTRL❎ÆL will return the cursor to the position where
it was before the incorrect move was made. It will only have
any effect if the cursor has been moved with one of the jump
commands.
❎ΓMoving the cursor with the mouse❎Γ
The cursor can be moved to any position on the screen by èmoving the mouse so that the mouse pointer or cursor is at the èrequired position and clicking the left mouse button.
Clicking on the status line at the top of the screen will èscroll the text up (the same as pressing CTRL-⑧). Clicking on the èbottom line of the screen will scroll the text down (the same as èpressing CTRL-⑨).
❎ΓMoving to a specified page, line or column number❎Γ
Pressing CTRL❎ÆG will result in a message appearing on the èstatus line, requesting 'P(age), L(ine) or C(olumn) number'. Entering èP, followed by a number will move the cursor to the start of that èpage. Similarly, L plus the line number will move to the line. èPrefixing a number with C will result in the cursor moving to the èappropriate column. GOTO column is particularly useful when wishing to èmove to a column which may be a long way across the screen, say to ècreate a wide ruler for some special reason, and is considerably èquicker than holding the right cursor down. If no letter prefix is èused, Protext will treat this as meaning a line number.
❎ΓScrolling❎Γ
When the text fills the entire depth of the screen, typing èfurther text will cause the screen to scroll up. That is, the top line èwill disappear and the rest of the screen will move up one line to èmake room for a new line at the bottom of the screen.
In the same way the text will scroll if the cursor reaches the èbottom of the screen but there is more text to come, or reaches the ètop of the screen when the text has previously scrolled. This is known èas vertical scrolling, and is essential for editing text that is èlonger than a few lines.
Protext has commands to force the screen to scroll either up èor down at any time. This is done by pressing SHIFT❎Æ⑧ or SHIFT❎Æ⑨. The ècursor will stay on the same line, but the whole text will scroll by èone line. This feature is useful if a line is to be edited and it is èdesirable to see the text beneath or above.
There is another form of scrolling, called horizontal èscrolling, which happens automatically when the cursor is moved beyond èthe right hand limit of the screen. If this is done the text will èscroll to the left. This means that the text on the left of the screen èwill start to disappear as the cursor is moved further to the right of èthe screen. Horizontal scrolling allows text to be entered in lines èthat are longer than the screen width. This can be confusing at first èand so is best avoided initially. If horizontal scrolling occurs, any èof the commands which move the cursor to the left may be used to èscroll the text back, or SHIFT and RETURN may be pressed together, èwhich will pos ition the cursor at the start of the next line.
❎ΓSplitting and joining lines❎Γ
Lines will often require splitting, or joining together. This èis very easy in Protext. There are two different methods of doing èthis, depending on whether Insert or Overwrite mode is in operation.
To split a line whilst in Insert mode, the cursor should be èmoved to the character which is to be the first on the new line and èRETURN pressed. To join two lines, either move to the end of the first èline and press DEL, or move to the start of the second line and press èDEL. The text on the second line will then move up and join onto the èend of the text on the first line.
If in overwrite mode, CTRL❎Æ* will split the line at the cursor èand CTRL❎Æ+ will join the next line to the end of the current line.
❎ΓSaving Text and other Simple Commands❎Γ
All entry of text is carried out in edit mode, but in order to ècarry out operations such as saving, loading or printing, command mode èmust be entered. This can be done at any stage of editing simply by èpressing ESC. Pressing ESC a second time will return to edit mode.
When ESC is pressed, the bottom part of the screen will clear èand the command mode banner line will appear, displaying some status èinformation such as the current directory. The cursor will be èpositioned next to a '>' symbol. This symbol is the command prompt and èindicates that commands may be entered.
To save a document, put Protext into command mode and type:
SAVE and press RETURN
The message 'SAVE❎æfilename:' will be displayed. Type a name èfor the document and press RETURN. The file will be saved. The second èand subsequent times the document is saved Protext will have èremembered the name and will display it when SAVE is entered. Just èpress RETURN twice to retain the same name. To save the file under a èdifferent name press ESC at this point and type the new name.
To load a previously saved document, put Protext into command èmode and type:
LOAD and press RETURN
The message 'LOAD❎æfilename:' will be displayed. Type the name èof a previously saved document. The file will be loaded. Press ESC to èedit the file.
❎ΓPrinting a document❎Γ
To print the document that is currently being edited, put Protext into ècommand mode and type:
PRINT and press RETURN
Assuming the printer is correctly set up, the document will èstart printing immediately. If it does not, refer to the printer ètrouble shooting section later in the manual.
❎ΓClearing the text❎Γ
To clear the text from memory in order to commence a new document, put èProtext into command mode and type:
CLEAR and press RETURN
Protext will issue a warning if an attempt is made to clear a èdocument that has not been saved. If a new document is loaded into èmemory, then any existing text will automatically be erased first.
❎ΓListing the files saved on disc❎Γ
To list the names of files saved on the disc, put Protext into ècommand mode and type:
CAT and press RETURN or press f2
This will display the names and sizes of files.
❎ΓCounting the words❎Γ
To count the words in the text, put Protext into command mode and ètype:
COUNT and press RETURN
❎ΓFinding text❎Γ
To locate some text in the document, put Protext into command mode and ètype:
FIND and press RETURN
The message 'FIND string:' will be displayed. Type the word or èwords to be found and press RETURN. The message 'Enter options è(A,B,C,G,S,W,n):' will appear. To search from the current cursor èposition just press RETURN, to search the whole document type G and èpress RETURN.
❎ΓQuitting Protext❎Γ
To finish using Protext and return to the operating system in order to èrun another program, put Protext into command mode and type:
QUIT and press RETURN
If a file has been left unsaved a warning message will appear. èIt is advisable to use QUIT before switching off the computer because èProtext will then tidy up by deleting any temporary files it has ècreated.
❎ΓCut and Paste Editing❎Γ
This is where real word processing begins. Protext allows any èsection of text to be moved or copied to any other part of the text. èThis is often called 'cut and paste' editing.
This chapter will describe the ways to use block mode editing. èA block of text is any continuous section of text. It may be of any èlength and may start at any position in the document and finish at any èposition. When in block editing mode, all text between these two èpoints will be manipulated in whatever way is chosen.
❎ΓDefining a block❎Γ
The first requirement is that the block of text is marked with èblock markers. The cursor should be moved to the start of the section èof text and CTRL❎ÆZ or f9 pressed. This will set a block marker. The èmarker will be indicated on the screen by an inverse video square èbracket. The cursor should then be moved to the end of the section and èCTRL❎ÆZ pressed again, to set a second marker. The block has now been èdefined. An opening square bracket is the start marker, a closing èsquare bracket the end marker. When markers are defined, this will be èindicated on the status line, where the message 'No markers set' will èbe replaced by 'Markers [ ]', showing that both the start and end èmarkers are set.
The markers can be set in either order, and can be at any èposition in the text. The first marker set will be displayed as an èopening bracket, but if the second marker is positioned earlier in the ètext than the first marker, this will change to a closing bracket. If èthe marker is put in the wrong place, pressing CTRL❎ÆZ again while the ècursor is still on the marker will remove it. Either or both block èmarker s can be cleared at any time, by pressing CTRL❎ÆK.
Often a block will consist of a number of complete lines. To èdefine a block like this, the first marker should be positioned at the èstart of the first line, and the second marker at the start of the èline following the last line of the block.
If an attempt is made to set a marker when both are already èset, a beep will sound and an error message will be displayed on the èstatus line. Pressing ESC will resume editing and CTRL❎ÆK can be used èto clear the markers. A block marker can also be set by pointing at a èposition in the text with the mouse and double-clicking.
❎ΓMoving or copying a block❎Γ
Once a block has been defined, it can be moved to any point in èthe text simply by moving the cursor to the required position and èpressing CTRL❎ÆM. The markers will move with the text. The cursor must ènot be within the block at the time; if it is, an error message will èbe displayed on the status line. Pressing ESC will return to edit mode èand the cursor can be moved to the correct position.
The block can also be copied, leaving the original text èintact. This is done by pressing f10. The markers will be moved with èthe block, which makes it easy to see clearly where the new copy of èthe block is and also to copy the block again if required. The cursor èmust not be within the block.
❎ΓDeleting a block❎Γ
The section of text to be deleted must be defined in the usual èway. Pressing CTRL❎ÆDEL will delete the block. If the block is larger èthan the size of the 'undelete' buffer, (see below) a beep will sound èand a warning message will be displayed on the status line, requesting èconfirmation that the block is to be deleted. The block will only be èdeleted if 'Y' is selected.
❎ΓUndeleting a block❎Γ
If a block of text is accidentally deleted, it may often be èrecovered by use of the CTRL❎ÆU command. When text is deleted, Protext èretains the deleted block in a buffer and CTRL❎ÆU will restore it to èthe document.
❎ΓCut and paste editing - Box mode❎Γ
The block mode cut and paste facilities already described only èoperate on continuous sections of the text but the Box mode editing èfacilities described in this chapter extend this to operate on any èsection of text that can be defined by drawing a rectangle on the èformatted text. A block defined in this way is termed a 'box'. This èmode is also known as 'column mode'. There is one new command used for èbox mode. CTRL❎ÆB is used when in edit mode to toggle box mode on or èoff as required. Normally one would leave box mode turned off, except èwhen needed.
❎ΓDefining a box❎Γ
A box is defined by first typing CTRL❎ÆB to enter box mode and èthe message 'BOX' will appear on the status line to indicate that box èmode is in use. The cursor should be moved to the top left corner of èthe (imaginary) box and CTRL❎ÆZ or f9 pressed to set a marker, in the èsame way as described in the previous chapter. The cursor should then èbe moved to the bottom right corner of the box and CTRL❎ÆZ pressed èagain, to set a second marker. Whereas in block mode only a closing èblock marker appeared, this time markers will appear along both the èleft and right hand sides of the box to mark its limits.
❎ΓMoving or copying a box❎Γ
A box can be moved or copied, using the same commands (CTRL❎ÆM, èf10) that were used for block commands, to move or copy the box. The ècursor should be positioned where the top left corner of the box is èrequired and then the appropriate copy/move command used.
❎ΓDeleting a box❎Γ
Box mode delete can be used in one of two ways, depending on èwhether insert or overwrite mode is in operation at the time the box èdelete command is used. Once a box has been marked out for deletion, èCTRL-DEL may be used to delete the box. If insert mode is in èoperation, the effect of this will be that once the box has been èdeleted, any text to the right of the box will move across to the left èto close the gap.
Alternatively, if overwrite mode is selected, using CTRL❎ÆTAB, èbefore the delete command is used, the box of text will be cleared, èbut the area where the box used to be will remain as a blank area.
Very effective layouts can be achieved by the use of box mode. èOne example would be to create a page with two columns of text, along èthe lines of a magazine page. This is simply done by creating the èdocument, formatting it with a width of about 35 characters and then èusing box mode to move the second half up and to the right, èpositioning it alongside the first part of the text. This should be èdone immediately prior to printing, as any further reformatting might èdestroy the formatting of the two columns.
Another use for box mode which can save a considerable amount èof time is to remove surplus columns of figures from text. A box can èbe marked round the columns which are not required and the box can be èdeleted using either overwrite or insert mode, depending on whether èthe remaining text should be moved across or not.
❎ΓRulers Tabs and Margins❎Γ
A ruler is a special line that marks out the margins and tabs. èMargins are the left and right hand limits of the text, whilst tabs èare markers used to position text in set columns on the screen and are èparticularly useful for lining up columns of words or numbers. Tabs èwork in a similar fashion to those of a typewriter, but are much more èflexible. The line at the top of the screen, immediately underneath èthe two status lines, is the 'active ruler line'. When Protext is èinitially loaded and there is no text present, this will be the è'default' ruler which is provided by Protext when no other default èruler is found. Each ! or . on the ruler marks a tab position and the èL and R indicate the left and right margins.
❎ΓRuler lines❎Γ
Initially, with no document in memory, the default ruler èsupplied by Protext is displayed as the active ruler. If a document is èloaded which contains any ruler lines, then the default ruler for that èdocument is considered to be the ruler line in the document which will èbe in operation ❎Γwhen printing commences❎Γ. This is not necessarily the èfirst ruler in the text, but the last ruler before the start of the ètext that will be printed. This ruler line will be considered to be èthe 'default ruler' for the duration of the document, or until such ètime as it is replaced by another one at the start of the printed ètext. The reason for this is explained later in the chapter.
At all times the 'active ruler line' at the top of the screen èis the one applicable to the line that the cursor is on.
New ruler lines can be created to suit any required layout. èThe new ruler line is typed in as a normal line of text. The line must èhave a greater than symbol or chevron (>) in the first column. There èis no need to type in the hyphens (-) along the line, though it may be èpreferred to make the ruler line more readily visible. Wherever a tab èis required, a ! should be typed in and the point . wherever a decimal ètab is wanted. Columns 2 and 3 must contain either spaces, a hyphen, èthe letter L or a ! tab marker.
Any number of ruler lines are allowed in the text and each èapplies from the line beneath, until the next ruler line (or the end èof the text if there are no more ruler lines). When the cursor is èmoved past a ruler line, in either direction, the first ruler line èabove the cursor will immediately replace the previously active ruler èat the top of the screen. If the cursor is moved above the first ruler èline in the text, the Protext default ruler will be restored.
Ruler lines allow the formatting of text in any chosen way. èSimply altering the ruler line and using the CTRL❎ÆF command will èreformat the text (alternatively FORMAT in Command mode will èautomatically reformat the entire document). If full use has been made èof tabulating the text by inserting tab characters, moving the tab èmarkers on the ruler line will cause the text to be repositioned èimmediately, using the altered ruler line. Thus it is easy to move ècolumns of text/figures about or to experiment with different formats èto decide which is best.
There are three editing commands connected with the use of èrulers. The first of these is CTRL❎ÆD, which can be used at any time to ècopy the default ruler to the current cursor position. This can be èparticularly useful to restore the text to a standard format after èusing a special ruler to create tabulated columns of figures, for èexample.
The second command is CTRL❎ÆR which will restore ❎Γthe previous èruler but one❎Γ. The most common use for this command is to restore the èprevious text format after, say, insetting the left and right margins èof a piece of text to highlight it. One of the most common uses of èruler lines is to alternate between two different layouts and using èCTRL❎ÆR at the end of each one will automatically copy down the ruler èappropriate to the previous layout. In this way it is particularly èeasy to switch between two layouts simply by the use of CTRL❎ÆR.
A useful tip is to create an alternative ruler line at the èstart of the document, before any text is printed and before the first èruler line which will be used in the document. When the document is èloaded, the second ruler line will become the default ruler (being the èruler line that applies to the first line of text). When the alternate èruler is required, CTRL❎ÆR can be used to copy it down and subsequently èto alternate between the default ruler and the alternative one.
The third command connected with rulers is CTRL❎ÆV❎æR. This ècommand has the effect of 'hiding the active ruler line' at the top of èthe screen, and releases an extra line for displaying text. Repeated èuse of this command will toggle the ruler line on and off. It only has èany effect on the ruler line beneath the status lines and does not èhide the ruler lines in the document and even when it is invisible, it èstill functions as normal.
❎ΓTabs❎Γ
The main use of tabs is for aligning text or numbers in ècolumns. Protext has two types of tabs, the normal tab and the decimal ètab. The decimal tab also serves the purpose of a 'right èjustification' tab. These tabs are inserted into a ruler line by ètyping in an exclamation mark (!) for a normal tab marker, or a point è(.) for a decimal tab marker, wherever they are required. As many of èeither tab as necessary may be used on each ruler line.
When TAB is pressed (in insert mode) a special tab character èis stored in the text. This character can be thought of as occupying èseveral columns on a line, or as being one long, variable length space èfrom the position where the tab was inserted up to the column marked èby the tab marker in the ruler line.
❎ΓNormal Tabs❎Γ
Each ! on the ruler line indicates a tab position. Pressing èthe TAB key during text entry will move the cursor to the column èappropriate to the next of these positions.
If insert mode is in operation, pressing TAB will result in a ètab marker being inserted into the text, giving the appearance that a ènumber of spaces have been inserted in the line. Pressing DEL once, èimmediately after TAB, will remove the tab marker and all the apparent èspaces and move the cursor back to its previous position. Since the ècursor cannot be moved within the columns formed by this 'long' space, èit will jump over a tab character if moved onto it.
Pressing SHIFT❎ÆTAB will move the cursor to the next tab èposition, but will not insert a tab character. If overwrite mode is èselected, the functions of TAB and SHIFT❎ÆTAB are reversed.
❎ΓDecimal (right justification) Tabs❎Γ
This is a special form of tab which can be used in a number of èways. It permits the alignment of numbers so that the decimal points èline up automatically. Any numbers entered after pressing TAB to move èto a decimal tab will automatically be positioned to the left of the ètab position until the decimal point (.) is entered, after which any èfurther numbers will be placed to the right. If no decimal point is èentered (as for a whole number) and TAB or RETURN is pressed, the ènumber will be right justified in such a way that units, tens, èhundreds etc. all line up.
This tab can also be used with words, as a right justification ètab, in which case the words will be lined up in such a way that the èend of the words are all in line. This can be very useful for entry of èwords like Total and Subtotal in conjunction with columns of figures.
❎ΓThe right margin as a decimal or right justification tab.❎Γ
The right margin (denoted by 'R' on the ruler line) also acts èas a decimal/right justify tab. The TAB key should be pressed a èsufficient number of times to move the cursor to the right hand margin èof the document. Any text typed now will be right-justified at the èmargin. For example the address on a letter, or the date, may be èusefully entered in this way. The text being justified should not ècontain the decimal point character (usually full stop) as this will ècause the text after the point to appear on the next line.
❎ΓMargins❎Γ
The ruler line is also used to define margins. These are èindicated by L for left margin, and R for right margin. These define èthe part of the screen within which text will be formatted. By default èthe left margin will be at column 1 and the right margin at column 70, èbut they can be set, in the same way as tabs, at any position (though èof course the right margin must be to the right of the left margin!).
To set margins a ruler line should be created, as described èabove, the cursor moved to the column at which the left margin is to èbe set and the letter L typed. Next the position of the right margin èshould be selected with the cursor and the letter R typed. If the left èmargin is to remain at column 1 then the L should be omitted.
To see the effect of changing margins try creating a new ruler èline above a paragraph of text with, for example, a left margin at ècolumn 5 and a right margin at 60. The status lines show the current ècolumn number and serve as a guide to selecting the correct columns. èPositioning the cursor in column 1 of the first line of the paragraph èand reformatting it with CTRL❎ÆF will rearrange the text to fit within èthe new margins.
❎ΓLeft margins and tabs - applications❎Γ
1. Indentation of the first line of a paragraph
This is best done by setting a tab marker on the ruler line in èthe column to which the text is to be indented. At the start of each èparagraph, pressing TAB, prior to typing the text, will position the ècursor accordingly.
It is easy to indent the text at any subsequent stage, simply èby moving the cursor to the start of the paragraph, pressing TAB, and èthen CTRL❎ÆF to re-format the paragraph. This is particularly useful èfor splitting a paragraph in two.
Example: a ruler line to give 57 column wide text with a tab at column è5 for indenting the first line of the paragraph.
The main use of left margins is for indentation of a section èof text. When RETURN (or SHIFT❎ÆRETURN or CTRL❎ÆRETURN) is pressed the ècursor moves to the left margin, so, by setting an indented left èmargin, text can be automatically indented.
3. Marginal comments
When the text is formatted with the FORMAT command any text èthat is within the left margin i.e. to the left of the left margin èsetting, at the start of a paragraph (the first line), is unaffected. èIf the formatting command, CTRL❎ÆF is used from edit mode, in order to èreformat a paragraph, the effect will be exactly the same, unless the ècursor is positioned in column 1 at the start of a paragraph when the ècommand is used, in which case the whole paragraph will be moved èwithin the left and right margins.
This means that the left margin can be used to include èmarginal comments with the text at the start of a paragraph. To type a ècomment in the margin, CTRL ❎Æ should be used to move the cursor to ècolumn 1. Tabs are allowed within the margin.
For example the following ruler line may be found useful for ènumbering indented paragraphs:
Another use for this type of layout is for the creation of èscripts and one of the advantages is that marginal comments can be èadded at any time without disturbing the main body of the text, as èlong as they are restricted to the area to the left of the left èmargin. Care must be taken since formatting the text will leave text èin the margin on the first line of paragraphs, but integrate comments èon later lines with the main body of the text. It is prefera ble not èto reformat paragraphs of this sort.
❎ΓFormatting❎Γ
Formatting is the process which determines the layout of the ètext and takes two forms, automatic formatting and manual re-èformatting.
❎ΓAutomatic Formatting❎Γ
There are two main features which determine the final èappearance of the document and which happen automatically as the text èis entered.
❎Éè❎ΓWord Wrap❎Γ
When a line of text is typed, the cursor moves on to the next èline, and any part-entered words are also moved with it. This èoperation is called 'word- wrap'. The status line will indicate that èword-wrap is working. CTRL❎ÆW toggles word-wrap on and off and the èstatus line will change to indicate this. Setting word-wrap to 'off' èand typing a line of text will show the difference. The cursor stays èon the same line until RETURN is pressed. When the edge of the screen èis reached, the display will scroll sideways. Pressing CTRL❎ÆW a èfurther time will turn word wrap back on again.
❎ΓRight Justification❎Γ
All text appears with a straight right hand edge, like a book. èThis is the default setting and the status line will indicate that èright-justification is in operation.
Protext lines up the right hand edge by automatically spacing èout the words on a line. CTRL❎ÆJ may be used to turn off the right- èjustification, and the status line will change to indicate this. If a èparagraph is now typed in, it will be found that the right hand e dge èis 'ragged', as if typed on a typewriter.
❎ΓManual Re-formatting❎Γ
There are two ways to force the text to be re-formatted. These ècommands are less important in version 4 of Protext than previously èbecause version 4 features automatic re-formatting of the text in most èsituations. That is, if a paragraph is edited, the correct format will èbe restored without the need for these commands. Sometimes it may be èdesirable to switch auto-reformatting off temporarily. This can be èdone by pressing SHIFT-CTRL-R.
❎ΓEdit Mode Formatting❎Γ
If the format of just a small part of the text has been èdestroyed, it is easier to re-format these small areas whilst still in èedit mode. All that is required is to position the cursor on the first èline that needs re-formatting and type CTRL❎ÆF, which will cause the èremainder of the paragraph to be re-formatted according to the èjustification, word-wrap and ruler line settings. An alternative ècommand is SHIFT-CTRL-F which formats the current paragraph without èmoving the cursor.
❎ΓCommand Mode Formatting❎Γ
If considerable areas have been disrupted, or it has been èdecided to alter the number of characters on a line (see chapter on èTabs and Margins), the simplest way to re-format is to return to ècommand mode, using ESC and then type in the command FORMAT. This will èautomatically re-format the entire text, from start to finish, in one ègo.
A variation of this command is FORMATB, which will format the èpart of the document selected with the Block markers (see 'Cut and èPaste Editing' for details of block markers), but will continue past èthe end of block marker to the end of the paragraph.
❎ΓCentring text❎Γ
It can be very useful to be able to position text, such as a ètitle, exactly centred on the line. This can be done by moving the ècursor to the line in question and pressing CTRL❎ÆC. The text will be ècentred and the cursor will be moved to the left margin of the next èline.
If the file is re-formatted with a different text width (as èexplained in the previous section), the line will no longer be ècentred. To ensure that the line is always correctly centred, the èthree characters '>CE' should be typed in the first three columns of èthe line. This is another example of a 'stored command'. Protext will ècorrectly centre enlarged titles when the characters are twice the èwidth of the normal text. It is essential that '>CE' is used if this èis required.
❎ΓFormatting whilst printing❎Γ
Protext also has a stored command, '>FP ON/OFF' which may be èembedded into the text and which ensures that the document is èreformatted during the course of printing. See 'Stored commands' for èfull details.
❎ΓSoft spaces, returns and hyphens❎Γ
Soft characters are used by Protext for formatting. When a èparagraph is right-justified, spaces are inserted in the line. These èspaces are treated differently from spaces inserted by pressing the èspace bar (these are called hard spaces). Hard spaces can never be èremoved by formatting, but soft spaces can.
There is a similar distinction between a hard and soft return è(end of line). A hard return occurs where the RETURN key has been èpressed, and this marks the end of the paragraph. A soft return occurs èwhere the action of word-wrap has caused a new line to be started. èLike soft spaces, soft returns can be removed by formatting.
A soft hyphen is slightly different in that it must be èexplicitly entered by pressing CTRL and hyphen and will be displayed èin inverse. Soft hyphens can be inserted at points in a word where èhyphenation is permissible. The formatter will then split a word at a èsoft hyphen and display a hyphen instead of moving the whole word onto èthe next line.
A soft hyphen will only be printed on the printer if it is at èthe end of a line, i.e. where the formatter has split the word. This èfeature is especially useful if there is a long word that is just too èlong to fit on the end of the line, but which might subsequently be èmoved by reformatting of the text.
❎ΓTwo File Editing❎Γ
Protext provides the facility to work on two documents at the èsame time. These documents are maintained quite separately and are èloaded and saved individually. Any operation can be carried out on one èdocument without affecting the other, the cursor location and all èmarkers being maintained separately for each document. Blocks of text ècan be copied between one document and the other.
This is an extremely powerful function and is controlled by èonly three commands, one of which is used from command mode and the èother two from edit mode.
SWAP (SW) : Command mode - Swap between two documents in memory
CTRL❎ÆO : Edit mode - Copy block over from the other document
CTRL❎ÆY : Edit mode - same function as SWAP
To load a second document, 'SW' should be entered from command èmode and the current document will be switched, leaving an empty èdocument. The second document should be loaded in the normal way. èSwitching between the two documents will cause the information on the èstatus lines to change to suit the current document, enabling easy èrecognition of which document is being worked on.
In edit mode, CTRL❎ÆY performs exactly the same purpose as è'SW', enabling quick switching between documents. The CTRL❎ÆO (letter èo) command is extremely useful, as it enables any part of the text of èeither document to be copied over to the other.
Before a block of text can be copied over, the block should be èmarked out using the markers in the normal fashion. Typing CTRL❎ÆY will èswap files and the cursor should be positioned where the text is èrequired. If CTRL❎ÆO is then pressed, the block will be copied across èat the current cursor position.
If the original text is no longer required, CTRL❎ÆY should be èpressed again, to return to the original document, followed by èpressing CTRL❎ÆDEL, to delete the original text. Boxes may also be ècopied between the two files by selecting box mode in the file ècontaining the box to be copied.
Two file editing is also very convenient as a means of keeping ènotes, for later attention, during the course of editing a document. èPress CTRL❎ÆY, make the note and CTRL❎ÆY again, to return to the èoriginal document.
Another use for CTRL❎ÆO is for transferring text from one file èto another - load the first file, type SWAP, load the second file and èuse CTRL❎ÆO to copy the blocks required into the first file, before re- èsaving it. This is quicker than using SB (save block), loading the èother file and merging the saved block of text into the document and èfinally resaving it.
❎ΓPrinting❎Γ
❎ΓPrinter drivers❎Γ
Protext is supplied with a number of printer drivers to suit a èwide range of printers and the drivers to be used will be selected as èpart of the installation process. The PROTEXT.CFG configuration file ècontains details of the default printer driver to be loaded at the èsame time as Protext.
A printer driver is a collection of codes that a particular èprinter uses, including the codes for underlining, bold, etc. With one èexception (the 'simple printer driver') all printer drivers are stored èas files with the suffix '.PPD' (Protext Printer Driver).
The simple printer driver is built in to the program and is èdesigned to work with virtually all printers, since it uses no special ècodes, but just assumes that the printer is capable of backspacing. In èthe event that no printer driver has been loaded into Protext, this èprinter driver will be used. The simple printer driver only supports èunderlining and boldface print.
Different printer drivers may be loaded at any time which èmeans that if both a daisy wheel and a dot matrix printer are èconnected to the computer, it is possible to print out a draft copy on èthe dot matrix printer and then do the top copy on the daisy wheel èprinter. Printer drivers may be loaded either from command mode using èthe PRINTER command (See 'Commands'), or from within the document by èusing the stored command '>PR' (See chapter on 'Stored commands').
❎ΓWhat are printer control codes?❎Γ
Printer control codes are used to control the special features èof a printer, such as underlining, different sizes and styles of èprint, subscripts, superscripts and selecting different character èsets.
Each make and model of printer has its own control codes and èProtext needs to know what printer control codes the printer requires èto carry out the different type styles and effects. This information èis stored in the printer drivers.
Protext's printer control codes are special single characters, èwhich are embedded into the text while editing. These are recognised èby Protext when it is sending text to the printer, at which point it èsubstitutes the sequence of numbers appropriate to the code and sends èthose to the printer instead. The result of this is that once a èsuitable driver has been created (if necessary), inserting a single ècode into the text can have the effect of sending a complete sequence èof codes to the printer.
❎ΓHow to use printer control codes❎Γ
Printer control codes may be entered anywhere in the text. èThis is done by typing CTRL❎ÆX followed by a letter. Any letter from è'a' to 'z' can be defined to represent any code, but as standard, èseveral have been allocated uses covering the most common features:
b bold (emphasised)
c condensed print
d double-strike
e elite (12 cpi)
i italics
l enlarged
n normal (pica) (10 cpi)
p proportional
q near letter quality (NLQ)
s subscript
t superscript
u underline
When one of these codes is entered, the letter appears in the ètext in inverse video display. In most cases the first occurrence of èthe code turns on the appropriate feature and the second occurrence èturns it off.
For example: To underline a single word, the cursor should be èmoved to the start of the word and CTRL❎ÆX pressed, followed by U. The ècursor should then be moved to the end of the word and the same èsequence repeated.
The codes 'e' and 'n' are different, having no meaning for è'off'. They are mutually exclusive styles of print, so turning one off èis done by selecting the other. On certain printers (including the èKaga Taxan) the q code also works in this way, but on most printers èthe NLQ print must be turned off with a second 'q' code. The printer èdrivers for these printers are configured to suit their mode of èoperation.
Each printer code occupies one column on the screen, but èProtext takes this into account and when the text is printed, èjustification will be correct. Any tabulation or formatting will èappear visually wrong when printer codes are visible on the screen, so èa command is included to overcome this problem and allow the text to èbe viewed without the printer codes. This is CTRL❎ÆV❎æV. Pressing èCTRL❎ÆV❎æV a second time restores the display of printer codes.
❎ΓMacro record mode❎Γ
Macro record mode provides an easy method for defining macros, èin situations where a repetitive sequence of keystrokes is being used. èIt is equivalent to using the KEY command (described below), but much èeasier to use.
Press CTRL-f1 at any time to turn record mode on. Then press èthe key to which the macro is to be assigned. This may be any function èkey, any function key with ALT, SHIFT or CTRL, or any letter key with èALT or SHIFT-ALT. Pressing ESC at the 'Press macro key' prompt will ècancel the command, otherwise record mode will be turned on.
All key presses will now be recorded until CTRL-f1 is pressed èagain to turn record mode off. This includes all command sequences as èwell as any letters and symbols. ESC may be used to swap between edit èand command mode.
Once a macro has been recorded it can be re-used simply by èpressing the chosen function or letter key combination.
