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Technotools (Chestnut CD-ROM)(1993).ISO
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1992-04-22
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Introduction
Menu Bar
Diagram Menu
Search Menu
Action Menu
Object Menu
Option Menu
Language Menu
MSDOS
Finishing a Diagram Edit Session
Contracting or Expanding Display
Dragging Brackets
Deleting and Inserting Blocks
Deleting and Inserting Lines
Increasing and Decreasing Exit Level
Exporting a diagram
Using the Mouse
Word Wrap
INTRODUCTION
This is the ACTION DIAGRAMMER Help System.
Use the cursor keys or mouse to select a topic.
and press return. You may return to the topic
list by pressing Enter.
Return to the main menu by pressing ESC.
MENU BAR
Active items on the Menu Bar are accessed by
pressing the ALT key and the highlighted letter of
the desired choice. Some choices will present a
pull down menu with further choices. Select from
these menus by pressing the highlighted letter of
your choice or by using the cursor key or mouse to
select a choice.
Note that certain menu items will always be
available. For example, you may not save a diagram
when none is being edited. Unavailable choices
are displayed with their characters in reverse
video.
DIAGRAM MENU
NEW Create a new diagram. You must supply a
file name for the new diagram.
OPEN Load an existing diagram. You may
supply a diagram name (with or without
the .AD extension) OR press TAB and
select a diagram from the scrollable
list of diagrams in the default
directory.
CLOSE Close the current diagram and return to
the main menu.
SAVE Save the current diagram. The diagram
may be saved under another name. The
current name is used by default.
Whenever a diagram is saved, a backup
copy is created automatically.
SAVE AS Save the current diagram under a new name.
No backup is created.
RENAME Rename the current diagram. You will be
asked to supply a new name for the
diagram.
PRINT Print the current diagram or another on
the printer.
In this version, you must have opened an
existing or new diagram for editing.
You may print with or without control
brackets.
EXPORT Print the current diagram or another to
a file. It will appear in the file
exactly as displayed - without page
headings or page breaks.
In this version, you must have opened an
existing or new diagram for exporting.
You may print with or without control
brackets.
EXIT Leave AD and return to DOS. Prompt to
save the diagram if it has changed.
NOTE: all diagrams are stored in files with '.AD'
as an extension (i.e., DIAGRAM.AD). You may
supply just the name without the extension when
asked.
SEARCH
FIND/REPLACE
This option will display a dialog box
consisting of two fields and four buttons.
Enter the text to be searched for in the
Find Text field. You may want to enter a
regular expression (see REGULAR.TXT for
details).
To replace the text searched for, enter
the replacement text in the Change To
field.
Select one of the three buttons whose menu
equivalents are described below. Subse-
quent searches for the same text may be
performed with the following menu choices
rather than by redisplaying this dialog
box.
FIND NEXT
Find the text or regular expression in
the Find Text field.
REPLACE NEXT
Replace the next occurance of the text or
regular expression in the Find Text field
with the text in the Change To field.
REPLACE ALL
Replace the all following occurances of
the text or regular expression in the
Find Text field with the text in the
Change To field.
ACTION MENU
The action menu presents a list of control
structures which may be inserted at any
appropriate point in a diagram. While editing a
diagram, press ALT_A to display the menu. Select
an item from the menu by pressing the highlighted
letter in the item you wish to select or use the
mouse or cursor keys to highlight your choice and
press Enter.
If the object can be inserted at the point of the
cursor, it will be and the display will be
updated. Some hidden blocks may be hidden as
required.
OBJECT MENU
The Object menu presents a list of EXPERIMENTAL
Object-Oriented Analysis control structures which
may be inserted at any appropriate point in a
diagram.
While editing a diagram, press ALT_O to display
the menu. Select an item from the menu by pressing
the highlighted letter in the item you wish to
select or use the mouse or cursor keys to highlight
your choice and press Enter.
If the object can be inserted at the point of the
cursor, it will be and the display will be updated.
Some hidden blocks may be hidden as required.
Please read the accompanying file OBJECTS.TXT for
details regarding this experimental function.
OPTION MENU
PROJECT DOS path to the subdirectory where
PATH diagrams are stored.
You may wish to use separate
directories for each project.
Reset this path to switch projects.
SUPPORT DOS path to the subdirectory where
PATH language specifications, the help
file and the configuration file are
stored. You will want to enter this
directory in your environment:
SET ADDIR=<support directory>
PRINTERS The default printer driver for your
printer. Use the up and down arrow
keys in the printers list window to
display your printer. Then press TAB
to accept the displayed printer and
procede to the next option.
USE Control brackets will (will not) be
BRACKETS used when a diagram is printed or
exported.
Press the spacebar to toggle this
checkbox.
REPORT Number of lines per printed report
LINES page. This entry MUST correspond to
your printer's lines per page setting.
TAB SIZE Number of spaces in a tab stop.
LANGUAGES The default language specification
for your diagrams. Use the up and
down arrow in the languages list window
to display the desired language. Then
press TAB to accept the displayed
printer and procede to the next option.
LANGUAGE MENU
LOAD Load an existing language specification
and make it the default.
You may supply a language specification
name (with or without the .LN
extension) OR press TAB and select a
language specification from the
scrollable list of language
specifications in the suppport
directory.
You may load a new language while editing
a diagram (i.e., switch from Structured
English to "C" and back).
NEW Create a new language specification.
You must supply a file name for the new
language specification.
OPEN Load an existing language
specification. You may supply a
language specification name (with or
without the .LN extension) OR press TAB
and select a language specification
from the scrollable list of language
specifications in the default
directory.
CLOSE Close the current diagram and return to
the main menu.
SAVE Save the current language specification.
The language specification may be saved
under another name. The current name is
used by default.
Whenever a language specification is
saved, a backup copy is created
automatically.
SAVE AS Save the current language under a new name.
No backup is created.
RENAME Rename the current language
specification. You will be asked to
supply a new name for the language
specification.
PRINT Print the current language specification
or another on the printer.
In this version, you must have opened an
existing or new language specification
for editing.
NOTE: all language specifications are stored in
files with '.LN' as an extension (i.e.,
LANGUAGE.LN). You may supply just the name
without the extension when asked.
MSDOS
Exit from AD and create a DOS shell from which
you may execute other programs and commands.
Most (all but about 23K) of AD will be swapped
out of memory to allow for the maximum possible
amount of free memory.
From the DOS prompt, enter EXIT to return to
AD.
If you experience difficulties - AD reports
unsafe interrupts - run tsrint (include) before
running AD. This small program requires about
1.5K of memory.
FINISHING A DIAGRAM EDIT SESSION
In order to stop editing the current diagram, use
one of the following options.
DIAGRAM MENU
Choose Close or Exit. You may want to
save your diagram first.
ESC When you are ready to stop editing,
press ESC. You will be given the option
of saving or abandoning your changes.
Whenever a diagram is saved, a backup
copy is created automatically.
CONTRACTING OR EXPANDING DISPLAY
C_LEFT or
CLICK LEFT SCROLL ARROW
Contract display 1 level.
C_RIGHT or
CLICK RIGHT SCROLL ARROW
Expand display 1 level.
Pressing these keys will increase or
decrease the amount of data displayed.
Each press of the C_LEFT (LEFT SCROLL
ARROW) key will hide the most deeply
nested control blocks. Hidden blocks
will be displayed with the text on the
block's first line thus:
SELECT next in the series ...
To reveal hidden blocks, press the
C_RIGHT (RIGHT SCROLL ARROW) key until
the desired display is obtained.
S_LEFT or
CLICK RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON
Contract display of a control block.
S_RIGHT or
CLICK LEFT MOUSE BUTTON
Expand display of a control block.
Pressing these keys will increase or
decrease the amount of data displayed
for the control block at which the
cursor is pointing.
To contract a block, move the cursor to
the first line of the control bracket and
press S_LEFT (RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON). The
block will contract, a special symbol ""
will appear to the left of the contracted
block. The block will remain contracted
until explicitly expanded
by pressing S_RIGHT, RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON or
F8 or F9 (described below).
Hidden blocks will be displayed with the
text on the block's first line thus:
SELECT next in the series ...
To expand a block, move the cursor to the
line above a contracted block marked with
the "" symbol and press S_RIGHT (RIGHT MOUSE
BUTTON). Only that block will expand.
F6 Expands all blocks contracted by pressing
C_LEFT (LEFT SCROLL ARROW). Contracted
blocks marked with "" are NOT expanded.
F7 Expands all blocks contracted by pressing
S_LEFT (RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON). Contracted
blocks marked with "" ARE expanded.
F8 Expands ALL blocks regardless of how
contracted.
NOTE: All blocks marked with "" will remain
when the diagram is saved. Thus you may create a
particular view of your diagram and retain it for
future use and printing.
DRAGGING BRACKETS
F1 Moves bracket start/end or case/else
downward.
F2 Moves bracket start/end or case/else
upward.
To use either key, move the cursor to
the start or end of the bracket you wish
to drag up or down and press the
appropriate function key.
DELETING AND INSERTING BLOCKS
F3 Delete block at cursor to scrap buffer.
Place the cursor on the first line of a
block. Press F3 and the block and all
data contained within it will be deleted
to the scrap buffer. You may relocate a
block by first deleting it to scrap and
then reinserting it elsewhere as
described for the SH_DEL key. You may
copy a block by deleting it, immediately
reinserting it by pressing SH_INS and then
inserting a copy elsewhere.
F4 Delete bracket from around block; leave
text intact.
The brackets may be removed from a
control block leaving intact everything
contained inside of the block.
Place the cursor on the first line of
the block and press this key.
DELETING AND INSERTING LINES
SH_INS Insert block or lines from scrap buffer
following current line.
Blocks or lines which have been deleted
to the scrap buffer may be reinserted at
any point in the diagram by locating the
cursor at the desired insertion point an
pressing this key.
Note that you may insert only at lines
which are not part of a control block -
interior lines. That is, locate the
cursor on a line which is not at the
beginning or end of a block, a case or
exit.
CTRL_ENTER
Insert a blank line at cursor.
Place the cursor on the line above the
point at which the a new line is desired
and press the key.
Blank lines may also be inserted by
pressing the Enter key. If the cursor
is on a control structure member, a
blank line will be inserted just as if
S_INS had been pressed. Pressing Enter
in the middle of ordinary text, will
break the line at that point.
S_DEL Delete entire current line or selected
block of lines to scrap.
Pressing this key while the cursor is on
an interior line will delete the line to
the scrap buffer.
In some cases, a blank line will replace
the deleted line in order to maintain
the required separation between control
structures.
A block of interior lines may be marked
and deleted by using the following 2
keys to highlight the lines to be
deleted.
Deleted lines may be reinserted in the
diagram by pressing SH_INS so long as no
other deletions are performed before the
insertion.
S_UP Extend selection of a block one line up.
S_DOWN Extend selection of a block one line
down.
INCREASING AND DECREASING EXIT LEVEL
CTRL_+ Increase exit level.
CTRL_- Decrease exit level.
Use these keys to increase or decrease
an exit level. Place the cursor on an
exit line and adjust the arrow as
needed.
EXPORTING A DIAGRAM
You may wish to export a diagram to a text file
for inclusion in another document or to use as
source code - assuming that you used a programming
language specification.
The diagram will be exported to a file of your
choosing, with or without control brackets. This
file may be used as you see fit. AD doesn't know
of its existance. In fact, AD will overwrite
a preexisting file without warning.
To export, select the export option from the
Diagram menu.
USING THE MOUSE
A mouse may be used to select menu options,
position the cursor within text and to control
the vertical scroll bar.
An item may be selected from a list box by
clicking on it and then pressing Enter or by
double clicking on the desired item.
The mouse may also be used to expand and contract
the the display. See Contracting or Expanding
Display.
WORD WRAP
AD will automatically word wrap at the end of a
line as you type. If insertions in the middle of
a line force the end of the line past the right
side of the screen, the line will extend itself
beyond the right margin. Then, when the cursor
leaves the line, the line will break at a
point which ensures that there is no hidden text.
You may find it necessary to join two lines by
placing the cursor at the end of the first line
and pressing DEL.
The opening and closing lines of a control
structure WILL NOT wrap.