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L A U G H I N G D O G S C R E E N M A K E R ----------------------------------------------- V1.00 U s e r 's M a n u a l --------------------------- Copyright 1992, Jeff Sloan Yardbird Software Box 4646 West Hills, California 91308 Phone: (818)704-6402 CompuServe: 73650,104 _______ ____|__ | (R) --| | |------------------- | ____|__ | Association of | | |_| Shareware |__| o | Professionals -----| | |--------------------- |___|___| MEMBER Trademarks & Acknowledgments Registered Trademarks HP & LaserJet are trademarks of Hewlett-Packard Company. Turbo C & Turbo Pascal are trademarks of Borland International. Epson is a trademark of Epson Corporation. PostScript is a trademark of Adobe Systems, Incorporated. PageMaker is a trademark of Aldus Corporation. Ventura Publisher is a trademark of Xerox Corporation. PKZIP and PKware are trademarks of PKware Incorporated. WildCat! is a trademark of Mustang Software. PCBoard is a trademark of Clark Development Company, Inc. DESQview is a trademark of Quarterdeck Office Systems. Macintosh is a trademark of Apple Computer Inc. IBM is a trademark of International Business Machines. GW Basic, QuickBASIC, QuickC, Windows & MASM. are trademarks of Microsoft Corp. Acknowledgments The author wishes to thank Mike McGrath for his advice, testing, and encouragement early on in this program's development. Most of his suggestions have made their way into the program in one form or another. Mike also acted as my proofreader and editor while preparing this manual. I also wish to recognize Bob Wenzel for his important help in the fine-tuning of the Laughing Dog's user interface. I would like to thank all of my CompuServe and GEnie beta testers, especially Duane Paulson. Their suggestions have helped make the Laughing Dog Screen Maker a more complete and easier program to use. ASP Ombudsman statement Yardbird Software is a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI 49442 or send a CompuServe message via CompuServe Mail to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual i The Shareware Concept Shareware distribution gives users a chance to try software before buying it. If you try a Shareware program and continue using it, you are expected to register. Individual programs differ on details -- some request registration while others require it, some specify a maximum trial period. With registration, you get anything from the simple right to continue using the software to an updated program with printed manual. See "Registering The Laughing Dog Screen Maker" below for details on what you will receive in return for registering this program. Copyright laws apply to both Shareware and commercial software, and the copyright holder retains all rights, with a few specific exceptions as stated below. Shareware authors are accomplished programmers, just like commercial authors, and the programs are of comparable quality. (In both cases, there are good programs and bad ones!) The main difference is in the method of distribution. The author specifically grants the right to copy and distribute the software, either to all and sundry or to a specific group. For example, some authors require written permission before a commercial disk vendor may copy their Shareware. See the files VENDOR.DOC and SYSOP.DOC for Laughing Dog Screen Maker distribution rights. Shareware is a distribution method, not a type of software. You should find software that suits your needs and pocketbook, whether it's commercial or Shareware. The Shareware system makes fitting your needs easier, because you can try before you buy. Because the overhead is low, prices are low also. Shareware has the ultimate money-back guarantee -- if you don't use the product, you don't pay for it. This Program is YOURS! Participating in the shareware marketplace as a registered user brings more than the mere satisfaction of doing the right thing, you really become a part of the creative process. We at Yardbird Software welcome any comments, requests or suggestions you may have for enhancements to this program, or for entirely new programs you would like to see produced and distributed as shareware. Please let us know how we may serve you in any way we can. Registered users will also be kept abreast of updates and new product offerings from Yardbird Software. We would also love to hear about your particular application of the Laughing Dog Screen Maker. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual ii Disclaimer -- Agreement (All references to the "Laughing Dog Screen Maker" include the executable files: LDOG.EXE, LDOGRAB.EXE and LDOGSHOW.EXE.) Users of the Laughing Dog Screen Maker must accept this disclaimer of warranty: "The Laughing Dog Screen Maker is supplied as is. The author disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability and of fitness for any purpose. The author assumes no liability for damages, direct or consequential, which may result from the use of the Laughing Dog Screen Maker." The Laughing Dog Screen Maker is a "shareware program" and is provided at no charge to the user for evaluation. Feel free to share it with your friends, but please do not give it away altered or as part of another system. The essence of "user-supported" software is to provide personal computer users with quality software without high prices, and yet to provide incentive for programmers to continue to develop new products. If you find the Laughing Dog Screen Maker to be a useful program and continue to use it after a reasonable trial period (30 days), you must make a registration payment of $35.00 to Yardbird Software (See Registering The Laughing Dog Screen Maker below). The $35.00 registration fee will license one copy for use on any one computer at any one time. You must treat this software just like a book. An example is that this software may be used by any number of people and may be freely moved from one computer location to another, so long as there is no possibility of it being used at one location while it's being used at another, just as a book cannot be read by two different persons at the same time. Anyone distributing the Laughing Dog Screen Maker for any kind of remuneration must first contact Yardbird Software at the address below for authorization. This authorization will be automatically granted to distributors recognized by the Association of Shareware Professionals as adhering to its guidelines for shareware distributors, and such distributors may begin offering the Laughing Dog Screen Maker immediately. However, Yardbird Software must still be advised so that the distributor can be kept up-to-date with the latest version of the Laughing Dog Screen Maker. For more information see the file: VENDOR.DOC, included on the distribution disk. You are encouraged to pass a copy of the Laughing Dog Screen Maker along to your friends for evaluation. Please encourage them to register their copy if they find that they can use it. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual iii Registering The Laughing Dog Screen Maker If you find the Laughing Dog Screen Maker to be a useful tool, please register it. Yardbird Software depends on your support in order to continue to serve your needs with high quality, reasonably priced software. To register, send $35 cash, check, or money order to Yardbird Software at the address below. California residents please add the current sales tax to the total. Outside the USA, please add $10 to cover special shipping and handling costs, for a total of $45. US funds drawn on a US bank, or cash are acceptable--cash payments should be sent via registered mail and may be in US funds or in your country's currency at the current exchange rate. Yardbird Software cannot be responsible for cash payment lost in the mail. You may print out an order form from within the Laughing Dog Screen Maker program by selecting the Print Registration Form button on the registration reminder screen or by printing the REGISTER.DOC file included on the distribution disk. Credit Card orders will be accepted through Public (software) Library (PsL). Call the PsL toll-free order line (800)242-4775 to place your order. To speed your order use PsL's item number #10538 for the Laughing Dog Screen Maker when ordering.This 800 number is for ORDERS ONLY! The people there are unable to answer any other questions about the program. For information on the program or technical help please call Yardbird Software direct at the number below. You may also instantly register via CompuServe's Shareware Registration service. The registration fee will be billed to your CompuServe account, and the registered version will be shipped to you immediately! Just log onto CompuServe and type "GO SWREG" at the ! prompt. Then choose "Register Shareware" and search the database using the Registration ID: 344, or Program Name: "Laughing Dog Screen Maker" Then just follow the on screen instructions. For information on volume discounts or site licensing, contact Yardbird Software at the address or phone number below. All registered users will receive a copy of the latest version of the Laughing Dog Screen Maker Programs: LDOG.EXE, LDOGSHOW.EXE, & LDOGRAB.EXE, devoid of ALL Shareware notices and reminder screens. Registered users also receive a bound, illustrated version of this manual and several demonstration screen files. Registered users will also be notified of any future updates to the Laughing Dog Screen Maker, and be given the opportunity to upgrade at a reduced price. For further information or technical assistance, please feel free to contact Yardbird Software via mail, phone, or email at: Yardbird Software Phone (voice): (818)704-6402 Box 4646 CompuServe: 73650,104 West Hills, CA 91308 GEnie: J.SLOAN7 _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual iv What is The Laughing Dog Screen Maker? A hammer is the ideal tool, you just pick it up and use it. Its purpose is obvious and its function is intuitive. The Laughing Dog Screen Maker is that kind of a tool. You won't be spending a lot of time reading this manual, you will be spending your time creating screens. After all, that's what you are interested in, isn't it? Full mouse support, on-line help, pop up menus, and dialog boxes provide an intuitive user interface to the various nuts and bolts used to design screens. Choose colors and special characters by pointing to what you want. Copy, move, clear, recolor, or fill a portion of the screen with a few keystrokes. Draw titled windows automatically. Save screens in a compressed format to be displayed later individually, or as a part of a slide show. Capture screens from other text mode programs, modify them if needed, and then use them in a slide show presentation. Print screens on most dot-matrix and laser printers. Produce PostScript (EPS) output for import into word processing or desktop publishing programs. Source code is automatically generated in BASIC, C, Pascal, and assembly language. Screens can be exported in the WildCat! and PCBoard BBS formats, for use on bulletin board systems. Ready to run executable files can also be produced. In addition to all of this, the Laughing Dog Screen Maker is FUN TO USE. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual v ---TABLE OF CONTENTS--- Trademarks & Acknowledgements...................................i The Shareware Concept..........................................ii Disclaimer -- Agreement.......................................iii Registering The Laughing Dog Screen Maker......................iv What is The Laughing Dog Screen Maker?..........................v 1. Introduction.................................................3 2. Packing List--Files you should have..........................5 3. System Requirements..........................................6 4. Installation.................................................6 5. Quick Start (the bare-bone essentials).......................7 6. The Basics..................................................12 6.1 Starting the Laughing Dog Screen Maker.................12 6.1.1 Command Line Options.............................12 6.1.2 Running LDOG Under Desqview......................13 6.2 Using the On-line Help System..........................13 6.3 Using Menus............................................14 6.4 Using Hot Keys.........................................16 6.5 Using Dialog Boxes.....................................17 6.6 Using LDOG.EXE On a Mono or LCD Monitor................18 7. The STATUS BOX -- Information at Your Paws.................19 7.1 Using The STATUS BOX...................................19 7.1.1 The Cursor Position Indicator....................19 7.1.2 The Line-Type/Window Border Indicator............20 7.1.3 The Current Special Character/Color Attribute Indicator........................................20 7.1.4 The Special Mode Indicator.......................20 7.1.5 Moving and Hiding The Status Box.................20 7.1.6 Dumb Mouse Tricks................................21 7.1.7 Selecting a Special Character/Line-Type..........21 7.1.8 Selecting A Color Attribute......................23 8. Drawing Screens.............................................25 8.1 Modes of Operation.....................................25 8.1.1 NORMAL Mode......................................25 8.1.2 INSERT Mode......................................27 8.1.3 SELECT Mode......................................28 8.1.4 LINE DRAWING Mode................................30 8.2 Drawing Screens Using the Mouse........................32 8.2.1 Accessing Menus..................................32 8.2.2 Positioning the Cursor...........................32 8.2.3 Selecting a Block................................32 8.2.4 Drawing Lines & Boxes............................33 8.2.5 Changing the Current Color or Special Character..33 8.2.6 Getting Help.....................................33 8.2.7 Taming the Wild Mouse (Constraining Mouse Cursor Movement).............34 _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 1 8.3 Drawing Screens Using the Keyboard.....................35 8.3.1 Accessing Menus..................................35 8.3.2 Positioining the Cursor..........................35 8.3.4 Selecting a Block................................35 8.3.5 Drawing Lines & Boxes............................35 8.3.6 Entering Text....................................36 8.3.7 Entering Special Characters......................36 8.3.8 Changing the Current Color or Special Character..36 8.3.9 Getting Help.....................................37 8.4 Block Operations: Moving, Copy, Paste, Recolor, Fill, Erase, & Make A Window.................................38 9. Loading and Saving Screens..................................39 9.1 Loading a Screen.......................................39 9.2 Saving a Screen........................................40 9.3 Changing the Data Path.................................41 10. Producing Useful Output....................................42 10.1 Generating Source Code................................42 10.1.1 BASIC Code......................................44 10.1.2 BSAVE File Format...............................46 10.1.3 C Code..........................................47 10.1.4 Pascal Code.....................................50 10.1.5 Assembly Code...................................52 10.2 Other Export File Formats.............................56 10.2.1 BINARY Files....................................57 10.2.2 Executable COM Files............................58 10.2.3 ANSI Files......................................64 10.2.4 WildCat! & PCBoard BBS Files....................66 10.3 Printing Screens......................................67 10.3.1 Setting the Printer Options.....................67 10.3.2 Laughing Dog's PostScript Output................68 11. The Laughing Dog Menus.....................................69 11.1 The MAIN MENU.........................................71 11.1.1 The NEW SCREEN MENU.............................72 11.1.2 The OPTIONS MENU................................73 11.1.3 The GENERATE CODE/EXPORT FILE MENU..............76 11.1.4 The PRINT SCREEN/PRINTER SETUP MENU.............76 11.2 The BLOCK MENU........................................81 11.2.1 The CLEAR/FILL BLOCK MENU.......................83 11.2.2 The RECOLOR MENU................................84 11.2.3 The MAKE A WINDOW MENU..........................86 11.2.4 The WINDOW TITLE OPTIONS MENU...................86 12. LDOG.EXE Error Messages....................................88 13. The Laughing Dog Utilities.................................90 13.1 Grabbing Text Screens from Other Programs with LDOGRAB.EXE....................................90 13.1.1 Starting LDOGRAB.EXE............................90 13.1.2 Using The Screen Grabber........................91 13.2 Displaying Your Screens with LDOGSHOW.EXE.............93 13.2.1 Starting LDOGSHOW.EXE...........................93 13.2.2 Displaying A Single Screen......................94 13.2.3 Creating A Presentation.........................94 13.2.4 Displaying a Presentation Manually..............96 13.2.5 Displaying a Presentation Automatically.........96 _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 2 1. Introduction This manual was designed to be used more as a reference guide to consult from time to time, rather than something that you must read from cover to cover before you start using the program. Start up LDOG.EXE, play around a little, then read the "Quick Start" chapter. It will just take you a few minutes, and you will be well on your way to creating your first screen. Then later on, come back to the manual and browse around through the topics that you need more help on. You will find that the program is very easy to pick up and use immediately. You may never have to go beyond this level of expertise, but if you really want to tap the full power of the Laughing Dog Screen Maker, everything you need is here in this manual. For a more detailed discussion of the nuances of the screen drawing tools, check out "The Status Box" and "Drawing Screens" chapters. To learn more about generating source code, exporting screens in different file formats, or printing your screens, consult the "Producing Useful Output" chapter. For a blow by blow description of the menus and what each menu choice does, see "The Laughing Dog Menus" chapter. This chapter presents the menus in the same nested organization that you will encounter them within the program. For instance, the Options Menu is reached by first calling the Main Menu, then choosing "Options." The Options Menu is found in this manual, as a sub-topic of the Main Menu section of the Menus chapter. The companion Laughing Dog utility programs LDOGRAB.EXE (for capturing screens from other applications) and LDOGSHOW.EXE (the screen display utility) each have their own chapters. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 3 Typographic Conventions The following typographic conventions are used when referring to filenames and command line arguments, as in the "Starting LDOG.EXE," "Starting LDOGRAB.EXE," and "Starting LDOGSHOW.EXE" sections of the manual. Example Description ------- ----------- C: An uppercase letter with a colon after it indicates an explicit disk drive identifier. d: A lowercase d, followed by a colon indicates a variable drive identifier (substitute any valid disk drive letter). path The lowercase word "path" indicates a variable path (substitute a valid path). LDOG.EXE All uppercase indicates an explicit filename. filename or fname All lowercase indicates a variable filename (substitute any valid filename). filename.DOG A combination of lower and uppercase indicates that the portion in lowercase is variable, while the portion in uppercase must be as indicated. [a] Square brackets enclose optional single command line arguments. [a][b] Several bracketed optional arguments may be used singly or together. [a]|[c] Arguments separated by a vertical bar indicate that a choice of items on either side of the bar can be made. In this case you may choose a OR c, but not a & c. [a]|[[b][c]] Several single optional arguments can be grouped together on either side of a vertical bar by enclosing them in another set of square brackets. In this example you may choose a OR [a and/or b]. Illegal combinations would be a & b, and a & c. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 4 2. Packing List--Files you should have The complete Laughing Dog Screen Maker evaluation package should contain the following 16 files. If any of these files are missing then the package is not complete and is not suitable for distribution to others. The complete package may be obtained directly from Yardbird Software. File Name Purpose of File ------------ ------------------------------------------------- READ.ME Important last-minute information. PACKING.LST This list. FILE_ID.DIZ Short description file for use by BBS sysops. LEGAL.DOC This file contains all the legal information like: Software License, Warranty, and Distribution Requirements and Conditions for individuals, BBS sysops, disk vendors, etc. DESCRIBE.DOC Sample descriptions for catalogs, BBSs, etc. REGISTER.DOC Registration information and order form. HISTORY.DOC Laughing Dog Screen Maker Upgrade History LDOG.EXE The Laughing Dog Screen Maker program file LDOG.HLP The Laughing Dog Screen Maker online help file LDOG.DOC The Laughing Dog Screen Maker User's Manual LDOGRAB.EXE The Laughing Dog Screen Capture utility LDOGSHOW.EXE The Laughing Dog Presentation utility BLK2EPS.EXE Bonus utility that converts a block file (partial screen file) into an EPS (PostScript) file. COLORS.DOG An example Laughing Dog Screen file containing all of the possible screen colors. Good for demonstrating PostScript gray scale rendering. ALLCHARS.DOG An example Laughing Dog Screen file containing the entire ASCII character set. Good for testing printer compatibility. MAGIC.DOG A truly amazing example of what is possible using the extended character set and flashing attributes. This file was not originally created by LDOG, it was captured from an ANSI file using LDOGRAB. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 5 3. System Requirements IBM compatible running DOS 2.1 or greater 512K of RAM CGA, EGA, VGA, MONOCHROME, or LCD display Keyboard 1 Floppy disk drive Suggested, but not required: Microsoft compatible mouse or trackball Hard Disk Drive Printers Supported: Epson dot matrix or compatible HP LaserJet II or compatible PostScript 4. Installation If you received this program on a distribution disk, it is suggested that you make a back-up copy, and use the original disk for archival purposes only. If you received your disk from a disk vendor, follow the directions that came along with the disk for decompressing the files. If you downloaded the Laughing Dog package from a BBS, the files are most likely compressed in PKware's ZIP format. You will need a copy of the decompression utility: PKUNZIP.EXE, available from PKware or almost any BBS, to decompress the files. First, Create a directory on your hard disk and name it whatever you like. For example, type: MD C:/LDOG Then copy the all of the files from the distribution disk into this directory: COPY A:*.* C:/LDOG Then decompress the files if needed, and delete the original compressed file. ATTENTION: The files LDOG.EXE and LDOG.HLP must reside in the same subdirectory to enable LDOG.EXE to have access to its help file LDOG.HLP. That subdirectory may be included in the PATH statement in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file, allowing you to start the program from anywhere on your hard drive. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 6 5. Quick Start (The Bare-Bone Essentials) This section is for those of you that don't want to spend a lot of time reading a manual, but instead want to jump right in and get going! The Laughing Dog Screen Maker has extensive on-line, context- sensitive help available at all times. The Status Box also contains a few helpful clues about which keys to use and how to get help or pop up a menu. The program operates like many other paint and drawing applications. If you are familiar with the basic operations of that type of program, you can probably put this manual down right now, jump right in, and get productive! There are many subtle features, however, that require some reading-up on (either here, or on-line), to get the most out of the program. If you can possibly spare a few moments to read this brief section, you will be better equipped to explore the program. The following explanations are necessarily brief, and since a picture really is worth a thousand words, it might be useful to follow along at the computer, and try out each item as you go. STARTING THE PROGRAM Type: "LDOG" to start the program with the default settings for a color monitor. For a list of the command line options, type "LDOG /?" GETTING HELP! To get help at any time press the <F1> key. A help screen dealing with what you are doing will pop up. If it does not contain the information you need, press the <up> or <down> arrow keys to highlight the "Help Index" hyper-text link at the top of the help screen and press <enter>, or double click it with the left mouse button. A list of all the menus and help topics will pop up. Highlight the topic of interest using the <arrow> keys and press <enter> to go to that topic. THE STATUS BOX The most useful feature of the Laughing Dog Screen Maker is that rather busy looking box that appears at the bottom of the screen when you start the program. It is called the Status Box because it displays the status of the screen maker at all times. This is the quick start, so we won't go into everything here, just take a look at the box (If the Status Box is not currently visible, press the <F10> key). _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 7 MOVING THE STATUS BOX OUT OF YOUR WAY The Status Box will automatically move out of your way as you move around the drawing area using the cursor movement keys. You may deliberately move it out of the way or hide it in the following ways: To manually move the Status Box with the mouse, click on the little arrow in the upper right-hand corner of the Status Box. To make the Status Box disappear, click on the little box in the upper left-hand corner of the Status Box, press the <F10> key, or select "Hide/Show Status Box" from the Main Menu. Use the <tab> key to highlight the Special Character and Color Selection boxes and to make the Status Box disappear and reappear. Just press the <tab> key several times and you will see the cycle. NOTE: In order to draw or enter text on the drawing screen the Status Box must either be hidden altogether, or if it is not hidden, neither of the selection boxes within it can be highlighted. This is easy to see on VGA screens, because when the drawing screen is active, it will be highlighted with a red border. MENUS To call the Main Menu press the <F2> key or click the right mouse button. To make a selection, highlight the desired menu item using the <up/down arrow> keys, then press <enter>, or click on it with the left mouse button. To close a menu, press the <esc> key or click the right mouse button inside the menu area, or click either mouse button outside the menu in the drawing area. BYPASSING THE MAIN MENU WITH HOT KEYS Most of the Main Menu functions are also available, without having to call the menu, by pressing the "Hot Key" displayed to the right of the menu item text. For example the Main Menu function "Quit" can also be performed directly, with the hot key <cntl>-Q. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 8 POSITIONING THE CURSOR Use the <up/down/left/right-arrow>, <home>, <end>, <page-up>, and <page-down> keys to move the cursor around. With a mouse, just position the mouse cursor where you want it and click the left mouse button. ENTERING NORMAL TEXT Position the cursor where you want the text to appear and type the text. SELECTING A SPECIAL CHARACTER Special Characters are selected from the Special Character Selection Box, which is located in the left hand side of the Status Box. If you are using a mouse, just point to the character that you want in the Special Character Selection Box and click the left mouse button. There are two pages of special characters to choose from. Go to the other page by clicking on the scroll bar located in the right hand side of the Special Character Selection Box. If you are not using a mouse, press the <tab> key until the Special Character Selection Box is highlighted. Then move the special character selection cursor around with the <arrow> keys. The character under the cursor is the currently selected special character. There are two pages of special characters to choose from. To flip to the other page, just arrow up or down past the first or last row, and the page will flip. Press the tab key two or three times to get back to the drawing screen. ENTERING SPECIAL CHARACTERS Position the cursor where you want the special character to appear, hold down the <shift> key, and press one of the <arrow> keys to place the character. SELECTING A COLOR ATTRIBUTE The Color Attribute Selection Box is located in the right- hand side of the Status Box. It displays a "Color Bar" consisting of little x's showing each foreground color against the current background color. The "Happy Face" character shows the currently selected color. If you are using a mouse, just point to the 'x' which is the color you want and click the left mouse button. To scroll the background colors, click on the double-headed arrow at the extreme _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 9 left side of the color bar, or by click the right mouse button anywhere within the color bar. If you are not using a mouse, press the <tab> key until the Color Attribute Selection Box is highlighted. Then use the <left/right>-arrow keys to change the foreground color, or the <up/down>-arrow keys to change the background color. When the desired color is highlighted (the happy face is sitting on it), press the <tab> key once or twice to get back to the drawing screen. DRAWING LINES Lines are drawn using the current line-type, which is displayed in the Status Box as the little box labeled "Line-Draw." The Line-type is selected as a by-product of the special character selection. Go to the special character selection page which contains the boxes, and choose a box that has as it's outside lines the line-type you want to use. The choices are: All Single Lines All Double Lines Single Vertical Lines, Double Horizontal Lines Double Vertical Lines, Single Horizontal Lines To draw lines with a mouse, position the cursor where you wish to begin your line. Double-click and hold the left mouse button to enter Line Mode, then drag the mouse in the direction you wish to draw the line. Release the button to terminate the line. You can constrain the mouse movement to horizontal only by pressing the <cntl> key, or to vertical only by pressing the <alt> key while dragging the mouse. To draw lines using the keyboard, position the cursor where you want to begin your line. Press and release the <alt>-L hot key to enter Line Mode, then hold down the <shift> key and press the <up/down/left/right-arrow>, <Pg-Up>, <Pg-Down>, <Home> or <End> keys to draw lines. You can release the <shift> key to move the cursor without drawing a line and then press it again to start drawing lines again without leaving Line Drawing Mode. Press the <enter> key to terminate a line and exit line mode, or press <esc> to leave the line dangling and exit Line Drawing Mode. SELECTING A BLOCK Selecting a block is the first step in performing a block operation like Move, Copy, Fill, Make a Window, etc. To select a block with the mouse, position the cursor at a point which will become one corner of the rectangular area you _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 10 wish to select, click and hold the left mouse button, then drag the mouse to define the area. The color of the area will change to indicate that it is "selected." End the selection by releasing the mouse button. To select a block using the keyboard, position the cursor at a point which will become one corner of the rectangular area you wish to select. Press the <alt>-S hot key, then use the <up/down/left/right-arrow>, <Pg-Up>, <Pg-Down>, <Home> or <End> keys to define the rectangular area. The color of the area will change to indicate that it is "selected." End the selection by pressing the <enter> key. Upon ending your selection the Block Menu will pop up, allowing you to choose the operation you wish to perform on the block. To cancel the selection while selecting, press the <esc> key or click the right mouse button. BLOCK OPERATONS The Block Menu will pop up when you complete your selection. The available operations are: Move Block Copy Block Copy Block to a File Recolor Block Clear/Fill Block Erase Block Make a Window of Block When copying or moving a block, use the <arrow> keys or left- click & drag the mouse to reposition the block. Press <enter> or release the mouse button to drop the block where you have positioned it. Press <esc> or the right mouse button to cancel the move or copy. When choosing one of the other menu items, you will be guided through the process of performing the operation with additional menus or dialog boxes, so we won't discuss them here. BYPASSING THE BLOCK MENU WITH HOT KEYS The functions of the Block Menu are available as single key presses, without calling the menu, while selecting a block. The highlighted letter in each Block Menu item is also the hot key for that function. For example the hot key for the Move function is <M>. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 11 6. The Basics This chapter explains some of the general information you will need to operate the program. For more specific information on actually drawing screens, see the "Drawing Screens" chapter. 6.1 Starting the Laughing Dog Screen Maker Typing "LDOG" at the DOS prompt will start up the Laughing Dog Screen Maker with the default options in effect. If you need to override these options, use the command line switches and arguments listed below. NOTE: Typing "LDOG /?" or "LDOG /H" at the DOS prompt will display a help screen with all of these options. 6.1.1 Command Line Options LDOG [/H]|[[/Q][/M][/V][/E][/L][[fname]|[d:\path]|[d:\path\fname]] /H or /? Displays a help screen similar to this page. /Q Quiet (turns all sound effects OFF, default is ON) /M Disables mouse support when there is actually a mouse driver present. /V Changes the screen writing method from direct video memory access, to BIOS calls. See: Running LDOG Under DESQview. /E Display and print dates in European format (day-month-year). Default is US format (month-day-year) /L Starts LDOG in monochrome (LCD) mode fname Name of an LDOG screen file** to load d:\path drive and path to use as default data path for saving and loading screen and block files d:\path\fname The drive, path, and filename** to load **Since all screen files are saved with the extension "DOG," it is not necessary to include the file extension "DOG" _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 12 command line examples: LDOG /Q DOGBARK turns sound Off and loads the file DOGBARK.DOG (from the current directory) LDOG /L C:\TEMP starts program in monochrome mode, if the subdirectory "C:\TEMP" exists, sets the default Data Directory to C:\TEMP. If this is not a valid subdirectory, looks for a screen file in the root directory of drive C: called "TEMP.DOG" and loads it. 6.1.2 Running LDOG Under DESQview If you plan to use The Laughing Dog Screen Maker under Quarterdeck Office System's DESQview Multitasking environment, you must use the command line switch /V. This changes the default method of video access from direct memory writes, to the slower method using BIOS calls. Set up your PIF file to give LDOG.EXE at least 400K of memory, and indicate that it should allow LDOG.EXE to use its own screen colors. It may be necessary to go into DESQview's on-line setup and further adjust the foreground and background colors until the true colors are displayed (use the included screen file: COLORS.DOG to verify the correct color settings). The operation of LDOG will be much slower using the /V option. The sluggishness is especially noticeable when moving or copying a large block, or opening or closing a menu. It is preferable to run LDOG from the DOS command line or in Microsoft Windows, where it can run at full speed. NOTE: If your mouse or trackball does not work in LDOG while running under DESQview, you may need to tell DESQview, via the PIF file, that the program uses the serial port (even if you are using a bus mouse). 6.2 Using the On-line Help System Context-Sensitive Help is available at any time by pressing the Help Key: <F1>. If help is more than a single page in length, you may browse through it using the <Page-Up> & <Page-Down> keys. Multiple-page help screens are indicated when the symbols: PgUp & PgDn appear in the lower left-hand corner of the help window. Exit help screens by pressing the <esc> key. NOTE: You may also click on the Esc, PgUp, or PgDn symbols in the lower left-hand corner of the window rather than pressing the corresponding keys. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 13 Hypertext Help Links While browsing through the help screens, you will come upon light blue (Cyan) sections of text surrounded by white arrow brackets. This is what is known as a hypertext "Help Link." To get more help on the subject of the link, press the <up/down arrow> keys until the link of interest is highlighted, then press <enter> to go to that topic. You may also double-click on a link with the left mouse button to go to that topic. All help screens contain two links: "USING HELP" and "HELP INDEX." Instructions on using the help system can be displayed by selecting the "USING HELP" link. An index of all help topics is available by selecting "HELP INDEX." Each topic listed in the help index is a Help-Link, and may be accessed by simply highlighting it, and pressing <enter>, or double-clicking on it. 6.3 Using Menus The Laughing Dog Screen Maker's menu system attempts to be a CUA (Common User Access)-compliant system, allowing easy access to the many features available in the program. If you have used other programs that use pull-down menus, you probably already know how to use this one. There are basically two main menu structures in the program, the Main Menu (and its child menus) and the Block Menu (and its child menus). The Main Menu is the one you will use most of the time, the Block Menu only comes up after selecting a block. Menus may be accessed via the keyboard or the mouse. Call the Main menu by pressing the <F2> hot key, or by clicking the right mouse button anywhere within the drawing area of the screen. Selecting a menu item can be done in a number of ways: 1. Highlight the desired item using the <up/down arrow> keys and then press the <enter> key. 2. Hold down the left mouse button and drag the highlight to the desired menu item and release the button. 3. Double click on the desired menu item with the left mouse button. 4. Press the hot key for that particular menu item. The hot key may be a single letter or a special key combination (like <cntl>-R) highlighted in red on the menu. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 14 Many menus will automatically close themselves when you are done with them. If you need to close a menu yourself, you have several options: 1. Press the <esc> key. 2. Click the right mouse button anywhere within the menu you wish to close. 3. Click either mouse button anywhere outside the menu, in the drawing area of the screen. NOTE: If several menus are on the screen, it is necessary to close lower level (most recently opened) menus before the higher level menus will close. See "The Laughing Dog Menus" chapter for more information on the individual menus, and menu items. To get help on any menu item when on-line, move the highlight to that item and press the <F1> key. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 15 6.4 Using Hot Keys A hot key is a key or key combination used to instantly access a feature of the Laughing Dog Screen Maker, often bypassing a series of menu selections; thus, speeding up the screen making process. single keys are usually referred to by the marking on the key surrounded in brackets <>: <A> Means press the "A" key. <F2> Means press the "F2" function key. A multiple key combination will be referred to by the names of the two keys to be pressed together: <Cntl>-A Means hold Down The "Control" Key And Press The "A" Key. <Alt>-F1 Means hold Down The "Alt" Key And Press The "F1" Function Key. This chart shows all of the Laughing Dog Screen Maker (LDOG.EXE) Hot Keys, what they do, and the modes in which they are available. --------------------------------------------------------Modes-------- Hot Key Action Normal Select Line --------------------------------------------------------------------- <F1> HELP x x x <F2> Menu x x <F10> Hide/Show Status Box x <cntl>-Q Quit the program x x <cntl>-S Save Screen x x <cntl>-L Load Screen x x <cntl>-R Toggle Relative Cursor Position x x x Display <cntl>-A Pick-Up BG & FG Attribute x x <cntl>-F Pick-Up FG Attribute x x <cntl>-B Pick-Up BG Attribute x x <cntl>-K Pick-Up Special Character x x <cntl>-<shift> Pick-Up Normal Character x x <cntl>-U Undo x <alt>-S Enter Select Mode x <alt>-L Enter Line Mode x <M> Move Block x <C> Copy Block x <Y> Copy Block to File x <F> Fill Block x <R> Recolor Block x <E> Erase Block x <del> Erase Block x <W> Make A Window x _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 16 6.5 Using Dialog Boxes Dialog boxes are used extensively throughout the Laughing Dog Screen Maker program. If you are not familiar with their use, this section briefly describes what a dialog box is and how you use them to communicate with the program. A dialog box is a window on the screen that may be used to convey information to you or to get some sort of input from you. There may be a list of items, which you can scroll through and make a selection; there may be a text entry field, where you may be asked to enter some information; or there may simply be several "buttons" that you can "push" to communicate something to the program. Other dialog boxes are informational only, used to inform you of something like an error that has occurred, etc. Buttons in Dialog Boxes All dialog boxes have at least one "button". Each button is usually labeled with one of the following messages: "OK", "YES", "NO" or "CANCEL." These buttons are used to close the dialog box and initiate some sort of action. Buttons may be "pushed" in several ways. The easiest way, if you are using a mouse, is to simply click on the desired button with the left mouse button. If there is only one button (usually labeled "OK"), just press the <enter> key to close the dialog box and move on. If there is more than one button displayed, press the <tab> key to move the button highlight from button to button until the one representing the desired action is highlighted, then press the <enter> key to execute that function. (indicated by that button being surrounded by a double-line border If a letter in the button label is accented with a different color than the rest of the label (usually the first letter in the label), you may "push" that button by pressing the highlighted letter. For example: if a button labeled "CANCEL" is in the dialog box, pressing <C> will close the dialog box and perform the cancel action. NOTE: Pressing the <esc> key is the same as pressing the Cancel button. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 17 6.6 Using LDOG.EXE on a Monochrome or LCD Monitor You don't have to stop designing screens and presentations, just because you don't have access to a color monitor! We recommended that all screen designing be done on a computer with a color monitor. However, The Laughing Dog Screen Maker program has many features that support doing full-color screen design on computers with monochrome or LCD displays. This support was built into the program with the idea that many of the program's end users, being the movers and shakers that you undoubtedly are, may spend considerable time on airplanes, limousines, and trains, equipped with battery-powered laptop or notebook computers with LCD displays. The Laughing Dog Screen Maker's default display option is COLOR. You may change this via the "Monochrome Monitor" selection on the Options Menu, or by starting the program with the following command line: LDOG /L ("L" for LCD) All of the design options for setting color attributes, etc. are still in effect. The results are just being displayed in monochrome. Color attributes are still stored when you save a screen. The Color Attribute Selection Box will display colors as text, such as: BLACK on RED (meaning Black foreground characters on a Red background). The existing color attribute at the cursor position is still displayed in the Status Box's Cursor Position display. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 18 7. The STATUS BOX -- Information at Your Paws The Status Box is the heart of the Laughing Dog Screen Maker display. It tells you more than you probably WANT to know about what is going on in the drawing screen! It gives you a direct read-out of the X and Y cursor coordinates (absolute, or relative to some other point on the screen) as well as the color attribute and the ASCII value at the cursor position. It informs you of any special modes of operation you may be in, like Insert, Select, or Line Modes. It also displays the currently selected color attribute, special character, and line-type. The Status Box contains a toolbar, where you select colors and special characters with a few keystrokes, or a click of the mouse. No more typing in obscure hex codes or hard to remember function key sequences. With the Laughing Dog Screen Maker Status Box, choosing colors and special characters is simply a matter of what you POINT TO is what you get! 7.1 Using The STATUS BOX The following section explains how to get the information you need from the Status Box, how to select colors and characters with it, and how to get the darn thing out of your way when you don't need it! 7.1.1 The Cursor Position Indicator The Cursor Position Indicator is located in the lower right- hand corner of the Status Box. It displays the current X,Y coordinates of the cursor, as well as the ASCII character code, and the Color Attribute at that position. Cursor position may be displayed as an absolute or relative value (see below). Toggling the Relative Cursor Position Display Normally, the Cursor Position Indicator refers to the absolute X, Y coordinates, with reference to the upper left hand corner of the screen (0,0). However, it is sometimes useful to display the coordinates relative to another point on the screen. For instance, if you have drawn a window on the screen and wish to get the coordinates of points within the window with respect to that window's upper left hand corner, place the cursor at the position you wish to be the point of reference, and press <cntl>-R. Now the coordinates displayed in the Status Box will be relative to the point you chose. The cursor position indicator shows that the coordinates are relative and indicates the _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 19 reference point by flashing "REL to x,y" (where x and y are the coordinates of the reference point) above the indicator. To go back to absolute coordinates, just press <cntl>-R again. 7.1.2 The Line-Type/Window Border Indicator This indicator is located just to the left of the Cursor Position Indicator and is labeled "Line-Type". It displays the current line-type that will be used for line drawing and for the frames drawn around windows created with the "Make a Window" function of the Block Menu. The Line-Type is selected via the Special Character Selection Box (see below). 7.1.3 The Current Special Character/Color Attribute Indicator This indicator (labeled "Ch/Attr") is located between the Special Character Selection Box and the Line-Type Indicator. It shows the current Special Character, as selected in the Special Character Selection Box, using the currently selected Color Attribute. See "Selecting a Special Character/Line-Type" and "Selecting a Color Attribute" below. 7.1.4 The Special Mode Indicator This indicator is active whenever you are in a "Special Mode" to let you know that something out of the ordinary is going on and that the effects of certain keystrokes may be different than when in Normal Mode. The Special Mode Indicator will always be flashing if active, and will give the following indications: INS while in Insert Mode SEL while in Select Mode MOVE while Moving a Selected Area COPY while Copying a Selected Area LINE while in Line Drawing Mode 7.1.5 Moving and Hiding The Status Box The Status Box will automatically move out of your way as you move the cursor around the drawing screen. To manually reposition the Status Box, from the top to the bottom of the screen and vise versa, click on the reposition button in the upper right-hand corner of the Status Box. To make the Status Box disappear and reappear choose the Main Menu item "Hide/Show Status Box", click on the small close button _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 20 [-] in the upper left hand corner of the Status Box, press <F10>, or repeatedly press the <tab> key. Pressing the <tab> key cycles through the various Status Box states, as listed below. You may use <backtab>, which is the key combination <shift>-<tab>, to move through this cycle in reverse. The forward cycle is as follows: 1. Status Box visible, neither selection box active. 2. Status Box visible, Special Character Selection Box ACTIVE. 3. Status Box visible, Color Attribute Selection Box ACTIVE. 4. Status Box not visible (press <tab> again to go to #1 above) 7.1.6 Dumb Mouse Tricks There are a few other handy "mouseables" in the Status Box. The reminder text "<F1> for Help" and "<F2> for Menu" are "hot spots" just waiting for you to on click them, so that they can perform their functions. 7.1.7 Selecting a Special Character/Line-Type The Special Character Selection Box is the window on the left-hand side of the Status Box. It allows you to easily select a Special Character and the Line-Type used for line drawing and making windows. The Special Character Selection Box has two separate pages of characters. One page is devoted to characters used for drawing boxes and lines, plus a few other block/fill characters. The other page contains all of the other miscellaneous special characters and symbols. To make the Status Box visible, if hidden, press the <tab> key, press <F10>, or select "Show Status Box" from the Main Menu. Then to activate the Special Character Selection Box either press the <tab> key until it is highlighted, or simply move the mouse cursor to within the Special Character Selection Box's border. The border around the selection box will become highlighted, indicating that it is active. You may now change the currently selected special character and/or Line-Type in the following ways: Selecting a Special Character Using the Keyboard The character under the highlight is the currently selected one. Use the <arrow> keys to move the highlight around inside the selection box to select a different character. The "Ch/Attr" indicator, next to the selection box also indicates the selected character using the current color. As the highlight reaches the top or bottom of the selection box, the special character display _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 21 will flip to the other page, allowing you to choose any character you desire. When you have completed your selection, just press the <tab> or <enter> key until the drawing area of the screen is active again. Selecting a Special Character Using the Mouse To select a character, position the mouse cursor on the desired special character, and click the left mouse button. If the character you wish to select is not visible, click on the Scroll Bar on the right-hand side of the selection box to display the second page of special characters. The new selection will be displayed in the "Ch/Attr" indicator portion of the Status Box. If the selection has effected the Line-Type, that will also be indicated by the "Line-Type" indicator in the Status Box. When the desired character is selected, just move the mouse cursor back to the drawing area of the screen to continue working. HINT: If you are selecting a Special Character from within a menu, pressing the <enter> key or moving the mouse out of the selection box will complete the selection and return you to the menu. NOTE: The characters displayed on the top line of the symbol page of the Special Character Selection Box will not print out on many printers. A blank space will be inserted in any print-out in place of these characters when using the Print Screen command. PostScript printers will print all characters. Using a Special Character To print the current Special Character to the drawing screen hold down the <shift> key and press an <arrow> key. Selecting the Line-Type There are four Line-Types to choose from: All Single Lines All Double Lines Vertical Lines: Single / Horizontal Lines: Double Vertical Lines: Double / Horizontal Lines: Single To select one of these types, select any line drawing character from one of the box examples in the selection box. A box showing that type will be shown in the Status Box's "Line- Type" indicator. As the special character selection display flips from the boxes to the other characters, the last line-type that the cursor was on before the flip will remain as the chosen Line-Type. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 22 SHORTCUT: You may also change the current Line-Type (and/or special character) by positioning the cursor on a line-drawing character in the drawing area of the screen and pressing the hot key <cntl>-K. 7.1.8 Selecting A Color Attribute The Color Attribute Selection Box is the window in the upper right hand side of the Status Box. It is used to select color attributes. The currently selected color is shown on the color bar as a solid happy face symbol, while the other colors are x's. To make the Status Box visible, if hidden, press the <tab> key, press <F10>, or select "Show Status Box" from the Main Menu. Then to activate the Color Attribute Selection Box either press the <tab> key until it is highlighted, or simply move the mouse cursor to within the Color Attribute Selection Box's border. The border around the selection box will become highlighted, indicating that it is active. You may now change the currently selected color attribute in the following ways: Selecting a Color Using the Keyboard Use the <left-arrow> or <right-arrow> keys to change the foreground color, and the <up-arrow> or <down-arrow> keys to change the background color. When the display mode is set for COLOR, a little happy face within the color bar and the Status Box's Ch/Attr indicator will display the current color. NOTE: When the display is set for MONO, the color will be shown as text within the Color Attribute Selection Box (example: "WHITE on BLUE"). Selecting a Color Using the Mouse (COLOR display mode) To select a color attribute, just click the left mouse button on the "x" of the desired color inside the Color Attribute Selection Box. Only one background color is shown at a time, to scroll background colors either click on the little double arrow at the left-hand end of the color bar, or click the right mouse button anywhere within the color bar. Selecting a Color Using the Mouse (MONO display Mode) When the program is in MONO Mode, the Color Attribute Selection Box displays the current color as text in the following format: WHITE on BLUE (white foreground, on a blue background). _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 23 To change the current foreground color, click on the left side of the box (on the word describing the foreground color). To change the current background color, click on the right side of the box (on the word describing the background color). In both cases clicking the left mouse button scrolls the list of choices one way, and clicking the right mouse button scrolls the list in the other direction. After you have selected your new color attribute, move the cursor back to the drawing area of the screen to continue. HINT: If you are changing colors from within a menu, pressing <enter>, double clicking, or moving the cursor outside of the selection box will return you to the menu. SHORTCUT: You may also change colors by placing the cursor on a point on the drawing area of the screen that is the color you want, then press the hot key <cntl>-A. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 24 8. Drawing Screens This chapter will give you all the information you need to create and edit your screens. First, an explanation of the different modes of operation of the Laughing Dog Screen Maker, then on to the mechanics of creating screens. 8.1 Modes of Operation While creating screens, you will spend most of your time in what we will refer to as Normal Mode. This is the mode where colors and special characters are selected, text and special characters are printed to the screen, screens are loaded and saved, and other special modes of operation are entered. While in a special mode, some keystrokes may have different functions than they do in Normal Mode. For instance, when in Select Mode, the arrow keys not only move the cursor, they also change the size of the highlighted rectangular area of the screen that is being selected, the <enter> key no longer returns the cursor to the beginning of the next line, it now terminates the selection and brings up the Block menu, etc. Upon entering one of these special modes, a flashing, indicator is displayed in the Status Box to remind you that you are in a special mode. The indicator goes away when you return to normal mode. The table below shows the indicator message for each special mode and the hot keys used to enter that mode. MODE Indicator Message hot key ---------------------------------------------------------------- Insert Mode INS <ins> Line Drawing Mode LINE <alt>-L* Select Mode SEL <alt>-S* Moving a Selected Area MOVE M** (from SEL Mode) Copying a Selected Area COPY C** (from SEL Mode) * also available as a Main Menu selection. ** also available as a Block Menu selection. 8.1.1 NORMAL Mode Normal Mode is where most of your work will be done. Here are some descriptions of the operations available to you in Normal Mode: Getting Context Sensitive Help Press the <F1> key. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 25 Calling the Main Menu Press the <F2> key or click the right mouse button. Placing Normal Text on the Screen Position the cursor using the <arrow> keys or the mouse and type in the desired text. Placing Special Characters on the Screen Position the cursor, then hold down the <shift> key while pressing one of the <arrow> keys. This prints the character at the cursor position and moves the cursor in the direction of the arrow key used. Selecting a Color Attribute or Special Character Make one of the selection boxes active by pressing the <tab> key until the desired selection box is highlighted, or by moving the mouse cursor into the desired selection box. Then move the selection cursor to the desired color or special character with the <arrow> keys or click on it with the left mouse button. (See "Selecting a Special Character/Line-Type" and "Selecting a Color Attribute" under "Using the Laughing Dog Screen Maker Status Box" for a more detailed explanation). Drawing Lines Place the cursor at the starting point of the line you want to draw and press the hot key <cntl>-L, select "Draw Line" from the Main Menu, or double-click and hold the left mouse button to enter Line Drawing Mode. Then hold the <shift> key down and use the <up/down/left/right-arrow>, <Pg-Up>, <Pg-Down>, <Home> and <End> keys or drag the mouse to draw lines (See "Line Drawing Mode" below for more detailed information on drawing lines). Selecting a Block to Move, Copy, Fill, Erase, Recolor, Copy to a File, or Make Into a Window Position the cursor at a corner of the rectangular block you wish to select and press the hot key <alt>-S, click and hold down the left mouse button, or choose "Select Block" from the Main Menu to enter Select Mode. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 26 Then hold the <shift> key down and use the <up/down/left/right-arrow>, <Pg-Up>, <Pg-Down>, <Home> and <End> keys or drag the mouse to define the block (See "Select Mode" below for more information on selecting and processing blocks). Pasting a Previously Saved Block File to the Screen (A block file contains an area of the screen copied to a file using the "Copy to File" option on the Block Menu). Position the cursor at the point on the screen where you wish to paste the upper left-hand corner of the block, and press the hot key <cntl>-P or choose "Paste From File" from the Main Menu. The block is placed on the screen in the "selected" state. Use the arrow keys or the mouse to reposition it, if desired, and press <enter> to paste it at the current location. The Paste may be aborted by pressing <esc>. If the block you attempt to place at the cursor position extends beyond the screen boundaries, the portion outside of the screen will be truncated. If this happens unintentionally, just cancel the paste with the <esc> key, move the cursor further away from the left and/or bottom screen edge and try again. Picking Up the Color Attribute at the Cursor Position Press the hot key <cntl>-A or select "Pick up Attribute @ Cursor" from the Main Menu. To pick up only the background color at the cursor position press the hot key <cntl>-B. To pick up only the foreground color at the cursor position press the hot key <cntl>-F. Picking Up a Special Character at the Cursor Position Press the hot key <cntl>-K or select "Pick up Special Char. @ Cursor" from the Main Menu. Picking Up a Normal Character at the Cursor Position Press the hot key <shift>-<cntl>-K. This function is NOT available from the Main Menu. 8.1.2 INSERT Mode By default The Laughing Dog Screen Maker enters text in overstrike mode, overwriting anything under the cursor. It is possible to temporarily override the overstrike by entering Insert _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 27 Mode. Insert Mode is toggled on and off by pressing the <ins> key. The Special Mode Indicator in the Status Box will flash "INS" to indicate Insert Mode is active. In Insert Mode text and special characters entered from the keyboard will be inserted at the current cursor position using the color attribute at that position. Insert Mode is exited by either pressing the <ins> key again or by pressing any other non-printable key such as an <arrow key>, <tab>, <PgUp>, <PgDn>, <esc> , etc. ATTENTION: While inserting, everything to the right of the cursor will be pushed over, eventually disappearing off the edge of the screen. When something is pushed off the screen, IT IS LOST. You cannot get it back. 8.1.3 SELECT Mode There are many operations that can be performed on a block of the screen such as coloring, filling, moving, copying, etc. In order to do something with a block of the screen, you must first "select" or define it. To do this you must enter what is called the "Select Mode" and define that area. Selecting a Block To enter Select Mode, position the cursor at a corner of the rectangular area you wish to select and press the hot key <alt>-S, click and hold down the left mouse button, or choose "Select Block" from the Main Menu. The Status Box will indicate that you are in Select Mode by flashing the word "SEL." If the sound is turned on, there will be an ascending melody indicating you just entered a special mode of operation (key clicks will be heard as each column or row is selected, and a descending melody will sound when exiting this special mode). Select a rectangular area of the screen using the <up/down/left/right-arrow>, <Pg-Up>, <Pg-Down>, <Home> and <End> keys or by dragging the mouse. The selected block will change color to indicate it is selected. NOTE: For better control when selecting with the mouse, see "Taming the Wild Mouse" in the "Drawing Screens Using The Mouse" section this chapter. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 28 Ending the Selection and "DOING" Something with the Block Press <enter> or release the left mouse button or press one of the hot keys (see below). When the selection is complete, the Block Menu will automatically pop up. You can then select your next action from this menu. As you become more familiar with the program, you may wish to eliminate this menu selection step. In that case, just choose the "Menu Only on Request" item on the Block Menu the first time that it pops up. From then on, you can either explicitly call the Block Menu (using the <F2> key) or use the expert hot keys listed below to end the selection and perform the desired action: To Move the block to another screen position Press <M> To Copy the block to another screen position Press <C> To Copy the block to a file Press <Y> To Clear or Fill the block Press <F> To Recolor the block Press <R> To Erase any text in the block Press <E> or <delete> To Make a Window of the Block Press <W> NOTE: See the "Block Operations" section of this chapter for instructions on performing each of the block operations above. Canceling the Selection To cancel the selection, press the <esc> key or click the right mouse button. The cursor will return its original position. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 29 8.1.4 LINE DRAWING Mode The IBM character set provides a variety of special line drawing characters that may be used for drawing boxes, windows, and many other special effects. The Laughing Dog Screen Maker makes it easy to use these special characters in an intuitive way with the Smart-Line-Drawing feature of Line Drawing Mode. Line Drawing Mode is a special mode of operation that you enter into to draw your lines and then exit when done. The "Smart" part of the Line Drawing Mode comes into play when a line you are drawing changes direction or intersects itself or another line. The appropriate line joining character is automatically generated by the Laughing Dog! There are 4 line-types used: 1. All single lines 2. All double lines 3. Single verticals with double horizontals 4. Double verticals with single horizontals. These line-types are displayed in the Special Character Selection Box as example boxes drawn using each type. This makes selecting the proper line-type easier, as you can see the results of using that line-type before you choose it. The line-type is selected by highlighting the Special Character Selection Box and moving the cursor to an example box that has as its outside lines the line-type you want to use for drawing (See: Selecting a Special Character). Smart-line-drawing comes in handy when drawing windows freehand (you may also automatically generate a window by selecting a block and choosing the "Make a Window of Selected Block" function from the Block Menu), or to add vertical or horizontal dividing lines to existing windows. It's also a heck of a lot of fun for doodling! Entering Line Mode To enter Line Drawing Mode press the hot key <alt>-L, double- click and hold the left mouse button, or select "Draw Line" from the Main Menu. The Status Box will indicate that you are in Line Drawing Mode by flashing the word "LINE" and if the sound is turned on, there will be an ascending melody indicating you just entered a special mode of operation (key clicks will be heard as each line segment is drawn, and a descending melody will sound when exiting Line Drawing Mode). _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 30 Drawing the Lines Hold down <shift> and use the <up/down/left/right-arrow>, <Pg-Up>, <Pg-Down>, <Home> and <End> keys or drag the mouse to draw lines. You can move around the screen without drawing a line, while remaining in Line Drawing Mode, by simply releasing the <shift> key and using the cursor movement keys alone. To resume line drawing use <shift> with the <arrow> keys. Press the <enter> key or release the mouse button to exit Line Drawing Mode and "terminate" a line (see note below). To exit Line Drawing Mode and leave the line "dangling" press <esc> or any printable key. NOTE: Line termination refers to the Line Drawing function of attempting to connect any lines in adjacent screen positions with the line character at the current cursor position, based on its line-type and the direction it came from--sounds complicated, but when you see it you will understand. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 31 8.2 Drawing Screens Using the Mouse All features of the Laughing Dog Screen Maker are available using either the keyboard or the mouse. Using the mouse can considerably speed up many of these operations, however. 8.2.1 Accessing Menus Popping Up the Main Menu Click the right mouse button anywhere inside drawing area of the screen (same as pressing the <F2> key). Making a Menu Selection Position the mouse cursor on the desired selection, and click the left mouse button. OR position the mouse cursor anywhere inside a menu, hold down the left mouse button and drag the highlight to the desired selection, and release the button. 8.2.2 Positioning the Cursor Move the mouse cursor to the desired point on the screen and click the left mouse button. 8.2.3 Selecting a Block Place the mouse cursor at the position of a corner of a rectangular area you wish to select. Press and hold the left mouse button and drag the mouse until the desired area is selected. The selected area will become highlighted in a different color than it was originally, to indicate that it is being selected. When the area is completely selected, release the left mouse button. Unless it has been inhibited via the "Menu Only on Request" toggle on the Block Menu, the Block Menu will now pop-up with a list of the things you may now do with the block you have selected. See the "Block Menu" section of The Laughing Dog Menus chapter for information of the various block operations. The selection may be canceled at any time before you have released the left button during the drag, by clicking the right mouse button, or by pressing the <esc> key. The cursor will return to its original position, before the selection started. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 32 8.2.4 Drawing Lines & Boxes Place the mouse cursor at the position in the drawing area where you wish to begin drawing a line. Double-click and hold the left mouse button to begin drawing a line. Drag the mouse in the direction you wish to draw the line. Release the left mouse button to terminate the line. Line termination refers to the Smart Line Drawing function of ending a line and terminating it to any surrounding lines. If you wish to stop drawing the line without doing a "Smart Termination", press the <esc> key before releasing the left mouse button. HINT: Line Drawing with the mouse is a whole lot of fun but according to the sensitivity setting of your mouse driver, it can at times be VERY hard to control! See "Taming the Wild Mouse" below for ways to make line drawing with the mouse easier to control. 8.2.5 Changing the Current Color Attribute or Special Character Changing colors or special characters with the mouse is literally as easy as point and click. To make the Status Box visible if it is hidden press the <tab> key, or <F10> key or select "Hide/Show Status Box" from the Main Menu. Then point to the desired selection box with the mouse. The boarder of the box will become highlighted to indicate that it is active. Then point to the color or character you wish to select and click the left mouse button. If the special character you wish to select is not on the currently displayed special character page, click on the special character selection box's scroll bar to flip pages. If the background color you want is not showing, click the right mouse button anywhere inside the color attribute selection box, or click the right mouse button on the up & down arrow head at the extreme left-hand side of the box, to scroll through the available background colors. 8.2.6 Getting Help If the Status Box is visible, you can click the mouse on the "<F2> For Help" mouse Hot Spot to activate the context-sensitive help system. See: Using Help. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 33 8.2.7 Taming the Wild Mouse (Constraining Mouse Cursor Movement) The mouse cursor's movement may be constrained to the horizontal or vertical axes while selecting an area or drawing a line with the mouse in the following way: Horizontal Constraint Hold down <cntl> key while dragging mouse Vertical Constraint Hold down <alt> key while dragging mouse _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 34 8.3 Drawing Screens Using the Keyboard The Laughing Dog Screen Maker program was designed to be just as easily used without a mouse, as with one. Many commands can be accessed via the menu system or directly via hot keys. 8.3.1 Accessing Menus To call up the Main Menu press the <F2> key. Highlight your choice using the <up/down-arrow> keys and press <enter> to execute it. To exit a menu, press the <esc> key. For more help on menus see "Using Menus" in the Quick Start chapter. 8.3.2 Positioning the Cursor Use the <arrow> keys to move about the screen one character position at a time. Use the <home> & <end> keys to move to the left-edge or right-edge of the screen. Use the <PgUp> & <PgDn> keys to move the cursor to the top-edge or bottom-edge of the screen. Press the <enter> key to go to the beginning of the next row. 8.3.4 Selecting a Block To begin selecting a block, you can either choose "Select Block" from the Main Menu, or press the <alt>-S hot key. You then define the selected area using the <up/down/left/right-arrow>, <Pg-Up>, <Pg-Down>, <Home> and <End> keys. During selection, the Status Box will flash the "SEL" indicator, and the area being selected will change color. Press the <enter> key to end the selection. A menu will pop up with the choices of operations you may perform on the block. To abort the selection at any time, press the <esc> key. 8.3.5 Drawing Lines & Boxes To enter Line-Drawing Mode press the hot key <alt>-L, or select "Draw Line" from the Main Menu. Then, hold down the <shift> key and use the <up/down/left/right-arrow>, <Pg-Up>, <Pg- Down>, <Home> and <End> keys to draw the lines. You may also move around the screen without drawing a line by releasing the <shift> key and using the cursor movement keys alone. To exit Line-Drawing Mode and terminate the line (make any final connections at the cursor position) press the <enter> key. To exit Line Drawing Mode without terminating the line, press <esc>, or any printable (alpha, numeric, or punctuation) key. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 35 8.3.6 Entering Text Any of the normal text characters may be printed to the screen using the currently selected color attribute by merely typing them as you would expect. Pressing the <insert> key will toggle between the default Overstrike mode and Insert Mode. 8.3.7 Entering Special Characters In addition to the normal text characters, there are many "Special Characters" that are not directly accessible from the keyboard. These characters include line-drawing characters, mathematical symbols, Greek letters, etc. To print a special character to the screen, first select the desired character from the Special Character Selection portion of the Status Box. Then to place it on the screen hold down the <shift> key and press one of the <arrow> keys. This will place the special character at the current cursor position and then move the cursor in the direction of the arrow key pressed. 8.3.8 Changing the Current Color Attribute or Special Character Color and Special Character Selection are easily done in the Color Attribute and the Special Character Selection Boxes in the Status Box. First, press the <tab> key until the desired selection box is highlighted. Next use the <arrow> keys to move the cursor to the color or character you want. The "Ch/Attr" indicator in the Status Box will display the currently selected Special Character using the currently selected Color Attribute. When the color or character is chosen, press the <tab> or <enter> key to lock in your selection (the highlight will move on to the next selection box or to the drawing screen). "Picking Up" a Color Directly From the Screen To pick up a color attribute, place the cursor on the drawing screen over a character of the desired color. Then press <cntl>-A to pick up the entire color attribute, <cntl>-F to pick up only the foreground color, or <cntl>-B to pick up only the background color. "Picking Up" a Special Character Directly From the Screen Place the cursor on the desired special character, then press <cntl>-K (K for Karacter!). _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 36 It is also possible to pick up a "normal" (alpha-numeric or punctuation) character to use for filling a block by using the <shift>-<cntl>-K hot key. 8.3.9 Getting Help Press <F1> at any time to activate the context-sensitive help system. See "Using the On-Line Help System" in the Quick Start chapter for more information. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 37 8.4 Block Operations: Move, Copy, Paste, Recolor, Fill, Erase, & Make A Window This first group of block operations are performed on a block that you define on the drawing screen. First select a block, as described in the "Select Mode" or "Selecting a Block" sections above. Unless inhibited by the Block Menu toggle "Menu Only On Request", the Block Menu will automatically pop up when you have completed your selection. Choose an operation from the Block Menu, or use one of the hot keys listed below. Block Menu Operation hot key Action --------------------------------------------------------------- Move Block <M> Arrow keys or mouse will reposition the block. Copy Block <C> Arrow keys or mouse will position a copy of the block. Copy Block to File <Y> Pops up a File Save Dialog Box. Clear/Fill Block <F> Pops up the Clear/Fill Menu. Recolor Block <R> Pops up the Recolor Menu. Erase Block <E> Erases any characters in the block, leaving color attributes intact. Make a Window of Block <W> Pops up the Make A Window Menu. See the "Block Menu" section of The Laughing Dog Menus chapter for a complete description of each of the above operations. The other block operation pastes blocks which have been previously saved to files into the current screen. Main Menu Operation hot key Action --------------------------------------------------------------- Paste Block <cntl>-P Pastes a block from a file to the current screen position. See the Main Menu "Paste From File" description in The Laughing Dog Menus chapter for a complete explanation of pasting blocks. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 38 9. Loading & Saving Screens Saving your work-in-progress or finished screens, and loading them back into the Laughing Dog Screen Maker is accomplished by calling up the Save File or Load File Dialog Box. Screens are saved to, and loaded from, the current Data Directory. This data directory defaults to the directory you were in when you started the program. You may specify another drive and/or directory at start up time via a command line argument (See "Starting the Laughing Dog Screen Maker" in the Quick Start chapter), or you may change the drive and/or directory from within the program by calling the Change Data Directory Dialog Box by choosing "Change Data Directory" from the Main Menu. This chapter describes how to call up and use these dialog boxes. 9.1 Loading a Screen Choose Load Screen from the Main Menu or press the hot key <cntl>-L. The Load File Dialog Box will appear. Using the LOAD FILE Dialog Box The Load File Dialog Box displays a list of all the screen files (files having the extension "DOG") in the current Data Directory. Choose a screen file to load in one of the following ways: Keyboard Move the highlight to the name of the file you wish to load using the <up/down-arrow> keys, and press <enter>. You may cancel loading a screen at any time by either pressing the <esc> key, pressing the <C> key (the highlighted letter on the "Cancel" button), or by moving the button highlight to the "Cancel" button using the <tab> key and then pressing <enter>. HINT: You may move the highlight a page at a time using the <page- up/down> keys. The <home> key moves you directly to the beginning of the list, and <end> moves directly to the end. Mouse If the file you wish to load is showing in the list box, just double-click on the filename with the left mouse button or move the highlight to the desired filename by single-clicking on the _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 39 filename, and then clicking on the "OK" button. Click on the up or down arrows of the scroll bar to scroll the list past the first page. You can move through the list a page at a time by clicking the left button of the mouse on the portion of the scroll bar that lies between the thumb and the arrow at the top or bottom of the scroll bar. You may cancel loading a screen at any time by clicking on the "Cancel" button. HINT: There is a solid block within the scroll bar between the up and down arrows called the "thumb". As you scroll through the list (if the list is more than one page long), this thumb moves up or down the scroll bar to indicate your approximate position in the list. 9.2 Saving a Screen Choose Save Screen from the Main Menu or press the hot key <cntl>-S. The Save File Dialog Box will appear. Using the SAVE FILE Dialog Box Type in a legal 8 character filename (no extension) and press <enter>, click on the "OK" button with the mouse, or press the hot key <cntl>-O (for OK). If you type an illegal filename, an error dialog box will appear, explaining your error. You will be allowed to re-enter the filename. Press the Help Key <F1> if you need help constructing a "legal" filename. If you enter a filename that already exists, you will be warned of this, and be given the option of renaming the file or overwriting the existing file. You may cancel the save at any time by clicking the "Cancel" button, pressing the <cntl>-C key (C for Cancel), or pressing the <esc> key. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 40 9.3 Changing the Data Path Choose Change Data Directory from the Main Menu. The Change Data Directory Dialog Box will appear. Using The Change Data Drive/Directory Dialog Box Type in the new drive\path you want to use for loading and saving files. The drive must exist, and have a formatted disc in it, and the path must already exist. Be sure to separate the drive and subdirectory names with backslashes, as in: C:\LDOG\SCREENS When entering the path, your spelling must be exact. See your DOS manual for a complete explanation of subdirectory and path usage. When done, press the <enter> key, click on the "OK" button, or press the hot key <cntl>-O (for "OK"). To cancel the path change, press <esc> or the hot key <cntl>-C (for "Cancel"). NOTE: If you need to check a path, create a subdirectory, or format a disk, you can do so without quitting the program by shelling out to DOS, doing your work and EXITing the shell back to this program by using the "DOS Shell" command on the Main Menu. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 41 10. Producing Useful Output If you want to output your screens in a format other than the native Laughing Dog format (*.DOG), you have several choices. This chapter explains those choices. If you are a programmer, the Laughing Dog can generate compiler-ready source code for you. If you are a BBS sysop or an ANSI artist, you can output your screens in the ANSI, WildCat! BBS, or PCBoard BBS formats. It is also possible to produce an executable COM file, or output an exact copy of the video memory, in the form of a binary file. Just draw your screens and then let Rover take over! 10.1 Generating Source Code The source code formats supported are: Microsoft C/QuickC Turbo C QuickBASIC GW BASIC (generic) BASIC BSAVE File Format Turbo Pascal MASM Assembler The default will generate code to produce a full color rendition of a screen by creating an array of color attributes and characters which will be written directly to video memory. Alternately, you may select the "Code/Export As Monochrome" option from the Generate Code/Export Menu to reproduce the screen without the colors. The source code produced will represent each line of the screen as a delimited ASCII text string. The strings are printed to the screen using the language-specific function for the code type selected, such as PRINT for BASIC or printf() for C. This comes in handy when you want to have more control in manipulating portions of your screen, and need to have the strings or characters broken-out separately, or when your needs are for straight monochrome output. The same applies to the other file formats: you can generate a black and white image by selecting the "Code/Export As Monochrome" option. About Laughing Dog Source Code The philosophy of the Laughing Dog Screen Maker's code generation engine is to produce fully commented, compiler-ready source code. The code produced may be compiled and run as a stand-alone program with absolutely no further modification, or you may easily _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 42 turn each screen into a subroutine or function for inclusion in a larger program. The stand-alone programs produced will display the screen, wait for a key stroke, then clear the screen, and exit. That's it! You may add any further functionality as you please. It is actually possible to use this code in place of a windowing library, and completely create your user interface by calling up Laughing Dog screens. This is by no means the most efficient way to implement a program with many screens and menus, however, it may be just the thing to spruce up a small program that only has a need for a few data entry screens, a few menu screens, some help screens, a nice title screen, etc. The code produced by the code generator, although clean and well behaved, is not necessarily the best or most efficient solution for your program. It is ONE WAY to display the screen. You will probably want to break the code out into a subroutine or function and fine-tune it to your specifications. Use the Laughing Dog code as a starting point and go from there. The main job done for you is converting the screen data into an array of character and color attribute values that can then be written directly to video memory in order to be displayed on the monitor. The source code produced by the Laughing Dog Screen Maker will go out and determine what type of video adapter is present and the current video mode and then adjust the base address of the video buffer accordingly. Generally, for all color modes the video buffer is located at $B800:0000. For monochrome (mode 7) it is $B000:0000. However, just because a monitor is monochrome does not necessarily mean that its video buffer is at $B800:0000. Many monochrome video cards (even for LCD monitors) try to emulate a CGA, EGA or VGA adapter, and accordingly use $B800:0000 as a base address. Pick up a good DOS reference book and study up on this subject if you need to. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 43 10.1.1 BASIC Code The main difference between the GWBASIC and QuickBASIC styles of code is that QuickBASIC does not require line numbers, so none are used. The GWBASIC code will compile and run just fine in QuickBASIC, but the QuickBASIC code will not run under GWBASIC. Also note that the GWBASIC code is not limited to this particular version of BASIC, it should run in any generic BASIC environment like BASICA or the old IBM ROM BASIC. GWBASIC & QUICKBASIC CODE (full color): This code just READs the characters and attributes in from a DATA statement and POKEs them directly to video memory. 1 REM C:\QC25\BIN\TEST.BAS 2 REM -- Laughing Dog Screen Maker Generic Basic-Code file 5 DEF SEG = &H40 6 IF PEEK($H49) = 7 THEN DEF SEG = &HB000 ELSE DEF SEG = &HB800 7 REM Color SEG = B800, Mono = B000 8 CLS 9 READ rows 10 READ cols 11 size = (rows * cols) - 1 12 FOR x = 0 TO size 13 READ z 14 POKE (2 * x), z 15 READ z 16 POKE ((2 * x) + 1), z 17 NEXT x 18 REM Waits for a key press to end program 19 WHILE INKEY$ = "" 20 WEND 21 END 10000 DATA 25, 80 10010 DATA 49, 15, 49, 15, 49, 15, 49, 15 10020 DATA 49, 15, 49, 15, 49, 15, 49, 15....etc. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 44 GWBASIC & QUICKBASIC CODE (as Monochrome) This code represents each line of the screen as a double quotes-delimited string, with any characters that would cause problems, being handled as CHR$(n). The strings are then just printed to the screen using a PRINT statement. 1 REM C:\QC25\BIN\TEST1.BAS 2 REM -- Laughing Dog Screen Maker Generic Basic-Code file 100 PRINT "This is a line of the screen...." 110 PRINT "This line has an unprintable char";ch$(26);"and so on" ...etc ...until the last line of the screen: ... 350 lastline$ = "This is the last line ......." 1000 REM POKE last line into memory to avoid scrolling screen 1010 DEF SEG = &H40 1020 IF PEEK(&H49) = 7 THEN DEF SEG = &HB000 ELSE DEF SEG = &HB00 1030 REM Color SEG = B800, Mono = B000 1040 offset = 3840 1050 FOR x = 0 TO 158 STEP 2 1060 POKE offset + x, ASC(MID$(lastline$, x / 2 + 1, 1)) 1070 NEXT x 1080 REM Press anykey to end program 1090 WHILE INKEY$ = "" 1100 WEND 1110 CLS 1120 END NOTE: When printing screens as ASCII text, QuickBASIC and GWBASIC will not print the following ASCII values as characters correctly: $07, $08, $09, $0A, $0B, $0C, $1B, $1D, $1E, $1F In addition GWBASIC will not print $1A, but QuickBASIC will. In order to prevent crashing your program or messing-up your screens, these ASCII values are filtered out and replaced with spaces. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 45 10.1.2 BSAVE File Format BLOADing an image of the screen (which has been BSAVEd) directly to video memory is the most efficient way to handle multiple Laughing Dog screens from within a BASIC program, with the downside being that each screen is stored as a separate file. This means that your program now consists of multiple files, rather that just one. The Laughing Dog assumes that the screen will be BLOADed to a color monitor, and therefore internally uses the $B800:0000 address as the base of video memory. This may be overridden by your program by specifying the base address you want to BLOAD to using a DEF SEG statement (usually hB000 for monochrome adapters). The offset is always zero (See your BASIC manual: BSAVE, BLOAD, and DEF SEG). For an example of how to determine which address to use from within your program, see the BASIC code examples above. If the "Code/Export As Monochrome" menu item is toggled ON at the time of the save, the BSAVE'd file will save all attributes as GRAY on BLACK (flashing attribute is preserved). _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 46 10.1.3 C Code MICROSOFT C & TURBO C CODE (full color) Microsoft C and Turbo C code are the same, with the exception of the _fmemmove() function call in the Microsoft C code which is replaced with the following movedata() function call for Turbo C: movedata(FP_SEG(test_screen),FP_OFF(test_screen),0xB800,0, sizeof(test_screen)); The array "test_screen[]" is composed of integers. The MSB is the color attribute and the LSB is the ASCII character at the corresponding screen position. The program simply moves this block of data directly to the video memory buffer, located at $B800:0000 for color adapters, and $B000:0000 for monochrome adapters. /* C:\QC25\BIN\TEST.C -- Laughing Dog Screen Maker C-Code file */ #include <string.h> #include <conio.h> #include <dos.h> void clearscreen(void); union REGS regs; int test_screen[] = { 0x7c35, 0x7c36, 0x7c37, 0xf31, 0xf31, 0xf31, 0xf31, 0xf31, etc... 0x7c33, 0x7c34, 0x7c35, 0x7c36, 0x7c37, 0x7c38, 0x7c39}; main() { int scnBuf regs.h.ah = 15; int86(16,®s,®s); /* Get Video Mode */ if(regs.h.al == 7) scnBuf = 0xB000; /* Mono */ else scnBuf = 0xB800; /* color */ clearscreen(); _fmemmove((int far*)0xB8000000,(int far*)tst_screen, sizeof(tst_screen)); getch(); clearscreen(); } _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 47 /* Clears the Screen */ void clearscreen(void) { regs.h.ah = 6; regs.h.al = 0; regs.h.bh = 7; regs.h.ch = 0; regs.h.cl = 0; regs.h.dh = 25; regs.h.dl = 80; int86(16,®s,®s); } _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 48 MICROSOFT C & TURBO C CODE (as Monochrome) The code produced for monochrome is the same for both compilers. Here we write one row of the screen at a time as a simple ASCII string. The cputs() function is used, as it treats the high-ASCII characters (ASCII codes above 125) as printable characters rather than as control codes. The last row, up to the last character position, is printed using cputs(). The last character must be written directly to video memory to avoid scrolling the screen. /* C:\QC25\BIN\TEST.C -- Laughing Dog Screen Maker C-Code file */ #include <conio.h> #include <dos.h> void clearscreen(void); union REGS regs; main() { cputs("This is the first row of the screen......."); cputs("This is the second row of the screen......"); ...etc.. cputs("Last line: all but the last char printed this way"); /* Printing last char this way prevents screen from scrolling up a line */ regs.h.bh = 0; /* video page 0 */ regs.h.al = 32; /* char to print */ regs.x.cx = 1; /* count */ regs.h.ah = 10; /* service 10 */ int86(16,®s,®s); /* interrupt #16 */ getch(); /* Wait for a keystroke to end program */ clearscreen(); } /* Clears the Screen */ void clearscreen(void) { /* See the "MICROSOFT C & TURBO C CODE (full color)" section above for the body of this function. */ } NOTE: When printing screens as ASCII text, the following ASCII values are unprintable as characters using the cputs() function, and will be replaced with spaces: $07, $08, $0A, $1B _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 49 10.1.4 Pascal Code The Laughing Dog Screen Maker produces code which is compatible with Borland's Pascal compilers from version 4.0 on up (it may be compatible with earlier versions or other Pascal compilers, but has not been tested on them). TURBO PASCAL CODE(full color) The Laughing Dog Pascal code uses BIOS interrupt $10, function $13, mode 2; which writes directly to the screen from a buffer of alternating characters and attributes. The last character of the last row must be written separately to avoid scrolling the screen up one line. { C:\TPAS\TEST.PAS -- Laughing Dog Screen Maker Pascal-Code file} PROGRAM test; uses Crt, Dos; VAR ch : char; ScnPos : integer; Regs : Registers; CONST test_Length=25; test_SCREEN : ARRAY [1..4000] OF byte = ( 219, 25, 196, 255, 196, 255, 196, 255, 196, 255, ...etc... 85, 30, 115, 30, 105, 30, 110, 30, 103, 32, 30); BEGIN Regs.AH := $13; {write chars & attributes to screen} Regs.AL := 3; Regs.BH := 0; {video page 0} Regs.DX := 0; {starting at position 0,0} Regs.CX := 1999; {write all but last ch/attr pair} Regs.ES := DSeg; {location of ch/attr array} Regs.BP := Ofs(test_SCREEN[1]); Intr($10,Regs); {Must write last char separately, to avoid scrolling screen} Regs.AH := 9; Regs.AL := test_SCREEN[3999]; {get last char} Regs.BH := 0; {video page 0} Regs.BL := test_SCREEN[4000]; {get last attr} Regs.CX := 1; {1 char only} Intr($10,Regs); read(ch); {wait for a keystroke} ClrScr; {clear the screen} END _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 50 TURBO PASCAL CODE(as Monochrome) This code uses the Pascal procedure write() to write each row of the screen as a string, up to the last character of the last line, which must be written directly to video memory to avoid scrolling the screen up one line. { C:\TPAS\TEST.PAS -- Laughing Dog Screen Maker Pascal-Code file} PROGRAM test; uses Crt, Dos; VAR ch : char; Regs : Registers; BEGIN write('This is the first line...........'); write('This is the second line....etc...'); .. etc... write('Last line has all but the last char printed this way'); {Must write last char this way to avoid scrolling screen} Regs.AH := $0A; {Set up for calling interrupt $10, service $0A} Regs.AL := 32; {Char to write} Regs.BH := 0; {video page 0} Regs.BL := 7; {color attribute} Regs.CX := 1; {number chars to write} Intr($10,Regs); {Write char to current cursor position} read(ch); {wait for a keystroke} ClrScr; {clear the screen} END. NOTE: When printing screens as ASCII text, the following ASCII values are unprintable as characters using the write() procedure, and will be replaced with spaces: $07, $08, $0A, $1A _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 51 10.1.5 Assembly Code The Laughing Dog Screen Maker produces code compatible with the Microsoft Macro Assembler and the Microsoft Quick assembler. MASM ASSEMBLER CODE (full color) The Laughing Dog creates an array of words using the DW directive. The format is: attribute(MSB)/character(LSB), attribute(MSB)/character(LSB)... Here is the way The Laughing Dog moves the attribute/character data to the screen using the "rep movsw" combination. There are many other ways to do the same thing, experiment. ; C:\MASM\TEST.ASM ; -- Laughing Dog Screen Maker MASM Assembly-Code file TEST_LENGTH EQU 2000 .MODEL small .STACK 100h ;256 byte stack .DATA TEST_SCREEN LABEL WORD DW 0F31H, 0F31H, 0F31H, 0F31H, 0F31H, 0F31H, 0F31H, 0F31H ...etc... DW 7C33H, 7C34H, 7C35H, 7C36H, 7C37H, 7C38H, 7C39H, 7C30H .CODE ;STARTUP CODE ORG 100h ;Set up DS, SS and SP Regs. mov dx, @data mov ds, dx mov bx, ss sub bx, dx shl bx, 1 shl bx, 1 shl bx, 1 shl bx, 1 cli mov ss, dx add sp, bx sti ;Actual program begins here push es ;save es register mov ah,0fh ;get current video mode _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 52 int 010h cmp al,7 ;is it a monochrome mode? jz mono ;yes mov ax,0B800h ;color text video segment jmp SHORT doit mono:mov ax, 0B000h ;monochrome text video segment doit:mov es,ax mov es,ax ; B800 = color, B000 = mono sub si,si ;clear source index counter mov si,offset TEST_SCREEN ;load destination offset sub di,di ;clear destination index counter mov cx,TEST_LENGTH rep movsw ;write to video memory mov ah,02h ;hide cursor mov bh,0 ;assume video page 0 mov dx,1A00h ;moves cursor past bottom of screen int 010h lup: mov ah, 01h ;wait for a keystroke int 016h jz lup mov ah,0 ;clear keyboard buffer int016h ;Clear the screen mov ah, 6 ;function 6 (scroll window up) mov al, 0 ;blank entire screen mov bh, 7 ;attribute to use mov ch, 0 ;starting row mov cl, 0 ;starting column mov dh, 25 ;ending row mov dl, 80 ;ending column int 10h ;call interrupt 10h mov ah,02h ;puts cursor back where it belongs mov bh,0 ;assume video page 0 mov dx,0 int 010h pop es ;restore es register mov ax,4c00h ;DOS exit function w/exit code = 0 int 21h END _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 53 MASM ASSEMBLER CODE (as Monochrome) For moving the data to the screen as monochrome, the Dog has defined each row of the screen as a string using the DB directive combined with a double quotes delimited string. BIOS interrupt $10, function $13, mode 1 (characters only) is then called to write the whole screen up to the last character, which must be written separately to avoid scrolling the screen. ; C:\MASM\TEST.ASM ; -- Laughing Dog Screen Maker MASM Assembly-Code file TEST_LENGTH EQU 2000 .MODEL small .STACK 100h ;256 byte stack .DATA TEST_SCREEN LABEL WORD DB "This is the first row, as a string" ...etc... DB "This is the last row, up to next to last char" .CODE ;STARTUP CODE ORG 100h ;Set up DS, SS and SP Regs. mov dx, @data mov ds, dx mov bx, ss sub bx, dx shl bx, 1 shl bx, 1 shl bx, 1 shl bx, 1 cli mov ss, dx add sp, bx sti ;Actual program begins here ;write screen mov ax,ds ;make sure ES = DS mov es,ax mov ah,13h ;function 13h (write string) mov al,1 ;write mode 1, write chars only mov bl,07h ;color attribute to use mov bh,0 ;video page mov dx,0 ;start a 0,0 position mov cx,TEST_LENGTH-1 mov bp,OFFSET TEST_SCREEN int 10h ;do it ; must print last char this way to prevent screen ; scrolling up one line mov ah, 0Ah ;function 0Ah _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 54 mov bh, 0 ;page 0 mov al, 32 ;char to print mov cx, 1 ;count int 10h ;interrupt 10h mov ah,02h ;hide cursor mov bh,0 ;assume video page 0 mov dx,1A00h ;moves cursor past bottom of screen int 010h ;wait for a keystroke lup: mov ah, 1 ;function 1 (read kbd status) int 016h ;interrupt 16h jz lup mov ah,0 ;clear keyboard buffer int 016h ;Clear the screen mov ah, 6 ;function 6 (scroll window up) mov al, 0 ;blank entire screen mov bh, 7 ;attribute to use mov ch, 0 ;starting row mov cl, 0 ;starting column mov dh, 25 ;ending row mov dl, 80 ;ending column int 10h ;call interrupt 10h mov ah,02h ;puts cursor back where it belongs mov bh,0 ;assume video page 0 mov dx,0 int 010h ;DOS exit function w/exit code = 0 mov ax,4c00h int 21h END NOTE: When printing screens as ASCII text, the following ASCII values are unprintable as characters using interrupt 10h, function 13, and will be replaced with spaces: $07, $08, $0A _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 55 10.2 Other Export File Formats The Laughing Dog Screen Maker can output your screens in a number of file formats: Binary File Executable .COM File ANSI File WildCat! BBS File PCBoard BBS File At this time The Laughing Dog Screen Maker cannot directly import one of these file types. You should always save a copy of a screen you create in the native .DOG format, in addition to the export format, if you plan on editing or printing it at a later date. If you need to work on a screen that was originally created in one of these, or any other formats; and you don't have a copy of it as a .DOG file, all is not lost. You can import any text screen into the Laughing Dog Screen Maker by first displaying it from within it's native environment (for instance, 'type' an ANSI file from the DOS prompt, or display a WildCat! file from within the WildCat! BBS software, etc.) and then capture it with the LDOGRAB.EXE utility. The resulting .DOG file can then be loaded into the Laughing Dog Screen Maker using the Load File command. See: "Capturing Screens Form Other Programs With LDOGRAB.EXE" for complete information on capturing screens. An explanation of each export file format, and possible uses of these files follows. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 56 10.2.1 BINARY Files This is one of the most versatile forms of output available from the Laughing Dog Screen Maker program. It is a truly generic record of a screen's contents. It is, in fact an exact replica of the screen video memory buffer written to a disc file. The format is simple: | character | attribute | character | attribute |... etc. | (byte) | (byte) | (byte) | (byte) | Using the BIN files created by the Laughing Dog, it is possible to open the file and process it or read it directly into the video buffer. Here is an example written in Microsoft C that reads the data from the disk directly to the screen: #include <dos.h> #include <fcntl.h> main() { int fHandle; unsigned count; char far *screen; screen = (char far *)0xb8000000; _dos_open("TEST.BIN",O_RDWR,&fHandle); _dos_read(fHandle,screen,4000,&count); _dos_close(fHandle); } The function _dos_read() is used because it allows for reading the data in from the file directly to a far buffer (a buffer whose segment address is different from the Data Segment). If your language or particular compiler doesn't allow you to read directly to a far buffer, you could read the file into an intermediate near buffer and then use one of the techniques used in the source code generation examples earlier in this chapter to move the data to the screen. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 57 10.2.2 Executable COM Files If you are not a programmer and don't even own a compiler, you can still produce a stand-alone executable program file with the Laughing Dog Screen Maker by choosing the "Executable COM file" item from the Generate Code/Export Menu. The Dog will compile the screen into a file that you can run, just like any other program, by simply typing its name, or calling it from a batch file. Using Laughing Dog COM Files The program generated by the Laughing Dog Screen Maker displays the screen and waits for a key press. When a key is pressed, the program clears the screen and terminates, returning the scan code value of the key that was pressed as a DOS exit code. This ability to know which key was pressed allows you to create a simple or sophisticated menu system by calling Laughing Dog COM programs from a batch file and interpreting the user's response using the DOS "IF ERRORLEVEL" batch processing command. You can, for instance, write a batch file to display a screen looking something like this: Choose One: 1. Run Word-Processor 2. Run Spreadsheet 3. Back-up Hard Drive 4. Format a Disc 5. Play a Game 6. Quit The user then types in the number for the selection he wants and the COM program returns a code for the key pressed. By looking at this code, the batch file can branch to a command to run the requested program, or to an error screen if the user typed something other than the requested <1-6> keys. With a little work, you could even simulate a moving bar highlight, highlighting each selection as the <arrow> keys are pressed, waiting for the <enter> key before performing the indicated action. The possibilities are limited only by your imagination. In order to utilize the input from the keyboard, you need to have a working knowledge of two things: 1. Keyboard Scan Codes--the unique code returned by the COM program which will indicate exactly which key was pressed to exit the screen. 2. DOS exit code processing using the "IF ERRORLEVEL" batch file statement. This is the mechanism the Laughing Dog _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 58 COM files use to tell your batch program which key was pressed. Here is how it works: Every program you run returns an exit code. This code may have a special purpose, or be meaningless, depending on the program. The COM programs produced by the Laughing Dog Screen Maker require the user to press a key to remove the screen from the display and exit the program. The scan code for the key pressed is returned via the exit code mechanism of DOS. These exit codes can be intercepted in a batch file by using the "IF ERRORLEVEL" statement. If you are looking for a specific code, and all other codes are to be ignored, you can have a line in your batch file like this: IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO DOSOMETHING In this case, if the exit code was 1, the batch file would branch to the label :DOSOMETHING, and continue from there. Otherwise it would just continue from the next line after the "IF ERRORLEVEL...." line. If there are several different exit codes you wish to parse, and perform a different action depending on the specific code, you would need something like this in your batch file: IF ERRORLEVEL 4 GOTO DO3 IF ERRORLEVEL 3 GOTO DO2 IF ERRORLEVEL 2 GOTO DO1 There are a few important things to note about the example above. One is that the words: "DO1", "DO2", and "DO3" refer to what is known as a "Label" in a batch file. A label is a word, whose first character is a colon, which marks a location in a batch file (the colon is mandatory as the first character of the label at the location it is marking in the batch file, but is optional when referencing that location, as in the GOTOs above). That location can be used as a destination for a GOTO command, allowing for some very sophisticated branching within batch files. For instance, the ":DO3" label is the destination for the first GOTO command in the lines above. The second thing to note about the above batch file excerpt is that the parsing of the ERRORLEVELs must always be in descending order. That is, you must always check for the highest meaningful exit code values first. Then look for each smaller one, in turn. If you don't get a match, the batch file just continues executing (falls through to) the next line after the last IF ERRORLEVEL line. It's actually a little more complicated than that, but we will get to that later. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 59 To better understand this concept, here is a more complete example of a batch file using several Laughing Dog COM files. In this example, the file BDEMO.COM will present the user with a beautiful screen asking him/her to choose one of three programs, or to quit. Here is a list of the keys we will ask the user to press, the codes that correspond to those keys, and the action we will take if that key is pressed: KEY CODE ACTION ----------------------------------------------------- "1" 02 run the program called choice1 "2" 03 run the program called choice2 "3" 04 run the program called choice3 "Q" 16 Quit, exit the batch program any other key continue displaying the menu screen Here is the batch file written that does what was described above. Trace through it using the different keys as inputs, and see if you can understand the flow: REM ----------beginning of batch file---------- echo off :TOP bdemo IF ERRORLEVEL 17 GOTO TOP IF ERRORLEVEL 16 GOTO END IF ERRORLEVEL 5 GOTO TOP IF ERRORLEVEL 4 GOTO DO3 IF ERRORLEVEL 3 GOTO DO2 IF ERRORLEVEL 2 GOTO DO1 GOTO TOP :DO1 choice1 goto TOP :DO2 choice2 goto TOP :DO3 choice3 goto TOP :END ECHO You pushed "Q" to quit REM ---------------end of batch file------------- First the Laughing Dog generated program "BDEMO.COM" is run. It waits for a keystroke from the user. When the user presses a _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 60 key, we compare it to the code for the "Q" key. If it matches the code for "Q", we branch to the label ":END", which prints the message: "You pushed 'Q' to quit." It then exits the batch file, and returns to the DOS prompt. If it wasn't a "Q" we compare the exit code to the code for the "3" key. If it is a "3" we branch to the ":DO3" label and execute the program called "choice3". After choice3 is finished, we go back to the label ":TOP" and redisplay our menu screen and wait for another key press. If it wasn't a "3", we compare the exit code to the code for "2". If it matches, we branch to the ":DO2" label and execute the program called "choice2", etc. There is one more thing about the IF ERRORLEVEL command that we need to understand, as illustrated in the above batch file. The IF is not simply testing for equality, it's a little more complicated that. For example, the above line: "IF ERRORLEVEL X Y" really means: "IF the exit code is greater than or equal to X --AND-- less than the last exit code examined with the preceding 'IF ERRORLEVEL' command, THEN do Y, OTHERWISE go on to the next line." This is NOT explained in your DOS manual, and is kind of hard to understand the first time around. Let's examine the section of the batch file above that parses the exit codes, line by line, to better understand why it is written the way it is: IF ERRORLEVEL 17 GOTO TOP This line is here to protect our batch file from executing the GOTO END command whenever an exit code is encountered that is above 16 (the code for the "Q" key). Any exit code for a key greater than or equal to 17 will send us back to the label ":TOP" IF ERRORLEVEL 16 GOTO END This is the line that actually looks for the "Q" key. If the exit code matches the code for "Q" (16) we branch to the label ":END," otherwise we fall through to the next line. IF ERRORLEVEL 5 GOTO TOP This is another protection line. It insures that exit codes between 16 and 4 will branch to the label ":TOP" Codes less than 5 cause us to fall through to the next line. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 61 IF ERRORLEVEL 4 GOTO DO3 Here is the line that looks for the code for the key "3". If the exit code matches the code for the "3" key, we branch to the label ":DO3," otherwise we fall through to the next line. IF ERRORLEVEL 3 GOTO DO2 Since there are not any other codes we need to protect against between 4 and 3, we don't need any protection lines, and are able to immediately look for the next lower exit code value, which is 3 (the code for the "2" key). If the exit code matches the code for the "2" key (3), we branch to the label ":DO2," otherwise we fall through to the next line. IF ERRORLEVEL 2 GOTO DO1 Same explanation as preceding line GOTO TOP If none of the above conditions are satisfied, we fall through to this line, where we branch to the label :TOP The moral of the story is: Always parse exit codes in descending order and remember that it is easier to parse consecutive exit codes (6,5,4,3,2,1, etc.) than it is to parse codes separated by intermediate values. If you do need to parse non-consecutive code values you need to "bracket" the IF ERRORLEVEL statement lines with lines that will let you capture the "unwanted" codes and decide what happens when those situations occur. NOTE: When you register, you will receive the above batch file called "TEST.BAT" plus screen files: "BDEMO", "CHOICE1", "CHOICE2" and "CHOICE3" (for producing COM files for use with this demo). _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 62 Keyboard Scan Codes Scan codes identify the actual key pressed, and are distinct from the ASCII character produced when that key is pressed. For instance, an upper case "A" and a lower case "a" have different ASCII codes, but they share the same scan code, since the same key is pressed in order to produce either character. This is pretty easy to understand with the alphabetic characters, it gets a little more tricky with the numeric keys. Consider a 102-key AT-style keyboard which has two separate keys for each number, the top row of the normal keyboard, and the numeric keypad on the right hand side of the keyboard! The number "1" from the top row of the keyboard has a different scan code from the "1" on the numeric keypad. Suffice it to say that with scan codes, we are actually referring to the PHYSICAL key pressed, not to its LOGICAL character value. key scan code key scan code key scan code ------------------- ------------------- ------------------ Alpha keys: Top Row Numeric: Function Keys: a A.........30 1 !.........2 F1..........59 b B.........48 2 @.........3 F2..........60 c C.........46 3 #.........4 F3..........61 d D.........32 4 $.........5 F4..........62 e E.........18 5 %.........6 F5..........63 f F.........33 6 ^.........7 F6..........64 g G.........34 7 &.........8 F7..........65 h H.........35 8 *.........9 F8..........66 i I.........23 9 (.........10 F9..........67 j J.........36 0 ).........11 F10.........68 k K.........37 _ -.........12 Inverted T: l L.........38 = +.........13 UpArrow.....72 m M.........50 Keypad Numerics: DnArrow.....80 n N.........49 1 End.......79 LtArrow.....75 o O.........24 2 DnArrow...80 RtArrow.....77 p P.........25 3 PgDn......81 Discrete whatevers: q Q.........16 4 LtArrow...75 Insert......82 r R.........19 5...........76 Delete......83 s S.........31 6 RtArrow...77 Home........71 t T.........20 7 Home......71 End.........79 u U.........22 8 UpArrow...72 PgUp........73 v V.........47 9 PgUp......73 PgDn........81 w W.........17 0 Insert....82 Other Keys: x X.........45 . Delete....83 Esc.........1 y Y.........21 *...........55 Tab.........15 z Z.........44 -...........74 L-Cntl......29 [ {.........26 +...........78 R-Cntl......29 ] }.........27 L-Shift.....42 ; :.........39 R-Shift.....54 ' ".........40 L-Alt.......56 , <.........51 R-Alt.......38 / ?.........53 BackSpace...14 ` ~.........41 Enter.......28 \ |.........43 Spacebar....57 _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 63 10.2.3 ANSI Files Another way of saving and displaying your screens is to use commands in the form of ANSI "escape sequences." These escape sequences, or ANSI graphics commands, are particularly well suited for use on BBS's to add color to title screens, menus, and messages. ANSI File Options When you choose "ANSI File" from the Generate Code/Export Menu, the ANSI Menu will pop up. Use the ANSI Menu to set the following ANSI file options and then create the file: SET LAST SCREEN ROW To save less than the full screen to the file select "Set Last Screen Row" from the ANSI Options Menu. A dialog box will pop up. Set the last screen row using the <up/down> arrow keys or by clicking on the up or down arrows in the dialog box The row numbers correspond to the y-coordinates displayed in the Status Box, a 25 line screen begins at row 0, and the last row is 24. PRODUCE COMPACT FILE When set to ON, this produces a file that is one long string of ANSI commands, with no line breaks. The default, "Produce Compact File" OFF, will generate a file in which each line of the file is 70 characters or less in length. This helps if you intend to go in and view or edit the resulting file with a text viewer or editor that may not be able to handle the longer line lengths. Short line lengths are also necessary if you are planning to upload your ANSI artwork to the message section of a BBS. Many of the BBS line editors into which you would be transferring your file will not handle unbroken lines, and require carriage returns before the line wraps at 80 characters. NOTE: To insure that your file will upload into a BBS line editor, DO NOT save a full screen. The last line in a full screen (Row 24) cannot be broken up, so even when "Produce Compact File" is set to OFF, the last line in a screen will be as long as is necessary to hold all of the text and ANSI escape sequences. If the "Code/Export As Monochrome" toggle on the Generate Code/Export Menu set to ON, the screen will be saved using one color only (Light Gray on Black). Any flashing attributes will be preserved. ANSI Files are saved with the ANS extension. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 64 Displaying an ANSI File The computer displaying these ANSI screens must have the ANSI.SYS device driver installed. Check the CONFIG.SYS file for a line like this: DEVICE=C:\DOS\ANSI.SYS If this is not present, you must add it to the CONFIG.SYS file, specifying the actual path where the ANSI.SYS file is located. Reboot the system to activate the ANSI.SYS driver. To display an ANSI screen on a system having the ANSI.SYS driver installed use the DOS "type" command: TYPE filename.ANS Displaying a Full Screen ANSI File Normally, a full 25 line ANSI screen file when typed (using the DOS "type" command), will scroll up one extra row when the DOS prompt appears at the bottom of the screen at the end of the file. A full screen ANSI file produced by the Laughing Dog Screen Maker contains a little bit of ANSI magic that will allow you to display a full ANSI screen without scrolling. In order to take advantage of this feature you need to type the ANSI file from a batch file which "nulls out" the prompt temporarily. Here is a batch file you can use to display any full screen ANSI file produced by the Laughing Dog Screen Maker without scrolling: echo off type %1 pause>nul Create this batch file and name it "ANS.BAT". To display a full-screen ANSI file type: ANS YOURFILE.ANS This will display the ANSI file called "YOURFILE.ANS," wait for a keystroke, and return to the DOS prompt. For more information on ANSI graphics, consult your DOS manual <Grin>. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 65 10.2.4 WildCat! & PCBoard BBS Files WildCat! BBS files are used by Mustang Software's WildCat! BBS System Software, and PCBoard BBS files are used by Clark Development Company's PCBoard BBS Software. They allow sysops to save screens in a single format for presentation to both callers who desire ANSI graphics, and those who don't. Although the actual color code format is slightly different for each program, everything else about the way the Laughing Dog Screen Maker handles these two export files is the same, so they will be discussed together in this section. As with ANSI files, you can choose to save less than the full screen to the file. This comes in handy when you need to allow room for other text or the BBS status line at the bottom of the screen. When you choose the WildCat! or PCBoard BBS selection from the Generate Code/Export Menu, a dialog box will pop up. Set the last screen row using the <up/down> arrow keys or by clicking on the up or down arrows in the dialog box (row numbers correspond to the y-coordinates displayed in the Status Box, a 25 line screen begins at row 0 and ends at row 24). Your screen will be saved using WildCat! or PCBoard @Color Codes. WildCat! BBS files are saved with the extension "BBS" and PCBoard files are saved with the extension "PCB." At this time, the Laughing Dog Screen Maker does not support automatic insertion of system info. and user info. macros such as @TIME@, @LASTCALL@, @USER@, etc. You can, however, insert these macro codes manually, by typing them into the screen at the desired position. Keep in mind the field lengths of the resulting data which will be inserted into the final user screens, and allow for this with blanks in your screen design. Also, take care not to change colors within a macro string, as this will insert a color code in the middle of the macro, corrupting the macro. NOTE: The color code $OO has a special meaning to PCBoard and WildCat! and $FF has a special meaning to PCBoard, so will not be interpreted as colors. For this reason, characters with attributes having the value: $00 (black on black) will be converted to space characters with an attribute value of $0F (white on black) for both file formats, and attributes having the value of $FF (blinking white on lightgrey) will be changed to $7F (non-blinking white on lightgrey) for PCBoard files. A SPECIAL NOTE TO SYSOPS: If you have any comments or suggestions for ways that Yardbird Software could better serve your particular needs, please drop us a line or give us a call. Our experience with BBS software admittedly is very limited, so we need your input in order to reach our goal of making the Laughing Dog Screen Maker the ultimate screen design tool for BBS sysops. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 66 10.3 Printing Screens Printouts of your screens may be useful as worksheets when developing screens, or for inclusion in printed documentation. The printer types supported by this version of the Laughing Dog Screen Maker are: Epson Dot Matrix HP LaserJet PostScript Epson-compatible and HP LaserJet-compatible printers will produce very nice printouts of your screens, suitable for inclusion in manuals, program documentation, or presentations. PostScript devices will produce stunning photo-like reproductions of your screens suitable for framing! (or certainly suitable for producing professionally typeset manuals.) The Laughing Dog Screen Maker assumes that you are printing to the LPT1: or PRN: device. If you have a serial printer you need to tell DOS about this, either from the command line, or in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file using the DOS command "mode." Here is an example for redirecting printer output COM1: MODE LPT1: = COM1: 10.3.1 Setting the Printer Options Before attempting a print out, be sure to go to the Printer Setup Menu (available from the Print Screen Menu or the Options Menu) and select your printer type and set up the formatting options. You may also choose to send the printer output to a file for printing later. The options you select may be preserved as the start-up defaults by selecting "Save Options" from the Options Menu after completing your setup. The options available to you in the Printer Setup Menu are as follows: PRINT TO FILE PRINT SCREEN BORDER PRINT COORDINATE SCALE PRINT SCREEN IN CONDENSED MODE PRINT SCREEN IN LANDSCAPE ORIENTATION SELECT PRINTER TYPE Special Postscript Options: DOWNLOAD FONT NOW / WRITE FONT FILE EPS FORMAT: COMPLETE (INCLUDING FONT) EPS FORMAT: NO FONT (FONT ALREADY DOWNLOADED) You may need to experiment with the different formatting options, to produce the most pleasing output from your particular _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 67 printer. For instance, you may need to print the screen in "Condensed" mode in order to have room to include a border or a coordinate scale, or using Landscape orientation might give you the best results when producing overhead transparencies, etc. Play around until you find the correct setup for your printer and the job at hand. See "Printer Setup Menu" in the Laughing Dog Menus section of the manual for a complete description of each option. 10.3.2 Laughing Dog's PostScript Output PostScript printer output offers the most accurate rendition of your Laughing Dog screens, and should be used whenever possible. The Laughing Dog Screen Maker will output directly to a PostScript printer connected to your printer port (the device selected as PRN:, default = LPT1:) or, if the "Print To File" selection of the Printer setup Menu is toggled ON, to an Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) file. A custom, EGA/VGA look-alike font is downloaded to the PostScript device and the color attributes are represented as discrete gray scale values, producing a stunningly accurate "snap- shot" of your screen. An EPS file is, by its very nature, completely device independent, and may be imported into any program that accepts PostScript input (such as any PostScript compatible desktop publishing, draw, or paint program). The image of the screen may be manipulated (scaled, rotated, stretched, etc.) to suit your needs without losing any resolution. In fact, the resolution of PostScript images gets BETTER the larger it is scaled! If you are producing professional typeset quality documentation, or wish to, Laughing Dog EPS files are the only way to go. Registered users will receive a bound manual containing numerous examples of the PostScript output of this program. You may also send Yardbird Software a Self Addressed Stamped Envelope and ask to be sent a sample PostScript printout if you need convincing! About the Special PostScript Options Printing a screen on a PostScript printer can take a long time (about 90 seconds on an HP LaserJet IIP w/HP PostScript cartridge) due to the fact that a special font is be downloaded to the printer each time a screen is printed. If you are just doing one printout, there is no way around this. However, if you intend to do several screen printouts, the Special PostScript Options offer a way to cut down on this time. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 68 It is possible to do a "persistent download" of the font prior to printing any screens and avoid having to download the font with each job. This means that once the font is downloaded to the printer, it will remain in memory for as long as the printer remains turned on, and is not reset. The PostScript Special Options The following options only apply to PostScript output. They have no effect on the other types of printer output. DOWNLOAD FONT NOW / WRITE FONT FILE Choose the "Download Font Now" item from the Printer Setup Menu to do a persistent download of the Laughing Dog EGA/VGA look- alike font. If the "Print To File" option is ON, a file called "LDOGFONT.PS" is created in the current data directory. This file may be sent to your printer prior to printing a Laughing Dog PostScript screen using the DOS copy command: "COPY LDOGFONT.PS LPT1:" EPS FORMAT: COMPLETE (INCLUDING FONT) This is the default setting. The special, EGA/VGA look-alike font is downloaded with each job, and does not remain resident in the printer. Once the screen is printed, the font is removed from printer memory. When the "Print To File" option is ON, the EPS files generated will be true EPS, meaning that they will contain all of the information needed by another application to import them. EPS FORMAT: NO FONT (FONT ALREADY DOWNLOADED) Only use this option if the special, EGA/VGA look-alike font has already been downloaded to the printer. Screens will print MUCH faster this way, since the font does not have to be downloaded with each job. When the "Print To File" option is ON, the EPS files produced will be much smaller, due to the fact that the font is not included. Just be sure that the font is sent to the printer prior to printing a file produced with this option ON. NOTE: Technically, the files created with this option set to ON are not TRUE Encapsulated PostScript files. In order for a file _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 69 to be true EPS, it must, among other things, contain EVERYTHING, including special fonts, necessary to produce the image. Additional PS Notes 1.) The EPS files generated by the Laughing Dog Screen Maker do not contain a bitmap image of the screen so when you import them into other applications, you will most likely just see the bounding box as a place holder for the actual image. This is normal. The actual screen image will print when you print the document containing the Laughing Dog EPS images. 2.) The special, EGA/VGA look-alike font program is the copyrighted property of Yardbird Software (Jeff Sloan). Only registered users of the Laughing Dog Screen Maker may legally use this font for printing anything other than Laughing Dog screens. Anyone using this font for Laughing Dog Screens, or anything else, must leave the font file header intact, including the copyright notice. 3.) The printed version of this manual has numerous screen-shot illustrations generated by the Laughing Dog as EPS files. It was created entirely using Microsoft Word For Windows V2.0. The EPS files were saved without the font information to save on space. The LDOGFONT.PS file was sent to the printer prior to printing anything, and remained resident. EPS files were inserted into the manual using W4W's Insert Picture command. The images, which showed up as a gray box, were then repositioned, scaled, and cropped as necessary. The process will be similar for any other word processor or desktop publishing program that accepts PostScript graphics. It's simple and the results are fantastic! (Register, and you'll get the manual so you can see for yourself!) _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 70 11. The Laughing Dog Menus The following section briefly describes each of the major menu structures of the Laughing Dog Screen Maker program and gives a brief explanation of the items on each of the menus. Most menu items, when selected, will immediately perform some function like Quit, Save a File, etc. Some menu items, however, represent some parameter which is used by another menu function. These menu selections will alternately "toggle" the condition or parameter ON or OFF. An example of this is the "Enable Undo" toggle in the Options Menu. When a toggle is ON, a check mark will appear immediately to the left of the menu item, when OFF, there will be nothing there. Most of this information is available in the on-line help system. To access on-line help for a menu item, place the menu highlight on the item of interest and press the <F1> key. 11.1 The MAIN MENU The Main Menu is accessed by pressing the <F2> key OR by clicking the right mouse button anywhere in the drawing area of the screen. The menu contains the following items: New Screen... Load Screen... Save Screen... DOS Shell Change Data Directory... Options... UNDO! Select Block Draw Line Paste from File Pick up Attribute @Curs. Pick up Character @Curs. Generate Source Code... Print Screen... Hide/Show Status Box Registration Info... Quit Program HINT: an ellipsis ( ... ) next to a menu item indicates that selecting that item invokes another menu or a dialog box. NEW SCREEN This selection gives you the option to save the current screen (if needed) and start a new one. You will be presented with a menu offering the following choices for clearing the screen. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 71 11.1.1 The NEW SCREEN MENU This menu allows you to initialize the screen in a number of ways. CLEAR TO BLACK This will clear the screen to black. All text or special characters will be wiped out. CLEAR TO CURRENT COLOR This will clear the screen to the currently selected color attribute (see: Selecting a Color Attribute). All text or special characters will be wiped out. CLEAR & FILL WITH CURRENT COLOR AND CHARACTER This will clear the screen to the current color, and fill the screen with the currently selected special character. CHANGE CURRENT COLOR ATTRIBUTE This will activate the Color Attribute Selection Box, allowing you to change colors without exiting the menu. CHANGE CURRENT SPECIAL CHARACTER This will activate the Special Character Selection Box allowing you to change special characters without exiting the menu. LOAD SCREEN Use this to load a screen that was saved using the "Save Screen" function. A Dialog Box will display a list of all the screen files in the current data directory. Use the <up/down arrow> keys or the mouse to select the file to load This function is also available via the hot key <cntl>-L. SAVE SCREEN Use this to save the screen you are working on to a disk file. You may load it later using the "Load Screen" function, or display it using the Laughing Dog Screen Display Utility: LDOGSHOW.EXE. You will be presented with Dialog Box allowing you to enter a filename under which to save the screen. This function is also available via the hot key <cntl>-S. CHANGE DATA DIRECTORY Use this to change the current Data Directory. This is the disk and subdirectory where files are stored when the "Save Screen" or "Copy Selected Block to File" functions are used, and the place from which files are retrieved when using the "Load Screen" and "Paste from File" functions. You may have several different directories containing screen files from different projects and use this function to switch between these different directories. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 72 You will be presented with a Dialog Box for entering the new drive\path. The Data Directory defaults to the directory containing the LDOG.EXE file, but may be set differently at start-up time via a command line argument (Type "LDOG /?" at the DOS prompt for a listing of all the available command line arguments and their usage, OR, see "Command Line Options" in the Quick Start chapter). DOS SHELL Use this to temporarily exit (shell out of) Laughing Dog to run another program or execute a DOS command, then return to Laughing Dog and resume where you left off. To return from the shell, type "EXIT" at the DOS prompt. OPTIONS This selection brings up a menu that allows you to configure the Laughing Dog Screen Maker options. 11.1.2 The OPTIONS MENU Use this menu to set the various Laughing Dog options, set-up the printer, and to save these options as defaults. A check mark next to the menu item indicates that feature is ON. To toggle the status of a menu item, highlight the item using the <up/down arrow> keys and press <enter>, or click on it with the mouse. SOUND ON/OFF There are many situations when this program beeps to warn of error conditions, or to let you know you are in a special mode, etc. To turn these sounds OFF, just un- check the "Sound" item on the Options Menu. The default is SOUND ON. MONOCHROME/COLOR MONITOR TYPE SELECTION Use this selection to switch between the Color and Monochrome Display modes. In Monochrome Mode, all of the menus, dialog boxes, and the drawing screen will be displayed in black and white. All of the actual color attributes are stored when you use the "Save Screen" command, allowing you to view the screen in full color on a color monitor at another time. The Monochrome option can also be specified at start-up by using the command line argument "/L" (as in LCD) The default is COLOR. ENABLE/DISABLE UNDO FEATURE A one-step undo buffer is maintained when this menu item is checked which allows you to undo the last change you made to the screen. When enabled, the last action may be _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 73 undone by using the hot key <cntl>-U or by selecting "UNDO!" from the Main Menu. NOTE: There is a slight degradation in the speed of the program when this feature is enabled. The default is UNDO DISABLED. SET UP PRINTER This option brings up the Printer Setup Menu. See the Printer Setup Menu description, under the "Print Screen/Printer Setup Menu" heading later in this chapter for a complete description of this menu. SAVE OPTIONS This will save the current state of the Options Menu and the Printer Setup Menu to a configuration file called LDOG.CFG in the subdirectory that contains LDOG.EXE. These settings become the start-up defaults the next time you start the program. The file LDOG.CFG is created the first time you save the options. If this file is missing, the default settings will take effect upon start-up. The default display type and sound on/off options may be overridden at start-up, if necessary, by using a command line argument. See "Command Line Options" in the Quick Start chapter or type "LDOG.EXE /?" for further information. UNDO If enabled (via the Options Menu), this allows you to "undo" the last action that effected the screen (print a character, copy, move, recolor, erase, a selected block, make a window, etc.). If the UNDO option is not enabled, this menu choice will be grayed out, and you will not be able to select it. To enable UNDO, choose "Options" from the Main Menu, and toggle the "Enable UNDO" menu item to ON. NOTE: There is a slight degradation in the speed of the program when this feature is enabled. The default is UNDO OFF. SELECT BLOCK This puts you into Select Mode. You may also use the hot key <alt>-S or click & hold the left mouse button to enter Select Mode. See "Select Mode" in the Drawing Screens chapter for more info. DRAW LINE This puts you into Line Drawing Mode. You may also use the hot key <alt>-L or double-click & hold the left mouse button to begin drawing a line. See "Line Drawing Mode" in the Drawing Screens chapter for more info. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 74 PASTE FROM FILE Use this to paste block files, which were previously saved using the Block Menu choice "Copy to File," into the current screen. To Paste a block, first position the cursor at the point where you want the upper left-hand corner of the block to be placed, then select this menu choice, or press the hot key <cntl>-P. You will be presented with a Dialog Box, and asked to choose a file from a list of all the block files in the current Data Directory (see "Loading & Saving Screens" for an explanation of using this dialog box). The block from the file you choose will be placed on the screen in a "selected" state, and you may then move it around using the <arrow> keys, or by clicking and holding the left mouse button and dragging it to the desired position. Press <enter> or release the left mouse button to paste it at its current position. If the block you attempt to place at the cursor position extends beyond the screen boundaries, the portion outside of the screen will be truncated. If this happens unintentionally, just cancel the paste with the <esc> key, move the cursor further away from the left and/or bottom edge of the screen and try again. You may abort the paste at any time while the area is still "selected," by pressing the <esc> key or clicking the right mouse button. This function may also be accessed directly by using the hot key <cntl>-P. PICK UP ATTRIBUTE AT CURSOR Use this to change the current color attribute without going to the Color Attribute Selection Box within the Status Box. Position the cursor on a point on the drawing screen that has the color attribute that you want, call the Main Menu with <F2>, then select "Pick up Attribute @ Cursor". This function may also be accessed directly by using the hot key <cntl>-A. PICK UP SPECIAL CHARACTER AT CURSOR Use this to change the current Special Character without going to the Special Character Selection Box within the Status Box. Position the cursor on a point on the drawing screen that has the Special Character you want (MUST be a Character not normally available from the keyboard), then call the Main Menu with <F2>, and select "Pick up Special Character @ Cursor". This function may also be accessed directly by using the hot key <cntl>-K. GENERATE SOURCE CODE / EXPORT Use this selection to generate compiler-ready source code to display a Laughing Dog Screen from within your own program, or _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 75 to export a screen as an ANSI, WildCat! BBS, PCBoard BBS, or a stand-alone executable program. If the language you are using does not appear on the menu, select the closest match, examine the code produced, and make any changes necessary. After choosing the type of file you want to generate, you will be presented with a dialog box and asked to provide a filename. If the code generated uses a variable name for the screen array produced, that array will also take on the name of the source file (less the extension). 11.1.3 The GENERATE CODE/EXPORT FILE MENU The selections on this menu allow you to reproduce your Laughing Dog screens in a variety of different programming languages and file formats. The languages and file formats supported are: Microsoft C/QuickC Turbo C QuickBASIC GW BASIC (generic) BASIC BSAVE File Format Turbo Pascal MASM Assembler Binary File Executable .COM file ANSI File WildCat! BBS File PCBoard File In addition, you may toggle the menu choice: Code/Export As Monochrome See "Generating Source Code & Exporting Files" for a complete description of each type of file produced, and tips on using them. PRINT SCREEN / PRINTER SETUP This brings up a menu for setting up printer options and printing the currently displayed screen. 11.1.4 The PRINT SCREEN/PRINTER SETUP MENU This menu allows you to produce a printout of your Laughing Dog Screen Maker screens on an Epson-compatible dot-matrix printer, HP LaserJet-compatible laser printer or PostScript- compatible output device. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 76 The two menu choices are: PRINT SCREEN This will initiate printing of the screen using the parameters set up in the "Printer Setup" sub-menu. SET UP PRINTER This option brings up the Printer Setup Menu. THE PRINTER SETUP MENU Use this menu to specify your printer type and choose from several formatting options. This menu is accessed from either the Print Screen/Printer Setup Menu or the Options Menu. These options may be saved as start-up defaults via the Options Menu item "Save Options." PRINT TO FILE When this option is toggled ON, everything that would have been sent to the printer will be written to a file. You will be presented with a dialog box for entering a filename for the print file. Print files have the filename extension PRN, with the exception of PostScript printer files, which have the extension EPS. To print the resulting file use the DOS command: COPY filename.prn LPT1 Substitute the real filename and the correct printer port name (LPT2, LPT3, COM1, etc.) PRINT SCREEN BORDER This option will print a single-line border around the screen image sent to the printer. If you are having trouble fitting the screen with a border on your paper, try using the "Print Screen in Condensed Mode" or "Print Screen in Landscape Mode" options, or simply de-select this option. PRINT COORDINATE SCALE When this option is ON, a scale will be printed above, below, and along the left-hand edge of the screen image, marking the X and Y screen coordinates. This is helpful when using printouts as worksheets during screen development, or when writing code to interface with screens you have designed. The coordinates are zero-based (screen origin = 0,0). _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 77 If the language or function library you are using treats screen coordinates as one-based (screen origin = 1,1), add 1 to the coordinate values. The scale printed will be in this format: 0 1 2 3 0123456789012345678901234567890... 0 2 3 Screen Image Here 4 . . . 24 0123456789012345678901234567890... PRINT SCREEN IN CONDENSED MODE If the selected printer type supports printing in condensed mode, the screen will be printed condensed. This is sometimes helpful if you are having trouble getting the screen image to fit correctly on the paper, or just prefer the smaller finished size. PRINT SCREEN IN LANDSCAPE ORIENTATION This option will print the screen sideways on the paper. It is not available on all printers, but having it selected for a printer that does not support it will have no bad effects. SELECT PRINTER TYPE The printer types supported by this version of the Laughing Dog Screen Maker are: Epson Dot Matrix HP LaserJet PostScript Select the printer type that most closely matches your printer, or a printer emulation that your printer is capable of performing. If your printer type doesn't appear here, try Print Screen using the <shift>-<PrtScn> key combination (it may be necessary to set up your printer to print the IBM character set using DIP switches or front panel commands -- see your printer manual). _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 78 SPECIAL POSTSCRIPT OPTIONS The following options apply only to PostScript output devices. DOWNLOAD FONT NOW / WRITE FONT FILE Choose this to do a persistent download of the Laughing Dog EGA/VGA look-alike font. If the "Print To File" option is ON, a file called "LDOGFONT.PS" is saved in the Data Directory. EPS FORMAT: COMPLETE (INCLUDING FONT) This is the default setting. The special EGA/VGA look-alike font is downloaded with each job, and does not remain resident in the printer. Once the screen is printed, the font is removed from printer memory. When the "Print To File" option is ON, the EPS files generated will be True EPS, meaning that they will contain all of the information needed by another application to import them. EPS FORMAT: NO FONT (FONT ALREADY DOWNLOADED) Only use this option if the special, EGA/VGA look- alike font has already been downloaded to the printer. NOTE: Technically, the files created with this option set to ON are not true Encapsulated PostScript files. In order for a file to be true EPS, it must contain EVERYTHING necessary to produce the image, including special fonts. See: Printing Screens for more information on the Special PostScript Options. REGISTRATION INFORMATION This will display information describing how you may register this program with Yardbird Software and will give you the option to print out a registration form. When you register, you will receive the latest version of this program along with a printed manual. You will also be notified of all future revisions and additions to the Laughing Dog Screen Maker Program. Registered users are also entitled to free phone support. HIDE/SHOW STATUS BOX If the Status Box is not visible, this will make it visible again. If it is currently visible, it will hide it. You may also hide it by repeatedly hitting the <tab> key, by clicking the close button [-] in the upper-left corner of the Status Box or pressing the <F10> key. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 79 QUIT PROGRAM This will exit the program and return to DOS. If the program detects that any changes were made to the screen since last saving it, it will prompt you to save the screen before exiting. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 80 11.2 The BLOCK MENU This menu will pop up automatically when a selection is completed, unless this has been inhibited by the "Menu Only on Request" option (see below). It can also be accessed while you are selecting a block by pressing the <F2> key. BLOCK MENU Choices: Move Block Copy Block Copy Block to a File Clear/Fill Block Recolor Block Erase Block Make a Window of Block Menu Only on Request (Expert Mode) MOVE BLOCK Use the MOVE command to reposition the selected block on the screen. The difference between MOVE and COPY, is that COPY leaves the original area intact, while MOVE leaves the original area blank. Moving the Block (Keyboard) Use the <arrow> keys to move the selected block to the desired position on the screen, then press <enter> to drop it there. Press <esc> to cancel the move and return the cursor and the block to their original positions. Moving the Block (Mouse) Position the mouse cursor anywhere within the selected block, click and hold the left mouse button, then drag the selected area to the desired position on the screen. Drop it there by releasing the left mouse button. The move may be canceled by clicking the right mouse button. The cursor and the block will return to the original positions. NOTE: During the MOVE, the Cursor Position display within the Status Box displays the position of the upper left hand corner of the moving block. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 81 Controlling the Fill Color when Moving a Block When moving a piece of the screen, the original area is left blank. Since this area may have contained many different color attributes, the program must decide which color to use when filling the vacated area. The color chosen is the color at the cursor position from which the original selection was begun. By carefully choosing the point from which to begin selecting a block for a move, it is possible to control the fill color, allowing you to avoid leaving gaping "holes" in your screen, or to achieve many interesting effects such as drop-shadows, etc. The Move function can also be accessed by pressing the hot key <M> while selecting a block. COPY BLOCK Use the COPY command to copy the selected block to another position on the screen. The difference between MOVE and COPY, is that COPY leaves the original area intact, while MOVE leaves the original area blank. Copying the Block (Keyboard) Use the <arrow> keys to position the block to the desired position on the screen, then press <enter> to drop it there. Press <esc> to cancel the copy and return the cursor and the block to their original positions. Copying the Block (Mouse) Position the mouse cursor anywhere within the selected block, click and hold the left mouse button and drag the block to the desired position on the screen. Drop it there by releasing the left mouse button. The copy may be canceled by pressing <esc> or by clicking the right mouse button while copying. The cursor and the block will return to their original positions. NOTE: During the COPY, the Cursor Position display within the Status Box displays the position of the upper left-hand corner of the moving block. The Copy function can also be accessed by pressing the hot key <C> while selecting a block. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 82 COPY BLOCK TO FILE Use this function to copy a selected block to a disk file. You will be presented with a dialog box and asked to provide a filename under which to save the screen. The block file will then be available for pasting into a screen using the Main Menu selection "Paste from File" or the hot key <cntl>-P or for displaying by itself using the companion program LDOGSHOW.EXE. All block files are saved with the filename extension ".PUP" This function is also available by using the hot key <Y> (as in "copY" to file) while selecting a block. CLEAR/FILL BLOCK This selection presents you with the Clear/Fill Menu, giving you several options for clearing or filling the block. Any existing text or special characters within the block will be wiped out. This function is also available by using the hot key <F> while selecting a block. 11.2.1 The CLEAR/FILL BLOCK MENU The Clear/Fill Block Menu allows you to choose the type of clear or fill you wish to perform on the selected block. The available choices are: CLEAR TO BLACK This clears the block to black. All text or special characters within the block will be wiped out. CLEAR TO CURRENT COLOR This clears the block to the currently selected color attribute. All text or special characters within the block will be wiped out. FILL WITH CURRENT CHARACTER This fills the block with the currently selected special character** retaining the existing color attributes within the block. CLEAR & FILL WITH CURRENT COLOR AND CHARACTER This command will clear the block to the current color, and then fill it with the currently selected special character**. **NOTE: It is also possible to fill a selected block with a "normal" character, that is, one that is not found in the Special Character Selection Box. To do this, the character you wish to use for the fill _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 83 must be on the drawing screen (temporarily type it and erase it later if it is not already on the screen) you must then "pick up" the character. Since the <cntl>-K hot key restricts you to actual "special" characters, a special hot key has been defined for temporarily picking up a normal character. This hot key is <shift>-<cntl>-K. Place the cursor on the normal character, then press <shift>-<cntl>-K. Now you may use this character for filling. CHANGE CURRENT COLOR ATTRIBUTE This will activate the Color Attribute Selection Box, allowing you to change colors without exiting the menu. CHANGE CURRENT SPECIAL CHARACTER This will activate the Special Character Selection Box, allowing you to change special characters without exiting the menu. RECOLOR BLOCK Use this function to change the color attributes of all the text or special characters within a block. This function may also be accessed using the hot key <R> while selecting a block. 11.2.2 The RECOLOR MENU The Recolor Menu allows you to choose the type of recolor you wish to perform on the selected block. It is also possible to change the current color from within the menu. RECOLOR FOREGROUND AND BACKGROUND This will recolor both the foreground (text and special characters) and the background of the block to the color of the currently selected color attribute. RECOLOR FOREGROUND** ONLY The foreground text and special characters will be recolored to the currently selected foreground color attribute. The background attributes within the block will remain unchanged. RECOLOR BACKGROUND** ONLY The background of the block will be recolored to the currently selected background color attribute. The foreground text or special characters' attributes will remain unchanged. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 84 CHANGE CURRENT COLOR ATTRIBUTE This activates the Color Attribute Selection Box, allowing you to change colors without leaving the Recolor Menu. **NOTE: Although the flashing characteristic of the color attribute is generally considered a part of the background portion of the attribute, the Laughing Dog Screen Maker treats it as part of the Foreground. This seems to make sense for two reasons. First, the Color Attribute Selection Box displays the colors in this way, grouping all flashing and normal attributes with the same background color together. Second, it is just more natural to do it this way because it is the foreground characters that appear to be flashing , not the background! ERASE BLOCK This erases all the text or special characters within the block, leaving the color attributes intact. This function may also be accessed using the hot keys <E> or <delete> while selecting a block. MAKE A WINDOW OF BLOCK Use this to convert the selected block into a framed, titled window, using the current color and line-type. The Make A Window Menu will pop up, where you can select the various window options you would like to use for making the window. The inside of the window can be cleared to the current color, recolored to the current color, or left as is. You can also call up the Window Title Options Menu, for specifying the placement of the title and the type of brackets to use. If the "Prompt for Window Title" option from the Window Options Menu is set to ON (default), a dialog box will pop up when you select the type of window to create from the Make A Window Menu. The text entry field in the dialog box is set to the maximum length for the size window you have defined. Type in the text you wish to appear as the title, then press <enter> or click on the "OK" button with your mouse. The title is inserted into the window frame at the position specified in the Window Options Menu. If you choose not to enter any text, the title brackets will not be drawn. This function may also be accessed using the hot key <W> while selecting a block. HINT1: A block at least 2x2 characters must be selected in order for the automatic window making feature to be available. HINT2: The selected area must be at least 6 characters wide for the auto-titling feature to be available. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 85 11.2.3 The MAKE A WINDOW MENU Use this menu to set up and make a titled window out of the selected block. DRAW FRAME ONLY Draws a frame around the selected block using the current color attribute and line-type. The inside of the window will remain as it is. DRAW FRAME & CLEAR TO CURRENT COLOR Draws a frame around the selected block using the current color/line-type and clears any text or special characters within the window to the current color attribute. DRAW FRAME & RECOLOR INSIDE Draws a frame around the selected block using the current color/line-type and recolors any text or special characters within the window to the current color. WINDOW TITLE OPTIONS This brings up Window Title Options Menu. 11.2.4 The WINDOW TITLE OPTIONS MENU Use the Window Title Options Menu to set up the parameters for automatic window titling, such as whether or not to do automatic titling, and if so, which bracket type to use and where to position the title. PROMPT FOR WINDOW TITLE? If set to ON the Window Title dialog Box will pop up when making a window, allowing you to enter a title. If set to OFF, you will not be given the option of entering a title. WINDOW TITLE POSITION Select the window title position. Choices are TOP- CENTER or BOTTOM-CENTER. WINDOW TITLE BRACKET TYPE Define the type of bracket (or no bracket) which will surround the window title. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 86 MENU ONLY ON REQUEST (Expert Mode) When set to ON, the Block Menu will no longer automatically pop up when you finish selecting a block. Without the menu, press one of the following hot keys to end the block selection and perform the corresponding Block Menu function: <M> to Move the block <C> to Copy the block <Y> to copY the block to a File <R> to Recolor the block <E> to Erase the block <F> to clear/Fill the block <W> to make a Window of the block You can also end the selection first, by pressing <enter>, and then either use the hot keys or explicitly call the menu with the <F2> key. The selection can be canceled by pressing the <esc> key. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 87 12. LDOG.EXE Error Messages When one of the following error conditions is detected the corresponding error message will appear in a dialog box. Depending on the error, you may need to make a Yes/No decision, or just respond with an OK (even if it isn't OK with you!). FILE ALREADY EXISTS! Overwrite Existing Data? There is a file having the same name as the one you typed in. If you choose "Yes," the data in that file will be overwritten by the new data. The contents of the old file will be destroyed. If you want to save the old version, as well as the new one, just choose "No," and save the screen using a different name. ILLEGAL FILENAME! DOS filenames must be between 1-8 characters long and contain ONLY the following characters a-z, A-Z, 0-9 ! # $ & ` ' ( ) - _ @ { } ~ Filenames cannot begin with a digit. Try again... CAN'T OPEN FILE! Some sort of disk error has occurred, the file cannot be opened. The disk could be damaged or the drive door may be open (if it is a floppy drive). If you are trying to load a file, the file and/or its attributes could have become corrupted. If you are trying to save a file, the disk may not be formatted. Check your disk drive and try again. FILE NOT FOUND! The file you selected has disappeared between the time the dialog box read the filename into its list of files and when you actually tried to read it. If this ever happens, something is drastically wrong! INVALID PATH! The drive and/or path you specified does not exist, is spelled wrong, the disk is not in the drive, or the drive door is open, etc. Check the spelling, and be sure you used backslashes "\" to separate the drive and subdirectories in your path. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 88 NO SCREEN/BLOCK FILES FOUND! When the program looked in the data directory, it found no screen or block files. The data directory is by default the directory where the LDOG.EXE file is located. The data directory may be set to something different at start-up time by using the "drive\path" command line argument, or while the program is running by using the Main Menu selection "Change Data Directory." NOTE: Screen files Must have the extension "DOG", and block files Must have the extension "PUP," These extensions are automatically added to the filename you enter when you save a screen or block. Do not change these extensions if you wish to load the screens again! MEMORY ALLOCATION ERROR!! The program tried to get some memory, and it was unable to. This is most likely caused by running the program in a DOS Shell. Try typing "EXIT" after you are dumped out of the program to see if you pop back into the program you shelled out of to run this one. If that is the problem, you don't have enough memory to run LDOG.EXE from the shell. Run it by itself. If it turns out you are not attempting to run LDOG.EXE from a shell, there may be a more serious memory conflict. Try rebooting your computer and try running the program again. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 89 13. The Laughing Dog Utilities Two utility programs are provided to round out the Laughing Dog Screen Maker package. The first one, LDOGRAB.EXE, allows you to capture screens from any text mode program for importing into LDOG.EXE. The other one, LDOGSHOW.EXE, allows you to display your Laughing Dog screens one at a time, or to group several screens together into a slide show that may be displayed manually or automatically. 13.1 Grabbing Text Screens from Other Programs with LDOGRAB.EXE LDOGRAB.EXE is a screen grabbing utility, which allows you to "grab" or capture copies of screens from any text mode application. These screens may then be loaded into the screen design program, LDOG.EXE, to edit, print, convert to another file format, or compress. They may also be displayed using the Laughing Dog screen display utility LDOGSHOW.EXE. LDOGRAB.EXE is a TSR (Terminate and Stay Resident) program that is loaded into memory before running the text mode program from which you wish to "grab" screens. Screens are saved in an uncompressed format readable by LDOG.EXE or LDOGSHOW.EXE. NOTE: LDOGRAB.EXE will NOT WORK for programs running in graphics mode. 13.1.1 Starting LDOGRAB.EXE USAGE: LDOGRAB [/N][/K key][/D Pathname]| [H|?] /N suppress messages sent to application screen when saving screens. /K xx change the default hot-key (<cntl>-<left-shift>) replace xx with one of the following key codes: cr = <cntl>-<right-shift> al = <alt>-<left-shift> ar = <alt>-<right-shift> Defaults to <cntl>-<left-shift> /D specifies a disk and subdirectory location for saving screen files. Pathname must be complete path, including drive! Defaults to current path. /? /H Displays a help screen similar to this. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 90 examples: ldograb installs the screen grabber ldograb /N suppress screen messages ldograb /D c:\dog\bites will store files in \dog\bite subdirectory of drive C: 13.1.2 Using The Screen Grabber First load LDOGRAB using any of the command line arguments from above, then run the program from which you wish to grab screens. When a screen comes up that you want to save, press the screen grabbing hot key (the default hot key is <cntl>-<left- shift>, but you may specify another key combination, if the default conflicts with the program you are grabbing screens from, by using the /k option in the command line when you start LDOGRAB.EXE). When you grab a screen, you will hear a single beep and a message will pop up at the top of the screen, informing you that the screen capture was successful and showing you the name of the file that the screen was saved to. If there was a problem, you will hear three beeps and an error message will be displayed describing the nature of the error. Press any key to make the message go away, and continue with the foreground application. NOTE: These messages can be suppressed using the /N command line option. In that case, your only clue to a successful screen save will be the single beep. If you hear three beeps, there was a problem saving the screen. Continue saving screens until you have what you need, and then quit your application and re-boot your computer to remove the TSR from memory (it is not wise to leave TSRs hanging around when you have no further need of them, as they just take up valuable memory space that your foreground applications may need). Finding Your Captured Screens The screen files are saved in the default directory (the directory you started LDOGRAB.EXE from) unless you specified another disk and/or directory using the /D option above. The filenames are in a generic format (SCN0000.DOG, SCN0001.DOG, SCN0002.DOG, etc.). The program will not overwrite a file with the same name. It will automatically increment the filename to the next SCN# until it finds an unused filename. Later, you may change the filenames to something more meaningful for your purposes. You may not change the file extensions (the _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 91 trailing "DOG" part of the file name) because The Laughing Dog Screen Maker and the presentation utility LDOGSHOW.EXE key on these extensions when searching a directory for screen files. Compressing Screen Files In order to keep LDOGRAB as small as possible, screen compression is not done within the TSR. Accordingly screens are saved in an uncompressed format. A normal 25-line by 80-column screen will produce a file 4010 bytes long. LDOG.EXE, on the other hand, automatically compresses screens as it saves them to disk. Therefore, screen files may be compressed simply by loading them into LDOG.EXE and saving them again. The compression ratio is dependent on screen content, but can range from 1:1 all the way up to 1333:1. The average is about 8:1. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 92 13.2 Displaying Your Screens with LDOGSHOW.EXE This program is used to display a single screen, or to string together several screens into a slide show presentation that may be displayed manually or automatically. Slide shows may contain up to 100 screens. 13.2.1 Starting LDOGSHOW.EXE USAGE: LDOGSHOW [ScnFilename]|[/L ListFilename.ext][/#n][/F]|[H|?] ScnFilename Displays the specified screen file /L ListFilename.ext Begins a "slide show" of the screen files listed in the file ListFileName.ext /#n n = number of seconds delay between screens for an automatic, repeating slide show [exited by pressing <esc>] /F Forward only display of manual slide show /M Displays screens in monochrome /? /H Displays a help screen similar to this. examples: LDOGSHOW grins displays the screen file: GRINS.DOG LDOGSHOW POUND.PUP displays the partial screen file POUND.PUP LDOGSHOW /L LANDRY.LST displays the screen files listed in the list file LANDRY.LST NOTE1: A ScnFilename with no extension assumes the "DOG" extension. Block files may also be displayed, but you must specify the "PUP" extension. NOTE2: The list file and ALL screen files must be in the current (default) directory. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 93 13.2.2 Displaying a Single Screen This is a great way to view a single screen or block file without having to start up the whole Laughing Dog Screen Maker program (LDOG.EXE). Just type "LDOGSHOW FILENAME.EXT" substituting the actual screen or block filename. The extension "DOG" is assumed if none is specified. To view a block file, type its full name, including the extension "PUP." When "PUP" files are displayed by themselves, they appear in the position on the screen from which they were originally saved, leaving the rest of the screen intact. 13.2.3 Creating a Slide Show Presentation A presentation consisting of several screen files and/or block files can easily be built by creating a text file containing of a list of the desired screen and/or block files in the order you wish to view them. You may include comments in the file by beginning a line with a semicolon ";". That line will be skipped over by LDOGSHOW when it compiles its list of files to display. You may also include comments on the same line as a filename, so long as there is at least one space separating the filename from the comment. You may prohibit moving backward through the list file by placing "/F" (forward only) as the first thing on any line in a list file. As with displaying a single screen, a filename extension of "DOG" is assumed, unless you specify a block file by including the "PUP" extension. Legal List File Entries: ;comment Comment on a line by itself FILENAME Filename by itself, assumed extension: "DOG" FILENAME.EXT Filename by itself, extension of "DOG" or "PUP" An empty line FILENAME ;comment Filename followed by a semicolon and a comment FILENAME comment Filename followed by a space and a comment /F Forward only command *NOTE: Filenames may be in either upper or lower case. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 94 Doing Some Dog Tricks It is possible to drastically decrease the amount of disk space used by your presentations with the judicious use of PUP files. For instance, if you display a full screen, and the next screen is to depict the same screen with a menu pulled down, you can save that portion of the screen that is different from the first screen (in this case, the menu) as a PUP file (using LDOG's "Copy To File" command from the Block Menu). When using LDOGSHOW in the manual, bi-directional mode (default, with no "/F" argument), it is possible to move backward as well as forward through your list of files. This is no problem when displaying full screens, but can be a little tricky when displaying a series of block (PUP) files. A PUP file is displayed without disturbing the existing background, everything on the screen is unchanged, and the PUP file is just "pasted" over that background. Think of displaying a PUP file as being like pasting semi-permanent "stickers" on your screen. You can continue sticking little stickers onto the screen, but you can't peel them off to reveal what was previously underneath them. The only way to get rid of a sticker is to paste one of the same size, or larger, over it. Here is an example of the contents of a list file for use with LDOGSHOW: ;--- Beginning Of List File ------ ;This is a comment about this sample list file. ;We will display 5 files: 2 full-screen files and 3 partials TITLE.DOG POPUP.PUP BOX1.PUP This is another comment FULLSCN LITTLE.PUP ;---the end --- This list file has comments, screen file names, and block file names. The first screen displayed is a full screen stored in the file: "TITLE.DOG", next a block file called: "POPUP.PUP" is "pasted" over part of the screen. Then another block file called: "BOX1.PUP" is pasted on top of these. Next, another full screen, "FULLSCN.DOG" is displayed (note that the "DOG" extension is not necessary), completely wiping out the composite screen we had built up. It is important to note here that if you now moved backward through the list, from "FULLSCN" to "BOX1.PUP", the resulting display would not necessarily look the same as it looked when going forward! The partial screen "BOX1.PUP" would now get "pasted" over "FULLSCN.DOG" rather than over "TITLE.DOG" as before. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 95 Continuing, after the screen "FULLSCN.DOG" is displayed, the block file "little.pup" is pasted over it. Note here that if we now moved back a screen, the display would look the same as it did when we were moving forward, because the previous screen is a full screen. 13.2.4 Displaying a Presentation Manually Start LDOGSHOW.EXE, specifying the list file to use with the "/L FILENAME.EXT" command line argument. Note that you DO need the list file extension here. The program will display the first screen in the list and wait for a keystroke from you. To move through the screens in a list, use the following keys: <home> Moves immediately to first screen in list. <end> Moves immediately to last screen in list. <up-arrow> Backs up one screen in the list. *** <left-arrow> Backs up one screen in the list. *** <backspace> Backs up one screen in the list. *** <any other key> Advances one screen in list. <esc>, <cntl>-q Quits immediately. ***NOTE: These keys will not move backward through the list if the program was started with the "/F" command line argument, or if the "/F" command is embedded in the list file. They will be interpreted as any other key, advancing to the next screen in the list. 13.2.5 Displaying a Presentation Automatically To display a presentation automatically, use the command line argument "/#n", where n = the number of seconds to pause between screens. Note that the timer used here is very crude and is only accurate to 1 second, so don't expect precise timing! When started in automatic mode, LDOGSHOW will display each screen in turn, pausing the specified interval between screens. When it reaches the end of the list, it will cycle to the beginning of the list and repeat. This continues until the <esc> key is pressed. _________________________________________________________________ Laughing Dog Screen Maker V1.00 User's Manual 96