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Popup Help & Data (Ph.D.) V1.0 Copyright (C) 1992 All Rights Reserved Applied Micro Systems Technology Dr. Kurt H. Diesch P.O. Box 1784 Stillwater, OK 74076 (405) 377-0444 Member, Association of Shareware Professionals Revised: May 1, 1992 Popup Help & Data (Ph.D.) is a help file creation and viewing tool designed for IBM Personal Computers and 100% compatibles. Applied Micro Systems Technology reserves the COPYRIGHT to this program and all related materials. The user is granted a non-exclusive license to use the program and is encouraged to pay for the program if it is found to be useful. Payment of the $35 registration fee will entitle the user to full registration including printed documentation and user support. Government and business entities may not use the program without paying the full registration fee. Please register your program with the form included at the end of the documentation or use the About/Order|Print function in the program. REMEMBER: Shareware is not free! The user is also granted permission to make unlimited copies of the program and to distribute those copies as long as no fee is charged for the program. A small duplication fee may be collected. SHAREWARE DISK VENDORS ARE REQUIRED TO OBTAIN WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM AMST BEFORE DISTRIBUTING THIS PROGRAM. Applied Micro Systems Technology specifically disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, including but not limited to, implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for any particular purpose. In no event shall Applied Micro Systems Technology be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damage, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential or other damages. TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- QUICK START GUIDE .................................... 1 Program Features .................................. 1 Program Limitations ............................... 1 Installation ...................................... 2 Your First Help File .............................. 2 About Shareware ................................... 4 GENERAL PROGRAM USE .................................. 6 Help System ....................................... 6 Program Menu ...................................... 6 Desktop ........................................... 7 Status Line ....................................... 7 Program Windows ................................... 7 Input Fields ...................................... 9 Memo Fields ....................................... 9 Push Buttons ...................................... 10 List Boxes ........................................ 11 Radio Buttons ..................................... 11 Check Boxes ....................................... 11 History Lists ..................................... 11 CREATING CUSTOM HELP ................................. 12 Help Text Format .................................. 12 Compiling Help .................................... 14 Viewing Custom Help ............................... 14 TEXT EDITOR .......................................... 15 SYSTEM MENU (≡) ...................................... 17 About/Order ....................................... 17 FILE MENU ............................................ 18 Open PHD Source ................................... 18 Save PHD Source ................................... 18 Save/Done ......................................... 18 Save As ........................................... 18 Exit .............................................. 18 EDIT-TEXT MENU ....................................... 19 Cut ............................................... 19 Copy .............................................. 19 Paste ............................................. 19 Delete ............................................ 19 Import ............................................ 19 Export ............................................ 20 Print Block ....................................... 20 Print All ......................................... 20 Find Text ......................................... 20 Find/Replace ...................................... 20 Last Find ......................................... 20 COMPILE MENU ......................................... 21 Compile ........................................... 21 Main File ......................................... 21 OPTIONS MENU ......................................... 22 Color Selection ................................... 22 Environment ....................................... 24 Settings ....................................... 24 Printer ........................................ 25 Compiler Options ............................... 25 WINDOW MENU .......................................... 26 Close ............................................. 26 Size/Move ......................................... 26 Zoom .............................................. 26 Next .............................................. 27 Tile .............................................. 27 Cascade ........................................... 27 Erase All ......................................... 27 List .............................................. 27 HELP MENU ............................................ 28 Load Custom Help .................................. 28 PHD Help File ..................................... 28 MEMORY RESIDENT MODE ................................. 29 COMMAND LINE COMPILER ................................ 31 HELP FILE CREATION SERVICE ........................... 32 ORDER FORM ........................................... 33 QUICK START GUIDE ----------------- NOTE: This quick start guide should not replace a complete reading of the documentation. This program contains many useful features that are not discussed in the quick start guide. If you are an experienced computer user, you may use this quick start guide to install and run Popup Help & Data. Most of the commands found in the program are self-explanatory, and you can refer to the documentation later when you have questions. PROGRAM FEATURES Popup Help & Data (PHD) is a unique program that allows you to create and view custom help files. PHD help files contain cross references to provide fast access to help topics. PHD includes a text editor, help compiler and help viewer all in one program. PHD may be loaded in memory resident mode for access while running other programs while only using 8K of memory. Common uses for PHD include: o Add help to programs with inadequate or non-existent help o Create on-line help systems for office procedures (see the OFFICE.PHS example file) o Create a cross-referenced phone book (see the PHONE.PHS example file) o Create a recipe system (see the RECIPE.PHS example file) o Create a cross-referenced system of hard to remember information o Create a training system for new employees You can probably think of many more uses for PHD help files. In a short period of time, you will discover PHD to be one of the most useful utilities available. If you have an application for PHD that exceeds your available resources, read the HELP FILE CREATION SERVICE section of this documentation to discover how AMST can help. PROGRAM LIMITATIONS PHD was carefully prepared to be error free and easy to use. There are, however, some limitations to the program: o PHD requires DOS 3.0 or later o PHD must run from a hard disk. PHD.EXE is relatively small and can run from floppy disks, but the memory resident mode of PHD requires disk space for memory swapping that is not available on floppies. To take full advantage of PHD, it should only be run on a hard disk. - 1 - o The text editor in PHD can only work with files up to 64K. This limitation is generally not a problem because you can link files together with the .INCLUDE help directive. o Only three text editor windows may be open simultaneously. o Only one custom help file may be viewed at a time. o PHD, with an empty desktop, requires 150K of conventional memory. Each text editor window requires up to 64K more. If a help window is open, another 10-20K will be needed. In total, up to 400K may be required to fully utilize the program. Most systems should have this much available. o The mouse support in PHD requires a 100% Microsoft or Logitech compatible mouse driver. If you experience problems with your mouse, you may have to upgrade your driver. INSTALLATION To install Popup Help & Data, change to drive A (or the drive you wish to install from) and run the install program: A: <Enter> INSTALL <Enter> The install program will prompt you for a directory to install to, then just follow the on-screen instructions. YOUR FIRST HELP FILE To start PHD, change to the program directory and run PHD: CD C:\PHD <Enter> PHD <Enter> If this is the first time running the program, the About window will appear.Y ou may press to print an order form at this time or press <Enter> to remove it from the screen. The About window will appear every 10th program execution for unregistered programs. The first step in creating a help system is to create the help source file. A sample help source file MYHELP.PHS is included with your program to serve as a guide to writing help systems. The text editor included in PHD is used to edit help file source. You will now load the sample help file into the text editor. Press <F3> to load a PHD source file. A file selection dialog box will appear. Press <Enter> once to move the selector into the file list area. Highlight MYHELP.PHS using the cursor keys, then press <Enter> to load the file into the text editor. DO NOT CHANGE THE FILE! - 2 - Take a few minutes to look at the help source. MYHELP.PHS is actually a portion of the help system written for PHD. Note that most of the file is ordinary text. The first paragraph always serves as the main index to the help file and always starts with a .topic NoContext=0. There are only a couple of strange items in the source text. The .topic lines serve to separate information into specific topic areas. Text surrounded by {}'s denotes cross references. Your only task is to write the help text, assign topic names, and mark cross references. For now, we will just create a finished help file from the example. Press <Alt+C> to pull down the Compile menu. Press <M> to select the Main File command. A file dialog will appear. Type MYHELP and press <Enter>. MYHELP.PHS will now be the main file used to compile help. Note: You must set the Main File before compiling. It does not matter what files are currently loaded in the text editor. The Main File alone determines the source text for the compiler. After setting the Main File, press <F9> to start the compiler. A dialog box will show the progress of the compiler. In a few seconds, the compiler will be done and you may press any key to remove the compiler status dialog from the screen. MYHELP.PHD, a finished help file, has now been created. To view the finished help file, press <Alt+F1> to load a custom help file. A file selection dialog will appear listing the finished help files available for viewing. Press <Enter> once to move the selector into the file list area. Highlight MYHELP.PHD using the cursor keys, then press <Enter> to load the file into the help viewer. Note how you do not see the help topics in the help viewer. Also note how the text that was surrounded by {}'s is now shown in different colors. These are cross references. Highlight one of them with the <Tab> key, then press <Enter> and another help topic appears. Go ahead a move around in the help file for a while. View the previous help topic by pressing for Previous, move immediately to the help index by pressing for Index, print the current topic by pressing <F9>. Finally, close the help viewer by pressing <Esc> and then close the text editor by pressing <Esc>. You have completed your first help file! There are three other example help files on the distribution disk. Take the time now to load each file into the text editor, set your Main File, compile and view the help file. The example files are: o OFFICE.PHS - A sample of office procedures help o PHONE.PHS - A phonebook example o RECIPE.PHS - A cross-referenced recipe example When you are finished with your initial look at PHD, quit out of the program by pressing <Alt+X>. - 3 - ABOUT SHAREWARE The author of this program is a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP) and has agreed to comply with its standards: Programming standards: - The program meets ASP's definition of Shareware. - The program has been thoroughly tested by the author and should not be harmful to other files or hardware if used properly (although ASP cannot warrant this; therefore, the user should take normal precautions in trying new software). Documentation standards: - Sufficient documentation is provided to allow the average user to try all major functions of the program. - The program author has explained the Shareware concept in a professional and positive manner. Support standards: - The program author will respond as described in the documentation to people who send registration payments. At a minimum, the author will send an acknowledgement of payment. - The author will respond to written bug reports from registered users when the user provides a self-addressed, stamped envelope (some authors will respond by phone, but this is not an ASP requirement). - Incompatibilities with other software or hardware, major or unusual program limitations, or known problems are noted in the documentation that comes with the shareware version of the program. General: - The author keeps his/her membership in ASP current. - The author recognizes that any user may appeal to ASP for any unresolved dispute that arises. If you feel that the author has not complied with these standards in some manner or if you register the program with the author and subsequently have any disputes with the author which cannot be resolved, please write the ASP at: Association of Shareware Professionals 545 Grover Road Muskegon, MI 49442 While ASP cannot warrant programs nor the actions of members, ASP will do what it can to assure that all authors who claim membership comply with ASP standards. These standards are the assurance of quality and support that you will get when you register Shareware produced by ASP members. - 4 - To promote better understanding of the shareware concept, ASP has developed the following official definition of shareware: 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. 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. 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. And 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. - 5 - GENERAL PROGRAM USE ------------------- HELP SYSTEM The PHD help system is available anywhere in the program by pressing <F1>. Most of the help screens have some highlighted items (cross references) on them that lead to another help topic. The <Tab> and <Shift+Tab> keys highlight cross references on help screens. The <Enter> key or a mouse double-click jumps to the help screen for the selected cross reference. The cursor keys scroll the screen to view long help topics. The [Index] button jumps to the help index where help topics are arranged for quick selection. The [Previous] button jumps to the last help topic displayed. [Print <F9>] prints the current help topic. PROGRAM MENU The top line of the screen is the Menu Bar where most program commands are selected. The Menu Bar is your primary access to all the program commands. One of the items on the menu bar will be highlighted when the menu bar is active. The highlighed item is the "selected" item. If a command is followed by an arrow, the command leads to another menu, (a pop-up menu). A command without an arrow indicates that the command is immediately executed when selected. To choose menu commands using the keyboard: 1. Press <F10> to make the menu bar active. 2. Use the arrow keys to select the menu you want to display, then press <Enter> 3. Use the arrow keys again again to select the desired command from the pop-up menu. You can also use a number of shortcuts (or hot keys) to access the menu bar and choose commands. You can activate a menu bar item by pressing <Alt> and the highlighted letter of the item. Once the pop-up has appeared, you can press the item's highlighted letter or the shortcut next to it. To choose menu commands using the mouse: 1. Click the desired menu item to display the pop-up menu. 2. Click the desired command from the pop-up menu. You can also drag straight from the menu title down to the menu command. Release the mouse button on the desired command. If you change your mind, just drag off the menu and no command will be chosen. (Drag means to hold the left mouse button while moving the mouse). Some menu commands will be disabled when it makes no sense to choose them. These items (shown in dim characters) can still be highlighted to get help. - 6 - DESKTOP The Desktop is where a user interaction with the program takes place. Various Program Windows will be opened in this area. Consider the Desktop to be your workspace. STATUS LINE The Status Line appears at the bottom line of the screen. The Status Line provides many useful functions: o It reminds you of the <F1> Help and <F10> Menu hotkeys. o It lets you click on these hotkeys instead of using the keyboard. o It tells you what the program is doing. o It offers one-line hints on the selected menu item or active window. PROGRAM WINDOWS Most of what you see and do in this program occurs in a window. A window is a screen area that you can move, resize, zoom, tile, overlap, open, and close. Multiple windows can be open at the same time, memory permitting, but only one window can be "active" at any time. The active window is the one you are currently working in. Any command you choose or keystroke you press generally applies only to the active window. The active window has a double-line border around and it is the frontmost (top) window on the desktop if windows overlap. When multiple windows are open on the desktop, you can activate a window by clicking anywhere within the window. If the window is numbered (like Text Editor Windows) you can select the desired window by pressing <Alt+#> where # is the window number. You can also choose Window|List or press <Alt+0> to select a window from a list. You can move in succession from window to window by selecting Window|Next or by pressing <Alt+F6>. Some windows are temporary (like message boxes, dialog boxes that request user input, or the help system window). These windows must be closed before other windows on the desktop can be accessed. If the mouse seems to be unable to select the program Menu Bar or if other windows on the desktop cannot be selected, then the active window is probably a temporary window. Temporary windows usually have Push Buttons on them. - 7 - There are several types of windows in this program, but most of them have the following things in common: o A title bar o A close box o A resize corner o A zoom box o Scroll bars Other items that might appear in a window include: o Input Fields o Memo Fields o Push Buttons o List Boxes o Radio Buttons o Check Boxes o History Lists The title bar is the top frame line of the window. The title bar contains the name of the window. You can drag the title bar with the mouse to move the window around on the desktop. You can also choose Window|Size/Move or press <Alt+F4> to move a window. The close box is the small square in the upper left corner of the window's frame. You can click on this box with the mouse to close the window (or choose Window|Close or press <Esc>). The resize corner appears in the lower right corner of the window as a single-line border. Resize corners only appear on some of the program windows. You drag the resize corner to make the window larger or smaller (or choose Window|Size/Move or press <Alt+F4>). The zoom box (text editor windows only) appears in the upper right corner of the window's frame. If the zoom icon is an up arrow, you can click the arrow to enlarge the window to the largest possible size. If the zoom icon is a double-headed arrow, the window is already at the largest possible size. In that case, clicking the zoom icon returns the window to its previous size. You may also choose Window|Zoom or press <Alt+F5> to zoom a window. Scroll bars are horizontal or vertical bars that are used by a mouse to move around in a window. Each end of the scroll bar has an arrow. Click on the arrow to scroll the associated view one line. Keep the mouse button pressed to scroll continuously. If the associated view spans more than one screenful, there will be a small box on the scrollbar indicating the current position in the list. Click on either side of this position box to page the associated view. Finally, you may drag the position box to quickly move to a relative position in the associated view. - 8 - INPUT FIELDS Fields are areas on the screen where the program is asking for input. The following commands are used to edit data within a field. Note that some of these commands do not work with formatted fields such as dates and times. If the edited screen is part of a database, the commands marked with a '*' are also available. Character left <Left arrow> Character right <Right arrow> Beginning of line <Home> End of line <End> Insert mode on/off <Ins> Delete character left <BackSpace> Delete character at cursor <Del> Blank field <Ctrl+Y> or <F8> Auto Fill (Lookup) <F3> Next Field <Enter> or <Tab> Previous Field <Shift+Tab> *Save/Done with edit <F2> *Previous Record <F5> *Next Record <F6> If more than one type of input area appears in the window, press <Tab> or <Enter> to move to the next area. Press <Shift+Tab> to move to the previous area. MEMO EDITING A memo field is a mini text editor window. The following commands are used to edit text in memo fields: Cursor Movement --------------------------------------- Character left <Left arrow> Character right <Right arrow> Word left <Ctrl+left arrow> Word right <Ctrl+right arrow> Line up <Up arrow> Line down <Down arrow> Page up <PgUp> Page down <PgDn> Beginning of line <Home> End of line <End> Top of window <Ctrl+Home> Bottom of window <Ctrl+End> Beginning of text <Ctrl+PgUp> End of text <Ctrl+PgDn> - 9 - General Editing ----------------------------------------- Insert mode on/off <Ins> Delete character left <BackSpace> Delete character at cursor <Del> Delete word right <Ctrl+T> Delete line <Ctrl+Y> New line <Enter> Block Commands -------------- A block of text is any amount of text, from a single character to an entire file, that is marked with special hidden block markers. There can be only one marked block of text in the text editor at a time. A block is marked by placing the cursor at the desired starting location and then using any of the standard cursor movement commands in combination with the <Shift> key to mark the block (text will become highlighted as it is marked). The mouse may also be used to mark text by placing the mouse cursor at the desired starting location and holding the left button down while dragging the mouse over the text to mark. The mouse may be moved beyond the edge of the Text Editor window to scroll the screen while marking. After the text is marked, any of the following commands may be performed on the block: Copy to clipboard & delete <Shift+Del> Copy to clipboard <Ctrl+Ins> Paste from clipboard <Shift+Ins> Delete block <Ctrl+Del> If more than one type of input area appears in the window, press <Tab> or <Enter> to move to the next area. Press <Shift+Tab> to move to the previous area. PUSH BUTTONS Push Buttons are rectangular shaded areas in windows that have the appearance of a button. Push Buttons generally appear in temporary windows where access to the program menu bar is not allowed. Push on a button with the mouse or press the highlighted letter (if there is one) to perform the indicated action. A common button is the [OK] button, which is equivalent to the <Enter> key. Another common button is the [Cancel] button which is equivalent to the <Esc> key. - 10 - LIST BOXES List Boxes let you scroll through and select a variety of types of items from lists throughout the program. Lists generally have scroll bars. All the usual arrow keys and mouse functions are used to examine lists. <Enter> or mouse double-click selects an item. If more than one type of input area appears in the window, press <Tab> or <Enter> to move to the next area. Press <Shift+Tab> to move to the previous area. RADIO BUTTONS Radio buttons are special lists that present choices that are mutually excluse, i.e., only one item can be selected at a time. One item in the Radio Button list will be marked with a (o) mark. To choose a radio button click on it or its text. From the keyboard, select the highlighted letter (if there is one) or use the arrow keys to choose an item. If more than one type of input area appears in the window, press <Tab> or <Enter> to move to the next area. Press <Shift+Tab> to move to the previous area. CHECK BOXES Check Boxes are special lists that present multiple options. Any number of items in a Check Box can be selected (marked with a [X]). To check a box, click on it or its text. From the keyboard, press the highlighted letter (if there is one) or use the arrow keys to choose an item and press <Space> to toggle the check mark. If more than one type of input area appears in the window, press <Tab> or <Enter> to move to the next area. Press <Shift+Tab> to move to the previous area. HISTORY LISTS History Lists record previous entries in an input field. An input field has a history list if a down-arrow symbol appears just to the right of the field. Press down-arrow or click on the history icon to activate the list. Highlight the desired item and press <Enter> or double-click the mouse to select an item from the list and place it into the input field. The history list displays any text you typed in the input field the last few times you used the input field. - 11 - CREATING CUSTOM HELP -------------------- Ph.D. takes a help text source file and produces a help file (.PHD) that can be viewed using Ph.D. as a stand-alone program or in memory resident mode. Creating custom help files is a 4 step process: 1. Write the help source text using the built-in text editor. Follow the guidelines described in Help Text Format. 2. Use the Compile|Main File command to set the Main File name to the name of the PHD source text you are working on. Note that the compiler only checks the Main File name. It does not care what file(s) are loaded in the text editor windows. 3. Use the Compile|Compile Help command to compile the Main File into a finished help file. 4. Use the Help|Load Custom Help command to view the finished help file. You may alternately use the Memory Resident Mode of PHD to make your new help system available while running other programs. HELP TEXT FORMAT The format for the help file is very simple. Each topic is given a symbolic name (e.g. FileOpen). Text following the topic line is put into the help file. If a line of text is flush left with no preceeding white space, the line will be wrapped to fit the help window size. All adjacent wrappable lines are wrapped as a paragraph. If a line begins with a space it will not be wrapped. For example, the following is a help topic for a File|Open menu item. .topic FileOpen File|Open --------- This menu item will bring up a dialog... The "File|Open" will not be wrapped with the "----" line since they both begin with a space, but the "This menu..." line will be wrapped. The syntax for a ".topic" line is: .topic symbol[=number][, symbol[=number][...]] Note a topic can have multiple symbols that define it so that one topic can be used by multiple contexts. The number is optional and will be the value of the hcXXX in the optional symbol file. Once a number is assigned all following topic symbols will be assigned numbers in sequence. For example: - 12 - .topic FileOpen=3, OpenFile, FFileOpen will produce the following help context number definitions: hcFileOpen = 3; hcOpenFile = 4; hcFFileOpen = 5; A line that begins (flush left) with a "." must always be followed by a valid command (TOPIC, INCLUDE). If the first non-space character in a line is "." then you MUST use two .'s in a row or the help compiler will expect a valid command. The compiler will automatically remove the extra "." character. Cross references can be imbedded in the text of a help topic which allows the user to quickly access related topics. The format for a cross reference is as follows: {text[:alias]} The text enclosed within the {}'s is highlighted by the help viewer. This text can be selected by the user and will take the user to the topic by the name of the text. To include the { character as part of regular text, use two {'s in a row. Sometimes the text will not be the same as a topic symbol. In this case you can use the optional alias syntax. The symbol you wish to use is placed after the text after a ':'. The following is a paragraph of text using cross references: The {File Open Dialog:FileOpen} allows you specify which file you wish to view. It also allows you to navigate directories. To change to a given directory use the {Change Directory Dialog:ChDir} command. The user can tab or use the mouse to select more information about the "File Open Dialog" or the "Change Directory Dialog". The help compiler handles forward references so a topic need not be defined before it is referenced. If a topic is referenced but not defined, the compiler will give a warning but will still create a useable help file. If the undefined reference is used, a message ("No help available...") will appear in the help window. Several text files can be combined into one help file by using the ".INCLUDE filename" command. For example, to include the text from a file named "PART2.PHS" into the current help file, use the following command in the main help source file: .INCLUDE PART2.TXT Note that you may only use the ".INCLUDE" command in the main help file. - 13 - COMPILING HELP After the help source text has been prepared with the text editor and the Main File has been set using the Compile|Main File command, the help source text must be compiled to make it viewable with the PHD help system. To compile the help source text (.PHS files), make sure the Main File is set to the desired name, then use the Compile|Compile Help command to start the compiler. A dialog box will show progress, counting lines compiled and memory still available. Memory use during compilation is generally not large. If you run out of memory during compilation, try closing any open text editor windows to save additional memory. If an error occurs during compilation, an error message will appear. PHD will load the file with the error into a text editor and attempt to position the cursor at the error. If there are already three text editor windows open (the maximum allowed) and none of them are the file with the error, PHD will close one of them to allow opening of the problem file. If the compilation finishes without errors, a file with the same name as the Main File with a .PHD extension will be on disk. You may then view the help file using the PHD help viewer. Note that you can not compile a help file that is currently in the help viewer window. VIEWING CUSTOM HELP The PHD help viewer allows you to view custom help files created with the PHD help compiler. The screen layout for custom help files is similar to the built-in help system for PHD accessed with the <F1> key, except the push buttons are located across the bottom of the window instead of on the right side. Custom help files are loaded in two ways: 1. Use the Help|Load Custom Help command to select the desired help file to view. 2. Run PHD with the /Lname parameter to automatically load the desired help file. For example: PHD /LMYHELP This command would automatically load MYHELP.PHD. The same automatic load method can be used when PHD is operated in Memory Resident Mode. When the automatic load option is used, you may still close the help window and load a different help file after the program starts. If the Save Desktop option is set in Options|Environment, the automatic load option will not load the specified help file if another help file was open when the program was last exited. - 14 - TEXT EDITOR ----------- The Text Editor window is used to edit text files of up to 64K in size. A text editor window is opened using the File|Open PHD Source command. The top line of the window displays the file currently in editor memory. The lower left corner of the edit window displays the row and column location of the cursor and a star "*" to indicate that the file has been modified. Scroll bars are shown on the right and bottom edges of the text editor window to indicate the position in the file and to facilitate mouse use. The following commands are used to move the cursor in the Text Editor window: Character left <Left arrow> Character right <Right arrow> Word left <Ctrl+left arrow> Word right <Ctrl+right arrow> Line up <Up arrow> Line down <Down arrow> Page up <PgUp> Page down <PgDn> Beginning of line <Home> End of line <End> Top of window <Ctrl+Home> Bottom of window <Ctrl+End> Beginning of file <Ctrl+PgUp> End of file <Ctrl+PgDn> The following commands are used for general editing in the Text Editor window: Insert mode on/off <Ins> Delete character left of cursor <BackSpace> Delete character under cursor <Del> Delete word right <Ctrl+T> Delete line <Ctrl+Y> New line <Enter> A block of text is any amount of text, from a single character to an entire file, that is marked with special hidden block markers. There can be only one marked block of text in the text editor at a time. A block is marked by placing the cursor at the desired starting location and then using any of the standard cursor movement commands in combination with the <Shift> key to mark the block (text will become highlighted as it is marked). The mouse may also be used to mark text by placing the mouse cursor at the desired starting location and holding the left button down while dragging the mouse over the text to mark. The mouse may be moved beyond the edge of the Text Editor window to scroll the screen while marking. - 15 - After the text is marked, any of the following commands may be performed on the block (these commands are found in the Edit-Text menu): Cut (Shift+Del) - Copy to clipboard & delete Copy (Ctrl+Ins) - Copy to clipboard Paste (Shift+Ins) - Paste from clipboard Delete (Ctrl+Del) - Delete block Print Block (Ctrl+P) - Print block Export (Ctrl+X) - Write block to file Search commands are used to find and optionally replace text in the Text Editor window. The following search commands are available (these commands are found in the Edit-Text menu): Find Text - Find selected text Replace - Find and replace selected text Last Find - Repeat last find/replace Miscellaneous editing commands include (these commands are found in the Edit-Text menus): Import - Read text into editor from file Print All - Print entire file The final category of text editor commands are those used to save files (these commands are found in the File menu): Save - Save editor text Save/Done - Save editor text & close Save As - Save editor text with new name - 16 - SYSTEM MENU (≡) --------------- The System menu appears on the far left of the menu bar and is represented by the ≡ symbol. Activate the system menu by pressing <Alt+Space>. The following commands are available under the System menu: About/Order - View copyright or print order ABOUT/ORDER The About window displays a detailed copyright notice for the program. Select the [Print] button to print an order form. Unregistered copies of the program will automatically display the About window for 3 seconds every 10th execution of the program. - 17 - FILE MENU --------- The File menu is used to open and save text files in the text editor windows and to exit the program. OPEN PHD SOURCE The Open PHD Source command is used to load a .PHS help source file (or any standard text file) into a text editor window. When you select this command, a file selection dialog will appear. You may enter the desired file name into the input box, or you may enter a file search string (like DOS wildcards) to refine the search. If you enter a wildcard, then the matching files will appear in the file list. Press <Enter> to move the selector to the file list, highlight a file, then press <Enter> to load the file into the text editor. You may enter other drives and directories into the file input box or your may select the ../ or other directory names in the file list to select files from other directories. SAVE PHD SOURCE The Save PHD Source command saves the text editor text with the current filename. The text editor window remains open. This command should be used on a regular basis to avoid data loss in the event of a power failure. SAVE/DONE The Save/Done command is similar to the Save PHD Source command except after the text is saved, the text editor window is closed. SAVE AS The Save As command is used to save the text from the text editor and change the name of the file at the same time. The original file on disk remains unchanged. Note that the name of the file on the top line of the text editor window changes accordingly. When you select this command, a file selection dialog requests a new name for the file. If you select a file name that already exists, you will be prompted for replacement verification. EXIT The Exit command leaves the program and returns to DOS. If you are running PHD in Memory Resident Mode, you will be returned to the program you were running when PHD was invoked with the popup hotkey (see Memory Resident Mode for details). - 18 - EDIT-TEXT MENU -------------- The Edit-Text menu contains commands used to manipulate text in the text editor window. Many of the commands use a clipboard which is an invisible area of memory used to temporarily store text. Many of the commands also refer to a block of text. Refer to the Text Editor section for details about marking blocks of text. CUT The Cut command removes a marked block of text from the text editor and places it on the clipboard. After a block of text has been cut, it may be pasted (more than once) to another location in the editor. The clipboard is erased when new text is cut to it. If no text is marked, this command is disabled. COPY The Copy command makes a copy of a marked block of text from the text editor and places it on the clipboard. The original text is left untouched. After a block of text has been copied to the clipboard, it may be pasted (more than once) to another location in the editor. The clipboard is erased when new text is copied to it. If no text is marked, this command is disabled. PASTE The Paste command takes the contents of the clipboard (see Cut and Copy commands) and inserts it into the text editor at the current cursor location. If no text is currently in the clipboard, this command is disabled. After pasting text into the editor, the clipboard contents remain untouched. DELETE The Delete command deletes a marked block of text from the text editor. The deleted text is NOT copied to the clipboard and is available after deletion. If no text is marked, this command is disabled. IMPORT The Import command is used to read text from an on-disk file into the text editor at the current cursor location. When you select this command, a file selection dialog requests a file to import. The total size of the current text in the text editor plus the size of the imported text must be less than 64K. The original on-disk file remains untouched by the import command. - 19 - EXPORT The export command is used to write a marked block of text to a disk file. When you select this command, a file dialog requests a file to export to. If the selected file already exists, you will be prompted for replacement confirmation. If no text is marked, this command is disabled. PRINT BLOCK The Print Block command prints a marked block of text to the printer port set in Options|Environment. If no text is marked, this command is disabled. PRINT ALL The Print All command prints the entire text file from the text editor to the printer port set in Options|Environment. The Print All command does not require any text to be marked. FIND TEXT The Find Text command is used to search for a specified text string in the text editor. When you select this command, a search dialog requests a string to match. Options include Case Sensitive Search and Whole Words Only. After the desired options are set, <F2> will initiate the search. Note that the search always starts from the beginning of the file. If a match is found, the cursor will be positioned at the matched text. FIND/REPLACE The Find/Replace command is used to search for a specified text string in the text editor and replace it with another string. When you select this command, a search dialog requests a string to match. Options include Case Sensitive Search, Whole Words Only, Prompt On Replace, and Replace All. After the desired options are set, <F2> will initiate the search. Note that the search always starts from the beginning of the file. If a match is found, the cursor will be positioned at the matched text and the matched text will be replaced with the new text. LAST FIND The Last Find command repeats the last Find Text or Find/Replace command using the same parameters entered for the last command. - 20 - COMPILE MENU ------------ The Compile menu includes commands used to set the main file for the help compiler and to initiate help compilation. COMPILE HELP The Compile Help command starts the help compiler using the Main File as a starting point. Note that the compiler ignores the file(s) loaded in text editor windows and only refers to the Main File to determine which file to compile. A compiler status dialog shows the progress of the compilation. If an error occurs during compilation, the compiler attempts to load the file containing the error into a text editor window and positions the cursor at the location of the error. If the compiler finishes without errors, a .PHD file will be created on disk which can be viewed with the PHD Help Viewer (see the Help Menu for details). MAIN FILE The Main File command is used to set the name of the file that will be used as a starting point when the Compile Help command is issued. The Main File is normally a file created with the text editor and usually has a .PHS extension. Note that the compiler ignores the file(s) loaded in text editor windows and refers only to the Main File to determine which file to compile. - 21 - OPTIONS MENU ------------ COLOR SELECTION The color selection window has four areas of interest: Group - List of different program regions Item - Views within group regions Foreground - Foreground color setting Background - Background color setting Use the <Tab> key to move to each area in the Color Selection window. To change program colors, select the Group of interest, then select the Item within the group, and finally set the Foreground and Background colors for the Item. As colors are changed, the program immediately shows the new colors and the Sample Text shows the color settings. Black on Black is not allowed and will result in a flashing white on red color. Predefined color palettes can be selected with the Predefined command. Customized color palettes are loaded from disk with the Load command and saved with the Save As command. The top frame line of the color selection window shows the file name of the current custom palette, if any. Customized color palette files end with the ".PAL" file extension. Following is a detailed list of the color Groups and Items and the program views that are affected: Desktop (center portion of screen) ------------------------------------------------------------- Background - Main screen background area Program Menus (pull-down menus and status line) ------------------------------------------------------------- Normal color - Normal color of the menu item Disabled item - Item is not selectable. Shortcut key - Hotkey for item, e.g. "F"ile Selected item - Cursor is on item Selected disabled - Cursor is on item but item is disabled Selected shortcut - Hotkey when cursor is on item - 22 - Text Editor ------------------------------------------------------------- Frame inactive - Frame when text editor is open but is not the active window Frame active - Frame when text editor is the active window Frame icons - Close, resize, and zoom icons Scroll bar page - Long portion under icons Scroll bar icons - Arrows and position indicator Normal Text - Regular text in editor Selected Text - Text selected for block commands Dialogs (all program windows that open on desktop) ------------------------------------------------------------- Frame inactive - Frame when window is open but is not the active window. Frame active - Frame when window is active Frame icons - Close, resize, and zoom icons Scroll bar page - Long portion under icons Scroll bar icons - Arrows and position indicator Normal text - Information text in windows. Note: Labels are the text used to identify areas in dialogs, e.g., the Group and Item text on the Color Selection window. Label inactive - Label when not selected Label selected - Label when selected Label shortcut - Hotkey for label Note: Buttons are the square items like [OK] and [Cancel] that appear in various places in the program. Button inactive - Normal colors for the button Button default - Button if it would be selected when <Enter> is pressed. See the Window|List dialog's [OK] button for an example. Button selected - Button if selected. Button disabled - Button if not selectable. Button shortcut - Hotkey for button. See the buttons on the Color Selection window for examples. Button shadow - Shading under button Note: Clusters are the selection lists like the Settings in Options|Environment and the Predefined Color Palette list. Cluster normal - Item normally (not selected) Cluster selected - Item if selected Cluster shortcut - Hotkey for item - 23 - Note: Input lines are used whenever user input is requested by the program. Input normal - Normal color Input selected - Color of text if selected Input arrow - Arrow for text longer than displayed width Note: History Lists are used file selection dialogs. History icon - Arrow for history activation History icon side - Sides of activation arrow History bar page - History's scroll bar History bar icons - History's scroll bar icons Note: Lists are used in the Group and Item areas of the Color Selection window and in file selection dialogs. List normal - Normal color of item List focused - Item when cursor is on it List selected - Item when cursor is on it but the view is not the focused view. List divider - Divider line between columns of a list. ENVIRONMENT Environment options determine the behavior of the program. Move from area to area on the environment screen with the <Enter> or <Tab> keys. The following options are available: Settings -------- Settings determine many characteristics of the program. To change a setting, move the cursor to the desired setting and press <Space> or click with the mouse. Prompt on Quit: Program will prompt for quit confirmation before quitting. Attention Bell: Program rings bell whenever errors occur and the user's attention is desired. This feature can become annoying and may be disabled with this setting. Hourly Chime: Program rings the bell twice on the hour. This feature can become annoying and may be disabled with this setting. 24 Hour Clock: This setting determines whether the clock displayed in the upper right corner of the screen will be shown in 12 hour or 24 hour format. - 24 - Editor Backups: This setting determines whether a backup file will be made of the Text Editor data when the current text editor file is saved. If set, a file with a .BAK extension will be created and the previous contents of the text editor will be copied to this file before the new text is saved. Save Desktop: This setting determines whether the windows open on the desktop will be saved to a file when the user exits the program. If the desktop is saved, then the same windows will be opened the next time the program is run. Use EMS Memory: Use EMS memory if available for program overlays. If EMS memory is not available, this setting is ignored. 43/50 Line Mode: Computers with EGA or VGA monitors are capable of displaying 43 or 50 lines of text rather than the standard 25 lines. With this option set, more space is available on the desktop to display windows. Setting this option on computers without EGA or VGA monitors has no effect. If you switch from 43/50 line mode to 25 line mode and can't find some windows, they may be off the screen. Change back to 43/50 line mode and move the windows back into view. Printer ------- This setting determines where printed output will be directed. Compiler Options ---------------- The compiler options determine many characteristics of the help compiler. The following options are available: Write Symbol File: This setting determines whether the cross references found in the help text will be written to a file with a .SYM extension. The resultant file is useful as a printed index or for on-line help systems in other programs. All cross references are written in alphabetical order. Use Prefix Codes: If this option is enabled and the Write Symbol File option is also enabled, the symbols written to the symbol file will be prefixed with "hc". This prefix is used by some programs to indicate help context numbers for on-line help systems. - 25 - WINDOW MENU ----------- The Window menu provides access to commands used to manipulate program windows. The following commands are available (some of these commands may be disabled for some windows): Close: - Close the window Size/Move: - Resize/move the window Zoom: - Zoom window to full size Next: - Make next window active Cascade: - Arrange windows cascaded Tile: - Arrange windows tiled Erase All: - Close all windows List: - List active windows CLOSE The Close command closes the currently active window. The <Esc> key serves the same purpose, as does a mouse click on the close icon of the active window. SIZE/MOVE The Size/Move command changes the size or position of the active window. The arrow keys move the window to a new location, and <Enter> accepts the new position. The mouse can be used to drag the top line of the window to a new position. All program windows can be moved. <Shift + arrow keys> resize the window and <Enter> accepts the new size. The mouse can be used to drag the lower right corner of the window to the desired size. Only windows that have a single line lower right corner (like the text editor) can be resized. ZOOM Zoom resizes the active window to the maximum size. If the window is already zoomed, selecting Zoom will restore the window to the original size. Double-clicking the mouse anywhere in the title line or the Zoom icon (arrow in upper right corner) will also zoom/unzoom the window. Only a few of the program windows are zoomable (like the text editor). - 26 - NEXT Next makes the next window active which makes it the topmost open window. Use Next to cycle through windows if more than one window is open on the desktop. CASCADE Cascade stacks all open windows. TILE Tile attempts to arrange all open windows to be visible on the screen. Due to size limitations on many types windows, the tile command may overlap windows. ERASE ALL Erase All removes all open windows from the desktop. Some windows may request save confirmation before closing. LIST The List command opens a window which lists all of the open windows on the desktop. From this window, select or delete any of the windows. The titles of all open windows are shown in a scrollable list. Position the highlight bar on the desired window, then press <Enter> or double-click with the mouse to make that window active. Select the [Delete] button to remove the window from the desktop. - 27 - HELP MENU --------- The Help menu contains commands used to load either the PHD program's on-line help system or custom help files created with the PHD help compiler. LOAD CUSTOM HELP The Load Custom Help command is used to load a help file created with the PHD help compiler into a PHD help viewer window. The screen layout for custom help files is similar to the built-in help system for PHD accessed with the <F1> key, except the push buttons are located across the bottom of the window instead of on the right side. An alternative method of loading custom help files is to run PHD with the /Lname parameter to automatically load the desired help file. For example: PHD /LMYHELP This command would automatically load MYHELP.PHD. The same automatic load method can be used when PHD is operated in Memory Resident Mode. When the automatic load option is used, you may still close the help window and load a different help file after the program starts. If the Save Desktop option is set in Options|Environment, the automatic load option will not load the specified help file if another help file was open when the program was last exited. PHD HELP FILE The PHD Help File command invokes the built-in context sensitive help system in PHD. This help system is aware of what you are doing when you press <F1> to invoke the help system and will load the appropriate help topic. Refer to General Program Use for details regarding the use of the help system. - 28 - MEMORY RESIDENT MODE --------------------- Popup Help & Data has an optional memory resident mode which provides access to all features even while running another program. There are two components to the memory resident option. The first is the actual memory resident portion of the program, POPPHD.EXE. This program loads into memory and waits for you to press the hotkey (<Alt+Esc> by default). When the hotkey is pressed, the main PHD program is loaded using a special memory swapping technique. Using this combination, the entire package only requires 8K of memory when not popped up. To run PHD in memory-resident mode, add the PHD directory to the PATH statement and the command POPPHD to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file (this was an option during installation. PHD can then be invoked at any time by pressing <Alt+Esc>. NOTE: PHD can not pop up over graphics programs. You will hear a beep if you try to invoke PHD while a graphics program is running. POPPHD may be executed with several options (the first four must be used when first running the program and may be used in any combination): POPPHD /D - Forces memory swapping to disk POPPHD /H#### - Changes the hotkey for popping up. See the hotkey chart on the next page for codes. <Alt+Esc> is the default hotkey. POPPHD /S[name] - Uses [name] directory for disk swapping. You must specify the complete drive and directory name. DO NOT include the []'s. POPPHD /L[name] - Loads [name] as the default PHD custom help file. DO NOT include the []'s. POPPHD /U - Unloads POPPHD from memory. POPPHD must be the last loaded for this command to work. When using the /H parameter to change the hotkey for the program, the following format must be followed. The number entered MUST be 4 digits. Select the first two digits from Chart 1 and the second two digits from Chart 2. The resulting hotkey is a combination of the keystrokes from Chart 1 and Chart 2. For example, the default hotkey is <Alt+Esc> represented by the hotkey code 0801. To change the hotkey to <Alt+F10> you would enter the command: POPPHD /H0844 - 29 - Chart 1. (first two digits) Digits Keystroke ------ --------- 01 <RSh> 02 <LSh> 04 <Ctrl> 05 <Ctrl+RSh> 06 <Ctrl+LSh> 08 <Alt> 09 <Alt+RSh> 0A <Alt+LSh> 0C <Alt+Ctrl> Chart 2. (second two digits) Digits Keystroke Digits Keystroke Digits Keystroke ------ --------- ------ --------- ------ --------- 01 <Esc> 18 <O> 2F <V> 02 <1> 19 30 03 <2> 1A <[> 31 <N> 04 <3> 1B <]> 32 <M> 05 <4> 1C <Cr> 33 <,> 06 <5> 1D <Ctrl> 34 <.> 07 <6> 1E <A> 35 </> 08 <7> 1F <S> 36 <RSh> 09 <8> 20 <D> 37 <*> 0A <9> 21 <F> 38 <Alt> 0B <0> 22 <G> 39 <Sp> 0C <-> 23 <H> 3A <Caps> 0D <=> 24 <J> 3B <F1> 0E <BkSp> 25 <K> 3C <F2> 0F <Tab> 26 <L> 3D <F3> 10 <Q> 27 <;> 3E <F4> 11 <W> 28 <'> 3F <F5> 12 <E> 29 <~> 40 <F6> 13 <R> 2A <LSh> 41 <F7> 14 <T> 2B <\> 42 <F8> 15 <Y> 2C <Z> 43 <F9> 16 2D <X> 44 <F10> 17 2E <C> - 30 - COMMAND LINE COMPILER --------------------- Your distribution disk includes a command line compiler for PHD help files called PHDC.EXE. PHDC provides the same help file compiler capability as the integrated compiler in PHD. The syntax for the command line compiler is: PHDC <Help text>[.PHS] [<Help file>[.PHD]] [<symbol file>[.SYM]] <Help text> is the help source text. The .PHS file extension is assumed and is optional. The help text name must be supplied. <Help file> is the finished PHD help file. This parameter is optional. If this parameter is not supplied, the resulting PHD file will have the same name as the help text file but with a .PHD file extension. The .PHD file extension is assumed and is optional. <Symbol file> is the name of the file that will contain the help symbols. This parameter is optional. If this parameter is not supplied, the resulting symbol file will have the same name as the help text file but with a .SYM file extension. The .SYM file extension is assumed and is optional. There is no status information for the command line compiler. The only messages that appear will be error messages. - 31 - HELP FILE CREATION SERVICE -------------------------- PHD is designed to be easy to use for both beginners and advanced users. Creation of custom help files requires some initial design work and lots of typing, depending on the size of the help system. While most users will be able to create custom help systems, time, inclination, and available resources may prohibit the full realization of the benefits of PHD. We recognize that you may want someone else to create your custom help files. The good news is we at AMST are experts on creating custom help files. After all, we wrote PHD and we even use PHD to create help systems for our other software (including the help system in PHD). Our experts include an industrial engineer with training in development of computer-based instruction systems. We will make our resources available to you or your organization to create a professional custom help system geared specifically to your needs. The bad news is this service has a price. The price depends soley on the complexity of your desired help system. You will find that our prices may be high for small jobs, but the prices will be very reasonable for large scale systems. If we prepare custom help systems for you, the price will include a free license to use PHD in your organization. To find out more about our Help File Creation Service, give us a call. We will request some printed or on-disk samples of the information you want included in your help system. Then we will provide a quote for the service. Delivery times will depend on our current workload and the scope of the job. - 32 - ORDER FORM ------------------------------------------------------------ Popup Help & Data (Ph.D.) V1.0 S/N: PHD1.0__________ Mail To: Applied Micro Systems Technology P.O. Box 1784 Stillwater, OK 74076 (405) 377-0444 Name: __________________________________________________ Company: __________________________________________________ Address: __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ Phone: (______) ______-________ Disk: 5.25"[ ] 3.5"[ ] Quantity Price Extended Popup Help & Data (Ph.D.) ________ 35.00 ________ P&S Backup/Restore ________ 35.00 ________ P&S Home Manager ________ 35.00 ________ Upgrades _________________________ 15.00 ________ Volume discounts and site licenses CALL ________ We can create your PHD help files! CALL ________ SUBTOTAL ________ Oklahoma residents add 7.5% sales tax ________ Shipping (add $2.50 for each item) ________ Overseas (add $2.50 for each item) ________ TOTAL ORDER (U.S. dollars/U.S. bank) ________ Paid by: Check[ ] Money Order[ ] VISA[ ] MC[ ] PO[ ] VISA/MC/PO#: _________________________ Exp Date: _________ Signature (rqd for credit card): ___________________________ Where did you hear about this program? _____________________ Comments: - 33 -