Hackers Underworld 2: Forbidden Knowledge/Hackers Underworld 2: Forbidden Knowledge.iso/QRHELP.TXT

Text File | 1996-05-24 | 84KB | 2,145 lines

This file (QRHELP.TXT) is the help file and manual for...

QRead  version 95-2.1
Copyright ⌐ 1992 - 1996  Dan Scavezze

Contents

General Information
    Overview
    What's new
    Key Feautures
    Suggested Tour of QRead
    Installation
    Uninstall
    Paying for Shareware: Licensing
    Disclaimer
    ASP Ombudsman

Menu commands

    See Commands Contents

Miscellaneous Information
    Multiple Document Interface
    Drag-and-Drop
    Windows95 Start Menu
    QRead Command Line
    QRead File Types
    QRead Settings
    Special Characters
    Keyboard Input
    Version History

Commands Contents

Popup Menus
    All Commands

File Menu
    Open
    Open (continuous)
    Close
    ReOpen
    Delete the active file
    Print
    Print Preview
    Printer Setup
    Properties
    1, 2, 3, 4 <MRU File Name>
    Exit

Edit Menu
    Copy
    Append
    Select All
    Open Edit Window
    Open Clipboard Window
    Save Clipboard Window As

View Menu
    As saved
    With adjusted type
    With adjusted lines
    Increase type size
    Decrease type size
    Hide low characters
    Hide high characters
    Tool bar
    Status bar
    Full Screen Mode
    Use transparent mode
    Repaint

Tools Menu
    Find
    Find Next
    Place bookmark
    Remove bookmark
    Go to bookmark
    Timer
    Timer On
    Launch another QRead
    Launch App1, App2

Options Menu
    Colors
    Fonts
    Tabs
    Entry / Exit
    Registration info
    Load default settings
    Load custom settings
    Store custom settings
    Store settings for file

List Menu
    New
    Open
    Open the default List
    Open current item
    Open/Launch it
    Add Item
    Change Item text
    Rename current item
    Delete current item

Window Menu
    Cascade
    Tile Horizontal
    Tile Vertical
    Arrange icons
    Close All
    1, 2, 3, 4, <Window Name>

Help Menu
    Help contents
    Help cursor mode
    Search the help file
    How to use Help
    About QRead

Edit Window Menus
    Operation and commands



Overview

QRead lets you read text files quickly and easily in the
Microsoft Windows95 Ö environment. Show text files of any
size in any font you choose, and "pump up" the font with a
single keystroke.  If you wish, QRead will automatically
adjust the font size or the line structure to fit the
window.

QRead helps you keep track of the files you read with
reading lists. A list stores descriptions of your files, and
each description can be hundreds of characters long.  When
you're looking for a file, browse the reading list or use
the Find command to search your list (or lists).  Once
you've read the description, open the chosen file with one
click of the mouse.

QRead provides tools to make reading easier.  For example,
set a QRead timer to automatically turn the page, or to
remind you to turn the page.  Filter out non-alphanumeric
characters, search for a text string, place a bookmark, and
copy information to and from the clipboard. You can also
print and delete files from within QRead. The Entry/Exit
behavior and the display settings of QRead can be customized
and remembered on a file-by-file basis.


What's new

QRead version 95-2.1 contains three new features and several
enhancements (over version 95-2.0).

  - Color text, color backgrounds, and automatic color
highlighting
  - Full Screen mode
  - Editing capability

You can now easily change your screen colors from within
QRead without changing your Windows system colors.  You can
configure and save QRead color settings on a file by file
basis, if you desire.  Also, the color dialog box lets you
specify a text string that will be shown in the highlight
color every time it appears.

You can toggle between Full Screen mode and normal mode by
using Ctrl+F or by using the right mouse button. While in
Full Screen mode, you can still access most commands by
using accelerator keys.

Finally, to those who have asked for editing capability, I
say "You got it!" No wait, make that "You have it!"  Now if
you get the urge to edit while reading Shakespeare or Jane
Austen, just open the new Edit Window and make a few
changes.  QRead's Edit Window provides only a small subset
of the editing features of a full fledged editor, but it
does have some tricks of its own.  As before, you can still
launch an external editor use the Tools | Launch command.

In order to implement these features, I have changed the
design of QRead's internal storage.  This will not be
visible to the user, except for one case.  If you have saved
a bookmark in a .QFS file using an older version of QRead,
QRead version 95-2.1 will not interpret the saved bookmark
correctly.  When you issue the Go To Bookmark command, you
will actually jump to a spot slightly before the
(previously) marked spot -- you might get a slight case of
deja vu for a paragraph or so.  When you set and save the
bookmark using version 95-2.1, everything will be back to
normal.

For details on other changes, see Version History.

Key Features

QRead is designed for reading text on your computer screen.
To get the most out of QRead, you should experiment with
Qread's key features.

  - Display formatting
  - Reading Lists
  - Reading Timers

QRead offers three views of your file, As saved, With
adjusted type, With adjusted lines, and each view offers
special formatting capabilites to make reading esaier.  In
addition, you can use the Fonts and Colors commands to make
your screen a thing of beauty.

Reading Lists are designed to help you cope with information
overload.  Whether you acquire text files from the Internet,
commercial bulletin board systems or from "sneaker net" you
probably have more files than you can keep track of.  QRead
lists show each file name and a description (up to 995
characters) of the file contents.  Once you have decided
that a file description looks enticing, you can open the
file with a click of the mouse.

Using QRead Timers to turn your pages might seem like the
height of laziness to some, but hyper personalities can use
timers differently.  For example, set a timer to move the
text rapidly, one line at a time, and practice your speed
reading.  Or set the timer in "head bob" mode to sound an
alarm when you've been "concentrating" on the same page for
too long.  While the timer is running, you can tweak the
time interval by using Ctrl + Num+ or Ctrl + Num- or by
using buttons on the tool bar.  (Num+ means the + key on the
numeric keypad.)

Other Windows95 specific features are:

    - Support of long file names
    - Popup menus activated by the right mouse button
    - File property sheets
    - A Toolbar that is dockable to any edge of the window
    - Flyover tool tips
    - Opening documents using the Windows95 registry

Suggested Tour of QRead

To get a taste of QRead's features try the following (short)
tour of QRead.  I've included some sample reading material,
so you're already behind in your reading!  Don't panic,
start with a reading list.

As part of the QRead package, you should have a sample
reading list, SAMPLE.QRL.  Launch QRead and then issue the
List | Open command.  A dialog box appears showing the files
in QRead's directory.  Choose SAMPLE.QRL and then click on
OK to open the file.  How does it look to you?  Even though
the file SAMPLE.QRL is a list, you can use all of QRead's
formatting capabilities to view the file.

To change the format, try the different view modes in the
View menu.  The default mode is As Saved so you should be
viewing the file exactly as saved (all the line breaks are
in the same place they were when the file was saved).
Choose With Adjusted Lines, and QRead will wrap and fill the
lines to fit the window size.  Hit the Numeric Keypad + key
a few times to pump up the font size.  Feel the power!

You should see that one of the items on the list is
QRHELP.TXT which is a text version of this help file.  If
you need to, scroll the file until the name QRHELP.TXT
appears in the yellow bar at the top of the window.  The
current item now points to the file QRHELP.TXT.  Issue the
List | Open current item command to open the file.

Of course you don't have to use the list feature to open
files.  You could use the File | Open command or drag-and-
drop files into QRead, but I wanted you to check out the
lists.

Use the Tools | Find command to search for "doorknob."  That
should bring you to this very point in this file.  I don't
think I used that word anywhere else.

Try the timer. You can turn it on by using the Tools | Timer
On command.  After one second, you should see the text jump
by one line.  Now sit in front of your computer and read the
entire file.  (Just kidding.)  You can toggle the timer
off/on with the same Tools | Timer On command, or by using
the accelerator key F5 or the tool bar button.

That's the short tour.  Using the help file, you should be
able to find your way around the other features fairly
easily (I hope) and I hope QRead helps you deal with the
Information Age!

Installation

The simplest installation of QRead consists of one step --
copy the file QREAD.EXE to your disk. You can use this
method if you want to minimize the effect of QRead on your
hard disk.  No other files are necessary to get started, but
you might want to copy the help file, too.

The setup program, SETUP.EXE,  provided with the QRead
package is almost as quick and intended to be more user
friendly.  It automates the installation process, copying
all the QRead files (there aren't that many) to the
directory you choose, and setting up a program item in the
Windows95 Start Menu.  If you want to install QRead
manually, copy the QRead files to your chosen directory and
then create the program item by following the instructions
in the section Windows95 Start Menu.

The first time you enter QRead it will use default settings.
The first time you exit QRead it will save the environment
that you have in place at the time of exit. This environment
is stored in the file QREAD.INI in your windows directory.
QREAD.INI is the only file that QRead must write to your
disk. If you choose to store settings information, other
files will be written.  See the section on QRead Settings
and the commands Entry / Exit, and  Store settings for file
for more information.


Uninstall

If you used the setup program to install QRead, you can also
use it to uninstall QRead. There are 2 methods to run setup
in uninstall mode.

1) Run setup from the original installation disk using the
command

  SETUP -QU

and setup will remove all the QRead files it originally
copied to your hard disk, as well as any Qread configuration
files that have been created in your Windows directory.
Setup will also attempt to remove the program group from the
Start Menu and finally the QRead directory itself.  If the
QRead directory is not empty (for example, if you placed
additional files in your QRead directory), it will not be
removed.

2) Use the Control Panel Add/Remove Programs applet to
uninstall QRead. This is more convenient, and almost as good
as method 1.  If you use this method, Control Panel will
launch the copy of  setup found in your QRead directory.
Setup will be able to delete everything listed above, with
two exceptions -- it will not be able to delete itself and
so it will not be able to delete the QRead directory.  You
will have to do that final clean up manually.

If you want to uninstall QRead manually, follow these steps.

1)  Delete QREAD.EXE and the other QRead files from the
QRead directory, then delete the QRead directory itself.

2)  Delete the following files from your Windows directory:

     QREAD.INI
     QREAD.CUS
     QREAD.CBS
     QREADING.QRL

QREAD.INI will always exist.  QREAD.CUS will exist if you
issued the command Options | Save custom settings.
QREAD.CBS will exist if you saved the clipboard window
settings.  QREADING.QRL will exist if you issued the command
List | Open Reading List.

3)  Delete the QRead program item and program group from the
Windows95 Start Menu.

Finally, if you want to delete all the data files that you
or QRead have created, scan your disk for files with the
following extensions and delete them

  .QFS - settings files
  .QRL - reading list files
  .QBK - backup files

Paying for Shareware: Licensing

QRead is a Shareware program and is provided at no charge to
the user for EVALUATION.  All rights are retained by the
author. You may share the program and distribute it for
evaluation purposes, but you may not give it away altered or
as part of another system.  After a reasonable evaluation
period, 30 days, you must register your copy of the program
and become a licensed user, or destroy your copy of the
program.

To register and order your single-user license, send your
name, address and the license fee of $23 (US) to DS Products
at the address below. Residents of Massachusetts must add
sales tax of 5%.

    DS Products
    P.O. Box 342
    Westford, MA  01886

You can also contact DS Products at these addresses:

    CompuServe mail  -  70731,1673
    Internet mail  -  [e-mail]
    World Wide Web  -
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Dan_Scavezze/

But, back to ordering.  You can order by credit card. We
have contracted for order taking service with the firm
Public software Library, PsL. PsL will notify us the day of
your order and we will ship the product directly to you. DO
NOT SEND CREDIT CARD ORDERS TO DS PRODUCTS.  To order with
MC, Visa, Amex, or Discover from PsL you must

    call 800-242-4775 or 713-524-6394 or
    FAX to 713-524-6398

THE ABOVE NUMBERS ARE FOR CREDIT CARD ORDERS ONLY.

The author cannot be reached at these numbers. Any
questions, such as questions about the status of the
shipment of the order, product details, technical support,
dealer pricing, site license pricing, non-credit card
orders, etc., MUST be directed to DS Products.

If you are a member of the CompuServe network, you can order
on-line and be billed through CompuServe.  GO SWREG and
search for QRead.

Check the Web page (above) for info on how to order via the
Internet.

Registered users will receive:
    support (via CompuServe [70731,1673] or regular mail),
    minor upgrades at NO charge,
    major upgrades at a reduced price,
    bonus programs,
    a key that disables the registration reminder window,
and
    a clear conscience.

Currently, there are two bonus programs, QRLADD and QFAR.
QRLADD lets you add to your reading lists from DOS.  QFAR is
a Windows utility that lets you find and replace any
character (even non-printing characters) in a file.

The fee noted above will license one copy for use on any one
computer at any one time. You must treat the licensed
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. Site License
arrangements may be made by contacting DS Products.

Anyone distributing QRead for any kind of remuneration must
obtain authorization from DS Products at the address above.
This authorization will be automatically granted to
distributors recognized by the ASP as adhering to its
guidelines for shareware distributors, and such distributors
may begin offering QRead immediately. DS Products must still
be advised, however, so that the distributor can be kept up
to date with the latest version of QRead.

The essence of Shareware is to provide users with quality
software without high prices, and yet to provide incentive
for programmers to continue to develop new products.
Shareware is a distribution method that allows you to try
before you buy. Shareware has the ultimate money back
guarantee -- if you don't use the product, you don't pay for
it.

Disclaimer

Users of QRead must accept this disclaimer of warranty:
"QRead 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 QRead."

ASP Ombudsman

QRead is produced by 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.

Popup Menus - All Commands

The primary objects in QRead are text files.  When you right
click anywhere in a file's window, a popup menu appears with
the basic commands you might want to use on that file.
These are Close, Delete, and Print (from the File menu).  In
addition, you can use the Properties command to find out
more information about the file.

When you have some text selected in the file window, two
additional commands are added to the popup menu. These
commands will let you operate on the selected object, the
selected text.  These new commands are Copy and Append (from
the Edit menu).

Other popup menus are available while in QRead.  You can
frequently click on objects in dialog boxes and get popup
menus that are generated by Windows.

Open

When you select a file using the Open dialog box, QRead
attempts to open the file and copy the entire file into
memory. QRead uses this memory image to format and display
the "open" file. No changes are ever made to the file on
disk. Technical note: After the copy has been made, QRead
actually closes the file. That is, the file is immediately
closed as far as the operating system is concerned.

QRead places no limit on file size. Of course, the open
command will fail if you do not have enough memory
available.  Other possible causes of failure are specifying
a nonexistent file or a file that is locked by another
application.

If you try to open a file that is already open in a QRead
window, QRead will just activate that window.  To get a new
memory image of the file, use the ReOpen command.  You may
want to reopen a file if you have changed its contents with
an editor.  You may want to reopen a list file if you have
deleted or renamed items in the list.  You may want to
reopen the Clipboard Window if you have copied or appended
new text to the clipboard.  For more information, see the
section on ReOpen.

Whenever QRead opens a file, it checks to see if there is a
file with the same name and path name but with the .QFS
extension. If there is, QRead will read the stored settings
info from the .QFS file and update the settings.

QRead can open files in 6 ways:

  - The File | Open command
  - The File | Open (continuous) command
  - The Most Recently Used <MRU File Name> commands shown at
the bottom of the file menu
  - The List | Open current item command
  - Drag and Drop the file name shown from Explorer
  - In Explorer, double click on a file whose extension you
have associated with QRead

The File | Open command can be used to open a list file, but
the List | Open command is recommended.  The List | Open
command brings up an Open dialog box with a .QRL filter as
the default, and it is more easily associated with the other
List commands you will probably want to use.

Open (continuous)

This command performs the almost same function as Open, but
continues to display the dialog box after the Open has
completed. This is useful if you want to quickly browse
through many files. It is also useful in conjunction with
Delete. That is, you can quickly open a file, delete it if
necessary, and then open the next file.

The Open continuous dialog box is a little different than
the Open dialog box.  Because it is designed to take up less
space on the screen, it has a different look and a slightly
different operation.  One difference is that the directory
list box does not show the cute bitmap picture of folders
and it does not show the directory tree structure.  It only
shows the subdirectories below the current directory and the
symbol [..] to let you move up the tree.  Also, when you
type in the file name edit box, QRead interprets your typing
as a file name or a file name filter.  You cannot change the
drive or directory by typing in the filename edit box.

Normally, opening files with the Open continuous dialog box
is "cumulative" just as it is with the Open command -- each
file gets a new window, and all previous windows remain
open.  There is, however, one exception.

If you only have one file open, and its window is maximized,
then opening a different file will first close the existing
file window, and then perform the open.  This type of
operation lets you scan files without stacking up a lot of
windows, and simulates the operation of past versions of
QRead (when there was only one file window).

This command can also be used to open list files, but the
List | Open command is recommended.

Close

In addition to closing the active window, the close command
"erases" a file from memory -- it gives back the memory to
Windows.

When you issue the close command, the current settings will
be stored in the .QFS file, if you have checked "On close
and exit, store settings for file" in the Entry/Exit dialog
box.

This command functions identically for files, for list
files, and for the Clipboard Window.

ReOpen

The function of this command is roughly equivalent to
invoking File | Close, and then File | Open <File Name>
where <File Name> happens to be the name of the active file.

Normally, if you try to open a file that has already has a
window, QRead will just activate that window.  With ReOpen,
the file is actually read into memory again, the view
pointer is positioned to the beginning of the file, and the
settings are reset to the values stored in the associated
.QFS file (if one exists).  If there is no .QFS file, the
current settings will remain in effect, except that the
bookmark is reset.

This command functions identically for files, for list files
and for the Clipboard Window.

You may want to reopen a file if you have changed its
contents with an editor.  You may want to reopen a list file
if you have deleted or renamed items in the list.  You may
want to reopen the Clipboard Window if you have copied or
appended new text to the clipboard.

Delete the active file

The Delete command asks you to confirm that you "really want
to do this" before deleting the active file. If you are
pretty sure already, for example when you are browsing
through files, you can speed up the delete process by using
the accelerator key Delete and then Enter to confirm the
deletion.

Print

The Print dialog box allows you to print the contents of the
current window, or the entire file. When you chose the
current window, QRead assumes you want to print the window
text using the current view (as shown on the display). The
As saved, and With adjusted lines radio buttons are grayed,
but they do reflect the current view mode. When you chose to
print the entire file, then you can chose either As saved or
With adjusted lines.

If you choose to print with the displayed font, QRead will
ask Windows to use that font when printing. If that font is
not usable, the Windows font mapper will substitute for that
font. Use TrueType fonts to ensure compatibility.  "Margins"
refers to the left and right margins and the dimensions
given (such as 1/2 inch) are approximate.

If you change the settings, but want to use Print Preview
before printing, click on the Update Settings button to make
QRead remember your settings.  Then use the Print Preview
command to get a preview of the printed page(s).

Form Feed characters embedded in the file will cause a page
to be ejected from the printer.

Print Preview

When you choose this command, the main window will be
replaced with a print preview window in which pages will be
displayed in their printed format.  As you move through the
file by using the next page button, QRead sends a print
image of each page to the print preview window rather than
to the printer. Pagination information is not stored, so it
is only possible to move forward through the file.

The print preview tool bar offers you options to view either
one or two pages at a time, to zoom in and out, and to
initiate a print job.

Printer Setup

The Printer Setup dialog box allows you to select the
printer (and its characteristics) that you want to use.
When you click the OK button, your choices will be
remembered by QRead, but will not affect your other Windows
applications.

Properties

The Properties command brings up a property sheet (a tabbed
dialog box) the contains information about the file.

The General tab shows information normally seen listed by a
DOS dir command.  The Summary edit box is a read only edit
box that allows you to copy the information to the
clipboard.  This is useful if you want to include that
information, say the date, into the text section of a QRead
reading list item.

The Other tab shows more obscure information about the file.

1, 2, 3, 4 <MRU File Name>

QRead remembers the names of  the last four files you opened
and shows them at the bottom of the File menu.  These files
are sometimes called the Most Recently Used (MRU) files.
Select one of the <MRU File Name> commands to open the named
file.
Exit

On exit, QRead will automatically store information about
(up to 4) files you have open.  If you have more than 4
files open AND you specified "Open last file(s)" in the
Entry/Exit dialog box, QRead will warn you that it can only
reopen 4 files on your next entry and give you a chance to
reconsider.

When you exit QRead with any number of files open, AND if
you have checked "On close and exit, store settings for
file" in the Entry/Exit dialog box, QRead will store the
current file settings for each file that is open in a
separate .QFS file.

Copy, Append

The clipboard provides a way to move data in both directions
between QRead and other programs. The Copy and Append
commands move data FROM QRead TO the clipboard.  You can
then paste the clipboard text into a receiving program for
further processing.

The Copy command copies the selected text to the clipboard,
replacing any text currently on the clipboard.  The Append
command adds the selected text to the contents of the
clipboard.  In both cases, the text is copied from the
memory image of the file, so the formatting of the clipboard
text will match the formatting of the original file.
Remember that if you are in the "With adjusted lines" view,
the image you are viewing has been reformatted.

If you are viewing the clipboard window, don't expect the
result of a Copy or Append command to be immediately
visible.  Since QRead makes a memory image of the clipboard
on Open, you will have to do a reopen to view the result of
Copy or Append operations.

Select All

The Select All command selects the entire contents of the
file.

Normally you will select smaller amounts of text by using
the mouse technique of "dragging."  To drag: position the
cursor at the beginning of the selection, click and hold the
left mouse button, move the cursor to the end of the
selection, release the mouse button.  The selected text
color is reversed from that of the non-selected text.

If you need to select text that extends beyond the bottom
(or top) of the window, just drag the mouse cursor below (or
above) the window boundary and QRead will automatically
scroll the window contents.  This auto-scroll feature is
implemented only for vertical scrolling.

Open Edit Window

Use this command to open an "edit window" on the currently
active file. QRead's Edit Window is intended for use in
making minor changes to a file.  IT IS NOT INTENDED TO BE A
FULL FEATURED EDITING APPLICATION.  On the plus side,
QRead's Edit Window is fairly quick, and allows you to edit
files of any size.

If you wish, you can still use the Tools | Launch App
commands to launch an editor application of your choosing.

The Edit Window is a child window of QRead, and it has its
own menu and commands.  For more detail, see the section
Edit Window - Operation and Commands.  When you close the
Edit Window, QRead will automatically refresh your view of
the edited file.

Open Clipboard Window

The Open Clipboard Window command moves data FROM the
clipboard TO QRead.  When QRead "opens" the Clipboard
Window, data is copied from the clipboard to a QRead memory
image.  From that point on, the Clipboard Window functions
as any other QRead window.  For example, you can use the
different view modes, change the font or tab settings, or
even select some text and copy it to the clipboard.  You can
even save the settings for the Clipboard Window by using the
Save settings for file command.

The clipboard is not really a file, however, and this has
some time implications.  If you exit QRead with the
Clipboard Window open and you have set the options to reopen
your files on entry, QRead will indeed reopen the Clipboard
Window.  Of course, the clipboard contents will not
necessarily be the same as when you exited QRead.

As with other file windows, if you issue the open command
and the Clipboard Window is already open, QRead just makes
it the active window.  To refresh the Clipboard Window, use
the ReOpen command.


Save Clipboard Window As

This command allows you to save the contents of the
Clipboard Window as a text file.  Remember that the contents
of the Clipboard Window are not necessarily equal to the
contents of the clipboard because QRead takes a snapshot of
the clipboard on open (or reopen) of the Clipboard Window.

As saved

QRead offers three views of your file -- As saved, With
adjusted type, With adjusted lines. Only one of the three
views can be selected at a time, but you can switch between
the views at any time. When you switch, your position in the
file is preserved. You will find the same first character
displayed in the upper left corner of the window.

The As saved view displays the text file in the standard
way, using the embedded new line characters to separate
lines of text, but with the power of "fancy fonts." If a
line is too long to fit in the given window with the given
font, you have three choices: resize the window, change the
font, or use the horizontal scroll bar (provided only in
this view).

This view is good for viewing formatted text, like poetry or
computer program listings. Don't forget to select a fixed
pitch font, like Courier, to keep the formatting exact. If
your text is mostly unformatted, but has occasional
formatting using tab or space characters, try the "With
adjusted lines" view.

With adjusted type

QRead offers three views of your file -- As saved, With
adjusted type, With adjusted lines. Only one of the three
views can be selected at a time, but you can switch between
the views at any time. When you switch, your position in the
file is preserved. You will find the same first character
displayed in the upper left corner of the window.

The With adjusted type view displays the text as large as
possible in the given window. That is, QRead automatically
adjusts the type size to display the longest line in the
largest type possible, within the limits of the chosen
typeface. This view is good if you like things big.

The type size calculated may change when the window is
resized OR when the longest line changes. As you scroll
through a document, therefore, the type size may change. If
this effect annoys you, you may want to use the adjusted
type view to set a type size when you first open a file, and
then switch to one of the other views to lock in that type
size.

With adjusted lines

QRead offers three views of your file -- As saved, With
adjusted type, With adjusted lines. Only one of the three
views can be selected at a time, but you can switch between
the views at any time. When you switch, your position in the
file is preserved. You will find the same first character
displayed in the upper left corner of the window.

The With adjusted lines view holds the type size constant
and reformats the lines of text to fill the window. Remember
that the reformatting occurs only in QRead's memory, and
that no changes are made to your text file on disk. This
view is good for reading books and articles in the large
type sizes without having to use large windows.

QRead fills lines one word at a time, using the space
character (usually) to determine the end of a word. QRead
will stop filling a line if it finds a zero-length line, a
line that begins with a space, or a line containing a tab.
The reformatting will preserve the paragraph structure of
your text file, therefore, if a new paragraph is denoted by
a blank line, a line indented with SPACE characters, or a
line indented with a tab character.

Lines containing tab characters are a challenge, because
they may (or may not) indicate an attempt by the original
author to display data in table format. QRead version 2.0
now attempts to adjust all lines, even those containing
tabs, when in the adjusted lines view mode.

The new algorithm for a line containing tabs is: QRead will
wrap, but not fill, a line that contains tabs. This allows
most table lines and non-table lines to display correctly,
as long as the tab-containing lines are no longer than those
in the rest of the file.  This will normally be the case
when the file is entered, but you might have to change your
tab settings to make it true in your current view.  If you
are entering a file to be read by QRead, use spaces or zero-
length lines to mark paragraphs and save the tabs for
tables.

 The result of the algorithms described above is that QRead
should handle most text files and preserve their paragraph
structure and tables.

Trivia note: QRead reformatting occurs on a page by page
basis; the whole file is not reformatted at once. This
causes one effect that you may find surprising. When
scrolling backward, QRead may not choose the same word to
begin a line as it did when you were scrolling forward.
Don't worry, no words are lost.

Increase type size

Choosing this command will increase the type size, UNLESS
you are in the "With adjusted type" view. You can also use
Num+ to pump up your type size. (Num+ means the + key on the
numeric keypad.)

Decrease type size

Choosing this command will decrease the type size, UNLESS
you are in the "With adjusted type" view. You can use Num-
(the numeric key pad "-") to shrink your type size.

Hide low characters

Low order characters (from 0x00 to 0x19) are often called
control characters. These characters control the operation
of the receiving device, but are not usually displayed or
printed. Examples of characters in this range are Carriage
Return(CR) and Start of Text (STX). Depending on the font,
QRead will display them as peculiar looking symbols (such as
musical notes or boxes), unless this command is enabled.

If you do not want to see these characters, enable this
command and QRead will replace each one with a blank, or
SPACE character. This feature can be useful in viewing files
created for word processors or hypertext reader programs.
Blanking out these characters may make the file more
readable.

For more information, see the section on special characters.

Hide high characters

High order characters (from 0x7F to 0xFF) are often called
extended characters. They are "extensions" to the
alphanumeric character set. Examples of characters in this
range are line drawing symbols or international characters
(such as vowels with the umlaut symbol). QRead will display
them, unless this command is enabled.

If you do not want to see these characters, enable this
command and QRead will replace each one with a blank, or
SPACE character. This feature can be useful in viewing files
created for word processors or hypertext reader programs.
Blanking out these characters may make the file more
readable.

For more information, see the section on special characters.

Tool bar

The tool bar is normally displayed across the top of the
main window, below the menu bar. Use the Tool bar command to
display or hide the tool bar.  A check mark appears next to
the command when the tool bar is displayed.

The tool bar can also be moved and "docked" to any edge of
the window.  When moved away from the window edge, it will
"float" as a standalone window.  To move the toolbar, point
the mouse cursor at a tool bar area between the buttons,
then click (and hold) the mouse button.  Drag the tool bar
to the desired location, then release the mouse button.

Tool bar buttons provide quick mouse access to many commands
used in QRead.  Such as...

 - Open a file (or list or clipboard window).
 - ReOpen a file (or list or clipboard window).
 - Open Clipboard Window
 - View As saved
 - View With adjusted type
 - View With adjusted lines
 - Decrease type size
 - Increase type size
 - Fonts
 - Open the default List
 - Open current item
 - Find
 - Find Next
 - Timer On
 - Decrease time interval.  See TimerOn
 - Increase time interval.  See Timer On
 - Help cursor mode

If you forget what a tool bar button does, you can get a
quick reminder in two ways.  For a brief description, just
position the mouse cursor over the button in question.
After a short time, a "tool tip" will appear.  You can see a
longer description displayed in the status bar.  To view a
description without executing the command, click on the
desired item, then move the mouse cursor off the item before
releasing the mouse button.

Status bar

The status bar, displayed at the bottom of the main window,
performs two functions.  It shows a brief description of the
commands and tool bar buttons, and it also shows the
keyboard latch state for certain keys.

As you use the mouse or arrow keys to navigate through
menus, the left area of the status bar shows a message
describing the action performed by each command.  Similarly,
this area describes the action of each toolbar button when
you press the button, but before releasing it.

You can, therefore, use the status bar as a mini-help
facility.  To view a description without executing the
command, click on the desired item, then move the mouse
cursor off the item before releasing the mouse button.

The right areas of the status bar indicates which of the
following keys are latched down:

CAPS     The Caps Lock key is latched down.
NUM     The Num Lock key is latched down.
SCRL     The Scroll Lock key is latched down.

The Status bar command displays or hides the Status Bar. A
check mark appears next to the command when the Status Bar
is displayed.

Full Screen Mode

When you invoke this command, QRead uses the entire screen
(except for a small border) to display your file. You can
leave full screen mode by pressing the Esc key.  To toggle
between full screen and normal modes, use the accelerator
key Ctrl+F, or use the right mouse button to access the pop-
up menus.

While in full screen mode, the menu bar and tool bar are
unavailable, but you can still access many QRead commands
via their accelerator keys, or via the pop-up menus.

Use transparent mode

You can use this command to work around a windows problem
that occurs infrequently.  If you are viewing a file that
has very long lines (near the QRead line limit of 250
characters) and tab characters, and you are using the As
Saved view mode and a font size greater than 16 point, you
may run across this problem.  The easiest way to handle
files like this is to use the Adjusted Lines mode, but if
you must use As Saved, you should read on.

QRead normally does not erase the screen before painting.
As the pixels which form the characters are painted on the
screen in the foreground color, the area around the
characters is painted with pixels of the background color.
This type of text painting, called opaque mode, writes
"over" the previous display so erasing is not necessary.

In some infrequent cases with long lines, the windows
function painting the text slips into transparent mode all
by itself.  In this mode, the previous display line is read,
merged with the characters and then written back, so it
looks like the area around the characters has not been
painted.  This is a problem if you do not want the previous
display to show through.

When you issue this command and toggle transparent mode on,
QRead paints by first erasing the line then painting with
transparent mode forced on.  This makes the display look
good, but takes longer than opaque painting since the line
gets painted twice.

During debugging, I think I fixed all the cases where this
occurs, but just in case I didn't, I left in the "Use
transparent mode" command.
Repaint

It is possible that QRead might forget to paint an area of
you screen.  If the display ever looks bogus, try a repaint.
If the problem persists, you may want to use transparent
mode.

Find

To search within the active file, use the Find and Find Next
commands.  The Find command can also be used to search
across multiple files, as explained below.  Find always
starts its search from the current position which is the
character displayed in the upper left corner of the window.
The search string is limited to 25 characters.

If the search string is found, QRead moves the current
position to show the found text at or near the first line,
and selects the found string. This text remains selected
until you use the mouse to select some other text.

The Find dialog box has an option to search across all open
files.  Multifile find starts with the "next" window (not
the active window) and ends with the active window.  Each
file is searched completely, from beginning to end, without
regard to the current position.  As each file is searched,
its window becomes the active window.  If the text string is
not found, you are returned to your original position in the
active file.

Use multifile find only when you want to search all files,
and not indiscriminately.  Otherwise, it may cause you to
"jump out" of the active file window, activate a new window,
and move to the found text string when you least expect it.

Find Next

The Find Next command is disabled until you have
successfully used Find. The search starts just after (or
just before) the last successful Find.

Find Next operates only on the active file.  To search
across multiple files, you must use the Find command with
the "all files" option enabled.

Place bookmark

There is only one bookmark and you use this command to place
it just before the current position (the character at the
upper left of the window). Once you move away from the
current position, the bookmark disappears, but it is
remembered and will be displayed if you choose the "Go to
bookmark" command.

The bookmark can be remembered in a .QFS file. Refer to the
"Store settings for file" command.

Remove bookmark

If you tire of having a bookmark and you just can't stand
the thought of having it around, use this command.

Go to bookmark

This command moves to the bookmark and displays the bookmark
at the top of the window.
Timer

There is really only one timer, but it can be set up to
perform three different operations: Auto Line Bump, Auto
Page Turn, or Head-bob Alarm.

In Auto Line Bump operation, the text is advanced by one
line when the timer interval expires.  Note that the text
will advance by one line regardless of the number of lines
displayed.  By resizing the window, you can view one line at
a time.

In Auto Page Turn, the text actually advances by one
"window" when the timer expires.  The first word shown in
the new window is the one that followed the last word of the
old window.

The Head-bob alarm will sound when you have not painted the
window within the time interval.  Scrolling activity, such
as Line Up, Line Down, Page Up or Page Down performed by the
keyboard or the by clicking on the scroll bars will keep the
alarm quiet.  You can also issue Repaint commands to avoid
the alarm without advancing the text.

The time interval can be set from 1/100 of a second to 60
seconds.  When the timer dialog box is up, each click on the
scroller up(down) arrow increments(decrements) the interval
by approximately 20% of the current value.  If the dialog
box is not up, you can use the toolbar buttons or the key
combination Ctrl + Num+ or Ctrl + Num- to modify the time
interval.  (Num+ means the + key on the numeric keypad.)

The Update Settings button in Timer dialog box allows you to
change the settings, both timer type and timer interval,
without actually turning the timer on or off.

The timer is toggled on and off by the menu command Tools |
Timer On, by the toolbar buttons, or by the accelerator key
F5.  When the Timer dialog box is up, the Timer On/Off
button toggles the timer on and off.

Timer On

The timer is toggled on and off by the menu command Tools |
Timer On, by the toolbar buttons, or by the accelerator key
F5.  When the Timer dialog box is up, the Timer On/Off
button toggles the timer on and off.
Launch another QRead

Choosing this command will launch another instance of QRead.
Now that multiple files can be viewed simultaneously via the
MDI, this command is provided primarily for compatibility
with past versions of QRead.

Note that the new instance will start up using QREAD.INI, so
its window may not look exactly like the one that preceded
it.

Launch App1, App2

These commands will launch applications to be used in
conjunction with QRead. For example, you can use QRead to
browse through a file and then launch an editor to change
the file.  Default application 1 is the Windows editor,
Notepad. Notepad will be launched with the file name of the
open file as an argument. Default application 2 is
COMMAND.COM, the DOS command interpreter.

For you tinkerers, it is possible to change the applications
that will be launched, but you must edit your QREAD.INI file
to do so. Insert a line in QREAD.INI, in the [QRead]
section, to specify the application. For example, if you
insert the following lines:

App1=yourapp %FileName%
App2=viewer.exe %ItemName%

you can launch the application "yourapp" with the open file
name as an argument, and launch viewer.exe with the current
item name (from the active list window) as an argument.
This could allow you to use the QRead list feature to keep
track of image files, and then view the images from QRead by
launching you favorite viewer.  Note: The test for
%FileName%  and %ItemName% is case sensitive.

To change the text shown in the menu, insert another line

App1Menu=My Favorite App

The App1Menu, and App2Menu strings will be used only if you
have specified strings for App1 and App2.

Colors

This command lets you choose the text, background, and
highlight colors used by QRead.  The color dialog box also
lets you specify a string that will be automatically
highlighted.  That is, the specified string will be
displayed using the highlight colors wherever it appears.
One use for this feature might be to mark an actor's part in
a script.

The colors chosen are associated with the viewed file, and
you can have a different color scheme for each file that you
have open (if your eyes can stand it).  You can also save
the colors in the file's settings or in the custom settings.
The QRead color settings do not affect the Windows system
colors.

In QRead's color dialog box, you specify the background
color for the highlighted text, and QRead calculates the
text color for the highlighted text using a bizarre
algorithm involving the Windows color palette.  Make sure
you check the sample box to see if you like the result
before you click OK.  QRead does not try to check your color
scheme for aesthetic appeal.

Fonts

When you issue this command, QRead asks Windows for the
names of all your installed fonts and displays those names
in the standard Fonts dialog box. When you select a font (by
clicking on OK or double clicking on one of the list boxes),
QRead finds the available sizes. If the font is scaleable,
QRead uses a list of sizes from 8 to 28 points. You can also
specify a type style, such as bold or italic.

QRead then asks the Windows font mapper for a font with the
selected name, size, and style. The result is a new,
beautifully formatted display with the font you selected,
usually.  The font mapper will sometimes return substitutes
for certain decorative fonts.

Tabs

Since QRead has no idea where the tabs were set when the
text file was created, the Tabs dialog box is provided to
let you recreate the settings.  The tabs can be set to
divide the page into columns (as might be useful for
tables), or they can be set every N character positions (as
might be useful for a computer program listing).

Entry / Exit

This command brings up the Entry/Exit dialog box. The
settings here control the entry, exit, and file opening
behavior of QRead. You can choose from the common option
groups by using the right half of the dialog box, or "roll
your own" group by changing the individual options on the
left side.

The Entry / Exit dialog box should perhaps be marked "handle
with care." Since these settings control the fundamental
behavior of the program, if you forget what you asked for
here, you can get totally confused about QRead's behavior.

For example, if you normally use QRead in the "Memory-less"
mode, QRead will come up with the default settings and it
will not open any files. But if you forget that you checked
"Remember last" the last time you used QRead, you could get
confused as to why your font, tabs, or even view mode are
different from what they normally are.

If you normally use the "Remember last" mode, you expect
that on entry QRead will be as it was when you left it. But
if you are opening a file that has a .QFS file, don't forget
that the stored settings in the .QFS file will override your
last settings.

The "Remember many" mode is useful if you use QRead to work
with lots of files and you like to customize the display of
each file. But try not to be surprised when you find .QFS
files all over your disk. You might even say, "I don't
remember creating that file" and you would be right. QRead
did! To avoid creating lots of small files, use the "store
settings for file" item on the Options menu only when you
need it.

I recommend choosing your favorite mode of operation for
QRead and then minimizing your use of the Entry/Exit
command. If you do get confused, you can always retrieve
default settings, and custom settings from the Options menu.

Registration info

The Registration info dialog box allows you to enter your
name and the key that you receive upon registration. The
information will be written to the QREAD.INI file. The next
time you enter QRead with this info in the QREAD.INI file,
you will bypass the registration reminder.  Of course, there
are other benefits of registering as described in the
licensing section.

To Register, print out the registration form (open the file
REGISTER.TXT in the QRead distribution archive), fill out
the form, and send in the form with your payment. If you do
not have REGISTER.TXT, forget the form, and just send in
your registration fee to the address shown in the About
dialog box..  DonÆt forget to specify which version of QRead
you have.

Once you receive your registration letter, save it in a safe
place. If the QREAD.INI file gets corrupted or deleted, you
will have to reenter your registration info.

Load default settings

Choose this menu time to revert to the default settings. The
bookmark is not affected.  The settings affected are:

  - View mode (default = As Saved)
  - Hiding of special non-text characters (default = off)
  - Font typeface, size, style (default = Times New Roman, 16,
Regular)
  - Tabs (default = tab at every 8 characters)
  - Transparent mode (default = opaque mode)

Load custom settings

If you have previously stored custom settings, you created a
QREAD.CUS file in your windows directory. This command loads
the stored custom settings from that file. The bookmark is
not affected.
Store custom settings

You can customize QRead by setting up your preferred
environment and then choosing this command to store the
settings. You can then use the Entry/Exit command to arrange
for loading of the custom settings, rather than the default
settings, on entry to QRead.

The default settings use a proportional font (Times New
Roman) and are meant for viewing unformatted text files,
such as articles or books.  You might want to set up the
custom settings with a fixed pitch font (say Courier New)
for viewing formatted files, such as poetry or computer
program listings. You could then use the accelerator keys
for default and custom settings when switching between these
two types of files.

The custom settings are stored in the file QREAD.CUS in your
windows directory.

Store settings for file

Once you have the settings the way you like for the file
that you are reading (the open file), you can store the
settings by choosing this command. The settings, and the
bookmark, are stored in a file with the same name and path
name (see note below) but with the .QFS extension. Your text
file is not modified.

Whenever QRead opens a file, it checks for the associated
.QFS file. If one exists, QRead will read the stored
settings from the .QFS file and update the settings.

You can set up QRead to automatically create .QFS files on
close or exit (by using the Entry/Exit command) but this
command allows you to explicitly create a .QFS file.

Note: You can choose to have QRead create all .QFS files in
your Windows directory, rather than in the same directory as
the open file.  Remember that with this choice, files with
the same name in different directories will use the same
.QFS file.  To use the Windows directory for .QFS file, you
must edit your QREAD.INI file. Insert the following line:

UseWinDir=TRUE

List | New

This command will first prompt you to think of a name for
the new list file, and then it will create the zero length
list.  List files can reside in any directory, but QRead
uses its own directory (the directory where QREAD.EXE is
found) as the default directory for the New and Open
commands.

You use the Add item, Change item text and Delete item
commands to maintain the list.

See List | Open for more information on lists and for uses
of lists
List | Open

Use this command to open a QRead reading list.  The command
functions similarly to Open, except that the dialog box is
initially set up with a filter for QRead list files (*.QRL)
and the QRead directory as the default directory  A list
file is stored as a normal text file, but it is formatted to
allow processing as a list.

A QRead list file is composed of items.  Each item has two
sections: name and text.  The first section is the item
name.  The name section begins with the first character in
the item and it ends with the first space or newline
character.  The remainder of the item is the text section.
The item ends with two newline characters.

To rewrite the last paragraph in techno terminology, we
could say that a QRead list file is composed of records.
Each record has two fields: the name field and the text
field.  The name field begins with the first character in
the record and is ended by (is delimited by) the first SPACE
character or by a CR/LF character pair.  The remainder of
the record is the text field.  The record is ended by two
CR/LF pairs.

Normally, the item name is the name of a file on your
computer and the item text describes the contents of the
file.  However, the name and text can be any arbitrary
string of characters.  A sample list, TODO.QRL, is included
with QRead that shows a "to do" type of list.

Whenever QRead opens a file, it checks for the .QRL
extension to see if the file is a QRead list.  If it is a
list, the file is displayed like any other file, but QRead
also displays a yellow message bar at the top of the window.
Using the list format defined above, QRead examines the file
as it displays its contents.  The name for the item
currently displayed at the top of the window is shown in the
message bar.  This item is known as the "current item."

The current item name is used as a file name by the command
List | Open current item.  So you can scroll the list
reading file descriptions until the current item looks
interesting, and then issue the command List | Open current
item to view that file.

The current item name can also be accessed by other
companion applications that you might launch, as described
under the Tools | Launch section.  Using that technique, you
can scroll the list to an interesting file and then launch
your companion app to perform some operation that file.  For
example, you might use QRead to keep a list of image files
and then use your companion app to view the files.

Open the default List

This command (or its tool bar button) will open the file
QREADING.QRL, which is the default reading list.  The file
QREADING.QRL is located in your Windows directory.

Open current item

This command interprets the current item name (the name
shown in the yellow message bar at the top of a list window)
as a file name and attempts to open that file.

The purpose of this command is to let you scroll through a
list until the current item looks interesting, and then view
that file.  See List | Open for more information on lists
and for uses of lists.

Open/Launch it

This command interprets the current item name (the name
shown in the yellow message bar at the top of a list window)
as a file name and attempts to open that file using its
associated application.  Applications are associated with
file types in the registry.  To add or change the
associations between file types and applications, use:
Explorer, View menu, Options menu item, File Types tab.

This command is to lets you open all types of files from a
reading list.  For example, you could have a reading list
describing all the different documents you're using on a
current project.  The documents could be associated with
different applications and reside in different folders.
You, or your colleagues, could use the reading list to scan
the descriptions and then open the relevant ones.

See List | Open for more information on lists and for uses
of lists.

Add item

Use this command to add an item to a list.  You can issue
this command while viewing a file that you want to add to
any list, or while viewing a list.  If you are view a (non-
list) file, QRead initially uses that file name as the new
item name.  If you have one or more lists open, QRead uses
the last opened list as the target list.  Otherwise, it uses
the default reading list.

Once the Add/Change dialog box is on screen, you can change
either the file name or the target list.  No changes are
written to disk until you exit the dialog box.

Type your text into the "descriptive text" edit box.  While
you are typing the text, the Enter key will not cause you to
exit the dialog box.  QRead allows you to use the Enter key
to insert newline characters in the text, but SUCCESSIVE
newline characters will automatically be eliminated.  The
QRead list file format uses two successive newline
characters at the end of an item, so successive new line
characters within an item cannot be allowed.

You might have noticed that QRead supplies a leading space
in the "descriptive text" edit box.  This leading space will
mark the descriptive text as a new paragraph when viewing
the list in the Adjusted Lines mode.  You may delete this
initial space if you want.  It is not essential to the list
format.

When you click on OK, the list will be updated.  If you are
viewing a list, it will be reopened and positioned at the
updated item.

If you try to add an item with the same item as an existing
item, QRead reacts as if you had issued a Change item text
command.

Change item text

Use this command to change the text section of an existing
item.  You can issue this command while viewing a file that
you want to add to any list, or while viewing a list.  If
you are view a (non-list) file, QRead initially uses that
file name as the new item name.  If you have one or more
lists open, QRead uses the last opened list as the target
list.  Otherwise, it uses the default reading list.

Once the Add/Change dialog box is on screen, you can change
either the file name or the target list.  No changes are
written to disk until you exit the dialog box.

Type your text into the "descriptive text" edit box.  While
you are typing the text, the Enter key will not cause you to
exit the dialog box.  QRead allows you to use the Enter key
to insert newline characters in the text, but SUCCESSIVE
newline characters will automatically be eliminated.  The
QRead list file format uses two successive newline
characters at the end of an item, so successive new line
characters within an item cannot be allowed.

When you click on OK, the list will be updated.  If you are
viewing a list, it will be reopened and positioned at the
updated item.

If you try to change an item that does not exist on the
target list, QRead reacts as if you had issued an Add item
command.
Rename current item

Use this command to rename an existing item in a list.  You
can only issue this command while viewing a list.  QRead
uses the current item name as the target item name, and uses
that list you are viewing as the target list.  This command
is especially useful when you have renamed a file.

Note that the current name edit box is a read only edit box.
The contents of this edit box can be copied and pasted to
the new name edit box (and then modified) to save typing.

Delete current item

Use this command to delete an existing item from a list.
You can only issue this command while viewing a list.  QRead
uses the current item name as the target item name, and uses
that list you are viewing as the target list.

Cascade

Use this command to arrange multiple open windows in an
overlapped fashion.  The windows will cascade from the upper
left corner of the main window toward the lower right.

Tile Horizontal

Use this command to arrange multiple open windows with one
window above another window.

Tile Vertical

Use this command to arrange multiple open windows side by
side.

Arrange icons

Use this command to arrange the icons for minimized MDI
child windows at the bottom of the main window.  If there is
an open document window at the bottom of the main window,
then some or all of the icons will not be visible when they
are underneath that document window.
Close All

This command closes all open windows.  If an Edit Window is
open and changes have been made, QRead will ask if you wish
to save your editing changes before executing the Close All
command.

1, 2, 3, 4,  <Window Name>

QRead displays a list of currently open document windows at
the bottom of the Window menu.  A check mark appears in
front of the document name of the active window.  Choose a
document name from this list to make its window active.
Help contents

This command (or the accelerator key, F1)  lets you use the
Windows help program to read the QRead hypertext help file.
The same information is also available in the file
qrhelp.txt if you want to print the help info and read it at
a less "hyper" pace.

QRead provides context sensitive help.  When you have a
command highlighted (via the arrow keys) or when you are
looking at a dialog box, pressing the F1 key will activate
the QRead help file and show the section of the file that is
relevant to your current context.

You can also enter "help cursor mode" and then use the mouse
to obtain help.

Help cursor mode

You can enter "help cursor mode" and then use the mouse to
obtain context sensitive help on some portion of QRead.

Use this command, or press the accelerator key Shift+F1, or
choose the tool bar's Context Help button to enter help
cursor mode.  The mouse pointer will change to an arrow and
question mark.  Then click somewhere in the QRead window,
such as a tool bar button, or a command.  The help topic
will be shown for the item that you clicked.
Search the help file

This command takes you directly to the Windows Help search
function for the QRead help file.  You can then search for
keywords in the help file index, or use the wizard to search
every word in the help file.
How to use Help

This command takes you directly to the "how to" section of
the Windows help program. You can also get these
instructions after you are in the help program by choosing
its Help command.

About QRead

The About dialog box displays some info about QRead
including the copyright message, the version number, and the
name of the user licensed to use QRead.

Edit Window - Operation and Commands

The Edit Window provides a quick way to make minor changes
to a file that you are viewing.  You can edit files of any
size using the Edit Window mechanism, but you may have to
use it more than once. The maximum size of the Edit Window
is 30,000 characters.

The Edit Window will always start at your current position
in the active file.  That is, the first character in the
Edit Window will be the same as the first character in the
file you were viewing (before you opened the edit window).
This is true regardless of file size. So, if you are viewing
a file of 30,000 characters or less, the Edit Window is
capable containing the entire file, but it WILL contain the
entire file ONLY IF your current view position is at the
beginning of the file.

Once the window is open, you can make your changes by
typing, and/or using the cut, copy and paste commands.  When
you are done editing you can save the entire file using the
Edit Window Save command. That is, QRead will first save any
text in the original file that preceded the Edit Window,
then save the (modified) contents of the Edit Window, and
finally save any text that followed the Edit Window.  You
can also save the modified version to a different file name
by using the Edit Window Save As command.

If you have modified the contents of the Edit Window, and
then try to close the window without saving, QRead will
prompt you before closing.

Notes: The original view window should be left open while
you are using the Edit Window.  If you close the view
window, QRead must also close its Edit Window.  Also, the
file being viewed/edited is write-locked while the Edit
Window is open.

Multiple Document Interface

QRead lets you have multiple files (documents) open
simultaneously.  You manage how the file windows are
displayed by using the Multiple Document Interface (MDI).
This section contains a brief overview on how to use MDI
windows.  For a refresher course on how to work with windows
in general, access the Help menu of Explorer.

When you open a file in QRead, the file is displayed in its
own "child" MDI window.  Each MDI window is contained within
the main window frame.  The main window can be thought of as
the "parent" window.  In many ways, an MDI window operates
as a regular window.  You can resize it, minimize it, and
maximize it using the techniques you have already learned.
The main difference is that an MDI window does not have a
menu.  All the MDI windows share the menu shown at the top
of the main window.

Note:  When you maximize an MDI window, the maximize/restore
button jumps up to the menu bar.  Now the main window looks
like an ordinary (non-MDI) window and one of the only clues
to its special status is the maximize/restore button at the
right edge of the menu bar.

Only one of the MDI windows is active at any given time. The
active window is easy to spot because its caption bar is
shown in a different color, usually a brighter color, than
the non-active windows.  (You can control the color of the
caption and of other elements of the Windows color scheme by
using the Control Panels accessory application that comes
with Windows.)

To make a window active, click on it with the mouse.  As an
alternative, and the only alternative when the desired
window is completely covered, you can use the Window menu to
activate a window.  The bottom of the Window menu shows a
list of open windows with a check mark next to the currently
active window.

Most other menu commands operate on the active window.  For
example, if you use the View | With Adjusted Lines command,
you adjust the lines of the active window, not all the
windows.  In QRead, the MDI windows are generally
independent.  Most settings can be different from window to
window, and most commands operate only on the active window.
For more detail, refer to the help section for the command
of interest.

QRead implements the MDI as other applications do, but with
two exceptions.  The first exception is that if you have
only one MDI window open, QRead will automatically maximize
that window (to simulate the operation of past versions).
If you close that file before opening another, QRead will
operate just as before.  If you open another file while the
first file is still open (and maximized), the new file
window will seem to replace the first window.  Actually, it
is on top of the first window.  You can check the window
menu to see that both file windows are still there.  This is
normal operation for MDI.

The second exception occurs in the implementation of the
Open (continuous) command.  If you only have one MDI window
open, and that window is maximized, opening more files will
not create more windows.  This exception to normal MDI
operation lets you scan through files without accumulating
excess windows (and memory).  If you want to use the Open
continuous command to open multiple windows, you can get it
started by "un-maximizing" the first window, say by using
the Window | Tile Horizontal command, and then opening the
additional files.


Drag-and-Drop

QRead supports drag-and-drop as an alternate way to get the
name of the target file (rather than using the Open or Open
(continuous) commands from the File menu).  There are two
ways to do drag and drop in Windows95, depending on whether
the QRead window is visible or minimized to a taskbar
button.

When the QRead window (or a QRead shortcut icon) is visible,
you can "drag" a file name displayed in the Explorer window
into that window. When you "drop" the file name into QRead,
the file will be immediately displayed. This type of
operation is the same as it was in pervious versions of
Windows.  To try it out, use the following procedure.

First, launch QRead. Now launch Explorer and move the cursor
over the name of a file. A text file would be a good choice,
but any file will do. Click (AND HOLD) the mouse button to
select the file, then drag the cursor over on top of the
QRead window.  Drop the file into QRead by releasing the
mouse button. The file you have selected will be displayed.

When QRead is running, but minimized, it appears as a button
on the Windows95 taskbar.  You can not actually drop a
filename into the QRead button, but almost.  Just follow the
same procedure outlined above, but hold the filename on the
QRead button until it activates the QRead window.  Then move
the filename into the QRead window and finally release the
mouse button.

Windows95 Start Menu

If you did not use the setup program to create a Start Menu
item for QRead, you can create an item in the Windows95
Start Menu by using the following steps.

First, right click on the taskbar and then select the
Properties menu item.  Once the taskbar property sheet
appears, choose the Start Menu Programs tab.  Under the
Customize Start Menu section, click on the Add button.  A
"wizard" will then prompt you through the steps to create a
"shortcut" to QRead.  The shortcut will eventually be
displayed as an item on the Start menu.

You can place the new shortcut directly in the Programs
folder, or within a folder in the Programs folder. (The
setup program places QREAD.EXE in a folder named QRead
Group.)  Once you have the shortcut in your Start menu
folder, it will be displayed on the Start menu, and you can
click on it to launch QRead.

If you want to automate the process of launching QRead and
simultaneously opening a specific file, there are (at least)
two approaches.  You can create many specific items in the
Start menu, or you can create specific "shortcuts" on your
desktop.  For either approach, you need to make a copy of
your QRead shortcut.

First, use Explorer and select your QREAD.EXE shortcut.  If
you have created a Start menu item for QRead by using the
setup program or as described above, there will be a
shortcut to QRead in the path
Windows/Start_Menu/Programs/QRead_Group.

To make the copy of your QRead shortcut, right click on it,
select copy from the popup menu, then type Ctrl+V to paste
in the copy.  Now right click on the new shortcut, select
rename, and change the name to indicate that this shortcut
will launch QRead and open the file named FileX.  I'd
suggest something like "QRead FileX."

Finally, you have to change the shortcut to actually tell
QRead to open FileX.  This is accomplished by modifying the
QRead command line in the shortcut.  Select the shortcut,
right click on it, then select Properties. Then click on the
Shortcut tab.  You need to add the name of the file (the
full pathname) to the line that launches QRead, the line
called "Target:"

If you leave this new shortcut in the Programs folder, it
will appear in the Programs menu.  You can also drag the
shortcut directly to the desktop (or some other location)
and then double click on it to launch QRead and
automatically open FileX. If there is an associated .QFS
file, QRead will also load the appropriate environment.

QRead Command Line

QRead will look for one argument on the command line. It
will interpret the argument as a file name, and try to open
the named file. This file specified on the command line
takes precedence over the "open last file" setting. As
always, when a file is opened, QRead will look for an
associated .QFS file. If it finds one, QRead will load the
appropriate environment.

QRead File Types

QRead works with three basic file types -- Text files, List
files, and Settings files. List files and Settings files are
subsets of the Text file type.  QRead also makes a backup
copies of list files.  The list backup files have the
extension .QBK.

When you open a file using the File | Open command (or any
of the 5 other methods),. QRead assumes you are trying to
view a text file and interprets the information in the file
as text.  Each byte is interpreted as a single ANSI
character.

The only exception to the above rule occurs when QRead opens
a list file.  When opening a file whose name has .QRL
extension (such as QREADING.QRL),  QRead interprets the file
as a reading list file.  It adds a yellow message bar to the
top of the display window, and uses its knowledge of the
QRead list file format to display the name of the current
list item in the message bar.  While displaying a list file,
the PageUp and PageDown commands jump to the next list item.

Aside from those display changes, the file is displayed as
any other text file.  All of the commands and view settings
are applicable.  For example, you can use the Tools | Find
command to search for a text string in the list file, and
you can change the font or tabs settings while viewing a
list file.  You can even store the settings in a Settings
File.

The Settings file type is another subset of text file type
that is recognized by QRead.  Settings files are used to
save view settings information (such as View Mode, Font,
Tabs, etc) for the files of the other two types -- ordinary
text files or list files. Settings files have a special
format, the same format used by Windows .INI files.
Normally, QRead opens settings files without any
intervention from the user and applies the settings
information to another file that is being viewed.  If you do
happen to open a settings file (for example a file with the
extension .QFS) you will view the contents of the settings
file as text

Settings files have names whose extension ends with the "s"
character, such as *.QFS, QREAD.CUS, and QREAD.CBS.  Each
file you read can have an associated .QFS file as explained
under the Save settings for file command.  QREAD.CUS is used
to store your custom settings, and QREAD.CBS is used to
store settings for the Clipboard Window.

QRead only writes to list files, list backup files, and
settings files.  All other files are opened in a read-only
fashion as explained under the File | Open command.

QRead Settings

QRead has two types of settings, file settings and global
(program wide) settings.

File settings control how QRead displays a file.  They
affect

  - View mode
  - Hiding of special non-text characters
  - Font typeface, size, style
  - Tabs
  - Color
  - Transparent mode
  - Bookmark

File settings are stored automatically in your QREAD.INI
file for (up to 4) files you have open when you exit QRead.
You can store the current settings as custom file settings
and then have QRead use you custom settings when it opens a
file.  For complete customization, you can store the
settings for every file you read in separate .QFS files,
either automatically, or at your command.

When QRead opens a file, settings are taken from the first
successful source shown below.

  1) use settings from the associated .QFS file (if one
exists)
  2) use stored settings in QREAD.INI (if opening a file on
program entry)
  3) copy settings from the active window (if one exists)
  4) load settings from the default, custom or last
settings, as specified via the Entry/Exit command

The global settings, stored in the file QREAD.INI, affect

  - Opening of previously open files on program entry
  - Restoring the main window size and position on program
entry
  - File Settings when opening files
  - Automatically creation of .QFS files on file close
  - Display of the tool bar and status bar

Except for tool bar and status bar (found on the view menu)
these settings are controlled by the Options menu and the
Entry/Exit dialog box.

In addition,  you can set QRead to use your windows
directory for the .QFS files, and you can specify the
companion applications, App1 and App2, by entering
information directly into the QREAD.INI file.

Special Characters

In general, QRead treats all characters in the open file
equally and displays them or prints them. However, some
special characters are treated differently.

QRead uses the following control characters to control
formatting of the display: Carriage Return (CR), Line Feed
(LF), Tab (HT) and Form Feed (FF). These characters are NOT
displayed; they are interpreted. Tabs are interpreted
according to the settings shown in the Tabs dialog box, and
the view setting. Encountering a Form Feed character causes
a clear to the bottom of the window when displaying the file
on the screen, and causes a page to be ejected when
printing.

Other low order characters (from 0x00 to 0x19) are
displayed, unless the Hide low characters command is
enabled.

High order characters (from 0x7F to 0xFF) are displayed,
unless the Hide high characters command is enabled.

If you show these characters, but the display is not what
you expected, you might try changing the font. Different
fonts are designed to display different character sets. Most
fonts used with Windows are designed for the ANSI character
set, but some fonts (for example, Terminal) are designed for
the PC/DOS/ASCII character set, also know as the OEM
character set.

Keyboard Input

In addition to the accelerator keys shown in the menus,
several other keys are monitored. The arrow keys, PageUp,
PageDown, Home, End and SPACE bar are used to move through
the file.

It is worth noting that the Num+ and Num- keys can be used
to pump up and deflate the font, except when viewing With
adjusted Type. (Num+ means the + key on the numeric keypad.)

If you want to delete the open file without using the mouse,
you can do so quickly with the sequence: Delete, Enter.

The sequence: Ctrl+F8, Ctrl+F9, Ctrl+F10 is useful at the
end of a reading session, since it will place the bookmark,
save the settings (including the bookmark), and exit QRead.

Version History

VERSION 1.0.1
  First release.

VERSION 1.1
  Added printing

VERSION 1.2
  Added drag and drop support
  Added Hide commands - for low order and high order
characters
  Added ReOpen command
  Added Home and End key response
  Added double click response in the Fonts dialog box
  Added response to FF (form feed) characters in the text
file
  Added file wraparound feature to Find
  Added QREAD.INI option to use Windows directory for .QFS
files
  Changed view mode menu check marks (to denote 1 of N
choice)
  Changed "Copy page to clipboard" command to "Copy to
clipboard"
  Fixed copy of blank lines in Copy to clipboard
  Fixed double paint on Open
  Fixed double paint on Find

VERSION 2.0
  Added MDI support
  Added lists
  Added timers
  Added mouse support
  Added Edit menu and clipboard features
  Added Print Preview command
  Added tool bar and status bar
  Added Find multiple option
  Added App2 menu command
  Added App menu string support
  Added context sensitive help and help mode cursor
  Added restore main window size & position
  Added transparent mode
  Changed default setting view mode to As Saved
  Changed bookmark color
  Removed use of lined icon when a file window is open
  Fixed tabbed line handling in Adjust Lines view mode
  Fixed line filling to always show at least one word
  Fixed Copy to clipboard GPF

VERSION 95-2.0
  Added support of long file names
  Added small icons
  Added dockable toolbar
  Added tool tips
  Added Popup menus
  Added Properties command
  Added Open/Launch it command
  Added Search the help file command
  Removed Keep icon on top command

VERSION 95-2.1
  Added Edit Window
  Added Color capabilty, and color highlighting
  Added Full Screen mode
  Added Close All command
  Changed _key and added accelerator key for Edit | Select
All
  Changed _key for Edit | Save Clipboard Window As
  Fixed bug in accelerator key: Ctrl+O brought up list open
dialog box
  Fixed bug in DST time conversion in property sheet
  Added uninstall capability to the setup program