JCSM Shareware Collection 1993 November/JCSM Shareware Collection - 1993-11.iso/cl240/nedte16j.lzh/READ.ME

Text File | 1992-02-18 | 16KB | 456 lines

               NED(tm) v1.6b Release Notes

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              This is a shareware product.

If you  intend to  use NED  on a  regular  basis,  please
register  and   show  your   support  for   the   author.
Commercial,     business  or  governmental  use  by  non-
registered users is prohibited.

When you  register you  receive a 250 page manual and the
latest version of NED and utilities as well as info about
new versions when  they occur.  See the file WHATUGET.DOC
with this release for details.

To  register,   fill  in  REGISTER.FRM  included with the
distribution   below and  send and  $50  to  the  address
below.

   NED(tm) v1.6b (C) Copyright 1987-92 David L. Dight
                  All Rights Reserved.

       P.O.  Box 280,  Kings Cross,  N.S.W.  2011
       AUSTRALIA. [phone], CIS:100033,2563

              Revision 1.6.b.03 20/02/1992.

*********************************************************

                    INDIVIDUAL USERS

Individual  and   Company  Users:     Please   refer   to
LICENSE.DOC and REGISTER.FRM for information.

*********************************************************

                      VENDOR NOTES

If you wish  to  distribute this  software,   please read
DISTRIB.DOC and VENDOR.DOC for details.


*********************************************************

                      DESCRIPTIONS

BBS sysops and vendors should see DESCRIBE.DOC for sample
descriptions.

*********************************************************

                       BBS SYSOPS

BBS  SYSOPs  should  refer  to  the  SYSOP.DOC  file  for
complete information relating to them.

*********************************************************

                      RELEASE NOTES

To  unpack,   execute   the   program  NEDIT.EXE  in  the
directory you  wish NED to reside. NHELP.EXE and NCAL.EXE
must be on the PATH if you wish to use help, ASCII tables
or the calculator.

Read the  section on  configuring NED to learn how to use
CONFIG.NED in the manual NED.DOC

NED will search the PATH for  CONFIG.NED so put this with
NED.EXE

Files in the release:

NEDIT.EXE(*)   Self-extracting archive.

READ.ME        This file.
NED.EXE        Main program.
NHELP.EXE      Help system.
NCAL.EXE       On-line Calculator/ASCII tables.
FASTPRN.EXE    Document printing utility (see below).
VIRCHK.EXE     Executable virus scanner (see below).
CONFIG.NED     Example configuration file.
FILES.NED      Sample File List (See note 22).
SAMPLE.MCR     Sample Macro file (see note 40).
NED.DOC        User's guide (See note 8).
VENDOR.DOC     Distributors, vendors and ASP vendor information.
DISTRIB.DOC    Application for distribution licence.
LICENSE.DOC    Licensing agreement for individual use.
SYSOP.DOC      Info about posting NED on BBS's.
DESCRIBE.DOC   Sample descriptions for BBS/vendors.
WHATUGET.DOC   Describes what you get when you register.
REGISTER.FRM   Software registration form.
OMBUDSMN.ASP   ASP ombudsman statement.
PACKING.LST    This list in a separate file.

(*) LHA's SFX 2.13S (c) Yoshi, 1991. All rights reserved.


*********************************************************
New features in version 1.5x

1.  Checking  the  executables  for  viruses/unauthorised
mods. Execute  VIRCHK.EXE after you extract this release.
This needs to be in the same directory as the executables
to test.

VIRCHK.EXE checks the files  NED.EXE, NHELP.EXE, NCAL.EXE
and  FASTPRN.EXE  for any  possible attached  viruses  or
unauthorised modifications. If  any  problems  are found,
the offending file is reported.

Do NOT  attempt to  use any  executable reported  as bad.
Contact David L. Dight or your distributor for advice.

VIRCHK could  be run  periodically on  systems  that  are
known to  be exposed. If the NED system has picked up any
virii,  delete the executables and re-extract (as long as
the release  files were  checked when  you first received
them and were found to be ok).

2. COMMAND '2'
This allows you to  execute DOS commands from within NED.
For example,

                <esc>2dir/w<enter>

will execute  the DOS dir/w command. When the command has
been completed,  press any  key to return to editing. See
item 10 below. With no parameters, this command invokes a
DOS shell (same as ALT X).

3. COMMAND '3'
This allows  you to  set the  keyboard  speed.  0  for no
change, 1 is fastest, slowing down to 5 (a crawl).

                <esc>31<enter>

will set  the keyboard  speed  to  the  fastest  setting.
Keyboard rate can be set on startup in config.ned,

                KEYSPEED=1

4. The DATE FORMAT has been changed with ALT Y to:

            dayname, dd/mm/yyyy, hh:mm {am|pm}

Changes to the date string format via the DATEFMT command
in CONFIG.NED will be reflected in the above string.

5. The  software   REGISTRATION ADDRESS  can be  found on
page 9 of the help screen.

6. FIRST  LETTER FILE  SELECTION IN FILE DISPLAY MODE. If
files are  sorted by  extension, first  letter  refers to
the  first  letter of the  extension. In  either case the
file  selector bar  will be  moved to  the first matching
filename.

7. NETWORK DRIVES should appear in File Display Mode.

8. THE  USER'S GUIDE.  This is the roughly formatted text
of the  NED v1.5x  user's guide. When you register you'll
get the  finished product.  This  file  should  still  be
useful to  learn how  use NED.  To get a fast printout of
the manual  you can  use the FASTPRN.EXE utility supplied
with this release and described below.

             ** Printing the User's Guide **

Note: NED.DOC is already formatted to 66 lines/page, with
page breaks embedded.  This file should be  printed using
the DOS print command. FASTPRN can be also be used if you
use the -a option. Tabstops are set to 4.

                   FASTPRN.EXE

usage: fastprn [-aefhlmpst?] input filename
    -h|? usage banner
    -l<lines per page>, default 66
    -t<top/bottom margin (lines)>, default 3
    -m<left hand margin>, default 0
    -f<output filename>
    -s<starting line>, default 0
    -e<ending line (-1=all file)>, default -1
    -a no formatting, output only
    -p pause for keystroke after page

FASTPRN takes  the name  of the file to print and formats
it  for   printing  (page/line   layout)  to  the  screen
(default). You  may redirect  the output  to a file or to
the printer  directly. Alternatively  you can  use the -f
option to  specify an  output file.  This could  also  be
'PRN'. The  -t option  allows you  to set  the number  of
lines from the top of the page to begin printing (default
3). The  -l option  sets the  number of  lines to  a page
(default 66).  The number  of lines  printed on a page is
always:

    linesprinted = linesppage - (2 * margin)

this defaults to 60. Printing begins on line 4.

The -s and -e options allow you to specify a starting and
ending  input  line  range  to  process.  If  either  are
omitted,  processing  commences from  the start or to the
end of the file.

The -m option allows you to set a left  hand  margin. The
default is 0. For example to print this file, centered on
standard continuous page,

    fastprn read.me -m11 -fprn

outputs directly to the printer.

    fastprn read.me -ap

Suppresses formatting.  When -a  is used,  lines per page
will default  to 24 and margins will default to zero. The
-p pauses  after each  24 lines (useful for examining the
file from the screen.

    fastprn ned.doc -a -fprn

Formats the file ned.doc to the printer(note that this is
already formatted and needs only to be printed).

    fastprn read.me -l84 -t4 -p > prn

Formats the  file read.me   directly  to the  printer. 84
lines per  page are  set with  top/bottom margins  4. The
program after each page.

    fastprn read.me -e250 > intro.txt

Formats only  the first  250 lines  from the  input file.
Output is redirected to intro.txt.

    fastprn ned.doc -s1456 -e1760 > file.txt

Formats lines  1456 to  1760 inclusively  from the  input
file. Output is redirected to file.txt.

If the  first character  on any line is a page break (chr
12) it is printed and the current line number is reset to
0. This  permits hard  page-breaks  to  be  inserted  and
printed in a file.

9. When in File Display Mode, if the file selector bar is
placed over the '\', NED will display the VOLUME LABEL of
the current drive. When the file selector bar is over the
current drive letter, NED displays number of BYTES FREE.

10. You  can enter FILE DISPLAY MODE on the 2DOS COMMAND.
If you  select  a  file  by  pressing  return,  the  full
pathname of  the file  is copied to the command parameter
string and  you are  returned to  command  mode  and  the
cursor is  placed at  the end of the string. You may edit
the command,  add parameters or attempt to execute it (if
it is a valid DOS command). See note 2).

11.  F5   brace  matching   now  recognizes  the  CHEVRON
characters «  and », the BANG(!) and INVERSE BANG(¡), and
the QUESTION MARK (?) and INVERSE QUESTION MARK (¿).

12. DIRMAX statement in CONFIG.NED
This defaults to 512 filenames for the file list, and for
the  maximum  number  of  directory  entries  under  File
Display Mode.

    DIRMAX={64-10240}

If you are working with directories that contain numerous
files, increase  DIRMAX accordingly.  Keeping DIRMAX  low
saves on internal buffer space.

13. CALCULATOR/ASCII TABLES
These can  be run  from within  NED with F6 and SHIFT F6.
You can  also execute  NCAL.EXE from the DOS prompt. NCAL
prompts:

        Press (c)alculator, (a)scii tables or esc:

14. SOUND statement in CONFIG.NED
Error beeps  and blips  can be suppressed by setting this
statement to OFF:

     SOUND=OFF

The default is ON.

15. HOME DIRECTORY  - when you enter  FILE DISPLAY  MODE,
the current (home) directory is displayed.  If you change
to another directory,  NED will change to  this directory
the next  time you enter  File Display Mode. To force NED
to select the  home directory, press  SHIFT F1 instead of
F1 when you enter File Display Mode.

16. SEARCH INTERRUPT -  you can now INTERRUPT a search by
pressing ESCAPE.


*********************************************************
Changes in version 1.6b

17.  The   ALT  0  (change  colours)  key  is  no  longer
supported. Use  the COLOUR  and INTENSITY  statements  in
CONFIG.NED to set  your colour  preferences. ALT 0 is now
used to change to area number 10.

18. The CTRL F9 and CTRL F10 auto-entab/detab toggles are
no longer  supported. Use  the DETAB and ENTAB statements
in CONFIG.NED to set your preferences.

19. SHIFT F4 no longer shells to DOS. Use ALT X. SHIFT F4
now forces entry to block mode in INTERLINE mode.

20. CTRL LEFT/RIGHT  (previous/next word)  bug  has  been
fixed.

21. The 'p' option  with the Laundry command is no longer
supported.

*********************************************************
New features in version 1.6b

22. If the FILE statement is set to nothing in CONFIG.NED
and no file has  been specified on the  command line, NED
will attempt to open the  first file in FILES.NED if this
file is found.

23. NUMBER  OF CHANGES  - for each open file area are now
displayed on  the status screen (F10). A change means any
single block mode cut/paste operation or any line change.
Numerous individual  character edits  within a  line will
result in  a single  change increment  when the cursor is
moved off  the edited  line. Keeping track of this should
help you  to decide  when to  save your edits. Files with
changes will display the number recorded in bold/blinking
attribute; files  with no changes display nothing in this
column. If  AUTOSAVE is on and the file has changed since
it was last autosaved, the LOWERCASE DELTA character will
appear next to the number of changes value.

24. NON-CASE  SENSITIVE SEARCH - this is now the default.
To force  a CASE SENSITIVE search, press SHIFT ENTER when
you enter the search string in command mode.

25. NEW KEY ALT J - this key allows you to JUMP BACK TO A
PREVIOUS POSITION IN THE CURRENT FILE. The previous posi-
tion is  updated  whenever the  cursor is  moved  off the
current line. For example:

    <esc>G300<enter><esc>G150<enter><ALT J><ALT J>

by  pressing ALT J, the screen is positioned at lines 150
or 300.

26. The RULER now displays the WIDTH OF THE CURRENT  line
marking the  start and end of  the line  with the [ and ]
characters. These will  appear in bold  attribute. If the
start of the  current line is  outside and to the left of
the edit  window, a bold  left arrow  will appear  in the
first  column; if the end of  the current line is outside
and to  right of the edit window, a bold right arrow will
appear in the last column.

27. AUTOSAVE  - this  can be set to occur at a predefined
interval between 1 and 1440 minutes. The '4auto'  command
accepts either the new interval or 0 to set autosave off.
The AUTOSAVE statement in CONFIG.NED allows you to set up
the autosave  interval on  startup. The  default is  off.
Autosaved  files   have  the  first  character  of  their
extension set  to the  carat (^) and any characters after
are moved  to  the  right,  the  last  character  of  the
extension if  any, is dropped. These files will appear in
the current  directory or  in the backup directory if one
has been  set. NED  only  autosaves  a  file  if  it  has
recorded  any   changes  since  the  last  autosave.  The
statement:

     AUTOSAVE=5

forces NED  to save  any changes  to  any  file  every  5
minutes.

28. The  LAST 10  SEARCH strings and the LAST  10 REPLACE
strings are  available in command mode by pressing the up
or down arrows on the S and R commands respectively.

29. The  MAXIMUM WIDTH  of a line has been increased from
256 to 1024 characters.

30. Symbols  representing the  left/right shift, ctrl and
alt keys now appear in line 1 of the system window.

31. After  executing a  command, NED  remains in  command
mode. To  force NED  to return  to  the  edit  window  by
default, set the statement:

     CMDEXIT=ON

in CONFIG.NED. The default is OFF.

32. The  time is  continually  displayed  on  the  status
screen.

33. NED  NOW HANDLES 10 FILES. The quick key to change to
area number 10 is ALT 0 (ALT 1-9 for areas 1-9).

34. COLUMN  BLOCK OPERATIONS.  NED  now  supports  column
block cut/copy/paste.  There are now three types of block
modes -  INTRALINE, INTERLINE and COLUMN. Blocks that are
cut or copied in one of these modes will be available for
pasting in  the mode in which they are cut/copied. Column
pastes will  occur at  and below the cursor. If insert is
on, the  column is  inserted at  the cursor;  if off, the
column will overwrite at the cursor.

35.  JOIN   LINE  now   strips  any   leading  whitespace
characters except  one character  on the next line before
joining it to the current line.

36. To  force NED  to enter BLOCK MODE in INTERLINE mode,
press SHIFT F4.

37. CTRL SHIFT F8 searches for the current search expres-
sion from the bottom of the file up.

38. File I/O has been improved. The time needed to read /
write files is considerably reduced.

39. The calculator now supports BINARY and OCTAL modes as
well as  DECIMAL and  HEX. The  space bar/shift space bar
toggles  the  current  value  between  these  modes.  New
functions: '>' and '<' allow bit shifting; 'n'  gives the
exponent; 's' the square root; 'S' the square.

40. You can PASTE FROM THE CALCULATOR  to the file called
"paste.cal".  The result of an  operation or a conversion
is written to this file when you press 'p' and enter.

41. SAMPLE MACRO FILE - this will be loaded by default if
MACRO statement in CONFIG.NED is  set to path SAMPLE.MCR.
This  file contains some useful  keystroke macros.  Press
SHIFT F7 for a summary of their functions.

42. For PC's  with  extended  keyboards, SHIFT INS forces
insert mode off. This is useful when recording macros.