The Revenge Document Displayer
Written by The Hitchhiker
Version 2.01 - 17th February 1991
The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Document Displayer
------------------------------------------------
(Apologies to Douglas Adams)
Welcome to The Revenge Document Displayer. In this document I
will try to explain how to get the most from the program.
The Revenge Document Displayer will load, display and print out
any ASCII document. When you load a document any control
characters will be automatically stipped out so that it is more
readable.
To view a document with the displayer double click on
DISPLAY.PRG. The program will now load and ask you to select
the file that you want to load. Once you have selected a file
the display will load and format the text before going into
display mode. If you always want to use the displayer to view
doc files, then you can install it as an application so that it
loads whenever you double-click on a doc file. When the
displayer has loaded, the files that you selected will be
automatically loaded. Consult the Atari ST manual on how to use
this feature of the desktop.
Packed Files
------------
If you load a file that has been packed, the displayer will
automatically de-pack it. Packers supported:
Pack Ice v2.20
To pack a file using the Ice packer:
1) Double click on ICE_2_2.PRG
2) Click on DATA.
3) Click on NO.
4) Select document name.
5) The document will now be packed and saved.
Document Formatting
-------------------
Documents are automatically formatted when they are loaded.
Each line is limited to a maximum of 80 characters per line.
Any line that is longer than this will be wrapped onto the next
line.
When a document is printed the displayer paginates it
automatically to fit the selected page size (11 or 12 inch).
If you want to force a page break in to document then place the
characters @# at the beginning of a blank line in the document.
The displayer will interpret these characters as a page break
and will not display or print them.
For example the following text:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Welcome to Automation disk 2000
@#
The Pompey Pirates are the best by far.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
will appear on two pages. If you place any text after the @#
then the page break will occur after the entire line has been
printed, although I recommend that the @# is the only text on
the line.
Displayer Controls
------------------
Arrow keys - Scroll Up / Down a line in the Document.
Shift Arrow Keys - Scroll Up / Down a page in the Document.
Enter / Return - Scroll Down a line in the Document.
Space Bar - Scroll Down a page in the Document.
Alternate T - Goto the Top of the document.
Alternate B - Goto the bottom of the document.
Alternate G - Goto a line.
You are asked to enter a line number to goto. If you want
to go forward 10 lines then enter +10, to go back 20 lines
enter -20. To goto the start of a marked block (if any)
then enter *.
Alternate F - Search the document for a phrase.
You are asked to enter the phrase that you wish to search
for. You will then be asked if you want the search to be
case sensitive. A case sensitive search is about twice as
fast as a non-sensitive one. The search for the phrase is
started from the top of the document.
Alternate N - Find Next Occurrence of a phrase.
Searches the document for the next occurrence of the phrase
that you originally searched for using ALT-F.
Shift Function Key - Set Bookmark.
Allows you to remember the current position in the document.
Function Key - Goto Bookmark.
Goes to a previously set bookmark.
Control T - Set TAB width.
Allows you to set the size of the TAB control code. Normal
values are 4 or 8. (default = 4).
Alternate S - Start Block.
Sets the start of a block at the top of the screen.
Alternate E - End Block.
Sets the end of a block at the bottom of the screen. After
you have marked the start and the end of a block, and it is
valid, the block will be shown in reverse text.
Alternate H - Hide Block.
Kills (unmarks) any previously marked block.
Alternate C - Set Printer Configuration.
Allows you to configure the displayer to output the correct
data to your printer.
Alternate P - Print whole document.
Prints the whole of the document using the current
configuration. Don't forget to set the config before you
start printing. You can stop printing by holding down both
shift keys.
Alternate W - Print block.
Prints a previously marked block using the current
configuration.
Alternate L - Load Document.
Displays the file selector and asks you to pick a file to
load.
Alternate X - Execute Another Program.
Displays the file selector and asks you to pick a program to
execute. You may run any program that exits cleanly and
doesn't do to many nasty things (see the note on
compatability below). You are then asked if you want to
delete the current document. If you delete the document
then the space taken up by it is released to the operating
system. When the program finishes you will be returned to
the displayer.
Zero (colour) - Toggle Hz
Switches between the screen scan rates of 50 and 60 Hertz.
Zero (mono) - Toggle Colours
Reverses the screen colours.
Tab - Display Pop-up Menu.
Displays a pop-up menu so that you can execute various
functions. Select an item by highlighting it and hitting
Return.
Alternate Q / Undo - Exit the Doc Displayer.
Mouse Control
-------------
At any time you may use the mouse instead of the keyboard.
Moving up / down is the same as pressing the up / down arrow
keys. The left button can be used to select items or to call
up the main selection menu. The right button is used to either
cancel a pop-up or to call-up the file selector.
Pop-up Menu
-----------
To activate the pop-up menu then either hit TAB or press the
Left mouse button. This allows you to select various functions
without using the keyboard combinations (ALT+key). Use the
Up/Down keys or the mouse to highlight the required function
and hit Space, Return or Left mouse button to select. Press
Escape or the Right mouse button to cancel the menu without
selecting.
Printer Configuration
---------------------
The printer config menu can be accessed by pressing Alternate C
or selecting it from the pop-up.
Page length can be set to either 12 (A4) or 11 (normal
listing) inches.
If you specify 'page numbers' then the page number will be
printed at the bottom of each page.
'Pause between pages' forces the displayer to pause after
every page is printed. This allows you to print on single
sheets, or produce double sided output.
If you select 'Print Quality = NLQ' then the displayer will
send codes to change the printer to NLQ mode. Note: this will
only work with Epson compatable printers.
If you select 'Bold Printing' then the displayer will send
codes to change the printer to emphasized mode. Note: this will
only work with Epson compatable printers.
The 'Send codes to printer' option allows you to send
various codes to the printer. If you enter '27' then the
ascii code 27 will be sent to the printer. Entering 'A' will
send the character 'A' (ascii 65).
You may also select which printer that any output will be
sent to. If 'serial' is selected then the current RS232 port
settings will apply.
Compatability
-------------
The original version of the displayer had a few compatability
problems with some versions of TOS, but with version 2 these
have been eliminated (I hope). The Doc displayer should work on
any version of TOS, even the TT if it supports an ST compatable
screen mode.
The displayer will work in all of the ST's screen modes but
NOT on large screen displays such as Hyperscreen, at best the
screen will become corrupt or the machine may even crash.
If your printer does not support Epson control codes, then
don't use the NLQ or BOLD options on the printer configuration
menu.
There is a problem if you run the displayer in low rez with
Turbo ST (1.82) installed. The 'bug' shows itself when you exit
the displayer. You will see that the screen colour planes have
become offset. This is a problem with TurboST because the Doc
displayer only uses legal BIOS calls to change screen
resolution. This bug only happens occasionally on my machine
(TOS 1.4).
The ability to launch another program from within the
displayer can reveal a great many incompatabilities. You can
only safely launch a 100% legal program. If you run a
'naughty' program then the Doc displayer may crash or produce
unpredictable results. I have successfully used programs such
as:
HiSoft Basic
Lattice C5
Devpac2
KnifeST
First Word +
Script
Fastcopy
ProFlight (v1.2)
AVK
DC Utils
Michtron Hard Disk Utils
any many more...
Known Bugs
----------
While using the displayer, if you hold down the Alternate key
and then move the mouse, the busy-bee cursor will whizz around
the screen. This can cause a bit of screen corruption. Hit
the Escape key to refresh the screen. This 'may' be fixed in
future releases.
About the Doc Displayer
-----------------------
The orignal version of the displayer was written in HiSoft
Basic, but from version 2.00 onwards it is written in Lattice C
(version 5). Small pieces of assembler have also been written
to speed things up a little bit.
Thanks go to:
Teddystacker - Beta Testing, Ego Boosting, Distribution.
Tempest - Fast memory moving routine (v2.01).
Thor - Title screen graphics
Gareth - Shouting.
Axe of Delight - Depack Routine.
Jeff Healey - 'Hell to Pay'.
HiSoft - HiSoft Basic / Lattice C5 / Devpac2.
Hard Disk - Crashing..!
Dad - Nagging about electricity bills.
The Revenge Document Displayer is in the public domain and may
be distributed freely as long as this document is also
distributed intact. Any groups/packers/crackers etc may use
the displayer on their menus as long as they greet me.
The HiSoft Basic source code for version 1.93 of The Revenge
Document Displayer has now been released. The actual code is a
bit of a mess as it has undergone a lot of 'bolt-on' upgrades
and bug fixes. I have also released the bits of machine code
that the Basic version uses (XTRAS.BIN & DOC.BIN). These will
need to be added to your HBASIC.LIB file before you can compile
the main program. This can be achieved by using the
BUILDLIB.TTP program that is included with HiSoft Basic (not
Power Basic). Consult your HiSoft manual for more information.
History of The Revenge Document Displayer
-----------------------------------------
Version 1.0 15th April 1990
The very first version was very primitive, and very slow.
All it did was load a text file, scroll it up / down, and
then let you dump it to the printer.
Version 1.1 16th April 1990
A little bit faster, although it is still slow...!
Version 1.2 14th May 1990
Goto Top / Bottom keys, Help screen, Search option,
Bookmarks.
Version 1.3 15th May 1990
Printer output improved, it now handles page breaks (wow..!).
Version 1.4 26th June 1990
Handle TABs correctly, Scrolling speed increased (66%),
Faster DOC loading time, Funky Title Screen, Changes to
medium rez if you load in low rez.
Version 1.41 1st July 1990
Better Help screen, program structure(?) improved.
Version 1.50 10th July 1990
Almost a complete re-write of the text handling routines.
This resulted in a great speed improvement, and the ability
to handle larger documents.
Version 1.51 11th July 1990
Repeat Search feature, 50/60Hz feature for colour
monitors, Faster TAB handling.
Version 1.52 16th July 1990
Doesn't now crash wen you load a document with < 20 lines.
Version 1.53 19th July 1990
Keystroke compatability with the desktop text viewer.
Faster DOC loading.
Version 1.60 20th July 1990
Support for document encription.
Version 1.70 23rd July 1990
File selector added, loading another document without
quitting feature. The first Teddystacker version.
Version 1.71 10th August 1990
Small bug in the file selector fixed.
Version 1.72 17th August 1990
Very crude packing algorithm supported (this was one of my
own..!)
Version 1.73 21st August 1990
My packing routine removed. Now supports the ICE packer
v2.11. I think I'll leaving packer writing to the guys who
can.!
Version 1.74 22nd August 1990
Automation packer supported.
Version 1.80 24th August 1990
Now you can use pictures in your documents.
Version 1.81 2nd September 1990
Picture dump routine, Printer Configuration screen.
Version 1.82 7th September 1990
Faster text output even though it's still using the BIOS.
Version 1.90 12th October 1990
Very fast text output routines used. These routines out-run
programs like Turbo ST and Quick ST2.
Version 1.91 19th October 1990
Nice font added.
Version 1.92 26th October 1990
Faster text formatting (507%).
Faster scrolling (9%).
Version 1.93 28th October 1990
New file selector that allows you to switch drives.
Mouse scrolling added.
Version 2.00 3rd February 1991
Complete re-write in C (Lattice C version 5).
(The old version was written in HiSoft BASIC).
Better mouse support.
Pop-up menus / interactive windows.
Brilliant file selector.
Now supports only ICE Packer v2.20.
Picture ability removed (nobody used it anyway).
Scrolling speed improved (20%).
Search speed improved (350-800%).
Ability to launch another program from within.
Block marking/printing.
Number of Pages display.
Size of program reduced (about 50%).
Overall Speed of displayer increased.
Loads of new features.
Version 2.01 17th February 1991
Scrolling routines speeded up by 50%.
Text output routines 11-14% faster.
Fileselector bug fixed.
Search from current position feature.