Category : Alternate Operating Systems - Quarterdeck DesqView, CP/M, etc
Archive   : QTEC9306.ZIP
Filename : DVANSI.TEC

ID:AN ANSI.SYS in DESQview
Quarterdeck Technical Note #110 Filename: DVANSI.TEC
by Stan Young CompuServe: DVANSI.TEC
Last revised: 2/10/92 Category: DV

Subject: How to run programs that require the services of ANSI.SYS inside a
DESQview window by using the DVANSI.COM program that comes with
DESQview.


USING ANSI SERVICES IN DESQVIEW

While you may load the ANSI driver in your CONFIG.SYS file, the ANSI
driver is not accessible to programs running in DESQview due to the way ANSI
is written.
Therefore, DESQview provides a replacement ANSI driver called DVANSI.COM.
You should try loading this program in the window before loading the program
that requires ANSI support.
The easiest way to do this is to create a DOS batch file called START.BAT
that has as the first line DVANSI and as the second line the command normally
used to start your program. Assuming the program was called "MYPROG" the
batch file would read like this:

C:\DV\DVANSI (or whatever the full path to DVANSI is)
MYPROG (with a blank line after MYPROG)

Then put this batch file in the directory where you normally start the program
and run Change a Program, setting the option marked "Program:" to run the
batch file START. When the window is opened, the batch file will load DVANSI
and then the program.
If you require the loading of special ANSI drivers, or would prefer to
use DOS's ANSI driver and you are running DESQview version 2.2 or greater,
there is a program (DEVICE.COM) on the DESQview disk that will allow this. To
load the DOS ANSI driver using DEVICE.COM, your batch file would look as
follows (assuming the driver was in the C:\DOS directory and DEVICE.COM is in
C:\DV):

C:\DV\DEVICE C:\DOS\ANSI.SYS
MYPROG

If you need further help in creating batch files, consult your DOS
manual.
You may prefer to use DVANSI instead of DEVICE ANSI because DVANSI does
not write directly to screen, allowing a window in which you load DVANSI to
run in background or in a small window without virtualization or bleed-
through, presuming that the program running in the window does not write
directly to the screen. A newer version of DVANSI (written 20 January 1992)
that supports 50-line mode may be downloaded from the Quarterdeck BBS
(310-314- 3227) by those who do not already have it.

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*This technical note may be copied and distributed freely as long as it*
*is distributed in its entirety and it is not distributed for profit. *
* Copyright (C) 1990-2 by Quarterdeck Office Systems *
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