EZQuote v2 Text Editor for Offline Messages
For QWK, BlueWave, and other OLRs, GoldEd,
PPoint, other readers for sysops or points.
One window for original message, another to
compose reply. Unique one-key "WonderWrap"
reformats quoted text, fixing obnoxious
short lines. Configurable keys, wordwrap,
macros. All assembler. $10 to register.

EZQuote 2.0

Copyright (C) 1993,1994 George Hug


EZQuote is a small but powerful text editor specifically
designed for use when replying to email messages offline. It
functions as the external text editor invoked by your offline
reader, point software, or other message reader software.
Its most significant features are:

* EZQuote keeps the original quoted message and your
reply in separate windows. You select the text you
want to quote, rather than having to delete what you
don't want to quote.

* EZQuote's unique "WonderWrap" completely restructures a
quoted passage with a single keystroke, automatically
distinguishing between quote marks and text. WonderWrap
repairs those obnoxious short lines left from previous
wrapping, and produces well-formatted output instantly.

* EZQuote has other features to facilitate offline
message entry, including "intelligent" quoting, normal
as-you-type word wrap, and single-keystroke signatures.
It also provides configurable key assignments and
unlimited macros nestable to 10 levels deep.



Running EZQuote

To run EZQuote, just enter "EZQUOTE [filename]" on the
command line. There are no command line options or switches.

EZQuote's operating parameters, including key assignments,
macros, and your signature, are configurable via a separate
configuration program and text file, which are described in a
later section. These docs assume you are using the default
key assignments. Function names used here, such as "Wrap",
are the names used in the default bottom-line prompts.




Modes

EZQuote has two Modes of operation which operate as if they
were completely separate editors . Quote Mode contains the
original quoted message, if any, plus any files you may
import, while Edit Mode contains your reply. The Escape key
toggles between the two Modes. Each Mode has available a
selection of basic text editing functions. A prompt line at
the bottom of the screen shows what the function keys do.


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There are four prompt lines available to each Mode - the
normal line plus three others shown when a Shift, Control, or
Alt key is held down. Most function keys perform the same
function in both Modes:



Common Mode Function Keys


F-keys:

F1 Abort Exit EZQuote without saving anything to disk.

F4 Mark Toggle "Mark" anchor on and off. To mark a
block, cursor to the beginning of the block
and hit F4. As you then move the cursor, the
highlighted text becomes marked.

F5 Cut Cut the marked block out of the text and store
it in the paste buffer.

F6 Paste Restore the paste buffer contents at cursor.

F7 Exit Exit after saving the current Mode's text to
disk. The other Mode's text is not saved.
Saves from Edit Mode follow the Saveformat
configuration setting for soft CR conversion.

F8 Del-EOL Delete from the cursor to the end of the line.

F9 Del-L Delete the current line.

F10 Undel Insert the most recent Del-EOL or Del-L delete
string at the cursor.

Esc Toggle to the other Mode.


ALT ("@") F-keys:

@F1 Save Save/append the marked block to a disk file.
Saves from Edit Mode follow the Saveformat
configuration setting for soft CR conversion.

@F4 Dos Shell to DOS. Type "EXIT" to return.

@F5 Del Delete the marked block. No undelete.

@F6 Dir DIR for a specified directory. The filenames
and parent/sub directories will be shown.
Cursor and hit Enter to load a file (see Load)
or change to another directory.





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@F7 Load Load a file, by name, at the end of the
current Mode text. In Quote Mode, oversized
files will be loaded in gobs of about 16k
each, with existing text being discarded as
needed. In Edit Mode, existing text will not
be discarded, so you must use the Del function
to make room for the next gob. This prevents
your reply text from being discarded.

@F8 Reload Load the original command line file again.

@F9 Search Search for a string from cursor to text end.

@F10 Help Displays brief F-key explanations.


Ctrl-pageup and Ctrl-pagedown take you to the top-of-text and
end-of-text. Ctrl-[ and Ctrl-] will shift the screen from
side to side so long lines can be viewed.


Quote Mode

Upon entry to EZQuote you will normally be in Quote Mode. The
contents of the command line filename will be loaded into the
Quote Mode editor and displayed on the screen. For EZQuote's
intended use, this file will usually contain a quoted copy of
the entire original message to which you are replying.

To include a section of this message in your reply as a
quote, first mark that section using F4 (Mark) and the
cursor. The marked section may begin and/or end in the
middle of a line. Then hit F3 (Wrap) to WonderWrap the
marked block. WonderWrap will restructure the marked block,
separately formatting the quote marks and the true text.

Since WonderWrap leaves mark highlighting in effect on the
wrapped block, you need then only hit F2 (Xfer) to transfer a
copy of the wrapped block to the Edit Mode window. The Xfer
function will make sure there is at least one blank line
before and after the transferred section.

Having transferred the quoted block to Edit Mode, the Xfer
function ends by toggling you into Edit Mode, with the cursor
located at the end of the newly transferred block. You can
then begin typing in your reply to that quote. To quote
another section of the original message, hit Escape to get
back into Quote Mode, and repeat the process.

As described above under Common Mode Function Keys, there are
ancillary functions which allow you to bring files from disk
into Quote Mode and quote from them, or save marked portions
of the Quote Mode text to disk. Also see further comments
below about WonderWrap.




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The special Quote Mode functions are:

F-keys:

F2 Xfer Transfer marked block to Edit Mode, then go to
Edit Mode.

F3 Wrap WonderWrap the marked block.


ALT F-keys:

@F2 Quote Insert " > " at the beginning of each line in
the marked block. This is used primarily for
quoting from a disk file brought in with the
Load or Dir command. Normally the original
message will already have quote marks.

@F3 Undo Undo the most recent Wrap or Quote operation.
This must be done right after the Wrap or
Quote, before any other changes to the text.



Edit Mode

Edit Mode is essentially a normal text editor used for typing
in your replies or original messages. If no command line
file is specified, or if it doesn't exist or is "empty" (less
than three bytes long), then EZQuote will come up in Edit
Mode, and Quote Mode will be largely irrelevant. This is the
case when you enter an original message which is not a reply.

Normal word wrap is in effect only in Edit Mode. As you type
or edit new text, it is automatically wrapped at the current
right margin using soft CRs. Of course you may also hit the
Enter key at any time to produce a hard CRLF. (Your work can
be saved in soft or hard format - see Configuration below.)

As needed you can Escape into Quote Mode to fetch another
quote from the original message or import a file to quote
from. F2 (Sign) will insert a preconfigured signature block
into your reply at the cursor. When you have finished
entering your message, hit F7 (Exit) while in Edit Mode to
save your work and return to the calling program. The
special Edit Mode functions are:

F-keys:

F2 Sign Insert signature block at cursor. (See
Configuration section.)

F3 Refmt Reformat the soft-wrapped text from the cursor
to the first hard CR. This may be needed on
occasion when you make changes to soft-
formatted text you have typed in.


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ALT F-keys:

@F2 Rmarg Change (for this session only) the right
margin for Edit Mode soft wrap.

@F3 Soft Convert all hard CRLFs in the current
paragraph, or the marked block if any, to soft
CRs, then Refmt. This allows you to modify a
previously-entered message or edit a hard-
formatted paragraph from an imported file.



Configuration


To change EZQuote's default configuration, you must run the
program EZQCFG.COM. It extracts information from the text
file CONFIG.EZQ, and installs it in EZQUOTE.COM. All three
files should be in the same directory, and EZQCFG should be
run from that directory.

The items listed below are configurable. The CONFIG.EZQ
text file contains additional detailed instructions.


Colors

Select character and screen colors for CGA, EGA and VGA.
These selections do not affect monochrome displays.


Snow removal

Snow removal for old CGA adapters can be turned on or off.


Quote Mode right margin

Select the right margin used by WonderWrap.


Edit Mode default right margin

Select the default right margin for normal word wrap used
in Edit Mode. This value can also be changed temporarily
in EZQuote itself using the F2 (Rmarg) function.


Tab stop

Change tab stop spacing (normally 8) to another value.






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Auto Xfer

EZQuote can be configured to automatically transfer the
contents of certain lines from Quote Mode to Edit Mode
immediately after the command line file is loaded. This
permits you to automatically transfer those "On March 1,
1994, Jim Smith said to Bob Brown:" lines to your reply.


Intelligent quoting

When a passage has been requoted several times, the quote
marks tend to build up. "Intelligent" quoting uses only
the oldest quote initials for such a passage. So the quote
string "GH> MB> RP>" becomes just "RP>" when it is Wonder-
Wrapped. Intelligent quoting can be turned on or off.


Saveformat soft CR conversion

The normal as-you-type word wrap function in Edit Mode is
performed with soft CRs. EZQuote can be configured to
save soft-wrapped text to disk in oft format (soft CRs
converted to spaces) or in ard format (soft CRs
converted to hard CRLFs). Hard format is the default.


Tempfile

When you shell to DOS, EZQuote swaps itself out to a disk
file. You can specify that filename, with an optional
drive and directory. The extension must be ".000".


Signature

The Sign function inserts this block of text into your
message verbatim.


Function/Keyname Assignments

The keystrokes which invoke EZQuote's functions are all
configurable. These may include WordStar commands.


Macros

You may define any number of macro sequences of any size.
The sequences may be specified in terms of literals, key
names, function names, or other macro names. You may
imbed macros within other macros up to 10 levels deep.

There are three macros in the default configuration -
Searchagain (Ctrl-F9), Expandtabs (Ctrl-F8), and Delend
(Ctrl-F5) - which you may use or delete as you like.


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Bottom Line Prompts

If you change the default key assignments, or define
macros, you may also wish to configure the prompt lines to
match your selections.


Help Screens

The Help screens for Quote Mode and Edit Mode may also be
changed as you like.


WonderWrap

The WonderWrap algorithm aggressively rewraps the marked
block, paragraph by paragraph. Its biggest challenge is to
distinguish between quote marks and text. It generally
assumes that if all lines in a paragraph begin with the same
characters, then those characters are quote marks.
Exceptional treatment, however, is given to "short" lines
which may have resulted from previous simpler wrapping
methods. These short lines may have all, none, or just some
of the quote marks found on the longer lines.

This pattern matching process requires that WonderWrap
correctly determine what constitutes a paragraph (text which
is supposed to have the same quote marks). The algorithm
assumes that paragraphs are separated by blank lines, or by
lines which contain only quote marks or spaces. In addition,
if the Fidonet standard "[XX]>" quote mark format was used,
WonderWrap assumes that a change in the quote mark pattern on
long lines also identifies a paragraph boundary even if there
is no blank line.

If WonderWrap ever fails to wrap correctly, it is usually
because two sections with different quote marks have not been
successfully separated into paragraphs by the algorithm. If
this occurs, use ALT F4 (Undo) to restore the original block,
and then Wrap the two sections separately. Or, after Undo,
just cursor up and insert a blank line between the sections
before Wrapping again.

The algorithm may also not work properly if the quote marks
in a paragraph are not vertically aligned. Again, the Undo
function and a little editing will usually fix that problem.

WonderWrap should not be used on columnar text because the
reformatting will destroy its columnar organization. And
there will be the occasional block of text which is already
irreparably butchered. In such cases, remember that you can
always just Mark and Xfer the block, without Wrapping.

It may be helpful to load a large file of message text into
Quote Mode and try Wrapping various sections to see how the
algorithm behaves.


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Technical

EZQUOTE.COM is about 14k long, but it requires 128k of
conventional memory to run. It is written entirely in
assembly language. It swaps to disk before shelling to DOS,
leaving only about 6k resident in RAM. The various buffer
sizes are:

Main buffer - each Mode 33k
Paste buffer - each Mode 8k
WRAP buffer - Quote Mode 10k
UNDO buffer - Quote Mode 10k

If you enter a tab from the keyboard in Insert mode, EZQuote
will insert the number of spaces needed to go to the next tab
stop, as defined in the configuration file. A tab contained
in a loaded file will be displayed and wrapped as a single
character. However, there is a default macro which will
expand these tabs to spaces.

The Insert key toggles you between Insert and Overstrike
modes. The current setting is shown at the end of the prompt
line. In Overstrike mode, hitting the enter key or the tab
key will not change the text in any way, but will just move
the cursor to the next line or next tab stop.

When you call a function, such as Load, Search, etc., which
calls for entry of a text string, the most recently entered
string, if any, is presented to you again. You may hit enter
to accept it, hit backspace(s) to edit it, hit home to erase
it and start over, or hit escape to abort the operation.

If you specify a macro sequence which shells to DOS, any
remaining items in the sequence will be executed only when
you return from DOS. EZQuote does not insert keystrokes
into the keyboard buffer when shelling to DOS.



Suggestions

If you save your messages in the default hard format (see
Configuration above), leave plenty of room along the right
margin so your text won't need to be wrapped when it is
quoted. If your Edit Mode margin is set at column 78, it
will produce those obnoxious short lines when it is quoted by
others, at least until everybody starts using EZQuote. The
default value (68) seems to work well.

If you need to revise a message you've entered earlier, it
will come up in Quote Mode, probably with hard CRLFs. You
can Escape into Edit Mode, Reload the file, and use Soft on
the relevant paragraphs to restore the soft CRs. From that
point, normal wordwrap will reformat automatically as you
edit the text.



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Registration and Warranty Disclaimer

EZQUOTE.COM, EZQCFG.COM, CONFIG.EZQ and these EZQUOTE.DOC
instructions (collectively "EZQuote") are copyrighted. They
are neither freeware nor in the public domain. Personal use
of EZQuote by individual hobbyists within an amateur email
environment, such as FidoNet, is permitted after registration
with the author and payment of a license fee of US$10.00.
Send your name and address and the license fee to:

George Hug
6921 S. New Haven Ave.
Tulsa, OK 74136

You will receive by return mail your personal registration
number, which can be installed through an EZQCFG menu
selection.

Any other use of EZQuote, including any use within a
commercial, governmental, or other institutional environment,
requires a special license from the author. Without the
express written consent of its author, neither EZQuote nor
any portion of it may be incorporated into, or packaged or
bundled with, any other software or other product or service.

EZQUOTE.COM performs tests at various points in the program
in an effort to detect whether it has been infected by a
virus or tampered with in some other way. You should not
make changes to the EZQUOTE.COM file other than those made by
EZQCFG. EZQuote will not function properly if such changes
are made.

EZQuote is distributed "as is". There are no warranties,
express or implied. The author will not be liable for any
damages, including any lost profits or other incidental or
consequential damages, arising out of the use of EZQuote.



Tulsa, Oklahoma 1:170/110.8
March 1, 1994 FidoNet

















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