Category : Printer + Display Graphics
Archive   : GRABB396.ZIP
Filename : GREDIT.DOC

GREDIT (tm)
Shareware Release 4.3A

-----------------------------

A display screen editor for use with
the GRABBER (tm) screen capture program



DOCUMENTATION
February 4, 1992



Copyright 1991, 1992 by
Gerald A. Monroe
All rights reserved except
as expressly provided here.








YOUR LICENSE TO USE THIS SOFTWARE:
-----------------------------------

This documentation file and the GREDIT.EXE program are Copyright
1991, 1992, by Gerald A. Monroe. All rights are reserved except
as expressly provided here.

These files have been distributed as part of the GRABBER(tm)
screen capture package, under the terms of a shareware license
that is fully set forth in the file GRABBER.DOC. (GRABBER.DOC is
the reference manual for GRABBER.EXE, which is the main program
module in the package.)

The shareware license terms in the GRABBER.DOC file are incorpo-
rated here by reference. This license permits you to copy and
distribute the files listed in the first paragraph above, provid-
ed that: these files are always distributed together with each
other and with the GRABBER.EXE and GRABBER.DOC files; none of the
files is modified in any way; and no fee, premium or donation of
any kind is charged or requested for their distribution except as
permitted on the terms described in the GRABBER.DOC file.

Continued use of any of these programs for more than a 10-day
trial period requires you to register your use of the software
with the author. For more information about the benefits of
registration and how to go about registering, please refer to the
full licensing and ordering information in the GRABBER.DOC file.


GREDIT Documentation Page 2 of 9



Table of Contents

Overview of GREDIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Hardware & software requirements . . . . . . . 3

Starting GREDIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Editing the GRABBER offspring file . . . . . . 4

Cursor movement keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Help screen, Alt-H . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Quit GREDIT, Alt-Q . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Save image to .EXE file, Alt-S . . . . . . . . 5

Save image to ANSI file, Alt-A . . . . . . . . 5

Set colors, Alt-F . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Toggle blink, Alt-L . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Border color, Alt-B . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Clear screen, Alt-K . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Erase line, Alt-E . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Wipe screen, Alt-W . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Toggle ruler, Alt-R . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Set tabs, Alt-T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Import text file, Alt-I . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Load new image, Alt-N . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Copy to clipboard, Alt-C . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Cut to clipboard, Alt-X . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Paste from clipboard, Alt-P . . . . . . . . . 8

Line-drawing help, Alt-D . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Graphics character help, Alt-G . . . . . . . . 8

Query colors at cursor, Alt-Y . . . . . . . . 8

Turning off GREDIT's beep sounds . . . . . . . 9


GREDIT Documentation Page 3 of 9



OVERVIEW OF GREDIT
-------------------

GREDIT(tm) is a utility you can use to modify the screen images
which are generated by the GRABBER screen capture program.
Throughout this document, these screen image files are referred
to as GRABBER "offspring." If you are not familiar with GRABBER
and how it works, please read the program manual GRABBER.DOC
before attempting to use GREDIT.

Only text images captured with GRABBER may be edited. GREDIT
does not support GRABBER's graphic images.



REQUIREMENTS
-------------

GREDIT has the same hardware and software requirements as GRAB-
BER. These are:

a) an IBM-PC, XT, AT, PS/2 or 100% IBM-compatible personal
computer;

b) PC-DOS or MS-DOS, Version 3.0 or later; c) at least one
diskette drive; and c) at least 256Kb free memory.

You can use GREDIT with either a color or monochrome display.



STARTING GREDIT
----------------

To start the program, simply type GREDIT at the DOS prompt,
optionally followed by the name of the GRABBER offspring file you
wish to edit, then press . The correct syntax is:

GREDIT [filename]

If you omit the filename, the program will ask you to supply one.

GREDIT assumes that the file you wish to edit has the extension
".EXE" in its name. Therefore, you can omit the extension when
specifying the file to be edited. For instance, entering "GREDIT
SCREEN00" is the same as entering "GREDIT SCREEN00.EXE".



GREDIT Documentation Page 4 of 9



EDITING THE OFFSPRING FILE
---------------------------

You are now inside GREDIT, with the cursor at the upper left-hand
corner of the screen. You may use your keyboard to edit the
image inside the GRABBER offspring file, including its text
content, layout and color scheme. At your disposal are all of
the alphanumeric and cursor-movement keys, the function keys
through , plus 17 special Alt-key functions which are
described below.



CURSOR MOVEMENT
----------------

GREDIT supports the following keys on your PC keyboard to help
you move around inside your GRABBER offspring image. Except for
the backspace key ( the screen; they merely move the editing cursor to the desired
location.


[UP ARROW] . . . . . . cursor up one line
[DOWN ARROW] . . . . . cursor down one line
[LEFT ARROW] . . . . . cursor one space to the left
[RIGHT ARROW] . . . . . cursor one space to the right
[HOME] . . . . . . . . cursor to upper left corner of display
[PAGE UP] . . . . . . . cursor to upper right corner of display
[END] . . . . . . . . . cursor to lower left corner of display
[PAGE DOWN] . . . . . . cursor to lower right corner of display
[RETURN] . . . . . . . cursor to left edge, next line down
[TAB] . . . . . . . . . cursor right to next tab stop
[SHIFT-TAB] . . . . . . cursor left to previous tab stop
[BACKSPACE] . . . . . . cursor one space left, erase char. there


The [INSERT] key deserves a special mention. This key does not
allow you to insert characters into a line as you would expect
using a word processor. Rather, holding down the [INSERT] key
while pressing another alphanumeric or function key 1-10 causes
the editing cursor to advance backward from right to left. This
can be helpful when drawing boxes with the keys.


GREDIT Documentation Page 5 of 9



GREDIT ALT-KEY FUNCTIONS
-------------------------


KEY FUNCTION
------- ------------------------------------------------------

Alt-H Help

This function pops up a list of all of GREDIT's special
Alt-key functions and a brief description of each.
Press any key to resume editing.


Alt-Q Quit

This function exits GREDIT, and gives you the option of
saving your changes to disk before leaving.


Alt-S Save

This function saves your changes to disk without exit-
ing the program.


Alt-A Save to ANSI file

This function saves the current image to an ANSI-en-
coded file. ANSI files are text files which contain
special control codes that preserve all of the colors
in the image. The Alt-A function performs the same
task as the separate GR2ANSI(tm) program, a command-
line utility which is also included in the GRABBER
package.


Alt-F Colors

This function lets you change the global color attrib-
ute. To adjust the foreground color, press the up and
down arrow keys. To adjust the background color, press
the left and right arrow keys. To resume editing,
press or . Users with monochrome systems
should also read about the Alt-Y function below.


Alt-L Blink

This function toggles the "blink" attribute on and off
for characters typed at the keyboard.


GREDIT Documentation Page 6 of 9



KEY FUNCTION
------- ------------------------------------------------------

Alt-B Border color

This function lets you adjust the color of the screen
border on color systems. Border color is not available
on monochrome systems.


Alt-K Clear screen

This function erases the entire display, and fills it
with the last color you specified using the Alt-F
function.


Alt-E Erase line

This function erases the line on which the cursor is
currently located. To avoid accidental erasures, Alt-E
must be pressed twice. The erased line will be filled
with the last color you specified using the Alt-F
function.


Alt-W Wipe

This function lets you change either the foreground or
the background color of ALL characters on the screen at
once. After pressing Alt-W, press to wipe the
foreground, or to wipe the background, or any other
key to cancel. The foreground or background will be
wiped to the last color you specified using the Alt-F
function.


Alt-R Ruler

This function toggles on and off the ruler display at
the top of the screen. The ruler shows all of the
currently defined tab stops. While the ruler is being
displayed, you cannot make changes to the top line of
the image.


Alt-T Tabs

This function lets you adjust the tab value. The
minimum tab value is always 2. The maximum value
equals the number of character spaces per line, minus
one.


GREDIT Documentation Page 7 of 9



KEY FUNCTION
------- ------------------------------------------------------

Alt-I Import

This function allows you to import plain ASCII text
files into your image. Imported files are overlaid
onto whatever image already exists on the screen, using
the foreground and background colors you specified with
the most recent Alt-F function. GREDIT reads in only
as much of the text file as will fit on the screen,
starting from the top of the file.


Alt-N New offspring

This function lets you load and edit a new GRABBER
offspring image. Alt-N does not remind you to save the
current image before loading another, so you may want
to invoke Alt-S first.


Alt-C Copy to clipboard

This function allows you to specify a rectangular area
of the image to copy to GREDIT's off-screen "clipboard"
storage area. First, move the cursor to one of the
four corners of the area to be copied, and press Alt-C.
Then, use the arrow keys to move the cursor to the
*opposite* corner of the area to be saved, and press
. To confirm the area selected, press
again, or press to cancel. Please note that
GREDIT's clipboard can fit only one item at a time;
when you copy something to the clipboard, you erase the
clipboard's previous contents.


Alt-X Cut to clipboard

This function works exactly like the Alt-C function de-
scribed above, with one difference. Whatever portion
of the image you select will also be erased from the
screen after it is moved to the clipboard.


GREDIT Documentation Page 8 of 9



KEY FUNCTION
------- ------------------------------------------------------

Alt-P Paste from clipboard

This function can be used to paste the contents of the
clipboard back to the screen. First, move the cursor
to the upper-left corner of the area you wish to fill
from the clipboard, and press Alt-P. GREDIT will show
you the outlines of the area saved on the clipboard.
To confirm the Paste operation, press , or
press to cancel.


Alt-D Line-drawing help

This function pops up a list of line- and box-drawing
characters, and the function keys (F1 through F10)
which are associated with them. To access these char-
acters in GREDIT, press the function key indicated in
the list, either alone or together with the ,
or keys. Press any key to exit the list
and resume editing.


Alt-G Graphics character help

This function pops up a table showing all the special
graphics characters in the IBM-PC character set. The
numbers at the left and top of the grid are added
together to determine the ASCII code of any character
in the table. To access these characters in GREDIT,
first hold down the key, then type the charac-
ter's ASCII code on your keyboard's numeric keypad, and
then release the key.


Alt-Y Query attribute at cursor

This function is available on monochrome systems only.
It allows you to determine how a certain character will
appear if the offspring screen is later shown on a
color display. Move the cursor to the character you
want to check, and press Alt-Y. The top line of the
display will tell you the "foreground-on-background"
color scheme for this character if it were shown on a
color system.


GREDIT Documentation Page 9 of 9



ELIMINATING GREDIT's BEEP SOUNDS
---------------------------------

To eliminate the beep sounds which GREDIT normally makes when you
invoke any of its special Alt-key functions, include the /Q
command-line switch when you start the program at the DOS prompt.
For example:

GREDIT /Q
or,
GREDIT screenxx /Q

If you omit the /Q switch from the command line and later decide
to turn off the beep sounds, you must exit the program (don't
forget to save your work) and restart the program using the /Q
switch on the command line.



































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