Screen Debut
History.Doc
Willie Robinson
2613 Louis Blvd
Hephzibah Ga 30815

Version Changes/Updates

1.0 Not Released

1.1 Not Released

1.2x Several versions released.

1.3 ANSI Animator and BSAVE added. ANSI coding Algorithms
rewritten.

1.31 Documentation Targeted for main upgrade emphasis.

1) Documentaion smoothed out. SD2GT.DOC added.

2) Animator indicator added to Status line.


1.4 KeyBoard efficency & ANSI Algorithms targeted for
upgrade emphasis.

1) Mouse Support

2) The F2 function now supports Automatic Line Junctions.
[Shift] F2 toggles Move cursor, single line, and double
line mode without Automatic Line Junctions.

3) [Shift] F5 or [Alt] Z places character selected by the
F5 ASCII chart to the current cursor position.

4) The F6 "Box Junction" function has been made smart for
greater efficency. It will attempt to suggest the correct
junction by scanning the area around the cursor. It has
three levels of suggestion.

a) Level One - It finds a junction that will fit at
the current position.

b) Level Two - It can't find a junction that will fit,
however it is able to recommend a quadrant within the
window. It then places the pointer in the center of the
quadrant. With luck you'll be within one character of
the one you want.

c) Level Three - It cannot derive any action from it's
calculations. The Pointer will then maintain it's last
position.

5) All [Ctrl] Key Combinations are now available directly
from the Keyboard.
Example: To enter ^E just hold down the [Ctrl] key then
press "E".

6) ASCII numeric codes may now be directly enter by
holding down the [Alt] key and typing the number on the
numeric key pad. Once the [Alt] key is released the
ASCII character will be placed at the cursor.

7) The ANSI non-animated coding routines have been
rewritten. There are now two choices of Non-Animated
screen coding style.

a) Regular code uses more space but allows the screen
to scroll without breaking up.

b) Compact code minimizes the number of lines of code.
It will not scroll, but is very useful for uploading
complex pictures into a BBS message base.

The animated coding routine remains unchanged.

8) Snow suppression for older CGA chips. Use the
command line switch "/s". Slows the program down
considerably.

9) Yes / No windows optionally activated with
"Y" or "N".

10) When saving code a window challenges the user
on overwriting the *.SD file. The options are:

Yes - Overwrite *.SD file.
No - Don't Overwrite *.SD file. The Code (if any)
built by Debut will be saved.
Esc - Abort the entire procedure. Nothing is
written to the disk.

11) The Screen Menu now holds the last position
selected.

12) The command line switches /BBSE, /BBSR, and /NC
are no longer supported. These commands are now
supported internally.

13) The F7 Load Screen now has a sister procedure
[Shift] F7 which allows any file to be loaded into
SD. For Ansi be sure the ANSI.SYS file is installed.

14) [ALT] L (Letter) invokes the Big Letter procedure.
The letters were designed on an 8 x 8 matrix. All ASCII
characters from 1 to 127 are available (The extended
ASCII character set is not available). The Letters are
comprised of the character choosen with the F5 ASCII
Chart and the current color attributes. KeyBoard Support
for the Big Letter function is provided in three ways.

1. Normal keys - Just press one.

2. Control Characters - Hold down the [Ctrl] key and
press the appropriate key.

3. Any Character - Hold down the [Alt] key and enter the
ASCII number into the key pad. Numbers larger than 127
are truncated.

Note: This procedure works well with the Tab Key for
spacing.

15) The animator has been reworked & expanded to 6000
accept up to 6000 frames.

16) History Document started.

1.41 KeyBoard Layout and Menuing system upgraded.

1) Alt keys now replace the old F key layout.

2) The menuing system has been simplified. All active
keys are covered in the menu

3) The "Grab Color" function has been added. Place
the cursor over a color and press [ALT] G.

4) The copy character function has been removed from
the animator. The copy block "[Alt] K" and Grab Color
function have the flexibility to replace it.

5) The Shareware Info Screen was removed from the
program. Shareware information is covered in the Doc's

6) The "`" key is now user defineable via the ASCII
chart [Alt] I.