TXTRUN.EXE (turning text into softwares.)

version 0.8 (c) copy right 1990-91 All Rights Reserved

Did you want to make your own software without knowing the
ABC (Assembler, Basic or C)? (or Pascal etc)

A program which turns your ascii text into .COM software
(not .EXE) with pop up page (or open like a vertical/
horizontal/both-way door and which then moves to where it
should) and selections to go to other pages or softwares?

Something which can behave like a pull-down menu software,
or a simple dungeons and dragons game with rooms/floors or a
DOS shell to run other softwares/batch-files/DOS-commands?
(and moving the cursor to each selection also displays a
detailed line of text explaining what it will do)

Due to the numerous features here, this accompanying
document is large, so it was divided into several segments
starting with TXTRUN.DOC
TXTRUN.DC1
TXTRUN.DC2

Some features are explained several times among these
documents so that you do not have to memorize everything as
a whole in order to understand how to use this program, but
skim through these documents so that you have an idea as to
what features exist.

Do not modify the generated software (filename.COM type)
yourself. It's easy for us to (for example) add overlays
so that you can access even bigger texts, but your tampering
may damage your computer.

Alt### here means press down on the alt key and while
keeping it pressed down, type one to three numbers on the
numeric keypad and then release the alt key. They do not
refer to the numbers above the letters "QWERTYUIOP".

Before you go further, try running this program with
TXTRUNDC.TXT as in

TXTRUN ETXTRUNDC.TXT
^--don't forget this "E" for Edit.

This provides interactive help. Then you can see the
TXTRUNDC.TXT document text file with your editor or word
processor to see how it looked like.

The set up of this document is as follows:

TXTRUN.DOC

Explanations of various in-line command parameters.
EDIT A FILE
CHANGING THE LETTER "T" IN .EDT
CHANGING THE SCREEN CODE CHR(19)
CHANGING THE FORM FEED CODE CHR(12)
TURNING OFF THE BEEPING
MAKING YOUR OWN BOX CHARACTERS
THE CODE AS MUSIC SIGN WHILE EDITING
POPPING DOWN FROM ANOTHER LEVEL ON ANY PAGE
ONE WAY PASSAGE THROUGH PAGES
CLEARING THE SCREEN (NUMBER OF ROWS)
CLEARING THE SCREEN (NUMBER OF COLUMNS)
CLEARING THE SCREEN TO ANOTHER ATTRIBUTE
ALLOW SNOW ON CGA
SUBROUTINE SIGNIFIER
CHANGE BACK
PATCHING THE PROGRAM

TXTRUN.DC1

FORMAT REQUIRED FOR YOUR TEXT FILE
CALLING OTHER PAGES AS SUBROUTINES
RUNNING OTHER SOFTWARES FROM YOUR PAGES
COMMENTING EACH SELECTION ON YOUR SCREEN
HOW TXTRUN.EXE WORKS
EDITING REGULAR TEXT FILE
EDITING EITHER .EDT OR REGULAR TEXT FILE
MOVING THE PAGES AROUND AND CHANGING ITS SIZE
DEFINING THE PAGE ORDERS
CALLING SUBROUTINES OR RUNNING SOFTWARES
THE .COM SOFTWARE
CHAT in a HAT

TXTRUN.DC2

Prompts and messages generated by TXTRUN.EXE.
Disclaimer, contribution $/address, info for sysops and
shareware distributors.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
IN-LINE COMMAND PARAMETERS
TXTRUN parameters explanations
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
HELP

If you simply type

TXTRUN

then you get the help page built into this program for quick
reference so that you can avoid reading documents such as
this. But this file contains more detailed information.

The "" is our way of saying , ^M, ^13, ,
carriage return, etc which all mean the same thing.
We also use for backspace, for the escape key,
and "any key" to mean any function key, cursor key, letters,
etc etc. There is no one key with the word "any", but if we
say "space bar", we mean the big long key.

If you type incorrect values or no required values with
most options, very detailed error messages will display to
act as a context sensitive help. Once you have read this
document and know the types of options available, you can
use this feature as a context sensitive help without
referring back too often to this document.

Normally, you can run TXTRUN within a batch file so
that you don't have to remember or to type the optional
parameters which control TXTRUN.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
RUNNING WITH DEFAULTS ONLY

This program has no memory resident option. Do not use the
RUN option, because it does not exist.

However, when this program (TXTRUN.EXE with ".EXE" file
extension) changes your text file into a .COM software with
DOS shell to run your softwares/batch-files/DOS-commands,
the .COM software will be memory resident while running your
software etc.

The .COM software is not given the ability to detect
the presence of itself in memory because as soon as
your software etc exits, the .COM software regains
control automatically.

Normally, something which can change an editable file into a
.COM software is called a "compiler" and is said to
"compile" a "source file" into an "executable program", but
is here called a "program" (the TXTRUN.EXE) which can
"change" your "text file" into a ".COM software". The
reason is due to technicalities and in order to avoid
flooding you with unnecessary terminologies.

This program is called "TXTRUN" and refers to the TXTRUN.EXE
program itself. It is not called "TXTRUN.EXE" because this
(version, at least) does not have an accompanying action
modifier file TXTRUN (no file extension such as .TXT, .DOC)
to necessitate differentiating between the two forms.

Not being English majors, you may not appreciate the wording
as easy to understand, but most regional expressions are
eliminated for the benefit of people whose native tongue is
not North American English. (But a British spell checker was
used, so that there's a chance that a word which is
incorrect in the U.S. may exist.)

The difference between a program or software with file name
extension .EXE and .COM lies in their sizes. .EXE type may
be any size you want, while .COM type is limited to 64 KB
(about 65,536 bytes minus 256 for beginning and 256 - 1024
bytes at the end for stack etc depending on DOS version).

It is not necessary for you to understand the significance
of these naming standards in order to use TXTRUN. If you're
interested in using standard computer programming languages,
refer to the appropriate compilers and accompanying manuals.

TXTRUN assumes that you have some minimal amount of
understanding about computers, but otherwise guides you step
by step on its way.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
EDIT A FILE

This is normally the first option to use. I hope you
already ran the sample TXTRUNDC.TXT file as recommended?

Given any text file, it is changed into a .COM software by
using this option as follows

TXTRUN Eyourfile

Note that there is no space between the "E" option and
the name of your file. Any subdirectory path which
exists is allowed. DOS 3 and above will allow your
file name to include extended ascii above chr(127).

If you have a space between the E option and your file
name, then a message tells you what happened.

Your text file may have any file extension (the .EXE, .COM,
.TXT, .DOC etc part) except ".EDT" which this program uses.
If any of your softwares must use this file extension, then
the T option as explained next must be used.

If you have any other option after the E option, since the E
option is followed by the file name, the other option must
be separated from the file name by a space or a tab as in

TXTRUN EYOURFILE.DOC other-options
TXTRUN EYOURFILEother-options

All options which will affect the file which you are editing
should be placed BEFORE the E option, since the Edit option
will start running as soon as TXTRUN sees it, rather than
waiting for the other options which follows like this:

TXTRUN AOFF BOFF Eyourfile

This strange feature is designed so that future
versions can edit multiple text files like this

TXTRUN Eonefile.txt Enextfile.doc Emorefile

up to the 128 characters limit allowed by DOS, if such
a feature is desired. (it's useful in a batch file)

Your text file may have any file extension, but if there is
a file extension, do type it. TXTRUN does not assume that
your text file has any file extension so that if you type

TXTRUN Eyourfile

it will look for a file called "yourfile", not
"yourfile.txt" or "yourfile.doc" or "yourfile.fil" etc.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
CHANGING THE LETTER "T" IN .EDT

Normally, TXTRUN will make an intermediary file with the
name of your file and the file extension .EDT which will
hold all changes you've done to your text file before making
the .COM software.

If your other softwares uses files with the same file
extension, then you can change or avoid the letter "T" in
".EDT". Let's say that you want TXTRUN to edit YOURFILE.TXT
and make the intermediary file YOURFILE.EDD, rather than
YOURFILE.EDT:

TXTRUN TD EYOURFILE.TXT

will edit your file, but when you type "S" at the menu page
0 to save the intermediary file, it will save a file called
YOURFILE.EDD, rather than YOURFILE.EDT as expected.

Note that the "TD" comes before the EYOURFILE.TXT. If
you had

TXTRUN EYOURFILE.TXT TD

then it will save YOURFILE.EDT because the edit option
starts running as soon as TXTRUN sees the E option.

If all combinations of .ED"A" through .ED"Z" and numbers
such as .ED"0" through .ED"9" are used or you don't want to
type three letters because it's bothersome, then what?

TXTRUN T EYOURFILE.TXT
^
|
Note the space here. Now, the intermediary file written to
disk will be "YOURFILE.ED".

Be sure to use the same "T " option when you edit this
file as follows

TXTRUN T EYOURFILE.ED

If you do

TXTRUN EYOURFILE.ED

TXTRUN will be confused because it thinks that you
wanted to edit a regular ascii text file with the file
extension .ED, but it finds the content of the text
file looks like an .EDT intermediary file.

If you want on-line context sensitive help or if you
accidentally type either of

TXTRUN T
TXTRUN T EYOURFILE.TXT

you will get the message explaining about the letter "T"
option.

After the T option, the only characters allowed are " "
(also known as chr(32), space or ) to avoid any letter,
or chr(33) - chr(255). Depending on your DOS version, some
characters in this range are not allowed but allowed on
others. Characters such as the less than sign "<", bar
character "|" and the greater than sign ">" are never
allowed because they are used by every DOS versions and all
small letters and capital letters are treated identically.

If you can afford the blank diskettes, it is highly
recommended that you make the intermediary yourfile.EDT
file before you make any .COM software from it. The
.EDT file has all the page sizes, locations, attributes
and others included so that you can make another .COM
software from it, rather than starting from the
beginning with your text file.

Default is

TXTRUN TT .......

Typing this is the same as if you did not type it.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
CHANGING THE SCREEN CODE CHR(19)

The enclosed TXTRUNDC.TXT file is pure ascii, and you should
be able to make something like it with any editor or ascii
word processor (including EDLIN.COM which comes with DOS),
but it includes two control codes which must be present.
One is the form feed code (chr(12) which appear as the venus
mirror sign, which is often called the "female symbol").
The other is the screen code, which is written here as "^S".

This is the control-S key combination which is entered
by pressing down on the control key and while keeping
this key pressed down, also pressing down on the letter
ess "S", not typing the caret character "^", releasing
it, then typing the capital letter ess "S".

The control-S can also be entered by pressing down on
the alt key and while keeping it pressed down, typing
"19" on the numeric keypad, not the "1" above the
letter "Q" and the "9" above the letters "IO".

On lower cost laptops (and palmtops), there is no
dedicated numeric keypad, but your manual(s) will
explain the special key which will let you enter such
key combinations. Regardless of the actual keyboard
layout, there should be no incompatibility software
wise, as long as it is IBM PC compatible.

This is compatible with all standard IBM CGA,
monochrome, EGA and VGA. Some support is provided for
non-standard video cards. For compatibility with low
cost PCs, this works in text modes only and will change
graphic mode screen to text mode before running.

If your editor to make text files cannot include the ^S code
in your text file, then you can replace the screen code
required with some character which you would not normally
use in your text file.

To make reverse character high-lighted line which will run
another software, you need "^SS" in your text file. If your
editor cannot place this in your text, but you will not use
the reverse single quote sign "`", which is chr(96), in your
text file, you can try

TXTRUN S96 Eyourfile.txt

With this, everytime your text file has the two characters
"`S" (or "`s", since you can use capital or small letters),
TXTRUN will accept this as a place where you want to have a
selection to run another software (or batch file or DOS
commands such as DIR, COPY, RENAME etc).

The allowed values are S0 - S255, but you cannot use the
followings

TXTRUN S13 Eyourfile.txt (1)
TXTRUN S10 Eyourfile.txt (2)
TXTRUN S12 Eyourfile.txt (3)
TXTRUN S9 Eyourfile.txt (4)
TXTRUN S8 Eyourfile.txt (5)

The (1) cannot be used because you are trying to say that
the screen code is the same as the code which doesn't
make sense if you're using an ascii editor. (2) doesn't
make sense either because it's the "line feed" code.
(3) is the form feed code. S9 is similarly not allowed
because TXTRUN will remove all tabs (which are chr(9)) from
your text. S8 is not allowed because TXTRUN uses this code
to mark each page.

Normally, you would not be able to use chr(8) in your
text anyway, since chr(8) is "backspace" to delete the
last character which you typed.

The recommended values are S33 - S127 if you cannot enter
extended ascii codes and S33 - 255 if you can enter extended
ascii codes. There is no provision to prevent you from
using S1 - S7 but is not recommended. (if you can enter
control codes, there should be no need to redefine the
screen code with another control codes.)

Extended ascii codes chr(128) - chr(255) is something
IBM made for its PC line back in 1981. If you use the
JIS coding which allows multi-European and Japanese
kana/kanji, it's a frustratingly tiny set, but its
better than IBM EBCDIC or DEC RAD50 (may they rest in
piece, whoops, I meant peace)

Default is

TXTRUN S19 .......

Typing this is the same as if you did not type it.

Wherever an option requires you to type letters and related
characters, those letters must be stuck to the option
without any space like this:

TXTRUN AOFF Eyourfile
^ ^
| |
these are connected to its suboption or values
without any space or tab separating them.

Wherever an option requires you to type numbers, those
numbers need not be stuck to the option and may be separated
by spaces and tabs like this

TXTRUN S 19 Eyourfile

The reason for this discrepancy between the two forms is
because numbers cannot contain spaces, but (also
illustrated as " " or chr(32)) is considered one of the
non-number characters. That's the reason why the BOX option
can include spaces like this which are valid for the BOX
option. Or they
TXTRUN BOX1 Eyourfile could be or
^^^^^^^^ some other non-
|||||||| conventional
12345678 characters in here.
eight spaces

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
CHANGING THE FORM FEED CODE CHR(12)

Normally, the presence of the form feed code determines how
long (number of rows) the page displayed will be. The
recommended length is after 23 rows when the .COM software
will be running on any monitor, 41 on 43 rows EGA monitors
only or 48 on 50 rows VGA monitors only. This discrepancy
allows for the box itself, which occupies two columns and
two rows of your screen.

If your editor cannot place a form feed code in your text,
then you can use a character which you normally do not
include in your text file.

The same restrictions and freedoms as for the above screen
code applies here. The TXTRUNDC.TXT shows how the form feed
or its equivalent should be used.

If your text file normally does not contain the at sign "@"
(chr(64)) and you cannot insert the form feed sign
(chr(12)), then you can substitute the at sign wherever a
form feed is required in your text and do

TXTRUN F64 Eyourfile

This lets TXTRUN interpret every at sign "@" as a form feed
code.

Note that the F option is before the E option, since
the Edit option will run as soon as it is found and
will not wait for other options which follows it.

If you use WordStar as your editor, use it in the non-word
wrapping non-document mode. If you use the new WordStar
which allow extended ascii, do not use extended ascii, since
WordStar includes special codes before and after each
extended ascii.

The restrictions and exceptions of various word
processors and editors are not documented here because
that requires an entire book on its own. When in
doubt, just use the regular printable characters which
you can see on your keyboard directly, such as the
symbols above the numbers "!@#$%^&*()_+".

Default is

TXTRUN F12 .....

Typing this is the same as if you did not type it.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
TURNING OFF THE BEEPING

While Editing your text file, TXTRUN makes a loud Beeping
sound accompanying some error messages. If you're annoyed
by such sounds, you can turn it OFF by using the B option

TXTRUN BOF Eyourfile
TXTRUN BOFF Eyourfile

Either form is allowed to turn OFF the Beeping.

The letter "B" must be connected with the letters "OF" or
"OFF" in order for this to work.

There is another option which begins with the letters "BO"
so typing "BO" alone does not work.

The default is

TXTRUN BON .....

but no such option exists and will be marked as an error if
you do try to type it.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
MAKING YOUR OWN BOX CHARACTERS

Once you begin Editing your text file, control-left and
control-right lets you change the box types. There are
symmetric and asymmetric shapes which can be used to signify
that you're on the main section, sub-section, left corner,
right corner and other choices. If you don't like any of
the nine types provided, you can replace the box types with
your own.

Box type 1 is the double line box type. If you want to
replace it with numbers "02345678" (this is a ridiculous
choice, but it illustrates what characters are required in
what order) just do

TXTRUN BOX102345678 Eyourfile

All type 1 boxes will now look like this. The blank on the
right bottom will be filled with the
0222222222222223 page number which you are using now.
4 5
4 5 The first number "1" after "BOX" as
4 5 in "BOX1" indicates that you want to
4 5 change the box type 1 of 1 - 9 choices.
6 777777777778 Allowed types are

TXTRUN BOX1......

through

TXTRUN BOX9......

for the nine box types. Anything outside this range is not
allowed. Except for the code itself, any and all
character which DOS doesn't intercept (such as "<", "|" and
">") is acceptable as the eight codes making up the box,
including other control codes. (chr(1) - chr(31)).

TXTRUN BOX2[] Eyourfile

will try to replace the box type 2 (single line box) with
the characters "[] Eyour" and will see "file" as the Form
feed code substitution. The form feed code is not followed
by a number, so it will tell you that the form feed code is
incorrect.

TXTRUN BOX3

will try to replace the box type 3 (double line on top and
bottom, single line on left and right), but since you did
not have eight characters following it, it reports this as
an error. If you type

TXTRUN B3

This is seen as a Beep OFF feature, but since you did not
follow the B option with OF or OFF, it will not run.

If you don't want any visible box around your text, the box
type 9 is filled with blank spaces, but the .COM software
made by TXTRUN will still act as if there is a box and will
still restrict text to 78 columns wide on an 80 columns wide
screen.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
THE CODE AS MUSIC SIGN WHILE EDITING

While you're Editing your text file, the end-of-line on each
line is indicated by the presence of a music sign. This
same sign will appear once the .COM software is made also.

If you don't want anything to appear to indicate the end of
each line, replace the E13 default to E32 like this.

TXTRUN N32 Eyourfile

Now the end-of-line indicator is chr(32), which is , or
also shown as " ". Since this cannot be seen, this will not
show.

If you used the alt-T option to make the Top line on each
page into a Title for that page, that line will never have
an end-of-line indicator, since that's inappropriate for a
title anyway.

Any codes chr(1) through chr(255) are allowed for this since
this only affects how the screen will display on screen. It
does not affect how the text is handled internally.

If you use the code as in

TXTRUN N9 Eyourfile

then the end-of-line indicator will be a rectangular box
with a round hole in the middle, not a on screen.

No other memory resident utility can intercept this because
characters are written directly to screen. (multi-tasking
operating systems, especially on those running on 80386 or
80486 based PCs are exceptions).

As stressed several times, there are many cases of
exceptions and exceptions to exceptions, but documenting all
such cases requires a thick book which takes a long time to
write, but will be boring and you will not see added value
to such a text, so it is not included.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
POPPING DOWN FROM ANOTHER LEVEL ON ANY PAGE

By default, you can go down from any higher level down to
lower level at any page. (TXTRUNDC.TXT explains what this is
all about graphically). To restrict this so that you can
only go down one level at the page you went up at,

TXTRUN AOFF Eyourfile

This Any-page-can-be-popped-off-with-an- OFF forces the
user to go back to the page which allowed going up to the
higher level before going down to the former level.

Note that alphabetically, this should have come in the
beginning, but is mentioned this late because this is not
expected to be used by as many people as the other options
mentioned so far.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
ONE WAY PASSAGE THROUGH PAGES

Normally, when you define a connection between two pages via
the left/right cursor or PgUp/PgDn, the passage is a two way
road, so that if you enter one page using the left cursor,
you can go back to it with the right cursor.

When making a dungeons and dragon game, it is often useful
to restrict this passage to allow entry in one direction
only. In this case, use

TXTRUN ONE Eyourfile

and the passage way which you define is one-way only. The
TXTRUNDC.TXT explains this as well, and you can change to or
back to two-way passage while editing by using the alt-end key
combination.

On many laptops and all palmtops, you cannot find

anything called alt-end, but pressing down on the alt
key and typing "1" on your equivalent of a numeric
keypad has the same effect. If you have a choice
between typing "1" on your equivalent of a numeric
keypad or an alternate key, type "1".

There is no option which begins with just the letter oh "O",
but this forces you to type all three letters because
accidentally typing "O" by itself or with other options may
accidentally activate this feature without your realizing
that it was used.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
CLEARING THE SCREEN (NUMBER OF ROWS)

Normally, TXTRUN and the .COM software made by TXTRUN will
clear 50 rows on screen. When you're running the .COM
software only on 25 rows screen, this doesn't matter to you,
but if you're running the .COM software on the top 25 rows
and want to keep whatever you have on the bottom half of
your EGA/VGA monitor's 43/50 rows, this gets erased as well.
To prevent this, try

TXTRUN CLR25 Eyourfile

This will only clear the top 25 rows on screen. The range
is between CLR10 through CLR60 to clear only the first 10
rows up to 60 rows.

Clearing less than 25 rows is only useful when none of the
pop up pages will occupy all 25 rows: For example, if all
pop ups will be 12 rows high and will not go beyond row 12,
then CLR12 will clear only the top 12 rows and the rest of
your screen can contain whatever else you wish to display
at the same time. (if you write a software to do so, use
the "^SS" codes in your text to call your software from the
.COM software made by TXTRUN.

TXTRUN is only designed to handle multiple-level pages when
the screen is 80 by 50 rows equivalent (80 * 50 * 2 = 8,000
bytes). As long as multiple-level pages are not required,
this will support any width screen up to 60 rows high by
clearing the background accordingly.


CLEARING THE SCREEN (NUMBER OF COLUMNS)

Normally, TXTRUN (and the .COM software made by TXTRUN) will
clear whatever width the screen happens to be. (usually 80
columns wide). To clear only 40 columns wide, try

TXTRUN CLC40 Eyourfile

This clears only the left most 40 columns on screen. The
range is between CLC10 through CLC100 to clear the left most
10 columns up to 100 columns.

Unless you specify CLR25 also,, this will automatically
clear 50 columns.

If you want these pages to occupy only the left half of the
screen and you want something else on the right half, this
can be used. What you use this for is left up to you.


CLEARING THE SCREEN TO ANOTHER ATTRIBUTE

If the .COM software will only be run on color monitors, you
can make the back ground into another color (attribute)
other than black by using the CLRA option.

To make the background blue (the pages themselves will not
be affected), try CLRA20 as in

TXTRUN CLRA20 Eyourfile

"CLRA 40" will make the background green and "CLRA 50" will
make it cyan. Any text which will appear here will vary in
color and other attributes.

For an exact match of the background color to foreground
color for any text which will appear here, try the alt-A to
pop up the attribute screen while Editing the TXTRUNDC.TXT:

The background color and character colors are as follows

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 .... 63
64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 .... 127
128 etc

The very left top location at which you can't see anything
is attribute 0, the next one where the letter appears blue
on black background is attribute 1. The second row, first
column color where you see black letter on red background is
attribute 64 etc.

The bottom half may not be blinking if you use the 512
character set on EGA/VGA or may contain other fonts on
Hercules Ramfont etc. What will actually display when
you run the .COM will depend on the active drivers and
color remapping in effect then.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
ALLOW SNOW ON CGA

This will automatically differentiate between CGA from the
others and compensates for the snowing effect on CGA when
text is written directly to screen.

This, however, causes the screen to loose about half of the
screen when you use the alt-V, alt-H or the alt-M to change
or move the pages around on screen. If you don't mind the
snowing effect, then there is an option to treat the CGA
video card as EGA/VGA.

TXTRUN CGA Eyourfile

This tells TXTRUN to treat all CGA video cards as EGA/VGA,
allowing the snowing effect to occur.

This slows down displaying the pages on screen, and there
will be a lot of snowing (there is no snow flakes, this is a
term used to indicate that there will be a lot of video
noise appearing on screen), but you can see the pages
changing in size or moving.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
SUBROUTINE SIGNIFIER

No error is reported when you have the S parameter at the
moment, but is meant to display the letter "s" when you are
not at the base level. This is not operational.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
CHANGE BACK

Do not use the C option yet. It will be used to change the
.EDT file (or may be the .COM software) back into a regular
text file, should you loose the original file.

This is not fully operational. Do not use it. If no demand
for such a feature is requested, it may never be made.

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PATCHING THE PROGRAM

Due to the many features here, and since making
modifications on one feature may affects what happens to
other features, there may be a bug here which didn't exist
before. As long as the patch required is only minor, there
is an option to correct the bug and patch things without
using DEBUG.COM. Do not use it, since tampering without
knowing what you're doing can harm your computer hardwares
or softwares.

This feature is mentioned so that you'll know what to do if
required, not to encourage you to play with it.

TXTRUN P###1 ###2 Eyourfile

The patch is in effect when you run only. It does not
permanently change the TXTRUN.EXE program as when DEBUG.COM
was used.

The requirement to enter a pair of numbers ###1 is 1 - 65535
and is the location. ###2 is 1 - 65535 and is the value to
place at the location.

As long as a patch is very minor, this can run your copy of
TXTRUN before a modified version corrects it.


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IN CASE OF TROUBLE

If you make the .COM software on one computer, but there is
trouble when that .COM software is used on another computer,
try going to page 1 on the text before making the .COM, but
please report this if it happens.

The .COM software will not run unless there is 128 KB of
free system memory. This is used internally, and if it runs
softwares, batch files etc, there has to be such space
available to run them. (Memory is released and used
dynamically, so CHKDSK.COM will not report that 128 KB is
used at any time.)

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For permanency, contact

c/o Sawada
LCS
P.O. Box 956
Outremont, Quebec
Canada H2V 4R8

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