PROMPTER


(c) William J. Ball 1991


Prompter is a program which adds to the DOS prompt a variety
of customizable illustrations. It requires that ANSI.SYS be
installed. A color monitor is recommended but not required.
Prompter is shareware; the registration fee for individuals is $5.

WARNING: prompter changes your DOS prompt. Your prompt
may be set to do a number of things you may not be aware
of. One way to be sure you can get your original prompt
back after using Prompter is to first type "pmr save
filename", where "filename" is some convenient unused
name like "return". this will make a batch file
containing your current prompt. When you want to return
to this prompt just type "return", then you can erase the
file return.bat

Using Prompter

(You may have received prompter as the file
"prompter.exe" If so, type "prompter" to extract two
archived files: "pmr.bat" and "prompter.doc"
(prompter.exe created with LHA version 2.12 (c) Haruyasu
Yoshizaki)).

Prompter requires the ansi.sys device driver to be installed
in order to work correctly. If you do not already have ansi.sys
installed, it can be accomplished by adding the following line to
you config.sys file and then rebooting:

"device=dir\ansi.sys"

where "dir" is the directory containing ansi.sys.

Typing "pmr" will display the list of illustrations and the
special codes for customizing the prompts. To set your DOS prompt
to one of the illustrations in the list type:

"pmr" "0" OR "1" "picture"

where "0" specifies a normal display, "1" specifies a bold display,
and "picture" is one of those in the list. An example:

"pmr 1 tribe"

Prompter only recognizes lower case commands. The default for all
Prompter prompts, except the "text" ones, is to display the current
directory and the > symbol after the illustration. This default is
ignored if you add options.

Most Prompter prompts are designed for color monitors. Those
listed under color will work on a monochrome monitor but they may
not look too good. Prompter assumes your screen is set to white (or
monochrome) on black. If you are using other screen colors for DOS,
try some of the monochrome Prompter prompts (set the 0/1 option to
correspond to your present screen setting).

Your current prompt may or may not set the screen to bold or
highlighted display. Most prompter prompts look better on a bold
display. If your display is not in bold and you wish to it to be,
with bold prompts, type "1" before the picture name. If you wish
the screen and prompt not to be in bold, type "0" before the
picture name. Some prompts will be in bold regardless your choice
in order to appear correctly.

You can customize the prompts by adding text and special codes
to the command. To give a complex example, typing:

"pmr 1 fish $e[1A$e[1CDate:$e[1C$d$_$e[9C$p"

will create the fish picture on a bold screen, go up one line,
space once, print "Date:", space once, print the date, go to the
next line, space 9 times, and print the current directory. Note
that the customizing string cannot contain spaces. Use "$e[#C" to
introduce # spaces into your prompt. Most of the available
customizing symbols are displayed when you type "pmr". The first
number listed for a color is for foreground, the second for
background. You may wish to consult your DOS manual for further
help on customizing your prompt. Be aware that DOS only allows a
limited amount of space for specifying a prompt. Some Prompter
prompts (golf for example) use most of this space and only leave a
few characters to be added for customization. If you exceed the
available space, you will see the "Bad command or filename" message
and the prompt will not be changed.

Prompter has limited capabilities to save prompts. To save the
currently displayed prompt type "pmr save filename", where
"filename" is some convenient unused name like "plane". this will
make a batch file containing your current prompt. When you want to
return to this prompt just type "plane". You can also supply an
optional directory after the filename; be sure to include a "\" at
the end of the directory. If a batch file with the name you request
already exists in the specified direcotry, that batch file will be
renamed to a .bak extension and then the prompt will be saved as
requested. If there is both a .bat and a .bak file already
Prompter will not save the prompt and will tell you so.

Registering Prompter

Prompter is shareware. You can examine it for free. You can
also distribute it on the condition that you distribute all files
in original form only and do not include it in another commercial
product. However if you use Prompter or any of its prompts, you are
obligated to pay a registration fee. Registration is $5 for single
users and $30 for site licenses. Send your registration fee, name,
and address to:

J.E.B.
1333 E 84 Terrace
Kansas City, Mo. 64131

Disclaimer

Prompter was written by William J. Ball. It is supplied as is.
The author disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied,
including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability
and of fitness for any purpose. The author assumes no liability for
damages, direct or consequential, which may result from the use of
Prompter. (Hey it just sets the DOS prompt, ok?)


PROMPTER OPTIONS: display move cursor
(requires ansi.sys)
PICTURES: text, or $$ $ $e[#A up #
$t time $e[#B down #
bldg eyes movie text1 dog colors (F)(B) $d date $e[#C space#
bug field music text2 jazz $e["#"m: $p dir $e[#D back #
cactus fish oasis text3 museum $v DOS
canada flame panels tribe specs 30 40 Black $n drive attributes
castle france plane spider 31 41 Red $g $e["#"m:
color1 godzil puppet (mono): taj 32 42 Green $l
color2 golf skier tree 33 43 Yellow $b 0 reset
cross hypo stars bat upc 34 44 Blue $q = 1 bold
devil italy tach blank vball 35 45 Magenta $h bs 5 blink
disco money tennis butler window 36 46 Cyan $e esc 7 reverse
37 47 White $_ cr 8 invisible

type: pmr 0/1 "pic" "options" or: pmr save "filename" "directory"\ '91 WJB