TEXT CHECKER Program -- A WordStar Utility


Copyright (C) 1985 by Arnold M. Kuzmack
3912 Montrose Dr.
Chevy Chase, MD 20815
(301 986-027 evening an weekends


Thi progra ma b freel copied distributed an used
However th autho retain al copyright t it Specifically i
MA NO B SOL unles authorize i writin b th autho i
advance, nor may it be included in any other package for sale.


INTRODUCTION

Thi progra wil tak WordSta tex fil an chec i fo
certai annoyin error tha i i har t catc b eye I wil
catc tw kind o error --

I wil mak sur tha character tha shoul occu i pairs
lik certai contro characters quotes parentheses an
brackets actuall do.

I wil fla incorrec us o space i text suc a extr
space betwee word an inconsisten number o space
between sentences.

Error ca b marke i th fil o liste o th scree o
the printer.


HOW TO USE THE PROGRAM

Th tex fil shoul b prepare wit WordSta i th norma
way Du t peculiaritie i th wa BASI read dis files
paragraph shoul b separate b blan lines I thi i no
done th progra wil sometime mis th en o paragrap (abou
onc ever 25 paragraphs an ru tw paragraph together A
always fo safety backu shoul b mad o separat disk.

Loa th progra b typin TC Afte th copyrigh notice
th progra wil as yo fo th nam o th fil t b checked
Th fil nam ca b entere i uppe o lowe cas an ca includ
disk-driv designation I th fil can' b found a erro
messag wil appea an yo wil b aske agai fo th fil name
I yo hav t chang diskette becaus th fil wa o differen
diskette d s BEFOR enterin th fil name I yo decid t
forge th whol thing jus pres ^ t abort.

Th progra wil the as "Ho d yo wan potentia error
displayed?" and give you the following choices:

Marked in the file (Y/N)?
Shown on the screen (Y/N)?
Listed on the printer (Y/N)?

Yo ca pic an o al o thes (o none i whic cas th
progra wil tel yo ho man error i foun bu no wha the
were!) I yo selecte displa o th scree o th printer yo
will be asked

Display context of the error (Y/N)?

I yo answe "N" the eac potentia erro wil b identifie
wit a erro messag an th location I yo answe "Y" ther
wil als b piec o you tex shown wit th erro flagge b
"# characte (o anothe characte i yo chang th default)
Thus, the display might look like this:

Unmatched ^S at character no. 12845

He auditioned for the lead role in ^S#Hamlet, but he

Th "characte no. i th numbe o character int th fil tha
th erro occurre an correspond t th "F displa o th
to lin i WordSta (i yo hav "PAGE an "LINE displayed typ
^OP).

I yo answe "Y t th "Marke i th fil (Y/N)? question
the "# character wil b inserte i th fil a th place
wher potentia error ar detected Th marke fil wil hav th
sam fil nam an extensio a th origina file an th origina
fil wil b rename wit extensio "BAK" An existin "BAK fil
wil b deleted Yo shoul mak sur befor startin tha ther
i enoug spac o th dis fo th origina an ne files other
wise ther wil b "dis full erro an th progra wil end.

Th progra wil the displa th value i effec tha wer
rea i fro th ABBREV fil (se below o th defaul value i
ABBREV i no found Th displa wil loo lik this:

Other options now in effect:

Errors will be marked by [whatever character is selected].
1 space [or 2 spaces] between sentences.
FOOTNOTE mode [not] in effect.

Press ESC to change options, any other key to proceed.

I yo pres an ke othe tha ESC th progra wil star
checkin you file I yo pres ESC i wil as yo serie o
questions Th firs i wha characte yo wan t us t mar
errors Yo mus ente singl character an yo wil ge
warnin i yo ente lette o digit Second yo wil b
aske whethe yo wan o space betwee sentences thos ar
th onl response allowed Som peopl prefe t hav tw space
betwee sentence (lik thi text) whil other lik t hav jus
one Whicheve yo prefer thi progra wil kee yo consistent Finally yo wil b aske whethe yo wan FOOTNOT mode Afte
th question ar answered th abov displa wil appea again
an yo wil b abl t confir the o chang the again.

Onc yo ar don answerin th questions th progra wil
start checking your file and will display the following messages:

Error wil b marke wit '# [o som othe characte
i yo hav change th default]

Press ESC to abort, any other key to pause.

Characters read and checked: nnnnn

Th las messag wil sho th numbe o character rea bein
constantl updated Thi i include t entertai yo whil th
fil i bein checked whic ca tak whil fo lon file I
wil als giv yo som confidenc tha th progra i actuall
doing something and hasn't fallen into an endless loop.

A yo migh gathe fro th secon message th progra wil
sto i yo pres ESC Pressin an othe ke (includin ^C wil
mak th progra paus an prin th messag "Pres RETUR t
resume" Makin th progra paus i particularl usefu i yo
ar havin error displaye o th scree an ther ar to man t
read before they scroll up off the screen.

Whe th progra ends i display th messag "Checking
complete" and the number of potential errors found.

Th progra ca en fo numbe o reason befor finishin
th jo o checkin th file Fo example yo ca abor i a an
time o "dis full o som hardwar erro lik ba dis
secto coul occur I thi happen an yo wer havin error
marked i th file yo wil fin th followin ha happene o th
disk you origina fil wit it origina nam wil stil b o
th disk an "BAK fil wil hav bee deleted an fil wit
extensio "$$$ wil hav bee created Th "$$$ fil wil
contai a muc o th file marke wit errors a wa don befor
th progra ended Th progra i "fai safe i th sens tha
th origina fil i no modifie i an wa an i no rename a
"BAK fil unti th processin i completed I th progra
end abnormall fo an reason th bes thin t d i t eras
th "$$$ fil an star over.

Havin error marke i th fil i th bes wa t procee i
yo hav larg fil o expec larg numbe o errors Yo ca
the us th "Fin an replace comman (^QA t fin th "#
character an replac the wit nothing the correc th errors
Afte th firs ^QA yo ca jus us ^ t repea i withou
havin t ente i again Thi way yo avoi accidentall leavin
the "#" characters in the file.


WHAT THE PROGRAM DOES

A note above th TEX CHECKE progra scan th fil fo
tw kind o potentia errors

I wil mak sur tha character tha shoul occu i pairs
lik certai contro characters quotes parentheses an
brackets actuall do.

I wil fla incorrec us o space i text suc a extr
space betwee word an inconsisten number o space
between sentences.

Th progra assume tha th followin character shoul occu
in pairs:

^S for underlining.

^D for double-strike.

^B for bold-face.

^X for strike-out.

^V for subscripts.

^T for superscripts.

" (double quote).

() parentheses.

[] brackets.

I assume als tha th matchin characte shoul occu i th
sam paragraph Thus i i find a od numbe o ^ character
i paragraph fo example i wil fla a error Similarly i
i find "( withou ") o "[ withou "] i paragraph
i wil fla a error Thi wil catc situation wher yo forge
t inser th secon ^ fo a underline phrase fo example an
fin th res o you text underlined.

Ther will o course b occasiona situation wher th
matchin characte reall doe no belon i th sam paragraph
fo example ^ a th beginnin o fil s th whol fil i
printe i double-strik mode Bu mos o th time i i a
appropriat assumption Th alternativ i jus t requir a eve
numbe o ^ characters say i th whol fil -- bu the n
error woul b flagge i a eve numbe o error wer made
whic seem t b worse A wit an potentia erro flagge b
th program i tha i reall wha yo wante t do g ahea an
d it.

Th progra als look fo th followin type o error i
the use of spaces:

Th wron numbe o space betwee sentence (dependin
o whethe yo chos o space betwee sentence whe
yo starte th program).

Extra spaces between words.

No havin spac afte punctuatio mark.

Havin spac befor punctuatio mark.

sentenc i anythin tha end wit period questio mark o
exclamatio point Th progra i smar enoug t realiz tha
perio doe no indicat th en o sentenc i on o th
following conditions is found:

It is in a number, such as 3.14159.

It is at the beginning of a line (a dot command).

It follows a single capital letter, as in "J. Smith".

I i i a abbreviatio o singl letters a i
"U.S.A.".

I follow a abbreviatio liste i th ABBREV file a
in "Rev. Jones".

It is in an ellipsis, as in...

Al o thes condition ar handle appropriately Th progra
als know t ski ove quotatio marks parentheses brackets an
control characters in determining whether an error has occurred.

I yo hav informe th progra (throug th ABBREV file
tha yo ar usin th Footnot program i wil als recogniz
note an not calls I wil allo eithe o space afte th
footnote number in a note.

peculia situatio ca develo i th fil wa writte wit
justificatio on I tha case WordSta add "soft space t
eac lin s tha th righ margin ar aligned Th TEX CHECKE
progra wil recogniz thes extr space an no conside the t
b errors However i yo hav entere extr regular "hard
spaces the wil b flagge a potentia errors Th proble i
tha bot "hard an "soft space loo th sam o th screen
whic make i har t tel wha th erro is Th bes thin t
d is tur justificatio of (^OJ) refor th paragrap (^B)
correc th error the tur justificatio bac o (^OJ an refor
the paragraph again.

Th program' patienc i no unlimited an tw condition
wil no b handle well First i mor tha 30 spacin error
ar detecte i singl paragraph a erro messag wil appea o
th screen showin th curren locatio i th file an the th
progra wil en i fi o pique Second i singl paragrap i mor tha 8,00 character lon (ove 1/ single-space
pages) warnin messag wil appea o th scree an th progra
wil continue However th checkin ma no b correc an i ma
no b correctl writte t th dis i th file-markin optio ha
bee selected Anyon wh write paragrap tha lon deserve
wha happen t them.


SKIPPING SECTIONS OF A FILE

Ther wil occasionall b part o fil tha yo d no
wan checked Fo example tabl o number wil hav lo o
"Extr space error flagged T mak th progra ski ove
sectio o th file simpl inser "..SKIP befor th sectio an
"..START afte it Thes command mus b th onl thin o th
lin an mus begi i colum wit n spaces WordSta wil
trea thes a comment s the wil no affec th fil whe i i
printed out.


THE ABBREVS FILE

Th ABBREV fil contain abbreviation afte whic i i O
t hav onl on spac afte period eve i yo wan tw space
betwee sentences fo example Mr. Mrs. Vol. etc Th fil i
supplie wit about 50 abbreviations Yo ca ad additiona
abbreviations usin WordStar u t tota o 400 I ther ar
mor tha 400 warnin messag wil b give whe th progra i
ru an onl th firs 40 wil b used Th abbreviation shoul
appear on t line i th file The ma b i uppe o lowe
case o mixture wit n spaces an th perio afte the ma
b include o omitted.

Th firs lin o th ABBREV fil i specia an i use t
communicat defaul value t th program Th firs characte o
th firs lin wil b use t mar errors Th secon characte
shoul b "1 o "2 an wil b use a th numbe o space
require betwee sentences I yo wan Footnot note an call
recognized the th thir characte shoul b "+" I ther ar
onl tw character o th firs line o i th thir characte i
anythin othe tha "+" the Footnot note an call wil no b
recognized.

I th firs characte o th firs lin i lette o
number the error wil b marke wit "#" I th secon
characte i anythin othe tha "1 o "2" the th numbe o
space betwee sentence wil b se a 2 I eithe o thes
cases warnin messag wil b displaye an you firs
abbreviatio wil probabl b ignored O course th default ca
b confirme o changed.

Thi metho o specifyin th defaul value yo wan i
convenien becaus yo ar mos likel no goin t chang the
ver frequently an yo ca confir the wit singl ke stroke
I yo wan t chang the fo particula run yo ca d so a describe above.

Th progra wil rea th ABBREV fil righ afte locatin
th fil t b checke an befor askin ho error ar t b
displayed I i can' fin ABBREV o th defaul driv o driv
A, it will display the message

Can't find ABBREVS on default drive or drive A.
What drive is it on (RETURN to skip)?

I yo specif driv an th fil stil can' b found th erro
message will be

Still can't find ABBREVS. Using defaults.

I tha case o i yo di no specif driv afte th firs
message the th default wil b "# t mar error an spac
betwee sentences Again th default ca b confirme o
changed.


HARDWARE CONSIDERATIONS

Th progra shoul ru o an 8-bi compute wit Z8
processo runnin CP/M versio 2. o later o o an 16-bi
compute runnin MS-DO o PC-DOS I doe no recogniz sub-
directorie i MS-DO o PC-DOS Recommende memor capacit i
64 fo th 8-bi versio an 128 fo th 16-bi version I wil
ru wit les memory bu yo coul ru ou o memor ( fata
error i ver lon paragraph occur.

I test usin flopp disk o bot th IB PC/X an th
Osborn computer i too abou on minut t proces 7,50
character an writ marke fil o th disk Usin eithe
har dis o RA dis o th IBM processin spee increase t
abou 15,00 character per minute.


CONTRIBUTIONS

I yo lik thi progra an fin i useful fee fre t sen
contribution sugges $15 Also i yo hav comment o
suggestion o hav foun bugs pleas writ t me M addres
appears at the beginning of this document.