Dec 132017
Vedit Jr. V1.10. Shareware release of this commercial editor. Will handle files larger than memory (2 Gigs), mouse support, online help, programming functions, word processing features. | |||
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File Name | File Size | Zip Size | Zip Type |
INSTALL.BAT | 22 | 22 | stored |
INSTALL.VBT | 10893 | 3233 | deflated |
KEYS.IBM | 3383 | 975 | deflated |
MANUAL.DOC | 197060 | 52698 | deflated |
VBATCH.COM | 3520 | 2731 | deflated |
VCONFIG.EXE | 17760 | 9150 | deflated |
VJ.EXE | 65984 | 48935 | deflated |
VJHELP.HLP | 59696 | 18497 | deflated |
WORDPERF.DOC | 3338 | 1427 | deflated |
WORDPERF.KEY | 1705 | 613 | deflated |
WORDSTAR.DOC | 4328 | 1929 | deflated |
WORDSTAR.KEY | 3866 | 1082 | deflated |
Download File VEDIT-JR.ZIP Here
Contents of the MANUAL.DOC file
VEDIT Jr.
General Purpose Text Editor
One of the VEDIT Family of Editors
Version 1.1
Manual Written By:
Theodore Green and Charles Scott
Programmed By:
Theodore Green & Thomas Burt
Greenview Data, Inc.
2773 Holyoke Lane
Ann Arbor, MI 48103
Telephone: (313) 996-1300
Fax: (313) 996-1308
BBS (2400 baud): (313)-996-1304
BBS (9600 buad): (313)-996-1315
Copyright (C) 1990-1991 by Greenview Data, Inc. All rights reserved
worldwide. No part of this publication may be reproduced, in any form
or by any means, for any purpose without the express written permission
of Greenview Data.
DISCLAIMER
Greenview Data, Inc. and the authors make no claims or warranties with
respect to the contents or accuracy of this publication, or the product
it describes, including any warranties of fitness or merchantability for
a particular purpose. Any stated or expressed warranties are in lieu of
all obligations or liability for any damages, whether special, indirect,
or consequential, arising out of or in connection with the use of this
publication or the product it describes. Furthermore, the right is
reserved to make any changes to this publication without obligation to
notify any person of such changes.
Last Manual Revision: Dec. 21, 1991
TRADEMARKS
VEDIT, V-SPELL and V-PRINT are trademarks of Greenview Data, Inc.
MS-DOS, OS/2 and Xenix are trademarks of Microsoft.
UNIX is a trademark of American Telephone & Telegraph.
IBM and IBM PC are trademarks of International Business Machines.
Ventura Publisher is a registered trademark of Ventura Software, Inc.
WordStar is a registered trademark of MicroPro International Corp.
Word Perfect is a trademark of WordPerfect Corp.
Turbo Lightning and SuperKey are trademarks of Borland International.
2
VEDIT Jr. Table of Contents
Table of Contents
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 1 - Introduction 5
Welcome to VEDIT Jr. 5
Main Features 6
VEDIT and VEDIT PLUS 7
V-PRINT and V-SPELL 8
System Requirements 10
Using this Manual 10
Notation 12
Chapter 2 - Getting Started 13
Installation 13
IBM PCDOS/MS-DOS Automated Installation 13
IBM PCDOS/MS-DOS Manual Installation 15
Checking Your CONFIG.SYS and
AUTOEXEC.BAT files 16
PATH Command 16
VEDPATH Environment Variable 17
Testing Your Installation 17
Getting Started Fast 19
Running VEDIT Jr. with Floppy Disks 19
Description of Files on Disk 20
Keyboard Layout 20
Notes on Normal Layout 21
"Normal" IBM PC Keyboard Layout 22
Chapter 3 - Quick Tutorial 25
Starting VEDIT Jr. 25
Entering New Text 26
Moving the Cursor 26
Deleting Text 27
Typing Beyond the Visible Screen Area 28
Line and Column Numbers 29
Quick Cursor Movement 29
Undo 31
Using Menus 32
Answering a Prompt 33
Response History 34
Exiting the Menu System 35
Context Sensitive Help 35
Keyboard Help 36
General Help 37
Printing Text 38
Repeating Operations 39
Saving Your Work 40
The "Escape" Menu 40
Exiting VEDIT Jr. 41
Chapter 4 - Editing Guide 43
3
VEDIT Jr. Table of Contents
Starting (Invoking) VEDIT Jr. 44
Invocation Options 43
Fast Browse Mode 45
"VEDIT" Environment Variable 45
Exiting VEDIT Jr. 46
Backup Files 47
The Status Line 47
Using Menus 49
Responding to Prompts 51
Point and Shoot File Selection 52
On-Line Help 54
Modifying the Help File 55
Mouse Support 56
Menu System 56
Scroll Bars 57
"Stealth" Scroll Bars and the Right Button 57
Block Operations 58
Search/Replace Options 59
Notes on Mouse Operation 59
Keyboard Characters and Screen Display 60
Entering Control and Graphics Characters 60
How Control and Grpahics Characters are
Displayed 60
End of Line Handling (DOS and UNIX files) 61
The
Lower and Upper Case Conversion 63
Key Emulation Modes 64
Other Keyboard Input Options (Technical) 65
Other Screen Display Issues (Technical) 65
Keystroke Macros 66
Scrolling the Screen 68
Vertical Scrolling 68
Horizontal Scrolling 68
Wrapping Long Lines on the Screen 69
Block Operations 70
Marking (selecting) a Block of Text 70
What exactly does the block include? 71
Copying/Moving Text Within Your File 71
[BLOCK COPY] and [BLOCK MOVE] 72
The Text Register 72
Columnar Blocks 73
Columnar Block Examples 73
Search and Replace 77
Pattern Matching 77
Word Procesing Functions 80
Definition of "Word" and "Paragraph" 80
Indenting Text (Left Margin) 81
Word Wrap (Right Margin) 82
Formatting and Justifying Paragraphs 82
Offset Paragraphs 83
Justification 84
4
VEDIT Jr. Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 1 - Introduction
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Welcome to Vedit Jr.!
---------------------
Purpose of Program
------------------
VEDIT Jr. is a full featured text editor intended for program
development, text preparation and the editing of any text or binary
files you will ever encounter. It is ideal for writing assembly
language and structured programs (C, Pascal, PL/I) and lengthy documents
such as reports or manuscripts. It is also well suited for the
preparation of text files being used with Desktop Publishing packages
such as Xerox's Ventura Publisher (tm).
Simple, Yet Powerful
--------------------
VEDIT Jr. is simple enough to learn and use for the novice, yet has the
speed, flexibility and power to satisfy the most demanding computer
professional. It offers a rich assortment of editing capabilities,
simple menu operation, complete on-line help facilities, and the ability
to edit text and binary files of any size (even 100 Megabyte or larger).
Totally Configurable
--------------------
The comprehensive configuration lets you completely determine your own
keyboard layout and select numerous default settings to configure
VEDIT Jr. to your particular hardware, applications and personal
preferences. By using the available options and "keystroke macros"
VEDIT Jr. can very closely emulate other editors and word processors.
An easy to use installation program for the IBM PC permits a quick, menu
driven selection of the most common configurations of VEDIT Jr. This
includes selecting from the normal keyboard layout (used in this manual)
or from a WordStar or Word Perfect layout.
VEDIT Family of Editors
-----------------------
VEDIT Jr. is one of the VEDIT Family of Editors which also includes
VEDIT and VEDIT PLUS. The VEDIT family is available for virtually every
computer running under the PCDOS, MS-DOS (IBM and non-IBM compatible),
UNIX 286/386/486, XENIX, QNX, Concurrent DOS, FlexOS and IBM 4680
operating systems. Attractive pricing is available for additional
machines and for educational, OEM and site licensing.
5
VEDIT Jr. Chapter 1 Introduction
Main Features
-------------
* Edit any text or binary files of up to 2 Gigabytes (that's 2000
megabytes). Virtual file buffering automatically handles files
larger than what will fit into memory.
* Pull-down menu system. Easy access to most editing functions.
Editing functions can also be quickly accessed with "hot keys" which
bypass the menu system -- the menu system does not slow down
proficient users.
* Unlimited keystroke macros. Any combination of keystrokes can be
assigned to a single key. Allows single key access to menu functions
and creation of custom editing functions. Keystroke macros may be
built into VEDIT Jr., saved to and loaded from disk.
* Context sensitive help. Pressing the help key gives you precisely
the information you need at the moment. The help text is user
changeable and expandable. Add your own help prompts and messages,
even create on-line help for other programs you use.
* Multi-level Undo. Up to hundreds of the most recent edit changes can
be reversed either step by step or line by line. Deleted text can be
re-inserted in its original position or anywhere else.
* Automatic indenting simplifies editing of structured programs;
advantageous for word processing. Check for proper nesting of
parentheses, e.g. "{" and "}", aids C programming.
* Execute single DOS commands (DIR, compilers, V-SPELL, etc.) or enter
DOS and return later.
* Flexible block operations can process text on a character, line or
column basis. Blocks may be moved or copied directly, or a text
register (scratch-pad buffer) may be used for more flexible "cut and
paste" operations. Blocks can be copied from one file to another.
* Powerful search and replace. Supports sophisticated pattern
matching, reverse searching, selective and global replace. Previous
search strings can be quickly accessed.
* Flexible printing with variable margins and page size. Print a block
of text or the entire file with single, double or triple spacing.
V-PRINT, a powerful print formatter is available.
* ASCII table. Pop up the ASCII table or insert any desired control,
printer or graphic character into the text. IBM PC box drawing
characters are easily accessed.
* Horizontal scrolling for editing long lines -- spreadsheets, program
listings. Optionally, long lines can be wrapped onto multiple screen
lines.
6
VEDIT Jr. Chapter 1 Introduction
* Fully adjustable tab positions. The
character or, optionally, spaces to the next tab position.
* Word processing. Word wrap, paragraph formatting between adjustable
margins, optional justification, printing. (Does NOT enter any
"special" control character into the text.) Can read/write WordStar
compatible files. V-SPELL, a high performance spelling corrector is
available.
* Word processor emulation. VEDIT Jr. can closely emulate other
editors and word processors. Contains options for emulating common
cursor positioning modes, other block operations, various styles of
searching, functions performed by the
more.
* Totally configurable. The keyboard layout is completely configurable
-- assign any key to any function. Any desired number of keystroke
macros can be built in. Default settings of all switches,
parameters, options and screen colors can be configured.
Configurable tab-fill and "newline" display characters. Provides
selectable hardware/software cursor, cursor blink rate (or no blink)
and much more.
VEDIT and VEDIT PLUS
--------------------
VEDIT and VEDIT PLUS are upwards compatible from VEDIT Jr. and have many
additional features. Should your editing needs outgrow VEDIT Jr., you
can easily move to VEDIT or VEDIT PLUS.
Your $29 registration fee for VEDIT Jr. may be applied to your purchase
of VEDIT or VEDIT PLUS when you purchase directly from Greenview Data
and your purchase is made within six (6) months.
The additional features in VEDIT include:
* Multiple file editing. Simultaneously edit up to 37 files, each of
any size.
* Flexible windowing. Optionally display each file you are editing in
its own variable sized window. Different parts of one file can be
displayed in separate windows. Any window can be zoomed to full
screen.
* Hexadecimal and EBCDIC editing. Any window can be toggled to
different modes for editing in ASCII, EBCDIC or Hexadecimal. A split
screen with simultaneous editing in different modes is also possible.
* Integrated compiler support. Popular compilers, assemblers, linkers,
debuggers and Make programs can be run from within VEDIT. The cursor
will be automatically positioned on source code lines containing
7
VEDIT Jr. Chapter 1 Introduction
compilation errors. Very flexible and configurable; easily support
new/custom compilers.
* Search/replace with regular expressions. A full implementation of
Unix style regular expressions permits more sophisticated search and
replace operations.
VEDIT PLUS has all the features of VEDIT and adds a powerful macro
programming language:
* Over 150 commands. Commands can be combined to create powerful
"macros" which save you time by automating complex editing
operations. Macros can be saved to disk and loaded from disk.
* Complete macro programming language with looping, Repeat-Until,
If-Then, If-Then-Else, conditional Jump. Numeric, character and
string testing.
* Auto-execution. A file containing macro commands can be specified
for automatic execution when VEDIT PLUS is invoked.
* Complete numerical capability with 24 bit resolution (+/- 8,388,607).
100 "variables", expression evaluation with numerical, logical and
relational functions. On-line algebraic calculator.
* Interactive input and output with complete screen and window control.
Creating, deleting, size, position and color of windows is fully
programmable.
* (DOS only) Access to hardware. Memory and I/O ports can be examined
and modified. DOS functions, BIOS functions and interrupts can be
directly called.
V-PRINT and V-SPELL
-------------------
V-PRINT and V-SPELL work with VEDIT Jr. to give you a complete word
processing system. Both V-PRINT and V-SPELL can be run from within
VEDIT Jr. with a single keystroke, letting you instantly print or spell
check the current document.
V-PRINT Document Formatter
--------------------------
V-PRINT is a powerful document (text) formatter which handles the
details of page layout, including headers, footers, automatic page
numbering, indenting and justification.
V-PRINT not only handles the details of page layout, but also has
facilities for automatic index and table of contents generation,
underlining, overstriking, multiple font support for popular printers
8
VEDIT Jr. Chapter 1 Introduction
and much more. Multiple files can be included in your document at print
time with an "Include" statement. Single sheets, continuous forms and
any selected page range can be printed.
Combining VEDIT Jr. with V-PRINT gives you the capabilities of a full
featured word processor. Both are particularly well suited to handling
long documents such as reports, manuals and manuscripts.
A table of contents and index can be generated by V-PRINT. The index
can contain both words which appear in the text and "concepts" which are
not explicitly mentioned in the text. V-PRINT also allows the Table of
Contents and the Index to be edited before final printing. List price
$79.
V-SPELL Spelling Corrector
--------------------------
This is the ultimate spelling corrector that proofreads 50 pages (100
Kbytes) of text in 30 seconds (on an IBM PC/AT), displays misspelled
words in context and can instantly suggest corrections for any
misspelling. Since it automatically corrects the words in the document,
there is no need to go back to the word processor. The 70,000 word main
dictionary is expandable--you can have your own supplemental
dictionaries and/or merge them into the main dictionary. You can even
create your own main dictionary. Not only VEDIT Jr., but most popular
word processors are supported.
For typesetting, desktop publishing and other applications, V-SPELL can
perform file hyphenation by inserting "soft hyphens" in all words of a
document. Since the hyphenation points are built into the dictionary,
you can be sure it is 100% correct -- no error-prone algorithms are
used! List price $79.
9
VEDIT Jr. Chapter 1 Introduction
System Requirements
-------------------
The DOS version requires:
* MS-DOS or PCDOS version 2.0 or later, or a compatible DOS such as DR
DOS or Concurrent DOS. DesqView and Microsoft Windows are also
supported.
* An IBM PC, XT, AT, PS/2 or compatible computer. Some "near"
compatibles such as the Tandy 2000 and Sanyo 550 are also supported.
* At least 196 Kbytes of memory. (At least 100K of memory must be free
after DOS is loaded.)
* A hard disk is highly recommended, but VEDIT Jr. can be installed on,
and will run from, a floppy disk. A minimum of 64K for the VJ.EXE is
required, the optional 60K help file is highly recommended.
* A monochrome, CGA, MCGA, EGA, VGA or compatible display adapter and
display. The Amdec 1280 and Wyse 700 displays are also supported.
EGA 43 line and VGA 50 line modes are supported.
Using this Manual
-----------------
HINTS: The best way to learn VEDIT Jr. is by running the "Demo/
Tutorial" disk supplied for DOS. This disk covers VEDIT Jr.,
VEDIT, and VEDIT PLUS features in great depth -- it is well
worth the one or two hours it will take to carefully work
through it.
Between the "Demo/Tutorial" disk and VEDIT Jr.'s extensive
on-line help, we hope that you won't need this manual very much.
Organization
------------
This manual assumes that you have a working knowledge of your computer
and its basic operation. It is organized into the following chapters:
This on-disk file consists of the first three chapters of the manual and
parts of the fourth chapter. The entire manual is summarized below.
* Introduction (Chapter 1)
Introduces VEDIT Jr. and lists the main features and system
requirements.
* Getting Started (Chapter 2)
Explains how to install VEDIT Jr. and make sure that it is working
correctly. It lists the files on disk and the "Normal" keyboard
10
VEDIT Jr. Chapter 1 Introduction
layout.
* Quick Tutorial (Chapter 3)
This short tutorial familiarizes you with the basic aspects of
using VEDIT Jr. including the menu system, on-line help, how to
save your result and exit VEDIT Jr.
* Editing Guide (Chapter 4)
Covers the main topics of how to use VEDIT Jr. in general terms.
* Command Macros (Chapter 5)
Describes how to use the "command macros" supplied only with VEDIT
and VEDIT PLUS. In particular, the compiler support macro is
covered in great detail.
* Menu Reference (Chapter 6)
Describes each item in the Menu system in detail. It includes many
step by step directions for using the features of VEDIT Jr.
The {CONFIG} menu described here lets you configure VEDIT Jr. and
fine-tune it to your personal preferences and applications.
* Edit Function Reference (Chapter 7)
Describes each basic edit function in detail.
* Configuration (Chapter 8)
For the most part, you can configure VEDIT Jr. from within itself.
However, some additional, mostly hardware related configuration
changes can only be made with the VCONFIG program or ".CFG"
configuration files described in this chapter.
* Messages (Chapter 9)
Lists and explains all error messages and common prompting
messages.
* Appendices
The following topics are included in the appendices:
Technical descriptions of VEDIT Jr.'s file handling, network
support and memory management.
Installation and usage of V-SWAP (supplied only with VEDIT and
VEDIT PLUS).
Additional keyboard layout information.
Application Notes.
ASCII Table.
11
VEDIT Jr. Chapter 1 Introduction
Notation
--------
typed by holding down the "Ctrl" (Control) key and
typing the letter, in this case "u".
typed by holding down the "Alt" (Alternate) key and
typing the letter, in this case "E". This type of
control character is most frequently used to
quickly access a particular menu, in this case the
{EDIT} menu.
some keyboards.
or
actual key is displayed on the right edge of the
status line.
[function] A basic editing function such as [CURSOR UP] or
[INDENT]. Each edit function name is usually
followed with the keypress corresponding to the
"normal" keyboard layout. However, you are free to
modify the keyboard layout. The actual key
assignments are displayed by the [HELP] function.
{menu, menu-item} x Menu selections are shown within braces optionally
followed by "x" to indicate variable parameters.
The main menu is selected with the [MENU] function
(
that you select "Goto" from the main menu, select
"Line #" from the "Goto" menu, and then enter the
value "71" at the line number prompt.
Register Today!
---------------
One benefit in registering VEDIT Jr. (for only $29) is the professional
quality manual whose more than 200 pages describe the program in
complete detail.
You will also receive the latest production version of VEDIT Jr. which
does not have the Shareware sign-on screens.
We welcome your comments and suggestions.
12
VEDIT Jr. Chapter 2 Getting Started
Chapter 2 - Getting Started
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Installation
------------
NOTES: Be sure to refer to the file "README" before installing
VEDIT Jr. -- simply give the DOS command "README". This file
often contains last minute installation instructions.
Refer to Appendix F (Troubleshooting) if you have any trouble
installing or running VEDIT Jr. (Not included with on-disk
doco.)
When we refer to "IBM PCDOS/MS-DOS" we mean all IBM PC/AT, PS/2
machines or compatibles, including all clones, running either
PCDOS or MS-DOS 2.x, 3.x, 4.x, 5.x or compatible operating
systems including Concurrent DOS and DR DOS.
IBM PCDOS/MS-DOS Automated Installation
---------------------------------------
The IBM PCDOS/MS-DOS version of VEDIT Jr. can be quickly installed and
configured with the supplied INSTALL program. It creates the directory
"\VEDIT" (on a hard disk), copies the appropriate files to it and lets
you select from the most common configuration options including display
type, screen color and the initial keyboard layout. There is NO NEED to
initially run the configuration program VCONFIG.
NOTES: This automated installation is NOT compatible with some
memory-resident programs and, in particular, with the Norton
Commander Commander(tm), 4DOS and other "point and shoot"
programs. You must remove such programs to perform the
installation or follow the "Manual Installation" directions.
However, once installed, VEDIT Jr. itself will run with these
programs.
The automated installation DOES NOT alter your CONFIG.SYS or
AUTOEXEC.BAT files! It creates the directory "\VEDIT", copies
files to it and pre-configures VJ.EXE.
Before actually installing VEDIT Jr., you should make a copy of
the original VEDIT Jr. disk and place the original in a safe
place. Install VEDIT Jr. from this copy to prevent inadvertent
damage to the original diskette. Refer to the documentation
provided with your operating system for information on how to
copy diskettes.
13
VEDIT Jr. Chapter 2 Getting Started
To install VEDIT Jr. on a floppy disk:
1. You will need a blank, formatted floppy disk on which to install
VEDIT Jr. Refer to the documentation provided with DOS for
information on how to format diskettes.
2. Place a copy of the VEDIT Jr. distribution diskette into drive
A: and a blank, formatted diskette into drive B: then type:
A:
3. Start the installation program by typing:
INSTALL A B
4. Follow the instructions provided by the installation program.
The installation program will ask several questions. Answer
these questions by pressing the appropriate letter key. You do
not have to press
To install VEDIT Jr. on a hard disk:
1. Place a copy of the VEDIT Jr. distribution diskette into
drive A: and type:
A:
2. Start the installation program by typing:
INSTALL A C
This command will install VEDIT Jr. from the diskette in drive
A: to the directory "\VEDIT" on drive C:. If you want to
install on a drive other than C:, substitute the "C" in the
above command with the appropriate drive letter.
3. Follow the instructions provided by the installation program.
The installation program will ask several questions. Answer
these questions by pressing the appropriate letter key. You do
not have to press
The tutorials in this manual show examples for the "Normal"
(recommended) keyboard layout only. While VEDIT Jr. may be installed to
mimic Wordstar or WordPerfect, it is suggested that you first try our
normal configuration.
When complete, you will have a ready to use "VJ.EXE" file in the
directory "\VEDIT".
NOTE: Skip down several pages to the topic "Checking Your CONFIG.SYS
and AUTOEXEC.BAT files" for further important installation
instructions.
14
VEDIT Jr. Chapter 2 Getting Started
Then refer to the topic "Testing your Installation" below.
IBM PCDOS/MS-DOS Manual Installation
------------------------------------
This topic covers the steps needed to install VEDIT Jr. when the
automated installation will not run on your system.
The only file absolutely needed to use VEDIT Jr. is VJ.EXE. (You can
rename it if you wish.) To use the on-line help you also need the
VJHELP.HLP file. VEDIT Jr. can be configured to search for its help
file in the root directory or "VEDIT Home Directory", typically
"\VEDIT", of any drive you select.
Decide upon the name of a new directory to hold all VEDIT Jr. files.
This manual assumes it is "\VEDIT" on any desired drive. Create the
directory. When installing VEDIT Jr. on a floppy disk, you can install
it into the root directory.
After you create "\VEDIT", you should copy all files from the original
disk or disks to this directory. This chapter lists the files found on
the VEDIT Jr. distribution disk(s).
The supplied VJ.EXE will immediately run on any machine, but is not
configured ideally for either floppy or hard disk systems. You only
need to change the configuration parameters 1.0 and 2.3 (see Chapter 8)
to adapt VEDIT Jr. to your particular disk configuration. Unless you
configure it, VEDIT Jr. only searches the current drive and directory
for its help file.
With a hard disk, you should configure VCONFIG parameter 1.0 to
"C:\VEDIT\" and 2.3 to "0" -- assuming you are installing VEDIT Jr. in
"\VEDIT" on drive "C:".
With a floppy disk based system, you may want to copy only the VJ.EXE
and VJHELP.HLP files to your system disk on drive A. Then configure
VJ.EXE with VCONFIG parameter 1.0 set to "A:\" and 2.3 set to "0".
Refer above to the topic "IBM PCDOS/MS-DOS Automated Installation" for
information about setting up your PATH command and AUTOEXEC.BAT files.
Here is a typical installation:
1. Make sure you are in the root directory of drive C. Put the
original VEDIT Jr. diskette into drive A. Give the following
DOS commands:
MD C:\VEDIT
CD C:\VEDIT
COPY A:*.*
15
VEDIT Jr. Chapter 2 Getting Started
2. Start up the configuration program with the command:
VCONFIG VJ.EXE
Refer to Chapter 8 (Configuration) for details about running this
program.
3. In the configuration program select "1" from the main menu and enter
a "VEDIT Jr. Home Directory" of "C:\VEDIT\". Then select parameter
2.2 and change it to "0".
4. Press
configuration program. At the confirmation prompt type "Y" to save
your changes.
NOTE: Skip down several pages to the topic "Checking Your CONFIG.SYS
and AUTOEXEC.BAT files" for further important installation
instructions.
Then refer to the topic "Testing your Installation" below.
Checking Your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files
-----------------------------------------------
You should check the file "CONFIG.SYS" which is in the root directory of
your hard (boot) disk. It must contain the two lines:
BUFFERS=10
FILES=40
***It is OK if the numbers are larger than those listed above!***
If you discover that you do not have a CONFIG.SYS file, you can create
one using VEDIT Jr. You can do this after completing the Quick Tutorial
in Chapter 3. CONFIG.SYS is a normal text file.
The "BUFFERS=10" statement is not really necessary but speeds up not
only VEDIT Jr. but virtually every other program. No computer should be
without it. "BUFFERS=15" or "BUFFERS=20" may further speed up some
programs, but also make DOS use up more memory space.
PATH Command
------------
To run VEDIT Jr. from other drives and directories, DOS must know where
to find VJ.EXE. Our recommendation is to simply copy VJ.EXE to a
directory, typically "\DOS" or "\BIN", which DOS already searches for
other programs such as CHKDSK.COM, FORMAT.COM, etc. Alternatively, you
can add the directory "\VEDIT" to the PATH command in your AUTOEXEC.BAT
file. However, long PATH commands slow down computer operation. For
more information on PATH and AUTOEXEC.BAT refer to your DOS manual.
16
VEDIT Jr. Chapter 2 Getting Started
If you prefer not to have VEDIT Jr. in the default directory "\VEDIT"
you can create the desired directory and copy all files from the
"\VEDIT" directory to it; then remove the "\VEDIT" directory. Then run
the configuration program VCONFIG (Chapter 8) and set parameter 1.0
(VEDIT Jr. Home Directory) to the directory in which the
VEDIT Jr. files reside.
"VEDPATH" Environment Variable
------------------------------
As an alternative to running VCONFIG to set the "VEDIT Home Directory",
you can set the environment variable "VEDPATH" to the desired directory.
When this environment variable is set, it overrides any configuration
setting.
For example, if you placed the VEDIT Jr. files in the directory
"\DOS\VEDIT" on drive "C:", you could add the following line to your
AUTOEXEC.BAT file:
SET VEDPATH=C:\DOS\VEDIT
Testing Your Installation
-------------------------
Now that you have VEDIT installed, let's start it up once just to make
sure that everything is working.
1. Assuming that your PATH command includes the directory
containing the VEDIT Jr. program, you can can start up VEDIT Jr.
from any directory by typing:
VEDIT
If VEDIT Jr. was properly installed, there will be a short
pause, and you will see the VEDIT Jr.'s signon message on the
top of the screen. There should also be a (flashing) cursor
near the upper-left corner of the screen.
2. Press the
of the screen.
If you cannot read the menu, cannot tell which item is currently
selected, or cannot tell which letter in each item is
highlighted, your screen attributes are not set correctly. If
you have a monochrome (black and white) monitor or a laptop
computer you may need to re-install VEDIT Jr. for a monochrome
monitor or start up VEDIT Jr. with the "-M" option. Otherwise,
see "Change Screen Parameters" in Chapter 8 (Configuration) on
how to change screen attributes.
17
VEDIT Jr. Chapter 2 Getting Started
3. To exit VEDIT Jr. and return to DOS using the displayed {ESCAPE}
menu, press
then press
file (Y/N)" type "Y". You should now be back in DOS.
NEWS.TXT LINE: 1 COL: 1 INS F1=HELP
ESCAPE MENU
Remove Block Markers
Exit File (save)
Quit file (abandon)
VEDIT Jr. is now installed and tested. Refer to Appendix F
(Troubleshooting) if you encounter any trouble running VEDIT Jr.
18
VEDIT Jr. Chapter 2 Getting Started
Getting Started Fast
--------------------
Despite the many pages in this manual, basic editing with VEDIT Jr. is
very intuitive and you can start using it immediately, without having to
study this manual.
It is easiest to start the editor by specifying the name of the file you
want to edit:
VJ filename.ext
For help while editing press the [HELP] key. The name of the help key
is displayed on the status line (default:
the key assignments for all of VEDIT Jr.'s functions. For more help on
any function, just press the corresponding key.
The [MENU] key (default:
the desired function using the cursor keys and then press
To finish editing, access the "File" sub-menu and select either "Exit
(Save)" to save your edited text or "Quit" to quit and abandon your
edited text.
NOTE: The quickest way to learn VEDIT Jr. is to run the supplied
"DEMO/TUTORIAL" disk which covers almost everything you need to
know to effectively use VEDIT Jr.
Running VEDIT Jr. with Floppy Disks
-----------------------------------
To run VEDIT Jr. with dual floppy disks (no hard disk) place the disk
containing the installed VEDIT Jr. into drive "A:", the data disk
containing your text files into drive "B", change to drive "B:" and
specify the name of the file you want to edit:
A:VEDIT filename.ext
Remember: To edit any file, the amount of free space on your disk must
be at least as large as the file you want to edit.
19
VEDIT Jr. Chapter 2 Getting Started
Description of Files on Disk
----------------------------
README.BAT Last minute notes to read before getting started.
INSTALL.BAT Batch file to start up the automated installation;
it uses the files INSTALL.VBT and VBATCH.COM.
INSTALL.VBT Script file for automated installation.
VBATCH.COM Installation program used for automated installation.
VCONFIG.EXE Configuration program described in Chapter 8.
VJ.EXE Executable VEDIT Jr. program.
KEYS.IBM A graphic representation of the "normal" IBM PC
keyboard layout.
ERRATA.DOC Contains errata to this manual and describes recent
enhancements which are not yet documented in the manual.
P.BAT Batch program to start up the PRINT.VDM macro.
VJHELP.HLP Help file accessed by the [HELP] function.
WORDSTAR.KEY Keyboard layout file to emulate WordStar (tm).
Described in WORDSTAR.DOC.
WORDPERF.KEY Keyboard layout file to emulate WordPerfect (tm).
Described in WORDPERF.DOC.
Keyboard Layout
---------------
VEDIT Jr.'s keyboard layout is completely configurable. The automated
installation lets you select the initial keyboard layout. You can
modify the initial layout with the {MISC, Keyboard Layout} sub-menu.
Unless you have a very strong personal preference, we recommended you
start off with the "normal" keyboard layout. It has been carefully
thought out to work well with VEDIT Jr.'s features and menu system.
All examples in this manual list the name of the edit function or menu
item and the corresponding keystroke in the "normal" keyboard layout.
Examples are: [HELP] (
The initial IBM PCDOS/MS-DOS keyboard layouts are:
* NORMAL. The recommended layout used in this manual.
* WORDPERF. Emulates Word Perfect. Since it has few menu "hot keys",
20
VEDIT Jr. Chapter 2 Getting Started
it helps to access menu functions with a mouse. Fully described in
the file WORDPERF.KEY.
* WORDSTAR. Emulates the newer style WordStar using control, cursor
and function keys. Since it has few menu "hot-keys", it helps to
access menu functions with a mouse. Fully described in the file
WORDSTAR.KEY.
NOTE: The following pages list the normal layout in logical order.
Appendix D lists the layout in alphabetic order. The layout is
available on-line via the [HELP] function and {MISC, Keyboard
Layout, Display}. The status line always displays the current
key assigned to the [HELP] function.
Notes on the Normal Layout
--------------------------
* The preferred keys for [SCROLL UP] and [SCROLL DOWN] are
does not support these keys, we have also assigned these functions
to
can drop the duplicate assignments.
* Since VEDIT Jr. treats the
keys as function keys, the "normal" layout assigns the displayable
characters "+", "-", "*" and "/" to these keys. (They are set up as
simple keystroke macros.)
* Some IBM PC keys including
normally supported. However if the VCONFIG (Chapter 8)
configuration setting for "Keyboard Input" is changed from the
default "ROM BIOS" to "DOS", these keys may appear dead. (Some
versions of DOS support them and others do not.)
NOTE: See the notes for {MISC, Keyboard Layout, Change Layout} in
Chapter 6 (Menu Reference) for more information about which key
combinations can be used with VEDIT Jr.
21
VEDIT Jr. Chapter 2 Getting Started
"Normal" IBM PC Keyboard Layout
-------------------------------
[BACKSPACE]
[BLOCK COPY]
[BLOCK MOVE]
[CANCEL]
[CURSOR UP]
[CURSOR DOWN]
[CURSOR RIGHT]
[CURSOR LEFT]
[DELETE]
[DEL PREV WORD]
[DEL NEXT WORD]
[ENTER CTRL]
[ERASE EOL]
[ERASE LINE]
[ESCAPE]
[HELP]
[INDENT]
[INSERT TOGGLE]
[LINE BEGIN]
[LINE END]
[MENU]
[NEXT LINE]
[NEXT PARAGRAPH]
[NEXT TAB STOP]
[NEXT WORD]
[PAGE UP]
[PAGE DOWN]
[PREV PARAGRAPH]
[PREV WORD]
[REPEAT]
[REPEAT LAST]
[REPLACE]
[SCREEN BEGIN]
[SCREEN END]
[SCROLL UP]
[SCROLL DOWN]
[SCROLL RIGHT]
[SCROLL LEFT]
[SEARCH]
[SEARCH AGAIN]
[TAB CHARACTER]
[T-REG COPY]
[T-REG MOVE]
[T-REG INSERT]
[UNDENT]
[VISUAL EXIT]
22
VEDIT Jr. Chapter 2 Getting Started
"Normal" IBM PC Keyboard Layout cont.
-------------------------------------
Built-in Keystroke Macros:
screen (EGA/VGA)
23
VEDIT Jr. Chapter 2 Getting Started
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24
VEDIT Jr. Chapter 3 Quick Tutorial
Chapter 3 - Quick Tutorial
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Let's take a quick tour of VEDIT Jr. In this chapter you will learn
basic text editing, using the menu system, displaying help and, most
importantly, how to save the results. In short, you will know all
that's required to really use VEDIT Jr.!
Each basic editing function in VEDIT Jr. has a name which we normally
show as in [HELP] and [CURSOR RIGHT]. We show which key to press to
perform the editing functions as in
To keep things simple, this quick tutorial often just lists which key to
press to perform various editing operations. However, the rest of this
manual is oriented towards the names of the editing functions.
NOTE: Since this quick tutorial is specific on which keys to press, it
assumes that you have installed VEDIT Jr. on an IBM PC and
selected the "Normal" keyboard layout.
Starting VEDIT Jr.
------------------
To start VEDIT Jr. and begin editing a file called NEWS.TXT, type:
VEDIT NEWS.TXT
Unless you already have a file called NEWS.TXT in the current directory,
VEDIT Jr. will create this file for you. If the file does exist, VEDIT
Jr. will load it and display the beginning of the file. The screen
will appear as:
NEWS.TXT LINE: 1 COL: 1 INS F1=HELP
The "status line" at the top of the screen indicates the name of the
file being edited, the location of the cursor by line number and column
number, and which key performs the [HELP] function.
The status line is also used to display prompts, error messages and the
top line of the menu system.
The "cursor" is initially at the top left of the screen. The cursor
25
VEDIT Jr. Chapter 3 Quick Tutorial
indicates the exact location at which any edit changes, such as typing
in new text, will be made.
Entering New Text
-----------------
VEDIT Jr. starts up in "Insert Mode". As you type, new letters are
inserted at the cursor position. You can tell that VEDIT Jr. is in
Insert Mode by the "INS" on the status line. If you do not see "INS" on
the status line, press once (the [INSERT TOGGLE] function).
You can now type some text which will appear on the screen and will soon
be made into a file. Type in the following text. Press the
at the end of each line. You can make simple corrections while typing
by pressing
NEWS.TXT LINE: 6 COL: 1 INS F1=HELP
Bach simply awed the professional musicians
who met or just observed him. Their descriptions
indicate that Bach, at the head of an orchestra,
was a conductor very much like the great
conductors of today.
Pressing the
line. When you press
"newline" character. Every text line ends in a "newline" character.
(The "newline" character is normally invisible, but like many things in
VEDIT Jr., you can configure it to be visible.
Moving the Cursor
-----------------
You can move the cursor to another part of the text using the "Cursor
Control" (arrow) keys:
To move the cursor back to the first line, press
cursor is back on the first line. If you keep pressing
cursor will no longer move, because you're at the beginning of the file.
Similarly, if you press
will not move any further because you are at the end of the file.
26
VEDIT Jr. Chapter 3 Quick Tutorial
Pressing
cursor to the end of the previous line. Similarly, pressing
of the following line.
With the default configuration, VEDIT Jr. only lets you position the
cursor at real characters in the text and at the ends of lines. You
cannot position the cursor on the screen where there is no text.
However, VEDIT Jr. has several "Cursor Positioning Modes" which let you
modify this behavior.
Deleting Text
-------------
You can delete the character at the cursor by pressing
do that, the character just after the cursor will be "drawn back" to the
cursor position.
Move the cursor just before the word "the":
Bach simply awedthe professional musicians
To delete the word (and the extra space) press
Bach simply awedprofessional musicians
You can also delete the character just before the cursor by pressing the
just typed.
If you now press
Bach simplyprofessional musicians
Earlier in this chapter, when you wanted to start a new line, you
inserted what we called a "newline" character with the
While you cannot actually see it, a "newline" really is like a
character. (Technically, for DOS files it is two characters a "carriage
return" and a "line feed".) When you type a character key, a visible
character is inserted. Similarly, pressing
Also, just as
also delete a "newline" or a space.
To show this, move the cursor to the "T" in the word "Their" and press
27
VEDIT Jr. Chapter 3 Quick Tutorial
NEWS.TXT LINE: 3 COL: 1 INS F1=HELP
Bach simply awed the professional musicians
who met or just observed him.
heir descriptions
indicate that Bach, at the head of an orchestra,
was a conductor very much like the great
conductors of today.
As you can see, a "newline" has been inserted.
Now press
NEWS.TXT LINE: 2 COL: 31 INS F1=HELP
Bach simply awed the professional musicians
who met or just observed him. heir descriptions
indicate that Bach, at the head of an orchestra,
was a conductor very much like the great
conductors of today.
Of course the
no exception.
Try the following:
In short, when you're at the beginning of a line and want to append it
to the previous line, press
line and want to append the following line, press
You can delete an entire line by pressing
function); any following lines will then move up.
You can delete text from the cursor position to the end of the line by
pressing
current line by first pressing
different from
line instead of erasing it entirely.
Typing Beyond the Visible Screen Area
-------------------------------------
Now lets see what happens when you type in more than a single screen
full of text. Move the cursor to the end of your current text and press
28
VEDIT Jr. Chapter 3 Quick Tutorial
you reach the bottom of the screen.
As you get near the bottom of the screen, VEDIT Jr. will automatically
"scroll" the text upward to make room for new text. In effect, you
could keep typing forever.
Now try typing a very long line. As you get to the right side of the
screen, just keep typing. VEDIT Jr. will automatically scroll the text
to the left to make room for the new text.
Line and Column Numbers
-----------------------
VEDIT Jr. tells you exactly where you are in your file by displaying the
line and column number of the current cursor position on the status
line. The current line number is located just to the right of "LINE:"
and the current column number is just to the right of "COL:".
In the previous example, VEDIT Jr. had scrolled the text to the left.
If you look at the status line in that example, you will notice that
"COL:" had changed to "20:", which tells you that the left edge of the
screen is at column 20. The real column number is still displayed on
the status line in its normal location.
Quick Cursor Movement
---------------------
Using arrow keys to move the cursor might be fine if you do not have far
to go, but what about long distance jumps? Fortunately the arrow keys
are only some of the cursor control keys available. In addition to
moving line by line or character by character, there are keys which can
move the cursor by words, paragraphs, screens and to the beginning or
end of a line or screen. Other movements using the {GOTO} menu are also
possible and are described later in this manual. (But not in this
on-disk documentation.)
Moving by Words
---------------
To move the cursor forward an entire word, press:
To move the cursor backward an entire word, press:
The
character of a word. If the cursor is not currently at a word, pressing
29
VEDIT Jr. Chapter 3 Quick Tutorial
Moving to the Beginning or End of a Line
----------------------------------------
To move the cursor to the end of the current line, press:
If the cursor is already at the end of the current line when
pressed, the cursor will move the the end of the next line.
To move the cursor to the beginning of the current line, press:
If the cursor is already at the beginning of the current line when
line.
From working with other editors and word processors, you may be used to
the
not worry, VEDIT Jr. has many configuration options that let it closely
emulate other editing styles you may already be used to.
Moving by Screens
-----------------
Well, actually just less than a screen. VEDIT Jr. comes configured to
"page" the screen up or down two lines less than the actual text screen
size. This allows some overlap between screens of text, thus providing
a visual reference for easier reading.
To move the cursor forward an entire screen page, press:
To move the cursor backward an entire screen page, press:
Even though these functions refer to "pages", they bear no relation to
printed pages for a completed document. They are simply "screen" pages
and their size depends mostly on the number of lines of text your
computer displays.
30
VEDIT Jr. Chapter 3 Quick Tutorial
Moving by Paragraphs
--------------------
What is a paragraph? Since VEDIT Jr. is a "Plain Text" editor, it does
not introduce unseen control characters to mark where one paragraph ends
and the next begins. Instead, it considers a blank line as a break
between paragraphs. Even when the first line of a paragraph is
indented, if there is not a blank line between it and the previous
paragraph, VEDIT Jr. will think it's all one big paragraph.
To move the cursor forward an entire paragraph press:
To move the cursor backward an entire paragraph press:
The
character of a paragraph. If the cursor is not currently at a
paragraph, pressing
character of the next paragraph and
the previous paragraph.
Undo
----
VEDIT Jr. offers you the luxury of changing your mind. Perhaps you
changed some text, then decided it was better before the change. Rather
than deleting and retyping, you can ask VEDIT Jr. to "undo" those
changes.
To undo your last action press:
Each press of
can be "undone" in this way include inserting or overwriting characters,
deleting characters and cursor movements. Up to the last 1,000 of these
actions can be undone by repeatedly pressing
To try it, first delete a line of text by pressing
deleting, overwriting and inserting text. Repeatedly pressing
will reverse these changes step by step.
You can also undo changes line by line by pressing
quick way to undo all the changes you just made to a line, but did not
intend to make.
For this tutorial you do not want to repeatedly press
will soon end up with a blank screen because that is how you started
31
VEDIT Jr. Chapter 3 Quick Tutorial
out. You cannot reverse the effect of an Undo function.
Using Menus
-----------
So far, you have learned how to perform basic operations by pressing
particular keys which are assigned to them. Most of these operations
are also available using menus, along with many that do not have a
direct keypress equivalent.
To activate the menu system, press:
VEDIT Jr. will replace the status line with a horizontal menu bar. This
is the "main menu" which shows the names of each "pull-down" menu. One
item in the main menu will be highlighted and a pull-down menu will be
displayed. VEDIT Jr. shows you this pull-down menu in advance of
actually selecting it as a reference of what is available in it.
Block Edit File Goto Help Misc Print Search Undo Config
Set Marker F9
Set ColumN Marker ^N
Insert Register Grey-*
NOTE: If the main menu does not have a highlighted item or the
pull-down menus appear blank, you may need to re-install VEDIT
Jr. When the installation program prompts "Should VEDIT Jr. be
configured to use only Black/White characters (Yes/No)?", respond
by pressing "Y".
To highlight a different main menu item, press:
Try highlighting each item in the main menu and examine the items in
each pull-down menu.
Before you can make a selection from a pull-down menu you must select it
from the main menu.
Highlight "File" and press
32
VEDIT Jr. Chapter 3 Quick Tutorial
Block Edit File Goto Help Misc Print Search Undo Config
Read-Only File No
New File ALT-N
Insert File
Directory
Save As
Save and Continue
Exit File (Save) ALT-X
Quit File (Abandon)
You can tell that you have selected a pull-down menu by the highlight
bar which appears in it. You can move this bar up and down to select
the desired item.
To highlight a different menu item, press:
Try highlighting each item in the {FILE} menu.
Items in the pull-down menus can also be selected by highlighting the
desired one and pressing
themselves be sub-menus. For example, in the {MISC} menu, the item
{MISC, Keyboard Layout} is a sub-menu.
Answering a Prompt
------------------
The "Directory" item in the {FILE} menu lets you view the names of all
files in your current directory or any other directory you specify. You
can then press
or you can type in the directory of your choice.
To display the current directory, select "Directory" from the {FILE}
menu; at the "Enter Filename:" prompt simply press
A typical display might be:
C:\VEDIT\*.*
.. VEDIT.EXE VCONFIG.EXE VHELP.HLP ERRATA.DOC
WORDSTAR.KEY WORDPERF.KEY KEYS.IBM README.BAT WHATS.NEW
COMPARE.VDM DISPLAY.VDM KEY-MAC.LIB MACROS.LIB PRINT.VDM
SORT.VDM NEWS.TXT
This is VEDIT Jr.'s "point & shoot" file selection window. It is
displayed any time you respond to the "Enter Filename" prompt by just
33
VEDIT Jr. Chapter 3 Quick Tutorial
pressing
"Point and Shoot File Section" in Chapter 4 (Editing Guide) describes
this in more detail.
When you're done viewing the directory, press
back to displaying your text.
To display the contents of the directory "C:\DOS", select {FILE,
Directory} as before. At the "Enter Filename:" prompt enter:
C:\DOS\*.*
In the typical screen below, notice that the top line indicates that the
files in the "C:\DOS" directory are now being displayed.
C:\DOS\*.*
.. ASSIGN.COM BACKUP.COM BASIC.COM BASICA.COM
CHKDSK.COM COMMAND.COM COMP.COM DEBUG.COM DISKCOMP.COM
DISKCOPY.COM EDLIN.COM FDISK.COM FORMAT.COM GRAFTABL.COM
GRAPHICS.COM KEYBGR.COM KEYENH.COM LABEL.COM MODE.COM
MORE.COM PRINT.COM RESTORE.COM SELECT.COM SHIPTRAK.COM
SYS.COM TREE.COM APPEND.EXE ATTRIB.EXE BASIC.EXE
CHKDSK.EXE EXE2BIN.EXE FIND.EXE JOIN.EXE LINK.EXE
REPLACE.EXE SHARE.EXE SORT.EXE SUBST.EXE XCOPY.EXE
ANSI.SYS DRIVER.SYS HDRIVE.SYS VDISK.SYS
Response History
----------------
VEDIT Jr. remembers what you enter in response to its prompts. You can
recall and reuse these past responses or even edit them.
For example, to see this in action select {FILE, Directory} again. At
the "Enter Filename" press:
This will recall the previous "C:\DOS\*.*" entry.
Block Edit File Goto Help Misc Print Search Undo Config
Read-Only File No
New File ALT-N
Insert File
Directory
Enter Filename: C:\DOS\*.*
Quit File (Abandon)
34
VEDIT Jr. Chapter 3 Quick Tutorial
HINT: While editing a response, the
Exiting the Menu System
-----------------------
To back up, or you might say "escape" from the current menu, press:
Pressing
the main menu removes the menu system.
Pressing
described later). Of course, you can press
menu too.
You can also jump totally out of the menus from any point. To quit the
menu system, press:
Pressing it from anywhere within the menu system immediately removes the
menu system.
You can think of
function which is prompting you and aborts any printing in progress.
Even if your keyboard layout has some other key assigned to [CANCEL],
running and, in most cases, cancel any prompt.
Context Sensitive Help
----------------------
VEDIT Jr. provides context sensitive on-line help. When you press
(the [HELP] function), VEDIT Jr. will "pop-up" additional information
related to what you are currently doing.
* If the menu system is active, the information is on the current menu
selection.
* If VEDIT Jr. is prompting you for something, the information is
related to how you should respond.
* Otherwise, (i.e. if you are on a text screen without menus or
prompts), the information describes the special keys available to
you.
For example, activate the menu system and directly access the {FILE}
35
VEDIT Jr. Chapter 3 Quick Tutorial
menu by pressing
like this:
Block Edit File Goto Help Misc Print Search Undo Config
Read-Only File No
{FILE} Menu --
Read Only Enables "Read Only Mode" to protect files from accidental
alterations within VEDIT Jr. The "Read Only Mode" is
automatically selected when starting up VEDIT Jr. in
"Browse" mode and when editing a true "read only" file - in
these cases you cannot disable Read Only Mode.
New File Edits a new file in the same edit buffer (and window). The
current file may be saved to disk or abandoned. At the
prompt press
Press any key to continue
The displayed help information may be more than one page long. You can
advance to the next page by pressing any key. After the last page,
VEDIT Jr. will return to the way it was before you asked for help.
Keyboard Help
-------------
VEDIT Jr. can also display a list of keystrokes and the operations they
perform. To display keystroke help, make sure you are not in the menu
system and press
Keyboard Help
[BACKSPACE] Backspace [NEXT LINE] Ctrl-Enter
[BLOCK COPY] F9 [NEXT PARAGRAPH] Ctrl-F6
[BLOCK MOVE] Alt-F9 [NEXT WORD] F6
[CANCEL] Ctrl-C [PAGE UP] PgUp
. . . .
. . . .
. . . .
. . . .
[HELP] F1 [SCROLL LEFT] Ctrl-Cursor-Left
[INDENT] F8 [TAB CHARACTER] Tab
[INSERT TOGGLE] Ins [T-REG COPY] Ctrl-F10
[LINE BEGIN] Home [T-REG MOVE] Alt-F10
[LINE END] End [T-REG INSERT] F10
[MENU] F10 [UNDENT] F7
Press key for desired function or
36
VEDIT Jr. Chapter 3 Quick Tutorial
Each basic "edit function" is shown along with the keys assigned to it.
These are described in detail in Chapter 7 (Edit Function Reference).
From this display, you can obtain additional information on a particular
edit function by pressing the key(s) assigned to that function.
For example, to display additional help on [LINE END], press
should see the following screen:
Keyboard Help
[LINE BEGIN] Moves the cursor to the first character of the current
line or, if already there, to the first character of
the previous text line.
[LINE END] Moves the cursor to the end of the current line or,
if already there, to the end of the next line of text.
The behavior of [LINE BEGIN] and [LINE END] can be
changed with {CONFIG, Emulation, Line emulation}.
[NEXT LINE] Moves the cursor to the beginning of the next line of
text.
Press any key to continue
General Help
------------
VEDIT Jr. can also provide help information on particular topics. First
press [HELP] and then the
Keyboard Help
HELP TOPICS
{STAT} Status line messages
{MARG} Setting left and right margins
{FORM} Formatting paragraphs
{HZ} Horizontal scrolling
{IC} Inserting control and graphics characters
{CONV} Lower / upper case key conversion
{EMPTY} Emptying a text register (free more memory space)
{MOUSE} Mouse support
Type the word between "{" and "}" for help on above topics:
37
VEDIT Jr. Chapter 3 Quick Tutorial
The screen lists topics on which additional help information is
available. To select a topic, simply enter its name.
For example, to display information about the status line, type "stat"
(in upper or lowercase) and press
this:
Keyboard Help
#R The "#" is followed by the name of the current edit buffer.
It does not appear when you are in the main edit buffer.
BLOCK Indicates that both block markers have been set. The block
can be processed from the {BLOCK} menu or printed from the
{PRINT} menu. The block markers can be removed (cancelled)
by pressing [CANCEL].
C-N-S On the IBM PC, the status of the Caps/Num/Scroll Lock is
displayed on the status line with the single letters "C", "N"
and "S".
COL: Indicates in which column of the text the cursor is located.
When the screen is scrolled sideways, the "COL" changes to
the column number corresponding to the left side of the
screen. E.g. "40:112" indicates the left screen edge is at
column 40 and the cursor is in column 112.
DISK Indicates that the disk is full. This requires immediate
attention since the file currently cannot be saved to disk.
Use {MISC, DOS Shell} to enter DOS and delete some unnecessary
Press any key to continue
Printing Text
-------------
You can print the text you have just created. Make sure that your
printer is properly connected and "ON LINE". Press
enter the {Print} menu:
Block Edit File Goto Help Misc Print Search Undo Config
All
Block ^P
Finish/Eject
Eject
Reset
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VEDIT Jr. Chapter 3 Quick Tutorial
This is a good time to try out the context sensitive help. Press
(the [HELP] function). A pop-up window will give a short description of
each item in the {PRINT} menu.
Select {PRINT, All} to print the entire file. After the text is fully
printed, the printer will advance to the beginning of the next page.
Notice that the text started a few lines down on the page and was not
printed on the left edge of the paper, but rather has about a one inch
margin. The description of the {PRINT, Config} sub-menu in Chapter 6
(Menu Reference) explains how to configure various printing options.
Repeating Operations
--------------------
It is often desirable to repeat an editing operation such as inserting
the same character, or deleting many lines. By using the [REPEAT]
function (
of times without having to press the same key over and over again.
For example, if you needed to enter 50 "*" characters into your text,
you could press the "*" key fifty times, counting very carefully. With
VEDIT Jr., there is a better way the [REPEAT] function is perfect for
this.
EXAMPLE - To enter 50 "*" characters into your text:
1. Press
prompt you with:
Repeat Count: 4
2. Type "50"; DO NOT press
Repeat Count: 50
3. Press "*". Fifty "*" characters will be entered into your text.
At the "Repeat Count" you can enter any number up to 256. You can also
press [REPEAT] several more times to quadruple the initial value of 4 to
16, then 64 and finally 256.
After the repeat count is correct, you can enter any text character,
perform any editing function such as [ERASE LINE], or make any menu
selection.
For example, to delete 75 lines, press
"75". Then press
You can also repeat the last editing operation by pressing [REPEAT LAST]
(
operation one more time.
39
VEDIT Jr. Chapter 3 Quick Tutorial
EXAMPLE - Toggle through all screen colors:
1. Select {MISC, Toggle Color}. (Press
The screen color should change.
2. Repeatedly press
to toggle through all screen colors.
VEDIT Jr. also lets you repeatedly perform a sequence of editing steps
over and over again. This is done using "keystroke macros" which are
covered in Chapter 4 (Editing Guide) and Chapter 6 (Menu Reference).
Saving Your Work
----------------
You should periodically save your work back to disk. You can do this
using VEDIT Jr.'s menu system. The following example also introduces
you to two menu short cuts.
To save your work to disk, first press
Then press "S" for "Save". There may be a short delay while your file
is saved to disk; you may also notice the message "Please wait for disk"
in the lower right corner of the screen.
In the above example you went directly to the {FILE} menu by pressing
the
item. You can use this trick to go directly to any main menu item. The
second short cut was to press the highlighted letter of the desired menu
item; this is usually the first letter.
The "Escape" Menu
-----------------
The {ESCAPE} menu is totally separate from the main menu. This menu is
displayed when you press
want to "escape".
NEWS.TXT LINE: 1 COL: 1 INS F1=HELP
ESCAPE MENU
Remove Block Markers
Exit File (save)
Quit file (abandon)
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VEDIT Jr. Chapter 3 Quick Tutorial
You select items from this menu using
as you do from other menus.
Exiting VEDIT Jr.
-----------------
To finish editing, simply press the
menu.
"Exit (save)" saves your work while "Quit (abandon)" leaves the editor
without saving any changes you may have made.
To save your work and exit VEDIT Jr.:
1. Press
2. Press "E" to select "Exit (save)".
Note that selecting "Exit" from the {ESCAPE} menu is identical to
selecting "Exit" from the {FILE} menu.
That's It!
----------
That's all you need to create and edit text files. Obviously there is
much more VEDIT Jr. can do for you. For example, VEDIT Jr. can copy or
move blocks of text, search for and replace words or entire phrases and
perform numerous other operations. Take some time to get comfortable
with basic editing, then read on through the more detailed chapters
which follow.
We certainly enjoyed creating VEDIT Jr. and sincerely hope it serves you
well.
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VEDIT Jr. Chapter 3 Quick Tutorial
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VEDIT Jr. Chapter 4 Editing Guide
Chapter 4 - Editing Guide
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Starting (Invoking) VEDIT Jr.
-----------------------------
Begin editing by typing the name of the VEDIT Jr. program; this is
normally "VJ". Although not necessary, this is normally followed by the
name of the (first) file you want to edit or create. For example:
vj letter.txt
When creating a new file, the message "New File" will briefly appear.
The filename on the status line at the top of the screen indicates which
file you are editing.
Invocation Options
------------------
In addition to the filename, one or more "options" can be specified (in
upper or lowercase) when you start up VEDIT Jr. The syntax for invoking
VEDIT Jr. is:
vj -options filename
-b This puts VEDIT Jr. into "browse mode"; you can view files,
but cannot alter them. You also cannot create files nor
write blocks to disk.
-m Causes VEDIT Jr. to use screen attributes which are
appropriate for a monochrome (Black and White) monitor.
-o Causes VEDIT Jr. to write to the screen via the "BIOS"
(instead of directly to the screen memory). This overrides
the value set by configuration task 6.1.
-o1 Same as "-o".
-o2 Causes VEDIT Jr. to write to the screen via the "BIOS" on
non-IBM type machines. This is necessary for VEDIT Jr. to
work on the Tandy 2000 and other "near" compatibles.
-snnn Restricts VEDIT Jr. to use a maximum of 'nnn' Kbytes of
memory for all data areas. The minimum value is 30. When
'nnn' is not specified, "-s" defaults to (approximately)
"64". Without this option VEDIT Jr. may use all available
memory.
-nnn Causes VEDIT Jr. to start up on line 'nnn' of the file. If
there are fewer than 'nnn' lines in the file, it will start
up at the end of the file.
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VEDIT Jr. Chapter 4 Editing Guide
-- Signals the end of the invocation options. This is only
needed when the filename being edited begins with a "-".
To see a summary of all invocation options, give the command:
vj /?
Notes:
"-m" is only needed if VEDIT Jr. was installed (configured) for a
color display and you have a monochrome display connected to a color
(EGA/VGA) adapter.
The "-s" option lets you control how much memory VEDIT Jr. uses.
The total memory used will be 'nnn' Kbytes plus the size of the
executable VEDIT Jr. (approximately 64 Kbytes) plus another 10
Kbytes. "-s" can provide memory for running other programs from
within VEDIT Jr. using {MISC, Dos Shell}. Otherwise VEDIT Jr. may
use all available memory.
Values of less than 196 for the "-s" option will limit the memory
available for text register operations and the number of Undo levels
available. With this option, or with little available memory,
Vedit Jr. will be somewhat slower in editing large files.
All filenames may include drive and path specifications.
See Also:
"Exiting VEDIT Jr." and "Backup Files" later in this chapter.
{MISC, DOS Shell}, in Chapter 6 (Menu Reference).
Examples:
To edit the file "CONFIG.SYS" in the root directory of drive C:,
type:
vj c:\config.sys
After you have modified and saved CONFIG.SYS, you will have both an
updated copy called CONFIG.SYS and the original copy called
CONFIG.BAK.
To edit the file "PHONE.LST" and limit the memory used by
VEDIT Jr. to 130 KBytes, type:
vj -s130 phone.lst
To edit the file "PROGRAM.C" and have the cursor start up on line
984, give the command:
vj -984 program.c
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VEDIT Jr. Chapter 4 Editing Guide
Fast Browse Mode
----------------
Invoking VEDIT Jr. with the "-b" option causes files to be opened in a
special browse mode. {GOTO, Beginning of file}, {GOTO, End of file} and
relative jumps using the mouse will then work instantly on even
many-megabyte files.
Files opened in browse mode are indicated with a "!" preceding their
filename on the status line.
Since VEDIT Jr. does not create any temporary files in browse mode, you
can browse files on a read-only drive, e.g. a CD-ROM drive.
You can also enable browse mode by selecting {FILE, Browse Mode}. The
*next* file edited will then be opened in the special browse mode.
Notes:
{FILE, Browse Mode} affects the *next* file opened and not the
current file. As a convenience, setting {FILE, Browse Mode} to
"Yes" also prevents any additional alterations to the current file.
CD-ROM and other Read-only files are automatically opened in browse
mode.
To alter a file you are currently browsing, first set {FILE, Browse
Mode} to "No". Then select the same file again with {FILE, New}.
You cannot disable browse mode if you invoked VEDIT Jr. with "-b".
VEDIT Jr. does not always know the current line number when
browsing; the line number is then displayed as "?????". If you must
know the line number in a browsed file, set {CONFIG, File Handling,
Fast browse mode} to "No". Browsing will be slower, but the correct
line number will always be displayed.
VEDIT Jr. Environment Variable
------------------------------
If you use the same invocation options over and over again, you can set
up the environment variable "VEDIT" with any desired default options.
Any options specified by this environment variable are processed by
VEDIT Jr. before those given on the command.
For example, if you always wanted VEDIT Jr. to use monochrome screen
colors and to use a maximum of 196 Kbytes of data space, you could add
the following line to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file:
SET VEDIT=-M -S196
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VEDIT Jr. Chapter 4 Editing Guide
Exiting VEDIT Jr.
-----------------
You can exit VEDIT Jr. with the functions "Exit (save)", and "Quit
(abandon)". These functions are available in both the {FILE} and
{ESCAPE} menus for convenience and are fully described in Chapter 6
(Menu Reference).
The "Exit (Save)" item causes VEDIT Jr. to save the modified text and
exit back to DOS.
To exit VEDIT Jr. and save the current file:
1. Select either {FILE, Exit} or {ESCAPE, Exit File}. This will
save the file and exit VEDIT Jr.
The "Quit (Abandon)" item causes VEDIT Jr. to discard any changes made
to the text since the last time your saved the file (e.g. with {FILE,
Save and continue}) and returns to DOS.
If you make any text changes, VEDIT Jr. will ask you for confirmation
before discarding them. This confirmation is your last chance of
retaining these changes.
To exit VEDIT Jr. and quit (abandon) the current file:
1. Select either {FILE, Quit} or {ESCAPE, Quit File}.
2. VEDIT Jr. will prompt you for confirmation to abandon any
changes. Press "Y" and VEDIT Jr. will abandon any changes and
exit.
Notes:
VEDIT Jr. checks to see if any changes have been made before
exiting. If no changes were made since starting VEDIT Jr. or since
the last time the file was saved, VEDIT Jr. will not bother to save
the file again or ask for confirmation before quitting.
If there is insufficient disk space to save the modified file,
VEDIT Jr. displays an error and aborts the request to exit. If this
happens, you have several options. You can quit and abandon any
changes made or delete unneeded files from your disk. Or you can
use {FILE, Save As} to save the file on another drive.
{MISC, DOS Shell} and {MISC, Run DOS Program} let you execute DOS
commands for deleting files. Be careful not to delete any files
which start with the same name as the file you are editing.
VEDIT Jr. may be using these files for temporary storage.
See Also:
"Starting VEDIT Jr." earlier in this chapter.
46
VEDIT Jr. Chapter 4 Editing Guide
{FILE, Exit}, {FILE, Quit} in Chapter 6 (Menu Reference).
Backup Files
------------
When you edit and modify an existing file, VEDIT Jr. renames the
original file to the same name with a ".BAK" extension. This provides
an automatic backup of the original file contents should you need to
refer back to the original file. Any existing ".BAK" file is deleted
during this process.
Backup files take up additional disk space but provide important data
protection. They provide a backup in case of a major editing mistake
which you may not notice until days later. They also provide some
protection against accidentally deleting files -- the most recent
revisions may be lost, but at least the previous revisions are still
there.
When you are sure you do not need the backup files anymore you can
delete them with the DOS command "DEL *.BAK". (The "XDEL" command from
Digital Research can delete all backup files in all directories with the
command "XDEL *.BAK /S".)
However, if you are determined not to have VEDIT Jr. create backup
files, this backup feature can be turned off.
To turn off backup files:
1. Set {CONFIG, File Handling, Enable backup} to "Off".
2. To make this change permanent in VEDIT Jr. select {CONFIG, Save
into VEDIT}.
The Status Line
---------------
VEDIT Jr. provides a wide variety of information on the "Status Line"
located at the top of the screen.
Additional status information is available by selecting the menu item
{HELP, Status Display}.
The Status Line may include the following information:
BLOCK Indicates that both block markers have been set. The
highlighted block can be processed with the {BLOCK} menu,
printed with {PRINT, Block} and indented/undented with
[INDENT] and [UNDENT]. The block markers can be removed by
pressing [CANCEL] (
47
VEDIT Jr. Chapter 4 Editing Guide
C-N-S On the IBM PC (DOS only), the status of the Caps/Num/Scroll
Lock is displayed on the status line with the single letters
"C", "N" and "S".
COL: xxxx Indicates in which column of the text the cursor is. When
the screen is scrolled sideways, the "COL" changes to the
column number corresponding to the left side of the screen.
E.g. "40:112" indicates the left screen edge is at column 40
and the cursor is in column 112.
Disk The disk is full! This requires immediate attention since
the file currently cannot be saved to disk. See the topic
"Exiting VEDIT Jr." earlier in this chapter for more
information.
filename Indicates the name of the file you are currently editing.
This may include a drive ID if the file being edited is not
on the current drive. Use {HELP, Status Display} to display
the full pathname of the file and its size.
The filename is preceded with "!" when the file was opened
in browse mode. The file cannot be altered, but can be
quickly browsed.
INS "Insert" mode is on; if this is not displayed, VEDIT Jr. is
in "Overstrike" mode.
LINE: xxxx Indicates on what line of the file the cursor is. The
message is reduced to "LI:" for line numbers greater than
65535. When the message is all in capital letters the
entire file is memory. Otherwise the message is displayed
as follows:
Line: The beginning of the file is currently in memory, but the
end of the file is on disk.
lINE: The end of the file is currently in memory, but the
beginning of the file has been written to disk.
line: Only the middle of the file is in memory, the remainder is
on disk.
RM: xx Right margin value only displayed if the right margin is
set.
TEXT Indicates that you have text in the text register. The
"BLOCK" and "1-END" messages have higher priority and may
appear in its place.
1-END Indicates that only one block marker is set. The block of
text is highlighted as you move the cursor. The block
marker can be removed by pressing [CANCEL] (
48
VEDIT Jr. Chapter 4 Editing Guide
Examples:
B:NEWS.TXT LINE: 1 COL: 1 INS N F1=HELP
The status line above indicates that the file "NEWS.TXT" is being
edited on drive "B:", the cursor is at the beginning of the file,
"Insert Mode" is on, the "Numlock" status is on and the [HELP]
function is assigned to
ACCOUNT.RPT Line: 233 40: 62 1-END CN ALT-F1=Help
The status line above shows that "ACCOUNT.RPT" on the default drive
is being edited, only the first part of the file is in memory, the
cursor is located at line 233 and column 62, the screen is scrolled
40 columns to the right (the left most displayed column is actually
column 40), the first (and not the second) block marker is set,
"CapsLock" and "Numlock" are on and the [HELP] function is assigned
to
Using Menus
-----------
VEDIT Jr.'s menu system provides convenient access to many editing
functions which complement the basic "edit functions". It also lets you
access most configurable parameters and additional help and reference
information.
You can access the items in the menu system in three ways:
* Bring up the menu system by pressing [MENU] (
navigate through the available functions with the cursor keys; then
press
editing function, it is then performed; if the item is a sub-menu,
that sub-menu is selected.
* Directly access the desired sub-menu by pressing the corresponding
"hot key". On an IBM PC (DOS) the "normal" keyboard layout defines
example,