VDO vers. 2.5(b) (Video Oriented editor) (c)1985 James H. Whorton ________________________________________________________________________ Implementation for the Amstrad PCW 8256/8512 by Mick Reed 11, Older Way, Angmering, Sussex BN16 4HQ Tel. [0903] 775039 ________________________________________________________________________ - 1 - MANUAL FOR AMSTRAD PCW USERS Table of Contents ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Section Title Page ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1 Introduction for PCW Users 3 2 Overview of VDO.................. 3 3 Advantages of VDO................ 4 4 Disadvantages of VDO............. 4 5 Operation........................ 4 6 Summary of Commands.............. 5 7 Editing Commands..................6 8 Error handling................... 10 - 2 - 1. Introduction for PCW users This version of VDO25B has been configured for the Amstrad PCW range by means of the Setkeys utility.I have simply reset the keyboard so that the range of commands provided by the originators can be accessed by use of keys familar to PCW users. So far as is practicable I have attempted to utilise the key combinations available under Locoscript 2. This should enable users to adapt to its use without any painful adjustments. The version supplied has already been installed for the PCW range, but use on other machines is possible by using the original installation programme supplied on the disc. The revised manual is derived substantially from that written by James H. Whorton, but with considerable reworking to take account of this implementation. The original manual is also supplied on the disc. The version supplied autoboots into the M: drive of the PCW and is ready to use. The necessary files for this are provided and include: J14CPM3.EMS VDO.COM PIP.COM SETDEF.COM SETKEYS.COM SUBMIT.COM PROFILE.SUB VDOKEYS.DAT The VDOKEYS.DAT file provides the data for resetting the keyboard, while the PROFILE.SUB has been especially written for the autoboot process. Users wanting to access the original configuration can simply extract VDO.COM onto another disc. For these users I have also provided all other original files. These are VINST11.COM, VTERM-E.DAT, VTERM-E.NOT, VPATCH10.MAN, VPATCH10.COM, VDO25B.MAN,and VDO25B.NOT. I have not yet amended the HELP feature on this configuration to take account of the revised keyboard. To do so is time-consuming, and in any event PCW users should find the facility redundant in this configuration. 2. Overview VDO (Video Display Oriented) Editor is a small (7k) ASCII file full screen editor designed for use under CP/M 2.x. However, it seems to work without problems under the CP/M Plus implementation on the Amstrad PCW range once installed. Portions of this software are (c)1982 by Creative Software and F.W. Schneider. This software is NOT public domain, but has been released for non-profit distribution and use. Use of this software for profit in any manner is prohibited without the express written consent of the original author, James H. Wharton. For details of revisions incorporated in version 2.5(b), see the original manual. PCW users wanting to write text in pure ASCII format have a problem. The wordprocessor supplied - Locoscript - does not operate under CP/M, and any text produced by Locoscript has to be converted to ASCII before using within CP/M, a matter complicated by the fact that not all Locoscript characters have an ASCII equivalent. The CP/M text editors supplied with the PCW are not particularly easy to use. ED is complex in the extreme, while RPED runs under Basic and is limited to about 200 lines of text. There is clearly a need for an easy-to-use text editor, and VDO is one such. VDO is a memory based editor - that means that both the editor and the file being edited reside in memory. With a 61K CP/M - 3 - system, that gives you a maximum file size of about 52K. Since you will probably use this for program source files, that ought to be plenty. VDO uses a small set of standard WordStar keystroke commands, which have been reconfigured to the PCW keyboard. The commands are described in detail below. 3. Advantages to VDO VDO's major advantage over WordStar and other screen editors is its small size - only 7K of disk space is needed, as opposed to 60+ for WordStar. A minor advantage is VDO's speed - with no overlay files to swap in and out, VDO seems very fast. And with the type-ahead buffer you don't have to wait for the display to catch up with you. Another advantage it now has is the installation module that allows menu driven terminal installation. A number of terminals are currently supported (see appendix A of the original manual). 4. Disadvantages to VDO VDO lacks many features found in WordStar or indeed Locoscript. It is a file editor, not a word processor. Most noticeable is the lack of automatic word wrap at the end of a line. It is necessary to press the RETURN key at the end of the wanted length of line. If this is not done, or when moving the cursor, the display will adjust to the cursor position. You can't move the cursor off the screen accidentally. If a line is too wide to fit on the screen, it will scroll left automatically when the cursor travels off the left end of the screen. The column count on the status line will reflect the correct logical column at all times. Control characters do not count as occupying a logical column. In other words one can keep typing on a single line but the top display line will indicate what logical column you are in, so that you can move the cursor back to the column at the end of your wanted line length, and then press RETURN. However, most of the other important Wordstar features are implemented, and more are on the drawing board. Section 11, Future Plans, of the original manual, outlines some of the proposed features still to be added. 5. Operation of VDO The autoboot set-up on this disc stops short of actually running VDO leaving the user gazing at the M> prompt. The reason is simple. To call VDO automatically would mean that existing files could not be edited. VDO is started by typing either: VDO -or- VDO d:filename In the first version, where no filename is specified, VDO will create a new file when you exit, asking for the filename at that time. If the second version is used, VDO will attempt to open the specified file. If no file of the specified name exists,VDO will display an error message. You may continue from that point, and the name specified will be used to save the new file. If the file specified can be located, VDO will load the file and place the cursor at the start of the file. In any of the the three situations, you will be ready to start editing the file. The initial display provides the following information: the filename being edited [if specified]; the line and column in which the cursor is - 4 - currently situated; the number of characters preceding the cursor position; and the number of unused bytes. It also indicates whether one is in insert mode or not. In this configuration, VDO's commands are broken into seven major groups: Cursor Control, Deletion/Insertion Commands, Block Operations, Search/Replace Operations, Start/End of Edit, and a Miscellaneous group. The Help Commands of the original configuration have not been revised. All input to the editor, with the exception of pause prompts, is buffered in a 128 character type-ahead buffer. This means that you don't have to wait for the editor or display to catch up to you, you can just keep typing. Characters may be lost during disk reads/writes, due to the fact that the buffer routines are not true interrupts. 6. SUMMARY OF COMMANDS The '+' sign indicates that the specified keys should be pressed simultaneously. E.g. SHIFT+WORD/CHAR is obtained by holding down SHIFT while pressing the WORD/CHAR key. Original Keystrokes PCW Keystrokes Command Sequence CURSOR CONTROL ^S LEFT ARROW Cursor Left ^D RIGHT ARROW Cursor Right ^E UP ARROW Cursor Up ^X DOWN ARROW Cursor Down ^F SHIFT+WORD/CHAR Next Word ^A SHIFT+ALT+WORD/CHAR Previous Word ^C DOC/PAGE Next Page ^R ALT+DOC/PAGE Previous Page ^QR SHIFT+ALT+DOC/PAGE Start of Document ^QC SHIFT+DOC/PAGE End of Document ^QB ALT+UP ARROW Place Cursor at start of Block ^QK ALT+DOWN ARROW Place Cursor at end of Block DELETION/INSERTION COMMANDS DEL DELETE LEFT Delete character to left of cursor ^G DELETE RIGHT Delete character at Cursor ^T EXTRA+DELETE RIGHT Delete Word ^Y SHIFT+DELETE LEFT Delete Line ^V F1/F2 Insert Mode Toggle ^KR EXTRA+PASTE Insert File from Disc ^KZ EXTRA+CUT Erase File from memory BLOCK OPERATIONS ^KB SHIFT+F7/F8 Set Block Start Marker ^KK SHIFT+F5/F6 Set Block End Marker ^KC COPY Copy Block ^KV PASTE Move Block - 5 - ^KY CUT Delete Block ^KW EXTRA+COPY Save Block to Disc SEARCH/REPLACE COMMANDS ^QF EXCH/FIND Find String ^QA SHIFT+EXCH/FIND Find and Replace ^L ALT+EXCH/FIND Repeat these two with same options START/END OF EDIT ^KX F3/F4 Save File to Disc ^KQ SHIFT+F3/F4 Abandon Edit ^KS F5/F6 Save and Continue MISCELLANEOUS ^QT [+] Set Tab Stops ^KL F7/F8 Change Logged Drive ^KP SHIFT+F1/F2 Print File from Cursor ^KF EXTRA+ENTER Display Disc Directory ^P ALT+P Enter a Printer Code 7. EDITING COMMANDS The following gives more detailed descriptions of the available commands summarised above. CURSOR CONTROL Cursor Left LEFT ARROW Moves the cursor one position to the left non-destructively. If the cursor is already on the first position in a line, it will be moved to the last position of the previous line. Cursor Right RIGHT ARROW Moves the cursor one position to the right non-destructively. If it is already on the last position of the line, the cursor will be moved to the start of the following line. Cursor Up UP ARROW Moves the cursor up one line. Cursor Down DOWN ARROW Moves the Cursor down a line. Next Word SHIFT+WORD/CHAR Moves the cursor to the start of the following word. Previous Word SHIFT+ALT+WORD/CHAR Moves the cursor to the end of the preceding word. Next Page DOC/PAGE Moves the cursor to the corresponding position in the next page. Usually about 21 lines. - 6 - Previous Page ALT+DOC/PAGE Moves the cursor to the corresponding postion in the previous page. Start of Document SHIFT+ALT+DOC/PAGE Moves the Cursor to the start of the document. End of Document ALT+PAGE/DOC Moves the cursor to the end of the document. Place Cursor at Start of Block ALT+UP ARROW Places cursor at start of block defined by Block Operations below. Place Cursor at end of Block ALT+DOWN ARROW Places Cursor at end of Block defined by Block Operations below. DELETION/INSERTION COMMANDS Delete Left DELETE LEFT Deletes character to left of Cursor. Delete Right DELETE RIGHT Deletes character at cursor. Delete Word EXTRA+DELETE RIGHT Deletes whole word - or part of word - from the cursor rightwards, including the following space. To delete a complete word, the cursor must be on the first character. Delete Line SHIFT+DELETE LEFT Deletes entire line from cursor leftwards. Insert Mode Toggle F1/F2 In order to insert text in an existing document, it is necessary to be in Insert Mode, otherwise existing text will be overwritten. This key operates as a toggle. On starting up VDO Insert Mode is automatically set to ON. Insert File from Disc EXTRA+PASTE Reads a file from disc into the current file at the cursor position. When executed, a prompt appears at the top of the screen asking for the filename to be inserted. This should be expressed in the form d:filename.typ. Unfortunately,only files in user group 0 can be inserted with this command. Erase File from Memory EXTRA+CUT Erases the file from memory but has no effect on any disc versions of the file. - 7 - BLOCK OPERATIONS Set Block Start Marker SHIFT+F7/F8 Defines the beginning of a block. The cursor should be placed on the character at the beginning of the proposed block. No visual indication is given. Set Block End Marker SHIFT+F5/F6 Defines the end of a block. Following execution of the previous command, the cursor should be moved to the character at the end of the proposed block. No visual indication is given. Copy Block COPY Copies a block as defined by the two preceding commands to a new position as indicated by the cursor. Leaves the existing block untouched. N.B. It is not possible to copy a block into itself. The new cursor position must be outside of the defined block. Move Block PASTE Moves a defined Block to a new position as indicated by the cursor. Deletes block from original postion. Delete Block CUT Simply deletes block entirely. Save Block to Disc EXTRA+COPY When executed, a prompt appears at the top of the screen calling for a file-name. This should be in the form d:filename.typ SEARCH/REPLACE COMMANDS Find String EXCH/FIND This allows you to specify a string to search for in the text. This string may not include carriage returns. After executing this command, VDO will ask for the string to look for (the "target" string). Type in the string, then press RETURN. VDO will next ask if you wish to ignore upper and lower case differences. If you do not press "Y", VDO will look for a string capitalized exactly as you capitalized the target string. Pressing a "Y" or "y", will cause VDO to treat upper and lower case letters as exactly identical. Next, VDO will ask if you wish to look backwards from the cursor position. If you do not answer "Y" or "y", VDO will look forward from the cursor postion. When VDO finds the target string in the text, it will move the cursor to that position and display the surrounding text. If the string is not found, an error message will display and the cursor will be returned to the starting position. Find and Replace SHIFT+EXCH/FIND This works just like the preceding command, except that when the string is found, a string of your choice is substituted for the target string. Note: Strings containing Carriage Returns may not be searched for, but any other control character may be included in the target string. - 8 - Repeat two Preceding Commands with same options ALT+EXCH/FIND Allows further searches to be made with the previous commands, provided the same options are used. START/END OF EDIT Save File to Disc F3/F4 This ends the current edit. If the filename already exists on disc, the edited file will be saved automatically, and the previous version will be preserved on disc as a backup file [filetype .BAK]. If no previous version exists, then VDO will prompt for a filename which should be expressed in the form d:filename.typ. Abandon Edit SHIFT+F3/F4 This simply abandons the current edit, leaving the previous version on the disc [if any] unchanged. Such a drastic step is too easily taken, so VDO prompts for confirmation. Press "Y" to confirm, "N" to cancel. Save and Continue F5/F6 Saves the file as it appears in memory, and continues the editing session. MISCELLANEOUS Set Tab Stops [+] The key intended here is immediately to the left of the space bar on the PCW keyboard. Execution of this command gives a prompt at the top of the screen for choice of setting. VDO permits tabs to be set at 2, 4, 8, and 16, with the default at 8. Change Logged Drive F7/F8 Upon selection, the currently logged drive is displayed and the user is prompted for the new drive to log. To change discs, remove the old disc, insert the new one, press F7/F8 and log the new disc. VDO resets the disc system before writing files, so the disc may changed between reading a file in and saving a file, or in case of system failure (e.g. DISK FULL, BAD SECTOR). Print File from Cursor SHIFT F1/F2 Print the file. You will be asked for printer setup codes, which are entered as you wish them sent. Example: You wish to send ESCAPE B to the printer prior to printing. Press the ESCAPE key, then the B key, then RETURN. Note: You will not be able to send any codes for which keystroke equivalents don't exist, and you will not be able to send the RETURN code (ASCII CR, hex 0DH, decimal 13). Display Disc Directory EXTRA+ENTER Displays a directory of the currently logged drive [user area 0 only]. Enter a Printer Code ALT+P The next character typed will be entered into the text as-is, even if it normally has other significance. For example, a control character may - 9 - initiatea VDO command under the original 'Wordstar' configuration, but use of this command will allow that control character to be entered as text. 8. ERROR HANDLING VDO has 9 editing errors which may occur, which clear the screen, display a message, and wait for you to press the EXIT key to clear the error display. The messages are: FILE TOO BIG - occurs when loading a file to start the editing session or using EXTRA+PASTE. In the latter case, none of the file is retained: the text remains as it was before you attempted to execute the command. This message may also occur when attempting to insert text after the memory size of your system is exceeded. INVALID KEY - occurs when an entry contains an unexpected key. Can happen during text entry when an undefined control character is typed (e.g. ^O), or when entering filenames if bogus characters are entered as part of the filename (e.g. "space") or if the filename can't be properly formed. INPUT/OUTPUT FAILURE - occurs when a requested file can't be found during initial load or EXTRA+PASTE, or when any system failure occurs (e.g. DIRECTORY FULL, BAD SECTOR, R/O). Can also occur when trying to read an empty file. STRING NOT FOUND - occurs during find or find-and-replace operations if the target string can't be located. DISK FULL - self explanatory. You may insert another disk and try again. BLOCK NOT MARKED - occurs when attempting a block operation which require the block to be marked if both the block start and block end markers aren't marked or if the end is prior to the start of the block. BLOCK STRADDLES CURSOR - occurs when trying to move a block into itself. The cursor can't be inside the block when copying or moving a block. ILLEGAL TAB STOP - occurs when setting dynamic tab stops, if you do not enter an valid tab stop number (2, 4, 8, 16 are the valid numbers). Any comments regarding this configuration for the PCW range would be welcome and should be addressed to me at 11, Older Way, Angmering, Sussex BN16 4HQ.Tel. Rustington [0903] 775039. Any difficulties encountered as a result of the reconfiguration are not due to the original author, James H.Wharton. I cannot accept any responsibility for any loss or damage of any kind arising from the use of this reconfigured version whether due to it, or to the original version. Mick Reed December 1987 - 10 -