IMPROVEMENTS TO PC-KEY-DRAW Ver. 3.60 over 3.50 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The following list the more major changes. Numerous other minor changes have been made that are not listed. (in particular bug fixes, and speed increases) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The following are additional improvements that didn't make it before the manual for 3.5 went to print. 1. The layer capability has been changed and greatly improved. In particular has been changed to provide more information and more flexibility. Macros using are not compatible with earlier versions. 2. Jump to layer has been added under . Position cursor over item to worked on, select and the program will find the correct layer. 3. The last text entered in is remembered the next time text is to be entered and taken as the default if is selected without adding new text. If null text was used in a macro, it will have to be changed to a single space for proper operation. 4. The DAT file associated with SCN files has been eliminated. Scale data is now stored in the SCN (screen) file. This offers a significant saving of disk space and provides faster saves and loads. Screens that don't require scale information can just be read as normal. Screens that do require scale information should be converted to the new format. Use CNVRTSCL.BAS to find all DAT files on a specified drive, insert scale information into the associated SCN file, and the delete the DAT file. 5. A complete database system similar to Hypercard for the Macintosh has been added. This lets you organize pictures, text and macros for easy retrieval in a tree or stack fashion. Screen can be tagged with ag. A tag is an area on the screen that when the cursor is over it and clicked a defined action takes place. The action maybe to run a macro (Tag Type 1), to display another screen (Tag Type 2), or to display a partial screen (Tag Type 3). Additional tag types will be added in the future. Each screen can be tagged to eight other screens. A HOME tag and a BACK tag are auto- matically provided once stacks have be activated. Tag information is saved as part of the screen file. 6. While in the fill pattern screen use and to move through all of the fill pattern files on the program disk (subdirectory) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. 3.51 corrects several minor bugs in 3.5. 2. hift has been added to and to complete the possible color combinations. shifts all colors by one so that 0 becomes 1 1 becomes 2, 2 becomes 3, and 3 becomes 0. 3. A file conversion utility has been added to convert SCN files used by PC-KEY-DRAW to IMG format used by GEM and a number of desktop publishing programs, such as Ventura Publisher. SCN2IMG.EXE can be run from DOS. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. In 3.52 the file naming convention for PC-KEY-DRAW has been changed to allow the program to be used on an Optical disk. The "-" has been eliminated from all file names and replaced with "_". For example KD-DRAW becomes KD_DRAW. This change allows PC-KEY-DRAW to be run on a CD-ROM using the High Sierra format. PC-KEY-DRAW and HyperDraw are ideal for handling larges databases on a CD-ROM. 2. MAKHOTLB.EXE has been changed to allow HOT key files of any name to be created and compiled. 3. Mouse behavior has been improved in menus, especially on fast machines. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. 3.53 adds the ability to insert the default parameter into the command line to be edited. Selecting when asked to "Enter" or for a "File Name" will bring the default value (as displayed between the brackets "[]") to a edit line. The best way to see what it does is to try it. This is especially useful in macros. 2. The <+> (plus) key can be used to modify the last letter of a file name by increasing its ASCII value by one. This can be used with a macro to save a set of pages or layers under a single name. 3. and allow a fade step to be input for faster fading. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. 3.60 corrects a minor bug with macro playback and , at higher "*" values. 2. Corrects bug with ause during . 3. Corrects occasional bug in otate and . 4. Adds value step to input. When asked to enter a number, input "s" preceding the number to cause the valve to be a step value. To move 10 positions to the right on the screen Enter . 5. Adds random value to input. When asked to enter a number, precede the value with an "r". To move to a random position on the screen try, . Useful in recursive macros and in creating HyperDraw games. 6. Menu option is now provided for all input. Use the cursor keys or mouse to select any item. Macro output shows value and not just when the default is taken. 7. Use "@" instead of a drive letter to force the program to look on the drive that PC-KEY-DRAW is AT. When asked for a File Name to load, specify @:FILE to load the file "FILE" from the drive PC-KEY-DRAW is in. 8. Hyper Shell has been added to PC-KEY-DRAW allowing you to run external programs and then return to PC-KEY-DRAW. Allows PC-KEY-DRAW to be used as a graphic DOS shell. Hyper Shell uses only 100 bytes of memory to run. Hyper Shell only works when PC-KEY-DRAW is run from a BATch file like KD. 9. The mouse and joystick are no longer effected by the cursor speed when uality is off. A. Vertical centering on the screen is provided by for animated objects. B. truncates text strings automatically at a when the string is too long for the screen, instead of in the middle of a word. C. The last action is remembered for fast repeat. The remembered action is displayed on the prompt line in brackets. Hitting enter starts the action. This greatly speeds operation when drawing multiple images, like a series of circles or rectangles. D. The number of sides in the last polygon drawn are retained as the default when olygon is next selected. A two sided polygon gives a line that can be easily sized and rotated. E. The number of leaves in the last rose curve drawn are retained as the default when ose is next selected. F. The "File Name" prompt is now proceeded by "Old" or "New" for most file name input to differentiate on the action taking place. When scrolling through a directory with or , the file extension is now shown. G. ill and rename now operate as the other sections of the program, where a File Name is to be input. Both assume the drive used for holding completed drawings. You cannot rename across drives or directories. H. The Tag name now operates as the other sections of the program where a File Name is to be input. I. ause can be cut short by hitting . J. ave and workspace update is 2 to 3 times faster. K. Ten more HyperDraw tags have been added for each screen, making a total of 18 per screen with no limit to the ultimate number of screens. L. Cosmetic improvements of help, tag and error displays. M. Select during to toggle display of file name being displayed. N. continues from last screen viewed instead of the first screen on the disk. If the directory is changed or a different disk inserted, will start with the first file on the new disk or in the new directory. O. The music play command has been changed to play in the foreground as the default. This works better when writing macros for different CPUs. The command syntax for is the same as the PLAY statement in BASICA. Use "mb" for music background, but beware that a large chuck of memory is no longer available for hypertext. The last set of notes PLAYed is saved for fast repeat. PLAY can be used as a way of pausing for less then a second by using the Tempo and Pause options in PLAY. This is useful during animation. P. The copy buffer now holds two objects. During animation select for the alternate object. will shift back and forth between the two objects during animation. Almost all functions that use the F7 buffer will hold two images, if there is sufficient room in the buffer. Q. provides animation of a single object, with the object replacing the portion of the screen below it and restoring it as it moves. R. Screen tags are searched in order from tag 1 to tag 18. The first match is acted upon, as determined by the tag name. With Version 3.5*, clicking on a tag type 3 (partial screen) displays the partial screen, clicking a second time causes a redisplay of the same partial screen. With 3.6* the clicking a second time causes the search to continue down the list of tag items. S. The AREA or MASS and center are saved to the macro file for alternate processing of the information. The macro playback is not effected. T. The CORRECTION CHECK EACH OPERATION (1-OFF, 0-ON) found on the status screen has been expanded. That line now reads CORRECT, IMMEDIATE (0-ON,ON 1-OFF,ON 2-ON,OFF 3-OFF,OFF). 0-ON is identical to earlier versions and is the setting used by all of the supplied macros. 0-ON will pause after completion of each action and ask if the screen appearance is correct or not. Responding es saves the drawing as it now appears, while o returns to the last correct screen image. 1-OFF turns off the check and in earlier versions immediately takes the current screen as correct. In Version 3.6 the screen is not immediately taken, allowing to be used to undo the last action. However, if HyperDraw, layers, help menu, or visual grids are in use the screen is immediately grabbed, as in earlier versions and has no effect. In both 0-ON,ON and 1-OFF,ON the second parameter is ON. The second parameter determines how the program behaves when selecting action items from F1 to F7. ON is the way PC-KEY-DRAW has always operated. When the item is selected it starts immediately, ie. to draw a circle move to the center of the circle, select , size the circle and end the circle with . If the second parameter is OFF the menu serves to select the next desired action when is hit, ie. to draw a circle select , move to the center of the circle, start the circle with , size the circle and end the circle with . 2-ON,OFF has correction checking like 0-ON,ON but menu action is not immediate. 3-OFF,OFF turns off both the correction check and the immediate action. Macros written in 3.6 save the mode as the first line of the macro so when the macro is run the correct mode is used by the macro. Control returns to the mode the program was in when the macro is finished. A macro can set the mode absolutely by accessing the status screen with . When macros from older versions are run, a mode of 0 is assumed. If you have macros written with the correction check off or mode 1 then you will need to add "@NCK|1" (without the quotes) to the first line of each macro. U. When drawing lines in the lines must be ended with or . Version 3.6 automatically selects nd if the user tries to select another function without ending the line drawing. V. Mouse behavior in main menu has been improved by making it less sensitive. W. Use instead of as the primary means of selecting Help. X. The default macro playback star mode is now 2 instead of 0, when a macro is called from DOS, ie. *|2 is the default instead of *|0. This stops the cursor and prompt line from being displayed initially. Y. Fatbits now works on Hercules cards when an emulator like HGCIBM is used. Z. When is selected to adjust mouse or joystick sensitivity, the mouse or joystick is turned off. will return to the program leaving the mouse off. Inputing a value will reset the mouse or joystick and turn it on. Some machines may require the mouse or joystick to be turned on several times before they will work.