
     MANUAL.DOC Page  1

      
     B-B-B-B    L            A-A-A    N       N   K       K
     B          L          A       A  N N     N   K     K   
     B       B  L          A       A  N  N    N   K   K          
     B-B-B-B-B  L          A-A-A-A-A  N   N   N   K K       
     B       B  L          A       A  N    N  N   K   K     
     B       B  L          A       A  N     N N   K     K    
     B-B-B-B    L-L-L-L-L  A       A  N       N   K       K 
      
                           E-E-E-E-E  T-T-T-T-T
                           E              T
                           E              T
                           E-E-E-E-E      T
                           E              T
                           E              T
                           E-E-E-E-E      T
      
      
     M       M    A-A-A    N       N  U       U    A-A-A    L       
     M M   M M  A       A  N N     N  U       U  A       A  L       
     M  M M  M  A       A  N  N    N  U       U  A       A  L       
     M   M   M  A-A-A-A-A  N   N   N  U       U  A-A-A-A-A  L       
     M       M  A       A  N    N  N  U       U  A       A  L       
     M       M  A       A  N     N N  U       U  A       A  L       
     M       M  A       A  N       N  U-U-U-U-U  A       A  L-L-L-L-L
      
      
      
      
                      BLANKET SCREEN SAVER SOFTWARE
      
                               VERSION 1.01   
                   
                  COPYRIGHT THE WSA CONSULTANCY LTD 1990-1994
       
      
      



     MANUAL.DOC Page  2


      
      
                          - : B L A N K E T : -     
      
                           Screen Saver System
      
                     (C) The WSA Consultancy Ltd  1990-1994
      
      
     The WSA Blanket program is a useful utility, to prevent phosphor 
     burn-in on unattended Personal Computers. Personal Computer  are 
     used  extensively  for  many  varied  tasks  in  Offices,  Hotel 
     receptions, and Banks etc, they can be left switched on with the 
     same  screen  displayed  for many hours,  causing  the  phosphor 
     coating  of the Monitor to become burnt, creating a  ghost  like 
     image on the screen, even when it is turned off.
      
     The software  consists of a terminate and stay resident  program 
     (TSR)   which  may  be  loaded  from  the   AUTOEXEC.BAT   file. 
     Irrespective  of the main application and the screen  type,  the 
     display is blanked, after a pre-defined amount of time, provided 
     that  a key has not been pressed. The screen will  stay  blanked 
     until a key is pressed.
      
     The  time  delay  before BLANKET will activate  can  be  set  in 
     minutes and seconds, from 1 sec to 1 hour in the form MM:SS  and 
     can  be set in a number of ways. The delay can be set  by  using 
     the  program  FIXTIME MM:SS, which will permanently  change  the 
     delay for all sessions, or the program SETTIME MM:SS can be used 
     to change the delay only for the current session. The delay  can 
     also  be  set for a single session from a batch  file  (say  the 
     AUTOEXEC)  by using the program ASKTIME, which will then  prompt 
     you to enter the required time delay.
      
     The software will work in all screen modes, correctly  restoring 
     the screen after a key has been pressed.
      
     Supplied  with the software are a number of programs that  allow 
     programmers to incorporate the features of Blanket in their  own 
     programs,  such  as the ability to force the  screen  to  either 
     switch  on  (BLANKON)  or  switch off  (BLANKOFF),  it  is  even 
     possible  to  remove Blanket by running  the  program  BLANKREM. 
     These features are available from a program taking up less  than 
     1K of your computers memory.
      
      



     MANUAL.DOC Page  3


      
                          Hardware Requirements.
                          ---------------------
      
     Listed below are the equipment requirements for the WSA BLANKET Package.
      
         IBM-PC, IBM-XT, IBM-AT, IBM-PS/2 or Compatible Computer.
      
               One 5.25 Inch or 3.5 Inch Floppy Disk Drive.
      
                 MS-Dos, PC-Dos, Version 2.01 or Higher.
      
                     Minimum of 128K Bytes of Memory.
      
                          Mono or Colour Screen.
      
               Optional : Fixed Disk Drive (Any capacity).
      
           The WSA BLANKET  Package Consists of the Following:
      
                               BLANKET.EXE
                               BLANKON.EXE
                               BLANKOFF.EXE
                               BLANKREM.EXE
                               FIXTIME.EXE
                               SETTIME.EXE
                               ASKTIME.EXE
      



     MANUAL.DOC Page  4

     Installation.
     -------------
     
     The set of programs must reside in the same working directory
     path, which is normally c:\BLANKET for correct operation, and 
     the program can be used directly, if unpacked from a single
     file obtained from a library or bulletin board. 


     Operating Environment.
     ----------------------
     The  WSA BLANKET System is a memory resident, or  terminate  and 
     stay   resident  program  (TSR).  TSR's  generally   are   small 
     applications that can remain in memory, ready to be called up at 
     any time. They can be brought up over other active programs such 
     as Lotus 123, WordPerfect, DBase, etc. Some TSR's like  Sidekick 
     give the facilities to use a notepad or a calculator over say  a 
     spreadsheet.  BLANKET  gives the facility to  blank  the  screen 
     temporarily  if  there  has not been a  keystroke  in  the  main 
     application for a given amount of time.
      
      
     TSR's if used correctly can greatly enhance the use of a  system 
     especially  in  the saving of time. However they can also  be  a 
     source  of  problems, especially if there are more than  one  in 
     your  system.  All  of  WSA's products  are  well  designed  and 
     programmed  to  the accepted standards, so  that  conflicts  are 
     avoided, not all TSR's are programmed to the same level. BLANKET 
     should have little, if any compatibility problems.
      
     TSR's  don't allow you to do more than one job at a  time,  they 
     still  use  the  same  processor as  other  programs.  The  only 
     difference is that they suspend the main application while  they 
     do their work.
      
     Normally  most users will place the loading of the TSR into  the 
     AUTOEXEC.BAT  file,  so  that the program  is  loaded  when  the 
     computer is first switched on.
      
     They  can of course be loaded from the DOS prompt by typing  the 
     program  name,  in the case of BLANKET this  would  be  BLANKET. 
     However  TSR's must NEVER be loaded after a system exit from  an 
     application that still leaves the application loaded.



     MANUAL.DOC Page  5


     Using the Software.
     -------------------
      
     The Software has a number of features that are explained in  the 
     following sections. It is assumed that if BLANKET is required to 
     be  loaded when the Computer is first switched on, that  BLANKET 
     is added to the AUTOEXEC.BAT File. No changes are required to be 
     made to the CONFIG.SYS file.
      
     Setting up the Time.
     --------------------
      
     Before running BLANKET for the first time, the time delay  needs 
     to  be fixed in the program. This should be carried  out  before 
     BLANKET  is loaded as it has no effect on the  current  session. 
     The program used is FIXTIME which should be found in the BLANKET 
     directory.  To  run type FIXTIME HH:SS with  the  required  time 
     after it (remember to put a space between FIXTIME and the time). 
      
     Once  the time has been defined BLANKET can now be executed.  If 
     BLANKET  has  been added to the AUTOEXEC.BAT  then  re-boot  the 
     machine to activate BLANKET with the new time.
      
     When  BLANKET is first installed the current time will  be  5:00 
     and  if  FIXTIME is run without a time it will default  back  to 
     5:00 as the time delay.
      
     Using BLANKET.
     --------------
      
     Note  that on the boot-up screen it actually displays  the  time 
     delay  that has been selected. The screen will blank  after  the 
     preset time delay provided that the keyboard has not been  used, 
     to return to the application just type any key, it is preferable 
     to  use  say  the  {Shift} key so as  not  to  affect  the  main 
     application.
      
     Disabling BLANKET.
     ------------------
      
     If you no longer want to use BLANKET and wish to disable it  for 
     the current session.
      
     1. Change to the BLANKET directory.
     2. Run the program BLANKREM.
      
     Having  used  this method to exit, BLANKET is disabled  and  the 
     program  is  no longer available for use. Using  this  technique 
     does  not free the memory used, because this is not possible  in 
     all conditions.
      



     MANUAL.DOC Page  6
      
     Advanced User.
     --------------
      
     There  are  a number of functions available within  the  BLANKET 
     System  which should only be used once the operator  has  become 
     familiar with the product and has a good understanding of DOS.
      
     Setting the Time for a Session Only.
     ------------------------------------
      
     Although the FIXTIME program fixes the time delay in BLANKET, it 
     is  possible to change the time for a particular session by  use 
     of the program SETTIME. This program is used in exactly the same 
     way as FIXTIME, with the time typed after the program name  with 
     a space in-between. 
      
     BLANKET  must be resident before attempting to run  SETTIME,  if 
     BLANKET is not resident a warning will be given.
      
      
     If  SETTIME is run without a time delay, it will return  to  the 
     default time which is 5 minutes.
      
     There is another program called ASKTIME which performs the  same 
     task  as  SETTIME, but does not take the time delay  in  on  the 
     command line but prompts for it.
      
     This  program  can be used for instance in the  AUTOEXEC.BAT  so 
     that a different time could be setup for a session on bootup  of 
     the  computer, as with SETTIME the time delay is only set for  a 
     single session.
      
     Using the BLANKON AND BLANKOFF Programs.
     ----------------------------------------
      
     The  use of the program BLANKOFF enables BLANKET to  be  invoked 
     without  the  time delay occurring. To try  using  the  program, 
     change  into the BLANKET directory and just run the program,  to 
     restore the screen press any key.
      
     This program may be used by either batch files or by programming 
     languages.  It  may well be useful to have a certain area  of  a 
     batch where the screen is blanked, to restore the screen use the 
     program BLANKON. To run in a language the files just simply have 
     to be executed.
      
     For example in BASIC (GW & MS- BASIC, QUICKBASIC and PDS  BASIC) 
     to initate BLANKET the command would be :- 
      
     SHELL "C:\BLANKET\BLANKOFF"
      
     and to restore the screen :-
      
     SHELL "C:\BLANKET\BLANKON"



     MANUAL.DOC Page  7

     Common Problems.
     ----------------
      
     Most  TSRs  by  their nature are useful and  well  written,  but 
     despite  this,  they may conflict with certain  applications  or 
     with each other. Some of the common problems and their solutions 
     are here described.
      
     TSRs conflicting with each other.
     ---------------------------------
      
     If a new TSR is installed and a problem occurs it will  probably 
     be due to other TSRs that are already in the system. Some of the 
     problems that may occur are that :-
      
     1. On entering or exiting a TSR the System hangs.
     2. The System fails to boot and hangs.
      
     Generally the way to approach solving this problem is to  either 
     re-arrange  the order in which the TSRs are loaded, as for  some 
     the  loading  order  is critical, or to  remove  them  from  the 
     AUTOEXEC.BAT.
      
     TSRs conflicting with applications.
     -----------------------------------
      
     Sometimes  problems can occur between a TSR and an  application, 
     with  either  the  TSR  not  activating  over  the  top  of  the 
     application, or the application not loading into memory with the 
     TSR loaded.
      
     One of the reasons that sometimes TSRs will not load is that the 
     application  is  in  a  graphics mode which  the  TSR  does  not 
     support,  generally this is because there is some difficulty  in 
     resetting  the  screen upon exit. To solve this  make  sure  the 
     application  is in a text mode before invoking the TSR. This  is 
     not  a problem for BLANKET, as the product has been designed  so 
     that it can be used with all graphic screens.
      
     The most common problem nowadays with TSRs is that they take  up 
     memory  that the main application requires, particularly as  the 
     primary application takes the vast majority of memory after  DOS 
     has   been  loaded.  When  this  problem  occurs   the   primary 
     application  will normally give the error of OUT OF MEMORY.  One 
     way  to solve this would be to remove all the TSRs not  required 
     and attempt to just run the TSRs required and the  applications. 
     This  should not be a problem for BLANKET as it takes less  than 
     1K.
      

