
        
                        Runner -- A Desktop Alternative

                              FILE SELECTOR USAGE

                       Running and Viewing Other Programs


                       Copyright (C) 1993 by Dave Thorson
                       Version 1.61     November 18, 1993
        

        Runner can use use the standard Atari file selector almost like 
        a window from the desktop: you can run programs and view files 
        from the file selector.  This only works when you call the file 
        selector directly from Runner, not when another program calls 
        it, even if the other program is run from within Runner (I'm not 
        a magician or a CodeHead, you know!).

        Access to the file selector can be also handy if you want to see 
        what's on a disk, since a file selector displays the filenames 
        and folders.  This can be even handier if you're using Universal 
        Item Selector, since now you have access to Copy, Move, Delete, 
        Rename, Format and Print capabilities, among others.
        
        
$$      There are several ways to access a file selector:
        
        * Click on the title line at the top of a menu list.

        * Press the Space Bar to access a file selector box.  

        * Hold down the Alternate key and press a letter key.  While 
          pressing the space bar starts in the last used drive and 
          directory (folder), using an Alt-letter key will start it in 
          the last-used directory of the corresponding drive as follows:

          Alt-a  A:     Alt-b  B:      Alt-c  C:     and so on....
        
        
$$      Exiting a File Selector
        
        Click on Cancel, or click OK without selecting a file.  The file 
        selector goes away and you're back in Runner.

        
$$      Running a Program from a File Selector
        
        Select a program file ending in .PRG, .TTP, .TOS or .APP, and 
        Runner will try to run that program.  For .TTP programs, Runner 
        asks you for a command line (what you would type into the dialog 
        box displayed by the Atari desktop when you run a .TTP program 
        from a window).  When you exit the application program, the item 
        selector will appear again.
        
        If you want to run a program using Mini-Run from the file 
        selector you have two choices.  Press the Esc key before going 
        to the file selector.  "MINI-RUN" will replace the time or date 
        displayed in the upper right screen corner (press Esc again to 
        turn this off and disable Mini-Run).  Then, the next program 
        selected will be run by Mini-Run (even programs loaded into one 
        of Runner's menus).  The other method is to hold down Control 
        when selecting the program.

        If you want Runner to hold the screen after another program 
        exits, press Esc twice before going to the file selector (press 
        ing Esc on the menu screen cycles from normal to Mini-Run to 
        Hold Screen to both Mini-Run and Hold Screen and then back to 
        normal (which is blank or a time/date display).

        
$$      Running Installed Applications
        
        If you click on a data file for an installed application 
        (described in DIALOG.HLP), that application will load and use 
        the file you selected.  For example, clicking on "HI_MOM.DOC" in 
        the file selector would load the Word Writer program on my 
        computer, and my letter to Mom would be loaded into Word Writer 
        for me.


$$      File View
        
        If you select any other file, Runner will attempt to display it 
        on the screen as text, using its built-in File View.
        
        If the file is too big to fit at one time (the current file 
        buffer size is 128K, awfully large for most text files), then 
        only the first part of the file will be loaded.  Then, when you 
        exit File View, a dialog box asks if you want to load the next 
        part or if you really want to exit.  The choice is yours!
        
        The file view screen displays the name of the file, the percent 
        of the file viewed so far (if the screen says 29%, then the text 
        line at the bottom of the screen appears 29% of the way through 
        the file).  If a very large file had to broken up into sections, 
        then the top screen line also tells you which section you are 
        viewing and an estimate of how many sections there are 
        altogether.  The bottom line shows the most-used commands 
        available at that point in the file.  Here's a complete list:

        B - Move back one page:  Press the "B" key, the UP arrow, or 
          click the Right mouse button.

        Space - Move forward one page:  Press the Space Bar, the Down 
          arrow, or click the Left mouse button.

        Q - Quit File View:  Press the "Q" key, the Undo key, the Return 
          key, or click Both mouse buttons at the same time (Runner is 
          smart enough to let you hold down either mouse button first, 
          then click the other one, and release them both; you don't 
          need real precise timing).

        T - Go to Top of file:  Press the "T" key.  If the file is split 
          into sections, this only takes you to the top of the current 
          section of a very large file.

        W - Wide or Narrow text (Low and Medium Res Color only):  
          Press the "W" key for wide characters in 40 columns, and press 
          it again for narrow characters in 80 columns.  This is handy
          for some files that are formatted for 40 column display, or
          or if you like bigger letters.  It may not always be 
          pretty but it's there....

        H - Move down about half a screen, handy for times when the 
          stuff you need to see most is split across two screens.

        P - Print current screen:  Press the "P" key to print the text 
          from the currently displayed page.  This sends TEXT to your 
          printer, not the lengthy series of pixels sent by Atari's 
          built-in screen dump.  Handy if you need to grab part of a 
          file for a quick listing without printing the whole thing.

        F - Send Form Feed:  Press the "F" key to send a Form Feed 
          character to the printer, which on most printers causes the 
          current page to be ejected.  Use this to space out screen 
          prints across several pages as needed.  Note: a Form Feed is 
          issued automatically for every three screens printed (at 19 
          lines per screen, three prints about fill a page).  The screen 
          print count is reset to zero when you press "F" or when an 
          automatic Form Feed is sent.

        S - Search for text:  Press the "S" key to start a text search.  
          You will be prompted to enter text, up to 12 characters.  If 
          you press Return without entering any text, the search will be 
          cancelled.  Searches are normally case-insensitive, that is a 
          search for "runner" will find "Runner", "RUNNER", and 
          "runneR".  To perform a case-sensitive search, hold down the 
          Control key when you press "S".  Then upper and lower case 
          characters must match exactly.  Feel free to add a space 
          before or after your search string if needed, so that a search 
          for " day " does not find "Monday" or "daytime".  The search 
          stops at the first page containing the text string.  If the 
          string cannot be found, the last displayed page is re-
          displayed.  During the search, the "percent viewed" indicator 
          is updated but otherwise the screen is unchanged.

        A - Search Again:  Press the "A" key to search again for the 
          same text string.  The search resumes on the next screen or at 
          the top of the currently displayed screen if you have moved 
          backward, forward, or to the top or bottom of the file.  "A" 
          can be used to continue a search across sections of the same 
          file.  As with "S", hold down Control when you press "A" to do 
          a case-sensitive search, otherwise the search will be case-
          insensitive.  You can mix both types of searches as needed.

        C - Cancel search:  Press the "C" key to cancel a search in 
          progress.  The screen from which you started the search will 
          be redisplayed as if the search had never happened.

        I - Interrupt search:  Press the "I" key to interrupt a search 
          in progress.  The screen being searched when you press the "I" 
          key will be displayed.  This is a quick way to get through a 
          long file: search for a string that is not in the file, such 
          as "XYZZY", and when the "percent viewed" indicator shows a 
          number you like, interrupt the search.  If you let an 
          unsuccessful search get to the end of a file, the search is 
          cancelled and you will see the starting screen again.
        
        ? or Help: Pressing these keys displays a "key reminder box" 
          designed to help you remember which keys to use when viewing a 
          file.  The keys to press are shown in upper case (for example, 
          you'll see "Top" and "Wide" in the box.



$$      More Control
        
        To simply view a data file that would otherwise cause an 
        installed application to load, hold down Control when selecting 
        it.  Since this bypasses use of an installed application there 
        is no way to force Mini-Run to run an installed application with 
        Control; you'll have to press Esc before entering the file 
        selector as mentioned above, or set up that application (with 
        the Change command - see MENU_BAR.HLP) to always use Mini-Run.



$$      Additional Complexity for Added Benefit
        
        Hold down Control when you exit a program run from a file 
        selector, or when you exit File View, to skip the return to the 
        file selector and instead go straight back to Runner's menu 
        screen.  This saves you some keystrokes or mouse presses but 
        it's more brain baggage to carry around.   ;-)


        [end of FILSELCT.HLP]
