TUI - the Textual User Interface *** DEMO HELP MESSAGE *** PURPOSE & FEATURES TUI is an operating-system-shell desk accessory. Such a shell provides a method for user interaction with the operating system of the computer. The operating system (TOS for the ST/Mega) is the software that helps the user or programmer manage the resources of the computer (memory, screen, key- board, disk space, and peripherals). Such functions as copying a file, cre- ating a directory, or setting the time on the system clock fall into this category. TOS is currently provided in ROM chips located inside the comput- er, so no thought on the part of the user is needed to "run" such software; it is always running when the machine is. Many different styles of operating system shells have been devised over the history of computers. Some are textual in nature but "menu driven", giving the user a set of on-screen choices to select from. Others (like GEM) allow the user to make requests of the operating system more intuitively by inter- acting with icons, menus and windows, usually with a pointing device such as a mouse. This is an easy way for inexperienced users to work with a comput- er, and indeed holds a lot of advantages for "experts" as well, especially when using graphically oriented software such as desktop publishing and CAD programs. Another popular style is the "command line interpreter", where user requests are made by typing words from a set of commands that the shell understands. TUI is such a shell. This type predates the graphical user interfaces (GUI's) like GEM, and as some have rightly said, requires more study on the part of the user to begin interacting with it effectively. However, as in- tuitive as GUI's are, they are lacking in power in some areas in comparison with command line interpreters (CLI's). In particular, repetitive opera- tions are easier with a CLI because the textual commands that affect them can be stored in a disk file (using a word processor or text editor) and ex- ecuted automatically when requested. These are called batch files or scripts. For an example of their usefulness, suppose that quite often you have the need to work with a set of files on a ram disk. You could create a batch file that, when invoked by typing its name, would run the program to create the ram disk and then copy the required files to it, all automatical- ly. Another area where CLI's shine is in the area of "wildcard" operations. If, for instance, you needed to delete all of your files in a folder that have a ".BAK" file name extension using GEM, you would have to manually select and drag them to the trash can. With an MS-DOS style CLI you would simply type "del *.bak" and the process would take place automatically. When programs that take text as input are run from a CLI that allows i/o redirection, the required input can be forced to come from a disk file rath- er than the keyboard. A similar thing can be done with textual output, al- lowing you to store the text for later perusal or use as input to yet anoth- er program. Some rather complex manipulations can be applied to data with this technique, using just simple programs in sequence. TUI does all these things, and more besides, and because it is a desk acces- sory, it is always just a mouse click away. This allows you the best of both the worlds of GUI and TUI. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS TUI will work in any screen resolution with any model Atari ST or Mega com- puter. It packs all this functionality into only 63k of RAM usage (not counting memory for the window history which is user configurable, and only tied up while the window is open). COMMAND LINE EDITING -> -move right one character <- -move left one character CONTROL + -> -move 12 characters to the right CONTROL + <- -move 12 characters to the left HOME -move to the end of the line INSERT -move to the start of the line BACKSPACE -erase the character to the left of the cursor DELETE -erase the character under the cursor HELP -reposition window to show cursor UNDO -erase the entire line up & dn arrow -used to retrieve previously typed command lines up to the last 3; up scrolls backwards, down forwards; after retriev- al, the line may be edited before execution RETURN or ENTER -execute the command line; can be pressed when the cursor is anywhere on the command line EXECUTION CONTROL KEYS ABORT KEY: [ESC] (or [CONTROL]+C) will abort any command at the next avail- able opportunity. PAUSE KEY: Pressing any key (other than the abort key) will pause the dis- play in many of TUI's commands. When paused, any key will re- start. BUG IN TOS! There is a bug in TOS that the user should be aware of. When any windowed desk accessory is active from within a GEM application with more than one window open, and the desk accessory's window is not the bottom-most, closing any of the application's windows will cause a crash. This is not a problem with TUI, but occurs with ANY windowed DA. COMMANDS FUNCTIONAL IN DEMO VERSION CD (Change Directory) Ex: cd flash\dofiles Changes the current path to the one requested. ------------- CK (ChecK disk) Ex: ck a: Displays capacity and usage statistics for the disk in the referenced drive. ------------- CLS (CLear Screen) Clears all text from the window and places the cursor at the top left. ------------- DATE Ex: date 11/19/1990 Displays/sets the current system date. If no argument will display it, otherwise will treat the argument as the date to set it to. Note that the year part of the date must be four digits. ------------- DIR (DIRectory) Ex: dir 1st_word\ Displays a directory listing for a folder or root directory. If no argument is given, the listing will be for the current path. If a file name is giv- en, the output will be filtered using its name as a mask. The listing con- sists of the file name, size (or "" if a directory), date & time of last update, and the bits of the file attribute byte that are set (ie, have a value of 1). Each set bit is indicated by the appropriate letter (A = archive bit, D = directory bit, V = volume-label bit, S = system bit, H = hidden bit, R = read-only bit). ------------- Ex: c: Changes the current path to the directory that the current path was last set to on the specified drive. ------------- ECHO Ex: echo on Normally, batch file command lines are shown on the screen before they are executed. This command allows the user to turn this echoing off, and then back on. If anything other than "on" or "off" is passed to this command it will simply be displayed (even if echo is off). If no arguments are passed, the echo state (ON or OFF) will be displayed. ------------- FREE Displays the size of the largest free contiguous block of memory. ------------- PATH Ex: path c:\utility; d:\junk This allows the user to set the directories that will be searched to find programs and batch files to execute if not found relative to the current path. If "path" is typed with the semicolon but no other arguments the search path will be set to the null string. If no semicolon or arguments are supplied, the currently set search paths will be listed. ------------- PAUSE Ex: pause INSERT DATA DISK IN DRIVE A Displays the message "Press any key to proceed..." on the screen and waits for a keypress before continuing. If an optional message is passed it will be displayed on the screen prior to the "Press" message. ------------- QUIT Closes the window. ------------- REM (REMark) Ex: rem THIS BATCH FILE COPIES ALL FILES FROM A:\ TO C:\ Causes the remainder of the command line to be ignored. Useful for comment- ing batch files. ------------- SET (SET macro) Ex: set use_with_care = del *.* This command manages string macros. If it is used with a macro name and a macro string, the string will henceforth be substituted in any command line (including batch files) in which % appears. If the macro name is used without a string, the macro is removed from memory. If "set" is used without any arguments at all, the entire set of defined macros will be listed. ------------- TIME Ex: time 22:30 Displays/sets the current system time. If no argument will display it, otherwise will treat the argument as the time to set it to. ------------- TYPE Ex: type myfile.txt Displays the contents of the file. If this command is passed a file name containing wildcard characters the result will be to concatenate the files to the output. ------------- VERIFY Ex: verify off Turns floppy disk write verify on or off. If no arguments are passed the state of the write verify flag will be displayed. ------------- VOL (VOLume) Ex: vol b: Displays the volume name of the disk in the referenced drive. ------------- WINHIST (WINdow HISTory) Ex: winhist 4096 Resets the size of the window history data structure to the number of bytes given as the argument. The change will take effect immediately, as well as on any subsequent invocations of TUI. This allows the user to make his/her own decision as to the tradeoff between the ability to scroll back through long files or directory listings and the extra memory usage this requires. Note however that this memory is given back to the system whenever the window is closed. The argument must contain no spaces or commas. NOTE - whenever this command is used the window will be cleared and its contents lost, even if the attempt to resize was unsuccessful. COMMANDS/FEATURES FUNCTIONAL ONLY IN COMPLETE VERSION COPY Ex: copy *.doc c:\temp Copies file(s) to a path. This command will normally warn the user of an attempt to overwrite an existing file in the destination path and give a choice of proceeding with or aborting the copy. If the optional "-n" flag is passed, no such warnings will be given and any overwrites will automatic- ally occur. TUI will preserve the date/time stamp and file attribute bits of the original in the copy. If the source is given as "con", the copy is done from the console (key- board) to the file indicated as the destination. This feature is useful for creating short text files (such as batch files). During execution of the command, characters will be written to the file as the keys are pressed until [CONTROL]+Z is entered, which terminates the command. ------------- DEL (DELete) Ex: del *.pi? Deletes the file(s). If wildcard characters are contained in the file name the user will be warned that a global deletion is being attempted and will be given a choice to continue or abort the operation. If the optional "-n" flag is passed, no such warnings will be given and any global deletions will automatically proceed. ------------- file attribute byte modification Ex: hide secrets.doc These commands allow the user to set or clear file attribute bits. arc unarc -archive bit system unsystem -system bit hide unhide -hidden bit lock unlock -read only bit ------------- MD (Make Directory) Ex: md myfolder Creates the directory indicated. ------------- MOVE Ex: move myfile.txt d:\junk Copies the file(s) to the indicated path and deletes the original(s). This command will normally warn the user of an attempt to overwrite an existing file in the destination path and give a choice of proceeding with or abort- ing the move. If the optional "-n" flag is passed, no such warnings will be given and any overwrites will automatically occur. TUI will preserve the date/time stamp and file attribute bits of the original in the copy. This command will recognize the special case of a move to a different directory on the same drive and perform it in a fast and diskspace efficient manner. ------------- program/batch file execution Ex: a_ram.tos Programs and batch files can be executed by entering the file name. Command line parameters can be passed to batch files and ".TTP" programs. If a batch file named TUI.BAT is present on bootup, it will automatically be ex- ecuted. GEM programs (".PRG") cannot yet be run from TUI (problems with the menu bar!). ------------- RD (Remove Directory) Ex: rd e:\myfolder Removes the directory specified. ------------- redirection/piping Ex: dir | sort.ttp >listing.txt Allows input to come from, or output to go to, a file or another program. ------------- REN (REName) Ex: ren myfile.txt goodwork.doc Renames the file indicated by the first argument to the second argument. ------------- TOUCH Ex: touch buf_ctl.c Sets the date/time stamp for the file referenced to the current system date & time. ************************************************************************* TUI v1.3 Demo from Silicon Mountain Systems. Copyright 1990 Jim & Rhonda Stamm, may be freely distributed. Complete version priced at $29.95; includes indexed manual, standalone version and utility programs. See your favorite Atari dealer! Upgrade policy: $5.00 + original disk for registered users. Silicon Mountain Systems 5989 Ohio River Rd Huntington WV 25702 (304)525-0164 GEnie mail address: J.STAMM