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.
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CK (ChecK disk)
Ex: ck a:
Displays capacity and usage statistics for the disk in the referenced drive.
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CLS (CLear Screen)
Clears all text from the window and places the cursor at the top left.
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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.
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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).
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Ex: c:
Changes the current path to the directory that the current path was last set
to on the specified drive.
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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.
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FREE
Displays the size of the largest free contiguous block of memory.
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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.
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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.
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QUIT
Closes the window.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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VOL (VOLume)
Ex: vol b:
Displays the volume name of the disk in the referenced drive.
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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.
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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.
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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
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MD (Make Directory)
Ex: md myfolder
Creates the directory indicated.
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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.
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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!).
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RD (Remove Directory)
Ex: rd e:\myfolder
Removes the directory specified.
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redirection/piping
Ex: dir | sort.ttp >listing.txt
Allows input to come from, or output to go to, a file or another program.
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REN (REName)
Ex: ren myfile.txt goodwork.doc
Renames the file indicated by the first argument to the second argument.
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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