------------------------------------------------------ This file contains answers to commonly asked questions ------------------------------------------------------ If you have a laptop computer and have trouble with BOXER's default color settings, this may be because your video card announces itself to be color, but your screen is monochrome. Issue the following DOS command: COPY MONO.CLR DEFAULT.CLR to set the monochrome color file to be the default. You may later wish to use the Set Colors command to select suitable colors for your screen. Alternatively, you may use the -n option flag to force monochrome output. ---- On computers with AT keyboards, BOXER sets the keyboard repeat rate to the fastest setting upon entry to the editor. This contributes to the fast screen scrolling you see in BOXER. Because the repeat rate can be set, but not read, BOXER sets the rate to normal upon exit. If you wish for the fast rate to persist after exiting, add the -kx flag to the BOXER environment string. If you prefer a different repeat rate, experiment with various values with the -kd and -kr options. If you prefer that the keyboard rate not be changed at all, use the -k0 option. A full display of these and other options can be seen by doing "B -?". ---- The default macro set supplied with BOXER includes a macro to spawn an external spell check utility to operate upon the current file. As supplied, the macro will run with ShareSpell, if present on your system. (See REGISTER.DOC for notes about receiving an evaluation copy of ShareSpell.) The macro can be easily edited or re-recorded to run other spell checkers, or any other text-filtering utility. The macro makes use of the DOS Shell command to name the utility to be run, and the "%1" sequence which expands to the name of the current file being edited. Macro keys are not stored within the DOS shell, so the macro must be terminated upon return to BOXER. This is the macro as supplied: ss%1 This same macro technique can be used to smoothly integrate other utility programs with BOXER. ---- Though BOXER cannot be installed directly to a 360K floppy, it is possible to create a diskette on another machine which contains the files needed for editing on a single 360K floppy drive system. Create the "BACKUP" directory on the floppy and copy the following files to the root: B.EXE, BOXER.DOC, BOXER.IDX and DEFAULT.* The BOXER executable B.EXE is in fact fully self-contained. The additional files are needed only if you desire online help or custom- screen colors, macros, print parameters or key assignments. ---- Upgrading from previous versions... During installation, you were offered the chance to use existing DEFAULT files from a previous installation. When appropriate, the files from the new release have been installed as NEWDFLT.*, leaving the old files with the name DEFAULT.*. In this way you can decide whether to use the new default files, or your own. If you are upgrading BOXER from a prior release and intend to use your old .KEY file(s), you will need to run RECONFIG to assign keys to the new commands added in this version. See RECONFIG.DOC for details. ---- Q. Why don't ASCII characters in the range 240-249 display as expected? A. By default, BOXER uses ASCII characters 240-249 to represent embedded printer codes. These appear on screen as specially colored digits to distinguish them from neighboring text. Embedded printer codes provide a shorthand method of accessing various features of your printer without placing long sequences of printer codes directly in the text file. See Section 18 in the help file for more information. To configure BOXER to display these values normally, do one of the following: From within the editor, use Ctrl-F3 or the Printer Codes option in the WP menu to disable embedded printer codes. If you prefer, the -e option can be placed in the "BOXER" environment string to make the change permanent. The -e option can also be used on the command line, or in a batch file that calls BOXER. ---- The information about Compiling from within BOXER which appeared here has been moved to DEFAULT.CFG. BOXER can now be configured to select a compiler based on the extension of the file being compiled. ---- You can install BOXER as a Transfer item in the Borland IDE making it easy to jump into BOXER for source file editing. Select the "Transfer" option in the C IDE (or the "Tools" option in the Pascal IDE) with . Edit an existing entry to name BOXER and its path (usu. C:\BOXER\B.EXE). Enter the following text for the command line to invoke BOXER: $SAVE CUR $MEM(640) -g$LINE $EDNAME After selecting a Hot Key, select the New box to create a new Transfer item. Finally, select OK to save the setup. This IDE macro will give BOXER the needed information to place you on the same text line as in the IDE. With this configuration, you'll be able to quickly switch to BOXER from within the IDE - return to the IDE is automatic upon exiting BOXER. ---- Paradox users can install BOXER within their development environment so the editor can be used to easily correct program errors. Use the Paradox configuration feature to specify the path to BOXER, and the command line option which will jump to a given line number. For example: C:\BOXER\B.EXE * -g** Paradox will insert the filename in place of '*' and the line number in place of '**'. ---- AutoCad users can designate BOXER as their editor of choice by making an entry in the ACAD.PGP file. See your documentation for complete information, but an entry such as that below should be sufficient: BOXER,B,640,File to Edit,4 ---- U.K. note: The Ctrl-@ sequence is attainable on UK keyboards as Ctrl-2. ---- An incompatibility has been found between BOXER and Ultravision 2.0 by Personics, when used with the Microsoft MOUSE.COM v7.04. It seems that the Ultravision mouse driver creates a conflict which causes BOXER to hang upon mouse initialization. Earlier MOUSE.COM versions work fine. ---- Earlier versions of BOXER required the use of the -d option to specify the editor's home directory. This option is no longer required for users with DOS v3.x or better, and so can be removed from the "BOXER" environment variable. You would only need to use this option now if you decide to keep the BOXER executable in a directory other than the home directory, or if you are using DOS 2.x. (NOTE: if used, this option must appear in the "BOXER" environment string. It cannot be placed in the file DEFAULT.CFG, as can all other option flags.) ---- DR DOS Users: there is an incompatibility between BOXER's DOS Shell and Compile commands and the EMM386 driver in DR DOS. In order to use BOXER's swapping feature, you will need to disable access by the driver to the Upper Memory area. DR DOS provides a utility for just this purpose. To disable access, run the following command: MEMMAX -U If you need access to the Upper Memory area at other times, you might prepare a batch file to disable/enable memory access as follows: MEMMAX -U B %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 MEMMAX +U ---- DESQview Tips: you may wish to configure "ticks" to 15/1 or 30/1, when not downloading, to get smoother mouse and cursor movement. The mouse driver should be loaded before entering DESQview. When using DESQview's Mark and Transfer function, set BOXER's auto indent option to OFF to ensure that each line in the block transferred begins in the same column. You may experience "mouse droppings" if you use BOXER with DESQview and have an old mouse driver. Microsoft's driver v6.14 shows this symptom, while versions 7.04 and later do not. ---- On some computers, and in certain video modes, BOXER's text cursor has been reported to be invisible. If this happens try using the "-8" option flag to specify that no changes should be made to the cursor size. Also, toggling between 43/50 line mode and 25 line mode has been found to be a workaround. The following macro, recorded as a startup macro, will automate the use of this workaround. See BMAC.DOC for details on how to create and edit the DEFAULT.M macro file. The invisible cursor problem is under investigation. ---- On some laptop computers, there are no keyboard equivalents for the - + and * keys found on the numeric keypads of full size keyboards. By default, BOXER uses these keys for marked text manipulations, so you may wish to use RECONFIG to select alternate keys for these commands. ---- Programmers: if you would like help in making your program more friendly for blind users, contact Jeff Bishop. Jeff is developing a set of guide- lines called the Braille and Speech Friendly Interface (BSFI). You can write to Jeff for details: 420 E. Yavapai Road, Apt H, Tucson, AZ 85705. ---- I heartily recommend this book to aspiring authors: If you're considering launching a shareware product, you need: The ShareWare Book A Whole Earth Catalog for software developers Tips, tools and techniques for successful shareware marketing and development. Includes market research, publicity, getting paid, distribution, resources, product protection, registration encouragement, trademarks, copyrights, licensing, channel management, business issues, support, taxes, manuals, packaging, shipping, international trade. "Everything an author needs to get started" Look for ShareB.EXE in CIS SHARE lib 0 or ShareBk*.zip on BBSs. By Robert Schenot Compass / New England P.O. Box 117 Portsmouth, NH 03802-0117 (603) 431 8030