DarkDraw v1.00 The only ANSI editor with 3k lines Requirements for DarkDraw: 80386 with 64k Extended (101 key) keyboard VGA (for VGA viewing and iCEcolor) Mouse (if VGA editing is wanted) DarkDraw uses its own custom keyboard driver, which takes over the BIOS interrupt entirely. If you are using DarkDraw under Desqview, you should set the Keyboard Conflict to the highest rating (F). Side effects of this include the disappearance of several normal keyboard functions, including CapsLock, NumLock, Pause, PrintScreen, and Alt-Keypad. Because of DarkDraw's custom keyboard driver, several people have complained about not being able to use the extended arrows correctly. Keyboards that are not IBM compatible may not send the correct press/release sequence, and so DarkDraw cannot interpret it properly. Registered users with this problem have received custom-made copies of DarkDraw for their systems, but a universal solution is being sought. ------ First, a description of the layout of the screen. Many people have suggested that the status line be unobtrusive and as small as possible, so it occupies only 1 line of the screen. The upper 24 lines are a window to your picture, and the bottom line is the status and message line. An example status line is shown below: 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴커 � � � ( 1, 45) � 243/3808 lines � B[#]F � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴켸 Going from left to right: The numbers in parentheses are an ordered pair, telling exactly where in the ANSI your cursor is. By standard Cartesian conventions, the first number is the X coordinate, and the second, the Y coordinate. The second tidbit of information is after the divider (�), showing how many lines the ANSI currently has (i.e. where the end of ANSI marker is), and how many are possible. The maximum number of lines is controlled only by the amount of conventional memory available. DarkDraw takes all available memory when it starts, but doesn't use any extended or expanded memory. After the second divider is color and character information. The B shows the background color, and the F shows the foreground color. In between the brackets is the current character in the current color. The final half (third?) of the status line is the current extended character set, shown in the current color. For more information, see below under "Character sets". Moving the cursor around ------------------------ The most common way to maneuver the cursor is by using the arrow keys and cursor movement keys on the numeric keypad. If you have a close IBM compatible keyboard, the extended arrow keys (and other functions) may also be used. The Tab and Shift-Tab combinations will also move the cursor forward or backward between tab stops at every 8 characters. The ANSI length starts at 120 lines--just enough for one page of VGA viewing/editing. Moving the cursor beyond this point, whether line by line or page by page, will adjust the ANSI length accordingly. If you want to adjust the length (though ANSI saving ignores trailing blank lines, binary does not), move to the end of the ansi and press Alt-End on the numeric keypad. WARNING: If you do this before the end of the ANSI, you will lose everything after the current page (the page being viewed). You can also move to a specific line number within the picture, by pressing Alt-G. It will prompt you for a line number, which corresponds to the Y coordinate on the status line. All cursor movement keys (except Pgup and Pgdn) may be used for block commands as well. Editing ------- The Backspace, Insert, and Delete keys are standard. You will notice that the last character to be placed on the screen is also placed between the brackets on the status line. It becomes the current character, along with the current color. To place this character/color combination, press the 5 on the numeric keypad. Also important is the ability to make the color and character under the cursor the currect color and character. This can be done by pressing Alt-/. See also below under "Character Sets". Specific documentation about commands available in DarkDraw ----- Help (Alt-Z) - From the main ANSI editing screen, a single help screen is available. All the keyboard commands are listed there on one page, organized somewhat according to function. Character Sets - Most plotting will probably be done using these extended sets, built into DarkDraw. Because DarkDraw uses its own keyboard driver, this is the only was to choose character with values over 128 (Alt-keypad is reserved for block moving). To change the current character set, use the grey + and - on the number pad. The current character set is displayed, with the current color, on the status line in groups of four. To plot an extended character, press the function key that corresponds to it. Character sets have been organized according to function; for instance, the math symbols are collected into one group, the spanish letters (forward accents and tildes) into another. If, however, another configuration would be more convenient for you, the character sets may be changed for the current session. Move the cursor onto the character that you want moved into the current character set, and press Alt-Fkey, where the Fkey is the key you would normally press to plot that character. A blank set has been reserved as the last set for this purpose. Color - Changing color can be done in two ways. The simplest is to press Ctrl-Left or Ctrl-Right to adjust the foreground, and Ctrl-Up or Ctrl-Down to adjust the background. The new color will show up on the status line. The second way is by number. By pressing Alt-A, a small color chart will appear on the message line, and will prompt you to type in the number of the color for both foreground and background. Note that background colors above sixteen are blinking without iCEcolor. To reset the color to the standard (dull--grey on black) color, press Ctrl-Center on the numeric keypad. Loading - Either choosing the Load option from the File menu or pressing Alt-L will bring up a list of files in the current directory. The directories are at the beginning of the listing, but the files are not sorted in any other way. Pressing will choose the hilighted file or directory, and will exit file listing without doing anything. At this time, only ANSI or ASCII files may be loaded; binary files may not. Alt-M will change the current file mask, and Alt-J will jump to a new directory. Saving (Alt-S) - There are three methods of saving files: ANSI, ASCII, and Binary, which the program allows you to select when this option is chosen. ANSI files are saved in standard ANSI format, able to be TYPEd out at the DOS prompt, loaded back into DarkDraw, or viewed in any of several viewers, if scrollback is desired. This is probably the most common format for saving files, as they can then be installed into a BBS to be sent over the modem to a remote computer to be displayed. Saving the picture in ASCII format saves it without regard to color, at 79 characters per line, with a CR/LF at the end. Files may be viewed in any of several popular programs, and also TYPEd out to the DOS prompt. The primary purpose of this would be for inclusion in FILE_ID.DIZ headers in .ZIP files; BBS's often cannot handle the ANSI codes in the previous format in their file listings. Binary format saves the picture with 160 bytes per line, 2 bytes (color and character) for each pixel. This format is useful for inclusion in programs, as it is the fastest and most easily accessible. Block commands (Alt-B) - When using the block commands, DarkDraw will first ask for the block to be manipulated. If the block you want to use is already in memory (i.e. it was the last block used), then press "L"; otherwise, move the cursor (using the standard movement keys--see above) to the upper left corner of the block, and press . Then move the cursor to the lower right hand corner, and press again. DarkDraw will copy the block to the block buffer, and now asks for the command to be performed on the block just marked. Cut, Stamp, Fill, Xchange, Horizontal/Vertical invert (block commands): Cut: Replaces the area under the block with the current color. Stamp: Pastes the current block at the cursor position, as shown. Fill (Alt-F): Fills the current block with either the current color, foreground, background, character, or all. Horizontal/Vertical invert: Flips the current block either horizontally or vertically. Also inverts the various half characters (� and �, etc). Xchange: Exchanges the current block with the information at the cursor. VGA viewing (Alt-V) - DarkDraw only views ANSIs in the 640x480x16 VGA mode, dithering the characters as closely as possible to achieve a correct look. In this mode, DarkDraw will only display 120 lines at a time, to allow space for the VGA editing functions (see below). DarkDraw will also stop displaying the ANSI if a key is pressed. To view more of the ANSI, press PgDn (and PgUp to go back up). Alt-V or exits VGA mode. VGA editing - VGA editing is directly accessable from the VGA viewing screen. When viewing an ANSI in VGA mode, DarkDraw will display the first 120 lines on the screen as described above. To edit in VGA mode, a mouse is required. If a mouse driver is detected, two selection bars will appear after the first VGA page has displayed: the character palette and the color palette. When the mouse cursor is over the ANSI being displayed (the first 160 pixels), the left mouse button plots the current color and character on the ANSI. Important: the program will plot beyond the end of the ANSI, and any work that has been there will be unable to be recovered in text mode. To be sure your work is on the actual ANSI, first make sure the number of ANSI lines is 120 or greater. To change the current character, move the mouse cursor onto the character palette, and click the left mouse button on a character or space. The current character will be displayed as the first character on the palette, separated from the others (which are in groups of four). The entire character palette is displayed in the current color. To choose a color to draw with, move the mouse cursor over the color palette. Click the left mouse button to change foreground, and the right mouse button to select background. The first color is black, or color 0. ----- That just about does it for the documentation for DarkDraw. See the REGISTER.DOC and FUTURE.DOC for further information on DarkDraw and how to register. End of Documentation