M.A.A.D. (Most Advanced Amiga Developers) Proudly Presents: The Director Docs February 9, 1988 This text file was typed by Picasso and is the complete command overview section of the director docs. M.A.A.D. is in the process of bringing you more docs to LARGE programs in the near future. It is little known that Wayward (Semidisk) was the person to bring you the entire Lattice C manual. In his excitment to get them out he forgot to mention who it was that did the work. Other projects that are in the works are docs to Animate 3D & Pixmate. And of course, as always, we intend to bring you the finest utility programs for your computing enjoyment. We can be contacted on all the Better Pirate boards: The Neutral Zone, Kobiashi Maru, Tardis, Ruggies, Big City Lights, etc.. etc.. Just leave a note to one of our members which follow: The Duplicator (Ye Leader type) Snatch (WARP & Protocom + Cracks) Wayward (Semidisk & Crack Screens) Lucifer (Program Aquisition & Graphics) Jeff (More Programs then we need!) Picasso (Docs & Graphics) The Inspectre (He does something????) Guillotine (Sound & errands) Arthur Dent (A friendly sort...) The Advocate (where are you?) One final Note: Bartles & Jaymes would once again like to thank you for your support! Oh I almost forgot: Hello to The Kent Teem (serves you right for screwing up our name on your latest crack screens!) and to all those groups who add so much to the enjoyment of our Amigas. In the following command reference section, commands are in alphabetical order, and generally conform to the following format: commandname parameternames commandname parametertypes commandexample commandexample textdescription The first line introduces the command, and names the parameters so they can be referenced within the text description. The second line shows the same command, but with the parameter types shown. Following that there are some examples of the use of the command, and then the text description. In parameter types, means any valid expression, means any variable, and means a character string surrounded by quotes, or a string contained in the @ array and referenced by $. is an expression to be used as an index in to the @ array. An is a list of a combination of string and numeric expressions seperated by semicolons. ABORT flag ABORT ABORT 0 ABORT 2 Will set abort flag. 0 means do not abort (you will have to reboot to quit Director unless an error or an END occurs). 1 means a mouse click will signal quit to the Director (the default) 2 means a keystroke will quit the Director, and 3 means either a mouse click or keystroke will do a quit. ABORT should be used to disable mouse abort when IFMOUSE is used. ANIM abuffer, pbuffer, abs, rel, end ANIM ,,,, ANIM 3,1,abs,rel,end ANIM 7,b,a,r,q Generates the next frame of the ANIM data specified by "abuffer" by modifying the screen buffer "pbuffer". Will return absolute time (since the beginning of the ANIM) and relative time (since the last frame) if specified in the ANIM file, in variables "abs" and "rel" respectively. Variable "end" will be set to zero if the frame processed was not the last frame, and to one if the frame processed was the last frame. ANIMs must be double buffered for best results. ARRAY cells, cellsize ARRAY , ARRAY 1000,1 ARRAY 200,4 Will allocate memory for the "@" array. "cells" signifies the number of elements in the array, and "cellsize" indicates the size of each cell in bytes. A size of 1, 2, or 4 bytes are the valid size parameters. The "@" array cannot be used unless memory is allocated for it by the ARRAY command. If the "@" already exists, a second ARRAY command will cause the present memory reserved for the "@" array to be returned to the operating system, and the newly specified amount to be allocated, thus losing any information stored in the "@" array at the time. The @ array is used thus: @() = To assign an element of the @ array to a value. Or, @ can be used in an expression thus: A+2*@(5) @((N+2)*5) Also, array elements can be used in the computation of array indices: @(N+@(5)) BLIT buffer, fromx, fromy, tox, toy, width, height BLIT ,,,,,, BLIT 2,0,0,xpos,ypos,32,27 BLIT buff,56,89,30,50,90,60 The BLIT command will transfer a rectangular area from a picture buffer "buffer" at coordinates fromx, fromy to the "destination" buffer at coordinates tox, toy. Here, "coordinates specifies the upper left corner of the rectangle. "width" and "hieght" specify the width and height of the rectangle transferred. The BLIT command allows you to use the Amiga's "blitter", which is special hardware designed for manipulating graphical data on the screen. While the BLIT commnd is not the only way from the Director to make use of the blitter, it is the most general mechanism for using the blitter to move portions of IFF pictures between buffers and to various locations on the screen. The "destination" buffer is the current displayed picture buffer, unless explicitly directed to another buffer with the BLITDEST command. BLIT is quite fast, and can be used to do blit oriented animations. If transparency is selected with the TRANSPARENT command, then anywhere the source rectangle contains the color 0 (the background color) no transfer occurrs, allowing arbitray shapes to be transferred. With the use of the BLITMODE command, special blit operations can be specified that do more than a simple move. See the BLITMODE command for more information. BLITMODE mode BLITMODE BLITMODE 51 BLITMODE -1 This sets the blitter mode to be used during BLIT, WIPE, and STENCIL. The blitter mode can be any value from 0 to 255. 192 is the default and means a straight transfer. All of the possible effects aren't documented here, (there are 256, though a somewhat less number are actually useful). One of the combinations is to effectively make your image into a negative, i.e. it will have the effect of inverting the color palette by invcerting all of the pixel values causing all color 31 to become color 0, color 30 to be 1, etc. BLITMODE is referred to as "minterms" in the Amiga hardware manual. BLITMODE -1 will set the blitmode to the default mode. Unfortunately, understanding of binary logical operations and binary arithmetic is required for full comprehension of the specific modes. The information on minterms here are provided for those who may understand binary logic operations and wish to experiment with specific capabilities of the Amiga hardware. If you do not undserstand binary logic , experimentation won't hurt, you can try all of the combinations from 0 to 255 searching for useful effects. Many of the modes may appear redundant or useless because they are only useful when performing specific blitter operations that reach beyond the scope of what is provided by the standard Director commands. Minterms logical operations are: _ _ __ _ _ _ __ ___ minterms: ABC ABC ABC ABC ABC ABC ABC ABC enable bits: 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 For the Directors's BLIT commands, source "B" is the source bitmap, and source "C" is the destination bitmap. Source "A" is not used. Here are some example blit modes: _ B 00110011 (binary) 33 (hex) 51 (decimal) Invoked with BLITMODE 51. This mode will set the destination bitmap to the inverse of the source btmap. This is accomplished with the logical equation: _ __ __ ___ ABC + ABC + ABC + ABC These are all of the logical terms selected by the binary number parameter. The first two terms reduce to: _ AB The next two terms reduce to: __ AB And the combination reduces to: _ B. _ C 01010101 (binary) 55 (hex) 85 (decimal) Invoked with BLITMODE 85 Ths combination will set the destination buffer to the inverse of itself. The logical operations selected are: _ __ _ _ ___ ABC + ABC + ABC + ABC Which reduce to: _ C. _ _ BC + BC 01100110 (binary) 66 (hex) 102 (decimal) Selects logical operations: _ _ _ _ __ ABC + ABC + ABC + ABC Which evaluates to the equivalent of EXCLUSIVE OR. Interesting effects can be obtained by continually exclusive or-ing a buffer to itself with a slight offset. BLITDEST buffer BLITDEST BLITDEST 7 BLITDEST -1 Will set the destination screen buffer for subsequent blit operations to specified picture buffer. BLIT operations, MOVE, DRAW, CIRCLE CLEAR, etc. commands are all redirected to use specified screen buffer. This can be usefull for offscreen manipulations and/or double buffering. The DISPLAY command will reset the blitdest to be the current displayed picture, but no other commands should affect its setting otherwise. BUFFERS number BUFFERS BUFFERS 50 BUFFERS 100 BUFFERS will reconfigure the number of available screen buffers for a given Director program. The default is 30 buffers, but can be set to whatever memory will allow. The BUFFERS command must be used in a script before any buffers are actually LOADed with any of the load commands. In general, BUFFERS should probably be the first command in a script when it is to be used. CENTER flag CENTER CENTER 1 CENTER 0 Turns auto centering on and off for the TEXT command. If flag=1, then centering is on, if flag=0 then centering is off. See the TEXT command for more details. CIRCLE x,y,r CIRCLE ,, CIRCLE 160,100,50 CIRCLE xval,yval,radius x,y center, r radius. Will do a circle using the foreground pen. CLEAR CLEAR Clears the screen to the background pen color CLOSE CLOSE Closes file opened by OPEN command. COLOR buffer, permanence, colornumber,r,g,b COLOR ,,,,, Will set palette color "colornumber" to color r,g,b where r,g,b are 0-15 color intensity commands for red-green-blue respectively. "buffer" is the buffer number affected, with a -1 being the current screen. If "permanence is a 0, the effect is temporary, will only affect the screen and not the copy of the palette stored with the screen buffer. If permanence is a 1, then the effect is permanent, and the buffer copy is updated. COMPARE v,stringa,stringb COMPARE ,, Will compare stringa with stringb, and set "v" to the result. Either stringa or stringb can be quoted strings, or string indexes into the @ array preceded by the $ symbol. The "*" symbol in "stringa" specifies a match with anything in stringb. For example: COMPARE V,"*eat*",$(0) Will set V to 1 if the letters "eat" appear anywhere in the string specified by $(0), otherwise, sets V to 0. COMPARE V,"Y*",$(0) Will set V to 1 if the string specified by $(0) starts with a "Y". This can useful for testing if the operator type in a yes or no, or just Y or N. Note that a comparison for "y*" should be used as well in case the yes was typed in lower case. "Y*" is not the same as "y*". COMPARE V,"foo",$(0) Will only set V to a 1 if the strng specified by $(0) is EXACTLY "foo". COPY src,dest COPY , COPY 7,2 COPY -1,buff Will copy src bitmap to dest bitmap without using the blitter if either of the bitmaps are not CHIP memory buffers. COPY will also copy the color palette. This is useful as a general buffer to buffer copy, and especially when the src or destination buffers are in fast memory, as the blitter will not operate with fast memory. The blitter will be used if both src and dest are CHIP buffers. If source or dest is -1, current displayed screen is used for that parameter. CYCLE mode CYCLE CYCLE 1 CYCLE 0 If mode=1, turns on the color cycling, if mode=0, then turns it off. Note that if SETBLACK or FADE is used when color cycling is on, somewhat unpredictable results may occur, as these features will interact. If you are doing double buffering, or using wipes or dissolves, you may want to use the FIXPALETTE command to disable palette modification during related commands. If in doubt, you can try it either way to determine the effects as they apply to your situation. DISPLAY buffer DISPLAY DISPLAY 2 DISPLAY buff Select buffer as current displayed screen. Also sets blitdest to be selected screen buffer. Only CHIP memory buffers can be displayed with the DISPLAY command. DISSOLVE buffer,fromx,fromy,tox,toy,width,height,speed DISSOLVE ,,,,,,, DISSOLVE 2,0,0,xpos,ypos,32,27,2000 DISSOLVE buff,56,89,30,50,90,60,20 Will do a dissolve from a rectangular area of buffer "buffer" to the current displayed screen. fromx,fromy is the upper left corner of the source rectangle, and tox,toy is the upper left corner of the destination rectangle. width and height are those of the rectangle. "speed" specifies the number of pixels to be transferred in a single blitter pass. A good range for a full screen dissolve is 1000-4000, with 3000 perhaps being optimum choice. Larger numbers for speed cause the delay times between screen updates to increase so that they may be perceived as pauses. Smaller rectangle dissolves will usually use smaller speed values as they tend to run faster. After the dissolve is completed, the palette of the displayed buffer will be updated with the palette from the buffer dissolved from, unless the FIXPALETTE 1 command has been used to disable this feature. DRAW x,y DRAW , Will draw a line using the foreground pen, from the current graphics cursor position. (specified by the MOVE command) to x,y. The graphics cursor position is then updated to be x,y. The line is drawn with the foreground pen (see PEN). To draw a line, try: PEN 1,15 MOVE 10,10 DRAW 300,180 DRAWMODE mode DRAWMODE DRAWMODE 2 DRAWMODE -1 Sets the drawing mode to one of three modes: 0 - JAM1 (foreground only transfer) 1 - JAM2 (foreground and background transfer) 2 - COMPLIMENT (exclusive OR transfer, toggles screen pixels) Mode 1 will put text on the screen in the foreground pen, with text background in the background pen color. Mode 0 will put text on the screen in the forground pen, and put no text background on the screen at all. Mode -1 will set drawmode to the default mode (1). ELLIPSE x,y,xrad,yrad ELLIPSE ,,, ELLIPSE 160,100,80,40 ELLIPSE 200,50,50,30 Draws an ellipse with center at x,y, and x and y radii of xrad, yrad, using the foreground pen (see PEN). ELSE ELSE If the previous IF instruction expression evaluated to zero, the instructions immediately following the ELSE instruction are executed. Otherwise, control is transferred to the instructions following the ENDIF instruction, after the instructions between the IF and ELSE have been executed. The ELSE instruction is not required with the IF though an ENDIF is required for every IF instruction. END END Causes the director to end execution and clean up all screens and data spaces allocated. ENDIF ENDIF Terminates an IF clause. See IF for more details. EXECUTE variable, command EXECUTE , EXECUTE a,"Assign fonts: mydisk:fonts" EXECUTE a,"run muydisk:c/smusplay mydisk:playfile" This causes the Director to pass the "command" parameter to the CLI for execution as a CLI command. The result from the command execution is returned in the variable. Most commands do not return anything unless there is an error, though certain commands may return usefull information that the Director can then work with. This command can be used to copy files into RAM:, delete files, run sound generation programs, anything that can be done by the CLI. Though not required, it is probably a good idea when specifying filenames in EXECUTE commands, to use a complete path name, i.e. specify the diskname:directory/file you want completely, rather than use df1: etc. This is due to the fact that you may later be running your script under different circumstances, and not have the same disks in the same drives. By specifying the complete file names, regardless of which disks are in which drives, the program should still work correctly. FADE flag, buffer, speed FADE FADE 1,7,0 (fade in quick using buffer 7 palette) FADE 0,8,2 (fade out slow using buffer 8 palette) Will fade in or out to/from the specified buffers color palette. If flag=1, will fade IN from a black state. If black is on (as from setblack) will result in a black off state after fade-in. Palette used is one from "buffer", and "speed" sets the duration of the fade. Useful speeds are in the range 0-10, with 0 being the fastest. If flag=0 will fade OUT (to black) with similar effects. FILL mode,x,y FILL ,, Will do a solid fill of the area surrounding specified point x,y, with the foreground pen color. Valid modes are 0 and 1. Mode 1 does a flood of all surround points that match current point at x,y, and mode 0 does a flod fill of all surrounding points that don't match the outline pen (see pen). As an example, to generate a filled cricle, try this: PEN 1,15 CIRCLE 160,100,60 FILL 0,160,100 FIXPALETTE flag FIXPALETTE FIPALETTE 1 will disable any palette updating by the DISPLAY, WIPE, and DISSOLVE commands. This can be useful primarily when color cycling while double buffering, or doing wipes or dissolves. Otherwise, when these commands are done, they will update the palette which will have the effect of reseting the color cycle. FIXPALETTE 0 is the default, and enables automatic palette updating on these commands. FOR variable=start TO end STEP increment FOR = TO STEP FOR inc=1 TO 7 FOR var=11 TO 88 STEP 11 FOR dcr=10 TO 1 where is a valid variable, and is a valid expression. Starts loop using the variable specified. The variable is initialized with the value of the first expression. At the end of the loop, the value of the third expression is added to the variable, and the variable is compared with the value of the second expression. If they are equal, the loping is finished. If not , control returns to the statement immediately following the FOR statement. The end of a loop is marked with the NEXT statement. Every FOR command must be matched with a correspondig NEXT command. For example: FOR K=0 TO 10 STEP 2 .... NEXT will set K to 0, at the end of every loop will add 2 to K, and see if it has reached 10. If so, the looping is finished, otherwise it continues. The program will loop 6 times, with K being equal to 0,2,4,6,8,10 as it loops. The STEP value is an optional parameter, if omitted, a step of 1 or -1 (depending on direction to the TO parameter) is assumed. If you exit out of a FOR loop without going through NEXT (by doing a GOTO) some information will still left on the looping stack. This can cause a stack overflow if done enough times during a single script. FREE buffer FREE FREE 7 FREE buff Deletes the specified screen buffer. This will free up all memory being used by the specified buffer so that the memory can be used for other things (other buffers, fonts, etc.). The current displayed buffer can not be freed. FREE will free either screen or ANIM buffers. FREEFONT fontnum FREEFONT FREEFONT 2 FREEFONT font Frees font loaded with LOADFONT specified by fontnum. GETKEY variable GETKEY GETKEY char Get a keystroke and assign it to the specified variable. i.e., GETKEY A will wait for a keystroke to be input, and assign the variable A to the resultant ASCII code of the key hit. GETMAP buffer, arrayindex GETMAP 7,colortab Will move a copy of the color map for buffer "buffer" into the @ array at the index specified by "arrayindex". Note that there is no "@" symbol in the array index specification, though the value is used as an index in the @ array. The map is a set of 32 2 byte nubers, each assembled from red,green,blue color codes in the following manner: Color = (red * 256) + (green * 16) + blue Individual r,g,b color values can be extracted as follows: red = color / 256 green = (color / 16) % 16 blue = color % 16 The map can be modified and replaced into a screen buffer with the SETMAP command. GETMOUSE x,y GETMOUSE , GETMOUSE mousex,mousey Will wait for a mouse click, and then insert the x and y location of the click into the two variables. The pointer will be turned on automatically if not already on from the POINTER command. GETPEN variable,x,y GETPEN ,, GETPEN color,32,20 GETPEN pixel,xval,yval Will set variable to the pen value of the pixel at location x,y on the current screen, or BLITDEST specified buffer. GOSUB linenumber GOSUB GOSUB 200 GOSUB 1000+N*100 GOSUB func Go to subroutine command. Causes program to continue execution at line number specified. Subsequent RETURN statement will cause program to continue at line immediately following original GOSUB statement. GOTO linenumber GOTO GOTO 300 GOTO 800+func*10 GOTO func Causes program to continue execution at line number specified. Line numbers can be computed, or stored in variables. IF condition IF IF 7=var-1:PRINT "equal":ELSE:PRINT "notequal":ENDIF IF flag:GOSUB 100:ENDIF IF char#-1:END:ENDIF If condition evaluates to non-zero, the statements immediately following the IF are executed, otherwise, control is transferred to the next ELSE or ENDIF statement, whichever is encountered first. Examples are indented for clarity, indenting is not required. Examples: IF A=5 MOVE X,Y TEXT "String" ENDIF IF (A<7)&(B>9) MOVE X,Y TEXT "String 1" ELSE MOVE U,Z TEXT "String 2" ENDIF IFKEY variable IFKEY IFKEY char Will set "variable" to either the ASCII value of a keystroke input from the keyboard, or -1 if none has been entered. Allows testing for keybe TEXT OBJECT and the mouse pointer will change to a HAND. You can now reposition the TEXT OBJECT by simply moving the mouse. When you are satisfied with the TEXT OBJECT's position, release the left mouse button and the SHIFT key. The previously highlighted text will remain highlighted until you click the left mouse button. Striking any key (excluding the arrow keys and special control keys i.e Alternate, Control or, Esc) will also cause text to become dehighlighted. CHANGE CHAR SPACING With the text still highlighted, reselect the LINE/CHAR SPACING option from the VIEW drop down menu, change the character spacing to "10" and select "OK". Position the highlighted TEXT OBJECT so it is centered in the headline (Use the SHIFT + Left mouse button option). When you are satisfied with the position of the TEXT OBJECT, click the left mouse button to dehighlight the text. CHANGE CHAR SIZE Use the scroller bars to view the upper left section of the document. Using the mouse, position the pointer in the upper left column on the screen and click the left mouse button. Highlight the phrase "Publishing Partner Helps You Create". Select the FONTS/POINTS option from the STYLE drop down menu. You will see a dialog box. Use the mouse to position the pointer over the right arrow and click the left mouse button one time. Position the pointer over the number "18" and click the left mouse button again. You will notice the number next to the prompt "Point:" will change to 18. This indicates the last selected number. The term "point" is a typesetting word meaning 1/72 of an inch. If you wanted a character to be 1 inch tall, you would then select 72 points. If you want to enter in your own point size, simply position the mouse pointer over the number displayed next to the prompt "Point:" You can then enter a number between 2 and 216 points. Refer to the reference section of the manual for more information. Select the OK prompt in the dialog box. The highlighted text will now change to 18 point characters. You will also notice that since this column has been linked to the adjacent column, (this was done earlier in the tutorial) changing the characters to 18 points causes text to automatically overflow into the adjacent column. Position the pointer over the column located closest to the right side of the page and click the left mouse button. Highlight the first line of text which reads, "Forms Creator" and change its point size to 18 points. BLOCK RIGHT/CHANGE AN ENTIRE COLUMN Let's be creative. We are going to take the column closest to the right side of the page and align all the lines of text along the right side of the column instead of the traditional left side. The last time you modified some text, you highlighted it. That technique is fine if you want to modify a particular section of a column. However, you now want to modify the entire column. Here's a shortcut: Use the mouse and position the pointer over the "arrow" option (object editor) in the toolbox and click the left mouse button. Since the cursor was already resting in the column, this column will automatically become selected. You will know it is selected because there will be "sizing squares" along the corners of the column. If for some reason the column on the far right side of the page is not selected, position the pointer over that column now and click the left mouse button. Select BLOCK RIGHT from the FORMAT drop down menu. You will see a dialog box prompting you to verify that you want to modify the contents of the entire column. Select OK. The screen will blink and the entire column will be realigned along the right margin. Use the horizontal scroller bar and position the page so you are viewing the right side of the document. SEARCH With the cursor resting in the far right column, select SEARCH from the EDIT drop down menu. You will see a dialog box which reads "Stop! You can not perform the function selected in the mode you are in...[OK]". This indicates you must be in the TEXT mode before you can perform this operation. Select OK. Click on the TEXT option from the TOOLBOX. Reselect the SEARCH option from the EDIT drop down menu. You will see a dialog box prompting you to enter a search criteria. Type "phone slips" and don't press RETURN. If you make any typing errors, use the keyboard editing commands found on the keyboard. Use the mouse and select the box labeled ENTIRE. This instructs the program to search the entire column for a match of the phrase "phone slips". When a match is found, you will see a dialog box which asks you if you want to CONTINUE the search or STOP. Select STOP. You will notice that when a match is found, it remains highlighted. If you start typing, the highlighted material will become dehighlighted. DELETING HIGHLIGHTED TEXT Use the mouse and highlight the current line; "While you were out phone slips". Press the BACKSPACE key once. You will see that all the highlighted text has been deleted. This is a handy shortcut when deleting both text and graphics (line, box, circle, picture,etc.). You can highlight any text or graphic object and press the BACKSPACE or DELETE key to quickly delete it. If a blank line remains after you delete the line, press the "Delete" key to eliminate it. ADJUST MARGINS Publishing Partner permits you to adjust margins within a column. While still viewing the third column at the far right of the page, you will see the column contains 2 paragraphs (1 at the beginning and 1 at the end) and a list of forms (in the middle of the column) which could be created with Publishing Partner. Highlight the list forms in the middle of the column. (Hint - Use the vertical scroll bar and position the page so you can see the contents in the middle of the column. Select CHANGE MARGINS from the FORMAT drop down menu. Use the mouse and position the pointer over the left arrow under the RIGHT INDENT prompt. Press and hold down the left mouse button. You will notice the margin representation inside the dialog box will start changing. The numbers under the RIGHT INDENT prompt displays in inches the amount of the right indent. (If you have selected a different MEASURING SYSTEM from the CREATE-LAYOUT menu, those measurement units will be used in the display). The indent representation will stop moving when it reaches its maximum (1.77 inches). Release the left mouse button. You can quickly reset the indent back to zero by clicking on the box next to the "right indent" margin line. Change the RIGHT INDENT margin to 1/2 (.5 in) inch. You can use the left and right arrow keys from the keyboard to change the "left indent" and the up and down arrows to change the "right indent". Select OK from the margin dialog box and continue. You will see the previously highlighted text has been indented 1/2 inch from the right side of the column. The text which was highlighted will remain highlighted until you strike a key. Click the left mouse button to dehighlight the text. DRAW LINES Select the box labeled LINE from the toolbox. As you can see, you can define the type of line you wish to use. A check mark appears next to the selected line attributes. Position the mouse pointer under the column labeled "Width" and select a 1 pt line. Select the OK box to continue. We are now ready to draw a line. If your rulers are not already being displayed, select the SHOW RULERS option from the VIEW drop down menu. When you move the mouse, you will see a corresponding dotted line move on the rulers. This marks your exact position on the page. Select the HORIZ/VERT line box from the toolbox located at the right side of you screen. The selected item will appear in inverse video. When you move the mouse pointer away from the toolbox, its appearance changes to a "crosshair". This indicates you are in drawing mode. If you look in the upper right corner of the screen, you will see the prompt "Click the points". This is a reminder on how the drawing process works. Use the mouse and position the pointer 2 and 7/8 inches from the left edge of the page and 3 and 3/8 inches from the top edge. Using the scroller bars and rulers will make this very easy. Now that you have the pointer positioned correctly, lets start drawing. Click the left mouse button one time to start the line. Use the mouse and position the pointer over the unshaded box on the vertical scroll bar and press and hold down the left mouse button. This selects the scroll bar so you can reposition the page. Now that the scroll box is selected, use the mouse and position the unshaded scroll box at the bottom of the page. Using the mouse and rulers, position the mouse pointer 9 and 3/4 inches from the top of the page. Since you are drawing a vertical line, it doesn't matter how far from the left edge the pointer is positioned. Provided you have the pointer (crosshair) on the page, click the left mouse button to define the line's endpoint. Your vertical line will be drawn. REPOSITIONING A GRAPHIC OBJECT (LINE) If you are not satisfied with the line's placement on the page, you can easily reposition it. Simultaneously press and hold down the SHIFT key and the left mouse button. The pointer will change to a hand. You can now move the line by moving the mouse. When you release the left mouse button, the line will be pasted to the page. SIZING A GRAPHIC OBJECT (LINE) If after drawing a graphic object, such as the line we just drew, you can go back and change the object's size. Let's do this. Use the mouse and select the arrow (object editor) from the toolbox. Position the pointer over the line you have just drawn and click the left mouse button. The line will become selected (contain sizing squares on its endpoints) if it wasn't already. Position the pointer over one of the sizing squares and press and hold down the left mouse button. Start moving the mouse. You will see the object move. Since you drew a vertical line, the line will only change in that direction. When you are satisfied with the lines positioning, release the mouse button. Try this on your own by placing another line between the two adjacent columns. VIEW FULL PAGE Select SHOW FULL PAGE from the VIEW drop down menu. You will notice that the entire page has been reduced to fit on one screen. Even the rulers have been reduced proportionally. DRAW A BOX Let's draw a box while in the SHOW FULL PAGE mode. When drawing a box, there are a few things you need to remember. The box will be drawn using the selected attributes from the LINE, FILL, and COLOR options from the toolbox. Select LINE from the toolbox, select a 5 point line and select OK. Select FILL from the toolbox, select the fourth fill pattern from the first column, and select OK. Select the BOX option from the toolbox. It is resting just above the VERT/HORZ line box used earlier. Use the mouse and position the pointer (crosshair) 9 and 3/4 inches from the top of the page. Click the left mouse button. Now position the pointer (crosshair) 10 and 1/2 inches from the top of the page and 8 inches from the left edge of the page. Click the left mouse button again. MOVING AN OBJECT (BOX) You will see a gray filled box with a 5 point border. If you don't like its location, just press the SHIFT key and the left mouse button to move the box. SIZING AN OBJECT (BOX) If you want to adjust its size (as previously done with the line), select the arrow (object editor) from the toolbox and "drag" the sizing squares until you find a size you like. (If sizing squares don't appear on the box, you will need to first click on the object). SHOW FULL WIDTH Select SHOW FULL WIDTH from the VIEW drop down menu. The purpose of this option is to permit you to reduce the width of a page so it will fit in one screen. This eliminates having to use the horizontal scroll bar. If you are not viewing the bottom of the sample page you are currently working on, use the vertical scroll bar and position the unshaded box at the bottom of the screen. PLACE TEXT OUTSIDE A COLUMN In most cases, you will enter text directly into a column giving you the advantage of justification, word wrap, search and replace and many more standard word processing functions. However, there are times when this is not advantageous. For example, suppose you want to enter text in the shaded box just created. Although this box is not in a column, it is very easy to enter text there. Here's how: Make sure the TEXT option from the toolbox is selected. Let's enter our text in a character size of a half inch. Select the FONT/POINTS option from the STYLE drop down menu and select a 36 point character (remember 72 points to an inch, thus .5 X 72 = 36). Position the pointer near the left edge of the shaded box and simultaneously press both the CONTROL key and the left mouse button. Release both keys. You will see the prompt "nul" at the place where the pointer was resting when you pressed CONTROL and the left mouse button. This indicates you are creating text as an object instead of text inside a column. You can manipulate a text object just as if it were a line or any other graphic object, the only exception is that you can't size the text using the "sizing squares" (instead you must adjust its point size). Type "By [your name]" (i.e. By Ellen Becker) When you type, you will notice the characters are displayed on the screen in 36 points. If you make a mistake, use the editing keys on the computer to make any corrections. NOTE - Each time you press a key, it appears as if the background fill pattern is being erased. Don't worry! Actually, the text is being placed on top of the box and nothing below is erased. This will be evident once the screen is redrawn. If you haven't caused a screen redraw yet, you can press ESC U and force one. (Usually, this will not be necessary because you will want to adjust the text's position after it is typed. This will cause the screen to be redrawn). REPOSITIONING A TEXT OBJECT After you type your name, you will probably want to reposition the text. If so, press the SHIFT key and the left mouse button. The pointer will change to a "hand" and you can reposition the text anywhere you desire by moving the mouse. You may want to switch back to SHOW ACTUAL SIZE from the VIEW drop down menu. This will make the displayed text easier to read. IMPORTANT NOTE Some screen characters may appear "blocky" or "hard to read" on the screen. However, the characters will be "smoothed" when printed so you get the most attractive output possible. For instance: Highlight your name (which you just typed) and select ITALICIZE from the STYLE drop down menu. While the text is still highlighted, select BOLD from the STYLE menu. Dehighlight the text by clicking the left mouse button (pressing any character key will also cause a dehighlight). While the "stylized" text does not look very attractive on the screen, it will look professional when it prints. Select SHOW FULL PAGE. Select SHOW ACTUAL SIZE from the VIEW drop down menu and continue. IMPORTING A PICTURE With Publishing Partner, you can load any Degas or Neochrome picture. If you are working with a color system, the picture will be converted to black and white. Let's import a picture. Select the "PIC" option from the toolbox. Select IMPORT from the FILE drop down menu. Select the file named "PICTURE.TNY" and select the OK box to continue. You will see the picture has been imported into Publishing Partner's picture buffer. Lets copy the picture into our document. HIGHLIGHT THE PICTURE Position the mouse pointer at the upper left corner of the "No bugs" picture and click the left mouse button one time. Move the mouse pointer (you will see the rubber band effect in the background showing the area which you are highlighting) to the bottom right corner of the picture and click the left mouse button again. COPY PICTURE TO THE BUFFER Select COPY TO BUFFER from the EDIT drop down menu. This copies the highlighted section of the picture to the buffer. Select the arrow (OBJECT EDITOR) from the toolbox. This returns you to your document. Select COPY FROM BUFFER from the EDIT drop down menu. PLACING THE PICTURE You will notice the mouse pointer has changed to a "picture frame" icon. This indicates you have a graphic object/picture in the copy buffer. If you move the mouse pointer over a scroller bar, the pointer will change and permit you to use the scroller bars without disturbing the information in the copy buffer. If you click on any unselected option from the toolbox (except the page forward/backward arrows) you will clear the "picture frame" icon. However, the information in the copy buffer will not be disturbed. Use the scroller bars and position the page so you are viewing the upper right section of the page. You will see there is an open area ( contains no text or graphics) near the upper right section of the page under the banner headline. It is here that we want to place the picture. Once the mouse pointer is positioned where you want the picture to appear (the upper left corner of the "picture frame" represents the upper left corner of the picture), click the left mouse button. SIZING THE PICTURE The picture has now been placed in the document. You will notice it doesn't fit very well. Let's use the sizing squares on the corners of the picture and correct this. By positioning the mouse pointer over any sizing square and then pressing and holding down the left mouse button, you can move the mouse and size the picture. When you release the mouse button, The picture will be placed at that location. MOVING A PICTURE If you simultaneously press the SHIFT key and the left mouse button, you can move the picture by simply moving the mouse. Using the mouse, size and position the p