The CanDo How To Book, Version 1.0: INOVAtronics, Inc. 8499 Greenville Ave. Suite 209B Dallas, TX 75231 USA Phone: (214) 340-4991 BBS: (214) 357-8511 Errata-On-Disk The following is a list of minor corrections to the CanDo documentation, listed in the order of the sections of the manual. Also included here is documentation for SerialManager, a serial communications ARexx micro server, and AnimToBAnim, a program that converts full screen ANIMs to full or partial screen BrushAnims. Documentation is included for another program that removes CanDo decks from your system. This is called ShutDownDeck and is found on the CanDoExtras disk. Included in the package is a flyer for the CanDo BBS. This bulletin board system is owned and operated by Preferred Marketing Services, a third party company, and we're happy to be working with them. As always, INOVAtronics provides direct support to all registered CanDo owners. Please refer to page 1-4 of CanDo's manual to find out how you can get help. --------------- First of all... --------------- Our phone number on the back manual cover is incorrect. It should read 214-340-4991. --------------------------------- CanDo Installation --------------------------------- Floppy Disk Based Amiga's - The CanDoInstaller program does not copy the "Decks" drawer or other optional files to your WorkBench disk. Please use your working CanDo disk to run the sample Decks, Sounds, Images, etc. CanDoInstaller installs the following files: CanDo CanDo.info c/DeckRunner c/DeckRunnerNoLibrary c/DeckBinder libs/CanDo.library L/ApplicationIcon.info These files are essential for CanDo and it's Decks to operate correctly. Hard Disk Installation - The CanDoInstaller program installs CanDo in a drawer on the root directory. CanDo and all the support files on the CanDoExtras disk are copied to this directory. The following files are installed: C:DeckRunner C:DeckRunnerNoLibrary C:DeckBinder Libs:CanDo.library L:ApplicationIcon.info As above, the sample Decks, Sounds, Images, etc., on your CanDo disk are not copied on your Hard Disk. --------------------------------- Section 2:Tutorial (You CanDo It) --------------------------------- 2-6:Step 28 ----------- The Button's Origin Point and Size are determined by pressing the Left Mouse Button and then moving the mouse (while holding the button down) to the desired size. This procedure can be altered from the default click, drag, release, to the operation described in the manual which is click, release, move then click. The CoordinateDrag ToolType may be modified in CanDo's Icon by highlighting it and selecting Info from the WorkBench menu. 2-8:Step 42 ----------- The step to be repeated is Number 39, not 38. Also, in this step, the user is encouraged to change button border styles. While we haven't used borders in this example, they are self-explanatory and fun to work with. 2-11:Step 19 and 22 ------------------- If you should study the deck on the Extras disk that corresponds to this tutorial, you may find that your pathnames differ from those in the deck on the disk. Use the DOS Editor Tool to help locate and run other applications. To run other Decks that have not been bound, you must precede the Deck name with C:DeckRunner. The Phone Index Button on page 2-12 is incorrect. The Program is actually CanDo:Decks/Phone which is an un-bound deck. Your final script should read: Dos "c:run >NIL: , The example should read as follows: PrintText "Hello World",50,50 ********************************************************************* The example for the SetPrintFont Command on page 6-33 is incorrect. SetPrintFont "topaz" Make sure that the capitalization for the font's name corresponds exactly with the real thing. ********************************************************************* The example for the DrawTo Command on page 6-30 is incorrect. It should read as follows: DrawLine 50,50,100,50 DrawTo 100,100 Notice the example uses the Command "DrawLine". There is not a "Line" Command. 6-31:GetRGB and 6-32:SetRGB ---------------------------- These Commands use color values ranging from 0 to 255 for each of the red, blue or green components that make up the color. This enables CanDo to take advantage of future Amiga hardware that can display more than the current 4096 colors. Currently, paint programs (Deluxe Paint) use values from 0 through 15. Their equivalents in CanDo may be obtained by multiplying them by 17. 6-40:Animation ---------------------- Sequence motion shows ALL frames of an animation before moving it. 6-51:Replace ---------------------- The description for NOCASE should be as follows... NOCASE indicates the "fromtext" will match even if some of the character's is not the same case. -------------------- Section 7:Appendices -------------------- 7-10:Error Messages/Syntax Errors "Conflicting switches Specified" should read: Conflicting KEYWORDS Specified ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Additional utilities located on the CanDoExtras disk in the CLI-Utilities directory. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SerialManager - AREXX microserver SerialManager is a standalone program to handle communications over the Amiga's serial port. This enables your CanDo application to communicate with external hardware such as a laserdisc player, video equipment, or anything that can send and receive text messages. You must run SerialManager from a CLI or Shell, or from CanDo's DOS command. SerialManager -l{port} -t{talkto} -u{unit} -d{devicename} -p{prefix} ARexx Commands Understood: (Not caps sensitive) Send {text} SetTalkTo {portname} SetPrefix {prefix} SetConfig {as in F8N1{baud}} SetCRMode {On,Off} -- this waits on CR to end else waits on NIL SetHandshaking {XON,DTR,NONE} Quit -- shut down the serialmanager Abort -- Use when SerialManager hangs on replying to a message from an ARexx message. Only works in that case. Must be sent by external program as your main program will be hung waiting on its reply. NOTE : DTR works by setting 7Wire mode and turning XON/XOFF off. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- AnimToBAnim - A utility to convert full screen Anims to Deluxe Paint III compatible brush animations. ANIM REV.5 TO BrushANIM REV.5 Converter -- Version 1.1 Copyright (c) 1989 by Silver Fox Software, All Rights Reserved Written by James Nelson Developed for INOVAtronics -- Creators of CanDo! Syntax: animtobanim {animname} {banimname} [{x} {y} {w} {h}] Required Arguments: {animname} - name of the source anim file {banimname} - name of the destination brush animation file Optional Arguments: {x} {y} - upperleft corner of the rectangle to clip {w} {h} - size of the rectangle to clip ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ShutDownDeck {DeckName} A file is included on the CanDoExtras disk called "ShutDownDeck." Its purpose is to shut down a running CanDo Deck. In the event that your Deck becomes caught in a loop and appears to be hung, you may execute this command and quit the application. For example if your Deck had a script as follows: Let count=0 ;initialize count to zero While count<10 ;loop until count becomes 10 or greater PlaySound "CanDo:Sounds/DogBark.snd" Let cnt=cnt+1 ;we misspelled our count variable EndLoop ;we'll never end NextCard ;go to the next card As you can see, this While...EndLoop will never end since the variable "count" does not get incremented. In order to remove this hung Deck from your system, the user would do the following. 1. Go to an active CLI or shell 2. Type: (pathname/)ShutDownDeck DeckName DeckName, in this case, is the name of the hung deck. It must mirror the deck name exactly, including case-sensitivity. If the deck is truly hung, it will be removed immediately, returning the user to the CLI, shell, or Workbench. If the specified deck is actually running correctly, it will be removed after its next event (such as clicking one of the deck's buttons). ----------------------------------------------------------------------- TheBinder The Binder, located on the CanDo disk, is used to "Bind" a CanDo Deck so that it can be run as a stand alone program. Decks you create with CanDo are actually projects that use a small program called DeckRunner in your C: directory to launch themselves. If you want to run a Deck from CLI, you must precede the Deck's name and path with DeckRunner. Example: DeckRunner CanDo:Decks/ApptCal After you Bind the Deck, you can start it like any other application. Example: CanDo:Decks/ApptCal When running TheBinder you must specify the Deck you would like to Bind and then the destination for the bound application. A file requester may be used for this by clicking on the "Deck Name" or "Dest Name" text. You may also use menu selections to obtain the file requester. TheBinder defaults to "Yes" for the library selection. This means your program will need to share CanDo's library. If you select "No" your application will not need this library and may be used on other Amigas without CanDo. This results in the application being somewhat larger in size. Please refer to page 1-3 for more information about the two types of bound applications.