NoteBook Demo Documentation =========================== Accurate for v1.00 ------------------ December 5th, 1991 The first point we'd like to make is that this is *very* brief documentation, and we're well aware of that. The formal manual is a well-indexed 50 pages of carefully presented information. This document is designed to provide you with an overview of the tools here, and to specifically inform you of what features are disabled. We'll begin with a short introduction, talk about what's disabled, then go over installation, finally we'll describe general use. NoteBook is a new, really new, type of tool for the Amiga. It's designed to essentially bring every useful feature possible from the notebook on your desktop to the display of your computer. We began using NoteBook internally at BlackBelt several months before we released it (naturally enough!) and now, we wouldn't be without it. It has become the most used software on all of the programmer's machines, and in service, and at the order desk. Now... what kind of software could do that? Check it out - you've got the answer in your hands. If you have questions about NoteBook or this demo, please feel free to ask them on... ...CompuServe, in the Amiga Vendor forum, Section 6 ...our support BBS, in the message base at (406) 367-ABBS [406-367-2227] ...our support line at (406) 367-5509 between 2 and 4pm MST ...BIX, in amiga/vendors.blackbelt Briefly, NoteBook retails for $39.95, and you can purchase your own copy by calling (800) TK-AMIGA [800-852-6442], or (406) 367-5513. The system requirements are 1 mb of ram minimum, and we strongly, very strongly, recommend the use of a deinterlacer device. NoteBook runs only in interlace mode. Also, it is currently designed for NTSC machine, although it will run in PAL, the screen height will be shorter than normal. Disabled Features ================= You can not use any of the following capabilities in this demo: * Loading or Saving objects (graphics, text, groups, etc). * Loading or Saving Pages * Loading or Saving Sections * Loading or Saving Notebooks * Printing Pages, Sections or entire Notebooks * Unlimited Pages - the demo is limited to 5 pages What this means you are missing is essentially the portions of the NoteBook that make it useful on a serious basis. You can use all of the drawing tools, and get a feel for everything else it does. We hope you enjoy the demo, and we hope that you purchase NoteBook. We have worked long and hard to make it a very useful tool. Installation ============ To install NoteBook, un-lzh the file into ram: to begin with. You'll have the files "nbook", "swall.font", and "9". Now, do this: cd fonts: makedir swall copy ram:9 swall copy ram:nbook c: That's it - NoteBook demo is installed. For WorkBench users, you may want to attach an ICON to NoteBook so you can get at it from the WorkBench, any tool type icon will do. To use it, type "run nbook" at any CLI or Shell prompt, or click on the ICON if you supplied one. Abbreviated Manual ------------------ The following information will help you run the program, and answer many questions you might have. Documentation for: The Black Belt NoteBook Ecologically Friendly Paperwork for the AMIGA ============================================= Copyright Notices ----------------- The NoteBook Demo is Copyright 1991 by Black Belt Systems, with ALL RIGHTS RESERVED under the Pan-American conventions. All rights to the program remain with Black Belt Systems. Use of the binary executable that comprises this program for any other purpose by any other persons, including disassembly and reconstruction for any other use is expressly forbidden, and will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. This document is Copyright 1991 Black Belt Systems, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED under the Pan-American conventions. Disclaimer and Agreement for Use -------------------------------- This demo program is provided as is. Black Belt Systems takes absolutely no responsibility for data manipulated with this software; or for the interpretation of such data. Trademarks and Copyrights ------------------------- NoteBook is tm Black Belt Systems, AMIGA is Commodore Business Machines, Inc. Other marks mentioned herein which may have been unintentionally omitted from this list are trademarks of their respective holders and/or assigns. Information You Can Use ----------------------- NoteBook will happily turn itself into a small window on your WorkBench when you click above the main tool panel, freeing up the chip memory that it occupies when it's screen is open so that you can run other applications without quitting NoteBook. One mouse click restores the program to full operating condition, ready for you to perform any action. When you first start the NoteBook, it's empty; there are no pages in it. The first thing you'll want to do is add a page. To do this, press the ICON that shows a page being inserted into the notebook. This icon is located in the right hand column of buttons, and is the fifth one from the bottom. It shows a page being inserted into a notebook. If you would like more than one page to begin with, press this same icon repeatedly until you have the desired number of pages. You can add pages at any time, so it's not necessary to do this immediately. You'll note that these pages look like classic notebook pages. They have light blue ruled lines, three holes where the binder would retain the page, and a vertical red line ruled where a standard margin would begin. You can change the appearance of any page by using the page preferences tool. This is located immediately to the left of the bf Add Page tool, and looks like a single sheet of paper. When you click on it, you'll see a new group of icons appear in the blue region between the paper and the main set of controls. These allow you to select three types of paper, holes or no holes, and rule or no rule on a page by page basis - you can also turn on a ``grid'' to snap your drawing tools to regular locations. So, it's no problem to have blank sheets, ruled sheets, and graph paper in the same notebook. simply turn to that page (if you're not already on it) by using the arrows near the bottom of the columns of tools at the right; Click on the Trashcan tool and then select the page to trash tool from the new group of tools in the space between the page and the main tool panel. Note: Once a page is deleted, you cannot get it back. Once you have a page, you may place text upon it. The text capability can use any standard non-proportional Amiga font, and allows you to write quick notes without the trouble that scribbling in a ``real'' notebook causes. One such problem might be being unable to read the note at a later time. To place text, select the text_ tool at the top left of the main tool panel, and then click on the paper where you want to begin your textual item. Now, just begin typing. You can use the backspace key, the delete key, and the main new line key as you need them. Just like a real notebook, everything you type is limited to the paper area of the current page. When you're done typing, you can exit the text entry mode in either of two ways. First, by pressing the key marked ESC at the top left of your keyboard. Second, by clicking on a new tool (like the line tool) in the main control panel. To edit previously placed text, you would select it using the right mouse button and then select Alter, then Edit from the additional icons for the Alter tool. The Alter tool is described a little further along. Drawing Figures --------------- Drawing with NoteBook is easy, and fun. NoteBook uses a special type of tools, called structured drawing tools, to create the objects that you will be drawing. The difference between a structured tool and a tool such as you might use in many paint programs is that a structured tool remembers the motions you used to draw it, always re-creating the drawing each time the item is displayed; while a ``normal'' drawing tool puts new pixels on a page as you draw, in a permanent fashion. Our structured tools use ``vectors'' and other mathmatically derived objects to create your drawings. The advantage always goes to the structured tool, because you can treat each line, ellipse and so on as an individual element instead of a group of pixels---it makes the entire drawing process much more pleasant for the user and drawings are much easier to get right without a great deal of tedious pixel-level editing in a close-up view. In addition to the structured characteristics of the various drawing tools, they also have a live reposition capability you will find extremely convenient. When you are drawing a line, for instance, if you press the right button while you are still holding the left button down, you can re-position the entire line, including the initial point where you began the line, live. This allows precision placement of a line first time, every time. All of the tools provide this capability, although the polygon and polyarc tools operate slightly differently. Since these tools compose a linked series of lines or arcs, only the first poly-tool segment allows repositioning in this manner. To use any tool (except the polygon or polyarc), follow this procedure: 1 Select the desired tool 2 Click the left button on the page where you want the object to be drawn. 3 Hold the left button down, and drag the mouse so that the object enlarges or lengthens. At any time during this operation, you can press the right mouse button as well and reposition the entire object (except freehand objects)... then release the right button only, and continue the size/lengthen operation. 4 Release the left mouse button, and the object is completed. For the polygon and polyarc tools, operate the tool as if it were the line tool. You'll be able to re-position the first line segment, but not the rest. To finish the polygon or polyarc, press the right mouse button instead of the left. The polygon or polyarc will either close or stop, depending on the drawmode you have selected. Selecting objects ----------------- Once you've drawn an object or several objects, you may wish to manipulate them. NoteBook allows you to perform a number of useful manipulations on objects. In order to do this, the objects you want to manipulate must be selected. To select an object, click on it using the right mouse button. To select several objects at once, press the right mouse button and drag a ``selection box'' around all the objects you want selected. If you make a mistake, click the right mouse button over some clean paper and all selected objects will return to the deselected state. You can also press the shift key on the keyboard while selecting objects. This causes object select states to change in a useful, predictable manner you'll be able to take advantage of when there are multiple overlapping objects in one area. Once objects have been selected, you are able to alter them. When you have selected an object, or several objects, you can press the alter control in the main tool panel. Alter is located in the left column of tools, sixth from the bottom. Alter allows you to move, shrink and stretch the selected objects. When you press alter, a selection box appears surrounding the objects that are selected, and a sub-list of new tools appears. You can ``grasp'' the selection box using the left mouse button right in the middle, at any of it's four corners, or in the middle of it's four edges. Here's what you can do with the selection box: 1 Grabbing the selection box in the middle will allow you to move all of the selected objects to a new position. 2 Grabbing the selection box at the center of any side will allow you to stretch or shrink the object(s) in one direction only. 3 Grabbing the selection box at any corner will allow you to stretch or shrink the object(s) in two directions at once. Once you have changed the objects as you wish, you can end the alter mode in two ways. First, by clicking anywhere on the page with the right mouse button. Second, by selecting another tool. The tools in the sub-list that appears when you choose alter allow you to change global characteristics of the objects that are selected. Depending on the object you've picked, you may be able to modify the fill and outline colors, orientation, and so on. Only the appropriate tools will be available for use in the sub-list. Also, if the objects you have selected are dissimilar, for instance both filled and unfilled, then you won't be able to modify the dissimilar characteristic(s). Grouping -------- When you have selected more than one object and entered the alter mode, you can group these objects. Grouping essentially turns several objects into one object. Let's consider a simple example. Say you have drawn a face using two ellipses for the eyes, a square for the nose, an arc for the mouth, and another ellipse for the head. You'd like to be able to treat this as one object, and that's what grouping allows you to do. First, select the entire set of objects that comprise the face by dragging a select box around them using the right mouse button. Next, select the alter tool; the selection box appears around the head. Finally, select group from the new tools menu that appeared when you selected the alter tool. Deselect the head by clicking the right mouse button on a blank portion of the page. The head is now one object. One right mouse button click will select all of the components that make up this drawing. You can use grouped objects as parts of other objects; there is no limit on how many groups you can have, or how many groups may be members of other groups. If you need to ``take apart'' a group then just... 1 Select the group 2 Press alter 3 Select the ungroup tool from the alter tool set After this, the components that made up the group will be returned to their previous independant existances. If the group you are ungrouping is made of other groups, then these groups will remain intact until they are ungrouped in turn. Pages, Sections and Notebooks ----------------------------- NoteBook works with three basic logical entities. The first, and most basic entity, is the page. On a page, you can place objects, which may be graphic or text. Pages have characteristics such as lined, with or without a vertical margin rule, or drill hole markers. You can change these characteristics using the page preferences tool, which appears as a single sheet of lined paper in the tool panel. The second entity is the section. Sections are made up of one or more pages; they consist of all pages until the next tab, and include the page with the tab that begins the section, if one exists. If not, they include all pages to the beginning of the notebook, and up to but not including the first tab. If there is no next tab, then the section includes all pages to the end of the notebook. The third entity is the notebook. A notebook contains all the sections, which in turn contain all the pages. You can work with one notebook at a time. There is no size limit on a notebook other than the amount of memory you have. Also, notebooks are very efficient in how they store the objects you have drawn; You'll be astonished at how small the notebook files are! Windup ====== This completes the introduction to the notebook. We're sure you'll find the various operations available to you to be easy to understand, but you should know that there are a number of ``subtle'' tricks that you won't find unless you know how to get at them. The manual has them all itemized and indexed for use, but it's a little much to go into all of it in the demo readme. One of the primary strengths of the NoteBook is it's simplicity; with the manual at your side, it won't take you long at all to learn all about it. Once you know how to use it, you'll wonder how you ever got along without it!