ACalc - User's Manual AboutThisDoc This manual describes release 1.21 of the utility ACalc. This program is (c)1993 by Denis GOUNELLE, any commercial usage or selling without author's written authorization is strictly forbidden. You can copy and spread this program under the following conditions: - all the files are provided - the files are not modified in any way - you don't charge more than $6 for copy fee In spite of several tests, no warranty is made that there are no errors in ACalc. YOU USE THIS PROGRAM AT YOUR OWN RISK. In no event will I be liable for any damage, direct or indirect, resulting of the use of ACalc. Introduction ACalc is a calculator that may be used both in floating point mode (double precision IEEE) and in based mode (decimal or hexadecimal). It may appear on any screen, and can be installed as a commodity with Kickstart 2.04 or greater. Criticisms and suggestions will always be welcomed. Write to: M. GOUNELLE Denis Boite 71 6, rue des cailloux 92110 CLICHY - FRANCE You can also send a message to the following Internet address : "gounelle@alphanet.ch". Note that this mailbox is not mine, so please send only short messages. As I don't have direct access to the messages, don't expect an answer before a dozen of days. Installation ACalc needs the "mathieeedoubbas.library" library, which may be found on system disks provided with your Amiga. Under Kickstart 1.3, just copy the program in a directory included in your path (e.g. "C:"). Under Kickstart 2.04 or greater, you may want to install ACalc as a commodity, and copy it in the "SYS:WBStartup" directory. Running_from_CLI ACalc detach itself from CLI. Command line arguments may be: CX_PRIORITY n (ignored under Kickstart 1.3) Set the commodity priority. CX_HOTKEY key (ignored under Kickstart 1.3) Set the commodity hotkey. Default key is "ctrl esc". NOCOMM (ignored under Kickstart 1.3) Prevent ACalc to install itself as a commodity. The program will terminate as soon as you click on the close gadget. SAVEVAR Ask ACalc to save expression results in an environnement variable, instead of the clipboard. The variable name is "ACalcResult". Running_from_Workbench The following arguments may be specified in the "TOOL TYPES" of ACalc icon: CX_PRIORITY=n (ignored under Kickstart 1.3) Set the commodity priority. CX_HOTKEY=key (ignored under Kickstart 1.3) Set the commodity hotkey. Default key is "ctrl esc". NOCOMM (ignored under Kickstart 1.3) Prevent ACalc to install itself as a commodity. The program will terminate as soon as you click on the close gadget. SAVEVAR Ask ACalc to save expression results in an environnement variable, instead of the clipboard. The variable name is "ACalcResult". Using_ACalc When called, ACalc opens a window on the frontmost screen. This window has a display area, and a 36 keys keyboard. Most of these keys are self-explanatory, so this section only describe some of them. Mode key (FLT,DEC,HEX) ACalc has three working modes: floating point mode (FLT), based decimal mode (DEC) and based hexadecimal mode (HEX). In the two based modes, ACalc use 32 bits unsigned integers. Depending on the current mode, some keys may be disabled. d In HEX mode, allow to specify that the immediatly following number is a decimal number. h In DEC mode, allow to specify that the immediatly following number is a hexdecimal number. STO This key allow to store the currently displayed result in one of the 10 available memories. After having selected this key, click on one of the digits (0 - 9) to select the memory number. The memories are set to zero when the program start. If ACalc is installed as a commodity, memory contents is preserved between two invocations of the program. RCL Recall the content of a memory. After having selected this key, click on one of the digits (0 - 9) to select the memory number. BS Delete the last character of the displayed expression or result. = Start the evaluation of the current expression, and displays either the result or an error message. In both cases, you may recall the expression by pressing the right mouse button. The result may be immediatly used: if you click on an operator (e.g. "+") ACalc will suppose that the result is the first operand. Otherwise, the result will be deleted because ACalc will suppose you want to compute a new expression. Each time an expression is evaluated, it's result is automatically saved in the clipboard. This allow you to use this result in any program that also use the clipboard (like your word processor or, under Kickstart 2.04 or greater, the Shell window if the "conclip" program is running). If you want to have the result saved in an environnement variable, rather than the clipboard, you must call ACalc with the "SAVEVAR" argument (see "Running_from_CLI" and "Running_from_Workbench" sections). Using_the_keybord You can use ACalc not only with your mouse, but also with your keyboard. If you want to use the keyboard, you can either click on the display area and edit the expression as in any string gadget, or just press the key of your keyboard corresponding to the window's key label. In this case, you may also close ACalc window by pressing the "ESC" key. Some operators are to be entered and displayed in a different manner (not as the key label): for example, the "NOT" operator is displayed as '~' (tilde). If you use ACalc with the keyboard, you must press the '~' key, and not the 'N', mode TAB key NOT ~ AND & OR | SHL < SHR > RCL M (followed by memory number) BS BACKSPACE key The STO and CLR keys cannot be selected with the keybord. History ACalc is written almost fully in C language, and was developped on an Amiga 3000 UNIX-1 (10 Mb RAM, internal HD disk drive, internal hard disk of 100 Mb, external SyQuest drive of 88 Mb, external floppy disk drive, 1960 monitor and Star LC24-10 printer) connected by a null-modem cable to an A500 with 1 Mb RAM. v1.00 15-Avr-93, 19904 bytes o First released version. v1.01 26-May-93, 20140 bytes o Bug fixed: display wasn't good if the screen font was proportionnal v1.02 29-May-93, 20148 bytes o Supports the "Show" command of the "Exchange" program v1.10 07-Jun-93, 21012 bytes o Tries to open the window under the mouse pointer o Better support of fonts: use the default text font for the window, and the screen font for string gadget and window's title. o If ACalc is installed as a commodity, running it twice make it appeared instead of terminate. v1.20 29-Jun-93, 20924 bytes o Modified gadget handling, in order that enabling/disabling them when changing working mode is faster (was terribly slow on an A500/A2000) v1.21 12-Sep-93, 20864 bytes o Uses new version of the GetDefaultTextFont() function