READMAKE.TXT                         1                         Mar 10, 2001

The READMAKE program makes any text file into an executable viewable  file.
The viewer is a version of the READ  program  and  supports  backscrolling,
EGA/VGA modes, searching, copying, and printing.  See the separate READ.TXT
file for a description  of  the  READ  program's  capabilities.   The  only
difference between viewing the  file  with  READ  vs  viewing  it  in  this
self-viewable mode is that you can't specify any  file  specification  when
you use the self-viewable mode.

The self-viewable file uses the READ.INI file if one exists.  See  READ.TXT
for an explanation of this file.  READMAKE itself does not  use  this  file
however.


Syntax:

    READMAKE [ infile ] [ outfile ] [ /OVERWRITE | /-OVERWRITE | /OVERASK ]
      [ /DATE=FILE | /DATE=TODAY | /DATE=NONE ] [ /TITLE="title" ]
      [ /-ENV ] [ /? ]

where:

"infile" is the name of the text file you want to make self-viewable.  Full
drive and path specifications are allowed.  The program will prompt you for
an infile specification if none is provided.

"outfile" is the name of the executable  file  you  want  to  create.   Any
extension is ignored (it has to be an .EXE file).  You can specify a  drive
and path if desired.  If "outfile"  is  not  specified,  the  routine  will
presume that the output file name is the same as the infile name,  with  an
EXE extension.

"/OVERWRITE" says to overwrite the outfile if it already exists.

"/-OVERWRITE" says to abort if the output file exists already.

"/OVERASK" says to prompt if the output file exists already; default.

"/DATE=FILE" and "/DATE=TODAY" allow you to specify which  date/time  stamp
will appear when the person views the file.  "/DATE=FILE" means they'll see
the date and time that the original text file  was  last  created/modified.
"/DATE=TODAY" means they'll see the date and time that you ran READMAKE  on
the file.  By default, they will see /DATE=TODAY.

"/DATE=NONE" says that no date/time stamp  at  all  will  be  shown.   This
allows the title to be up to 44 characters in length, instead of the normal
29.

"/TITLE="title"" allows you to specify a short (normally not to  exceed  29
characters) title line to appear at  the  bottom  of  the  viewing  screen.
Normally, this title should not exceed 29  characters.   If  /DATE=NONE  is
specified, the title can be extended  to  44  characters.   Any  characters
after the maximum length will be  ignored.   The  title  must  be  provided
within quotation marks.  If no title is provided, then the default title is
"Text file viewer".


READMAKE.TXT                         2                         Mar 10, 2001

"/ENV" says to look for %var% occurrences in the command line  and  try  to
resolve any apparent environmental variable references.   See  BRUCEINI.TXT
for more information.  This is initially the default.

"/-ENV" says to skip resolving apparent %var% occurrences  in  the  command
line.  Initially defaults to "/ENV".

"/?" or "/HELP" or "HELP" shows you the syntax for the command.


Return codes:

READMAKE returns the following ERRORLEVEL codes:
        0 = no problems
      254 = internal problem finding string, contact Wayne Software
      255 = syntax problems, file not found, or /? requested


Author:

This program was written by Bruce Guthrie of Wayne Software.   It  is  free
for use and redistribution provided relevant documentation is kept with the
program, no changes are made to the program or documentation, and it is not
bundled with commercial programs or charged  for  separately.   People  who
need to bundle it in for-sale packages must pay a $50 registration  fee  to
"Bruce Guthrie" at the following address.

Additional information about this and other Wayne Software programs can  be
found in the file BRUCE.TXT which should be included in  the  original  ZIP
file.  The recent change  history  for  this  and  the  other  programs  is
provided in the HISTORY.ymm file which should be in the same ZIP file where
"y" is replaced by the last digit of the year and "mm"  is  the  two  digit
month of the release; HISTORY.611 came out in November 1996.

The ZIP file that contained this program and its  associated  documentation
files is named with a two-digit year followed by  a  two-digit  month.   So
READ0001.ZIP came out in January 2000.

Comments and suggestions can be sent to the  following.   Realistically,  I
will not be revising this DOS-based program  much  in  the  future  but  it
doesn't hurt to suggest things anyway.

                Bruce Guthrie
                Wayne Software
                113 Sheffield St.
                Silver Spring, MD 20910

                e-mail: WayneSof@erols.com   fax: (301) 588-8986
                http://www.erols.com/waynesof

Please provide an Internet e-mail address on all correspondence.


