ALPHA DRAW VERSION 1.0 August 1, 1990 (Revision: A01 reflecting update 2) Alpha Development & Support, Inc. Alpha Draw User's Guide (C) Copyright 1990 - ALPHA DRAW - T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S General Description 2 Basic Operation 3 Option Settings 6 Mode Attributes 8 Filing Commands 10 Drawing and Simple Editing 11 Detailed and Special Editing 13 Page Organization 15 Importing Text and Graphs 16 Printing Drawings 17 Script Processing 18 Installation & Requirements 19 Configuration 21 Items to Note 22 ADS - Alpha Development & Support, Inc. Alpha Draw User's Guide - ALPHA DRAW - Page 2 GENERAL DESCRIPTION ___________________ Alpha Draw is a simple to use drawing package that is used to create custom graphs and drawings. Alpha Draw was designed to run on the multi-user Alpha Micro computer. Multiple users may run Alpha Draw on separate graphics terminals thus utilizing the host computer to its full potential. This provides a cost-effective solution to multiple user graphics applications. Alpha Draw may be used as an extension to Alpha Chart to add customizing to basic charts and graphs. This is performed by importing a graph previously created with Alpha Chart and then drawing boxes, lines, symbols, and text anywhere around the graph. In addition to charts and graphs, the uses of Alpha Draw are limited only to one's imagination. Artwork, forms, logos, inventory drawings, building plans, maps, and slide presentations are just some of the useful applica- tions Alpha Draw may be used for. Alpha Draw is an object oriented drawing package. This means that each element drawn on the screen is stored as an object. A square box, line, rectangle, circle, ellipse, text string, or polygon shape is each defined as an object. Using this type of drawing mechanism, each object can be manipulated individually or in groups. Object attributes such as position, color, text font, and fill pattern can be easily changed with the click of a mouse button. The entire screen area outside of the drawing area is a menu. You can simply click on any menu selection at any time. Alpha Draw was designed to be fast and efficient for editing objects within a drawing. Alpha Draw provides the greatest flexibility available to create, print, and maintain user drawings. The proprietary format in which drawings are stored minimizes the amount of disk space required for each drawing. Custom symbol libraries may be created and maintained allowing the user to access commonly used symbols or drawing elements. This saves the user from having to repeatedly redraw these symbols for each new drawing. Objects may be moved, copied, deleted, edited, scaled, or zoomed in on for easy detailed editing. Special front and back movements can be performed which place objects on the bottom or on the top of a drawing. Objects may also be flipped around the horizontal or vertical axis. Alignment and precision movements may be done on individual or groups of objects. A three button mouse enables the user to efficiently select and deselect menus, control attributes, and objects with the click of a button. The keyboard may also be used during menu selection to select functions. Script files may be created which can then be replayed like a tape recorder drawing exactly what was originally recorded. This is a handy feature that acts like a keystroke memory. ADS - Alpha Development & Support, Inc. Alpha Draw User's Guide - ALPHA DRAW - Page 3 BASIC OPERATION _______________ The screen is divided into two different regions: the drawing area, and the menu area. The drawing area resides in the center of the screen and the menu area resides in the remaining outside rectangular space. It is recommended to use a three-button mouse but it may be possible to use a two button mouse. For a three-button mouse the left button is "cancel," the middle button "stop/special," and the right button "menu/function select." The bottom left square and bottom right square are display areas to show a sample of the current drawing attributes. The left square is used for text attributes and the right square for shape and line attributes as well as point markers. The available colors, fill patterns, line sizes, line types, and character fonts are displayed throughout the outside menu area. When in Command mode, the mouse may be positioned and clicked on the desired attribute. This will change the current setting for the selected attribute. The next object drawn will consist of all current attributes. All status, error, and help messages are displayed on the top right line on the screen. This is referred to as the status line and should be referred to when in doubt as to what to do next. When no request or function is active the X/Y position coordinate of the last button click is displayed on the status line. This may be used as a numerical reference of where the mouse locator is. Alpha Draw functions in one of several modes. They are simple and straight forward and can be easily learned in a very short time. Each mode is explained in detail below. Main command mode Drawing mode Menu mode Edit/Select mode Main command mode _________________ The Main command mode is used to select and change drawing attributes and to request any of the main menu items. The available menu items are Filing, Attributes, Redisplay, Menu, Options, Special, and Exit/Abort. If any drawing objects are on the screen then the "Edit" and "Extras" menu items are available as well. In order to change attributes (i.e. color) of an existing object in the drawing area, you must first be in Command mode. Command mode is the idle state that Alpha Draw awaits either keyboard or mouse input (button click) to change an attribute, select an object, or request a menu function. The mouse cursor appears with a pointing hand in this state. ADS - Alpha Development & Support, Inc. Alpha Draw User's Guide - ALPHA DRAW - Page 4 BASIC OPERATION - continued _______________ Menu mode _________ Menu mode is the state where Alpha Draw awaits a response to a menu and requires either a click or keystroke for a menu item or a cancel click to terminate the menu. When in menu mode, the cancel or stop buttons may be used to release from the menu. The mouse shape appears with a pointing hand. The mouse may also be positioned and clicked in the upper white box of the menu to release it. The letter "Q" or escape key may be entered from the keyboard to quit from a menu. If the mouse is positioned and clicked on the top line of the screen (main menu line) then all menus will be released including any nested menus. The use of the keyboard is limited to menu item selection and text string entry. Actual drawing and point definition is totally controlled by the mouse. Note that the current drawing attributes cannot be changed during menu mode. Also, individual objects may not be selected except during certain editing functions. Drawing mode ____________ Drawing mode is the state in which actual drawing is taking place. In the case of freehand lines and shapes, the mouse cursor is monitored for position, and lines are immediately drawn to that spot. For general lines, points, text, and shapes, the mouse click is used to define the points for that object. When in Drawing mode the current attribute settings are used for the newly drawn object. A mouse click outside of the drawing area _________________________________________ terminates drawing mode and returns Alpha Draw to Command mode. In Drawing ______________________________________________________________ mode the mouse shape appears either as a pointing arrow or 4-way pointing arrow depending on the current attribute setting. The cancel button is used to terminate the current object and will return to Command mode. For some drawing shapes the stop button is used to finish the current object but to continue drawing more objects of the same type. For example, to draw several lines without having to select "line" each time, the stop button is used to "pick up the pencil" and start a new line. Drawing mode is still active, but another button click is required to define the beginning of the next line. This is an efficient way to draw multiple objects of the same type. ADS - Alpha Development & Support, Inc. Alpha Draw User's Guide - ALPHA DRAW - Page 5 BASIC OPERATION - continued _______________ Edit/Select mode ________________ Edit mode is the state in which an object has been selected and Alpha Draw is awaiting one of several different responses. One possible response is to make a change to the object's attributes (i.e. color or fill pattern). This is accomplished by simply positioning the mouse and clicking on the desired color or pattern. An object must be selected for each specific attribute change. After a change is made, Alpha Draw returns to Command mode. Another possible response to Edit mode is to click the mouse inside of the drawing area. This will signal Alpha Draw that the selected object is to be moved. A rubber band line will appear on the screen, connecting the lower left corner of the object with the current position of the mouse. A mouse click at whatever current position will move that object so the lower left corner will then be the new mouse position. If the new position is such that the object will not totally fit inside the drawing area, an error message is displayed on the status line. If you decide not to move the object or made a mistake, either the cancel button may be pressed or the mouse may be positioned outside of the drawing area and any button pressed. Another response to Edit mode is to select the "Edit" or "Extras" menu. Alpha Draw will remember that the object is selected and will display a message on the status line accordingly. When the "Edit" or "Extras" menu is selected in this fashion, the operation next selected will only perform on the single object previously selected. This is one of two methods in performing "Edit" and "Extras" operations. The second method is to request these menus without previously selecting an object. In that case, the menu functions will perform on a group of objects for a selected area, not just a single object. The last response to Edit/Select mode is to inform Alpha Draw that the object being selected is not the desired object to select. This response is issued by using the stop button. This situation can occur when multiple objects overlap each other in their boundary definition. For example, if a circle is on top of a polygon and the mouse is positioned and clicked over the circle, but the polygon underneath is really the desired object, the stop button is used to search underneath the current object for any other object whose boundary lies within the mouse position. Starting Alpha Draw ___________________ The following AMOS commands may be used to start Alpha Draw. If a drawing file name is present, Alpha Draw will automatically load it at the beginning of execution. .ALDRAW [filename] or .RUN ALDRAW [filename] ADS - Alpha Development & Support, Inc. Alpha Draw User's Guide - ALPHA DRAW - Page 6 OPTION SETTINGS _______________ The "Options" menu is used to change user configurable options such as menu color, page background color, text margins, grid type, and other drawing control options. The page background color can be changed for each different page within a drawing. The drawing file saves the color setting and updates the option whenever loaded. The following is a complete list of options. Ruler display (off/on) Type of grid and if (off/on) and if (on top) Automatic redisplay option Automatic directory option Drawing size limits Text margin settings (off/on); left, right, top, & bottom Drawing area clipping (off/on) To turn on or off an option, the mouse may be positioned and clicked anywhere on the same line as the option or the unique keystroke may be entered from the keyboard. Grid type _________ The grid type may be selected and whether or not the grid is to be displayed on top of the drawing. The grid is not printed but is only used for working with the drawing on the screen. Automatic redisplay ___________________ The automatic redisplay option may be disabled in order to speed up certain editing functions. Disabling will reduce the amount of time you have to wait for the drawing redisplayed. Automatic directory ___________________ The automatic directory option allows the directory menu to automatically appear during any filing operation. This can also be set within the .INI configuration file. Drawing size limit __________________ The drawing size limits may be toggled between two defined maximums. This setting must be set prior to creating a drawing. For most drawings, the default of 100 objects with 100 points is sufficient. For drawings that require more than 100 objects, a 200 object limit may be set which can allow up to 50 points per object. Depending on the number of objects and the number of freehand lines, the user can evaluate which limit is desirable. This limit applies only to individual pages of a drawing. ADS - Alpha Development & Support, Inc. Alpha Draw User's Guide - ALPHA DRAW - Page 7 OPTION SETTINGS - continued _______________ Text Margins ____________ Up to two sets of margins may be defined. Two left, right, top, and bottom margins may be set which effectively define two top columns and two bottom columns. If no text is to be drawn, the margins should be disabled. When setting margins, the stop button may be used to leave the current setting the same, the cancel button may be used to return to the main "Options" menu, and the select button may be used to change the margins. The mouse shape appears either as a horizontal or vertical arrow depending on which margin is being requested. After the margins are changed, a drawing redisplay will show any text displayed according to the new margins. Text will be wrapped around any margin within the zone it applies to. If the text starts outside of the zone area then it will not be displayed. Drawing area clipping _____________________ Using the clipping option allows Alpha Draw to disregard the fact that an object is displayed outside of the drawing area. This option is only useful during scaling of objects. Normally, with clipping enabled, Alpha Draw prevents any portion of an object that would appear outside of the drawing area from being displayed. There are times, usually when scaling, when it is desirable to see the entire object even if it would be displayed outside of the drawing area. This is when clipping should be disabled. You will see the menu area overwritten with the drawing, but you can issue the "Menu" command in Command mode to redisplay the entire screen. When clipping is enabled Alpha Draw runs a little slower compared to running with clipping disabled. You can play around with this option as desired. ADS - Alpha Development & Support, Inc. Alpha Draw User's Guide - ALPHA DRAW - Page 8 MODE ATTRIBUTES _______________ The following attributes or options may be set from the "Attributes" menu. Character height Character angle Marker type Freehand braking factor Straight lines option Mouse locator type (arrow or 4-way arrow) Character height and angle __________________________ The character height and angle settings only effect the current attributes for new text segments. When changing these attributes for existing text objects the size and angle menu items on the lower right portion of the screen must be selected. Depending on the current text font selected, the character height selection may be restricted. AM-72 device resident fonts are not available in all sizes and may only be rotated on even 90 degree increments. The soft fonts, however, do not have this restriction. The soft fonts are displayed on the right side of the font menu. Marker type ___________ Setting the marker type from this menu effects only the current attribute. New point objects will be displayed in the selected shape: dot, plus sign, star, circle, or cross. A sample marker with the current color is displayed in the bottom right preview box. Currently in version 1.0, the marker type may not be changed for existing point objects. In order to change the marker type, the object must be deleted and then readded with the current attribute set to the desired setting. Freehand braking factor _______________________ The freehand braking factor is a numerical constant between 0 and 9999 which is used for determining mouse sensitivity during freehand line drawing. The greater the number, the slower the response between mouse position checks. In other words, the higher the number, the more time you have to position the mouse in the exact desired location. The braking factor is dependent upon the speed of the computer, and the current working load on the system. Generally, the higher the demand on the CPU, the slower the response time will be in tracking the mouse. Another use of the braking factor is to reduce the number of mouse samples taken per individual segment (or line). When the drawing limits are set to 100 objects with 100 points, a freehand line with no braking factor will track 100 points really fast. The advantage is higher resolution for the line, the disadvantage is it fills up one individual line segment very fast. ADS - Alpha Development & Support, Inc. Alpha Draw User's Guide - ALPHA DRAW - Page 9 MODE ATTRIBUTES - continued _______________ Normally, if the drawing size is well within the drawing limits, setting the braking factor is not neccessary. The braking factor can be used at the discretion of the user. You can experiment with different braking factor constants to see the different results. You can also note the time it takes to track points by viewing the point counter in the status line display (i.e. 10, 20, 30, etc..., up to 50 or 100 points). Straight lines option _____________________ The straight line option allows Alpha Draw to automatically adjust line points so as to draw straight lines. This option effects regular lines, polygons, and freehanded polygons only. This is useful when drawing forms with boxes, rectangles, schematics, or design plans. Mouse locator type (shape) __________________________ The mouse locator shape can be set to a single point arrow or a multi 4-way arrow. The 4-way arrow is sometimes useful when connecting lines together or making minute adjustments. It is for visual use only and can be set at any time. ADS - Alpha Development & Support, Inc. Alpha Draw User's Guide - ALPHA DRAW - Page 10 FILING COMMANDS _______________ The filing commands allow you to load, save, update, and erase drawing files. You can also create a file header containing the title, author, category, and supplemental notes on the drawing. The header is automatically updated with the creation date and last access date. It also shows the number of segments (objects) in use and the last displayed graph name (if any). If any objects have been deleted but have not yet been compressed out of the drawing, the delete count will show that number. You can compress the drawing (physically remove deleted objects) by using the "M"enu command. The delete count will then be reset to zero. If the automatic directory option is enabled then a directory menu will appear each time a load or save is requested. This is a simple convenience to see the directory prior to performing any filing command. This option may be disabled from the "Options" menu and may be set within the .INI configuration file. When a drawing contains multiple pages, the Save command only resaves the drawing header and the current page. Any previous pages are kept intact. If you plan on creating a drawing with multiple pages, it is advised to set the page number of the drawing before the initial save. This will prevent ______ a blank page number from being saved in the drawing. Refer to the section titled "Page Organization." ADS - Alpha Development & Support, Inc. Alpha Draw User's Guide - ALPHA DRAW - Page 11 DRAWING AND SIMPLE EDITING __________________________ To begin drawing, the mouse is positioned on one of several areas on the screen menu. The functions "Text," "Point," "Line," "Freehand," or any of the shape figures (square, rectangle, circle, ellipse, curve, polygon, and freehanded polygon) may be selected. When one of these functions is selected, the mouse shape becomes a pointing (or 4-way) arrow and Alpha Draw waits for an initial drawing point to be defined. Move the mouse into the drawing area and click the select button to define the first point for the object. In addition to the modes mentioned above ("Basic operation" section), Alpha Draw is at all times either in shape mode or text mode. When in shape mode, the available object shapes appear on the left middle portion of the screen. When in text mode, the available text fonts appear in this same location. To switch modes simply click on "Shape" or "Text." Text Segments _____________ For text segments, the font menu is displayed. The next click on "Text" will generate a prompt menu requesting the text string to be entered from the keyboard. The mouse is temporarily disabled during text entry. Pressing the escape key or entering a carriage return with no text present will cancel the text operation. After the text is entered, it is displayed in a window at the bottom of the screen, and the mouse changes shape from a hand to an arrow. The next mouse click defines the starting point at which the text is to be dis- played. The select button is used to define this point. If the stop button is used, the text will be displayed but not saved in the drawing. This is a preview only feature and is handy when unsure as to the result of the text display. Any text displayed with this button will not appear on the next redisplay. The message TRIAL ONLY appears on the status line. Each text segment contains a marker to the segment. The marker is a small circle located at the bottom left of the text. To select the text segment, the mouse is positioned and clicked inside of this circle. Once the text segment is selected; the text font, color, size, or display angle may be changed by positioning and clicking the mouse immediately on the attribute to change. To change the text size, click the mouse anywhere within the line size menu area. To change the text angle, click the mouse on the "Angles" menu function. The attributes for shape objects are changed in the same manner as with text objects except that the current version does not support variable rotation (angles) for shapes. ADS - Alpha Development & Support, Inc. Alpha Draw User's Guide - ALPHA DRAW - Page 12 DRAWING AND SIMPLE EDITING - continued __________________________ Shape objects _____________ At any time during drawing, the mouse may be positioned and clicked within the menu area to terminate drawing mode. The cancel button may be used also. Squares, rectangles, circles, and ellipses contain a solid color and may not have a different color for the border line. Polygon shapes and freehanded polygons may have different line colors. The line color attribute is changed with the stop button. For a square, the rubber-band line tracks the mouse for the second requested position. This is used to define both the direction and size of the square. Additional squares may be defined if desired or the cancel button may be used to return to Command mode. For a rectangle, the rubber-band becomes a visible rectangle tracking the position of the mouse. A click at the second position will complete the definition of the rectangle. Additional rectangles may be defined if desired or the cancel button may be used to return to Command mode. For a cirlce, the rubber-band line tracks and requests a position which is used to determine the radius of the circle. When drawing circles close to the outer edge of the drawing area, it is easiest to define the radius by positioning the mouse on the drawing edge side. This way it is easy to see if the circle will fit within the drawing area. For an ellipse, two radius points are required: the x-radius and the y-radius. The second mouse point defines the x-radius and the third mouse point defines the y-radius. For a curve or smooth line, multiple mouse positions are entered to define a line. The line will be smoothed out on the next redisplay. This function is a parametric curve and is useful for creating smooth curves and lines. For a polygon, multiple mouse positions are required to define the shape. The current fill pattern attribute is used to fill in the shape. Freehanded polygons are the same only the mouse is constantly being tracked to define the points. Refer to the "Freehand braking" attribute to adjust the mouse tracking speed. For point markers and lines, multiple mouse positions are also required. If the "Straight lines" option is enabled then straight positions are calcu- lated based on the next mouse position. The stop button is used to pick up the pen and start a new segment. The cancel button is used to terminate the entire operation. The "Freehand" object (on screen as "F-Hand") is defined in the same method as with freehanded polygons except no fill-in attribute is used. This is used to create freehand lines. Both the cancel and stop buttons are used to terminate drawing mode when drawing this type of object. ADS - Alpha Development & Support, Inc. Alpha Draw User's Guide - ALPHA DRAW - Page 13 DETAILED AND SPECIAL EDITING ____________________________ Detailed and special editing is requested by clicking on "Edit" or "Extras." The basic editing functions are listed below. UNDO DELETE LOAD ALIGN ON X/Y COPY EDIT DETAIL ALIGN ON X MOVE SAVE ALIGN ON Y The UNDO function is used to delete the most recent object. The UNDO function may be used repeatively to remove objects starting from the most recent and continuing to the first. Extreme care is advised when using this function. This is a quick method of deleting the last object defined in the drawing. The COPY function is used to make a clone of an individual or group of objects. The MOVE function moves an individual or group of objects to a new position. The EDIT DETAIL function is used differently for text than for shapes. For text, the text string may be edited using AlphaVUE editing control charac- ters. For polygon objects, individual data points may be added, deleted, or moved. This function allows the flexibility to change polygon shapes. The LOAD and SAVE functions retrieve and save drawing symbols. A symbol name is required prior to processing. Separate symbol library files may be created as well - providing the versatility to produce marketable symbol libraries. A table of contents may be listed for a particular drawing symbol file. The alignment functions (X, Y, and X and Y) are used to automatically shift objects to the standard grid line. This is useful when it is desired to snap an object right onto a grid line. The "Extra" functions are listed below. FRONT to BACK SCALE SHIFT DOWN BACK to FRONT ZOOM SHIFT LEFT HORIZONTAL FLIP UNZOOM SHIFT RIGHT VERTICAL FLIP SHIFT UP Each "Extra" function requires either an individual object to be selected or a region defined. If the "Extra" menu is selected without previously selecting an object, then the area region is requested by clicking the mouse on the lower left and the upper right corners of the desired region. ADS - Alpha Development & Support, Inc. Alpha Draw User's Guide - ALPHA DRAW - Page 14 DETAILED AND SPECIAL EDITING - continued ____________________________ The FRONT to BACK function moves an object from the top of the drawing to the bottom. The BACK to FRONT function performs the opposite. The top of the drawing is not the top of the terminal screen, but is the top of the picture in terms of depth. The HORIZONTAL and VERTICAL flip functions take an individual object and flips it across the X or Y axis. SCALE is used to expand and reduce the size of objects. It is operated by use of a copy machine type of menu. The menu contains several lines in which the mouse may be clicked on. The X and Y axis may be set to the same or different scaling factors and each contain their own setting line. The line labeled "- Both -" may be clicked to set both the X and Y axis. The mouse may be positioned anywhere from 10% up to 200%. 100% represents 100% of an objects existing size so 200% is twice the size of the current object. Pressing the stop button will automatically set both X and Y axis to 100%. Clicking the mouse in one of the arrow boxes will adjust the setting a plus or minis 10%. When ready to perform the size adjustment, select anywhere on the line "PROCESS & REDISPLAY?" The cancel button will terminate scaling and will not continue processing. If the automatic redisplay option is on, the entire screen is redrawn. This may be undesirable for large or complicated drawings. The redisplay option may be set prior to scaling to improve display efficiency. ZOOM allows you to do close-up viewing and editing of the current drawing page. You can select a small area to enlarge and Alpha Draw will blow up the image. There are two restrictions to editing when in zoom mode. The FRONT to BACK and BACK to FRONT functions will not operate. This restriction may be removed in future releases. A working drawing must be unzoomed before saving to disk. The UNZOOM function is used to return to normal viewing mode. The SHIFT functions are used to perform micro-movements on objects. You can move one object or a entire region of objects one small increment at a time. Once the desired shift function is selected, the select button is used to perform the move one additional increment. The select button can be pressed as many times as desired to keep moving one small increment. The cancel button is pressed when movement is to be stopped. The SHIFT functions are very useful in manipulating object positions to an exact location. This is the most desirable method when small movements are neccessary. ADS - Alpha Development & Support, Inc. Alpha Draw User's Guide - ALPHA DRAW - Page 15 PAGE ORGANIZATION _________________ Multiple pages per drawing may be created by using the "Page" menu func- tions. The paging functions may be ignored if a drawing is only going to be one page. In this case, no page number is required, and the drawing defaults to a null page number. If multiple pages are to be added to a drawing at a later time, then the page number should be set initially to some value. This is done by selecting the "Set page #" menu function. The "Page" menu provides the following: Set Page # Save Page Clear Page Page Outline Load Page Impose Page In version 1.0 pages may only be loaded and saved from the same drawing file. Version 1.1 will provide the ability to load and save pages from different drawings. The "Clear page" function only clears the working drawing area on the screen and does not update the physical file on disk. The "Save page" actually performs the update to disk. If the page is new, the status message CREATE PAGE is displayed. If the page already exists, the status message UPDATE PAGE is displayed. You should use caution when saving pages to prevent accidental overwrites. There is currently no facility to remove pages within Alpha Draw. Version 1.1 will provide this function. The "Page outline" function displays all page numbers of the drawing. Because drawings are stored in sequential text files, it is generally recommended not to create more than 20 to 25 pages depending on the size of each page. Alpha Draw has no set restriction to the number of pages other than the outline only shows the first 25 page numbers. Generally, the more pages there are per drawing, the longer it takes to load in a particular page. Alpha Draw offers the ability to impose one page on top of another page. This is performed using the "Impose page" function. Alpha Draw will prompt for the desired page number to load in on top of the current working page. You may then use the "Save page" function to update the new collage. The only caution is to check the drawing size (for the working page) to insure that there is adaquate free space for the second page. For example: For a drawing size limit of 100 objects, a working page containing 40 objects and a second page containing 60 objects (or less) will fit into the current page. Alpha Draw will automatically clip off any remaining objects if there is inadequte space. ADS - Alpha Development & Support, Inc. Alpha Draw User's Guide - ALPHA DRAW - Page 16 IMPORTING TEXT AND GRAPHS _________________________ The importation of text or graphs is performed from the "Special" functions menu. When importing graphs, the graph name is selected with the mouse or keyboard. Next the boundary of the graph is defined using the mouse. The lower left and upper right corners are defined which are used to size the graph to fit inside that area. If the operation is to be aborted the cancel button may be pressed. Once a graph area has been defined in the drawing area, it may not be changed. The method of editing a graph is to either delete it or change the name of the graph. Alpha Draw will automatically retrieve the graph (.GDF file) whenever the drawing is displayed or printed, so the latest changes to the graph file (.GDF) will have a corresponding change to the drawing. In other words the imported graph is not static but is dynamic. Alpha Chart may be used to change or edit the graph at a later time and Alpha Draw will simply reference the graph so the latest changes will appear on the drawing. Multiple graphs (up to a limit of 10 per page) may be imported into a drawing. Note that the output size of the graphs are somewhat smaller compared to the output of Alpha Chart. In general the more graphs imported, the smaller they will have to be in order to fit inside the drawing area. To import a text file the file name is entered in the same method as with a graph name. The mouse is next clicked on the desired starting position to begin displaying the imported text. A new line is created for each line in the imported text file and the text is displayed and wrapped around according to any existing margins. It is suggested to begin with a small character height and then expand as needed. If the character height is too large, the text may be truncated at the bottom of the drawing area and some text will be lost. This is due to the smaller drawing size compared to the large imported text file. It is recommended to preview the text files to shorten the lines and insure that the text file is not too long. You can guesstimate the line length by knowing the desired character height for the final drawing. ADS - Alpha Development & Support, Inc. Alpha Draw User's Guide - ALPHA DRAW - Page 17 PRINTING DRAWINGS _________________ To print a drawing the print selection is requested from the "Filing" menu. Several options may be set as desired. The drawing file name, printer name, output print file name, and graphics device driver name may be changed by clicking the mouse on the item or pressing the selection key from the keyboard. Also, the background color may be printed by setting the option to "YES". If the output print file already exists, a prompt will be displayed requesting a "Y"es or "N"o response. This must be responded to before any of the printing parameters are changed. Printing may be cancelled by responding with a "N"o to the "OK to Print" prompt. Special notes on printing: _________________________ The printing function operates on the current working drawing, so any previously created drawing must be loaded prior to being printed. For some printers, the colors black and white are printed in reverse compared to the way they appear on the AM-72 terminal. In other words, a text color of black (on the screen) will be printed as white on the printer (invisible) and a text color of white (on the screen) will be printed as black on the printer. The easiest way to think of this is the AM-72 is like a picture negative. This appears to only be the case for black and white colors. Other colors will be printed in shades of gray (on a black & white printer). When using dot matrix 9-pin or 24-pin printers, graph background colors may not be used because the entire graph will be printed black. This is due to the inability of the printer to print shades of grey. Also, selected character fonts may appear differently on the printer than on the AM-72 terminal due to severals factors, one being a laser printer contains a resident custom font library or cartridge. Refer to the instructions on the Alpha Draw Utilities for printing drawings from an AMOS command prompt. The utility to print drawings is ALDPRT. ADS - Alpha Development & Support, Inc. Alpha Draw User's Guide - ALPHA DRAW - Page 18 SCRIPT PROCESSING _________________ A script file is a stored set of keystrokes that are previously created within Alpha Draw. To create a new script, the function is selected from the "Special" menu. Once a file name has been entered from the keyboard or selected with the mouse, keystrokes and mouse clicks from there on are saved in that file. Script recording is terminated and the journal file closed when the "Create a Script" function is next selected. To replay the script simply select the "Execute a Script" function from the "Special" functions menu. A script file may be used to record every possible function in Alpha Draw. Alpha Draw comes with a set of sample scripts which demonstrates its capability and is great for demonstrations, meeting presentations, and product tradeshows. The only restriction of script processing is that only one script may be executed at a time. In other words, one script may not invoke another. If Alpha Draw encounters an error during script processing (i.e. file is not found), script processing is terminated and the user is returned to manual mode. The mouse may be used during script creation but it is recommended that the keyboard be used for menu selecton response. During replay, the keyboard responses are processed more efficiently than mouse responses. SPECIAL NOTE: A special command may be inserted into a script file using ____________ AlphaVUE to cause Alpha Draw to pause for a variable number of seconds during script execution. This is the SLEEP command. The format is: SLEEP nn where nn is the number of seconds from 1 to 32000 (a big number). The sleep command must start in column one and be on a line by itself inside the script file (file.ALD). ADS - Alpha Development & Support, Inc. Alpha Draw User's Guide - ALPHA DRAW - Page 19 INSTALLATION AND REQUIREMENTS _____________________________ AMIGOS must have been previously installed on the system for AMOS versions 1.3D or earlier. Since AMIGOS requires 1.3D or later, so does Alpha Draw. AMOS Versions 2.1 and later will automatically include AMIGOS. You must insure that AMIGOS is properly installed prior to executing Alpha Draw. The following Alpha Accounting subroutine modules are required in order for Alpha Draw to function. They are included on the distribution tape and may either be loaded into system memory or the user's job partition. ACCEPT.SBR LSTLIN.SBR SLEEP.SBR STRIP.SBR ECHO.SBR NOECHO.SBR SPOOL.SBR TRMCHR.SBR The following subroutine modules are non-Alpha Accounting modules and are provided on the release tape. All modules except for JOBNAM.SBR may be loaded into system memory. ACHART.SBR JOBNAM.SBR INFLD.SBR SSD.SBR These .SBR modules should be copied into the AlphaBASIC directory DSK0:[7,6]. A text help file is also provided: ALDRAW.HLP. This file should be loaded into the HLP: ersatz account (DSK0:[7,1]). WARNING: First, insure that there are no incompatibility problems before _______ overwriting existing modules. To install Alpha Draw, the program ADSCOD.LIT must first be run. Call Alpha Microsystems or ADS to obtain a proper PIC code and run this program. The program ADSCDS.LIT may be run to confirm all product installations for Alpha Development & Support, Inc. Alpha Draw may only be started if AMIGOS is loaded into system memory. To start Alpha Draw the AMOS RUN command may be used. .RUN ALDRAW [filename] A procedure file is included with Alpha Draw so it may be invoked as follows. .ALDRAW [filename] REQUIREMENTS ____________ Alpha Draw requires a minimum of 350K user memory. About 70K per user may be saved if Alpha Draw is loaded into system memory, therefore requiring only 280K per user. ADS - Alpha Development & Support, Inc. Alpha Draw User's Guide - ALPHA DRAW - Page 20 INSTALLATION AND REQUIREMENTS - continued _____________________________ DIRECTORY FILES _______________ .DRW Alpha Draw user drawing files .DWK Temporary drawing work file .GDF Graph definition files .ALD Alpha Draw script files graphx.PRT Default drawing output print file ALWORK.DRW Abnormal error crash dump of working drawing SPECIAL NOTE: ____________ If Alpha Draw encounters a fatal error during execution, it will attempt to save the working drawing in a file named ALWORK.DRW. It is possible to recover the drawing by loading it through the "Filing" menu. ADS - Alpha Development & Support, Inc. Alpha Draw User's Guide - ALPHA DRAW - Page 21 CONFIGURATION _____________ Alpha Draw can be configured by using a .INI initialization file. This file is similiar in concept to all other .INI files used on Alpha Micro systems and is named ALDRAW.INI. This file may reside in the local directory, the Alpha Draw ersatz account (DRAW:), the system command account (DSK0:[2,2]), or the AlphaBASIC library directory (DSK0:[7,6]). A local .INI file overrides any other configuration file on the system. Two main options to configure are the default printer name and the graphics output device name. If no .INI file exists, the default printer name is NOPRIN, and the default graphics output device name is AM72. If names other than these are used, an .INI file must be used. The following configuration commands may be placed inside ALDRAW.INI. PRINTER=name printer name - up to 6 characters (i.e. PRTR1) DEVICE=name graphics output device name (i.e. LASWRT) LOGO=Y or N enables or disables the logo display DIRECTORY=Y or N enables or disables automatic directory display in FILING commands DEMO FILE=file name name of optional demonstration script file (i.e. ALDRAW.ALD) REPORT=extension name 3-letter print file extension name (i.e. PRT) BGCOLOR=n Sets the background color. FGCOLOR=n Sets the foreground color. BMCOLOR=n Sets the menu background color. FMCOLOR=n Sets the menu foreground color. The color options can be used to temporarily override the terminal defaults and may be a number from 0 to 15. GRAPHS=Y or N Option to enable chart/graph importation. PGCOLOR=cc Default page background color (0-15). LIBRARY=filespec Default symbol library file (i.e. ALDRAW.DSY) EXIT=procedure name Defines the exit procedure or program name. ACHART=procedure name Defines the exit procedure name for Alpha Chart. ADS - Alpha Development & Support, Inc. Alpha Draw User's Guide - ALPHA DRAW - Page 22 ITEMS TO NOTE _____________ Please refer to the instructions for the Alpha Draw utilities: ALDDIR, ALDDSP, ALDPRT, and ALDUTL. Version 1.0 only aligns objects to the standard grid and not to a text grid. Version 1.0 does not support elliptical sphere rotation. General object rotation will be supported in version 1.1. Version 1.0 does not support text display in zoom mode. In other words, text objects not are scaled during zoom display. There is a problem that occurs every so often when drawing freehand lines. The problem is that Alpha Draw gets out of syncronization with the AM-72 terminal. The real problem is a mouse position report getting lost. The result is that the keyboard seems to not work when characters are pressed. The simple workaround is to press a character on the keyboard seven times until Alpha Draw becomes syncronized again. The cause of this problem cannot be determined at this point but is probably within the AM-72 terminal firmware or AMOS terminal driver. Another symptom of the syncronization problem is that the stop button appears to not change the line color. Pressing seven characters on the keyboard will resolve this situation. ADS - Alpha Development & Support, Inc. Alpha Draw User's Guide .