

                           (C) Copyright NEMCO 1983

                             WORDFLEX TUTORIAL

     SESSION 1.

     Welcome to word processing with WORDFLEX.  This tutorial, consisting of 5
sessions,  will  introduce you to the main features of the  WORDFLEX  program.
More complete technical information is included in the WORDFLEX User's Manual.
You  may  decide  to consult the Manual even during these  sessions  but  this
should not be necessary.

     This  tutorial consists of five files named tutor1.txt through tutor5.txt
which can be printed from IBM DOS using the command "copy tutor?.txt lpt1:" on
your  parallel printer (or on your serial printer if lpt1: has been redirected
by  the "mode" command).  You may find it convenient to obtain a hard copy  of
this  tutorial  before you proceed with the sessions.  The amount of  material
covered  in each session is meant for a person without any experience in  word
processing  and/or  computer  aided text editing.  If you  already  have  some
experience,  you  may  decide to go through more than one session at  a  time.

                            ***Press Ctrl Pg Dn***
     In this first session we will cover the following topics:

      WORDFLEX general features

      Cursor and screen control

      File handling

      WORDFLEX utilities

     WORDFLEX  is an exclusively memory resident program.  All procedures  and
commands  as  well  as the entire edited text are memory resident  during  the
session.   This makes the program quite large but, in return, it speeds up its
operation  significantly.    As a result, no temporary disk files have  to  be
created during the session.

     The  area  in memory used for a temporary storage of the edited text  and
its  manipulation  is  called the text buffer.  WORDFLEX  can  subdivide  this
memory  into  a maximum of five separate buffers, each of them  containing  an
individual  file.  In this tutorial we will refer to an individual file buffer
as  simply  a  buffer.    Unless otherwise stated, this  will  also  mean  the
currently  selected  file  buffer.   Each buffer is  associated  with  a  file

                            ***Press Ctrl Pg Dn***
 
                                   -2-

name.   This name represents either an existing disk file or a new file  being
created by WORDFLEX.

     The  first  subject  covered  in this session is the  cursor  and  screen
control.    WORDFLEX uses some of the conventions of the BASIC screen  editor:
the  cursor is moved by the arrow keys of the right hand keypad.  All the keys
of this keypad are used for editing functions exclusively; they cannot be used
for  numerical  data  entry  (except with the Alt  shift  that  generates  all
available ASCII characters).  The Num Lock key is disabled in WORDFLEX.  As in
the  BASIC screen editor, the Ctrl right arrow will advance the cursor to  the
beginning  of  the next word, and the Ctrl left arrow to the beginning of  the
preceding  word.    Words are defined as strings of  characters  delimited  by
blanks.

     Two  other  special  keys used for cursor control are the  Home  and  End
keys.    The Home key returns the cursor to the beginning  (column  1) of  the
current  line (different from BASIC editor).  End acts the same way as in  the
BASIC editor: it moves the cursor just one space beyond the end of the text on
the current line.

                            ***Press Ctrl Pg Dn***

     The   Ctrl  Home  combination moves the cursor to column 1, row 1 of  the
screen.  Ctrl End moves the cursor to column 1 of the last row containing text
when the "cursor mode" is in effect.

     An additional command is used for cursor movement:

      Alt I    -    moves cursor to the temporary left margin (Session 5.)

     WORDFLEX allows you to move through the text using two different methods:
pressing   Ctrl Pg  Dn will display the next screen (24 lines of text).   Ctrl
Pg  Up will display  the previous screen.  Pg Dn will scroll the screen by  12
lines, Pg Up scrolls the text by 12 lines in the opposite direction.  You  can
scroll  the text continuously by toggling in the "scroll mode" with the Scroll
Lock  key.   The vertical arrow keys will move the text up and down.   Try  it
now.

     The scroll mode disables some commands and gives a new meaning to others.
The    vertical arrows scroll the text up or down.  The Ctrl Home key  in  the
scroll mode  will  cause a display of the first screen of the buffer, the Ctrl
End key in scroll mode causes display of the last screen of the buffer.


                            ***Press Ctrl Pg Dn***

                                   -3-

     Practice now the cursor movement without touching any other keys.  If you
inadvertently  touch  any  key from the main keyboard, the  display  will  say
"screen  modified".   In order to proceed with your cursor movement  practice,
you  can  get rid of that message by pressing F9, as will be explained in  the
next session.

     The  next  subject  of this section is file handling.   WORDFLEX  session
starts  from  IBM DOS by typing "wx filename".  The string  "filename"  stands
for  a  name of  an  existing file or a new file to be created by WORDFLEX  in
the  current  directory.    The  filename has to be specified  and  it  cannot
contain  the  path information (DOS Version 2.0).  WORDFLEX does not  work  on
unnamed file buffers.

     WORDFLEX editing session is terminated by pressing F10.  Two warnings are
issued  before the IBM DOS is reentered;  the file buffer(s) have to be stored
during  the  session since there is no way to recover their contents once  the
session has been terminated.

     WORDFLEX uses four special function keys for file handling:

                            ***Press Ctrl Pg Dn***
      F1  -    lists file

      F2  -    selects one of the active file buffers

      F3  -    loads existing file on the buffer or associates the buffer with
               a new file name

      F4  -    stores current file buffer as a disk file

     Try    commands F1, F3 and F4 now.  If you have enough memory, load  file
tutor2.txt  on  buffer 2, tutor3.txt on buffer 3 and so on.  By doing so,  you
will also  be able to test the command F2.  Use F4 with caution!  If you  have
enough space on this (or  another diskette), store the files under other names
since,  if  you inadvertently modify  the text, the new file will replace  the
old   one.  WORDFLEX  does not create backup files automatically.  There is no
need  for backup files since the original file is not modified until the store
file  command is invoked by F4. Nevertheless, when editing an important and/or
lengthy  text, you should periodically save the buffer on the file  associated
with the buffer and, in addition to it, on a file with suffix .bak or similar.

     The last subject of this session are WORDFLEX utilities invoked by Alt A,
Alt  H  and  Alt S. The help command is invoked by Alt H and the result  is  a
display  of  the  help.txt file on one screen.  This display, as well  as  the
                            ***Press Ctrl Pg Dn***
 
                                   -4-

displays  created   by the Alt A and the Alt S command, has no effect  on  the
edited  text.   Alt X will take you from this display back to the  text  being
edited.  Try the Alt H command now.

    The  next  WORDFLEX utility is the status display invoked by Alt S.   This
display  contains  the  summary of file names associated with  the  individual
buffers,  memory available and other information.  Its usefulness will  become
apparent as you gain more experience with WORDFLEX.

     The  last  and perhaps the most important WORDFLEX utility is the  "alter
parameters"  utility  invoked by Alt A.  The display is self  explanatory:  it
lists  options and their current values.  The values displayed when a  session
is  initiated are the default values of WORDFLEX.  The "value" TRUE means that
that particular option is in effect, the "value" FALSE indicates the opposite.
At  this  point  there is no need to modify any of these options;  during  the
following sessions we will be referring to the Alt A command quite frequently.

     This concludes the first WORDFLEX tutorial session.
