CFOG's PIP, November 1986, Volume 5 No. 1, Whole No. 49, page 1

Reading 'Loose' Files into WordStar Files During Editing

by Bob Lay

[from Q BITS (Quad City Osborne Group) newsletter, vol. 1, #11 -- bhc]

Here's one of the handiest WordStar hints I've seen in a long time. It should be useful to all, but especially those who write program code using the N(on-document) mode.

Say you are editing a file and want to ^K^R(ead) another file from a disk not on either drive at the time: this might be a document file that you wanted to insert into your text, or it could be a "standard" subroutine that you wanted to insert into your program code. Give the usual read command, ^K^R, and wait for the disk activity lights to go out. Then, remove the WordStar disk from the A drive (this presumes you are running your program on the A drive, and editing on the B drive), and insert the disk that contains the file you want to read from into the A drive. Your screen should show the query:

"Name of file to read?"

to which you should respond with with the name of the file you want to read, in the form A:<filename>.<typ> followed by a return <cr>. When the file is read in, the disk activity lights will stop, and BEFORE DOING ANYTHING ELSE, remove the "read from" disk from the A drive, and reinsert the WordStar program disk, and you are back in business!

The beauty of this non-documented use of the "read" function is that it enables you to keep on separate disks various frequently used clauses or paragraphs for use in writing documents or contracts, or program routines or subroutines when using the non-documcnt mode, and read them into the file you are working on anytime you wish. In the past, I've tried to keep certain files of this type on my WordStar disk, in the A drive, but the space limitation is significant, and I also like to keep that disk as "open" as possible for file manipulation.

Use this idea once, and I think you'll find yourself using it all the time!

CFOG's PIP, November 1986, Volume 5 No. 1, Whole No. 49, page 1

Programs from Logic Associates

At October's Sunday meeting Roy Lipscomb, who does business under the name "Logic Associates", gave us some insight into the use of his Supermit toolbox. It isn't the purpose of this article to cover that territory, suffice it to say that these extensions for DRI's Submit batch operation utility give a power to CP/M batch operations that surpasses MS-DOS. In addition to Supermit, which is available in the CFOG library with a full manual avilable from Roy for $9.95, and the ECHOFFand ECHON programs that Roy wrote during the meeting and are also in our library, Roy also introduced us to his stable of commercial software.

Columns converts text files into multicolumn text files. Roy was newsletter editor for CACHE <Chicago Area Computer Hobbyist Exchange> for several years, and this $29 program was an outgrowth of that activity.

DiskGuise allows you to assign a disk drive name to a particular user area. You can define Drive D to mean Drive A User 5. Calls to Drive D thereafter will take you to Drive A User 5. This is particularly useful when using software, like WordStar, that can't access different user areas. $32.

MegaBack is an $89 hard disk back-up utility. You can back up some or all files, splitting files across floppies if necessary. The program generates a printable directory of all backed up files, automatically, traps media crrors, system errors, and virtually all user areas.

Tutor I/O is a way to learn about your BDOS functions. $29.

VersBase maintains version numbers on files. Whenever your program would change the filename to ".BAK" VersBase asks you if the file should be given a version number instead. If "yes", the version number is incremented and appended to the filename: PLAN.DOC becomes PLAN0001.DOC instead of PLAN.BAK. You can selcet automatic operation. $32.

All manuals can be ordered separately for $9.95 <credited toward license>, and all programs are for CP/M 2.2. Logic Associates, 1433 West Thome, Chicago, IL 60660.