1. (Windows) The "bevelling" feature has been improved in several ways:
- Easier to use with new SET TERM BEVEL sub-function in SET.LIT 1.1(127)
- Now works with any background color.
- Input fields implemented using INFLD (or any of the routines based on it, such as INPUT.SBR) will now automatically be bevelled inward (as if they were recessed) during input.
- The thickness of the bevelled line drawing characters is now the same for both horizontal and vertical lines. Previously it was based on the relative height or width of the font size, which tended to make the horizontal lines look too fat.
"Bevelling" is the name used for the 3D look that is imparted by using highlighting and shadowing on the edges of lines and rectangular boundaries to make them look like they are sticking out or recessed in to the screen. This may make your application appear slightly more sophisticated or even "Windows-like", particularly if you combine it with the use of a more Windows-like color scheme (gray background). See the sample program BEVEL.BAS for more information on how to set a gray background, turn bevelling on and off under program control, etc.
2. (Windows) SET.LIT 1.1(127) now supports a new SET TERM sub-function:
SET TERM BEVEL OFF (Turn bevelling off, program cannot enable) SET TERM BEVEL AUTO (Turn bevelling on, program cannot disable) SET TERM BEVEL PROGRAM-ON (Turn bevelling on, leave under program control) SET TERM BEVEL PROGRAM-OFF (Turn bevelling off, leave under program control)
Note that these options correspond roughly to the Settings..Bevelling dialog box. Also note that although the dialog box offers a checkbox option "Disable line drawing", the SET TERM options always disable line drawing. (This confusing-sounding option, when set, causes line drawing characters to be completely replaced by bevelled lines. Otherwise, you get bevelled lines and line drawing characters, which may sound cool but generally doesn't look that good.)
3. (Windows) The Andale Mono font (also used with ZTERM) may now be used with A-Shell. You can download it from Microsoft at:
http://www.microsoft.com/OpenType/fontpack/default.htm
The install program will create an "Install Andale Mono Font" icon on the desktop for your convenience. You can just delete it after to the install. We will shortly add a link on our web site as well.
This font scales and looks better in general than either the MIAME Terminal bitmap fonts or TrueType fonts such as Courier New. The only downside is that, like with most other TrueType fonts, you will not get true line drawing characters with them in A-Shell. (Instead you get dashes and vertical bars and "+" for corners.) However, this disadvantage disappears entirely if you just activate bevelling and disable line drawing characters (as described above.) The end result is likely to be much better than looking that even the graphic line drawing characters in the MIAME Terminal font.
Note that to specify the Andale Mono font, add the following to your MIAME.INI (replacing any other FONT statement there):
FONT=Andale Mono
Also, REMOVE both of the following if they appear there:
OPTIONS=LATIN1 Remove if present) CHARSET=OEM (Remove if present)
One final note: this font has been designed by Microsoft to improve the readability of web pages as well, so you may find it useful even if you don't use it in A-Shell.
4. (UNIX) DIR/H will now generate hash codes of text files (with UNIX- style LF line terminators) that match the corresponding Windows or AMOS file (with CRLF line terminators) provided you use SET AHASH first. (Previously, SET AHASH worked only some of the time, but failed whenever the file contained a TAB, ESC, or was of a certain size.) Note that by default, SET NOAHASH is on when A-Shell starts. In this mode, it will produce a matching hash code only when two files are binary images of each other.
When SET AHASH is on, the hash function (in DIR/H and also in the MIAMEX opcode 25) first scans the file to determine if it is a text file (containing only printable characters plus LFs, TABs, and ESCs. If so, then it computes the hash as if every LF in the file was actually CRLF. Thus, you can take a text file (such as a program source) under AMOS or Windows, and transfer it to UNIX using an ASCII file transfer method (which converts CRLF to LF) and still get the same hash code.
Note that one of the main uses for this function, that of enabling VERIFY.LIT to be used to compare a set of source files between a UNIX computer and an AMOS or Windows computer, can be achieved another way. Since the A-Shell compiler now supports source files with either LF or CRLF line terminators, and since VUE supports a CRNL on/off switch (both in INI.VUE and at the command prompt), you can store your program files under UNIX with CRLF line terminators. In that case, you can use a binary file transfer method for moving your files back and forth between AMOS/Windows and UNIX, thus eliminating any need for the SET AHASH capability. But, if you choose that approach, be careful to set up a special INI.VUE for program source editing that will not be accessed when you use VUE to edit UNIX system files. (Otherwise you will pollute them with stray CR characters, causing them to appear corrupt to most UNIX system utilities.)
5. The following LIT updates fix an argument-processing glitch which occurred whenever you specifed the [p,pn] of the command itself itself (i.e. DSK0:ERASE.LIT[1,4] instead of just ERASE or SYS:ERASE or SYS:ERASE.LIT.) The glitch caused the first character of the argument of following the command to be dropped, usually resulting in a file-not-found error.
COPY.LIT 2.6(117) DIR.LIT 1.5(124) ERASE.LIT 1.6(111) PRINT.LIT 2.5(116) SUBMIT.LIT 3.0(131) RENAME.LIT 1.6(108)
6. Fix a problem in EZVUE in which the initial screen would appear blank if the terminal was already in 132 column mode before calling EZVUE and the file required more than 80 columns.
