Describe 5 Tips & Techniques

Some Tips & Techniques-Webpages from the old (an now non-existing) Describe Wordprocessor website.

Using Typographical Characters
Dialogs in OS/2 applications use a single code page, 850, which does not support the use of standard typographical characters such as typographical (or curly) quotes, en and em dashes, ellipsis, daggers, and double daggers.

DeScribe v. 5.0 has programmatically circumvented these operating system limitations in order to provide these items to our users. These characters have been specially added from code page 1004.

DeScribe refers to the automatic replacement of single and double quotes as Smart Quotes. Accessing Typographical Characters

Typographical characters can be accessed automatically through Glossaries which causes single and double quotes to be switched to their typographical replacements, and manually via the Character Manager, the Search and Replace dialog, and other locations where specific character selections are allowed.

Use Typographical or Smart Quotes

DeScribe defaults to having typographical quotes turned on.

Go to Utilities-Glossaries-Autolookup... .   Place a check in Enable Smart Quotes. All instances of single and double quotes in all documents will be replaced with typographical quotes automatically as you type. Existing straight quotes are unmodified.

Disable Typographical Quotes

Go to Utilities-Glossaries-Autolookup... .   Remove the check in Enable Smart Quotes. DeScribe will use the standard keyboard characters for single and double quotes. Existing typographical quotes are unmodified.

Using the Character Manager to Access Typographical Characters

The Character Manager allows you to either insert these characters directly into a document, or add these characters to the Insert Character dialog. Go to Edit-Character manager... .   Press Special... .   The list of typographical characters will be displayed. Select a typographical character from the list, and add it to the list of insert characters. Press Insert to insert the character in your document or Done to leave the dialog. Characters added to the Insert character selection can be used in any document.

Using Search and Replace to Access Typographical Characters

The Search and Replace dialog allows you to search for these characters and replace them with other characters. Go to Words-Define Search. Press Special characters to select any of the listed characters for a search or replacement.

Using Typographical Characters in Outlines

The Outline feature in styles will allow you to replace the standard bullet or number characters with typographical characters. Go to Style-Outlining/Bullets. Press the Prepend or Append list buttons will allow you to select typographical characters.

Macros designed for use with Smart Quotes

DeScribe has several macros that can be used to alter the way typographical quotes work. Below is a list of these macros and their functions. The SingleQ and DoubleQ macros are very useful if you are creating a document that requires both typographical quotes and inch and foot marks (plain single and double quotes).

DblClosQ - Inserts a double close quote in the document at the cursor position. DblOpenQ - Inserts left typographical quotes in the document at the cursor position. DoubleQ - Inserts an upright double quote at the cursor position regardless of the current setting of Smart Quotes. This macro can be attached to the keyboard Quotes - Encloses a defined block with quotes. SglClosQ - This macro inserts a single close quote in the document at the cursor position. SglOpenQ - This macro inserts a single open quote in the document at the cursor position. SingleQ - This macro inserts an upright single quote at the cursor position regardless of the current setting of Smart Quotes. This macro can be attached to the keyboard SmartQ - This macro changes "dumb" quotes to "smart" quotes throughout an entire document.

Notes:

Spacing problem on HP Laserjet printers using these characters often appear when Internal fonts (like CG Times) are being used. Though the characters print, correct character spacing is not being used. The spacing for the quote character often appears to be too wide ("like an extra space after a quote"). To alleviate this problem, disable Smart Quotes in AutoLookup Glossary, or make certain to use a standard ATM Type 1 font (Times or Times New Roman).

Custom Bullet Characters
It is possible in DeScribe to use any available character in any font as a bullet character. You can use a star, a diamond, or other character available through the code page and available fonts to set off your bullets.

Bullet characters are assigned through the Outline in Styles, and a special Style Sheet will need to be set up to accommodate the font. Locate the Character You Want to Use

Find out what character number and font you want.

In Edit-Character Manager browse through Available characters. Click on the character in the list and the number will display. Note the font name. Notice that different fonts may contain different character sets. Symbol Set in OS/2 and Wingdings Windows are good sources for different characters. Click Done.

Set up Styles In the Style Manager

In the example below we are using the layout named "DOCUMENT" that ships with version 5.

Open the Style Manager

Choose Style-Style Manager.

Create a Style Sheet for the Bullet font Character

Double - click on Document. Double - click on Bulleted List. Click Create. Name the Style something like "Bullet Font". Select the desired font from Font List. This would be the font that contains the character you found for your special bullet character. Click OK.

Modify the Bulleted List Style to Include the Stylesheet for the Font

Go to Bulleted List. Choose Change Select Outlining. In the Append box enter the Character #. Make sure to remove the text in the Append Box first. The Character will appear from the Code Page. In Style select the Bullet Font to attach the "Bullet Font" stylesheet created above. Click OK.

You should now be able to use the bullet list style sheet in the Style Palette with your selected special character appearing as the bullet.

Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) Messaging
This is a brief summary of the Dynamic Data Exchange commands available in OS/2, and how these commands can be accessed using DeScribe. This information will be useful if you are constructing a custom application which will support Dynamic Data Exchange, and will be linking data to DeScribe files.

You can download a DDE application (includes source code) that sends messages to DeScribe using DDE.

DeScribe uses several types of Dynamic Data Exchange messaging, and can accept both client and server commands.

Standard OS/2 WM DDE EXECUTE messages are:

POKE - Pass data to another application. PEEK - Look at data in another application. NOTIFY - Inform when data has changed. GET - Acquire data from other applications. EXECUTE - Execute commands listed below.

DDE Messaging to DeScribe

DeScribe expects a WM DDE EXECUTE message containing one or more commands. Each command must be enclosed in square brackets. All commands take a file name as a parameter. The file name must be enclosed in parenthesis and quotes, and must immediately follow the command name. Below are some examples of complete commands:

Execute commands recognized by DeScribe:

New window - Open a file in a new main window. Open - Open a file in an existing main window. Print - Print a file. If the file isn't already open, open the file, print, and close it. Run - Execute a macro. Close - Close a currently open file.

Examples

Single instructions:

[New window("")] [Open("C:\directory\document")] [Print("C:\directory\document")] [Run("Test.macro")] [Close("C:\directory\document")]

Combined instructions:

[Open("C:\directory\document")][Run("Test.mac")]

Equation Editor Installation Problem
Users who have the Equation Editor may find it inoperable after installation of CD upgrades (DeScribe Voyager or Enterprise CD) shipped after 1/1/96. In this version of DeScribe, a change was made to the file structure. Since the file structure is different, the location of the Equation Editor will need to be changed. Symptoms of the Problem

The Equation menu will not appear on the Utilities menu after installing the upgrade. Alleviating the Error

Users can fix the problem by creating the correct directory.

Create the directory: "x:\DeScribe\OS2\Equations"

Where "x" is the drive where you installed DeScribe.

Once the directory is created, copy the files from the old directory, "x:\DeScribe\Equation", to the new directory you have created.

Checking for Correct Operation
This bulletin is a description of what you will see on your screen after installation and some suggestions for testing for correct operation. Please note that not all hardware will correctly support all DeScribe features. What You See When You Start DeScribe

The steps below detail what you will see on your screen when DeScribe starts. See Page 17 of the User Guide for a n example of what this screen looks like. Please note: The list below assumes that you are using color video.

The DeScribe 5.0 Logo draws in a purple or magenta. The Title bar appears in a dark blue at the top of the screen which says "DeScribe 5.0 - Untitled #1". The Menus appear below this. The DeScribe Custom Tools appear (a string of picture icons). A Ruler should appear that shows some Tab and Indent markers on it. The DeScribe Style Palette appears in the upper right hand corner. You should see a Scroll bar to the right and a Status line which begins with "Text line...". The default layout named "Document" will show with an End of Frame (text) marker (a small sun sign) appearing in the upper left-hand corner just inside a Red Frame border that runs approximately 1 inch below the ruler and almost to each side of the display. The Cursor should appear to the left of the End of Frame marker and should be blinking.

Entering Information in DeScribe and Testing Printing

Once the above is completed, you should be able to type characters into DeScribe and see them appear on the screen.

After entering in some text, you can attempt to print the document you are using with File-Print.-Document. You may also wish to go to File-Printer Setup, and select a specific printer if you have several printers on your system. If this prints correctly, you can attempt to print the "SAMPLE" document (detailed below).

If you receive an error message when you print or when accessing the Printer Setup dialog, particularly an Access violation, chances are that there is a problem with the printer driver you are using, and/or the printer driver configuration. Please see Technical Bulletin 500020 for information on Access violations and Technical Bulletin 500201 for information on correct configuration of the Printer Driver. Testing Your Printer Capabilities with the SAMPLE Document

DeScribe was designed to support many features which are available in your operating system, or on other operating systems we support, but not all hardware will support all these operating system functions. The "SAMPLE" document located in the Data directory was designed to show you all the possible capabilities in DeScribe. You may discover that a few or many of the demonstrated features in this document do not work properly.

If something looks correct on the screen, but does not print, chances are there is a deficiency in your printer or printer driver. If something looks out of place on screen, but prints correctly, there may be a problem in your video and/or video adapter driver. Also, different fonts may not support the display of all the characters in all the sizes shown in the document. Errors may occur when you print this document that may revolve around problems with fonts, font support, and font installation.

To Print the Sample document:

Choose File-Open. Make certain you are in the Data directory, and select Sample. Click OK. Carefully review the document to see how it appears on screen. Note anything strange. Choose File-Print-Document. Carefully review the document to see how it printed. The document you see and the document that prints will match if your printer and other equipment supports all of the DeScribe features.

Check for Correct Spell Checking Operation

Spell checking is accessed via the Words menu or the icon on the Custom Tools. To check for correct operation, enter a misspelled word in your document. It must not be another word. (For example: Use the word "timex" this is not a word in the dictionary, though it is a proper name.)

Check for Spell check operation

Enter a misspelled word in your document. For example type: "timex". Use Spell from the Custom Tools or Words-Spell document. DeScribe should locate the word "timex" and bring up the spell dialog.

DeScribe Safety Features
While there is no way to protect your data from corruption 100% of the time, DeScribe has tried to create as many barriers as possible from user error, corruption, and catastrophic operating system failures (power outages, hardware problems, etc.), and to aid you in recovery from problems that should occur. DeScribe's safety features include Unlimited Undo, Snapshots, automatic Backups, and a series of error reporting files that are created in the TEMP directory. Unlimited Undo

DeScribe retains every "transaction" you make in your document in a buffer that can be accessed by using DeScribe's unique Undo feature. While many applications allow you to undo a step or two, (just like DeScribe's Flashback feature,) DeScribe's Unlimited Undo goes much further. Whenever you open a document and begin to enter text, add style changes, remove text, add tables, picture frames and graphics, all changes are recorded in your document in a buffer. This transaction record is maintained until you close and save the document. As long as the document is open and unsaved, you can choose Undo to "go back" to any earlier point in your document. This feature is especially useful for anyone who is editing a document and makes a mistake or other series of unwanted design decisions.

To use Undo

Select Edit-Undo....   A dialog box will appear with a scroll bar that says "Undo" and "Redo". Additionally, a Custom Tool is available to access Undo with a red and blue arrow. To undo desired changes Click on left arrow by Undo one mouse click at a time or   Drag the bead from right to left. Click on the arrow by Redo or drag the bead if you have removed too many changes. Click OK.

Should you wish to physically save your document, but maintain the Undo buffer with all your data in it, you can used DeScribe's Copy to... feature to make a copy of your working document under another file name. Because the working document is unsaved the Undo buffer remains in tact. To access Copy To... select File-Copy To.... The Temp Directory

The DeScribe Temp directory is used to store many of the error detection and recovery files which are created in DeScribe. DeScribe creates this directory for you upon installation, but you can change the directory location in Options-Preferences-Directory. Snapshots

DeScribe saves your document in the background at regular intervals as a protection from system failures. We refer to these as Snapshots, and a separate file will be created for each document you have open. Files created are saved in the TEMP directory with an extension of .SNP.

Anytime you close the document and exit DeScribe normally .SNP files are deleted to save on hard disk space. If a system failure does occur which does not allow for DeScribe and the file to close properly, the Snapshot file is retained on your hard drive.

The next time you start DeScribe you will receive a message (or messages if more than one Snapshot was created for multiple documents) that "DeScribe has detected a snapshot of xxxxxxxx". Restore?" When you click Yes, DeScribe will restore the document from the snapshot, and though you may have lost some recent changes, you should be able to get back to work. Note: If you were working on an Untitled document, the message may refer to "Untitled #1".

If you choose not to restore the Snapshot, DeScribe will delete the file. There is no way to recover a deleted Snapshot file.

The intervals that DeScribe uses to create Snapshots are defined in the Global Preferences dialog. The default settings are based on the number of keystrokes (300-500 characters) and number of seconds (180-300 or 3-5 minutes). Although the Snapshots work on a separate thread, and should cause no system slowdowns, some users who are extremely fast typists (in excess of 100 wpm) and who are working on equipment with 'less' memory, find that their "keyboard can't seem to keep up" with them. These users find it convenient to increase the Snapshot settings so they don't happen so frequently (5-8 minutes and 800-900 characters or even higher). Other users with chronic system problems find it more convenient to lower these settings to offer more frequent protection.

To change the Snapshot settings:

Choose Options-Preferences-Global. Make changes to the Min. characters, Max. Characters, Min. seconds, Max. seconds as desired. Click OK.

Since the creation of a Snapshot is a "timed" event, it is physically possible for you not to have a document open long enough to have one created. For example, if a document is only open for two minutes and you type less than 100 characters, then no Snapshot will be created.

Occasionally, a system problem or DeScribe problem will corrupt the actual Snapshot file. When this occurs, DeScribe will attempt to recover the document, and you will receive a secondary DeScribe error message that will probably terminate DeScribe.It will say that the document is "corrupted", and give a DeScribe line number error message. If this unlikely situation occurs, there is usually no way to recover the actual document. You should cancel the recovery.

As an absolute last resort, desperate users can sometimes recover some of the text from the file.This may be useful where a document is quite long or there have been many recent changes, and absolutely no other recovery is possible.

First, you must change the name of the Snapshot file in the Temp directory before you start DeScribe, so that DeScribe does not try to recover the .SNP file. (Change the name to something besides "xxxx.SNP" making certain to remove the extension). Start DeScribe, which should no longer be offering to recover the Snapshot. Select File-Import and import the document as an ASCII file. This may allow you to recover blocks of text, but note that parts of the document may contain strange ASCII characters that represent either the corruption or frames and graphic information that can't be translated by the filter. You will need to search carefully for blocks of desired text. Backups

The Backup up feature automatically creates a copy of your document whenever you save it multiple times. If you create a document and save it once, no backup file will be created, but if you make changes to the document and save it a second time, the document as it appeared before the changes were made will be saved in the Temp directory. As the document is changed, a new Backup will replace the old on the desktop.

This feature protects you from losing data due to a corruption in the working document which may be caused by a hard or floppy drive write error, or from a system problem, or even from DeScribe. Should you find that a working document is corrupted, simply open the backup in the Temp directory. Though your document will not be completely up to date, you will have whatever your last stopping point was.

Though this is an extremely useful feature, (critical to those who have had the misfortune to lose data before), many users do not have the free hard disk space to allow for these files to be continually created. For this reason, all of the Backup files appear in the Temp directory. This allows users to easily save the contents of this directory (via standard OS/2 Copy or Backup commands) on a regular basis and delete the files once safely stored elsewhere.

If you are very short on disk space, you may elect to disable this feature entirely. To disable automatic backups

Select Options-Preferences-Global. Remove the check from Create backups. Click OK.

Error reporting files

The Temp directory also contains files that are created as markers whenever there is a problem in DeScribe. If there is a system failure, or an Internal error in DeScribe users may see files such as MEM0001, MEM0002, MEM0003, MEM0004, etc. Each time DeScribe ends abnormally, an error file may be recorded that begins with the characters "MEM". Usually these files are zero bytes long and only contain the date and time the error occurred.

In addition to the MEM files, users may see files that begin with W4W and PRN. The W4W files indicate a failure that occurred in a text import filter, and the PRN files indicate an error in background printing (which is available only in OS/2).

Most of the time these files can simply be deleted from the system occasionally. They contain no detailed information other than a date and time. Please note however that these files are sometimes used by LAN administrators and other 'larger' users to trace problems. For example, if a LAN user complains of system lockup in the afternoon, it may be possible to review the error files and discover that the lockup keeps occurring at a specific time. If there are other 'automatic' processes occurring at the same time, it may give the LAN administrator a bit more information to review to locate the source of the system problem.

On extremely rare occasions, the error file is created and is not zero bytes long. This may be the results of the nature of the problem that caused the error. Sometimes, if the error was indeed caused by DeScribe, a file that is more than zero bytes long will be useful to our development staff in tracing the error. However, in order for this information to be useful, we must learn of all details of the problem at the time it occurred. If you locate a MEM file that is longer than zero bytes long after the original error occurred, we won't be able to research the problem.

As with Snapshots, desperate users have sometimes located usable blocks of text in MEM files when no other quality backup of a document is available. Trying to recover these should be used as a last resort.