APPLICATION NOTE #124 TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION FOR XYWRITE III, VERSION 3.1 Rev. 01 XyWrite III, Version 3.1, is a command-driven word processing program for the IBM PC and compatibles. It is designed for high-performance editing and provides fast response along with a high degree of customizability. COMPATIBLE COMPUTERS* XyWrite III, Version 3.1, can be installed on the following computers. AT&T 6300, 6300 Plus Compaq Portable, Portable II, Portable III, DeskPro, Deskpro 286, Deskpro 386 Cordata PC, AT Data General ONE Epson Equity I, II, III Gridcase 2, 3 Hewlett Packard Vectra IBM PC, XT, AT, Convertible (JR but not recommended) IMS 286 ITT xtra Kaypro 2000, 2000+, 286i, PC Leading Edge, all models NCR PC6, PC8 Panasonic Sr. Partner, Exec. Partner PC Limited PC, XT, AT Sharp PC-7000 Sperry PC, PC/IT Tandy 1000, 1200, 1400, 3000, 4000 Televideo AT Model II Texas Instruments Business Pro Toshiba 1000, 1100, 3100 Zenith 151, 170, 181, 183 Special versions of XyWrite are available for: Datavue 25 NEC APC III, IV TI Professional MEMORY REQUIREMENTS XyWrite requires a minimum of 256 KB of memory, and it can use up to 640 KB. OPERATING SYSTEMS XyWrite can run under the following operating systems: PC-DOS 2.0, 2.1, 2.11, 3.0, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3 or compatible. KEYBOARDS XyWrite allows you to customize your keyboard. Up to 127 keys can be directly defined. More than 127 keys can be accessed as key sequences. The following keyboards are supported by XyWrite.* IBM PC IBM AT IBM Extended XT/AT Keytronic 5151 Xeta MONITOR ADAPTORS AND MONITORS You can display XyWrite on the following monitors.* IBM Monochrome IBM Color Graphics Adaptor IBM Extended Graphics Adaptor Hercules Graphics Hercules Graphics Plus Quadram Quadvue Genius 66 line NEC Multisync SCREEN The standard screen is 80 characters wide and 25 lines long. Screen length can be expanded up to 66 lines, and editing and output can be up to 255 characters per line. You can assign color as foreground/background combinations for all text display modes, command area, the help frames, window borders, etc. DISK DRIVES XyWrite supports up to 26 logical drives, AÄZ. FILE FORMAT XyWrite files contain only ASCII characters. All 255 characters are displayable. DATA FORMAT There is no limit to paragraph length or file length beyond DOS limitations. The end-of-data marker is ÿ1A (ASCII 26, Hex 1A), which is the DOS standard, and the carriage return/line feed combination terminates paragraphs. Special characters and control characters are entered as 3-byte sequences with the following format: Hex FF, byte2, byte3 where byte2 and byte3 are ASCII codes for the characters that define the hex digits of those characters. For example, FF, 31, 41 (FF, "1", "A") is the sequence for entering the end-of-file mark in a file as a displayable character but not have the file end. The following characters are handled in the file in this manner: Null (00 H) is used internally by the program. Backspace (08 H) generates a destructive backspace. Tab (09 H) causes program to jump to next tab stop. Line Feed (0A H) is part of paragraph end sequence. Carriage Return (0D H) is the paragraph end character. End of File (1A H) is the DOS end-of-file character. Left Arrow (1B H) is the on-screen paragraph indicator. Space (20 H) is the spaceband character Dash (2D H) is the breaking hyphen at line end. Period (2E H) is the breaking period at line end. Start command (AE H) marks the beginning of embedded format command. End command (AF H) marks the end of embedded format command. Superior 2 (FD H) is used internally by the program. Blank (FF H) is used to specify these character sequences. HYPHENATION XyWrite's hyphenation is based on a modified version of Donald Knuth's algorithm, along with an exception word list. Modifications to the algorithm improve the frequency of finding hyphenation points while maintaining high accuracy of hyphenation. A 1500-word exception list is provided with the program. This list is customizable; you can add words as long as the file size does not exceed approximately 50 KB. CUSTOMIZABILITY There are four major areas of customization opportunity: macro language control; help files; keyboard files; and printer files. Each of these areas is briefly discussed below. Macro Control Language Almost all keystrokes can be captured and recorded in a text file that can be edited. Additional embedded commands can be given to provide labels, jumps, conditionals, expression analysis, and up to 1000 temporary buffers. Keyboard input can be taken during the execution of the macro. Help Files A standard text file can be edited into a complex set of inter-related frames. There are 13 types of help frames. Frames can be cross-referenced one to another. There are 36 direct entry points into the help system as well as state-sensitive and context-sensitive controls. Keystroke macros can be made a part of the Help file. Keyboard All keys on the keyboard can be defined. Up to 6 shifting keys are currently possible. Any key can be a shifting key. Shifting keys can be used in combination with other keys. A shift key can be a toggle, toggle until next key, or a simultaneous combination. Up to 20 tables of shift key combinations can be defined. Printers Printer control files allow for a high degree of output control. Typefaces can be defined as to font, size, additional printing attributes (e.g., underline), width for up to 255 characters and individual substitution for each character in each face. Also possible is control in the finest horizontal and vertical escapements supported by an output device. Printer files are already defined to support approximately 160 printers. *The hardware lists reflect compatible equipment at the time this document was published. If you have a question about the compatibility of a specific piece of hardware that is not on the list, call the Technical Support Department.