TURBO HELP UTILITY
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This file explains how to use THELP.COM. THELP is a
memory-resident utility that provides online help for Turbo
Pascal and Turbo C. If you are using Turbo Debugger, for
example, you can load THELP, then run the debugger and get
online help for Pascal or C while you are debugging.
Table of Contents
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1. Starting THELP
2. Command-line Options Summary
3. Detailed Explanation of Keys Used When THELP is Active
4. Detailed Explanation of Command line Options
1. Starting THELP
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Load THELP at the DOS command line simply by typing THELP.
Make sure the Turbo help file (TURBO.HLP for Turbo Pascal,
TCHELP.TCH for TURBO C) is in the current directory or use the /F
command line option described below.
Memory Usage - THELP requires about 8K bytes (+ 32K swap file);
40K with no swapping.
Default hotkey - The default hotkey is Numeric-Keypad-5 (scan
code 4ch, shift state 00h).
Paste speed - The default pasting speed is FAST. You'll have
to experiment if it pastes too quickly for your
editor. Note that you should turn off autoindent
in the integrated environment before using the
paste feature (Ctrl-Q I toggles autoindent).
If you are using SideKick Plus or SideKick 1.x, make sure you
load THELP before you load SideKick.
2. Command-line Options Summary
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USAGE: THELP [options]
Here is a summary of the command line options. If you use more
than one option, they must be separated by spaces.
/B Use BIOS for video
/C#xx Select color: #=color number, xx=hex color value
/Dname Full path for disk swapping (implies /S1)
/Fname Full path and filename of help file
/H,/?,? Display this help screen
/Kxxyy Change hotkey: xx=shift state(hex),
yy=scan code(hex)
/Lxx Force number of rows on screen: xx=25,43,50
/M+,/M- Display help text: on monochrome screen(+),
on default screen(-)
/Px Pasting speed: 0=slow, 1=medium, 2=fast
/R Send options to resident THELP
/Sx Default Swapping Mode: 1=Use Disk, 2=Use EMS,
3=No Swapping
/U Remove THELP from memory
/W Write Options to THELP.COM and exit
3. Detailed Explanation of Keys Used When THELP is Active
---------------------------------------------------------
Arrow keys: Move the highlight from item to item within the
current help screen.
PgUp/PgDn: Move from screen to screen if additional screens
are available.
ENTER: Select help entry for the item highlighted in the
current help screen.
ESC: End Help.
F1: Help Index. F1 from any help screen brings up
the Help Index.
ALT-F1: Displays in reverse order the last 20 screens you
have reviewed.
CTL-F1: Bring up help screen for THELP's hot keys.
F key: Select new help file. 'F' or 'f' brings up a
window that allows you to change help files on
the fly. Type in the complete path name of the
new help file, and it will be read into memory
and initialized to the help index of the new file.
If the new file does not exist, or is in an
invalid format, THELP will beep twice, and return
you to the original file.
J key: Jump to specified help page number. 'J' or 'j'
brings up a window that allows you to jump to any
particular page (9999 max) in the help file. The
only editing key permitted in this window is
BackSpace. ESC aborts, CR (or four digits)
completes.
K key: Search help file for specified keyword. 'K' or 'k'
brings up a window in which you can enter a
keyword (40 characters max), and have THELP search
the help file for a match. If there is no matching
keyword in the current help file, THELP will beep
twice and return you to the original help screen.
I key: Paste highlighted keyword into application. 'I' or
'i' inserts the current highlighted keyword into
the keyboard buffer, and immediately pops down.
P key: Paste entire help screen into application. 'P' or
'p' inserts the entire current help page (as it
appears in the help window) into the current
application, and then immediately pops down.
Pasting can be interrupted with ^C or ^Break.
S Key: Save help screen to disk file (THELP.SAV). 'S' or
's' from any help screen saves the current help
page to the disk file THELP.SAV, in the current
directory. If the file already exists, the new
help information is appended to the end.
<Hotkey Combo>
Pressing the hotkey combination when using THELP
on a second monitor ends this session of the
resident help, but leaves the current help screen
on the monochrome monitor.
4. Detailed Explanation of Command-line Options
------------------------------------------------
/B -- Use BIOS for video
This option forces THELP to use Interrupt 10h BIOS video calls
for all writing to/reading from the video display. Normally, THELP
will write directly to video RAM. Note that the use of this
option negates the effect of the /M switch described below; the
alternate monitor may not be used if /B is in effect. This option
is enabled with '/B+', and disabled with '/B-' (enable is the
default).
/C#xx Select color: #=color number, xx=hex color value
There are eight possible colors, described as follows:
1 = Color Normal Text
2 = Monochrome Normal Text
3 = Color Possible reference pages; top/bottom description line
4 = Monochrome Possible reference pages; top/bottom description line
5 = Color Border Color
6 = Monochrome Border Color
7 = Color Current Reference Selection
8 = Monochrome Current Reference Selection
Any or all of these eight colors may be specified on the command
line.
The color numbers for a standard IBM-compatible Color Display are
as follows:
First Digit (Background) Second Digit (Foreground)
0 -- Black 0 -- Black
1 -- Blue 1 -- Blue
2 -- Green 2 -- Green
3 -- Cyan 3 -- Cyan
4 -- Red 4 -- Red
5 -- Magenta 5 -- Magenta
6 -- Brown 6 -- Brown
7 -- Grey 7 -- Grey
8 -- Intense Black
ORing the color value with 9 -- Intense Blue
Hex 80 produces a blinking A -- Intense Green
color unless blinking has been B -- Intense Cyan
disabled. C -- Intense Red
D -- Intense Magenta
E -- Intense Brown (Yellow)
F -- Intense Grey (White)
On Monochrome monitors, the attribute values can differ widely,
so some experimentation would be needed. Note that the monochrome
attributes are used in only two cases; when the current video
mode is 7, or when force mono is used (see the /M option)
/Dname -- Full path for disk swapping (implies /S1)
This option is used to override where THELP will place its swap
files when swapping to disk. A full path should be specified,
but a trailing '\' is not necessary. If no /D option is
specified, under DOS 3.x swap files are placed in the directory
where THELP.COM resides. Under DOS 2.x, swap files are placed by
default in C:\.
Using this option also sets the flag that forces disk swapping
instead of checking first for EMS.
/Fname -- Full path and filename of help file
The name that follows the /F option should be the full
drive/directory pathname of the help file to use; e.g.,
THELP /FC:\TP\TURBO.HLP
THELP /FC:\TURBOC\TCHELP.TCH
By default, THELP looks for the help file on the logged drive and
directory.
/H,/?,? -- Display help screen
This option displays a summary of THELP's command-line options
/Kxxyy -- Change hotkey: xx=shift state, yy=scan code
Virtually any shift state/scan code combination may be selected.
A quick summary of some common shift-states and scan codes
follows:
Shift States (may be OR'ed together)
right shift 01h
left shift 02h
control 04h
alt 08h
Scan Codes
A --- 1eh N --- 31h 0 --- 0bh F1 --- 3bh
B --- 30h O --- 18h 1 --- 02h F2 --- 3ch
C --- 2eh P --- 19h 2 --- 03h F3 --- 3dh
D --- 20h Q --- 10h 3 --- 04h F4 --- 3eh
E --- 12h R --- 13h 4 --- 05h F5 --- 3fh
F --- 21h S --- 1fh 5 --- 06h F6 --- 40h
G --- 22h T --- 14h 6 --- 07h F7 --- 41h
H --- 23h U --- 16h 7 --- 08h F8 --- 42h
I --- 17h V --- 2fh 8 --- 09h F9 --- 43h
J --- 24h W --- 11h 9 --- 0ah F10 --- 44h
K --- 25h X --- 2dh
L --- 26h Y --- 15h
M --- 32h Z --- 2ch
Enhanced Keyboards only (may not work with all computers,
keyboards)
F11 --- 57h
F12 --- 58h
/Lxx -- Force number of rows on screen: xx=25,43,50
Some video adapters do not correctly store the number of video
rows on the screen in the BIOS data location specified for the
IBM-PC. This option forces THELP to use the given value, rather
than the number the BIOS reports.
/M+,/M- -- Display help text: on monochrome screen(+),
on default screen(-)
For users with dual-monitor systems, this option may be used to
instruct THELP to bring up its display on the monochrome monitor,
rather than on the color monitor. This option is enabled with
'/M+', and disabled with '/M-' (enable is the default). Note that
/M is incompatible with /B (see above).
/Px -- Pasting speed: 0=slow, 1=medium, 2=fast
Some editors do not accept characters pasted into the keyboard
buffer as fast as THELP can put them there. By setting an
appropriate paste speed, virtually all possible configurations of
editors may be used. FAST speed pastes as many characters as will
fit on every timer tick; MEDIUM pastes up to four characters per
tick; and SLOW pastes a single character into the buffer ONLY
when the buffer is empty.
/R -- Send options to resident THELP
The /R option is used to pass parameters (like new colors, or new
hotkeys) to the resident portion of THELP. All THELP command line
options may be sent to the resident portion except for the
swapping mode, which cannot be modified once THELP has been
initialized.
In combination with these options, you can create a batch file
that changes THELP's configuration as you change editors; i.e.:
THELP /M /P0 /FC:\TP\TURBO.HLP /R
Use mono monitor, slow pasting, and the Turbo Pascal help
file. Options are not saved to disk.
THELP /P2 /FC:\TC\TCHELP.TCH /R
Use default monitor, fast pasting, and the Turbo C help file.
Options are not saved to disk.
/Sx -- Default Swapping Mode: 1=Use Disk, 2=Use EMS,
3=No Swapping
If no '/S' parameter is used, THELP first tests to see if
Expanded Memory is available in the system. If so, and if enough
memory can be allocated, swapping is done to EMS. If EMS is not
available, disk swapping is used. See the /D parameter for
information on where the swap file will be written if disk
swapping is used.
/U -- Remove THELP from memory
This option is used to remove THELP from memory. If other TSRs
have been loaded after THELP, make sure to remove them before
removing THELP.
/W -- Write Options to THELP.COM and exit
The /W parameter is used to create a new version of THELP that
uses the options you desire as a default. All options, including
/S (but not /R) may be specified and made 'permanent'.
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