TURBO HELP UTILITY -----------------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 ----------------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 -----------------Load THELP at the DOS command Make sure the Turbo help file TCHELP.TCH for TURBO C) is in command line option described Memory Usage line simply by typing THELP. (TURBO.HLP for Turbo Pascal, the current directory or use the /F below.

- 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 ------------------------------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 /C#xx /Dname /Fname /H,/?,? /Kxxyy /Lxx /M+,/MUse BIOS for video Select color: #=color number, xx=hex color value Full path for disk swapping (implies /S1) Full path and filename of help file Display this help screen Change hotkey: xx=shift state(hex), yy=scan code(hex) Force number of rows on screen: xx=25,43,50 Display help text: on monochrome screen(+),

/Px /R /Sx /U /W

on default screen(-) Pasting speed: 0=slow, 1=medium, 2=fast Send options to resident THELP Default Swapping Mode: 1=Use Disk, 2=Use EMS, 3=No Swapping Remove THELP from memory 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: ENTER: ESC: F1: ALT-F1: CTL-F1: F key: Move from screen to screen if additional screens are available. Select help entry for the item highlighted in the current help screen. End Help. Help Index. F1 from any help screen brings up the Help Index. Displays in reverse order the last 20 screens you have reviewed. Bring up help screen for THELP's hot keys. 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. 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. 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. Paste highlighted keyword into application. 'I' or 'i' inserts the current highlighted keyword into the keyboard buffer, and immediately pops down. Paste entire help screen into application. 'P' or 'p' inserts the entire current help page (as it

J key:

K key:

I key:

P key:

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 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 = = = = = = = = Color Normal Text Monochrome Normal Text Color Possible reference pages; top/bottom description line Monochrome Possible reference pages; top/bottom description line Color Border Color Monochrome Border Color Color Current Reference Selection 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) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 --------Black Blue Green Cyan Red Magenta Brown Grey Second Digit (Foreground) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 ---------Black Blue Green Cyan Red Magenta Brown Grey Intense Black

ORing the color value with Hex 80 produces a blinking color unless blinking has been disabled.

9 A B C D E F

--------

Intense Intense Intense Intense Intense Intense Intense

Blue Green Cyan Red Magenta Brown (Yellow) 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 left shift control alt Scan Codes 01h 02h 04h 08h

A B C D E F G H I J K L M

---------------------------

1eh 30h 2eh 20h 12h 21h 22h 23h 17h 24h 25h 26h 32h

N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

---------------------------

31h 18h 19h 10h 13h 1fh 14h 16h 2fh 11h 2dh 15h 2ch

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

---------------------

0bh 02h 03h 04h 05h 06h 07h 08h 09h 0ah

F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 F6 F7 F8 F9 F10

---------------------

3bh 3ch 3dh 3eh 3fh 40h 41h 42h 43h 44h

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'.