DarkDraw

                DarkDraw

The only ANSI editor with 3k lines

DarkDraw uses its own custom keyboard driver, which takes over the BIOS interrupt entirely.  If you are using DarkDraw under Desqview, you should set the Keyboard Conflict to the highest rating (F).  Side effects of this include the disappearance of several normal keyboard functions, including CapsLock, NumLock, Pause, PrintScreen, and Alt-Keypad.

Because of DarkDraw's custom keyboard driver, several people have complained about not being able to use the extended arrows correctly.  Keyboards that are not IBM compatible may not send the correct press/release sequence, and so DarkDraw cannot interpret it properly.

Registered users with this problem have received custom-made copies of DarkDraw for their systems, but a universal solution is being sought.

First, a description of the layout of the screen.  Many people have suggested that the status line be unobtrusive and as small as possible, so it occupies only 1 line of the screen.  The upper 24 lines are a

window to your picture, and the bottom line is the status and message line.

• An example status line is shown below:

┌──────────────────────────────────────────┐

│                                                                                                                       │

│     ( 1,  45) │  243/3808 lines │ B[#]F │  │ ─ ┌ ┬   ┐ ├ ┼ ┤   └ ┴ ┘      │

│                                                                                                                       │

└──────────────────────────────────────────┘

• Going from left to right:

        The numbers in parentheses are an ordered pair, telling exactly

where in the ANSI your cursor is.  By standard Cartesian conventions,

the first number is the X coordinate, and the second, the Y coordinate.

        The second tidbit of information is after the divider (³),

showing how many lines the ANSI currently has (i.e. where the end of

ANSI marker is), and how many are possible.  The maximum number of lines

is controlled only by the amount of conventional memory available.

DarkDraw takes all available memory when it starts, but doesn't use any

extended or expanded memory.

        After the second divider is color and character information.

The B shows the background color, and the F shows the foreground color.

In between the brackets is the current character in the current color.

        The final half (third?) of the status line is the current

extended character set, shown in the current color.  For more

information, see below under "Character sets".

• Moving the cursor around

The most common way to maneuver the cursor is by using the arrow

keys and cursor movement keys on the numeric keypad.  If you have a

close IBM compatible keyboard, the extended arrow keys (and other

functions) may also be used.  The Tab and Shift-Tab combinations will

also move the cursor forward or backward between tab stops at every 8

characters.

        The ANSI length starts at 120 lines--just enough for one page of

VGA viewing/editing.  Moving the cursor beyond this point, whether line

by line or page by page, will adjust the ANSI length accordingly.  If

you want to adjust the length (though ANSI saving ignores trailing blank

lines, binary does not), move to the end of the ansi and press Alt-End

on the numeric keypad.  WARNING:  If you do this before the end of the

ANSI, you will lose everything after the current page (the page being

viewed).

        You can also move to a specific line number within the picture,

by pressing Alt-G.  It will prompt you for a line number, which

corresponds to the Y coordinate on the status line.

        All cursor movement keys (except Pgup and Pgdn) may be used for

block commands as well.

• Editing

The Backspace, Insert, and Delete keys are standard.

        You will notice that the last character to be placed on the

screen is also placed between the brackets on the status line.  It

becomes the current character, along with the current color.  To place

this character/color combination, press the 5 on the numeric keypad.

        Also important is the ability to make the color and character

under the cursor the currect color and character.  This can be done by

pressing Alt-/.

        See also below under "Character Sets".

      Specific documentation about commands available in DarkDraw

                                 -----

Help (Alt-Z) -  From the main ANSI editing screen, a single help screen

        is available.  All the keyboard commands are listed there on one

        page, organized somewhat according to function.

Character Sets - Most plotting will probably be done using these

        extended sets, built into DarkDraw.  Because DarkDraw uses its

        own keyboard driver, this is the only was to choose character

        with values over 128 (Alt-keypad is reserved for block moving).

        To change the current character set, use the grey + and - on the

        number pad.  The current character set is displayed, with the

        current color, on the status line in groups of four.  To plot an

        extended character, press the function key that corresponds to

        it.

        Character sets have been organized according to function; for

        instance, the math symbols are collected into one group, the

        spanish letters (forward accents and tildes) into another.  If,

        however, another configuration would be more convenient for you,

        the character sets may be changed for the current session.  Move

        the cursor onto the character that you want moved into the

        current character set, and press Alt-Fkey, where the Fkey is the

        key you would normally press to plot that character.  A blank

        set has been reserved as the last set for this purpose.

Color - Changing color can be done in two ways.  The simplest is to

        press Ctrl-Left or Ctrl-Right to adjust the foreground, and

        Ctrl-Up or Ctrl-Down to adjust the background.  The new color

        will show up on the status line.

        The second way is by number.  By pressing Alt-A, a small color

        chart will appear on the message line, and will prompt you to

        type in the number of the color for both foreground and

        background.  Note that background colors above sixteen are

        blinking without iCEcolor.

        To reset the color to the standard (dull--grey on black) color,

        press Ctrl-Center on the numeric keypad.

Loading -  Either choosing the Load option from the File menu or

        pressing Alt-L will bring up a list of files in the current

        directory. The directories are at the beginning of the listing,

        but the files are not sorted in any other way.

        Pressing <ENTER> will choose the hilighted file or directory,

        and <ESC> will exit file listing without doing anything.  At

        this time, only ANSI or ASCII files may be loaded; binary files

        may not.

        Alt-M will change the current file mask, and Alt-J will jump to

        a new directory.

Saving (Alt-S) -  There are three methods of saving files:  ANSI, ASCII,

        and Binary, which the program allows you to select when this

        option is chosen.

        ANSI files are saved in standard ANSI format, able to be TYPEd

        out at the DOS prompt, loaded back into DarkDraw, or viewed in

        any of several viewers, if scrollback is desired.  This is

        probably the most common format for saving files, as they can

        then be installed into a BBS to be sent over the modem to a

        remote computer to be displayed.

        Saving the picture in ASCII format saves it without regard to

        color, at 79 characters per line, with a CR/LF at the end.

        Files may be viewed in any of several popular programs, and also

        TYPEd out to the DOS prompt. The primary purpose of this would

        be for inclusion in FILE_ID.DIZ headers in .ZIP files;  BBS's

        often cannot handle the ANSI codes in the previous format in

        their file listings.

        Binary format saves the picture with 160 bytes per line, 2 bytes

        (color and character) for each pixel.  This format is useful for

        inclusion in programs, as it is the fastest and most easily

        accessible.

Block commands (Alt-B) -  When using the block commands, DarkDraw will

        first ask for the block to be manipulated.  If the block you

        want to use is already in memory (i.e. it was the last block

        used), then press "L"; otherwise, move the cursor (using the

        standard movement keys--see above) to the upper left corner of

        the block, and press <SPACE>.

        Then move the cursor to the lower right hand corner, and press

        <SPACE> again.  DarkDraw will copy the block to the block

        buffer, and now asks for the command to be performed on the

        block just marked.

Cut, Stamp, Fill, Xchange, Horizontal/Vertical invert (block commands):

        Cut:  Replaces the area under the block with the

                current color.

        Stamp:  Pastes the current block at the cursor position, as

                shown.

        Fill (Alt-F):  Fills the current block with either the current

                color, foreground, background, character, or all.

        Horizontal/Vertical invert:  Flips the current block either

        horizontally or vertically.  Also inverts the various half

        characters (Ü and ß, etc).

        Xchange:  Exchanges the current block with the information at

                the cursor.

VGA viewing (Alt-V) -  DarkDraw only views ANSIs in the 640x480x16 VGA

        mode, dithering the characters as closely as possible to achieve

        a correct look.  In this mode, DarkDraw will only display 120

        lines at a time, to allow space for the VGA editing functions

        (see below).  DarkDraw will also stop displaying the ANSI if a

        key is pressed.  To view more of the ANSI, press PgDn (and PgUp

        to go back up).  Alt-V or <ESC> exits VGA mode.

VGA editing -   VGA editing is directly accessable from the VGA viewing

        screen.  When viewing an ANSI in VGA mode, DarkDraw will display

        the first 120 lines on the screen as described above.  To edit

        in VGA mode, a mouse is required.  If a mouse driver is

        detected, two selection bars will appear after the first VGA

        page has displayed: the character palette and the color palette.

        When the mouse cursor is over the ANSI being displayed (the

        first 160 pixels), the left mouse button plots the current color

        and character on the ANSI.  Important: the program will plot

        beyond the end of the ANSI, and any work that has been there

        will be unable to be recovered in text mode.  To be sure your

        work is on the actual ANSI, first make sure the number of ANSI

        lines is 120 or greater.

        To change the current character, move the mouse cursor onto the

        character palette, and click the left mouse button on a

        character or space.  The current character will be displayed as

        the first character on the palette, separated from the others

        (which are in groups of four). The entire character palette is

        displayed in the current color.

        To choose a color to draw with, move the mouse cursor over the

        color palette.  Click the left mouse button to change

        foreground, and the right mouse button to select background.

        The first color is black, or color 0.

Video Tutorial : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XI48PHsG-sA

Homepage : https://saul.pw/darkdraw/

System   : MS-Dos (DOSBox Portable Included)

Lizenz   : Freeware
Version  : 1.00

Grösse   : 1.505 Kb

Update   : 08/1994

Passwort : asciigen.blogspot.com

MD5      : ad4e76dcd8d371fb375e90e16c2a1b94

SHA-1    : 3b430832b5c85e53277ddff5fc52c278476e1d38

SHA-256  : 87481f5b1c642cb8a73d3fe9d7862af87e4751ec5256389d1ca32bacffd1f247

CRC32    : 5022908e

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