VT100 File Listing Utility -------------------------- INTRODUCTION: VTL is a program used to list file(s) on a VT100 family terminal. The file(s) are displayed one screen at a time for easy viewing. Various commands can be entered to change listing parameters or to position to a particular portion of the file. Many of the commands are the same as the Digital editor EDT. Commands can be entered either by using keys on the VT100 keypad, or by entering commands to the prompt at the bottom of the screen. NEW VERSION: This is the second version of the VTL program. The new features added are listed below: o Multiple files seperated by commas can now be specified on VMS. For example: $ VTL [miller...]*.com,home:login.com,t.dat o The Find and Page commands will now search backwards through the file. The Find and Find Next commands display the direction of the search if the search string if not found. o The Page, Find, Number, and Bottom commands now display a working message every two seconds. The current record number is also displayed along with the working message to let you know how far through the file you are. o The control keys are now recognized. Control keys defined are: CTRL/U and CTRL/C deletes the command line and/or aborts a prompt, CTRL/R and CTRL/W refresh the screen, backspace backs up one line, and the delete key deletes the last character. o The return key no longer terminates the search string prompt. This was done to allow searching for carriage returns within the file. o The Print command now works on VMS. The compatibility mode print routine previously used doesn't work with RA81/RA60 disks. The print command is now performed by spawned the PRINT command to DCL. Only the logical names are copied during the spawn process. o The program no longer exits automatically at the end of file as you are scrolling through the file. You must use the EXIT/NEXT command or CTRL/Z to exit the program or display the next file. o Messages are now displayed if you try to scroll past the top or bottom of the file. o The margin indentation is now displayed when it is automatically indented to display a search string which is off the screen. The command "SHOW MARGIN" can also be used to display the indentation. o The program now presumes the terminal has the Advanced Video Option (AVO). This only affects files displayed in 132 column mode since only 14 lines can be displayed. If your terminal doesn't have the AVO option you must specify a /NOAVO switch on the command line or use the "SET NOAVO" command when you're displaying a file. o The ruler is now displayed properly if the line numbers are being displayed for each record. o The "SET LINES n" command allows a low limit of 2 lines to display. This is the smallest scrolling region that can be set on the VT100. o The "SHOW SECTION" command displays the current section size. This is the number of lines scrolled forward/backward when the keypad key 8 is pressed. Note that this size can be changed with the "SET SECTION size" command. By changing this to a large value, you can move through the file in large sections (i.e., every 100 lines). o The keyword ALL (same as WHOLE) can be used with the WRITE command to write the entire file to an output file. PROGRAM STARTUP: On the Norden VAX11/780 system, the VTL program resides in DUA0:[NORDEN]. Typically, the logical name SYS$NORDEN is defined to point at this directory. The program can then be started with either the RUN command or by defining and using a DCL symbol as follows: $ DEFINE SYS$NORDEN DUA0:[NORDEN] ! Define logical name SYS$NORDEN. $ VTL :== $SYS$NORDEN:VTL ! To define the DCL VTL symbol. $ VTL file_name ! To start the VTL program. or $ RUN SYS$NORDEN:VTL ! Use RUN command to start VTL. File(s): file_name ! Specify the files to display. Complete documentation is available in the VTL Users Manual. This manual resides in DUA0:[NORDEN]VTL.DOC. Help is also available from DCL by typing "$ HELP VTL". Please send any problems or suggestions to Robin Miller.