GBLIST A Chinese Text File Viewing and Browsing Utility for IBM-PC and Compatibles Version 2.0, January 1993 (c) Gongquan Chen 1992-93, All rights reserved ------------- Introduction: ------------- GBLIST is designed to display Chinese text files, encoded in GB format, on your PC's graphics monitor. You can browse any file under any directory in any disk drive (even on a LAN file server) in your system, without even entering the file name. You can also choose to view a Chinese file in either simplified characters (JianTi) or traditional characters (FanTi). GBLIST is versatile; it supports various commonly used graphics monitors. These include CGA, EGA, VGA, Super VGA and Hercules graphics monitors. Although GBLIST has a blinking cursor, it does NOT allow you to edit or modify any file you are reading. It merely performs READ-ONLY operation. For a list of new features in GBList, please see the file WHATSNEW.DOC ------------------------- Package and Installation: ------------------------- The GBLIST package includes the following files: GBLIST .DOC - Documentation of GBLIST, this file you are reading. GBLIST .EXE - The executable program of GBLIST CCLIB16 .SCN - Simplified 16x16 Chinese character library CCLIB16F.SCN - Traditional 16x16 Chinese character library ASC8x14 .FNT - 8x14 Ascii Font used for CGA and Hercules WHATSNEW.DOC - New features in GBLIST 2.0 To install GBLIST, you only need to copy GBLIST.EXE, CCLIB16.SCN and CCLIB16F.SCN to a directory in your hard disk, for instance, C:\GBLIST. The Chinese character library and file ASC8x14.FNT *MUST* be in the same directory where GBLIST.EXE is stored. (Note: ASC8x14.FNT is needed *only* if you are using CGA or Hercules) By default, GBLIST will always load the simplified character library. If you want to use the traditional characters, you must set a DOS environment variable FANTI to 1, at the DOS prompt, type: SET FANTI=1 You don't have to worry about how GBLIST will use your monitor. GBLIST will always try to detect what kind of monitor you have, and go for the best graphics resolution as possible. If you have a SuperVGA monitor, and you want to use it to read Chinese files, you have to set a DOS environment variable SVGA by typing the following at DOS prompt: SET SVGA=1 ---------------- Starting GBLIST: ---------------- To start GBLIST, you type the command GBLIST, at the DOS prompt: GBLIST [filename] The [filename] is optional. If omitted, GBLIST will bring up a display of all the files and subdirectories in the current directory. This is the file selection window. You may use the cursor keys to highlight the file that you like to read and press ENTER. Please refer to "Use of file selection window" for complete description. --------------- Exiting GBLIST: --------------- To exit GBLIST to DOS while you are reading a file, press ESC or ctrl-X. ----------------------------- Use of File Selection Window: ----------------------------- The handy file selection window makes GBLIST extremely easy to use. If you start GBLIST without a file name specified at command line, or the file you enter is not found, you will be directed to window to select a file to read. You can also use this file selection window while you are reading a file by pressing . In the file selection window, there are three types of items: file name, directory (beginning with \), and disk drive (in brackets) items. The file names are sorted alphabetically by their extension names, which makes it easy to find a file. You may also sort the list by file name by pressing SPACEBAR. Use the , , , , , , <^Home>, and <^End> to highlight an item. Press to select the highlighted item. If you don't want to select any, press . When is pressed, if either a directory or drive item is selected, a corresponding new list of file names and directories will be shown; otherwise, the new file will be loaded to replace the file being viewed. ------------- Text Display: ------------- Depending on the type of graphics monitor you are using, you may see different numbers of lines of text with variable columns per line on the screen. A Chinese character is displayed twice as wide as an ASCII character. Status Line: ------------ This is the line at the bottom of your monitor. It displays the file name that you are reading. Current cursor status and Chinese coding information are also shown at this line if appropriate switches are turned on. Cursor Status: -------------- It displays the current position within the text file where the cursor is (B=xxxxx) and the column position of the cursor (C=xxx). To toggle display of this status, press key. Chinese Coding: --------------- If the switch is on (by pressing ^C) and the character under cursor is a Chinese character, you will see, at the right side of status line, the following: CC qw=xxxx gb=xxxx hz=??, corresponding the internal QuWei (Block/Index) code, GuoBiao code, and HZ code of that Chinese character, respectively. -------------------------------------- Cursor Positioning and Text Scrolling: -------------------------------------- You read different parts of the file by scrolling. This is done by using the cursor positioning keys: , , , , , and . You can also use the and keys to move the display one full screen in either direction. The following is the summary of scrolling/cursor commands: right arrow - move cursor right one column. if end-of-line is reached, move to next line; if end-of-screen is reached, scroll the display downward by one line left arrow - move cursor left one column. if begin-of-line is reached, move to previous line; if top-of-screen is reached, scroll the display upward by one line down arrow - move cursor down one line. if end-of-screen is reached, scroll the display downward by one line up arrow - move cursor up one line. if top-of-screen is reached, scroll the display upward by one line PgUp key - display previous screen "page" PgDn key - display next screen "page" ctrl-Home key - move cursor to top-of-file ctrl-End key - move cursor to end-of-file shift-Home key - move cursor to top-of-window shift-End key - move cursor to bottom-of-window Use of book markers: -------------------- You can also set up to 10 book markers in the file and then move the cursor to any defined marker from anywhere within the file. To set a book marker: move the cursor to the point, press To move to a book marker: press where, F? stands for a functional key, it can be F1..F10. Move to the marked text: ------------------------ If you mark a block of text (see below), you may move the cursor to either the beginning or the end of the block from anywhere in the file. To move to the beginning of block: Press To move to the end of block: Press --------------------------- Text Marking and Searching: --------------------------- Marking text in GBLIST is extremely simple and easy. There two methods that you can use. 1. Press to set the marking begin, and to set the marking end. 2. The easiest way is, while holding down the Shift key, press any of the arrows keys: , , and . The marked text can be searched throughout the file. Text search always starts at the cursor. Press to search downward towards the eod of file; press to search upward towards the beginning of file. If the marked text is found, the cursor will be positioned to it; otherwise, nothing will happen. A reminder, the length of marked text has to be within 256 characters combined (one Chinese character counts for two) in order for the search to start. ---------- Windowing: ---------- GBLIST can display a text file in one or two parts of the screen called windows. The key toggles this screen-split mode. A file is initially displayed in the entire screen. If you want to split the screen into two windows, move the cursor to the line where split will be and press . Screen-split is possible only when there are more than two rows below and above the cursor line. Pressing while the screen is split restores the display to a single, full sized display. By pressing , you may switch the cursor between the two windows. Cursor positioning and text scrolling is only allowed in the window that has the cursor. The other window is "frozen". Using screen-split, you can see any two parts of a text file at the same time. When you press to access the file selection window, the screen will be restored to a single, full-sized window if it split. ----------------------------- Copyright, License, Warranty: ----------------------------- The whole software package (doc. and exec. files) is copyrighted by this author. The copyright owner hereby licenses you to use the software given the following restrictions: - the program shall be supplied in its original, unmodified form, including this documentation; - the program is for private, personal use only. Any commercial use is prohibited without a license from the author; - the program may not be included with other for-profit products; - no fee is charged for its distribution except a reasonable and small amount fee for handling and postage. There is no warranty of any kind whatsoever. The copyright owner may not be held liable for any damages resulting from the use of this software. ------------ Limitations: ------------ Currently, GBList 2.0 is only for IBM-PC and Compatibles under MS-DOS. At present GBList can only handle a file no more than ~64KB (65520 bytes). If your file is >64K, only the first 64K will be loaded. The remaining part will be *ignored*. No damage will be done. I do consider to add more features to GBList. The following is my plan-to-do list: 1. be able to read a file as big as the memory; 2. use EMS or XMS to store Chinese bitmapped display font; 3. be able to read BIG5 and HZ files; 4. be able to save the marked text onto a file; 5. add pinyin look-up key. Your feedbacks are also welcome. ----------------- Acknowledgements: ----------------- Many people have provided valuable suggestions to previous versions of GBList. For that, I thank you all. In particular, I'd like express many appreciation to SUN, Zengxian (Jack), the Mac-guy-on-PC, and YU, Mingyang, a CND and HXWZ editor, for their encouragement and the joyable discussions on the net. -------- Contact: -------- For any suggestions, comments and bug reports, please e-mail me at gchen@geohub.gcn.uoknor.edu or gchen@essex.ecn.uoknor.edu Chen, Gongquan Norman, OK, USA Feb-8-1993