
Preferences         User Selectable Preferences in F-PC
                     

  On this and the following screens, we will see many of the user selectable
attributes of the F-PC system.



        Auto-Edit      Auto-Save      Leave-Prompt   Backup-Files

        Colorizer      Config-File    Date-Format    Debug-Decom

        Display-Speed  Forth-Path     Number-BASE    Print-Redirect

        Re-Defining    Reverse-Scrn   Screen-Colors  Status-Line

        Voc-Stack      CGA-Blanking




Auto-Edit              Automatically Edit on Error
                        


  As shipped F-PC will automatically enter the editor when an error is
encountered while compiling source code from a file.  Words are available
to both disable and enable this function as follows:


                        AutoEditOn     AutoEditOff











Auto-Save               Automatic Save of Changes
                         

  As shipped F-PC will automatically save any changes you have made to a
file you are editing if you stop touching the keyboard for 10 minutes.


              AutoSaveOn     AutoSaveOff    AutoSave-Minutes













Leave-prompt              Prompt on edit exit
                           

  As shipped, F-PC will ask you if you want to open another file, as you
leave the editor with F10. If you want to always just exit the editor, and
return to Forth, there is an option to select that default.

                     LeavePromptOn   LeavePromptOff













Backup-Files           Keep Backup Copies of Edits
                        

  At installation time F-PC allows you to specify whether you want backup
copies of you file edits kept. One of the following commands is normally
included in the F-PC.CFG (configuration) file to select your preference.


                        BackUpOn       BackUpOff












CGA-Blanking           Display Blank on Write to CGA
                        

  At installation time F-PC allows you to specify whether you want text
displayed on the screen to be done with direct screen writes. ( See also
Display-Speed ) If  FAST display mode is selected on a computer using a
CGA video board, an undesirable amount of screen "Sparkle" or "Snow" may
occur when F-PC is typing text to the screen. If this is the case on your
computer, you may use the word BLANKON to make F-PC blank the screen while
it is writting text to the display.  This solution is only marginally
better than not blanking the display, but it's better than nothing if you
want fast text display performance.


                        BlankOn        BlankOff






Colorizer              Display Word Classes in Colors
                        

During installation F-PC allows you to specify whether you want different
word classes in F-PC to be shown in different colors when using the WORDS
and SEE tools. Here are the Forth commands to enable and disable this
function:


                        ColorizeOn     ColorizeOff











Config-File            Preferences Auto Select File
                        

  At installation time the INSTALL.EXE program allows you to specify certain
preferences. These preferences are then written into a file called F-PC.CFG.
This is a standard text file, and contains normal Forth commands which are
executed at the time F-PC is beginning execution after you type F or F-PC at
the DOS command line.  You can edit this file like any other source file,
to add or delete commands. Any Forth operations you want to done when F-PC
is first starting up can be placed in this file.

  F-PC will look through the compiled-in Forth Path at startup time to try
to find the F-PC.CFG file. If F-PC was installed properly then F-PC will
be able to find its configuration file regardless of where you are working
on your harddisk drive.  You can even change the name of the F-PC
configuration file to one of your own choosing. Simply place the new filename
into the HANDLE CFGHNDL with the word !HCB . When F-PC is later saved to
disk as a new executable file with FSAVE , the new filename will be opened
and loaded.


Date-Format                Displayed Date Format
                            

  F-PC supports three display date formats. The default date format is M/D/Y.
Others are available as shown:


                D.M.Y          Y-M-D          M/D/Y













Debug-Decom          Display Decompile while Debugging
                      

  When using the Debugger, F-PC will by default display a de-compiled view
of the word being debugged on the upper several lines of the display.  This
view can be turned on or off with the following words:


                        SRCON          SRCOFF












Display-Speed        Use Direct Screen Writes or BIOS
                      

  During installation, you can tell F-PC whether you want it to use direct
screen writing for text display.  This requires display memory to be located
at either $B000 for Monocrome display cards, or $B800 for Color display
cards.  Direct display memory writing is enabled and disabled with the
following words:


                        FAST           SLOW










Forth-Path           Where Should F-PC look for Files
                      

  During installation F-PC sets a Forth Path through which F-PC will search
when a file is to be opened. Normally this path is acceptable for all uses.
The exceptions are FLOOK and EDITALL, which require the path to be
specified explicitly.  You can change the path with FPATH , or add to the
path with  FPATH+ . The current Forth Path can be displayed with .FPATH .













Number-BASE        Should F-PC restore the BASE on Error
                    

  The default base for F-PC is normally DECIMAL . When an error occurs
while working in F-PC, the BASE will be changed to DECIMAL.  Words are
provided to specify either HEX or DECIMAL as the default base, as well as
telling F-PC not to assume a default base.


        DECIMALBASE    HEXBASE        NOBASE         DEFBASE











Print-Redirect     Where Should F-PC Send Printed Output
                    

  F-PC normally sends text directed to a printer to the PRN device.  A
HANDLE is used to specify the actual place to send printed text, and words
are available to direct printing to a file if desired.


        PFILE          $PFILE         PCLOSE         PRNHNDL

        PEMIT          (PRINT)










Re-Defining     Do I want to be warned about Re-Definitions?
                 

  F-PC will normally warn you when you re-define a word, but this can be
changed by modifying the variable WARNING to a value of zero with WARNING
ON or WARNING OFF.















Reverse-Scrn      Reverse Video is Available on Monocrome
                   

  When you are using a Monocrome or Liquid Crystal display, you can tell
F-PC to invert the black and white sections of the screen.  This is
sometimes useful on true BLACK and WHITE monitors. The words to change the
display mode are:


                     BLACK-ON-WHITE  WHITE-ON-BALCK











Screen-Colors        What Screen Colors should I Use?
                      

  Normally F-PC displays white characters on a black background.  Color
attributes are used to hilight special sections of text, but the normal
text typed in by you appears as white on black. On color systems you may
want to experiment with a different colors. The word >NORM selects the
character attributes of"normal" text. >NORM is a defered word that performs
the word >NONE . The word >NONE sets the attribute variable ATTRIB to
the value stored in the VALUE NORMVAL .  By changing NORMVAL, you can
change the colors F-PC uses to display "normal" text.










Status-Line        Should F-PC Display the Status Line?
                    

  F-PC normally displays a status line at the top of the screen.  This line
contains information about what file is open, how much memory is still
available, the context and current vocabularies, the stack depth, and what
the current time is.  This status display can interfere with certain
types of operations, like interactive printing of Forth command lines as
they are entered.  You can enable and disable the status display with the
following words:

                        STATON         STATOFF


  See also Voc-Stack on the following screen.






Voc-Stack               Vocabulary Stack Display
                         

  F-PC normally displays the current status of the vocabulary stack at
the upper right of the display below the status line. You can choose to
turn this display off or on with the following words.


                        VOCON          VOCOFF


  See also Status-Line on the previous screen.










