Apologies for the title. I couldn't resist the pun.

There are a number of word processors for the 8 bit Acorn range. View is the most common one and it's a great little word processor. It has its limitations but it does the job.

Assuming that you have an elementary idea of View, the article is intended to help you understand how to use it.

Print this text and keep it handy when you use View. Below is a list of the key definitions. Stick this onto a piece of card and refer to it when using View.

There are two screens in View: Text mode screen and Command mode screen. The text mode screen is concerned with typing in text and fiddling about with it while the command mode screen is concerned with loading and saving files and sending them to a printer.

To start with, I will define all the control keys used in text mode, explaining what they do and how best to use them.

The Electron and BBC versions of View work in very similar ways. Only the control keys differ. Some keys on the Electron duplicate each other. I won't bother with the duplicates.

The control keys for the Electron version of View are all accessed by pressing FUNC and the appropriate key:

Format paragraph         1           Set marker               Q
Top of text              2           Insert mode              W
Bottom of text           3                                    E
Delete end of line       4           Up one screenful         R
Goto beginning of line   5           Delete up to character   T
Goto end of line         6                                    Y
Insert line              7           Format mode              U
Delete line              8           Insert TAB               I
Insert character         9           Edit command             O
Delete character         0           Delete command           P

Beginning of last word   A           Release Margins          Z
                         S                                    X
                         D           Down one screenful       C
Beginning of next word   F           Delete block             V
                         G                                    B
Highlight 1              H           Move block               N
Highlight 2              J           Goto marker              M
Justify mode             K           Ruler                    ,
Next match               L           Split line               .
Copy block             COPY          Join lines               /
Swap case                _

The Beeb version is a little different.

Format paragraph          f0     Move block           SHIFT f0
Top of text               f1     Swap case            SHIFT f1
Bottom of text            f2     Margins              SHIFT f2
Delete to end of line     f3     Delete up to char    SHIFT f3
Goto beginning of line    f4     Hightlight 1         SHIFT f4
Goto end of line          f5     Highlight 2          SHIFT f5
Insert line               f6     Goto marker          SHIFT f6
Delete line               f7     Set Marker           SHIFT f7
Insert character          f8     Edit command         SHIFT f8
Delete character          f9     Delete command       SHIFT f9

Delete block         CTRL f0     Copy block           COPY    
Next match           CTRL f1    
Format mode          CTRL f2    
Justiy mode          CTRL f3    
Insert mode          CTRL f4    
Ruler                CTRL f5
Split lines          CTRL f6
Join lines           CTRL f7
Mark as ruler        CTRL f8

                            SHIFT + arrow
                           Up one screenful,
      Beginning of last word,             Beginning of next word
                          Down one screenful

Using Text mode commands

Format Paragraph
...will format from the line that the cursor is on to the next blank line. Used to tidy up a paragraph when words are deleted or inserted and it becomes untidy.

Top Of Text
...will move the cursor and the screen to the top of the text.

Bottom Of Text
...will move the cursor and the screen to the bottom of the text.

Delete End Of Line
If the cursor is moved to the middle of a line of text, this command will delete all of the text to the end of that line.

Beginning Of Line
...will move the cursor from its current position in a line to the beginning of that line.

End of line
...will move the cursor from its current position in a line to the end of that line.

Insert Line
...will insert a blank line into the current cursor position.

Delete Line
...will delete the line the cursor is currently on, including any characters on that line.

Insert Space
...will insert a space in front of the cursor.

Delete Space
...will delete the space in front of the cursor, including any character in that space.

Move Block
...will move a block of text marked with the set marker command, to the current cursor position.

Swap Case
...will change the case of the letter the cursor is on. A rather pointless command.

Margins
Never used this one.

Delete Up To Character
...will wait for a key to be pressed and delete from the current cursor position to the first instance of the character indicated by that key. So if you have typed the whole alphabet, position the cursor on the E, select this command and type M. The letters FGHIJKLM will be deleted.

Highlight 1
...causes printed text to be underlined.

Highlight 2
...causes printed text to be bold.

Goto Marker
...will wait for a number 1, 2, 3 or 4 and put the cursor to the position of that particular number. Useful when you're editing a large file.

Set Marker
...will wait for a number key 1, 2, 3 or 4 to be pressed and set a marker with that number at that position.

If a number is selected which is the same as a previously set marker, then the old marker is deleted.

Markers will be deleted when a paragraph is formatted.

Used for Goto Marker, Move Block, Delete Block and Copy Block.

Edit Command

View has a number of embedded commands which perform useful functions. These do not appear in printed text but do control how that printed text will look.

Some commands need some parameters after them. In the list below, commands needing parameters are followed by xx. Where parameters are needed, the remainder of the line should be blank. This does not apply to commands where no parameters are needed.

These two commands are useful for putting text on opposite sides of a page to emphasise them.

The following commands relate to headers and footers and macros. These are chunks at the top and the bottom of a page which contain company logos and such. Frankly I never use these. I have a headline which I designed for my company and load it as I need it. More of this later.

As far as the Edit commands are concerned the only two you will probably use regularly are PE to start text on a new page and CE to centre text.

Most of the other stuff can be set up when you start from the command mode screen.

Delete Command
...will delete any command on the same line.

Delete Block
...will delete a text section which has been marked with Set Marker 1 and 2

Next Match
...will go to the next example of the word looked for using the search command in command mode. See later.

Formatting
...will ensure that at the end of the line, the typing continues at the beginning of the next line down. This is normally on but can be turned off if you don't want it.

Justify
...will add extra spaces as required to ensure that the ends of lines are all straight on the left and right hand sides of the page. I usually turn this off since I think it looks silly. Some PC wordprocessors have proportional spacing to get round this. I think it also looks silly. Some pernickitty people get upset if they receive a letter without justification and proportional spacing. I think they're silly.

Insert Mode
If you want to add some text to a previously typed line, this command will move the previously typed text forward for each letter typed. Useful but paragraph needs to be reformatted afterwards.

Ruler
...will create a new ruler. Useful if you want to have a new layout halfway down a document.

Split Line
Place the cursor in the middle of a line of text and select this command. The line will be split so that everything after the cursor is moved to the next line down. Makes adding extra text to the middle of a paragraph easier.

Join Lines
...will join the beginning of the next line down to the current cursor position. Can be used after Split Line then Block Format.

Most of what I have said already should be enough to use the commands although some experimenting may be needed. The key definitions should be printed out and kept in front of you. You may be able to memorise what each key does but, even after using View for fifteen years, I still haven't. The details of what each command does, and how to use it, can be kept nearby but you should have no problem remembering these after using them a few times.

The Command Mode Screen

This is the screen which you see first when you enter View with *WORD.

Once you have typed in any text, the first thing you should do is to save it. SAVE TEXT (RETURN)

Notice you don't need any " quotes (NOT SAVE"TEXT"!).

To load a file type LOAD TEXT (RETURN). Again, no quotes.

CHANGE xxxx zzzz
...will change every instance of the first word in your text to the second word.

REPLACE xxxx zzzz
This command is similar to CHANGE but instead of automatically changing each instance of the first word to the second, will find each instance of the first word, stop and wait for you to press Y or N before changing it to the second. Press N and it will be left as it is.

FOLD
If you type CHANGE London glasgow (RETURN), then every instance of "London" will be changed to "Glasgow". Notice that the first G is also a capital because the first letter in "London" was a capital. This feature is called 'Fold'ing. If you wanted "London" to be changed to "glasgow" with a small g, type FOLD OFF (RETURN) before using CHANGE or REPLACE. FOLD is normally ON.

SCREEN
An incredibly useful command, giving you a printout to the screen of your text as it will appear on paper, together with any Edit features. It allows you to get an idea of how things will look when you print it on paper so you can make any corrections.

READ
Text files from some other wordprocessors cannot be loaded into View. Although they seem to load OK, you will get weird effects and probably a message of "No text" afterwards. Type NEW and READ the file in instead.

SHEETS
...will print out a page on the printer, wait for you to press SPACE and then print the next one. Useful if you're using single sheets of paper.

PRINT
...will print out the file in View. If you type PRINT xyz, View will search for a file on the disk called xyz and print that. This is very slow and, if you can, avoid using the command in this way.

EDIT xyz abc
...allows you to look at a file called xyz which is too big to read into memory. A chunk will be read in. Look at it and change it about.

MORE
...will save the chunk you've just seen together with any changes AS abc and read in the next chunk.

FINISH
...will save as abc the chunk currently in View together with previously saved chunks and any remaining portion of xyz which has not already been edited. You are then left with xyz, your original file, and abc which you have partially edited.

QUIT
...does the same as FINISH except the remaining portion of xyz which was not seen is not saved.

The interesting thing about EDIT is that the original file remains untouched. Also, as each chunk is read in, you can SAVE it with say SAVE Chunk1 (RETURN), SAVE Chunk2 (RETURN), etc. You are then left with a number of manageable files which you can load normally into View.

MODE
...changes the screen mode.

FORMAT
Formats the whole file in View to the standard set by the ruler (if that's what you really want!)

PRINTER
Loads a printer driver.

COUNT
A partially accurate word count. You can set markers and this will count the words between them.

CLEAR
...clears any markers which have been set.

NEW
...clears any text in memory.

SETUP
...is a useful command to setup View before you start.
SETUP F will turn on formatting.
SETUP K will turn on justification.
SETUP W will turn on insert mode.

Normally formatting and justification are on and insert if off. Typing say SETUP F will turn on formatting and turn off justification and insert which is how I set up my word processor.

What I have written here should be enough to effectively use View. I've missed out a few commands either because I've never been inclined to learn how to use them or because they seem rather pointless.

I have a View disk which I only use for View. There is a !BOOT file on it which sets up the disk and View. This is it.

I also have some files which have the header for my letters already made up. I can load one of these and start typing.

One other use for View which may not seem obvious at first is helping with editing a BASIC program.

If you *SPOOL your BASIC program to the disk with the following commands:

      >*SPOOL myprog (RETURN)
      >LIST (RETURN)
      >*SPOOL (RETURN)
      >*WORD (RETURN)
      >READ myprog (RETURN)

When you've finished, SAVE newprog (RETURN) then re-enter BASIC and type:

      >*EXEC newprog

Gus Donnachaidh, EUG #38