TealDoc User's Manual

By Vince Lee, Tex Tennison, and Amanda Epume
Program Version 3.03
Last Updated: Nov 15, 1999

Description

Thank you for trying TealDoc. This program is a powerful but intuitive reader for standard PalmPilot doc files. It offers a full set of features but at a reasonable cost.

Installing

This archive contains the files:

TEALDOC.DOC
This document in text format
TEALDOC.HTM
This document in HTML format
MANUAL.PRC
This document in PalmPilot document format
MANUAL.TXT
Sample source to this PalmPilot document
MANUALIM.PDB
Image data for manual document
TEALDOC.PRC
The TealDoc program file
TLENCODE.EXE
TealDoc encoding/password utility
REGISTER.HTM
TealPoint Registration form in HTML format
REGISTER.DOC
TealPoint Registration form in text format
STATESDC.PRC
Sample PalmPilot document demonstrating images
STATESIM.PDB
Image data for sample document
Use the Pilot installer to install the program file TEALDOC.PRC. To be useful, you'll also need to install some document files, available online at most software archive sites like PilotGear HQ (www.pilotgear.com). This manual is provided in this archive as the PalmPilot document MANUAL.PRC. A sample document US State Data is also provided. It demonstrates the new image capabilities in TealDoc 2.0. To view it, install both the files STATESDC.PRC and STATESIM.PDB.

Instructions on how to use the PalmPilot installer are in the PalmPilot Handbook that came with your Pilot, PalmPilot, or WorkPad.

Using the Program

TealDoc is easy to use, and consists of two basic interface screens.

Document Selection Screen

The first screen, the Document management screen, appears when you first run TealDoc. On it, a list is shown of all the document files installed PalmPilot in the current category. You can select or edit categories on your by clicking on the category selection button in the upper right hand corner of the screen. When you click on a listed document file, you can either open that document for reading, change it's category, or delete it permanently from the PalmPilot memory. To change the action performed, click on the action-selection buttons at the bottom of the screen.

If you choose to display the documents in a sorted list (under preferences), you can scroll through a long list of documents to items starting in a particular letter by entering the graffiti stroke for that letter.

You can also perform similar operations with image files by selecting the "Pic" options at the bottom right. If you choose to Open a picture database, TealPaint will activate if present on your PDA, but you'll need to go manually to the correct image database.

Document Browsing Screen

When you open a document file for reading, you are brought to the file browsing screen, which is divided into two regions; a large display/selection region at the top of the screen, and a control panel at the bottom.

The display/selection area shows a window into the document file. It can be clicked on to either scroll the screen or select text for copying to another application. To choose which is done, change the setting in the Preferences Menu. When scrolling, you click in the top half of the screen to scroll up, the bottom to scroll down. You can scroll either one line at a time, one page at a time, or a partial page, which is a full page minus one overlapping line. This setting too can be found in the preferences menu screen. If you hold down the pen, the screen will continue to scroll. The closer to the top or bottom of the screen you go, the faster scrolling will occur.

Close and Back Buttons

In the lower left corner of the document browsing screen are two buttons. On the left, the close button contains an 'x' and will return you to the document choosing screen.

On the right is the return arrow. You can press it while browsing to return the browser to its previous position after performing a find, clicking on a link, or seeking in the document using the drag bar on the seek control panel.

Font/Find Panel

The font/find panel has six buttons. The last three select the current font to use for display. The first three are for find functions: Find-Again-Previous, Find-New, and Find-Again-Next. Click on Find-New the first time you do a search, one of the other two to continue the same search in a particular direction. When you perform a find operation (not the global system find using the silkscreened find button), you have four options in addition to your choice of text to search for.

If you select both "Anchor Left" and "Anchor Right", then the entered text must be an isolated word, not a part of some other word.

When performing a find operation, you can abort the find by pressing any hardware button, such as the page-up button.

Scroll Panel

The scroll panel allows you to quickly go to any part of the file, or to control TealDoc's autoscroll mode. To go to another part of a file, click on the top drag bar on the panel, dragging it all the way to the left for the start of the file, all the way to the right for the end, or anywhere in between to go somewhere in the middle of the file.

TealDoc provides an "AutoScroll" feature to allow you to conveniently step forward thru a file in a hands-off operation. When autoscroll is on, the file automatically steps forward or backwards through the file line-by-line.

Four buttons at the bottom of the scroll panel control autoscroll operation: STOP, GO, SLOWER (backward), and FASTER (forward). The four application buttons on the Pilot correspond to the autoscroll control buttons, and can be mapped to substitute for them in the Preferences Menu Screen. The application button can be made to control autoscroll when either the scroll panel is up, the font panel is up, all the time, or never.

To the right of the control buttons is a small display bar showing the state and speed of the autoscroll. When autoscroll is active, the bar is solid. When inactive, the bar is hollow. The length of the bar indicates the scrolling speed and direction.

Bookmarks

You can mark your current location in the file as a bookmark by creating a named bookmark using the button in the far lower right corner of the display. This button brings up a list of current bookmarks which work using the familiar category-selection interface. Select a bookmark to immediately move to that location.

Automatic bookmarks are imbedded into many document files using markers defined at the end of the file, enclosed in "< >" symbols. For instance, placing "<(BM)>" at the bottom of a document file will cause all other instances of "(BM)" in the document to be found when the document is scanned for bookmarks. The rest of the line of text following the mark is used as the bookmark's name.

By default, when a document file is first opened, it is scanned for such marks. A bookmark is automatically created for each instance found. You can turn off this feature in the Preferences Menu, and perform it later using the "Scan for Bookmarks" menu item.

To manually scan for bookmarks, choose the "Manual Scan" option. Enter a search string and options, and when you click "ok", TealDoc will automatically scan the file for the string entered and place a bookmark at each occurence. The bookmark's name will consist of three optional elements:

  1. Some specified text
  2. The string being searched-for
  3. A specified count of characters found after the search string.
  4. An auto-incremented number starting at 1
A maximum of 50 bookmarks will be added in this manner each time.

When performing a scan operation, you can abort the scan by pressing any hardware button, such as the page-up button.

Global Find

TealDoc supports the PalmPilot's "find" button as an option. To activate it, check the appropriate checkmark in the preferences screen. When you do so and do a search through the "find" button, TealDoc will search all document files on your organizer whenever you do a global find. Note that this process can be quite slow, so you may not wish to have this option activated at all times.

Flash Rom Support

TealDoc supports read-only document files, such as those present in Flash Rom. Read-only files cannot have their bookmarks or details modified, and they will seek more slowly unless they were first opened in writeable memory.

Upgrading from other browsers

TealDoc uses the standard document file format on the PalmPilot. If you are using another document browser, TealDoc will use the same files, but categories will not be consistent between the two programs.

SPECIAL NOTE: If you are using another document browser, it will likely have a Palm Creator ID that will cause it to be listed together with the document files in the Memory application, and you will not be able to delete it separately from the document files without changing the ID using the instructions below.

To move files to be listed under TealDoc, chose "All to TealDoc format" to convert all document files currently loaded from the standard format to TealDoc's local format. When you do this, all the currently loaded files will be marked as TealDoc files, and other browsers may not be able to read the files anymore. You can always convert them back using the "All to public format" menu choice.

Creating document Files

A number of excellent utilities by various authors exist for creating and transferring document files. MakeDoc was the original DOS program created for this purpose. MakeDocW is an excellent Windows95 program which does the same thing but using an intuitive graphical interface with many options. These programs are available at many software archives, or from our site.

Encrypting document Files

TealDoc 2.7 adds a document encryption feature that allows you to password protect documents when you create them, allowing protection from editing or uninvited viewing. To encrypt a document, use the included DOS program TLENCODE.EXE on the original text file before converting it into a Pilot document file using the following syntax:

TLENCODE <input file> <output file> <password>

or

TLENCODE <input file> <output file> <password> /R

Adding the /R option allows you to use the password for registration purposes. In other words, the password only need be entered once to unlock a document. Without this option, the key will need to be entered every time to gain access.

To decode an encoded document, use the /D option:

TLENCODE <input file> <output file> <password> /D

SPECIAL NOTE: When making an encoded document with MakeDocW, be sure *NOT* to use the 'Remove HTML Tags' option under the Advanced tab, as this will remove the decoding information from the document.

Imbedding Graphics/Links/Headers

TealDoc now supports imbedding of graphics into TealDoc documents as well as links to other places in the document as well as other documents. This is done by inserting special HTML-like tags into a text file before converting them into PalmPilot documents. When the "Show Graphics/Links" option is set in TealDoc preferences, these tags insert graphics and link buttons into a document. The graphics scroll up and down with the document, allowing the insertion of charts, illustrations, and figures into the text, perfect for creating catalogs, price guides, and technical documents.

TealDoc tags appear like HTML as text within less-than and greater-than symbols. The text begins with the name of the tag, followed by optional parameters. Text parameters should be enclosed in quotation marks. to include quotations marks within a text parameters, use two adjacent quotation marks ("") for every desired quotation mark. For predictable results, tags should appear alone on a single line. This takes the format:

<TAGNAME PARAM1=VALUE PARAM2=VALUE>

Defined Tags:

TEALPAINT
Inserts a TealPaint picture, or even a subrectangle of pixels from a picture. Using subrectangles, you can use memory efficiently by packing multiple graphic elements into single TealPaint images and extract them individually to display in different parts of a document.

To create TealPaint pictures, use TealPaint or the Windows 95 program "TealPaint Image Manager" that comes with TealPaint. For the images to appear properly both the document file and image database must be loaded properly.

The SRC parameter defines the name of the Image Database to use. This is the name of the file as it appears on the PalmPilot, (as in TealPaint) not necessarily the name of the file on the PC.

You define the subrectangle to grab using the parameters SX,SY,WIDTH,and HEIGHT. If you omit these, the whole source image will be grabbed. This will be placed into the document on the current line at the left edge, unless the X and Y parameters are used to offset the image to the right and downwards.

Required Parameters:
SRC
Name of the source image database containing the picture.
Optional Parameters:
IMAGE
Image number in the database of the image to use
WIDTH
Width, in pixels, of the rectangle to grab (multiple of 8)
HEIGHT
Height, in pixels, of the rectangle to grab
SX
Horizontal offset of subrectangle to grab (multiple of 8)
SY
Vertical offset of subrectangle to grab
X
Horizontal screen offset from left edge to place image (multiple of 8)
Y
Vertical screen offset from current line to place image
Example:

<TEALPAINT SRC="Pictures" IMAGE=0>

HRULE
Inserts a horizontal ruled line into the document. This is useful for dividing parts of a document in a way that works independent of the current font setting.
Optional Parameters:
WIDTH
Width (length), in pixels, of the line (default 160)
HEIGHT
Height (thickness), in pixels, of the line (default 2)
X
Horizontal screen offset from left edge (default 0)
Y
Vertical screen offset from top of current line (default 4)
STYLE
"OUTLINE" or "SOLID" (default)
Example:

<HRULE STYLE=OUTLINE>

LINK
Inserts a link button into the document which can be pressed to jump elsewhere into the document or into another document.

You typically define a button by naming it using the TEXT parameter and defining a unique TAG to search for which matches the name of a LABEL (described below). If you wish to link to another document, the FILE parameter should also be defined.

The TAG used to mark a document must be unique from any text within the document, as a standard 'find' command is used to located the tag after a link is selected. By default, this search begins at the top of a file and proceeds downwards. You can optimize the search by using the START parameter to start the search elsewhere in the document, and the DIR parameter to search backwards, if appropriate.

Optional Parameters:
TEXT
Text to draw within the button (default 'link')
FONT
Font 0 (normal), 1 (bold), or 2 (large) to use for the text
WIDTH
Width (length), in pixels, of the line (default 160)
HEIGHT
Height (thickness), in pixels, of the line (default 2)
X
Horizontal screen offset from left edge (default 0)
Y
Vertical screen offset from top of current line (default 4)
FILE
Name of document to jump to (default = current doc)
TAG
Name of label to find
START
Position in document (0-100) percent to initially seek or "CURRENT".
DIR
Find direction: "FORWARD" (default) or "REVERSE"
STYLE
"BOX" (default), "UNDERLINE", or "BARE" (new for 2.5)
Example:

<LINK TEXT="Press Me" TAG="Contents" FILE="My Novels">

HEADER
Adds a text header in the specified text and options. (New for 2.5)

This option is designed to be used to create topic headers with specified justification much like the HTML <H1>...etc tags. Note that when justifying, alignment is relative to the X coordinate, if specified. For instance, if right justification is used, the text is rendered so the right edge of the text lines up onto the X coordinate.

Optional Parameters:
TEXT
Text to draw for the header
FONT
Font 0 (normal), 1 (bold), or 2 (large) to use for the text
X
Horizontal screen position
Y
Vertical screen offset from top of current line (default 0)
STYLE
"NORMAL" (default), "UNDERLINE", or "INVERT"
ALIGN
"LEFT" (default), "RIGHT", or "CENTER"
Example:

<HEADER TEXT="Contents" ALIGN=CENTER STYLE=UNDERLINE>

BOOKMARK
Adds a bookmark here when a bookmark autoscan is done

This option provides a way to insert invisible bookmarks in a file. It's similar to the standard method of inserting a marker at the end of the file, but both the marker and bookmark name are not normally visible in the file.

Optional Parameters:
NAME
Name of the bookmark to add.
Example:

<BOOKMARK NAME="Contents" >

LABEL
Inserts nonprinting text into a document to be used as a target for a link.

Required Parameters:
NAME
Name of this label
Example:

<LABEL NAME="Contents">

Revision History

Contact Info

TealDoc by TealPoint Software
(c)1998 All Rights Reserved.
TealPoint Software
454 Las Gallinas Ave PMB #318
San Rafael, CA 94903-3618
We look forward to hearing from you.

Please visit us at www.tealpoint.com, or
email us at contact@tealpoint.com.

Thank you.

Registering

Currently, you may register by snail mail, electronically through our website with a credit card and a secured server, or through PilotGear HQ at 1-800-741-9070. For the first option, the enclosed registration form is provided for your convenience. You may use this form or simply send the following to the address above.

Disclaimer

We at TealPoint Software are committed to providing quality, easy-to-use software. However, this product is provided without warranty and the user accepts full resposibility for any damages, consequential or otherwise, resulting from its use.

This archive is freely redistributable, provided it is made available only in its complete, unmodified form with no additional files and for noncommercial purposes only. Any other use must have prior written authorization from TealPoint Software.

Unauthorized commercial use includes, but is not limited to:

  1. A product for sale.
  2. Accompanying a product for sale.
  3. Accompanying a magazine, book or other publication for sale.
  4. Distribution with "Media", "Copying" or other incidental costs.
  5. Available for download with access or download fees.
This program may be used on a trial basis for 30 days. The program will continue to function afterwards. However, if after this time you wish to continue using it, please register with us for the nominal fee listed in the program.
Thank you.