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My Word! Reference
Copyright 1990-92 Gary Little
By: Gary Little
Date: June 16, 1992
Overview
My Word!� is a word processor for the Apple� IIGS� which requires
System Software 5.0.4 or higher. It takes advantage of two important
system software features that Apple Computer, Inc. introduced in System
5.0: resources and the TextEdit tool set. Refer to the section of the
Appendix called Installing the My Word! Files for information on how to
install My Word! on your startup volume.
You can probably figure out how to use My Word! without reading these
notes. It's a standard desktop application you can explore by pulling
down all the menus and trying out all the items they contain.
Nevertheless, I've put together this summary of commands to get you
started.
Editing Keys and Mouse Operations
My Word! supports a number of editing keys and mouse operations to help
you compose text and navigate through a document more efficiently. Here
is a summary of the editing keys:
Left arrow Moves the insertion point to the previous character.
With the Command key, causes movement by word instead.
With the Option key, causes movement to the start of
the current line.
With the Shift key, extends the selection from the
current insertion point back one character, word (if the
Command key is also held down), or line (if the Option
key is also held down).
Right arrow Moves the insertion point to the next character.
With the Command key, causes movement by word instead.
With the Option key, causes movement to the end of the
current line.
With the Shift key, extends the selection from the
current insertion point ahead one character, word (if the
Command key is also held down), or line (if the Option
key is also held down).
Up arrow Moves the insertion point to the current column position
on the previous line.
With the Command key, causes movement to the start of
the current page.
With the Option key, causes movement to the beginning
of the document.
With the Shift key, extends the selection from the current
insertion point up by a line or page (if the Command
key is also held down), or to the beginning of the
document (if the Option key is also held down).
Down arrow Moves the insertion point to the current column
position on the next line.
With the Command key, causes movement to last line
of the page.
With the Option key moves the insertion point to the
end of the document.
With the Shift key, extends the selection from the current
insertion point down by a line or page (if the Command
key is also held down), or to the end of the document
(if the Option key is also held down).
Delete If there is no current selection, removes the character
or Control-D to the left of the insertion point; if there is a
selection, removes the selected text.
Control-F If there is no current selection, removes the character
to the right of the insertion point; if there is a
selection, removes the selected text.
Control-Y Removes all characters from the insertion point to the
end of the line, not including any terminating return
characters.
Control-X Cuts the current selection and places it on the clipboard.
Control-C Copies the current selection onto the clipboard.
Control-V Pastes the contents of the clipboard at the current
insertion point, or in place of any selected text.
Clear Clears the current selection.
Here are the click and drag operations you can use to set the insertion
point or select a range of text:
Click Moves the insertion point - dragging selects by character.
Double click Selects a word - dragging extends the selection by words.
Triple click Selects a line - dragging extends the selection by lines.
Apple Menu
About My Word!�
This item brings up a dialog box containing version and copyright information.
File Menu
New
This item opens a new document window. The name of the document is set
to Document.xx where xx is a two-digit number that starts at 01 and
increments as you create more documents.
You can have up to ten document windows open at the same time. When ten
are open, the New item is dim and you can't select it.
The keyboard equivalent for New is Command-N.
Open�
This item brings up a standard multiple-selection dialog which lets you
choose one or more documents to load from disk and display in windows
on the desktop.
To open just one file, highlight its name and click the Open All
button. (You can also click the Open button if the highlighted file is
not a folder. Clicking the Open button when you've highlighted a folder
name causes the files in that folder to be listed.) Alternatively, you
can simply double-click the file name.
To open multiple files, highlight their names and press the Open All
button. To select more than one name, use the Command and Shift keys
while clicking names in the scrollable list. Clicking a name while
holding down the Command key alternatively selects and deselects that
name without affecting other names that have already been selected.
Clicking a name while holding down the Shift key extends your selection
to include all names from the one clicked to nearest other one
selected.
By default, My Word! shows the names of all the documents it is capable
of opening. This presently includes the following types of documents:
My Word! document files
My Word! stationery files
Plain Text files
Merlin Text files
Source Text files
AppleWorks� Classic word processing files
AppleWorks GS word processing files
Teach� files
You can click one of the radio buttons at the bottom of the Open dialog
to constrain the types of files to be displayed in the scrollable
list.The choices are All available (all the above types), My Word! (My
Word! document and stationery files and Teach files), Text (plain text,
Merlin text, and source text files), AppleWorks GS (AppleWorks GS word
processing files), and AppleWorks (AppleWorks classic word processing
files).
If the file you are going to select is a text file that was created
with the Merlin assembler, check the Merlin Text format box first. This
tells My Word! to convert the file into standard text format. (My Word!
can't distinguish between Merlin text files and standard text files
without you specifying the format in advance; hence the need for the
check box.) If you open a Merlin text file without checking this box,
you will see a document window full of strange-looking characters.
If the file you select is not a My Word! file, a dialog box appears
that tells you the file's format and that My Word! is converting it to
the My Word! document file format.
My Word! generally sets the name of the document window to the name of
the document itself. One exception is for My Word! stationery files
which are opened as untitled documents with window names of the form
Document.xx. The other exception relates to files that are converted
into My Word! format: they are given names with .cvt suffixes.
You can have up to ten document windows open at the same time. When ten
are open, the Open� item is dim and you can't select it. If you try to
open too many files from the Open dialog, you will see the error
message: Only ten document windows may be open at one time.
The keyboard equivalent for Open� is Command-O.
Close
This item closes the front window (a document window, the clipboard
window, or the Find/Replace window).If you're trying to close a
document window and you have edited, but not saved,the text, you are
asked to confirm the closing of the window.
You can also close the front window by clicking in its close box. If
you hold down the Option key while doing this, all the windows will
close.
The keyboard equivalent for Close is Command-W. If you hold down the
Option key while entering Command-W, all the windows will close.
Save
This item saves the text in the front document window to the file it
originally came from or to the file it was last saved to. Documents
saved like this are always stored in the standard My Word! document
format even if they were originally stored in another format. If you
want to save in another format, use the Save as� item instead.
This item behaves like the Save as� item if the window is untitled
(i.e., it has a name of the form Document.xx). This gives you a chance
to name the file.
This item is dim if the front window is not a document window.
The keyboard equivalent for Save is Command-S.
Save as�
This item lets you save the text in the front document window, or the
current selection in the front document window, to a file on disk. It
brings up a save dialog which lets you provide a name for the file (the
default is the window name). There are also three radio buttons at the
bottom of the dialog that let you specify the file format to be used:
My Word!, My Word! stationery, or Text.
If a portion of text is selected in the front document window, there
will be two more radio buttons at the bottom of the save dialog that
let you specify whether the entire document is to be saved or the
selection only. The default is Entire.
The format of a My Word! stationery document is identical to that of a
standard My Word! document. The functional difference is that My Word!
opens a stationery document as an untitled document so that you don't
inadvertently overwrite your stationery document when you later save
the document back to disk.
This item is dim if the front window is not a document window.
Delete�
This item brings up a standard multiple-selection dialog which lets you
delete one or more files from disk.
Single and multiple file names can be selected and deleted using the
same general techniques described above in the discussion of the Open�
item.
A dialog appears asking you to confirm each deletion before it actually
occurs. If you try to delete a folder that is not empty, the following
message appears: You can't delete a folder that contains files. To
delete a folder, you must first explicitly delete all the files it
contains.
Rename�
This item brings up a standard multiple-selection dialog which lets you
rename one or more files on disk.
Single and multiple file names can be selected and renamed using the
same general techniques described above in the discussion of the Open�
item.
For each file to be renamed, you will see a dialog box that asks you to
specify the new name for the file.
Page Setup�
This item brings up the standard Page Setup dialog for your printer.
When you click OK, a secondary Page Setup dialog appears that is unique
to My Word!. This dialog lets you set various parameters that affect
the appearance of the printed document:
top margin (in inches)
left margin (in inches)
bottom margin (in inches)
right margin (in inches)
Number the pages check box
Use PostScript background file check box
PostScript file� button
If you're printing to a PostScript�-capable printer like the
LaserWriter�, you can specify the name of a file which contains
PostScript commands you want sent to the printer when each page of the
document is printed. This file could contain, for example, the commands
needed to draw a large outline of the word Confidential in the
background of a page. An example of a PostScript background file
appears in the appendix below.
Print�
This item brings up the standard Print dialog for your printer. When
you click OK, My Word! prints the entire document.
If you select Text Only quality (ImageWriter dialog) or Draft quality
(Epson dialog), a second dialog appears when you click OK. This is the
'Text Only' Printer Chooser dialog. This dialog lets you pick any
character device connected to the system as the destination for your
printed output (the printer you selected via the Control Panel is
ignored). This could be a printer, a modem, or even a file on disk, for
example.
The Printer Chooser dialog also lets you indicate whether a line feed
is to be sent after a carriage return code, what horizontal pitch your
character device will print at (10 characters/inch or 12
characters/inch), and what setup command (if any) you wish to send to
the character device. (You might use the setup command to set the pitch
or print quality, for example.) Note that My Word! does not
automatically send the code needed to set the specified pitch; that's a
device-specific command you need to include in the setup command.My
Word! uses your specified pitch setting to properly position text on
the page; it does not automatically send the command to set that pitch.
If you choose to print to a file on disk, a dialog appears asking you
to provide a name for the file.
Note: Text Only or Draft printing under My Word! routes characters
directly to the character device, bypassing the usual Apple IIGS
printing procedure. This is done to maximize throughput.
The keyboard equivalent for Print� is Command-P.
Print Selection�
This item behaves just like the Print� item, but only the current
selection is printed. This item is dim if there is no current
selection.
Transfer�
This item lets you quit My Word! and run another GS/OS� or ProDOS� 8
application program.It brings up a standard file selection dialog from
which you can choose the name of the application you want to run.
Before quitting, My Word! asks whether you want to save any documents
which you have edited but not yet saved.
If you want to return directly to My Word! when the next program quits,
click the Return when done check box before clicking the Run button.
Quit
This item shuts down My Word! and returns you to Finder. Before shutting
down, My Word! asks whether you want to save any documents which you
have edited but not yet saved.
The keyboard equivalent for Quit is Command-Q.
Edit Menu
Undo
My Word! does not support the undo feature. This item is here to support
desk accessories.
The keyboard equivalent for Undo is Command-Z.
Cut
This item removes the current selection from the document and copies it
to the clipboard. If there is no current selection, this item is dim.
The keyboard equivalent for Cut is Command-X.
Copy
This item copies the current selection to the clipboard. If there is no
current selection, this item is dim.
The keyboard equivalent for Copy is Command-C.
Paste
This item copies text on the clipboard to the current document at the
current insertion point. (If you've selected a range of text in the
document, the selection is removed first.) If there is no text on the
clipboard, this item is dim.
The keyboard equivalent for Paste is Command-V.
Clear
This item removes the current selection from the document. It does not
copy the selection to the clipboard. If there is no current selection,
this item is dim.
Select All
This item selects all the text in the front document window. If a
document window is not in front, this item is dim.
The keyboard equivalent for Select All is Command-A.
Show Clipboard / Hide Clipboard
Show Clipboard shows the contents of the clipboard (text or graphics) in
a window. When the clipboard window is visible, this item name changes
to Hide Clipboard and you can select it to make the clipboard window
invisible.
Ruler�
This item brings up a dialog that lets you set the visual appearance of
the document in the front window. The attributes you can set are as
follows:
text justificiation: left, right, center, full
tab spacing (in pixels)
left margin (in pixels)
text width (in pixels)
paragraph indentation (in pixels)
line spacing (in pixels)
Note that these attributes affect the entire document. It is not
possible to have different rulers for different portions of the
document.
If a document window is not in front, this item is dim.
The keyboard equivalent for Ruler� is Command-R.
Find Menu
Find/Replace�
This item brings up a modeless dialog that lets you specify an arbitrary
string to find in the front document, and, if you want to replace it,
the replacement string. You can specify whether a search is to be Case
Sensitive and whether you want to Confirm Replacements.
To do a Find and Replace operation, click the Replace button. (You will
be asked to confirm replacements if you've marked the Confirm
Replacements check box.) To do a simple Find operation, click the Find
button.
When My Word! finds a string match, it scrolls the relevant portion of
the document into view.
The keyboard equivalent for Find/Replace� is Command-F.
Find Same
This item finds the next occurrence of the last string you asked My
Word! to look for.
When My Word! finds a string match, it scrolls the relevant portion of
the document into view.
The keyboard equivalent for Find Same is Command-G.
Find Selection
This item finds the word or phrase you have selected in the document.
(The word or phrase currently selected actually appears in the menu
item instead of the word Selection.)
When My Word! finds a string match, it scrolls the relevant portion of
the document into view.
The keyboard equivalent for Find Selection is Command-H.
Display Selection
This item scrolls the document so that your current selection point
appears in the visible portion of the window.
Font Menu
Choose Font�
This item brings up the standard font chooser dialog which lets you
specify any arbitrary font, size, and style to be applied to the
current selection. If there is no current selection, just an insertion
point, characters typed at that insertion point will be of the font,
size, and style selected.
The keyboard equivalent for Choose Font� is Command-Y.
Font Names
Following the Choose Font� item are the names of all the fonts
available to the system. The unique font associated with the current
selection, or insertion point, has a check mark next to it. To change
the font for the selection or insertion point, select the name of the
font you want.
Size Menu
This menu contains items which are the real (non-scaled) point sizes for
the current font. The unique size associated with the current
selection, or insertion point, has a check mark next to it. To change
the size for the selection or insertion point, select the appropriate
item. If you want to use a size not listed, use the Choose Font item in
the Font Menu instead.
Style Menu
The items in this menu let you set the style of the current selection:
plain, bold, italic, underline, outline, or shadow. Except for plain,
style attributes are cumulative; that is, you can apply more than one
of them at once to the current selection in the document. If there is
no current selection, just an insertion point, this style will be
applied to characters you type while at that insertion point.
Attributes that apply to the current selection have a check mark next
to them.
Plain
This sets the plain text style, which looks like this.
The keyboard equivalent for Plain is Command-T.
Bold
This sets the bold style, which looks like this. If all the text in the
current selection is already bolded, the text becomes unbolded instead.
The keyboard equivalent for Bold is Command-B.
Italic
This sets the italic style, which looks like this. If all the text in
the current selection is already italicized, the text becomes
unitalicized instead.
The keyboard equivalent for Italic is Command-I.
Underline
This sets the undeline style, which looks like this. If all the text in
the current selection is already underlined, the text becomes
ununderlined instead.Note that some fonts, such as Shaston 8, cannot be
underlined.
The keyboard equivalent for Underline is Command-U.
Outline
This sets the outline style, which looks like this. If all the text in
the current selection is already outlined, the text becomes unoutlined
instead.
Shadow
This sets the shadow style, which looks like this. If all the text in
the current selection is already shadowed, the text becomes unshadowed
instead.
Window Menu
This menu contains a list of the names of all the document windows. (The
one at the front has a check mark next to it.) Bring a document window
to the front by selecting its name from this menu.
Foreground Menu
This menu lets you specify the foreground color of the selected text. If
there is no current selection, just an insertion point, this color will
be applied to characters you subsequently type.
Background Menu
This menu lets you specify the background color of the selected text. If
there is no current selection, just an insertion point, this color will
be applied to the background of characters you subsequently type.
APPENDIX
Installing the My Word! Files
The My Word! system is made up of three files:
+ My.Word is the My Word! application itself. It is a GS/OS system file
which can be launched from Finder. Put this file in a folder called
My.Word on your startup volume so that Finder will automatically launch
it when you double-click a My Word! document icon.
+ FType.My.Word contains the names Finder uses to identify the three
types of data files unique to My Word!:
"My Word! document" for file type $0050, auxiliary type $00005445
"My Word! stationery" for file type $0050, auxiliary type $00005446
"My Word! preferences" for file type $005A, auxiliary type $0000800C
Put the FType.My.Word file in the Icons folder of your startup volume.
+ My.Word.Icons contains the icons Finder uses to display the three
types of data files unique to My Word! as well as the My Word!
application itself. This file also contains the information Finder
needs to automatically run My Word! when you select a My Word! document
file (or files) from Finder and choose the Open or Print command. The
My Word! application pathname specified for document files and
stationery files is *:My.Word:My.Word. You can change this pathname, if
necessary, using an icon-editing utility such as DAL Systems' DIcEd�.
Put the My.Word.Icons file in the Icons folder of your startup volume.
File Formats
My Word! Documents
My Word! documents contain the styled text you create with the My Word!
application. These documents have a GS/OS file type of $0050 and
auxiliary type of $00005445, the same as the Teach documents described
in Apple II File Type Notes for File Type $50 and Auxiliary Type $5445.
The data fork of a My Word! document contains the ASCII text for the
document with a carriage return following every paragraph. The
structure of the data fork is identical to that of a Teach document.
The resource fork of a My Word! document contains the two standard Teach
resources ($8012 and $7001) and four resources unique to My Word!. Here
is a complete list:
type $8012 (rStyleBlock), ID $00000001
type $7001, ID $00000001
type $6FFE, ID $00000001
type $8023 (rC1OutputString), ID $00000001
type $802A (rComment), ID $00000002
type $C002 (rPrintRecord), ID $00000001
(rStyleBlock, rC1OutputString, rComment, and rPrintRecord are symbolic
names used by programmers.)
The rStyleBlock resource contains the style and ruler information for
the text contained in the data fork.
The $7001 resource contains information about the size and position of
the document window the last time the document was saved to disk.
The $6FFE resource contains the Page Layout information you specify in
the secondary Page Setup� dialog described above.
The rC1OutputString resource, if present, contains the name of the
PostScript background file.
The rComment resource contains the text of a message the Finder
displays if it can't identify the application that created the
document. The text provided in this resource is This document was
created with the My Word! application. You need My Word! to open the
document. Only the Finder in System Software 6.0 or later supports this
feature.
The rPrintRecord resource contains the print record used when the
document was last printed.
My Word! Stationery Documents
My Word! stationery documents are identical in structure to standard My
Word! document files. The only difference is the auxiliary type for the
file: it is $00005446, not the $00005445 used to identify standard
document files.
My Word! Preferences
The My Word! preferences file, called My.Word.Prefs, has a file type of
$005A and auxiliary type of $0000800C. It is stored in the same folder
as the My Word! application or, if you launched My Word! from an
AppleShare file server configured for use by Apple II clients, in your
user directory.
The preferences file contains information you specify in the 'Text Only'
Printer Chooser dialog when you indicate you want to print in 'Text
Only' or 'Draft' mode.
PostScript Files
The secondary Page Setup dialog lets you specify the name of a file
containing PostScript commands to be processed when each page of the
document is printed on a LaserWriter. Here is an example of what such a
file might contain:
/pointSize 136 def
/myText (Confidential) def
/center {stringwidth pop 2 div neg 0 moveto} def
/drawOutline {false charpath stroke} def
initmatrix
/Times-Roman findfont pointSize scalefont setfont
306 396 translate 45 rotate
myText center
myText drawOutline
These commands tell the LaserWriter to draw the word Confidential in
136-point type and outline style at a 45 degree angle.
For more information on the PostScript page description language, refer
to PostScript Language Reference Manual and PostScript Language
Tutorial and Cookbook (see bibliography).
Tips
1. When My Word! first starts up, it usually creates an empty document
window called Document.01. If you hold down the Command key while My
Word! starts up, a standard Open dialog comes up instead, allowing you
to choose a document that already exists.
2. Here is a summary of the keyboard equivalents you can use with My
Word!:
Keyboard Equivalent Description
Command-A Select All
Command-B Bold
Command-C Cut
Command-F Find/Replace�
Command-G Find Next
Command-H Find Selection
Command-I Italic
Command-N New
Command-O Open�
Command-P Print�
Command-Q Quit
Command-R Ruler�
Command-S Save
Command-T Plain
Command-V Paste
Command-W Close
Command-X Cut
Command-Y Choose Font�
Command-Z Undo
3. Finder automatically launches My Word! and opens the My Word!
document or My Word! stationery document you double-click from Finder.
If you want to run My Word! when you double-click a text file or an
AppleWorks Classic word processing file or an AppleWorks GS word
processing file, use an icon-editing utility like DAL Systems' DIcEd to
edit the pathname attribute for the icons associated with file type
$0004 (text), file type $001A (AppleWorks Classic word processing), and
file type $50/auxiliary type $8010 (AppleWorks GS word processing). For
convenience, icons for these file types are included in the
My.Word.Icons file, so you can edit their attributes there instead of
hunting for them in the other icon files you have in the Icons folder.
(Text, AppleWorks, and AppleWorks GS icons in another icon file will
override those in My.Word.Icons if Finder encounters the other file
after processing My.Word.Icons. In this situation, you will have to
edit the attributes of the icons in the other file instead.)
Bibliography and Diskography
1. DIcEd v1.21. Price: $15.00. DAL Systems, P.O. Box 875, Cupertino, CA
95015. This is an icon-editing utility for the Apple IIGS.
2. Apple IIGS Toolbox Reference: Volume 3 by Apple Computer, Inc.
Price: $39.95. Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Reading, MA 01867.
This book shows how to program using the latest IIGS toolbox features,
including resources and the TextEdit tool set.
3. PostScript Language Reference Manual, Second Edition by Adobe
Systems, Inc. Price: $28.95. Addison-Wesley Publishing Company,
Reading, MA 01867. This book is the official reference to the
PostScript page description language used in the Apple LaserWriter.
4. PostScript Language Tutorial and Cookbook by Adobe Systems, Inc.
Price: $18.95. Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Reading, MA 01867.
This book provides a wealth of sample code for budding PostScript
programmers.
5. Apple II File Type Notes by Apple Computer, Inc. These notes are
prepared by the Developer Technical Support group at Apple and are
widely available from information services and user groups. They are
also available from Apple's APDA group. These notes describe the
structure and content of different ProDOS files and are organized by
file type code and auxiliary type code.
Trademarks
My Word! is a trademark of Gary Little. Apple, IIGS, LaserWriter, GS/OS,
and ProDOS are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. AppleWorks
is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. licensed to Claris
Corporation.Teach is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. PostScript is
a registered trademark of Adobe Systems, Inc. Merlin is a trademark of
Roger Wagner Publishing, Inc.