uView 2.0 pre6

1. What is uView?

uView is a new text viewer for the TI-89, TI-89 Titanium, TI-92 Plus and TI V200 calculators. Here are its main design goals :

stability: this is the main reason why it exists, as some viewers (TextRider...) are highly unstable
speed: just as fast as TextRider -- and with background image-loading, loading times are close to zero
compression: very fast decompression (faster than ZipLib) with greatly improved compression ratios, thanks to the new XPak codec
compatibility: intended to be fully compatible with TextRider (with minor restrictions, see below)
ease of searching: uView features a browser that allows you to divide your texts into various classes, and it even allows you to search in all the text files of your calculator (even those that are compressed!)

2. Installing uView

2.1 Basic installation

uView works only under AMS 2.01 and above. You may download the latest AMS version from here.

Simply copy the file "uview_english.89z" (or "uview_english.9xz"/"uview_english.v2z" depending on your calculator model) to your calculator. You do not need any kernel to use it, however if you have AMS 2.03 or lower you may need a program launcher.

There is a French version available in "uview_francais.89z".

To run it, type uview() from the home screen. If you want to view a specific text, you may also type uview("myfolder\myfile") (this is mainly for use in scripts, since the integrated browser is usually much more practical than the Var-Link screen for other uses).

Note:

if you want slightly faster startup times, you may use the file "uview_english_unpacked.89z", which is located in the "Unpacked" folder of this zip file. However, be aware that it is larger, and that you might need to install a program like H220xTSR to run it.
if you want a smaller version, you may use the file "uview_english_light.89z", located in the "Light" folder. However, be aware that there may be files you won't be able to read if you don't read the instructions given in section 4.3 of this help file.

2.2 Creating a shortcut

Now that you have installed it, you may want to create a keyboard shortcut for uView (because the 'u' letter is so far in the Var-Link screen ;-) ). Just type within the Home screen:

Define kbdprgm6()=Prgm:main\uview():EndPrgm

This will redirect the "Diamond + 6" combination to uView. Make sure you replace main\uview with myfolder\uview if you installed uView in "myfolder".

3. Using uView

3.1 Running uView for the first time

The first time you run uView, you may be asked if you want to convert your existing ZIP files so that they can be viewed by uView. If you don't do so, you will only be able to view your uncompressed TEXT files that use uncompressed PIC files, so you may want to do it only if you want to have a look at uView without actually switching to it.

Note that you will have to use the XDirUPak command if you want to uncompress your files back -- for more info, look at the file XPak.zip included in this package.

If the conversion fails because it says you do not have enough RAM, archive some files on your calculator and start again -- you should archive files until you reach about 100kb free RAM.

3.2 The browser

When you run uView, you see a list of folders; only the folders that actually contain text files (with extension TEXT or XPAK) are displayed.

To open a file, press the Right arrow to list the contents of a folder, and then choose your file and press Enter.

You may search for a specific file within all the listed folders: press F3, then type the text you want to search for, and type Enter (note: the search is case-insensitive). If you have many many compressed text files on your calculator, the search may be a bit long -- be patient! You now have a list of the files that match your request. To go back to the list of all your files, press F2. To display the search results again, press F2 once more.

Note that uView allows you to divide your texts into classes. Look at section 3.4 for more information.

3.3 The viewer

Nothing special here if you already know TextRider, you may scroll with the up/down arrows, and a bit faster with the 2nd-Up/2nd-Down combinations.

You may search for a specific text by pressing F3, and you may use TextRider-like bookmarks with the APPS key.

3.4 Making classes

You may group your text into several classes: one for Physics, one for Maths, one for Chemistry, etc.

To create a new class, just type (in the Home screen):

{"Mathematics","algebra","analysis"}->uview\maths

This tells uView to create a class named "Mathematics", containing the folders "algebra" and "analysis" (the name "maths" is just for your own use, so that when you give it to a friend you know that you're giving the description of your maths class, and not something else).

Now, when you press F4 in the main menu, you'll see a list of all your classes. Choosing one will restrict the actual folders to the folders concerning that class, so you access your texts faster. In addition, when you search for a file, uView will only search in the folders related with the active class.

It is highly recommended that you archive your "uview" folder.

Important note: you may not put other variables than your classes description in the "uview" folder, however there is an exception: it is possible to put the program itself in this folder.

4. Creating and converting text files

4.1 Creating files

uView uses the same syntax as TextRider. Download TextRider for more information about how to create a file, and have a look at section 4.4 if you want to use some of the special features of uView.

4.2 Modifying files

To be able to modify a file, you will have to uncompress it first. There are three ways to know if a file is compressed or not:

In the VAR-LINK screen, uncompressed files have type TEXT, while compressed files have type XPAK
You can open uncompressed files in the Text editor, but you cannot do this for compressed files
In uView, the icon describing an uncompressed file is black, while the icon describing a compressed file is white

If your file is not compressed, you can open it in the Text editor right away (but if you want to modify it, it may be necessary to unarchive it in the VAR-LINK screen). Otherwise, you have to uncompress it first:

Here, all the files are compressed	Step 1: Highlight the file you want to uncompress
Step 2: Press F5 to uncompress the file	Now you can modify it if you wish, or recompress it by pressing F5 again

4.3 Compressing files

If you want to save space on your calculator, you can compress your text files. Here is how to do it:

The file with the black icon is not compressed
Step 1: Highlight the file you want to compress

Step 2: Press F5 to compress the file
Now you have more memory on your calculator

4.4 Special features of uView

uView is compatible with TextRider, but it adds some extra features too:

You can write text in bold using the #B command

You can add a title to your text by adding the PrintObj tag (accessible in the text editor through F2->PrintObj) to the first line of your text. Instead of the filename, uView will now display this title in the text browser.

A nice text...

...but with an ugly title!

Let's fix this by making the first line of text the title:

Step 1: Open in the Text editor	Step 2: Go to the first line of text
Step 3: Open the Command menu, and select PrintObj	Step 4: Now there is a 'P' in front of the first line
Step 5: Go back to uView: it's so much better now!

uView looks for images not only in the current folder or the folder specified in the text file, but also in the folder where the text is stored. This is very useful, because it allows you to group your picture (PIC) files in the same folder as your text files, and send them together.

4.5 Working with the Light version

If you don't use the "Light" version (located in the 'Light' folder of this zipfile), you may skip this section.

The specificity of the "Light" version is that it does not attempt to convert the ZIP files on your calculator to XPAK files (which is often necessary if you want to use the texts that TextRider used to read). If you still want to do so, you have to use an external program, named zip2xpak. To use it, simply send the file "zip2xpak.89z" to your calculator, then type in the Home screen:

zip2xpak("myfolder")

You may now erase the whole "xpak" folder if you don't think you will need to compress other files later on (uView does not use it).

In case you want to recover your original files, for whatever reason, you will have to send the full version and use the possible by sending the group file "xdirupak.89g". Now write:

xpak\xdirupak("myfolder")

You may erase the "xpak" folder too afterwards.

5. History

version 1.0: first public release

version 1.1: important bugfix in the compression routine, no other change

version 1.9: new multitasking architecture, allowing for pretty-printing without increased loading times; now features an automatic ZIP->XPAK compression

version 2.0pre: smooth scrolling, textrider-compatibility improved, now able to compress/uncompress single files

6. About

uView has fully been written in C language on my calculator, thanks to the soon-to-be-released GTC embedded compiler.

This is the case for the XPak compression program too.

Special thanks to:

Hibou for his ZIP decompression code
Marc Teyssier, for TextRider
All my fellow students who helped me find bugs and suggested new features
Matthew Brandt and Christopher van Wuellen, for writing the compiler on which the GTC compiler is based
Pasi "Albert" Ojala, for writing the compression format which inspired XPak (though the latter uses a different compression scheme)
The TIGCC Team, for being the first compiler, and for their great library (special thanks to Zeljko Juric)
All the TI community for their support
... and all the ones I forgot :-)

7. FAQ/Contact

Q: uView doesn't run and doesn't say anything.

A: Make sure you have enough free RAM and try again.

Q: uView does not display all of my texts -or- uView says "No TEXT or XPAK files found!"

A: It probably means some of your text files are ZIP files and that you refused to convert them, or simply that you have no text on your calculator.

Q: uView crashes.

A: Make sure you have enough free RAM and try again. If the problem remains, contact me.

Q: How do I contact you?

A: You can check for updates on http://membres.lycos.fr/ltech, and mail me at paul.froissart@tiscali.fr

8. Licence/disclaimer

uView is freeware. You may freely redistribute it, as long as the package (the ZIP file from which this file was extracted) is kept unchanged.

I (Paul Froissart) shall not be held liable for any damage caused, directly or indirectly, by use of this software. Use it at your own risk.

The file with the black icon is not compressed	Step 1: Highlight the file you want to compress
Step 2: Press F5 to compress the file	Now you have more memory on your calculator