WELCOME TO TINY TOOLS

If you have downloaded the zip file for this program, you should have
these files:
	1) TinyTools_v1.bas -  main program
	2) makeTinyDB.bas - database generation program
	3) ReadMeFirst.txt - this document
	4) ReadMe.txt - the program's help file
	5) syn.tny - database
	6) syn.bak - database backup file
	7) help.bmp - bitmap button image
	8) examples subfolder - code snippet and example text files
        9) hlpfiles subfolder - command description text files

Create a folder, possibly TinyTools, as a subfolder of your Documents 
folder - or other location of your choosing. Extract the contents of the 
zip file into this folder.

To use, run the program from your JustBASIC IDE. You may choose to make a
.tkn file to use from the Run menu. I have changed my JB Preferences to 
make this program the file to Load on startup. I then hit the run button
when JB opens and select the last file I was working on from the MRU list.

The program is primarily aimed at helping new, less experienced, users who
need to refer to the help file for syntax and command selections often. (And
those of us who's memory has 'left the building'). Additionally, you can 
save code snippets, so it functions as a code bank or safe. An advantage of
this arrangement is that no searching is required. Just select a command
or statement and drill down to the code snippet to match.  
 
ABOUT
-----
TinyTools_v1.bas
03/03/2011
Most of the database content is copied from JustBASIC Help Document.
JustBASIC is Copyright by Shoptalk Systems
All content, including program code, is free to use.

==============================================================================

THIS IS THE HELP FILE FOR TINY TOOLS

WHAT IS IT?
----------------
Tiny Tools is a collection of command syntax, help files,
code samples, and helpful tables that the less experienced
programmer should find useful.

The tool is designed to "live" in the upper right corner of
your screen, and occupy very little screen space. It can be
tokenized and run at the start of a coding session. I have
changed my JB preferences to "load this file" on startup, so
I hit the run button to start "Tiny Tools" - then open the
last file I was working on from the Most Recently Opened list.

All support files are plain text and can be edited and
modified by the user. In addition, the "Examples" window can
be used as a "code safe", in which you can create and  store
snippets of code.

THE MAIN PROGRAM
--------------------------
The main program interface has buttons to access the command
syntax list window, a chart of the 16 standard JB colors, an
ASCII character code table, and this help file.

In order to minimize the space that "Tiny Tools" uses, access
to other features is done by "drilling down" from window to
window. When a command is selected from the list, a small
window with the syntax for that command is opened. On this
window are two additional buttons - one labeled "Help" which
opens a Description window (basically, copied from JB's help
file); the other is labeled "Examples". The Examples button
opens the "Code Safe" window, wherein you might find an
example for the use of the selected command or statement. The
Description window is "modal". It must be closed before
another command can be selected and displayed.

THE DATABASE GENERATION PROGRAM
---------------------------------------------------------
This program is a listing of all the database "fields" for
each of the list items - commands, statements, and auxillary
windows. The program should only be Run whenever the database
is modified, added to, or edited. Warnings alert the user and
offer him/her an opportunity to cancel, if needed. Each time
the program is Run, a backup copy of the database is saved to
the main program folder. NOTE: Saving the listing, using File>
Save, does not update the database. You MUST Run the database
generation program (to write any changes to disk) any time a
change is made in the information that the main program will
read into the array on startup. Minor changes to the support
text files, that do not affect the size of the window they
use for display, do NOT require Running the database
generation program.

The format of the database "lines" uses the nul character,
chr$(0), to separate the data items. This method allows
Windows to display in the list box the first data item in the
line, which is  normally the command or statement. Subsequent
data items, separated by chr$(0) values, hold the following -
up to the end of the line:

   syntax of the command or statement 
   file name of command Description 
   file name of Example file

Description files are saved to the "hlpfiles" subfolder.
Examples are saved to the "examples" subfolder. If modifying
the database, be sure to use proper syntax for the nul
separators between data items:

   "a data item" ;chr$(0); "another data item" ...

Syntax is typed in as a literal statement data item. File
names refer to plain text files written in Notepad or your
favorite text editor. You can edit the text files to suit, or
create new ones for additional commands or subjects. Just be
sure to Run the database program to update the database file
after any modifications.

THE COLORS CHART
-----------------------------
This is a chart of the standard colors which can be used by
name to color or draw various controls and graphics in JB.
Refer to the Graphics and Text commands pages for help in how
to use the color commands.

THE ASCII TABLE
-------------------------
The ASCII table lists character codes for the printable
characters from asc(33) to asc(255). Use these codes when
working with asc() and chr$() functions.

COMMAND HELP FILES
-----------------------------
The help files, accessed when clicking "Help" button on a
command  syntax window, offer a Description of the command or
statement. Generally, these Descriptions are copied directly
from the JB help file. They sometimes contain Useage data.
You can edit these files, also, or add to their content. Some
files require bigger windows to display the content. Window
sizes are modulated to suit the need. The first character of
a helpfile name, if it is a number, is the key to the window
size for that file. You can see this by viewing the files in
the hlpfiles subfolder. Files without a number as the first
character are the default size. If adding content to any file,
be sure all the data will still fit within the window size
designated by that first character of the file name. If
necessary, add or change a number to obtain the window size
required. The main program handles parsing out the first
character from the file name, and assigning the correct
window size.

Some files are too large to fit within any of the program's
standard window sizes. These files require scroll bars in
order to view all of the content. To achieve scrollable
content, a texteditor control is used in a window of type '
window_nf'. These windows are not modal. They may remain open
while selecting any other command. The windows will close
automatically when the main program is closed. The files in
the list that are surrounded by brackets, [ ... ], are this
type of scrollable content.

A limitation of texteditor controls is the lack of word-wrap.
As a result, files for display in the texteditor must be '
hand-formatted' to fit the width of the editor window; else,
horizontal scrolling is required. And that's just " nasty". I
use a text editor program, (ConTEXT), which allows me to
reformat paragraphs to suit my needs. I set the editor's
right margin to 65, put the cursor at the beginning of a
completed paragraph, and hit ctrl-b. Instant fit. Very cool,
indeed. Incidentally, files which are displayed in statictext
controls do not need reformatting - they automatically 'word-
wrap'. But, they don't have scrollbars... Go figure!

EXAMPLE FILES
----------------------
The second button on the syntax window is the "Examples" button. This button opens an Example window, which is used to display code snippets, or examples of using a particular command or statement. These snippets are saved in the examples subfolder. Presently, there are only two examples saved. One is for the Notice dialog, and the other is for the Confirm dialog. They have been included to show the program's "code safe", or "code bank", feature.

You will notice that if you open an Example window for a
command for which a snippet file does not yet exist, that the
window is empty. At this point, you may create a code snippet
of your own. Just paste a copy of a snippet you would like to
save, or type in some code that meets your needs, and save it
to a file in the examples subfolder.  You can use the menus
that are a part of the window. They are functional because
they are included in windows of type 'text'. There is also a
Help menu, which offers a short instruction on creating a
code snippet file.

Presently, I have used the convention of preceding the
command name with an 'ex', to name the example files. So, an
example file for the command 'backcolor', for instance, would
be named exBackcolor.txt. Using the File menu's Save As...
item, navigate to the examples subfolder and save your
snippet.

---end of help file---



