50g

On 9/12/07, Dave Boyd <boydda@...> wrote:

Guy Teague wrote:
<snip>
> speaking of making it easy for the user, the most useful app i found in my
> digging was called 'formo' by dante camargo who is so good a programmer that
> even his spanish-only programs such as 'recta' and 'libkit' are easier to
> use than 99% of the english language programs. and i don't speak a word of
> spanish.

(goes and looks)  Yes, that does seem like a very useful piece of
software, and quite "easy to learn".  I myself don't like it much as it
stands, since it doesn't really behave like a "normal" HP program, and
provides far too much "help" I don't really want.  It's also reliant on
changing the state of several flags, which it leaves changed when I use
the standard ON key to cancel out of it.

you know, i noticed that my flag states were not being left alone, but i had installed so many apps to try at once that i had not gotten around to tracking down which app was trashing them. it's disappointing to learn that this app is the culprit. i'll find a way to save the state of my flags and just pull the bkup file back after i finish with formo i guess.

i realize that after the first 3 uses that formos gets unwieldy because of the 'helps' provided and you start wishing you could bypass some of the menu structure. but then again, you could come back 6 months later and operate the program without re-learning your shortcuts. as you say, there is always that tradeoff between power and ease of use.
 

<Del>

 

> so how do i address a library file whose executable is down one directory
> and execute it from an assignable key or my custom menu? i suppose i would
> have to include a 'chdir' command in the eval statement perhaps? but i'm
> even having trouble determining the exact name of the actual executable
> considering the 5-char truncation.

You're correct, essentially.  I'll go stick FORMO in my calc in my
HOME/Misc directory...  Hmm, it's a library, and therefore doesn't
really belong there.  Instead, I'll put it in my Flash memory, port 2.
I'll just use Filer6 to move it to Flash, done.  I reboot using ON-C to
automatically attach it.  I press the CAT key (RS-SYMB), then ALPHA-F,
and scroll down to see that the command is FORMOS.  OK.  So, I can make
a program << FORMOS >> to attach to a key.  What key?  Maybe the EQW
key, with the RS held?  That currently makes a set of tickmarks I don't
use much, so it seems reasonable.  OK, row 4, col 3, held RS, so that's
43.31, then ASN.  Done.

i had forgotten that library program names get inserted into the catalog. great tip!
 

To execute a program for deeper within your directory structure, you
could make a program like this:

<< PUSH HOME Misc FMAN.BIN EVAL POP >>

PUSH saves a copy of the current flags and directory.

HOME changes to the HOME directory.

Misc changes to the Misc subdirectory, if you have one, and you are in HOME.

FMAN.BIN EVAL executes FMAN.BIN.

POP restores the saved flags and directory from the previous PUSH, so we
go back to where we were before changing to HOME/Misc.

I can also type PUSH, and then modify my STARTUP program to say << POP
PUSH >>, so that whenever I start my calc it puts my flags back the way
I had them before the previous PUSH.

i'll have to play with this last section before it quite sinks in. i had gotten around to noticing that when i changed directories my custom menu items changed also. as if each directory had its own 'cst' variable. is that what you are saying? that each directory underneath home does not inherit homes parameters such as flags and variables?

/guy