Tool Kit

ZX SPECTRUM WORKSHOP

(aka. TOOL KIT)

from Kerian UK (1984)

by D.Wilson & C.Thornton





The ZX Spectrum Workshop is a programmer's aid designed to assist those

people who are writing programs in BASIC.



One of the major features of this program is its ease of use. It has been

designed so that the user only has to press the SYMBOL SHIFT and SPACE keys

together to unleash the powerful features contained in this package. After

doing this, all the user has to do is follow simple on-screen instructions.

A list of the features is given below:



1. Renumber 6. String search

2. Program trace 7. Token search

3. Block delete 8. Free memory

4. Auto line number 9. Variable list

5. REM kill 10. Formatted listing



LOADING. To load ZX Spectrum Workshop, type LOAD "" and press ENTER. The

program will load and run automatically.





IN USE



When the program has loaded you will be shown a menu of 7 options. At this

point only Option 7 (return to BASIC) is likely to be of any use! To invoke

the ZX Spectrum Workshop from BASIC simply press the SYMBOL SHIFT and SPACE

keys together. Do not invoke the ZX Spectrum Workshop from within a running

program as this may result in certain options failing to work properly.



IMPORTANT. Load the ZX Spectrum Workshop before loading your own program.

If you use the NEW command and wish to use the ZX Spectrum Workshop further

you must type RANDOMIZE USR 6e4.





OPTION 1 - RENUMBER



On choosing Option 1 from the first main menu, you will see on-screen prompts

for the start line and the increment. You may input your own values or accept

the system defaults of start line (10) and increment (10). The system default

values are selected by simply pressing ENTER in response to the screen

prompts. Lines including calculated GOTOs, etc. will not be renumbered.



WARNING



In order to fit the ZX Spectrum Workshop into under 3K of memory, no error

checking takes place as to whether large line numbers will exceed 9999. If

this condition occurs it will result in a fatal error. It is therefore

suggested that, before you renumber your program, you take a backup copy for

security.





OPTION 2 - PROGRAM TRACE



Option 2 from the main menu is a toggle to switch the program trace on or

off. The current status is shown on the screen. The current line number and

the number of the statement being executed are shown at the bottom of the

screen between angle brackets. To use the program trace facility, invoke the

toolkit, choose Option 2 from the menu, return to BASIC and RUN your program.





OPTION 3 - BLOCK DELETE



Option 3 from the main menu allows you to use the block line delete facility.

Screen prompts will ask you for the first and last lines to be deleted, after

which all program lines in that range will be deleted. If there is no BASIC

program resident in memory the routine will return to BASIC with the

PARAMETER ERROR message.



WARNING



This routine should be used with care to prevent inadvertent loss of

important program lines. It should also be noted that the system default

values will delete from line 0 to line 9999 so that the use of these default

values will delete the whole of your BASIC program.





OPTION 4 - AUTO LINE NUMBER



This option enable fast entering of program lines by inserting the line

number for you. After pressing 4 from the main menu you will again see screen

prompts for start line and increment between lines. The system default values

are again to start from line 10 and increment in steps of 10. These values

are used if you press ENTER in response to the screen prompts. Care must be

taken not to overwrite other program lines if you are using AUTO to insert

lines within existing coding. To exit from AUTO you must press ENTER before

adding any BASIC statement to the current line number. This will not delete

any program line with the same line number.





OPTION 5 - REM KILL



Option 5 from the main menu pauses all further input for a few seconds whilst

the ZX Spectrum Workshop searches through your program and deletes all REM

statements, including those following other BASIC statements within a program

line.





OPTION 6 - STRING SEARCH



To invoke the string search you must choose Option 1 from the ZX Spectrum

Workshop sub-menu. The sub-menu is reached by choosing Option 6 from the

main menu. You will be asked to input the string for which you wish to

search. All program lines containing the specified string will then be

shown, with each occurrence highlighted by the flashing question mark symbol.

Pressing any key but SPACE will advance through the program and find the next

occurrence.





OPTION 7 - TOKEN SEARCH



Token search is Option 2 from the sub-menu. It is almost identical in

operation to Option 6 - string search, but enables you to search for BASIC

keywords such as GOTO or THEN. In addition you may also search for specific

occurrence of a token, such as GOTO 1000 or DRAW 100,10. Again, pressing

SPACE will exit from the routine.





OPTION 8 - FREE MEMORY



Option 3 from the sub-menu will calculate the free memory available. Pressing

any key will return you to the main menu.





OPTION 9 - VARIABLE LIST



Option 4 from the sub-menu will list all the variable currently in use, along

with their values. Array variables are a special case as they often run to

great length, and are therefore listed along with their dimensions instead

of their values. Pressing any key will return you to the main menu.





OPTION 10 - FORMATTED LISTING



Options 5 and 6 from the sub-menu work respectively to the screen and to the

printer (if fitted). Spectrum BASIC program listings become very difficult to

interpret when a large number of multi-statement lines are used. These

utilities enable you to list the program from any specified line number in a

form that is easy to read. Each statement of a multi-statement line will be

printed on a new line and indented by a few spaces, making interpretation,

and therefore programming, simpler and quicker.





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Another Fine Product transcribed by:

Jim Grimwood, Weardale, England (http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~jimg/)

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