READ.FILE V01 RP AUTOMATION INC. 11JAN89

DESCRIPTION

The programs in this file allow files to be displayed from the

floppy diskette, without actually loading them into memory.

The file to be displayed could be either an ASCII file (normal

VAL file containing .PROGRAM's, .LOCATIONS, and .REALS), or a

binary file (CALIBRATION OVERLAY, POTCAL, or diagnostic file).

PREPARATION

To load the necessary programs into memory, LOAD READ.FILE

To execute the main program, EX READ.FILE

PROGRAM EXECUTION

The inital PROMPT from the program is to ask for the

name of the file to be displayed. If no name is entered,

then the program is EXIT'd.

The next PROMPT is about whether this file is an ASCII

file, or a BINARY file. All files that get LOAD'd into

a VAL-II system are ASCII files. Any files that need a

different method (OVE or DIAG) are BINARY files.

The file is then opened on the diskette, and the reading

and displaying commences.

Each block of data read from the file gets displayed on

the CRT screen (256 bytes per block). A <RETURN> must

be typed in order to read another block. This process

continues until the entire file has been read.

When the file is finished, the program EXITs.

NOTES

Because of the way that the data is read from the diskette (in

blocks of 256 bytes), it is likely that parts of one line will

be in one block, while the rest of that line will be in the

next block.

MESSAGES

*** Floppy error nn ***

If a floppy error occurs during the program, then this message

will get displayed, where 'nn' is a number which corresponds to

the internal floppy disk drive error code. The codes are:

2 = File already exists (creating new file with same name)

3 = File does not exist (opening file for reading)

4 = Communications error between VAL & floppy

5 = Disk full (writing to disk)

6 = Communications error between VAL & floppy

7 = Communications error between VAL & floppy

10 = Communications error between VAL & floppy

11 = Communications error between VAL & floppy

12 = Floppy not ready

13 = Floppy read error (diskette may be bad)

14 = Communications error between VAL & floppy

41 = No STX received during block transfer

42 = Incorrect checksum received during block transfer

*** All Done ***

When program has finished this message gets displayed.