June 20, 1990 Both the executable and this file are the copyrighted property of: Paul Warner 205 Raymond Rd. Princeton, NJ 08540 No Warranty either implied or otherwise is given for the use of this product. Any use of this product shall be at the users risk, and any damage shall the sole liability of the user. The program MSEPTR was written to allow designing mouse pointers of various descriptions for use in applications. It allow the design of the pointer and allows it to be used on the screen after design. It can be used in several ways. First, it can be used in the normal "XOR" approach, allowing the mouse pointer to assume a contrasting color to it's current background color. This is the method used by most mouse cursors. A second method is to keep the mouse color WHITE. This allows the mouse pointer to showup better on all colors except WHITE. Obviously it can't be seen on WHITE at all. The third method, and the one I personally like best keeps the cursor WHITE but outlines it in BLACK. this gives all the advantages of the WHITE cursor and still allows it to be seen on WHITE. Although the program accepts certain command-line arguments, none are necessary. All facets of the program can be adjusted while you are within the program. The program requires a VGA adapter. If enough need comes up, it can be modified to allow EGA screens. It also requires the use of a mouse with at least two buttons. It's operation is simple, to begin type MSEPTR followed by . This will bring up the program screen. the screen consists of a line of characters at the bottom of the screen and several designs covering the rest of the screen. The purpose of the designs is to see how the mouse appears while on top of the color of the design, nothing mysterious. The line at the bottom looks like: args = a s f m x X c C aw ax wx xw which stands for: a = arrow s = square f = fill tool m = magnifying glass x = thin "x" X = thick "X" c = upright cutter tool C = sideways cutter tool aw = alternate the "WHITE" mode ax = alternate the "XOR" mode wx = nothing xw = changes color to indicate the current "WHITE" and "XOR" mode Placing the mouse on top of the desired thing and depressing the left mouse button selects that function or pointer style. When you are toggling the WHITE and XOR modes, the current condition doesn't change until the next pointer style is selected (it can be the same one). To modify the pointer, first select the pointer that is closest to the desired result. then move the mouse pointer to anywhere after the "wx" on the line and depress the left mouse button. An enlarged picture will appear in the upper-left corner of the screen. Placing the mouse on a square within the picture and depressing the left button will turn-on the pixel or depressing the right button will turn off the pixel. This can be continued until you have the desired result. Depressing both left and right buttons simultaneously or the third (center) button will put you back to the normal mode. You may then select the modified pointer to check the result. To see what you have done, move the mouse pointer to the upper left corner of the screen. Depressing the left button will draw a binary representation of what the two mouse buffers need to look like or depressing the right will draw a hexadecimal representation. The left-hand column is the XOR buffer and the right-hand column is the AND buffer. While in the "normal" screen mode, depressing both left and right hand buttons simultaneously (or the center button) will cause you to EXIT from the program and restore your screen to text mode. NOTE: when you exit, all information is lost. If you need it, write it down while you are still in the program. If you need Microsoft "C" compatible libraries to use in writing your programs, call me. Paul Warner 205 Raymond Rd Princeton, NJ 08540 (201) 329-3216