[duxhelp] Re: Problems with the "go to page" and "go to next and previous page"

  • From: "Peter Sullivan" <peter@xxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <duxhelp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2004 12:30:42 -0400

Dave,

I am familiar with WordPerfects "hard page" and "soft page" codes.  But
we're certainly not considering building such a thing into DBT.  That would
set us back another year or two in release.

While I don't mean to doubt you, I don't know of any case where, after the
Go To dialog, a warning is given in error.  If you are able, please send me
a sample file, with a particular location to try.

Unfortunately, it's probably too late also to amend CTRL+PGDN and CTRL+PGUP.
The good news is that we can do this for a later release, and won't need to
reworking anything about the way DBT encodes page breaks to accomplish it.

- Peter

-----Original Message-----
From: duxhelp-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:duxhelp-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Dave Durber
Sent: Thursday, July 22, 2004 12:26 PM
To: duxhelp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [duxhelp] Problems with the "go to page" and "go to next and
previous page"

I have two questions as follows:

When you press <CTRL+G> to go to a specific page, the program will often
come up with a message telling you that you cannot go to that location.
However, when you press the <ENTER> key, you will invariably find yourself
at the location you requested regardless of the previous message.

I think that DBT comes up with that message because it cannot calculate
accurately enough, for example, where the top-of-the page is on certain
pages.

A good idea might be to use the same or similar system that WordPerfect
used, that is:

[spg], which stood for "soft page break".  This code indicated when a page
was filled up and a new page began.  You would see this code when
paragraphs, list and outline items spread across page boundaries from one
page to another.

[hpg], which stood for "hard page break".  This code was used when you
wanted to end the current page and start a new page.

Now, if DBT used such a system, then the go to page function could search
for the [spg] or [hpg] codes, calculate the number of codes to reach that
location and place you at the top of that page that you requested.

This brings me onto another function, that is the <CTRL+PGDN> "go to next
page" and the <CTRL+PGUP> "go to previous page commands, which at present do
not work as they really should.

Although these keystrokes do move the cursor to the next and previous page,
in my experience they do not move the cursor to the top of the page by
default, which should be the case.

Example:  If you have a braille file on-screen that contains 50 pages of
text and the cursor is on "page15 line5 column1, you press <CTRL+PGDN> to go
to top of page 16, the status line should say
"page16 line1 column1", logically, this is where the cursor should be
located but, in my experience when you read the status line it actually
reads "page16 line5 column1", which is the same line and column positions as
the previous page.  This might vary depending on format codes and styles
that might be in effect at that location in the file which might force DBT
to place the cursor as near to "column1" on "page16 line5" as possible.

Likewise, if you want to move the cursor from its current location which is
"page 16 line5 column1" an move it to the top of page 15 You should have to
press <CTRL+PGUP> once to move the cursor to the top of "page 16 line1
column1", which is the top of the current page and then press the
<CTRL+PGUP> again to move the cursor to the top of the previous page which
is "page15 line1 column1".

From my experience this is not the case.  If the cursor is on "page16
line1 column1" and you press <CTRL+PGUP> the cursor moves to the previous
page with the same line and column location, that is "line5 column1",
depending on the format or style codes that might be in effect at that
location in the file which might force DBT to place the cursor as near to
"column1" "page15 line5" as possible.

Like the "go to" command if DBT used codes such as [spg] and [hpg] to
indicate hard and soft page breaks, Dbt could search for these codes to
accurately place the cursor at the top of the next and previous page when
the <CTRL+PGDN> and <CTRL+PGUP> key combinations are used. 

Sincerely:

Dave Durber

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