                               About ST

	Welcome to ST (Panama), the strategical Integrated Development Environment (IDE).

	ST is a powerful, self-sufficient programming environment under which
you seldom need any other tools.  You can edit, compile, debug, run your
program and manage software project and development documentation under ST.

	To install ST, just unzip the ZIP file in the desired directory and
include the directory on your DOS search-path. I recommend you install ST in
C:\ST

	ST is a shareware, that you can distribute freely on conditions that you
distribute the trial use version of the ZIP file, not the expanded files you
are using or the registered version.

	If you have any problems on using this software or have good suggestions,
please contact me with the address at bottom of this file.

==============================================================================

	ST uses multitasking kernel to let you do following things simultaneously:
		editing
		printing
		copy and delete files
		search string among files
		search files on directories or disks

	ST uses multi-document interface letting you open many files
simultaneously. The number of files that can be opened at a time is limited
by your memory size and disk space for swap files. For 600K free base memory,
ST can open up to more than 45 windows or files.

	ST has a taskbar (or taskbox, if you prefer to use), making it convenient
for you to switch between different opened documents or windows.

	ST supports right mouse click on most windows or objects to popup local
menus.

	ST has a project manager, let you manage your software project easily.
In the ST-Project manager, you can open source files to edit, build or make
your project, debug and run the final output executable, and even manage your
development documents stored in ST-Note files.

     []Project ST.STP [][][X]
      File  Node  Convert  Options  Help                        
     ĺ
     ST.EXE-                          Style:       Normal      
     ASM+                         Name:        ST.EXE (09-1
        MOUSE.ASM                Target:      ST.EXE (09-1
        SHELL.ASM                Convert:     tlink.exe -v
        STRING.ASM               Valid:       Yes         
        SYSTEM.ASM               Need Build:  No          
        VIEW.ASM                 Description:             
     CPP.LIB+                                              
     OVERLAY.LIB+                                          
     RSC+                                                  
                                                               
                                                               
                                                               
     
     ͼ

	Three sample ST-Project files were bundled in the package, they comes
exactly from the project ST.STP, which the author uses to build ST itself.
	All these three samples have annotation which you can view by clicking
the "(@)" on the lowerleft corner of the project window.
	You'll found that ST-Project is intuitive and much more easier to setup
and use than MAKE utility.

	ST has a note editor, let you create hierarchical documents. you are
viewing a ST-Note when you access the system help. it is a good idea to
preserve the development documents in a ST-Note file.

     []Control[][][X]
      File  Edit  Search  View  Help                         
     ĺ
     Contents-                 Control                      
     Copyright Info.                                    
     DialogBoxes+      Objects in dialog box or windows 
     Glossary-         such as pushbutton. radiobutton  
        Control       checkbox. label. entry cell. etc.
        GREP                                           
        GRER                                           
        GRES                                           
        HistoryList                                    
        Place Marker                                   
        QuickKey                                       
        Regular Expres                                 
     Libraies                                           
     
     ͼ

	ST has a file manager that likes the explorer of window95 to help you
manage your file or directories.

     []Explorer: C:\DOS[][][X]
      File  Edit  View  Tools  Help                                 
     ĺ
     A:+                    [..]              <Dir> 08-26-1996 
     C:-                    [_ISTMP0.DIR]     <Dir> 08-21-1998 
        ARCHIVES           [~BW1D49.TMP]     <Dir> 08-21-1998 
        BASE                                                  
        DOC+                                                  
        BC5                                                   
        BITWARE+                                              
        BOOKS+                                                
        BS250SMP                                              
        CHINANET+                                             
        DOS+                                                  
        EXCHANGE                                              
     
     Total: 829. 328KB.147.392K3 Object(s)                         
     ͼ

	ST can terminate and stay resident(TSR), you can pop up at almost any
time on conditions that the screen is in character mode.

	ST supports the syntaxhighlighting of many languages such as Assembly,
C/C++, Pascal, Fortran, Cobol, Clipper. you can config the system to
support more language not listed here.  In the future version, ST will let
you config syntaxhighlighting for your language.

	ST supports output of different compilers, that means the editor will
trace the error lines automatically. Following compiler's output has been
tested and be supported:
	Borland Turbo Assembler
	Borland C++ compiler
	Borland Turbo Pascal 7.0
	Microsoft MASM 5.x, 6.0
	Microsoft Fortran 5.x
	Microsoft Cobol 4.5         *
	Clipper 5.x
		* Can not trace error lines automatically.

	You can 'assign' a specific compiler for a type of source file to support
languages not list here.

	All objects (dialog box, window, menu, etc.) you see on your desktop of
ST come from external Resource Files, this means the system has the
potential to support different languages. English is the default language
of the system. The Chinese version of the resource files is also provided.

ST provides many build-in tools to help you to achieve your work. As a
programmer, I know well what tools are needed while programming.

Following is the list of ST features:

	IDE to edit, compille, link/build, debug, run and manage software project.
	Multitasking
	MultiDocument
	Win95 style windows, dialog boxes, menus and taskbar
	TSR program (Occupy only 5K memory)
	Tree-style project manager
	Syntaxhighlighting
	Assign compiler for languages
	External resources (Potential to support many languages)
	Support regular expression
	GRES/GRER (Extension of GREP, Global regular expression search/replace)
	ST-Note Editor for development documentation management.
	File management.
	Character table for editing non-printable characters
	Unlimited redo/undo (regardless of how many changes you made)
	Mouse right button to popup local menus
	Screen picker
	Three block styles
	Dragging editing
	Undo closing edit window
	PlaceMarks between sessions
	Symbol pair match (Support user defined pairs)
	Word defination
	Support "*.c *.h" as open parameter
	Unlimited text file size to open.
	Print task queue management
	User difined online document system
	Batch processor
	Alarm clock, clock, calendar
	Run external executables
	Luxury help system
	...

System requirement:

	DOS 3.0 or later or DOSBOX of Window95/WindowsNT
	At least 2MB of free disk space
	386 or higher

Origin of ST:

	The creating of ST may be an occasion.

	As a Clipper programmer, I wrote database programs. For small database
system, Clipper is so powerful and flexible. But Clipper support only single
document interface. My original plan was to use C/C++ to build the interface
while use Clipper's DBMS. I toke the multitask, MDI, event-driving into my
consideration and built a good text editor. Although I linked the C modules
successfully with the Clipper modules, the performance is degraded. All my
C modules stayed in base memory, unlike Clipper modules that can be swapped
dynamically by Clipper.

	So, I planned to use the C modules to develop an editor for programmers
in about 4 moths. But the development period was enlonged to 13 months before
I can write this read me file, and the software turned to be a development
environment, not just a programmer's editor...

	To develop good interface, I developed several tools: the resource editor
that can 'draw' the dialog boxes or windows visually (as in Visual C++ or
PowerBuilder), menu editor to build menus, and ST-Note editor to build
help files. The explorer was more designed for the author than for the
users, Because all resources such as dialog boxes, windows, system tables
are built there. The explorer in release version of ST is only part of the
one the author uses.

	The ST is wrotten in C++ and assembly(15%), compiled with Borland C++ and
Turbo Assembler, it is a huge object oriented, multitasking and
event-driven class structure.

	The development environment was early the Borland C++ IDE, for later 9
months, it was ST itself. The project file ST.STP for ST contains more than
160 entries(nodes). In the meantime, every needed functionality for
programming was implemented in ST.

If you want to use the ST class library to develop your own programs, sparing
large amount of time to develop dialog boxes, menus, help system, etc. please
contact with me.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To start ST

      ST/? or ST/HELP to view available options

	  ST/I resident the ST, press Ctrl-1 to popup

	  ST/U remove the resident ST

	  ST/S skip restoring the desktop left by last session

	  ST/RX Use alternative drive X (default C) for swap files

	  Examples:
    	ST *.CPP *.H          Open all C plus plus and head files
		ST AB.C DE.H *.ASM    Open all assembly files and two extra files

		.STP files will be treated as ST-Project file.
		.STN files will be treated as ST-Note file.

		ST MYPROJECT.STP      Open project MYPROJECT.STN
		ST MYNOTE.STN         Open a ST-Note file

	After you started ST, Use F3 or "Start|Open" to open a text file.
	Use Alt-F3 to close windows.
	Use Shift-F3 to undo closing a text file (No respective menu command).

	You should assign compile for a file or a type of files, to do this, use
"Start|Setting|Compiler" menu command. You will see how the author assign
compilers for ST project.

	If you uses Borland C++ compiler BCC.EXE, never forget use option -c,
which means Compile Only, otherwise, BCC.EXE will run TLINK.EXE. The full
path and name of compiler is preferable, or, it should be on DOS's Path.

	As an English saying: "The taste of pudding is in tasting", the more you
use ST, the more you will like it.

	You are free to try ST for 30 days. If you find ST is powerful and
suitable for your work and you choose it as your IDE, you are required to
register. To register, see ORDER.DOC for detail.

	You are encouraged to send comments, suggestions or bug reports on ST to
the author.

	Enjoy your programming!

									 STMaker: Xiao Han Qing
									 ShenZhen, People's Republic Of China
									 Oct. 1998

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Tel:		0755-7911287
	E-Mail: 	stmaker@usa.net
	Homepage:   http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/bute/862/