$WW,1$$FG,5$$IV,1$$TX+CX,"TIPS"$$IV,0$$FG$

* Turn-off or reboot ($FG,2$<CTRL-ALT-DEL>$FG$) at any time, except during disk writes.  Writes are not cached. 

* 64-bit values are most efficient for the compiler.

* If you make changes to SparrowOS files in your $FG,2$HOME$FG$ directory, generally you reboot to make them take effect.  (You don't compile anything.)  You should have two SparrowOS partitions on your hard drive because a syntax error in a start-up file will make the partition unbootable.  Boot to the second partition or boot to a standard SparrowOS CD-ROM and use $LK,"Mount","MN:Mount"$() to mount your hard drive.

* I copy my files to a mirrored identical partition, periodically with $LK,"CopyTree","MN:CopyTree"$() commands in scripts.  I do merge commands with a menu entry like this:
$FG,5$M(\"D:/SparrowOS/*\",\"E:/SparrowOS/*\",\"+r+d\");$FG$ to check my changes.

* $FG,2$<CTRL-M>$FG$ at the cmd line to access your personal menu.  Place macros there with $FG,2$<CTRL-L>$FG$, or icon-like sprites with $FG,2$<CTRL-R>$FG$.  Use the $FG,2$Pop-Up$FG$ option on macros to $LK,"Spawn","MN:Spawn"$() a task to run a file.  It dies when it is finished.  This returns mem to the system.  Be sure to press $FG,2$<CTRL-S>$FG$ to save your macro/menu area after making changes.

* You can adjust the num of answers displayed by setting $FG,2$Fs->answers_displayed$FG$ to a num from 0-3 in your $LK,"UserStartUp","MN:UserStartUp"$ routine.

* You can use $FG,2$ans0$FG$,$FG,2$ans1$FG$, etc. in cmd line expressions.  They hold results from the last cmd line operations.  You can use the cmd prompt as a calculator by just entering expressions like $FG,2$1+2*3;$FG$.  $FG,2$F64$FG$ results can be accessed with $FG,2$ansf0$FG$ or $FG,2$ansf1$FG$.

* Use the PullDown menu at the top of the screen to learn commands, like for games.

* You can adjust the mouse movement rate by setting global vars in your start-up file.  See $LK,"mouse scale","FF:HOME/Adam3aLocalize.CPP.Z,mxx_scale"$.

* If your mouse wheel doesn't work, you might try an actual $FG,2$PS/2$FG$ mouse.  My new machine does not have $FG,2$PS/2$FG$ ports.

* You can set your local time zone by setting the $LK,"local_time_offset","MN:local_time_offset"$ global var in a start-up file.  It's units are $LK,"CDATE_FREQ","MN:CDATE_FREQ"$.  See $LK,"local time","FF:HOME/Adam3aLocalize.CPP.Z,local_time"$.

* Use $LK,"DocCurAttr","MN:DocCurAttr"$() in $LK,"UserStartUp","MN:UserStartUp"$() to set terminal window colors.

* See $MA+A-X+PU,"Key Map","KeyMap;View;\n"$ for a list of defined keys.  Define your own keys in $LK,"MyPutKey","MN:MyPutKey"$().  See $LK,"::/SparrowOS/Doc/KeyBoard.TXT.Z","FI:::/SparrowOS/Doc/KeyBoard.TXT.Z"$.

* $FG,2$<CTRL-SHIFT-L>$FG$ in the editor to autoindent a $FG,2$C+$FG$ function or renumber an asm routine's local labels.  If it does not have $FG,2$#exe$FG$ config stuff, select "recompile."  Otherwise, don't recompile$FG$ and it will use the compiler info collected when it was most recently compiled.  $BK,1$$FG,2$<CTRL-SHIFT-L>$FG$ can be used to test if a file will compile.$BK,0$

* While developing applications, keeping everything in one source file allows you to use the $FG,2$<CTRL-SHIFT-L>$FG$ compile check/autoindent feature.  Alternatively, you can $FG,2$#include$FG$ the files in a project a file depends on before entering the editor and $FG,2$<CTRL-SHIFT-L>$FG$ it.

* You can use $FG,2$filter_lines$FG$ in the editor text search form ($FG,2$<CTRL-F>$FG$) to temporarily display just lines near each match.  A value of $FG,2$filter lines$FG$ set to $FG,2$5$FG$ will display lines within 5 lines of matches.  Then, you can do another find to a different string and achieve a $FG,2$AND$FG$ search.  When finished, press $FG,2$<ESC>$FG$.
 
* You can recompile and reinstall the kernel with $LK,"InstallBoot","MN:InstallBoot"$().  You'll probably want to make a function for recompiling that uses the $LK,"Auto","MN:Auto"$() function to answer the cfg questions.  See my technique $LK,"Cfg Strs","FL:::/SparrowOS/Demo/AcctExample/TSAdam.CPP.Z,1"$ $LK,"Update Funs","FL:::/SparrowOS/Demo/AcctExample/TSDistribute.CPP.Z,1"$.

* You can disable $FG,2$WORDSTAT$FG$ commenting-out $LK,"WSInit","FF:HOME/Adam3fSys.CPP.Z,WSInit"$() in $LK,"HOME/Adam3fSys.CPP.Z","FF:HOME/Adam3fSys.CPP.Z,WSInit"$.

* You can rst MultiCore CPU's if they get hung with $LK,"MPStart","MN:MPStart"$().  HD Audio will get screwed-up, however.

* Boolean expressions $BK,1$not$BK,0$ in $FG,2$if$FG$ statements don't have short circuit logic and are compiled inefficiently.

* You can use $LK,"progress1","MN:progress1"$-$LK,"progress4","MN:progress4"$ in your programs for whatever you like.  They're just global vars that are shown on the wallpaper.  The original intent was to indicate how far along operations were.  There's no coordination, so different apps might interfere.  I use them most for debugging--just values easily viewed.  See $LK,"::/SparrowOS/Demo/Progress.CPP.Z","FI:::/SparrowOS/Demo/Progress.CPP.Z"$.

* You can save the cmd line doc as text with $FG,2$<CTRL-A>$FG$.  For a bitmap screen capture, use $LK,"BMPFileCaptureScreen","MN:BMPFileCaptureScreen"$().  You might want to make a hot key.  See $LK,"BMPFileCaptureScreen","FF:::/SparrowOS/Demo/AcctExample/TSAdam.CPP.Z,BMPFileCaptureScreen"$.

* Use $LK,"DocMax","MN:DocMax"$() to adjust the size of the cmd line buf.  It counts $LK,"CDoc","MN:CDoc"$ entries, not lines.

* Many data structures have a $FG,2$user_data$FG$ member.  Those are available for you to store a data item, for convenience.  $LK,"CTask","MN:CTask"$, $LK,"CDocEntry","MN:CDocEntry"$ and $LK,"CDirEntry","MN:CDirEntry"$ have them.  You shouldn't encounter conflicts with SparrowOS using them.

* You can reduce mem usage by making a smaller disk cache when you recompile the kernel; disabling $FG,2$WORDSTAT$FG$; Specifying smaller stk sizes when doing $LK,"Spawn","MN:Spawn"$(), changing $LK,"DFT_STK","MN:DFT_STK"$, and using $LK,"DocMax","MN:DocMax"$() to reduce the cmd line buffer size.

* Filenames ending in "$FG,2$.Z$FG$" will be automatically compressed and uncompressed when read or written.  The compression method is not supported by other operating systems.  You can store files uncompressed by $LK,"Move","MN:Move"$()ing them to a filename not ending in "$FG,2$.Z$FG$".  See $LK,"::/SparrowOS/Doc/TSZ.TXT.Z","FI:::/SparrowOS/Doc/TSZ.TXT.Z"$ if you want to uncompress while in $FG,2$WINDOWS$FG$.

* $LK,"MergeChk","MN:MergeChk"$() can be used to see what's changed.  The $FG,2$+d$FG$ flag will show differences of files which have changed and allow you to merge code.  (The $FG,2$+r$FG$ flag will recurse.)

* There is a utility $LK,"LinkChk","MN:LinkChk"$() which will check for broken links in documentation.

* You can use $LK,"OptOn","MN:OptOn"$($LK,"OPTf_WARN_PAREN","MN:OPTf_WARN_PAREN"$) to find unnecessary parentheses in code.

* You can use $LK,"OptOn","MN:OptOn"$($LK,"OPTf_WARN_DUP_TYPES","MN:OPTf_WARN_DUP_TYPES"$) to find unnecessary local var type statements.

* $LK,"OptEqu","MN:OptEqu"$($LK,"OPTf_ECHO","MN:OPTf_ECHO"$,ON) can be placed in $LK,"Adam1.CPP.Z","FI:::/SparrowOS/OSMain/Adam1.CPP.Z"$ to echo start-up scripts.

* Use $LK,"Plain","MN:Plain"$() to edit a plain text file.  You'll need this if your file has $FG,2$$$$FG$'s.  Use the $LK,"::/SparrowOS/Misc/Dollar.CPP.Z","FI:::/SparrowOS/Misc/Dollar.CPP.Z"$ utility to strip dollar signs in text files.

* Use $LK,"Silent","MN:Silent"$() to disable screen text output.

* Use $LK,"IOSnd","MN:IOSnd"$() to disable noise from disk access.

* Grab-scroll any window at any time with $FG,2${CTRL-LEFT-DRAG}$FG$.  Null grab-scrolling with $FG,2${CTRL-RIGHT}$FG$.

* Use $FG,2$<CTRL-ALT-Z>$FG$ to zoom-in and $FG,2$<CTRL-ALT-SHIFT-Z>$FG$ to zoom-out.  You can scroll by moving to the edge of the window.  Set $LK,"gr_continuous_scroll","MN:gr_continuous_scroll"$ to $FG,2$TRUE$FG$ if you want. 

* Use $FG,2$<CTRL-ALT-G>$FG$ and $FG,2$<CTRL-ALT-SHIFT-G>$FG$ to display a grid on the screen.

* Use $FG,2$<CTRL-ALT-A>$FG$ to enter an extended ASCII char.

* There are handy functions--$FG,2$F(),R(),FD()$FG$ and $FG,2$RD()$FG$ which are defined in $LK,"HOME/Adam3eWrappers.CPP.Z","FI:HOME/Adam3eWrappers.CPP.Z"$.  You're encouraged to change them, since they're in acct files.  They will perform find-and-replace operations accross multiple files.  The $FG,2$+l$FG$ flag is particularly useful since it limits to whole labels.  The $FG,2$+lf$FG$ and $FG,2$+lb$FG$ flags limit to whole labels, just front or back.  You are encouraged to add or modify handy wrapper functions to make cmd line operations easier.

* When using $LK,"Grep","MN:Grep"$() while modifying code, work from the bottom-up so that line numbers are correct.  If you work top-down, then inserting or deleting lines causes the lower file links will be incorrect.

* You can save files after making changes, anytime you are within the editor, like when viewing help/macro files.  $FG,2$<CTRL-A>$FG$ saves as, $FG,2$<CTRL-S>$FG$ saves with the same name in the scrolling title bar.  Hitting $FG,2$<ESC>$FG$ will exit and save.  ($FG,2$<SHIFT-ESC>$FG$ will abort).  You can save the cmd line window to a file, too, since you're actually in the editor when you're at the cmd line.

* When using $FG,2$<CTRL-L>$FG$ to insert links in documents, you can usually leave the $FG,2$Tag Text$FG$ blank and it will be filled-in automatically based on other entries.

* There is a feature of the precompiler that allows code to be executed in the middle of compilation and data inserted into the compilation stream.  Click here for an example: $LK,"#exe {","FF:::/SparrowOS/OSMain/OSEnd.CPP.Z,#exe {"$.

* If you output to the cmd line and wish to allow users to scroll around and view data, you can use $LK,"View","MN:View"$().

* Use $LK+S,"View","MN:View"$() in Pop-up macros to linger until the user presses $FG,2$<ESC>$FG$ or $FG,2$<SHIFT-ESC>$FG$.

* You can access the word under the cursor at $LK,"ws_cur_word","MN:ws_cur_word"$, but you should probably turn-off preemption or interrupts momentarily to copy it.

* You can reactivate $FG,2$WORDSTAT$FG$ after closing it by pressing $FG,2$CTRL-FUN KEY$FG$.

* If you use consistent var names for items of different classes, you'll usually be able to use $FG,2$WORDSTAT$FG$'s autocomplete for member vars.  I always use $FG,2$lx$FG$ for $LK,"CLex","MN:CLex"$ ptrs; $FG,2$doc$FG$ for $LK,"CDoc","MN:CDoc"$ ptrs; $FG,2$doc_e$FG$ or $FG,2$doc_ce$FG$ for $LK,"CDocEntry","MN:CDocEntry"$ ptrs, etc.


* $LK,"Preempt","MN:Preempt"$() is used to keep a task from being interrupted and swapped-out.  It has a similar effect to turning-off interrupts.  Each task has it's own preemption ctrl.  A task with preemption turned-off can voluntarily $LK,"Yield","MN:Yield"$() with preemption off.

* You can set a color for different drives with $LK,"SetDrvTextAttr","MN:SetDrvTextAttr"$().  Place calls to this in $LK,"HOME/Adam3aLocalize.CPP.Z","FI:HOME/Adam3aLocalize.CPP.Z"$.

* $FG,2$<CTRL-SHIFT-T>$FG$ to toggle to/from plain text just the $LK,"CDoc","MN:CDoc"$ cmd under the cursor.  See $LK,"::/SparrowOS/Demo/Doc/TextDemo.CPP.Z","FI:::/SparrowOS/Demo/Doc/TextDemo.CPP.Z"$.
 
* If you toggle to plain text when you are working with graphics in a document, you can add duplicate entries for sprites by entering a $FG,2$SP$FG$ cmd with the same num.

* If you toggle to plain text when working with graphics, you can add a str to the $FG,2$$$SP$$$FG$ entry to keep track of it.  Try $FG,2$$$SP,"<2>",2$$$FG$ where '2' is the sprite num.

* I use spaces-to-tab operations on all my src files to keep them small.  You have to be careful, though, because spaces in strings will be converted.  I use $FG,2$<SHIFT-SPACE>$FG$ ' ' in such cases.  See $LK,"S2T","MN:S2T"$() for spaces-to-tabs.

* You can edit an existing sprite by putting the cursor on it and pressing $FG,2$<CTRL-R>$FG$.

* When editing a sprite, you can cut and paste the elements in the text list window.

* I recommend keeping CSprite in vect format until you are done creating them, so you can edit the ctrl points.  Then, convert them to bitmaps, so the flood fills work well.  If you are doing interpolation, however, they must be vect.

* $LK,"GrFloodFill","MN:GrFloodFill"$() is slow.  $LK,"GrRect","MN:GrRect"$() is fast.

* You can customize the $FG,2$wallpaper$FG$.  See $LK,"::/SparrowOS/Demo/Graphics/MyWallPaper.CPP.Z","FI:::/SparrowOS/Demo/Graphics/MyWallPaper.CPP.Z"$.

* You can adjust the screen refresh rate (software).  It is automatically adjusted based on load.  The range is $LK,"win_min_refresh","MN:win_min_refresh"$ - $FG,4$Fs->win_max_refresh$FG$.

* Your RAM disks will not be reformated when you reboot if the memory location has not changed and it finds the disk intacted.

* $FG,2$try{} catch{}$FG$ in a function will cause all vars to be non-register.

* Using a sub-int array, $FG,2$i.u8[3]$FG$, for example, will force a var non-register.

* You can delete the $FG,4$HOME/Registry.CPP.Z$FG$ file.  The policy is that deleting it will restore defaults.  It should plain text, if you want to edit it.  Be careful of tree indentations.

* Study $LK,"::/SparrowOS/Adam/MemRep.CPP.Z","FI:::/SparrowOS/Adam/MemRep.CPP.Z"$ and $LK,"WallPaper","MN:WallPaper"$() to learn how the system resources are put together.

* The editor's select-text mechanism allows for disjoint portions of selected text.  This is a feature, not a bug -- you can cut-and-paste disjoint text.

* $LK,"time_stamp_freq","MN:time_stamp_freq"$ is continuously calibrated, so be careful because expressions involving it might decrease.  Take a snap-shot, like this: $FG,2$timeout=$LK,"GetTimeStamp","MN:GetTimeStamp"$+$LK,"time_stamp_freq","MN:time_stamp_freq"$ x seconds;$FG$ and compare against $LK,"GetTimeStamp","MN:GetTimeStamp"$().

* Use $LK,"HeapLog","MN:HeapLog"$() and $LK,"HeapLogRep","MN:HeapLogRep"$() to find leaks.  Don't be confused by $LK,"CDoc","MN:CDoc"$ allocations.  Those are generated when text is written to the cmd line buffer.

* For advanced heap debugging, play with $LK,"_CFG_HEAP_DBG","MN:_CFG_HEAP_DBG"$.  You're on your own.

* You can use $LK,"Type","MN:Type"$() to display $FG,2$.BMP$FG$ or $FG,2$.GRA$FG$ files.
