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ANSI Editor

Mystic has its own inbuilt ANSI editor it's packed full of features for viewing, editing and creating ANSI files. Like all of Mystic's functions this is designed to work over any terminal connection.

There are a couple of ways to access the editor. There is a command line option to start the text editor.

mystic: -ansi<filename>

If <filename> is supplied it will open that file otherwise it will create an empty buffer. e.g.

mystic -ansi text\gj-glue1.ans

You can also run Mystic -CFG then head to the 'Other' menu and select “ANSI Editor”.

The ANSI editor can load display files with color codes from PCBoard, Wildcat, Mystic's pipe codes, and ANSI. The editor can save in ASCII or Pipe Code or ANSI and includes variable line length saving for ANSI files as well as some display options that can be set specifically to Mystic BBS.

Below is a screenshot of the ANSI editor in action.

In this example the editor menu has been invoked by pressing the ESC key.

[X:01 Y:1    ] ATTR [OVR] [NORMAL] <^Z/Help> P:01 F1░ 2▒ 3▓ 4█ 5▀ 6▄ 7¦ 8Ì 9■ 0
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ ¦ ···                                                          |!0    ··· Ì │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│█▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀|!4
│█|!1                                                                        █│
│█|!3    ╔════════════════════════ Draw Menu ═════════════════════════╗      █│
│█       ║                                                            ║      █│
│█       ║   >>   Foreground          a. ┌┐└┘─│├┤┴┬    b. ╔╗╚╝═║╠╣╩╦  ║      █│
│█       ║     ░███████████████       c. ı©È¥═│ãÁ¤Ð    d. ÍÀË¢─║ÃÂðÊ  ║      █│
│█|!2    ║            ^               e. ┼╬ÏÎÞÚ:S"´    F. ░▒▓█▀▄¦Ì■·  ║      █│
│▀▄▄▄▄▄▄▄║        Background          g. «»‗¾®¬²÷½¼    h. Ò±¶§ÛØõ°¹³  ║▄▄▄▄▄▄█│
├────────║     ░███████████████       i. ÓßÔÕµþÙýÝ¯    j. ¼!Ññ▄x¸¨¡¿  ║───────┤
│ ¦ ···  ║     ^                      k. Æ▲&áª }Å↑↓    l. ã0`éÉR9ìí~  ║ ··· Ì │
├────────║                            m. ∟↔"óº‼ü¶úa                   ║───────┤
│█▀▀▀▀▀▀▀║  FG:07   color   BG:00                                     ║▀▀▀▀▀▀▄│
│█|!5    ║                            O Open File      # Keys Normal  ║      █│
│█|!7    ║                            S Save File      Q Quit Drawing ║      █│
│█       ╚════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝     |!8
│█                                                                           █│
│█                                                                           █│
│█|!6                                                                        █│
│▀▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄█│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

There are a number of hot keys that can be selected:

O - Open File

This will open a file explorer to a default directory specified as 'Text File Path' in the System Paths section of Mystic -CFG

A file mask applied so that only ASCII or ANSI files with a *.a?? extension are displayed. Pressing enter on any file will load its contents in to the ANSI editor.

Note the options below include a CTRL-D to specify a directory path to open and TAB that will show/hide directories from the explorer view.

Below is a screenshot of the file explorer in action.

                                   (EOF)
      ╔═══════════════════════════ Select a File ═══════════════════════════╗
      ║ (Ctrl-D) Directory                         (TAB) Toggle Directories ║
      ║ c:\mystic\text\*.a??                                                ║
      ║                                                                     ║
      ║ File Name                                  Size  Date        Time   ║
      ║ amsghlp1.asc                               538b  17 Mar 2019 10:27a █
      ║ amsghlp2.asc                              1014b  17 Mar 2019 10:27a ░
      ║ ansichat.ans                                2kb  17 Mar 2019 10:27a ░
      ║ ansieditor.ans                              1kb  17 Mar 2019 10:27a ░
      ║ ansiflst.ans                               461b  17 Mar 2019 10:27a ░
      ║ ansigal.ans                                600b  17 Mar 2019 10:27a ░
      ║ ansigalh.ans                                1kb  17 Mar 2019 10:27a ░
      ║ ansigalv.ans                               396b  17 Mar 2019 10:27a ░
      ║ ansihelp.ans                               589b  17 Mar 2019 10:27a ░
      ║ ansimidx.ans                               671b  17 Mar 2019 10:27a ░
      ║ ansimidxhelp.asc                          1000b  17 Mar 2019 10:27a ░
      ║ ansimlst.ans                               768b  17 Mar 2019 10:27a ░
      ╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝

S - Save File

This hot key opens a Save File dialogue box and allows you to set a number of things.

File Name - Set the full path and filename of the ANSI / ASCII you are saving
Clear Screen - Save file with a clear screen code included. Default is Yes.
Allow Abort -
Pause Screen -
Display Speed -
File Type - Set file type (ANSI / ASCII / Pipe Code)
CRLF at EOF - If this is Yes, Mystic will save a CRLF at the end of the ANSI file so that the cursor moves to the next line. If No, then Mystic will not. Default is Yes.
Line Length -

Below is a screenshot of the Save File options.

    ╔══════════════════════════════ Save File ══════════════════════════════╗
    ║                                                                       ║
    ║      File Name │ c:\mystic\text\welcome.ans                           ║
    ║   Clear Screen │ Yes                                                  ║
    ║    Allow Abort │ Default                                              ║
    ║   Pause Screen │ Default                                              ║
    ║  Display Speed │ Full Speed                                           ║
    ║      File Type │ ANSI                                                 ║
    ║    CRLF at EOF │ Yes                                                  ║
    ║    Line Length │ 0                                                    ║
    ║                                                                       ║
    ║  Save   Abort Save                                                    ║
    ║                                                                       ║
    ╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝

ANSI editor shows a “File saved” confirmation box after saving.

ANSI editor retains the changed filename between save dialog boxes

CTRL+X will now exit the ANSI editor, asking to save if the file has been changed first.

ANSI editor buffers default to saving with “Clear Screen Yes”

ANSI editor has block options. CTRL+B can be used to select a block of text to be centered on.

ANSI editor has a block option for filling a block with a character, an attribute or both.

ANSI editor has a block option to select a block and center text found within the selected block (using the center of the selected block as the center point)

Mystic supports CNET Control-Y color codes. These work in file description .DIZ importing, in file descriptions, in message reading, in Mystic's file/ANSI viewer and ANSI gallery, and Mystic's ANSI editor can now load CNET color coded files.