Overview

TextPaint is not designed to use as plain text editor, there is designed to create or modify text as a simple graphic or scheme using ANSI or Unicode characters. You can create texts such as organizational charts, simple circuit schemes, algorithm flow, tables, to use it where destination medium supports text printed using fixed-width font.

The text can be both monochrome saved as plain text or color saved as text with ANSI escape commands. You can view or edit many existing ASCII-art or ANSI-art files.

This application works in system console, but it can also work as graphical window, which simulates the console. You can resize the console or window, but application will be repainted after pressing any key. Application will not be repainted after resizing while the character selector is shown, but the application will be repainted after closing the character table and pressing any key.

TextPaint also provides simple cipher, which user Vigenere algorithm. You can encipher some text fragments using password.

Other functions

TextPaint has other function than text editor, called as work modes. Other work modes uses the same ANSI interpreter and was implemented to test various cases.

There are available following work modes, choosen by WorkMode parameter:

• WorkMode=0 - Text editor, the main purpose of TestPaint, which is described in Readme.md file.
• WorkMode=1 - ANSI viewer with progressive printing and server. This mode can be used to view animation created by progressive placing characters and is described in Readme_ANSI.md file.
• WorkMode=2 - Telnet or SSH client, which is parially compatible with VT100, ANSI and derivative terminal emulators. Details about this mode are described in Readme_ANSI.md file.
• WorkMode=3 - Encoding list display and keycode test. The only purpose is displaying supported encoding list and code/name of every pressed key, which is needed to implement additional functions and test the TextPaint in various platforms. This mode is described in Readme_keys.md file.
• WorkMode=4 - Non-interactive simple command line application, without any interface:
  • Render text into bitmap image detailed in Readme_render.md file.
  • Convert XBIN or BIN file to ANSI text file.
  • Save to files all available 1-byte encodings.

Two editions

TextPaint exists in two editions:

• .NET Framework - compatible with .NET 4.5, uses Windows Forms as graphical user interface.
• .NET Core - compatible with .NET 6.0, uses Avalonia as graphical user interface.

Both editions have identical functionality, but can have some subtle differences like following:

• Available .NET built-in text encodings.
• Bell sound availability.
• Interaction with system clipboard.
• Fullscreen window display.

Application running

For the .NET Framework edition, input file name as command line parameter. If you not give parameter or give blank file name, the Config.txt file will be opened to allow editing the configuration file.

TextPaint.exe FileNameWithPath.txt [parameters]

If you use Mono project (required in Linux), you can run application with this command:

mono TextPaint.exe FileNameWithPath.txt [parameters]

The .NET Core edition can be run on Windows and Linux by the command:

dotnet TextPaint.dll FileNameWithPath.txt [parameters]

In the further document text, there will be uset the TextPaint as application file name.

You can also override configuration options, which can be used in Config.txt file. From second parameter, application accepts configuration parameters profided with = character. For example, to force running in 40x15 window, run this command:

TextPaint FileNameWithPath.txt WinUse=2 WinW=40 WinH=15

In work mode 3, in place of file name, you have to provide server address with port. if the port equals to 23, it can be ommited.

TextPaint 192.168.1.100:23 WorkMode=3

All options are described in Configuration file chapter.

Application files and directories

TextPaint is supplied with the following files and directories:

• Samples - Sample text files.
• Fonts - Bitmap fonts.
• Config.txt - Main configuration file.
• Fav.txt - Favorite character definitions.
• Info.txt - Context information.
• TextPaint.exe or TextPaint.dll - Application binary executable.
• Libraries needed to run the TextPaint.

Functionality and interface

TextPaint can work in one of the 4 states. The default state is state 1. In all states, you can use these keys:

• Arrows - Move cursor horizontally or vertically.
• Home, End, PageUp, PageDown - Move cursor diagonally.
• Tab - Change cursor visualization type, one of four modes. This function may help to match writing/drawing to other objects.
• F1 - Switch to state 1 (edit text) or show information about state 1.
• F2 - Switch to state 2 (edit characters) or show information about state 2.
• F3 - Switch to state 3 (character paint) or show information about state 3.
• F4 - Switch to state 4 (pixel paint) or show information about state 4.
• F7 - Save file. If the cipher is enabled, you will have to input cipher password twice. If password is not the same, you will have to input password one more time.
• F8 - Reload file. If the cipher is enabled, you will have to input cipher password used to save the file.
• F9 - Open character selection to draw.
• F12 - Quit TextPaint.
• Z - Undo (not works in state 1 and state 2).
• X - Redo (not works in state 1 and state 2).

To undo or redo editing text or characters (state 1 or state 2), you can undo/redy by following procedure:

1. Switch temporarily to state 2 or state 3.
2. Press Z or X key to undo or redo.
3. Switch back to state 0 or state 1.

The other available keys depends on the current working state. The unnecessary spaces and lines are automatically trimmed during editing. You can write on the grey aread, then necessary lines or spaces will be added automatically.

The colors are following:

• White text on black background - Actual text.
• Dark gray - Space beyond end of line.
• Bright gray - Space below the last line.
• Black text in white background - Status bar.

Load another file during session

You can load another file without close and restart the TextPaint application. If you write the full path for another file and press the F8, the another file will be loaded if the file exists and can be loaded. Otherwise, the same file will be reloaded.

This feature allows to load other file by dropping the file icon onto the TextPaint console/window. Before load other file, make sure, that:

• TextPaint is in the State 1.
• One of the following conditions:
  • The text writing direction is the right (the Text-R on the status bar) and cursor is in the most left column.
  • The text writing direction is the down (the Text-D on the status bar) and cursor is in the most top line.

Theoretically, there is possible loading the file in every text direction, but the Text-R and Text-D are the most recommended.

If you drop the file icon, the operating system will automatically write the full path for the file. If you press the F8 key, the text before the cursor (the opposite direction than the write direction) will be analyzed. If the text represents the correct path, the other file fill be loaded. In the console (when WinUse=0), the path will be cange in operating system specified method. TextPaint can recognize the change in the path and automatically change the path back. The operating system changess the path are as following and there is not possible to affect the console behavior:

• Windows: Use the double quotes arounding the path.
• Linux: Use single quotes arounding the path or preceed the path with dollar character.
• MacOS: Precede every special character with backslach.

Context information

When you press the F1, F2, F3, F4 key one more time, after switchint to the state, there will be displayed short information about selected state. Use arrow keys to scroll the text.

To close information, press Esc or any F key (F1-F12). The informations are read from the Info.txt file.

Status bar

At the bottom of console window, there is the status bar, with black text on white background. The status bar in state 1, state 2 and state 3 has the following informations from left to right:

1. Font and cursor size (width and height).
2. Cursor position (row and column). The character between numbers indicated current text area:
   • Colon - All cells of the cursor are inside some text line.
   • Semicolon - At least one cursor cell is beyond end of text line, but all cursor cells are not below the last line.
   • Comma - At least one cell of the cursor is below the last line of text.
3. Character number and glyph under the most cursor cells.
4. Number of background and foreground color under the most cursor cells, the hyphen indicates, that color is not defined (used default).
5. Attribute state as 7-character string under the most cursor cells, where underscore means disabled attribute and letter means enabled attribute as following:
   • B - Bold
   • I - Italic
   • U - Underscore
   • S - Strikethrough
   • K - Blink
   • R - Reserved
   • C - Concealed
6. State indicator:
   • Text - Write text (state 1), followed by direction indicator:
     • R - Right - From left to right.
     • RD - Right/Down - From up-left to down-right.
     • D - Down - From up to down.
     • DL - Down/Left - From up-right to down-left.
     • L - Left - From right to left.
     • LU - Left/Up - From down-right to up-left.
     • U - Up - From down to up.
     • UR - Up/Right - From down-left to up-right.
   • Char - Write character (state 2), followed by direction indicator the same as in the state 1.
   • Rect - Character drawing (state 3), rectangle shape.
   • Dia - Character drawing (state 3), diamond shape.
7. Elements in state 3 only:
   1. Shape size.
   2. Character set used to draw figure in state 3:
      • Single character: Character code and glyph.
      • Character set: Name defined in Config.txt file.
8. Insert/delete mode:
   1. H-block - Insert or delete text inside one line, at right from the cursor - moves text horizontally.
   2. V-block - Insert or delete text inside one column, below the cursor - moves text vertically.
   3. H-line - Insert or delete columns - moves text horizontally.
   4. V-line - Insert or delete rows - moves text vertically.
   5. H-roll - Roll the text horizontally - combine of insertion and deletion by font width, works on the state 3 only and when the rectangle width is greater than 1.
   6. V-roll - Roll the text vertically - combine of insertion and deletion by font height, works on the state 3 only and when the rectangle height is greater than 1.

The status bar in state 4 has different layout, which is described in subchapter about state 4.

Character and color selector

TextPaint has two similar selectors. In order to enter into selector, press F9 key and switch between selectors by pressing F3 key.

Character selector

In the state 3 and state 4, you can draw using selected character. The current drawing character and character code is shown on the status bar when the character is used to draw. In the state 1, state 2 and state 3, if you insert space (in mode H-block and V-block only), the selected character will be inserted. You can invoke the character selector in every state by pressing the F9 key.

At the top of character table there will be display the character hexadecimal code and character glyph. The code consists of 4 or 5 digits. The plane 16 forces code length to be 6 digits, but is used very rarely, so the leading 10 digits for plane 16 is replaced by G to get 5-digital code. The G digit is outside of hexadecimal digit set and means 16. For example, the G1234 has the same meaning as 101234.

The character selector can work in two states:

• Ordinary - Browse all characters. By default, browsing the pages is limited, but the limit can be enabled and disabled by pressing F4 key. The limit depends on work conditions:
  • When window is used (WinUse=1 or WinUse=2) and there is used bitmap font: The pages, which are drawn in font graphics file.
  • Otherwise: The pages with characters outside of range from D800 to DF00. The characters within this range are not regular characters and can not be rendered in most cases.
• Favorite - The 256 places of favorite characters, 95 of them can be assigned to alphanumeric keys.

You can use the following keys while the character table is shown:

• Arrows - Select character on the current page. You can go beyond the current page range to switch the page.
• Page up, Page down - Flip one page up or down (go ahead 256 characters).
• Home, End - Flip 16 pages up or down (go ahead 4096 characters).
• F1, F2 - Switch the plane (go ahead 65536 characters).
• F3 - Switch to color selector.
• F4 - Function depends on the state:
  • Character selector: Browsing all pages, including invisible. This function allows to browse through all pages even, when you loaded bitmap font and the font does not include characters for all pages.
  • Color selector: Open the ANSI process parameters.
• Insert - Switch between ordinary and favorite state:
  • Ordinary: If the pinted character exists in favorite set, there will be pointed.
  • Favorite: There will be pointed the same character, which is pointed in favorite state.
• Delete - Go to character being under the cursor.
• Backspace:
  • Ordinary: Select character for save as favorite.
  • Favorite: Select character or put character on pointed place.
• Tab - Move character selector window from corner to corner. You can use this if the window covers some text or window is bigger than screen.
• Esc - Close without changing selected character.
• Enter - Change selected character and close.
• Any alphanumeric key:
  • Ordinary: Save pointed character as favorite under pressed key.
  • Favorite: Go to place assigned with pressed key.

Color selector

You can turn character selector into color selector or turn color selector into character chelector by pressing F3. In color selector, you can select the color and input text mode. The text and colors are treated as two independed layers, which can be modifed simultaneously or separately.

While the color selector is showm, you can use the following keys:

• Up arrow, Down arrow - Select background color.
• Left arrow, Right arrow - Select foreground color.
• Page up, Page down - Number of columns for ANSI file load. Use if file is loaded incorrectly, applicable when ANSIRead=1. Value 0 means unlimited.
• Home, End - Number of rows for ANSI file load. Use if file is loaded incorrectly, applicable when ANSIRead=1. Value 0 means unlimited.
• F1 - Switch between CR character processing while loading file, when when ANSIRead=1:
  • 0 - Treat as CR character (default).
  • 1 - Treat as CR+LF sequence.
  • 2 - Ignore CR character.
• F2 - Switch between LF character processing while loading file, when when ANSIRead=1:
  • 0 - Treat as LF character (default).
  • 1 - Treat as CR+LF sequence.
  • 2 - Ignore LF character.
• F3 - Switch to character selector.
• Insert - Switch between edit mode within three states:
  • Text + color - Edit text and color simultaneously.
  • Text - Edit text only without color changing.
  • Color - Edit color only without text changing.
• Delete - Go to color and retrieve attributes being under the cursor.
• Tab - Move color selector window from corner to corner. You can use this if the window covers some text or window is bigger than screen.
• Esc - Close without changing selected color.
• Enter - Change selected color and close.
• Digit keys - Toggle attributes as following:
  • 1 - Bold.
  • 2 - Italic.
  • 3 - Underline.
  • 4 - Strikethrough.
  • 5 - Blink.
  • 6 - Reserved.
  • 7 - Concealed.

You can change text without changing colors or colors without changing the text. In order to do, switch to appropriate mode using Insert key. The text and colors are independed layes. Actually, the attributes are in the color layer and may be treated as specific colors, other from background and foreground.

ANSI file loading

Many ANSI files are prepared for specified number of columns, in most cases for 80 columns and unlimited number of rows. If you set other number of columns or use unlimited number of columns (ANSIWidth=0), the file may be loaded incorrectly. To correct this, enter into color selector, change number of columns or rows using Page up, Page down, Home or End keys and press Enter key. Then, you have to reload file using F8 keys.

Sometimes, the number of rows can also be specified for particular file and the file can be loaded incorrectly, when number of rows are unlimited. The most popular numbers of rows in such case are 24 and 25.

If there file loaded with ANSIRead=1 is actually plain text file, the file can contain different end-of-line character. If the file is loaded incorrectly, you can change parsing of CR (0Dh) and LF (0Ah) character in color selector. You can press F1 or F2 during color selector to change way of the character processing, the current state is diaplayed as two digits on the top of character selector. Example settings:

• 00 - Standard process of CR and LF characters, suitable for all ANSI files and text files using CR+LF like files created in DOS and Windows.
• 21 - Use LF character as CR+LF (EOL), suitable for plain text files created on Unix and Linux, which uses LF as EOL.
• 12 - Use CR character as CR+LF (EOL), suitable for plain text files created on systems, which uses CR as EOL.
• 11 - Use every CR character and every LF character as EOL separately.

ANSI process parameters

When you swich the selector into Color state, you can press the F4 key for ANSI process parameters.

Details of this function are described in the Readme_ANSI.md.

For exit from this function, press the Enter or Esc key. The settings will take effect, when you reload the text file (press F8 key). The changes will not be saved in the config.txt file.

Work states

TextPaint in work mode 0 works in one of 4 states, which you can swich by pressing F1, F2, F3, or F4 key. In order to display help text about keys available in the current state, press the same function key again. For example, in order to get help about state 2, press F2 while applicationworks in state 2.

State 1 - Write text

In the state 1, you can input alphanumeric characters like in every standard text editor, but there are few differences.

You can use the following functional keys:

• Esc - Change writing direction.
• Backspace - Move cursor in opposite direction (this not delete the char).
• Insert - Insert line or character.
• Delete - Delete line or character.
• Enter - Change Insert/Delete mode.

Undo and redo

You can undo or redo writing, but the direct function not exists. To undo or redo, you have to switch to state 3 or state 4 by pressing F3 or F4. Then, you can undo or redo by pressing Z or X. After undo or redo, you can return to state 1 by pressing F1.

Insert and delete

The Enter, Insert and Delete keys has different function than standard text editor.

By pressing Enter, you can choose between four insert/delete modes:

• H-block - Insert or delete text inside one line, at right from the cursor - moves text horizontally.
• V-block - Insert or delete text inside one column, below the cursor - moves text vertically.
• H-line - Insert or delete columns - moves text horizontally.
• V-line - Insert or delete rows - moves text vertically.
• H-roll - Roll the text horizontally - combine of insertion and deletion by font width, works on the state 3 only and when the rectangle width is greater than 1.
• V-roll - Roll the text vertically - combine of insertion and deletion by font height, works on the state 3 only and when the rectangle height is greater than 1.

State 2 - Write characters

State 2 works exactly by the same way as state 1 with one difference: If you press alphanumeric key, there will be written favorite characters assignet to the keys instead of ordinary characters. You can view and change the assigment in character selector.

The state is most usable when you frequently write specified characters, because you can write the character just by pressing assigned key.

State 3 - Character drawing

State 3 is intended to the following actions:

• Draw line using frame characters.
• Undo and redo.
• Draw the rectangle or diamond on the selected place without painting line manually.
• Copy and paste text.
• Manually write frame elements.
• Insert or delete larger portion of spaces.
• Change font size.

In the state 3, you have the following functions available:

• W,S,A,D - Change figure size.
• Q,E - Change cursor position within the rectangle or diamond.
  • Q - Move counter clockwise.
  • E - Move clockwise.
• 1 - Change figure shape one of 9.
• 2 - Change character set.
• 3 - Draw hollow frame.
• 4 - Draw filled frame.
• 5 - Start or stop drawing line by moving cursor.
• 6,7 - Font width.
• 8,9 - Font height.
• C - Copy the text being inside the figure.
• V - Paste the text into the area inside the figure.
• Insert - Insert line or character (works on rectangle shape only).
• Delete - Delete line or character (works on rectangle shape only).
• Enter - Change Insert/Delete mode.
• I or Numpad Plus - Write vertical line.
• K or Numpad Minus - Write horizontal line.
• Space or Numpad 0 - Write selected character.

Writing frame elements

Apart from keys listed above, you can write frame elements (corners, tees and crosses) using some letter keys and numpad digits as in the following scheme:

  T---Y---U         T         7---8---9         7
  |   |   |        / \        |   |   |        / \
  |   |   |       G   Y       |   |   |       4   8
  |   |   |      / \ / \      |   |   |      / \ / \
  G---H---J     B   H   U     4---5---6     1   5   9
  |   |   |      \ / \ /      |   |   |      \ / \ /
  |   |   |       N   J       |   |   |       2   6
  |   |   |        \ /        |   |   |        \ /
  B---N---M         M         1---2---3         3

For example, the T key or Numpad 7 writes the upper left corner as shown above. The diamond shape is treated as rectangle rotated clockwise.

Insert and delete

The insert and delete function works by the same way as in state 1 and state 2, but there is few differences:

• This function works only, when rectangle shape is selected
• In H-block and H-line modes, the rectangle width determines number of inserted or deleted columns once.
• In V-block and V-line modes, the rectangle height determines number of inserted or deleted columns once.
• In H-block mode, there can be modified few rows according to rectangle height.
• In V-block mode, there can be modified few columns according to rectangle width.
• The H-roll and V-roll modes works in the state 3 only and while the rectangle width (for H-roll) or the rectangle height (for V-roll) is greater then 1.

Font size

State 3 is the only state, which allows to change font and cursor size, which will be applied for all states. The font width and height can be adjusted separately, between 1 and 32 cells. The cursor size represents the current font size and the size is indicated on the status bar. The move step is the same as current font width or height. To move cursor over another distance, change the font size.

If you change font size whice the cursor is not at the first line and the first column, it is possible, it is possible, that the cursor distance from begining does not equal to multiply font width or height. In such case, when you move the cursor left or up, the first column or the first row will not reachable, because the remaining distance is less than font size. Cursor position above the first row or before the first column is not possible.

While the font width or height is greater than 1, the current character or color indicated on the status bar and used in some operation is determined be the most number of cells containing such character or color. If there are several characters in the same number of cells within the cursor, the first occurence will be used.

You can copy and paste the text preserving the font size only when the font size is 1x1 while both copying and pasting. When you copy or paste with other font size, the text and color will be preserved. Otherwise, you can copy the text written with the bigger font into the other software or paste the text from the other software using desired font size.

State 4 - Pixel drawing

The state 4 is purposed to draw pictures using semigraphical characters splitted into pixels. Some characters offers pixels by splitting for example to 2x2 pixels per character. You can paint by character or by pixels as defined in configuration file. In the state, there are two cursors:

• Main cursor - The cursor, which is moved by Arrow keys and Home/End/PageUp/PageDown keys. Pressing these keys causes movement of both cursors.
• Size cursor - The second cursor, which is connected with main cursor. This cursor determines figure size for drawing lines, rectangles, ellipses, and copying/pasting picture.

During state 4, there are following functions by keys:

• W,S,A,D - Move size cursor.
• I,K,J,L - Move picture between cursors.
• 1 - Change paint configuration:
  • The first configuration uses one pixel per character and allows to select character for foreground and background in character selector.
  • The other configurations are defined in Config.txt file and may use several pixels per character. Every pixel configuration inside character is mapped to appropriate character.
• 2 - Change default color. This option defines, how will be treated characters other than characters used in current paint configuration.
• 3 - Draw one pixel (in hollow mode) or flood fill (in fill mode).
• 4 - Draw line between cursors.
• 5 - Draw rectangle between cursors.
• 6 - Draw ellipse between cursors.
• P - Turn pencil on/off.
• M - Change picture move mode. The mode is used while moving using I,K,J,L keys:
  • Repeat - The edge of moved picture will be repeated.
  • Roll - The edge will be fillled with edge from the other side of moved picture.
  • Background - The edge will be filled with background color.
  • Foreground - The edge will be filled with foreground color.
  • Flip/Rotate - Flip or rotate instead of movement. Use keys as following:
    • I - Flip vertically.
    • K - Flip horizontally.
    • J - Rotate counter clockwise - works only when width equals to height.
    • L - Rotate clockwise - works only when width equals to height.
• N - Invert colors between cursors.
• C - Copy picture between cursors as text to clipboard. This function uses characters selected as foreground and background color in first paint configuration.
• V - Paste picture between cursors from flipboard. The clipboard bust contain text using characters selected as foreground and background color in first paint configuration.
• Q,E - Move cursors around rectangle corners determined by this cursors:
  • Q - Move counter clockwise.
  • E - Move clockwise.
• R - Change paint color wrom there options:
  • Background - Use background color.
  • Foreground - Use foreground color.
  • Negative - Changes to opposite color while drawing.
• F - Change paint fill option for drawing pixels, rectangles and ellipses:
  • Hollow - Draw pixels and hollow figured.
  • Fill - Draw floodfill and filled figures.

Status bar

In state 4, the status bar has different layout, described from left to right:

1. Font and cursor size (width and height).
2. Canvas cursor position and size in pixels. The size sign (plus or minus) indicates direction from main cursor to size cursor.
3. The state 4 indicator with default color and pencil state:
   • Pxl-B - The default color is background, pencil is off.
   • Pxl-F - The default color is foreground, pencil is off.
   • Pxl-B* - The default color is background, pencil is on.
   • Pxl-F* - The default color is foreground, pencil is on.
4. The paint configuration:
   • The first configuration (one pixel per character) is indicated by codes of used characters, separated by slash.
   • The other configurations are indicated by configuration name defined in Config.txt.
5. Drawing color and fill mode:
   1. Fore-H - Foreground color, hollow.
   2. Back-H - Background color, hollow.
   3. Nega-H - Negative color, hollow.
   4. Fore-F - Foreground color, fill.
   5. Back-F - Background color, fill.
   6. Nega-F - Negative color, fill.
6. Picture move mode:
   1. Repeat - The edge of moved picture will be repeated.
   2. Roll - The edge will be fillled with edge from the other side of moved picture.
   3. Back - The edge will be filled with background color.
   4. Fore - The edge will be filled with foreground color.
   5. FlipRot - Flip or rotate instead of movement.

Cursor display

Console can display cursor over the character, not over the pixel. If you select configuration with pixels smaller than character, you will move pixel by pixel, when you press cursor keys. The visible cursor will by over this character, which contains pointed pixel. To point a specified pixel, you have to observe the position on status bar or count movement from last visible cursor movement.

To check position, you can draw pixel or other figure (key 3, 4, 5, 6) and undo the drawing by pressing Z.

Configuration file

In the TextPaint directory there is the Config.txt file, which allows to configure the application. If you run TextPaint without parameters, this file will be open. The configuration is read in the application run moment. This file is organized as the parameter=value convention. The blank lines, lines without = character and parameters other than listed below are ignored:

• WinUse - Use window instead of console. In certain systems and console configurations, some of unicode characters are not correctly rendered in the console. If WinUse is set to 1 or 2, the TextPain will work in the graphical window and all unicode characters should be rendered correctly. The application usage is the same as in the console. There are allowed the following values:
  • 0 - Use console, not recommended in cases, while there is possible to use WinUse=1 or WinUse=2.
  • 1 - Use window with standard image rendering control, recommended value.
  • 2 - Use window with non-standard image rendering control (only .NET Framework version, on .NET Core edition is the same as WinUse=1). Use this setting only if interface picture is not displayed or crashed when you use WinUse=1.
• WorkMode - Work mode of TextPaint:
  • 0 - Text editor - the fundamental mode and purpose of TextPaint.
  • 1 - ANSI viewer and file server - described in Readme_ANSI.md file.
  • 2 - Telnet/SSH client - described in Readme_ANSI.md file.
  • 3 - Encoding list and keycode test - described in Readme_keys.md file.
  • 4 - Render text file or ANSI file into image or movie - described in Readme_render.md file.
• Bell - Bell sound type (working may depend on operating system and console visibility, regardless of WinUse value), usable in WorkMode=1 and WorkMode=2:
  • 0 - No bell.
  • 1 - Use console beep function.
  • 2 - Sound by writing bell character into console.
• Space - Characters (hexadecimal numbers), which will be treated as space. The first character in the list is used as character being outside actual text.
• FileReadEncoding - Encoding used in file reading, in most cases, it should be FileReadEncoding=utf-8. You can display all supported encodings using WorkMode=3.
• FileWriteEncoding - Encoding used in file writing, in most cases, it should be FileWriteEncoding=utf-8. You can display all supported encodings using WorkMode=3.
• FileReadSteps - If provided greater than 0, there is number of first steps (not bytes and not characters, especially in VTxxx files), which will be read from file, it is useful, when you want to create text/picture based on ANSI animation. The parameter works only in WorkMode=0.
• Frame1_x - Character set for rectangle frame, the x is the number of set, starting from 0. The value consists of 12 items separated by comma.
  • The first item is the set name.
  • The other items are the hexadecimal character codes, which are the frame elements.
• Frame2_x - Character set for diamond frame. It works like Frame1_x.
• Pixel_x - Name and pixels per character definition number x for state 4. The first must be Pixel_1. The parameters has three values separated by comma:
  • Configuration name.
  • Horizontal pixels per character.
  • Vertical pixels per character.
• Pixel_x_y - Character list fragment for fumber x. For example, the first character list for definition number 2 is defined by parameter Pixel_2_1. The number of coder per one fragment and number of fragments are not important. Only the total number of character codes are important and must be equal to 2 powered to number of pixels per character. For example:
  • 2 x 2 pixels per character - 16 characters.
  • 2 x 3 pixels per character - 64 characters.

Appearance settings

The settings affects the appearance of interface:

• ColorNormal - Color of default background and foreground in all work modes.
• ColorBeyondLine - Color of background indicating area beyond end of line, but not below the last line.
• ColorBeyondEnd - Color of background indicatin area below the last line.
• ColorCursor - Color of text cursor with guide lines in WorkMode=0.
• ColorStatus - Color of status bar in WorkMode=0 and WorkMode=1.
• ColorPopup - Color of character selector and color selector in WorkMode=0, color of information window in WorkMode=2.
• BeyondLineColumn - Number of columns, which will be displayed using ColorNormal instead of ColorBeyondLine regardless being beyond of the text line. This setting may improve readibility of some ANSI files. If you use negative value, there will be used the same value as ANSIWidth.

Display settings

The parameters affects the text display without affecting the application working, especially processing the ANSI file. These parameters are usable in WorkMode=1 and WorkMode=2.

• DisplayBlink - Text blink mode, with three possible values:
  • 0 - Steady text.
  • 1 - Dimming text and background like in VT100 terminal.
  • 2 - Disappearing text like in DOS system on IBM PC.
• DisplayAttrib - Text formatting attributes. The value can be from 0 to 16 and can be calculated as the sum of the following values represents the binary attributes:
  • Bold - multiplied by 1.
  • Italic - multiplied by 2.
  • Underline - multiplied by 4.
  • Strikethrough - multiplied by 8.

The settings are usable in the every WinUse mode. While you use WinUse=0, the DisplayBlink=1 and DisplayBlink=2 will give the same effect.

Console settings

Settings related to console, affects when WinUse=0 only.

• ConInputEncoding - Set encoding name or codepage for writing characters. Use it to solve problems in entering characters, especially diacritic characters using keyboard. Affects only when you use WinUse=0.
• ConOutputEncoding - Set encoding name or codepage for printing characters. Use it to solve problems in displaying characters. Affects only when you use WinUse=0.
• ConCursorDisplay - Display cursor character at cursor position. In most cases, the value should be CursorDisplay=1. Sometimes, the cursor can be invisible while moving due to inverting background and text colors in some console implementations. Use ConCursorDisplay=0 to not draw cursor character and may help in cursor visibility.
• ConUseMemo - Use additional text memory in console (not affects when WinUse=1 or WinUse=2). The application uses the console buffer move from the system API while scrolling the text. You can set one of the following values:
  • 0 - Use console buffer moving. This setting is recommended, while all characters are displayed correctly while text scrolling.
  • 1 - Use console buffer moving with rewriting non-ASCII characters. Use this setting if some characters are displayed incorrectly during text scrolling although the same characters are displayed correctly during writing/painting using Textpaint functions. This may slightly slow down the text rendering during scrolling.
  • 2 - Do not use console buffer moving. Use this setting only if the text rendering crashes during trying to scroll. This setting causes, that every character on screen is rewritten during text scrolling.
• ConUseEscapeCodes - Use escape codes instead of .NET functions for use color for display while WinUse=0. This setting does not affect the DisplayBlink and DisplayFormat parameters.

Window settings

Settings related to window, affects when WinUse=1 or WinUse=2 only:

• WinCellW - Character cell width in window. If you use bitmap font, it will be rounded to integer multiply of font glyph width.
• WinCellH - Character cell height in window. If you use bitmap font, it will be rounded to integer multiply of font glyph height.
• WinFontName - Font name or bitmap file in window, the name can be interpreted by one of three ways from highest priority:
  • File name - Use bitmap font file.
  • Generic font name - Use one of three generic font names, the actual font depends on operating system:
    • GenericSerif
    • GenericSansSerif
    • GenericMonospace
  • Font name - Use selected font, like Arial, Courier.
• WinFontSize - Font size in window. This setting not affects the cell size.
• WinCharRender - Char rendering type (affects only when WinFontName does not provide bitmap file):
  • 0 - Normal.
  • 1 - Pixel antialias.
  • 2 - Subpixel antialias.
• WinW - Number of columns. To display whole status bar, it should be at least WinW=40.
• WinH - Number of rows.
• WinTimer100 - Uses 100ms timer instead of 50ms timer in WorkMode=1 and WorkMode=2. Change from 0 to 1 when the Textpaint hangs frequently, but the XTERM mouse may be less accurate and have some inertia.
• WinFixed - Fided number of rows and columns regardless current window size.
• WinSteadyCursor - Steady cursor display instead of blinking.
• WinColorBlending - Enables color blending for some block characters. This parameter affects to this characters:
  • 2591h, 2592h, 2593h.
  • From 1FB8Ch to 1FB94h.
  • From 1FB9Ch to 1FB9Fh.
• WinPaletteR - The red component of all 16 colors.
• WinPaletteG - The green component of all 16 colors.
• WinPaletteB - The blue component of all 16 colors.
• WinPaletteBlinkR - The red component of all 16 colors for VT-style blink.
• WinPaletteBlinkG - The green component of all 16 colors for VT-style blink.
• WinPaletteBlinkB - The blue component of all 16 colors for VT-style blink.
• WinPaletteFile - If provided, there is external file containing the palette. If the file does not exist or is unreadable, the parameter will be ignored. The structure of file are the same as Config.txt, but it contains only three parameters: WinPaletteR, WinPaletteG, WinPaletteB, WinPaletteBlinkR, WinPaletteBlinkG, WinPaletteBlinkB.

The WinColorBlending can be configured with the WinColorBlending_X parameters, where X means the number from 1. Every entry consists of 5 numbers:

1. Original character hexadecimal number.
2. Replacement character hexadecimal number.
3. Number of parts of background color.
4. Number of parts of foreground color.
5. Modified color type:
   • 0 - Background.
   • 1 - Foreground.

The WinPaletteR, WinPaletteG and WinPaletteB defines the palette, which will be used to display 16 colors in window. You can define arbitraty colors. Each of the parameters must consist of 32 hexadecimal digits. Each 2 digits defines value for one channer of single color. Below, there are some examples.

DOS 16-color palette with dark yellow (default palette):

WinPaletteR=00AA00AA00AA00AA55FF55FF55FF55FF
WinPaletteG=0000AAAA0000AAAA5555FFFF5555FFFF
WinPaletteB=00000000AAAAAAAA55555555FFFFFFFF

DOS 16-color palette with brown instead of dark yellow:

WinPaletteR=00AA00AA00AA00AA55FF55FF55FF55FF
WinPaletteG=0000AA550000AAAA5555FFFF5555FFFF
WinPaletteB=00000000AAAAAAAA55555555FFFFFFFF

Windows VGA palette:

WinPaletteR=00800080008000C080FF00FF00FF00FF
WinPaletteG=00008080000080C08000FFFF0000FFFF
WinPaletteB=00000000808080C080000000FFFFFFFF

You can set the WinPaletteR, WinPaletteG and WinPaletteB parameter in other text file and you can provide the file name to WinPaletteFile parameter. If there are both propertly defined WinPaletteFile and WinPaletteR/WinPaletteG/WinPaletteB parameters, the WinPaletteFile has higher priority.

The WinPaletteBlinkR, WinPaletteBlinkG and WinPaletteBlinkB works at the same way.

Cipher settings

Settings related to cipher are:

• CipherMode - Chipher mode:
  • 0 - No cipher.
  • 1 - Cipher with repeated key.
  • 2 - Cipher with autokey on plain text.
  • 3 - Cipher with autokey on ciphered text.
• CipherBegin - Character codes, which indicated begining of ciphered text. It must be at least code to enable cipher.
• CipherEnd - Character codes, which indicated ending of ciphered text. It must be at least code to enable cipher.
• CipherAlphabet - Full cipher alphabet provided as text. It should be consists of standard characters. Only characters existing in the alphabet can be ciphered and used i password. The character order is important.
• CipherPassword - Password used instead of manually input at every save or every load file.

Other settings

The parameters described above are not the all available parameters. The other parameters are related to ANSI interpreter and work modes other than 0. These parameters are described in Readme_ANSI.md file.

Character encodings

Console and files uses some encoding for input and output charaters. You can input codepage or encoding name. If value consists of digits only, it will be treated as codepage number, otherwise, it will be threated as encoding name. If you not set or set incorrect name, the system default encoding will be used. The ConInputEncoding and ConOutputEncoding are not the same as FileReadEncoding and FileWriteEncoding.

The most common encodings:

Name	Codepage	Description
us-ascii	20127	7-bit ASCII
utf-8	65001	Unicode - UTF-8
utf-16	1200	Unicode - little endian
utf-16BE	1201	Unicode - big endian

You can set any encoding supported by .NET API function System.Text.Encoding.GetEncoding(Int32) and System.Text.Encoding.GetEncoding(String), details can be found on the web, list of all supported encoding can be achieved on WorkMode=3. This settings affects only console input/output.

Encoding from file

You can create custom 8-byte encoding, which encodes every supported character as single byte. Many 8-bit encodings, including 437, 1252 codepages, were popular before Unicode was widespreaded. Such encoding assigns one character to every number from 0 to 255 (byte value), the same character may be assigned to several byte values.

The file has similar convention to Config.txt file, so there are list of parameters with value for each parameter. In encoding file, the parameter is the byte value denoted as hexadecimal number and the value is denoted as hexadecimal character number.

Lines, which does not contain the = character and blank lines are ignored, so you can write comments and additional information, which will not be processed. Other parameters, such as Name, will also be ignored.

To use the file, you have to place file name with path in place of the encoding name/codepage.

You can use the WorkMode=3 to test encoding file or display character list of system encodings. Details are in Readme_keys.md file.

You can generate files from all system 8-bit encodings using WorkMode=4, details are in Readme_render.md file.

Frame elements

The Frame1_x and Frame2_x parameters defines the frame character set as comma separated list. The first item is the name. From the second item to the last item there are 11 hexadecimal character codes, which defines the frame elements by following order (the numbers 1 and 2 are line elements, the numbers from 3 to 11 are the corner and junction elements):

    -     1     \
    |     2     /

3---4---5       3
|   |   |      / \
|   |   |     6   4
|   |   |    / \ / \
6---7---8   9   7   5
|   |   |    \ / \ /
|   |   |    10   8
|   |   |      \ /
9--10--11      11

As you can see, the diamond is treated as rectangle rorate by 45 degrees clockwise. Every Frame1_x and Frame2_x must consist of 12 item including character set name. Application reads the correctly defined numbers to the first incorrectly defined or missing number.

Text cipher

TextPaint can cipher some fragments of text using Vigenere's cipher using repeated key or autokey. If enabled, some fragments of text file can be ciphered. Cipher setting defines characters, which begins or ends the ciphered fragments. The remaining contents will not be ciphered, so it makes to difficult to attack the ciphered text, because the knowledge about text information and text layout is useless to guess the used password. To achieve most security, you should meeet the conditions:

• Text to be ciphered is a random character sequence, for example randomly-generated passwords.
• Cipher key is random character sequence.
• Every character in text to be cipher and cipher key exists in cipher alphabet.
• Cipher key is longer than whole text to be ciphered.
• One key is used to cipher one file.

You can enable or disable cipher in Config.txt setting CipherMode, using one of following values:

• 0 - No cipher.
• 1 - Cipher with repeated key.
• 2 - Cipher with autokey on plain text.
• 3 - Cipher with autokey on ciphered text.

If value is 0, the cipher will be disabled regardless other settings related with cipher. To enable cipher, you can also set to non-blank values the following settings:

• CipherBegin
• CipherEnd
• CipherAlphabet

The CipherBegin and CipherEnd defines the characters, which can begin or end the text. For example, assume, that CipherBegin=005B,007B and CipherEnd=005D,007D. In this case, if whole text is abcde[fghij]klmno{pqrst}uvwxy, only the fghij and pqrst will be ciphered, the remaining fragments will be plain.

The CipherAlphabet defines whole set of the characters, which must exists in text to be ciphered. The Vigenere cipher alhorithm bases on alphabet and assigns number for every character in the alphabet. For example, the CipherAlphabet value can be a sequence of small or capital letters ordered alphabetically. Consider the two cases:

• CipherAlphabet=abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
• CipherAlphabet=qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnm

The two values are not the same, because different numbers will be assigned for the same characters. If CipherAlphabet will blank, the cipher will be disabled. The characters defined as CipherBegin and CipherEnd must not exists in cipher alphabet.

Using cipher

If cipher is enabled and meets all required conditions, everytime, if you open or reload file, you will be asked for the password. The password will be used to decipher text. If you provide blank password (just pressing Enter without inputting any characters), the text will be loaded as is, without deciphering. If you input wrong password, the text will be deciphered incorrectly.

If you provide wrong password, you can retry by pressing F8 key (reload file) and input password again.

When you save file by pressing F7 key, you will be also asket for password and you have to input the password twice. If the first and second password are not the same, you will be again asked for password. To save file without ciphering, just press Enter key twice without inputting any characters. At the moment, you can change the password by inputting new password, which differs from the password used to load file.

If you input password containing characters, which not exist in cipher alphabet, these characters will be ignored. From this rule, there is one exception, described in Password from file subchapter.

Password from file

You can use file instead of password to input very long password. To do this, you have to input password according the rules:

• The first character is the chipher begin character.
• The last character is the chipher end character.
• The string between the first and the last character is the filename.

Examples assuming that CipherBegin=005B, CipherEnd=005D and CipherAlphabet=abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz:

• pass123 - The password is pass123.
• [pas2s - The password is [pas2s.
• 3pass] - The password is 3pass].
• [pass123.txt] - The password is from file pass123.txt existing in the current directory.
• [C:\Documents\pass.123.txt] - The password is from file pass123.txt existing in the C:\Documents\ directory.

The file contents will be read as text file and the text will be used as password.

Several password for one file

You can cipher some text fragment using the first password and the another text fragment within the same file using the second password, which differs from the first password. To get such effects, you have to do following steps:

1. Open file.
2. Input all fragments of text to be ciphered.
3. Save file using the first password.
4. Reload file using the second password.
5. Reinput the information to be ciphered using the second password.
6. Save the file using the second password.

At the time, if you load file using the first password, the first information will be shown as plain text and the second information will be unreadable. If you open the file using the second password, the first information will be unreadable and the second information will be shown as plain text.

There is sample file read without password:

The same file read with password "QwE34RtY":

The same file read with password "z1X23C4v":

Fonts and tools

The details about fonts and tools are described in the Readme_fonts.md file.

Supplied files

In the TextPaint filder, there are included some other files than bitmap fonts, which can help to use this software, especially the editor (WorkMode=0).

Fonts

The font files are described in the Readme_fonts.md file.

Encodings

TextPaint can use custom 1-byte encoding. In the Encodings subfolder, there are 4 files. The following 2 files are suitable for opening ANSI/ASCII files and has control character mapped as are:

• ASCII.txt - The base ASCII-compatible encoding, where the character number equals to byte balue. You can create copy of the file and use it to create own encoding. The encoding is the same as ISO-8859-1.
• STD437.txt - The standard DOS code page 437, suitable for use with font other than DOS font. The encoding is identical with built-in 437 encoding, the 437 encoding is required for read most old ANSI files.
• DOS437.txt - The slightly modified standard DOS code page 437. The modification are changing few characters to match to Dos font. The ambiguous characters are listed an the end of the file (lines without = sign are ignored). The file or standard 437 code page should be used to open most old ANSI and ASCII files.
• VT220.txt - Encoding very similar to ASCII (only few characters changed), intended to view original VT100 files from http://artscene.textfiles.com/vt100/, which uses 8-bit characters supported on VT220 terminal and successors.

There are another 2 encodings, which are designed for converting BIN or XBIN file to ANSI file. The only difference are in assignment to values from 00h to 1Fh:

• ASCII_BIN.txt - Encoding based on ASCII.txt, the control characters are remaped to from 2400h to 241Fh, the characters are printable equivalents to control characters.
• STD437_BIN.txt - Encoding based on STD437.txt, the control characters are mapped to standard DOS glyphs.
• DOS437_BIN.txt - Encoding based on DOS437.txt, the control characters are mapped to standard DOS glyphs.

Palettes

In the Palettes subfolder, there are three example palette files, which can be used to parameter WinPaletteFile:

• DOS.txt - Standard DOS palette without exception.
• DOSBrown.txt - Standard DOS palette with exception, that there is brown color instead of dark yellow.
• WinVGA.txt - Standard Windows 16-color VGA palette.

Samples

There are samples for demonstration and test purposes in WorkMode=0. Files other than 8bitASCII.txt are encoded using UTF-8.

• 8bitASCII.txt - Standard 8-bit ASCII file, which should be opened using 1-byte encoding. You can test 1-byte encoding matches and display all available character in such encoding. There is only file, which is in ANSCII encoding.
• Borders.txt - Demonstrates border and block characters.
• Cipher.txt - Demonstrates text chiphering. To use this file, you chould open using following parameters:
  • CipherMode=0
  • CipherAlphabet=ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789
  • CipherBegin=005B
  • CipherEnd=005D
• ColorBlend.ans - Color blending demonstration.
• ColorWheel.ans - Demonstration of all 16 colors, uses Unicode characters.
• FontSize.ans - Various font sizes.
• Math.txt - Demonstrates the Unicode alphabets used in mathemating notation.
• Unscii.txt - Demonstration art for Unscii font. There is corrected art based on http://viznut.fi/unscii/.

There are also samples, which are not created with TextPaint, but can be loaded into TextPaint or other terminal emulator or any ANSI file viewer:

• Charmap.ans - All character maps supported by TextPaint, implemented in VTTEST terminal tester and used in other terminal emulators.
• Colors16.ans - Two ways to use all 16 standard colors. If bold and blink display are disabled, but bold and blink as color are enabled, TextPaint shows the same result in both ways.
• Colors256.ans - The 256-color palette, TextPaint reada 256-color codes, but converts such colors into standard 16 colors. The file uses both semicolon and colon commands.
• RGB_R.ans - The 24-bit RGB color demonstration, red variant. TextPaint reads RGB color codes, but converts such colors into standard 16 colors.
• RGB_G.ans - The 24-bit RGB color demonstration, green variant. TextPaint reads RGB color codes, but converts such colors into standard 16 colors.
• RGB_B.ans - The 24-bit RGB color demonstration, blue variant. TextPaint reads RGB color codes, but converts such colors into standard 16 colors.
• TextFormat.ans - Test of all standard VT100 text format attributes (bold, blink, negative, underline).