Windowing Software for Pick

Full-View is a software only product that implements a vitual terminal support layer within the Pick Operating System. Full-View was first introduced in 1985 on Pick System's PC-AT R83 platform and has been subsequently ported to a number of R83 and R83-like vendor implementation including GA, CIE, ADDS, and Ultimate. This document discusses the most recent port of PicLan to Advanced Pick.

Full-View for AP/Pro

Full-View has been ported to operate in conjunction with Advanced Pick. The first implementation of Full-View for AP is with AP/Pro, the 32-bit native release of AP from Pick Systems.

Full-View consists of a software layer that implementes a "virtual terminal" embedded within the Pick System. This software layer intercepts all inbound and outbound terminal I/O generated by a Pick application creating a virtual terminal environment that signifigantly expands the usefulness of text-mode terminals. Full-View does not require any special workstation hardware and full support for even older, less-featured async terminals is included.

Full-View creates an environment that hides the physical terminal from the user's application and replaces it with an enhanced virtual terminal. This enhanced virtual terminal supports:

Windowing through rectangular panes
Maintenance of a memory-map of on-screen contents
Normalizing of line drawing characters
Normalizing of video display attributes

These functions are all built into the Pick support software that Full-View is implemented in. This allows text-based applications to be easily enhanced to support a wide range of visual appearances with minimal modification. Because the processing is completely controlled on the Pick host system, reliance on specialized display hardware is eliminated.

Specfically, Full-View provides easy support for:

Execution of applications and modules within partitioned screen areas.
Easy re-paint of overlayed screen components without the application needing to keep track of screen contents.
Level-pushing and print-screen operations independent of application programming.
High-quality pop-up help and menu processors.

Full-View is implemented as a hybrid of Pick assembler and monitor code. This interface allows Full-View to take control of the Pick terminal I/O stream at the READ and WRITE OSYM level where Pick assembly code communicates with the Pick monitor and serial drivers. This low level interface allows Full-View to effectively encapsulate entire applications within the Full-View virtual terminal environment. Because the interface to Full-View take place at the READ and WRITE OSYM levels, existing Pick applications operate within Full-View without modification or re-compilation of any kind. You can literally be editing an item in the Update processor inside of a window on-screen and level push a pop-up calculator mid-sentence.

Full-View version 2

Full-View is now available as a production release for AP/Pro. This is the first production build of Full-View, so it is possible that some bugs may still be discovered, but several dealers have ported commercial applications. This release is current posted on Pick Systems FTP site.

If you are a current Full-View developer, you can download a copy of this system. In order to use this release, you must:

Have an AP/Pro 6.1.x system.
Call Modular Software with your system serial number to obtain a Full-View activation code.

Full-View v 2.0.0.3

This is the latest build of Full-View for AP/Pro. It includes the following fixes:

Fixes to WY50 driver.
Fixes to WY60 driver.
Fixes to FV.INPUT which should fix FN key processing problems.
Fixes to embedded attribute support that prevented embedded attributes from functioning in column 0.

Additional Full-View Documents

View Release Notes

Download Full-View Release

Full-View for AP/Pro Price-List

Full-View v 2.0 On-line Manual (new)