Proteus Center is the integrated development environment through which the user can develop new programs written in the languages Proteus and Proteus Plus. The use of this interface simplifies the task of writing scripts by offering these facilities:

• editor with syntax highlighting, supporting multi-file editing;
• call tips for library functions and values for predefined constants displayed while typing;
• context sensitive inline help;
• advanced search functions on this manual;
• easy installation and maintenance on Proteus services;
• automatic conversion of Proteus Plus programs when they are executed;
• easy maintenance of scripts (duplicate, rename, delete, syntax check, HTML preview with syntax highlighting, execution with user defined parameters, stop processes hung, protection).

To install the environment, run SETUP.EXE and choose an installation folder. Additional subdirectories will be created in this folder:

• Html: hypertext manual (this manual)
• Isapi: ISAPI version of the interpreter
• Plus: Proteus Plus programs (.prp extension), created by the user
• Program: Win32 version of the interpreter; this directory holds default include files and the program to protect scripts
• Repository: standard Proteus programs (.prt extension), created by the user
• Samples: samples included in this manual
• Service: service version of the interpreter; all services that will be created are run from this folder, which include registry settings for each service
• WScite: Windows™ version of the editor SciTE (extended to support Proteus)

The interface of Proteus Center includes five tabs:

• Help
• Examples
• Programs
• Services
• Proteus Plus.

Help

This tab, illustrated below, can be used to search the index of this manual; type in the fields Text the keywords that you want to search and press the field-glasses or type Enter.

The keywords will be searched in the index and each occurrence will be displayed in the pane below the buttons. The keywords are not case sensitive and can include simple regular expressions (the search program appends a single "*" at the end of what the user typed, unless specified between double quotes).

Double click an item in the list of topics found to go to the corresponding page in the manual, or select it and press the button with the magnifier; you can also right click on it and select Go to. Proteus Center automatically opens the page, if there is only one occurrence in the index.

You can use the blue arrows to move forward and backword, or press the Refresh button to reload the page.

The buttons Index and Topics open the corresponding pages in the manual; the button i displays information about the version of Proteus Center being used.

To obtain help about a specific part of Proteus Center, press F1: you will be taken to the relevant part of this manual.

Examples

This tab, illustrated below, allows the user to modify, view and start/stop the example programs documented in this manual, which are located in the subdirectory "Samples" of the installation folder.

Double click on a program name to view its syntax-highlighted source code in the pane below; the same result can be obtained by selecting it and clicking on the magnifier (View).

The button Modify opens the example in the SciTE editor for modifications.

The button Run opens the parameter request form, described below.

The button Stop allows to terminate the program, if it is running.

Right click on a program name to display the following options:

• Reload: refresh the list of examples and update the source code of the selected program;
• Modify: works as the button with the same name;
• View: works as the button with the same name;
• Run: works as the button with the same name;
• Stop: works as the button with the same name;
• Open folder: open Explorer on the folder "Samples", which contains all the examples; the user can copy, paste and delete files as usual from here;
• Copy to Programs: copy the program to the folder "Repository", which contains all user scripts (this is useful for using the selected example as a starting point for a new program);
• Copy to..: copy the program to a user selected folder.

Programs

This tab, illustrated below, allows the user to manage his scripts, which are saved to the subdirectory "Repository" inside the installation folder.

Double click on a program name to view its syntax-highlighted source code in the pane below; the same result can be obtained by selecting it and clicking on the magnifier (View).

The button New prompts the user for a script name (the extension ".prt" is mandatory - if omitted, Proteus Center automatically appends it to the file name); then, it opens the SciTE editor on the file, to let the user write the script. The new file created cannot have the same name of another existing script.

The button Modify runs the SciTE editor on the script for modifications.

The button Rename allows to change the name of the selected program.

The button Duplicate creates a copy of the selected program; the user is prompted for the name to be given to the new script.

The button Delete allows to remove (after confirmation) the selected program.

The button Syntax verifies that the program is syntactically correct; in case of error, a window appears with the message returned by Proteus.

The button Run opens the parameter request form, described below.

The button Stop allows to terminate the program, if it is running.

Right click on a program name to display the following options:

• Reload: refresh the list of scripts and update the source code of the selected program;
• New: works as the button with the same name;
• Modify: works as the button with the same name;
• View: works as the button with the same name;
• Rename: works as the button with the same name;
• Duplicate: works as the button with the same name;
• Delete: works as the button with the same name;
• Check syntax: works as the button with the same name;
• Run: works as the button with the same name;
• Stop: works as the button with the same name;
• Open folder: open Explorer on the folder "Repository", which contains all user scripts; the user can copy, paste and delete files as usual from here;
• Protect the program: run PCOMPILE.PRE on the script, creating a protected version;
• Copy to Examples: copy the program to the folder "Samples", which contains all the examples in this manual (this is useful for using the script as a template for future programs);
• Copy to..: copy the program to a user selected folder.

Services

This tab, illustrated below, allows to manage and configure Proteus services to be run on the PC. Services are special programs that do not require a user to log in for running them; Proteus services can interact with the desktop if running when a user is connected. Only NT-based operating systems (Windows™ NT Server and Workstation, Windows™ 2000 Server and Professional, Windows XP™) can have services.

Double click on a service to view its syntax-highlighted source code in the pane below.

The button New creates a service in manual execution mode without any script connected. Obviously, for the service to be useful it is necessary to specify the script to be run by it; this is done by selecting an item in the Programs tab and pressing the Script button in this tab. Service creation is followed by automatic registration in the Service Control Manager (Windows™ Control Panel); moreover, associating a script creates in the "Service" folder a registry file that includes all the information written by Proteus Center and read by the service upon start, to determine which script should be run.

The button Delete stops the service (if it is running) and removes it, deleting related keys from Windows™ registry.

The button Debug runs the script associated to the service in console mode (just like a process), to check its correctness; the process can be stopped by using the button Stop.

The button Status allows to view the status of the selected service (running, stopped, etc.).

The button Type allows to specify how the service should be run. In manual mode, it is necessary that the operator log to the system and start the service by using Proteus Center or Windows™ control panel; in Automatic mode the service starts as soon as the system starts, without any user intervention.

The buttons Start and Stop can be used to run and stop (respectively) the selected service; they can be used to start a service in manual mode or to stop a service running.

Right click on a service with the mouse to pop up a list of options, which do exactly the same functions as the buttons with the same name.

Proteus Plus

This tab, illustrated below, allows to manage Proteus Plus programs created by the user, which are saved to the subdirectory "Plus" in the installation folder.

Double click on a program name to view its syntax-highlighted source code in the pane below; the same result can be obtained by selecting it and clicking on the magnifier (View).

The button New prompts the user for a script name (the extension ".prp" is mandatory - if omitted, Proteus Center automatically appends it to the file name); then, it opens the SciTE editor on the file, to let the user write the script. The new file created cannot have the same name of another existing script (both Proteus and Proteus Plus).

The button Modify runs the SciTE editor on the script for modifications.

The button Rename allows to change the name of the selected program.

The button Duplicate creates a copy of the selected program; the user is prompted for the name to be given to the new script.

The button Delete allows to remove (after confirmation) the selected program; the corresponding Proteus program (automatically created when the user runs the script or check its syntax) will be removed as well.

The button Syntax translates the program to standard Proteus and verifies that it is syntactically correct; in case of error, a window appears with the message returned by Proteus.

The button Run translates the program to standard Proteus and invokes the parameter request form, described below.

The button Stop allows to terminate the program, if it is running.

Right click on a program name to display the following options:

• Reload: refresh the list of scripts and update the source code of the selected program;
• New: works as the button with the same name;
• Modify: works as the button with the same name;
• View: works as the button with the same name;
• Rename: works as the button with the same name;
• Duplicate: works as the button with the same name;
• Delete: works as the button with the same name;
• Check syntax: works as the button with the same name;
• Run: works as the button with the same name;
• Stop: works as the button with the same name;
• Open folder: open Explorer on the folder "Plus", which contains all user scripts; the user can copy, paste and delete files as usual from here;
• Convert to Proteus: translate the program to standard Proteus; this operation is automatically performed whenever the program is run or its syntax is checked.

SciTE editor

The SciTE editor by Neil Hodgson is an excellent program for writing source code, supporting a large number of programming languages. The version shipped with Proteus Center is based on version 1.57 released by the author.

Both the editor and its fundamental underlying component (Scintilla) were adapted and modified to supply the following functionalities:

• syntax highlighting for Proteus scripts;
• help on line: just press F1 and, if Proteus Center is running, it will be brought to foreground; a list of topics related to the word in the editor near the cursor will be displayed;
• call tips: the whole list of functions, methods and constants in Proteus can be viewed as a call tip when typing, as soon as the character "(" is entered after a keyword;
• autocompletion: just press Ctrl-I to view the list of keywords corresponding to what the you typed up to that moment; use Ctrl-Enter to view corresponding words from the script;
• folding: if the user follows the programming style suggested in this manual, it is possible to fold functions and other control structures to focus only on certain parts of the script being modified;
• error highlighting: when a script is run or the syntax is checked (Ctrl+0), double click on the error message to move the cursor to the offending line in the source code;
• run directly from the editor: the scripts can be run directly from SciTE (F5) - the result appears inside a window in the editor; it is possible to invoke the script with up to 4 parameters (Ctrl+1) and, optionally, run the program in a separate window (Ctrl+2); this functionality is needed to manage program which use direct writing to console.

Additional information on the editor can be obtained by reading the online documents which are included in the packed; most of the functionalities are intuitive.

License for Scintilla and SciTE

Copyright 1998-2003 by Neil Hodgson <neilh@scintilla.org>

All Rights Reserved 

Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and its 
documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted, 
provided that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that 
both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in 
supporting documentation. 

NEIL HODGSON DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS 
SOFTWARE, INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY 
AND FITNESS, IN NO EVENT SHALL NEIL HODGSON BE LIABLE FOR ANY 
SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES 
WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, 
WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER 
TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE 
OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE. 

Parameter request form

This form appears any time the user runs a Proteus script:

Flags represent those command line parameters that appear before the name of the program to be run; the flag "-!", that prompts the user to press a key before returning control to the operating system, being so common and useful, is available as a separated checkbox (Pause before exiting). 

Parameters are the strings specified by the user after the name of the program on the command line; it is possibile to enter up to 8 distinct parameters, which can be selected or deselected (in this way, you can run the script with a parameter or another, without writing it again and again). Proteus Center automatically inserts double quotes before and after the parameter, if it includes blanks. If you need to specify the name of a folder or the name of a file, you can use the two buttons to the right of each text box; if the parameter is an existing file name, the third button allows to view it by running the program Lister by Christian Ghisler (a freeware text viewer) on it.

Proteus Center automatically saves and restores the values entered by the user, whenever Ok is pressed; this information is saved to a text file with the same name of the program, but extension ".INI", which is located in the same folder of the script.