Editor's Note: This article was extracted from the October issue of Chips. It may be copied and redistributed as long as the content stays the same as the original.

WordStar Version 5

By Art Hanley and Carolyn Steffen

After testing, debate, paperwork and thumb-twiddling, the same WordStar 4 that the rest of humanity has been using for 18 months has been added to the Z-248 contract. This means one thing. The current version of WordStar isn't WordStar 4; it's WordStar 5.

Is WordStar 5 really that big a change or is it just vendor hype? Did Micropro accomplish anything or did they just run out of Release 4 boxes? Most importantly, is it worth buying 5 over the counter instead of 4 from the contract? Let's find out.

WordStar 5, which I'll call WS5 from now on, is the biggest change to WordStar since the beginning and it's good.

As soon as you start WS5 you see the visible change. The traditional WordStar Opening Menu has gone into hiding. Instead you see the message "Press F1 for Help" and across the top File, Other and Additional. There are pulldown menus for almost everything. They display all the commands for any function. For example, to open a file, type F and the file menu pops up. You can either type the command or highlight it and hit Enter. One of the options is to speed-write. This lets you start editing a file right away and name it later when you save. But the menus aren't without flaws. A number of advanced WS features are available using the old commands, but they aren't on the pulldowns. The pulldowns are help level four. WordStar can be installed with levels one through three, and the old WordStar 4 menus are there. The only changes are new commands for the increased functions of WordStar 5.

Almost all the old commands work no matter what help level you're using except at the opening with the pulldowns. You can install WS5 so they work there, too. I don't know why anyone wouldn't want them to work there, but you have to install the option. I think it's just the programmers showing off. Another example of showing off is that WS5 will clear the screen when you exit, rather than leave the last screen up there, but only if you install it that way.

The menu arrangement was clever of Micropro. Experienced WordStar users can just keep using it the old way. I know WordStar very well but I tend to leave WS5 at help level four. I get a full screen, and I can use the pulldowns as a quick cheat sheet. One difference is that whereas escape used to activate a function or accept the defaults, it now acts to back you out of a menu or function. ^K or F10 now executes functions as well as calling up the "Block and Save" menu. (WS5 and its documentation think F10 comes from the factory installed to do this, but it doesn't. Quality Control slipped up there.)

The help screens are very clear with concise instructions. The price, however is that more RAM is needed. WS5, like previous WordStars, will run on a dual floppy machine. However, if you plan to use more than the word processor and spelling checker, be prepared for a bit of disk swapping. Still, this is a feature that some of the other power word processors have given up.

WS5 is the easiest power word processor to install, often working right out of the box. For those functions accessible via the pulldowns, it's also the easiest. It's still fast even without the pulldowns for the other functions, requiring less keystrokes (though not necessarily the most logical ones) than others.

WS5 also comes with separate programs for mailing lists, telecommunications (including VT100 and VIDTEX emulations), directory and file management and PC-outline by Brown Bag software. By making these separate programs, hard disk space is saved. If you don't use them much, you can run on a dual floppy, but the price is less integration.

Documentation is simple, direct and easy to read, but in some places, it's incomplete. For example, when installing or customizing, you can modify the default size of the windows. The factory setting is 128. 128 what? Who Knows? Newspaper columns and printer installation could use more explanation. There is also a "readme" program, which gives manual corrections and tips. You can "point and shoot" throughout the table of contents here, unless you have a LCD screen like the Z-184. You see, the program uses boldface instead of a cursor to show which line you're on in the Readme table of contents. The problem is, LCD's don't do boldface. The only solution I've found is that if you have a RAM resident program like Sidekick or Memory Mate loaded you just access them once (after stating readme), and then exit them. They turn the cursor back on, and it'll still be there when you return to readme.

Printer support is good. In order to save disk space, you can just install the printer(s) you'll be using. WS5 will create Printer Definition Files. These PDFs are all it needs. You can store the two disks worth of printer info that comes with WS5 on your hard disk if you want to, but it's not necessary. If WS5 can't find the info to create the PDFs on your hard disk it'll look on the A drive for the printer disks and prompt you as necessary. On request, WS5 will print out special notes and information for your printer, a thoughtful feature.

Laser printer installation is user friendly and both cartridge and soft font installation are easy. There are a few idiosyncrasies, primarily with the HP LaserJets, but these are more a function of the printer than WS5. The laser controls in WS5 are masterfully done.

By now, someone's asking the question (c'mon someone.....thank you), "What about my existing WordStar files?" Well, there's some bad news and some good news.

WS4 was totally upwardly and downwardly compatible with earlier versions. Anything in a WS4 document that earlier WordStars didn't recognize, they ignored. The bad news is that while earlier versions of WS are totally upwardly compatible with WS5, it isn't downwardly compatible with them. Among other things, remember, WS5 recognizes fonts in text, and earlier versions don't know how to react to that, especially regarding margins and tabs. The good news is that a solution is provided. There is a PDF already set up in WS5 called "WS4". Selecting this PDF at print time will "print" the file to disk as a WS4 file, which is downwardly compatible. This PDF, among other things, removes those items that would give earlier versions heartburn. Remember, that if you edit in an earlier WS version and then reload back into WS5 those special characteristics are still gone.

WS5 is a major improvement over WS4, and is eminently practical for Government use. It has very few bugs, far less than Word Perfect 5.0, Word 4.0 or Pagemaker 3.0 had when they were released. It's not without flaws. Check the sidebar for flaws and solutions.

I don't recommend buying WS4 on the Z-248 contract. Nor do I recommend upgrading to WS4 if you have any way to buy WS5. If you can't, then get WS4. However, this is a waste of the taxpayers' money. WS4 on the Z-248 contract is $130, although it lists for $495. The street price of WS5 should be around $170 - $180. It would be silly to get the obsolete WS4 when the far superior WS5 is available. Upgrading to WS5 from any earlier version costs $119 from Micropro, or $89 through GTSI (not an endorsement). Buying WS4 via the contract and upgrading is more expensive than just buying WS5 to begin with. If you did buy WS4 between April 1 and August 31, though, Micropro will upgrade for only $10. Contact them directly.

Micropro has a policy of free technical support for the life of the release, plus six months. For those who really want to get into WS, there are two soon to be published books. The first one is The Best Book of WordStar. The second is Supercharging WordStar. This one has the advantage because when you buy it, you get updates for the next two versions of WordStar for free.

WordStar 5 Flaws and Solutions

Sometimes, especially during customization, a menu appears that doesn't have anything to do with what's going on. Just press escape and keep on going, it won't affect anything.

The documentation says that WS5 needs a statement "Files=20" in the Config.Sys file. It lies. Files should equal at least 25, and 30 is better if it doesn't conflict with other programs.

WS5 usually works great right out of the box. However, if you want to have WS5 clear the screen when it exits (and you do), you must tell it so in installation (another programmer showoff). To do this, you must choose a monitor, even if it's the one you're already using. Why? Because after you choose the monitor, "Winstall" will ask you if you want to clear the screen on exit. This is the only time that you can do this. You must install the monitor via "Winstall". Although you can install a monitor via the customization program "Wschange", you won't be asked about screen clearing.

For LCD screens (Z-184). If you choose "Default Monochrome" for video attributes, go to the underlining display option and pick inverse video, in that order. If you don't, whenever you underline, your text will disappear from the screen, because LCDs can't always display the default monochrome method of showing underlining. A quicker way is simply let it go as shipped.

WS5 still doesn't recognize sentences, and although there's a "go to the end of the paragraph" command, it doesn't work correctly from the old menus and isn't very useful from the pulldowns. This is ironic, because there's a very easy way to "teach" WS5 (and WS4, for that matter) to recognize sentences and paragraphs either forward or back. I'll describe it in a future article.

Although WS5 permits the use of style sheets, the style sheets don't control spacing or fonts.

WS5, like WS4 will allow you to execute a DOS command from within WS. There is a new feature which allows you to execute an infinite number of DOS commands while keeping WS on "standby". You do this by typing "command" at the appropriate prompt. The problem is, you're really accessing COMMAND.COM. This means that COMMAND.COM must either be in the WS directory or there must be a path to where it is. The documentation doesn't tell you this.

WS5 doesn't do graphics, even in page preview. I guess they don't want to compete with WordStar 2000 Plus Release Three.

WS5 lacks the extensive sorting capabilities of some of its competitors.

New WS5 Features

Auto-backup WS5 has a timer that watches how long it's been since a key was pressed. At the end of a user installable interval the "save and resume" (^KS) function is activated. If you haven't named the file yet, WS5 asks for a name. An important note: Auto-backup will only work on computers with a ROM bios of 11/85 or later (not a problem with Z-248s).

Split Screen Editing ^OK opens or switches windows. If you're using the pulldowns pick windows. Once activated by opening a second file in the other window, each window acts like a second copy of WordStar. All functions can be performed in either window including printing, as long as you remain in the editing mode. If you abandon or save and finish with a file that automatically closes the window, ^OM or the appropriate pulldown command changes the windows' sizes if desired.

Auto-align Unless you disable it while customizing, WS5 will now automatically align when you edit text. That means you can skip ^B for the most part. You can modify how fast the auto-alignment takes place or even shut it off. A nice touch for those bothered by "jumping" text. Unfortunately, if you change margins, it doesn't automatically auto-align unless you edit as well.

Newspaper Columns You can use up to eight columns per page, and they'll automatically "snake" (adjust from one column to another) as you edit. It works well, although WordStar still lacks the flexibility of some other programs in various kinds of columns. Also, when actually printing newspaper columns, the printer controls are stored in memory. When the actual printing of the columns is taking place, you can't abort the print short of rebooting the system. This may be an "undocumented feature" (a bug). Be warned: This is one of the few areas where the documentation is really weak. I guarantee you, especially if youUre not used to working with columns, that you aren't going to get this at first. Practice with a junk file and use Page Preview to check the results.

Page Preview This is the feature that Micropro trumpets most, although I feel the new menus are more important. In any case, it's a remarkable achievement. Unlike many other programs, page preview doesn't need a special board or hi-res screen to work, as long as there is any kind of graphics capability, even CGA works. Naturally, the better the capability, the more detail. You can zoom in on an area of a page for a better view. It even works on the Z-184. If you use colors in text and have a color monitor, page preview will show them. You can even have a thumbnail view of the entire document - 18 pages at a time on an EGA, 32 on a VGA or up to 144 on one of those spectacular screens the Government won't let us buy.

Imports dBASE, Quattro, Lotus, Symphony Files If a window was restricted in Symphony, only the restricted area is imported. Edits made in imported spreadsheets can't be exported.

Margins These are calculated in inches instead of columns, although you can still do it the old way with dot commands. With the default text, 1 column = 1 inch, so it's easy to convert anyway. The purpose of this is when you use fonts or different size pitch, the margins will remain constant. Before if you doubled the size of the letters, WS4 would still try and print the specified number of columns per line with interesting results. This applies to tabs as well.

Spelling Checker You can now see definitions in the spelling checker if you want, and the thesaurus is integrated into the program. Watch how much memory you're using. ThereUs one thing about the spelling checker that still gripes me. WordStar is about the most customizable program around. You can even change the size of the cursor, for gosh sakes. Then how come you can't set the spelling checker to correct the same misspelling of the word without having to select global for each and every new word? That's one thing you certainly ought to be able to install as a default.

About the Authors: Hanley is a computer systems programmer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Sacramento, CA. Steffen is a programmer analyst with the same activity and did the laser testing for this article.