Keyword/Functions $0-$9|$a-$z

[Robert Holmgren]

Dear SysOp: Am I correct that
functions $0-$9 and $A-$Z correspond to Help frame keywords that *must*
represent frames located in the ";DG1;" (DiaLoG) file? If you think about it,
this doesn't make a lot of sense. You folks don't use these calls at all (even
in III+ you only used 3 or 4 of them, if I remember -- the so-called Reserved
Keywords). On the other hand, the DiaLoG file is essentially "your" file.
Whereas "our" file, the "user's file", is, or originally was, U2, "You
Too" --
although the latest info you provided to me (in Msg# 10226) says that "U1
-Reserved for user's routines, U2 -command override file,...", which is the
first I ever heard about that! (Sounds like a retrofit to me; when the U2 file
was initially announced XyQuest wouldn't even acknowledge that U1, U3, or U4
existed -- I remember asking repeated, never-answered questions about the
purpose or implications of the  VAriables numbered 1 to 4!) Basically
I'd like to make as few customizations as possible to DLG, keeping all user
programming in the U# file(s).

Bottom line is, if TTG isn't going to use functions $0-$9 and $A-$Z, why not
apply them to the U# files instead of DLG? Or devise some way to let them
operate in *any* Help file! After all, before Sig, functions $0-$9|$A-$Z
applied to HLP, which was avowedly for both factory and users. In many
circumstances, it's extremely useful to be able to run user programs by means
of a single pithy function call, without the memory overhead of LDPM
(&0-&9|&A-&Z) or @0-@9|@A-@Z. Having to install user programs in DLG is
awkward and exasperating, for many reasons (I could go on and on).

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