 
                            USING THE ANSI DRIVER 
 
                                      by 
 
                                C. Scot Giles 
                               875 Lake Street 
                          Oak Park, Illinois   60301 
 
 
This essay is an attempt to explain how I use the ANSI.SYS driver to configure 
the function keys on my computer, and to control the screen.  I have used 
these techniques on my PC and AT for years, and find them to be convenient and 
effective.  ANSI is not widely used by microcomputer fans because the 
documentation supplied by IBM on how to send control codes to the ANSI driver 
is among the most cryptic ever produced by IBM.  I learned them by reading 
computer magazines, and slowly figured out how it could be done.  I am not a 
professional computer programmer (indeed I am a clergyman), so some of my 
technical observations might be in error.  But everything here works, and I 
have retested it before finishing this essay. 
 
This essay covers only IBM Personal Computers (PC, XT or AT) running DOS 2.n 
or greater.  I have no experience with compatibles, so you are on your own if 
you try to use these techniques on one. 
 
                           LOADING THE ANSI DRIVER 
 
In order to use any of the techniques in this essay, you must first have 
loaded the ANSI.SYS driver into your computer's memory using your CONFIG.SYS 
file.  You do this my adding the line, DEVICE=ANSI.SYS somewhere in the 
CONFIG.SYS file and rebooting your computer. 
 
 
 
                       KEYBOARD REASSIGNMENT WITH ANSI 
 
 
Before we get to specific ways to send control codes to the (now loaded) ANSI 
driver, you must first know what those codes mean.  For the function keys the 
codes are listed on the chart below which first appeared in SOFTALK magazine. 
Each function key is assigned an "extended function code" which DOS will use 
to recognize that a function key has been pressed and in what shifted mode, if 
any.  Each number is expressed as a 0 followed by a semi-colon, then the 
number from the chart below. 
 
                KEY     NORMAL  SHIFT   CONTROL  ALT 
                F1      59      84      94      104 
                F2      60      85      95      105 
                F3      61      86      96      106 
                F4      62      87      97      107 
                F5      63      88      98      108 
                F6      64      89      99      109 
                F7      65      90      100     110 
                F8      66      91      101     111 
                F9      67      92      102     112 
                F10     68      93      103     113 
 
Accordingly, the way to designate the F5 key would be 0;63 while the F10 key 
would be designated by 0;68 or 0;113 if shifted with the ALT key. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                       Using the ANSI driver, Page -2- 
 
 
 
If you examine the DOS Technical Reference Manual (not the Technical Manual 
for PC hardware), you will find a section on SCREEN/KEYS.  This section was 
contained in the DOS 2.0 documentation, but IBM removed it in later editions. 
Here is a summary of its contents relative to keyboard redefinition. 
 
To change one key to have the meaning of another, enter: 
 
                                 ESC [#;#p 
 
where the first # is the ASCII value of the key being changed and the second # 
is the ASCII value of the new definition.  For example, "A" has the ASCII 
value of 65 and "Q" has the value of 81.  So: 
 
                                 ESC [65;81p 
 
will result in "A" being redefined as "Q."  It is also possible to redefine a 
key to have the meaning of a string of characters.  This is done by enclosing 
the string in quotes.  So: 
 
                                 ESC [65;"Hi there"p 
 
would change the "A" key to have the meaning of "Hi there."  If the first 
value for the first # is a 0 however, DOS knows that what is being changed is 
not an ASCII value but the meaning of an extended function code.  So if you 
were to enter: 
 
                                 ESC [0;68;"Hi there"p 
 
DOS would know to change the meaning of the function key (in this case F10) to 
the sting enclosed in quotes.  This is the key to redefining your function 
keys to perform much used commands: like DIR, CHKDSK, COPY *.* B: etc. or to 
load programs from disk. 
 
There is a final trick here.  If you end the escape command sequence with the 
characters ";13p" instead of just "p" the command will self-execute, just as 
if you pressed the [enter] key. 
 
The IBM documentation tells the user to preface each command by an ESC 
command, and I have represented this in the above paragraphs by writing the 
characters "ESC." at the start of each control code sequence mentioned.  Most 
users assume that this means to press the ESC key on the keyboard when 
entering the commands.  Not so.  To get the Escape Sequence to the ANSI driver 
you must enter it using a prompt command or write a .COM file.  For example to 
configure the F1 key (extended function code 59) to have the meaning in DOS of 
"autoexec" with an [enter] command at the end of it you cannot type: 
 
                                ESC [0;59;"autoexec";13p 
 
as the ESC will not be recognized by DOS as an escape sequence.  What DOS will 
recognize as an escape sequence is the characters "$e" although this surely 
looks strange at first.  Users familiar with the PROMPT command will notice 
that the "$" character is what the PROMPT command uses as an escape sequence, 
and that is precisely how we will get the redefinition to be recognized by 
DOS.  If you enter the following command: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                       Using the ANSI driver, Page -3- 
 
 
 
                                PROMPT $e[0;59;"autoexec";13p 
 
you will see that it works perfectly.  You now have the secret to redefining 
the function keys in DOS.  Simply write and run a batch file with a list of 
PROMPT commands and you will have done it.  One precaution, ECHO must be ON, 
otherwise DOS will suppress the PROMPT command and the escape sequences will 
not get through. 
 
As an example, let's create a batch file called KEYON.BAT that will set F1 as 
EDITOR [enter], F2 as PC-FILE [enter], F3 as PC-CALC [enter], F4 as PC-GRAPH 
[enter], F5 as PC-TALK [enter], F6 as PC-WRITE [enter], F7 as BASICA [enter], 
F8 as DIR without the [enter], F9 to run a batch file called MENUOFF.BAT 
[enter] and F10 to run a batch file called MENUON.BAT [enter].  It would be as 
follows: 
 
                echo on 
                PROMPT $e[0;59;"EDITOR";13p 
                PROMPT $e[0;60;"PC-FILE";13p 
                PROMPT $e[0;61;"PC-CALC";13p 
                PROMPT $e[0;62;"PC-GRAPH";13p 
                PROMPT $e[0;63;"PC-TALK";13p 
                PROMPT $e[0;64;"PC-WRITE";13p 
                PROMPT $e[0;65;"BASICA";13p 
                PROMPT $e[0;66;"DIR"p 
                PROMPT $e[0;67;"MENUOFF";13p 
                PROMPT $e[0;68;"MENUON";13p 
                prompt 
                cls 
 
You would also want to create another file called KEYOFF.BAT which resets the 
function key definitions to DOS normal.  The format would be: 
 
                echo on 
                PROMPT $e[0;59;0;59p 
                PROMPT $e[0;60;0;60p 
                PROMPT $e[0;61;0;61p 
                PROMPT $e[0;62;0;62p 
                PROMPT $e[0;63;0;63p 
                PROMPT $e[0;64;0;64p 
                PROMPT $e[0;65;0;65p 
                PROMPT $e[0;66;0;66p 
                PROMPT $e[0;67;0;67p 
                PROMPT $e[0;68;0;68p 
                prompt 
                cls 
 
I should mention that the purpose of the final blank PROMPT command in each of 
these batch files is to reset the DOS prompt to A> or whatever your default 
prompt is.  It serves no redefinition purpose, but does keep the screen 
looking clean. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                       Using the ANSI driver, Page -4- 
 
 
                     USING DEBUG TO LOAD THE ANSI DRIVER 
 
While there is no reason why we could not continue to configure our function 
keys by batch files consisting of lists of PROMPT commands, this is a clumsy 
way to proceed.  It is easier to use the DEBUG utility supplied with DOS to 
create a .COM file that will do the job for us quickly and directly, without 
sending any input to screen.  To my knowledge this technique was first 
published by Michael J. Grabel in the December 1984 edition of PC WORLD. 
 
Place a formatted DOS disk containing the DEBUG utility in the default drive, 
and follow the script below.  As you do so hexadecimal numbers will appear on 
the left hand side of your screen.  These numbers will vary depending on the 
configuration of your system.  For our purposes here I will represent the 
numbers in the form xxxx:nnnn.  What you will see on your screen will be 
different. 
 
A>DEBUG [enter] 
-A 100 [enter] 
MOV AH,9 [enter] 
MOV DX,109 [enter] 
INT 21 [enter] 
INT 20 [enter] 
xxxx:nnnn DB 1B'[0;59;"EDITOR";13p' [enter] 
xxxx:nnnn DB 1B'[0;60;"PC-FILE";13p' [enter] 
xxxx:nnnn DB 1B'[0;61;"PC-CALC";13p' [enter] 
xxxx:nnnn DB 1B'[0;62;"PC-GRAPH";13p' [enter] 
xxxx:nnnn DB 1B'[0;63;"PC-TALK";13p' [enter] 
xxxx:nnnn DB 1B'[0;64;"PC-WRITE";13p' [enter] 
xxxx:nnnn DB 1B'[0;65;"BASICA";13p' [enter] 
xxxx:nnnn DB 1B'[0;66;"DIR"p' [enter] 
xxxx:nnnn DB 1B'[0;67;"MENUOFF";13p' [enter] 
xxxx:nnnn DB 1B'[0;68;"MENUON";13p' [enter] 
xxxx:nnnn DB 1B '$' [enter] 
 
     As soon as you have entered the previous line, your computer will respond 
     with a number in the form of xxxx:nnnn.  Copy down the portion of the 
     number that is being represented here as "nnnn" as you will need it 
     later.  Once you have copied the number down, press [enter] 
 
xxxx:nnnn [enter] 
-N KEYON.COM [enter] 
-R BX [enter] 
 
     When you have entered the command above, your computer will respond with 
     the following line and a colon as a prompt.  At this prompt enter 0 and 
     press [enter]. 
 
BX:0000 
:0 [enter] 
-R CX [enter] 
 
     When you enter the R CX command above, the computer will respond with the 
     following line and a colon as a prompt.  At this prompt enter the number, 
     "nnnn" you copied down above and press [enter]. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                       Using the ANSI driver, Page -5- 
 
 
CX 0000 
:nnnn [enter] 
-W [enter] 
 
     The computer will respond with the following. 
 
WRITING nnnn bytes 
-Q [enter] 
 
As soon as you enter the Q command (for Quit) you will be back at the DOS 
prompt, and there will be a new file on disk called KEYON.COM.  Simply type it 
at the DOS prompt and your function keys will be configured.  It is a good 
idea to use this same procedure to write another .COM file called KEYOFF.COM 
which will restore the keys to their native DOS definitions.  The procedure 
for this is the same as the above, except that the definition section should 
be: 
 
xxxx:nnnn DB 1B'[0;59;0;59p' [enter] 
xxxx:nnnn DB 1B'[0;60;0;60p' [enter] 
xxxx:nnnn DB 1B'[0;61;0;61p' [enter] 
xxxx:nnnn DB 1B'[0;62;0;62p' [enter] 
xxxx:nnnn DB 1B'[0;63;0;63p' [enter] 
xxxx:nnnn DB 1B'[0;64;0;64p' [enter] 
xxxx:nnnn DB 1B'[0;65;0;65p' [enter] 
xxxx:nnnn DB 1B'[0;66;0;66p' [enter] 
xxxx:nnnn DB 1B'[0;67;0;67p' [enter] 
xxxx:nnnn DB 1B'[0;68;0;68p' [enter] 
xxxx:nnnn DB 1B '$' [enter] 
 
If you find that KEYON.COM doesn't work correctly, reboot the machine to clear 
the definitions and try again.  The most common mistakes are typing errors (I 
often enter a colon when I wanted a semi-colon).  Another source of difficulty 
will arise if you have another file on disk to start with called KEYON.COM or 
KEYOFF.COM.  DEBUG bypasses the normal file allocation of DOS and writes 
directly to the disk.  If you have another file on disk with the same name, 
DEBUG will overwrite it, but unless the other file was exactly the same size 
as the new one or smaller, there may be a piece of the old file left over 
attached to the end of the new one.  As a precaution, always erase old 
versions of the .COM files, or better yet give each one a unique name and 
rename it later using the DOS Rename command. 
 
                            SOME ADDITIONAL TRICKS 
 
 
Here are some additional control codes for the ANSI driver, summarized from 
the IBM material. 
 
 
1. CURSOR POSITIONING 
 
     To move the cursor to a specified position: ESC [#;#h where the first # 
     is the desired line number and the second the desire column. 
 
     To move the cursor up without changing columns: ESC [#a where # specifies 
     the number of lines moved. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                       Using the ANSI driver, Page -6- 
 
 
 
     To move the cursor to a specified horizontal and vertical position: ESC 
     [#;#f where # means first the line number and secondly the column number. 
 
     To get a device status report: ESC [6n 
 
     To get a cursor position report: ESC [#;#r where the first # specifies 
     the current line and the second # specifies the current column 
 
     To move the cursor down: ESC [#b where # specifies the number of lines 
     moved down. 
 
     To move the cursor forward: ESC [#C where # specifies the number of 
     columns moved. 
 
     To move the cursor backward: ESC [#d where # specifies the number of 
     columns moved. 
 
     To save the cursor position: ESC [s and to restore it: ESC [u. 
 
2. ERASING 
 
     To do a CLS (erase screen move cursor to home position): ESC [2j 
 
     To erase from cursor to end of line: ESC [k 
 
 
3. COLOR GRAPHICS 
 
     To set the color/graphics attributes, enter ESC [#;#m where the first # 
     is the desired foreground color and the second is the desired background 
     color.  Select colors from the list below: 
 
     30  black foreground 
     31  red foreground 
     32  green foreground 
     33  yellow foreground 
     34  blue foreground 
     35  magenta foreground 
     36  cyan foreground 
     37  white foreground 
 
     40  black background 
     41  red background 
     42  green background 
     43  yellow background 
     44  blue background 
     45  magenta background 
     46  cyan background 
     47  white background 
 
     To set additional attributes enter: ESC [#m where # is the number of the 
     desired attribute.  Select attributes from the list below: 
 
     0  all attributes off (white on black) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                       Using the ANSI driver, Page -7- 
 
 
     1  bold on 
     4  underscore (on IBM Monochrome Display) 
     5  blink 
     7  reverse video 
     8  invisible 
 
To give an example of what can be done with these additional codes, a batch 
file called MENUOFF.BAT containing only the line: 
 
                        PROMPT $e[2J$e[30;40m$h 
 
would blank a color display completely.  It does a CLS, sets the display to a 
black foreground and background and the with the "$h" performs a backspace to 
erase the blinking cursor (the "$h command is documented in the DOS manual 
under PROMPT).  Another batch file called MENUON.BAT containing the lines: 
 
      PROMPT $e[0m 
      prompt 
      cls 
 
Would reset a color display to restore the screen after MENUOFF.BAT had been 
run. 
 
Enjoy ANSI!  It is a wonderful tool, and can be a lot of fun to use.  It's not 
a keyboard enhancer, and if you load it up with too many keyboard 
redefinitions at one time you will run out of environment space.  This is 
harmless and simply means that ANSI is full.  But it will work fine to define 
your function keys and control your screen. 
 
                                                                                                  
