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This page is intended as a short reference manual to PetC. If a function is described but not implemented it is marked with <IMG SRC="kryss.gif">.

<H2>Sections</H2>
<ol>
  <li><A HREF="#install">Installing PetC</A>
  <li><A HREF="#mainwindow">The main window</A>
  <li><A HREF="#mainbuttons">The main window toolbar</A>
  <li><A HREF="#childwindow">The FSA window</A>
  <li><A HREF="#menu">The menus</A>
</ol>
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<H2><A NAME="install">Installing PetC</A></H2>
Installing PetC couldn't be simpler. Just unzip the <A HREF="http://www.dsv.su.se/~henrikbe/zip/fsm.zip">archive</A> in a directory of your choice. And then run the program. 
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<H2><A NAME="mainwindow">The main window</A></H2>
<IMG SRC="petc.gif"><BR>
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<H2><A NAME="mainbuttons">The main window toolbar</A></H2>
Don't care about the button "Ladda" it is just a debugging aid that only works correctly for me.
<IMG SRC="file.gif"><BR>
The first five icons are for opening a new, loading, saving, saving under a new name and printing of an FSA.<BR>
When you start a new FSA the first thing you have to do is to <A HREF="#definealphabet">define the alphabet</A> of it.
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<IMG SRC="ccp.gif"><BR>
Next come the usual windows icons for cut, copy and paste. To and from the clipboard. For the moment only the paste-button is implemented.
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<IMG SRC="working.gif"><BR>
The first five icons in this groups sets the mode of work. The arrow is for moving states and arcs as well as making states final by double clicking on them. The circle is for placing new states, and the arrow does the same for transitions. The "greater than" sign is used for setting starting states and the a being erased is for deleting states and transitions.<BR>
The next icon (A) is used if you want to <A HREF="#definealphabet">change the alphabet</A> of a FSA.<BR>
The last two icons represents often-used functions for making an FSA deterministic and as small as possible.
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<IMG SRC="exit.gif"><BR>
Last out is an exit-icon that quits the program.
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<H2><A NAME="childwindow">The FSA window</A></H2>
<IMG SRC="child.gif">
<BR>The FSA window(s) are where you design and run your FSA. The major part of this window is used for a graphical representation of the FSA. Below the image is buttons for running the FSA. In the combobox (textline with menu) you enter the string you want to run.
<BR>
<IMG SRC="run.gif">The first button is for "fast run". In this mode you won't see the actual run but only be informed about whether the string was accepted or not. The state the machine ended in will be highlighted after the run.<BR>
The second button is for "normal run" where you will see all the transitions made, while the third is for pausing the current run. Every time a transition is made the letter (string) that was needed to make the transition is removed from the text in the combobox (it is reinserted in case of backtracking). The state that the machine ended in after every transition is also highlighted.<BR>
The fourth button is for setting the string the machine should try to the one currently in the combobox. DON'T use this button while running the machine normally. There won't be a major explosion or something, but the result might be strange. The only time this button should be pressed is when you want to single-step. Click the button once and then use the fifth button for stepping.<BR>
The sixth button (grayed out here) is for saving the run to disk. This option is currently not implemented.
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<H2><A NAME="menu">The menus</A></H2>
<ol>
  <li><A HREF="#file">File</A>
  <li><A HREF="#edit">Edit</A>
  <li><A HREF="#run">Run</A>
  <li><A HREF="#question">Question</A>
  <li><A HREF="#do">Do</A>
  <li><A HREF="#window">Window</A>
  <li><A HREF="#options">Options</A>
  <li><A HREF="#help">Help</A>
</ol>
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<H3><A NAME="file">File</A></H3>
<H4>New</H4>
Start a new FSA.
<H4>New from RE</H4>
Start a new FSA and generate it from a regular expression.
<H4>Open</H4>
Open a saved FSA.
<H4>Close</H4>
Close the current FSA.
<H4>Save</H4>
Save the FSA to disk.
<H4>Save As</H4>
Save the FSA under a new name.
<H4>Print</H4>
Print the current FSA.
<H4>Exit</H4>
Quit PetC.
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<H3><A NAME="edit">Edit</A></H3>
<H4><IMG SRC="kryss.gif">Cut</H4>
Removes part of the FSA and send them to the clipboard.
<H4>Copy</H4>
Copies the FSA to the clipboard. Currently it only copies the image.
<H4><IMG SRC="kryss.gif">Paste</H4>
Inserts an FSA from the clipboard.
<H4>Duplicate</H4>Creates a copy of the current FSA in a new window.
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<H3><A NAME="run">Run</A></H3>
<H4>Run Fast</H4>
Run the current FSA with the specified string. This options does not show the moves but just say if there was a way or not.
<H4>Run Normal</H4>
Run the current FSA with the specified string. This option shows the run graphically. The time for each transition can be set with the <A HREF="#options">option</A> Time.
<H4><IMG SRC="kryss.gif">Reset string</H4>
Reset the input string to the FSA. Necessary for Single-step (below), but be careful when you're running the FSA normally.
<H4><IMG SRC="kryss.gif">Single Step</H4>
Makes a single transition. This might and might not work in the current version, there is a bug there somewhere
<H4><IMG SRC="kryss.gif">Record</H4>
Save the run to disk.
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<H3><A NAME="question">Question</A></H3>
<H4>Deterministic ?</H4>
Is the FSA deterministic ?
<H4>Useless states ?</H4>
Does the FSA contain any useless states ? Useless states are defined somewhat unusual in this context. They are states that are unreachable from any starting state rather than states that can not lead to a final state.
<H4>Nr of states ?</H4>
Shows the total number of states in the FSA.
<H4>Is Equivalent ? </H4>
If you click on two states after choosing this menu-item, then PetC will tell you whether or not they are equivalent.
<H4>Got Strings ?</H4>
Does the FSA contain any transitions over strings ?
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<H3><A NAME="do"></A>Do</H3>
<H4>Remove strings</H4>
Removes all strings from the automaton. Please observe that currently there is no way (except by making use of regular expressions) that you can enter a string into the automaton within the program. If you need to have strings they have to be inserted into a saved FSA by hand.
<H4>Remove ¤-arcs</H4>
Remove empty transitions. The sun-symbol (¤) is used in stead of the normal e because I wanted a program that could use all characters in the alphabet.
<H4>Remove Multiple starting</H4>
Removes multiple starting states by inserting a new state and making empty transitions to all current starting states.
<H4>Remove Useless states</H4>
Removes states that can not be reached from any starting state.
<H4>Make deterministic</H4>
Make the FSA deterministic.
<H4>Minimize</H4>
Make the FSA as small as possible using the currently choosen minimization algorithm.
<H4><IMG SRC="kryss.gif">Regular expression Generate</H4>
Generate a regular expression from the current FSA.
<H4>Regular expression Union with</H4>
A new FSA is constructed from a regular expression and the current becomes the union between itself and the new.
<H4>Regular expression Concatenate with</H4>
A new FSA is constructed from a regular expression and the current becomes the concatenation between itself and the new.
<H4>Operations Complement</H4>
Makes the current FSA the complement of itself, that is make all non-final states final and vice versa. The automaton now accepts all words except those it accepted before.
<H4>Operations Kleene Closure</H4>
Gives the Kleene-closure of the current FSA.
<H4>Operations Reverse</H4>
Reverses the current FSA, that is make all starting states final in stead and all final states starting. States that are both starting and final remains unchanged. The automaton now accepts all strings in reverse. That is if the only word the automaton should accept before was abc then the only word it accepts now is cba. 
<H4>Operations Union</H4>
Another FSA is loaded from disk and the current is made the union between itself and the new.
<H4>Operations Concatenation</H4>
Another FSA is loaded from disk and the current is made the concatenation between itself and the new.
<H4>Renumber</H4>
Renumber all states in the FSA, starting from 0. 
<H4>Reposition</H4>
Tries to place all states in such a way that you get as little overlap as possible.
<H4><A NAME="definealphabet">Define Alphabet</A></H4>
Define the alphabet of the current FSA. The letters that should be in the alphabet is entered in the window below. The buttons to the right are just shortcuts for defining some usual alphabets.
<IMG SRC="setalpha.gif">
<H4>Generate Type 1</H4>
<H4>Generate Type 2</H4>
<H4>Generate Type 3</H4>
The last three menu-items are just debugging aid.
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<H3><A NAME="window">Window</A></H3>
<H4>Cascade</H4>
If you have several FSAs open at the same time this places them slightly overlapping.
<H4>Tile</H4>
If you have several FSAs open at the same time this places them without overlap.
<H4>Arrange Icons</H4>
If you have minimized FSA-windows this arranges them neatly at the bottom of the screen.
<H4>Minimize all</H4>
Minimize all open FSA-windows.
<H4>Window names</H4>
Last out on this menu is a list of the currently open FSA-windows. Click on one to get to the window.
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<H3><A NAME="options">Options</A></H3>
<H4>Time</H4>
Set the time between transitions in normal run.
<H4>Algorithm Brzozowski</H4>
Use Brzozowskis algorithm for minimization. This algorithm does work for nondeterministic FSAs but is slower than Hopcrofts.
<H4>Algorithm Hopcroft</H4>
Use Hopcrofts algorithm for minimization. Works only for deterministic auomatons.
<H4>Algorithm Huffman Moore</H4>
Use Huffman and Moores algorithm for minimization. Works only for deterministic automatons.
<H4>Browser</H4>
Set internet-browser and help-file locations. Currently there is little meaning with trying to set the browser to anything but Netscape. Although PetC will probably launch the chosen browser it will not use it the next time you want to look in the help.
<H4>Font</H4>
Choose the font to be used for the state-numbers. Default is 8p Ms Sans Serif
<H4>StateSize</H4>
Set the diameter of the states in pixels. Default is 40.
<H4>Highlight Solid</H4>
When a state is highlighted all of the state becomes red.
<H4>Highlight Border</H4>
When a state is highlighted only the border becomes red.
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<H3><A NAME="help">Help</A></H3>
<H4>About</H4>
A short copyrights notice.
<H4>Tutorial</H4>
Tries to open the specified tutorial-URL in the chosen browser.
<H4>Manual</H4>
Tries to open the specified manual-URL (this page) in the chosen browser.
<H4>Homepage</H4>
Tries to open the specified Homepage-URL of PetC in the chosen browser.
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