Hi oldfarmhand.
I agree with you about HAL not having an owners manual but there is Vb-Script in a nutshell I think, try to google it or search the forum, the over all general manual for HAL was supposed to be written but I think something went south on that, anyways, the over all general HAL manual would be a very large volume, something like this requires money to hire someone with the patients and know how of HAL's inner and outer workings.
It would probably be around 2000 dollars to hire someone under contract.