So then all the commands such as VRCON, INTCON, etc, are directly accessible through PICBasic or must one use asm for some of them? One must set the bit high or low to enable the feature?
all the register can be acces directly with their name under PicBasic Pro. If you want to set/verify only one bit you can also. Lets say i want to set bit 3 of VRCON

VRCON.3=1

that's it... i didn't check what is the meaning of this pin before but the method is there...

I'm very new to this. Could you recommend a good programming reference and/or tutorial for beginners? The PICBasic pro manual is the best reference but not an application guide.
you can see code example one Melabs website or Bruce website www.rentron.com

Both can sells you some books on that. The best way as i know to learn is to try, get bugs and debug.

good luck!