TOPIC: How to use NIGHT Help Topic Index Using Help The NIGHT on-line help system is context sensitive. This means that any time you summon help, the information that initially appears in the help window will be releated to the NIGHT function that is active. z The help system also features cross-referenced help topics. The active cross-reference topic, if one exists in the help window, is marked with a colored selection bar. If more than one topic exists, you can move the selection bar with the Tab/Shift+Tab and Right/Left arrow keys. Click on a topic or press the Enter key to switch to help on the selected (highlighted) topic. At the top left of each help window there is are two cross referenced items which will take you to the help topic menu or to this text. 6 Page up and down through the text with PgUp/PgDn keys. Use the Down Arrow or Space Bar to move down one line at a time and the up arrow to move up one line at a time. The Tab (or Right Arrow) key moves down to the next cross-reference topic and the Shift+Tab (or Left Arrow) moves up to the previous topic. Remember, you can get help any time by pressing F1, depressing the Help button, or clicking on the "F1 Help" message in the lower left corner of the screen. Enjoy your CD-ROM! HELP TOPICS Use TAB/RightArrow (down) or Shift+TAB/LeftArrow (up) to move topic selector. Help using Main Category List Disply Functions Viewing categorie files Formatting Viewing files Accessing Searching categories Printing category Tagging/Untagging Exiting NIGHT Deleting Remove files Shelling Category/User List File Display Functions Category Unpacking CD-ROM files Copying CD-ROM files Viewing contents Adding Searching Deleting Items Printing category Tagging/Untagging files Exiting category Work Area Display Functions Work Print Executing Copying Files Viewing Files Unpack Compressed File Viewer Functions ZIP Viewer View ZIPed Print Text File Browser Text Browser TOPIC: File Category List Box Topic Index Using Help The NIGHT Category List box contains a list of all the categories into which the thousands of files on your Night Owl CD-ROM are divided. The category names are both descriptive and self-explanatory. Move through the list with the cursor pad keys (Arrows, PdDn, etc.) or the mouse. The solid cursor bar is used to highlight a target category for Tagging or Viewing. TOPIC: Help on Using NIGHT Help Topic Index Using Help L Press the key when you need help in operating the NIGHT CD-ROM file retrieval system. Also, note that the top line of the display contains a helpful hint for the control that has the default. Use the key to cycle the default through each of the active display controls. The F5 key is used to drop temporarily to DOS. TOPIC: The Category File Lister Topic Index Using Help Depress the button, press the key, or double-click the left mouse button on a category to invoke the NIGHT category file list viewer. This viewer contains a list of files in the target category and their textual descriptions. TOPIC: Formatting a Floppy Disk Topic Index Using Help Depress the button or press to format a floppy disk in drive A or B. A dialog box will appear in which you select the disk drive letter (A or B) and the disk size (360K, 1.2M, 720K, or 1.44M). NIGHT will then drop to DOS and call the DOS utility FORMAT.COM. Note that you will be informed if NIGHT is unable to locate a copy of FORMAT.COM in your DOS directory or in your DOS path. TOPIC: The User-Defined File List Topic Index Using Help ] NIGHT provides the powerful capability for the user to build his/her own file list from the thousands of files on the Night Owl CD-ROM. The list can be built as a result of a text search or by tagging files in one of the file lists. Use the button or press to display your current list of CD-ROM files and their descriptions. TOPIC: The User Work Area Topic Index Using Help The NIGHT Work Area is a directory in which NIGHT will copy or decompress specific files. This is accomplished while operating in the file list mode. Depress the button or press to invoke the work area display. You will be informed if no files are currently in the work area and you will have an opportunity to delete the files in the work area when you exit that display. TOPIC: Searching Category File Descriptions Topic Index Using Help ( NIGHT gives you the powerful capability to search all the file descriptions in a marked category for text that you provide or to search the file name lists using DOS wildcards. You can Tag category names on the list by pressing the or the button. When ready to conduct a search, click the button or press . If you are searching for text, you will be prompted to enter up to 24 characters of text as the target of the search. Note that the search is NOT case sensitive. If searching for a file name, you may enter a complete DOS file name or a name that contains DOS wildcards. Note that "*.*" is NOT allowed. During the search, a window appears that informs you of the search progress and you will be informed of how many "finds" were made during the search. [ NIGHT searches each textual description of each file or for the file name in all of the categories that you have tagged. When a match is found, NIGHT will add that file name to your User List if it is not already on the list. At the end of the search, simply display your user list to browse the list of files that matched your searh criteria. TOPIC: Printing the NIGHT Category List Topic Index Using Help You may send a list of the Categories on your Night Owl CD-ROM to your printer by depressing the Print button. To commence printing the list, ensure that your printer is on and respond to the Night Owl Query. TOPIC: Tagging Categories for Searching Topic Index Using Help Categories are tagged (marked) for inclusion in the NIGHT category file description Search by pressing the space bar with the cursor bar over the target category. = The button is a toggle that acts upon all categories in the list. If no category names are tagged when the Tag button is depressed or when is pressed, NIGHT will tag all categories on the list. Otherwise, NIGHT will remove all tags. Category names are tagged for category file description search. Topic Index Using Help You may change to another Night Owl CD-ROM disk by selecting this function. You will be prompted to replace the current disk with the new disk. When the new disk is loaded, NIGHT will read the disk and load the new category list. TOPIC: Exiting NIGHT to DOS Topic Index Using Help e Depressing the button or pressing the key will exit NIGHT and return control to DOS. TOPIC: Category File List Viewer Topic Index Using Help When requested to display the files in a category or in your user-defined list, NIGHT will present a dialog window which contains a list box and several control buttons. The list box displays a vertical list of file names. An adjacent text box displays the textual description for the selected file. A file is selected when the cursor bar highlights the file name. While viewing the file list, you can accomplish the following: UnPack File(s) Copy File(s) Add View Print These operations are executed by depressing the associated control button, pressing plus the highlighted letter ( to copy), or by pressing to view the file under the cursor bar. - You may send the file list to your printer by pressing or clicking on the area of the bottom menu line. You will be prompted to choose just the file names or the file names and full text descriptions and you will be reminded to ensure that your printer is on and ready for printing. TOPIC: Unpacking (decompressing) CD-ROM ZIP Files Topic Index Using Help NIGHT provides the capability to decompress a compressed file to a special directory called the work area. Just move the cursor bar to the desired file and depress the button or press . You will be prompted to enter the name of the destination directory. The default is the Night Owl work area. As soon as the unpacking operation is complete, NIGHT will automatically place you in the Work Area. And when you complete your examination of the unpacked files you will automatically be placed back in the category list dialog. TOPIC: Copying CD-ROM Files Topic Index Using Help Files on the CD-ROM may be copied to any drive:\directory in your system. Tag the files you wish to copy and depress the button or press . You will be prompted to enter the full, valid DOS path name of the destination directory. TOPIC: Viewing Category ZIP Files Topic Index Using Help You can view the contents of compressed (ZIP) files by moving the cursor bar to the desired file and depressing the button, pressing , or pressing . If the file is compressed, the NIGHT compressed file viewer will appear. TOPIC: Adding Files to the User List Topic Index Using Help Adding files from the current category list to your user list is easy. Just tag the files you wish to add and depress the button or press . Remember, NIGHT will not add a file to the list if it is already on the list...no duplicates allowed. TOPIC: Printing a Category File List Topic Index Using Help You may elect to print a listing of all the files in the current category by depressing the button. You then may opt to print just a list of the category files or to print the file list and the accompanying descriptive text. TOPIC: Tagging Category Files Topic Index Using Help Individual files in the category file list are tagged (marked) by moving the cursor bar to a file name and then pressing the space bar. The Tag button is a toggle that acts on all files in the category list. If no files are tagged, all files will be tagged and, conversely, if a file is tagged then all tags are removed. Tags are used to indicate which files are to be unpacked or copied. TOPIC: Searching the User List File Descriptions Topic Index Using Help Press the "Srch" button to start a search of the user-defined list. At the prompt, enter a search target string (not case-sensitive). All files on the list with a description that contains a match of the entered target string will be tagged at the end of the search. TOPIC: Exiting the Category File List Topic Index Using Help y Depress the button or the key to exit the category/user file list and return to the main NIGHT display. TOPIC: ZIP File Contents List Display Topic Index Using Help The contents of the selected ZIP file are displayed in a vertical list. Like other NIGHT lists, you may move the cursor through the list with the cursor keys or the mouse. TOPIC: Unpacking and Viewing a Text File Topic Index Using Help To unpack and view a text file in one operation, place the cursor bar over the target file name and depress the button or press the key. If the file is a text file, NIGHT will unpack it and load it into the internal file Viewer. TOPIC: Printing ZIP File Contents List Topic Index Using Help e Press or click on the button to send a list of the compressed files to the printer. TOPIC: Exiting ZIP Contents Viewer Topic Index Using Help N Press the button or the key to exit the ZIP contents viewer. TOPIC: Work Area File List Box Topic Index Using Help The displayed list box contains a list of all files currently residing in the user work area. You may perform the following functions while in the work area: M Print Execute Copy View Unpack TOPIC: Printing the Work Area Selected File Topic Index Using Help Depress the button or press to print the file that is selected by the cursor bar. Make sure that your printer is on and ready to print. TOPIC: Executing a File in the Work Area Topic Index Using Help You can execute an .EXE or a .COM file from NIGHT by placing the cursor bar over the desired file and depressing the button or pressing . NIGHT will execute the program for you and when you exit the program, you will be returned to NIGHT. TOPIC: Copying Work Are Files Topic Index Using Help Use the button (or ) to copy ALL files in the user work area to a drive:\directory of your choice. You will be prompted to enter a valid DOS path to the destination directory you desire and then NIGHT will copy ALL the files currently in the work area to that directory. TOPIC: Viewing a Work Area Text/ZIP File Topic Index Using Help You may view a text or ZIP file by moving the cursor bar to the target file and depressing the button, pressing , or pressing . NIGHT will automatically determine the file type and invoke the appropriate viewer. TOPIC: Unpacking a Work Area ZIP File Topic Index Using Help u Sometimes compressed files have a compressed file stored inside. In that case, you might find a compressed file in the work area after decompressing a file to the area. If so, you may unpack the file by moving the cursor bar to the file and depressing the button or pressing . NIGHT will unpack the file into the work area and re-display the file list. The built-in NIGHT text file browser is not limited by file size but is limited to 32,767 file lines. The following commands are available when browsing a text file. F3 - Autoscroll down F4 - Autoscroll up F5 - Jump to a specified line number F7 - Toggle line number display F8 - Search for text F9 - Mark end/begin of text block Ctrl+H - Clear marked block Ctrl+L - Continue search Ctrl+P - Print marked block Ctrl+W - Write marked block to file DnArrow - Increase autoscroll rate UpArrow - Decrease autoscroll rate The mouse is used in the following way: Left button - Move bar to line Right button - Mark block begin/end Double-click - Clear marked block The autoscroll function automatically scrolls the text one line at a time at a user-adjustable rate. Use the down arrow to increase the scroll rate and the up arrow to decrease it. Autoscroll can be terminated by pressing F3, F4, Space Bar, or the Esc key. F A block of text may be marked and sent to your printer or to a file. TOPIC: Unpacking ZIP Files Topic Index Using Help NIGHT contains its own built-in ZIP file unpacking facility. The ZIP unpacking display will keep you informed of progress during the unpacking process. You can abort the unpacking process at any time by pressing the "Abort" button or the "Esc" key. TOPIC: Deleting the User-defined File List Topic Index Using Help The NIGHT user-defined list can be removed so that you can start over and build a new list. This function acutally deletes a file named NIGHT.USR in your main Night Owl Directory. TOPIC: Deleting the files in the Work Area Topic Index Using Help It is normally a good idea to delete the files in the work area after you have unpacked and examined them. This will ensure that the only files in that area are the files unpacked from just one ZIP file. This function will remove ALL the files in your Night Owl Unzip directory. TOPIC: Dropping Temporarily to DOS Topic Index Using Help You may leave NIGHT temporarily and operate at the DOS level via this function. The penalty in memory available at the DOS level is only approximately 10K bytes. TOPIC: Jump to Line Number in File Enter the line number you wish to jump to and depress the Go button. If the line number exists, the browser cursor bar will be moved to that line. TOPIC: Search for Text in File Topic Index Using Help Enter the text (up to 24 characters) you wish to search for, set the case sensitive and search from the top option boxes, and depress the Go button. If the text is found, the browser cursor bar will be moved to the line in which the text appears. TOPIC: Print Block of Marked Text Topic Index Using Help { The text block that has been marked appears in a different color and this text will be sent to the printer if so desired. TOPIC: Print Entire Text File Topic Index Using Help A This command will print all the lines in the current text file. TOPIC: Write Block of Marked Text to a File This function permits you to mark a block of text and then send it to a file. If the file that you specify does not exist, NIGHT will create it. If it does exist, you will have the option to overwrite the file or to abort the operation. TOPIC: Print Category File List Topic Index Using Help You have the option of printing a list that consists of just the file names in the active category or a list that includes the file names and the textual descriptions. TOPIC: Reinstalling NIGHT G The NIGHT file system may be installed on another drive. Select "Re-install NIGHT" from the main category list display menu or press . You will be prompted to enter the path name of the new NIGHT system directory and you will have the option to delete the files in the current directories after the move is complete. TOPIC: Installing/Using a Graphics Viewer & You may optionally install the graphics viewer of your choice with this option. At the prompt, enter the full DOS path file name to your viewer, as in C:\UTIL\GRAPHICS\GWS.EXE. If a viewer is installed, NIGHT will call the installed viewer any time you attempt to view GIF, PCX, etc. files. Thank you very much for choosing Night Owl. It is our view that Shareware constitutes a viable, low cost alternative to many of the personal computer commercial programs. Its greatest strength is that you get to try it before you buy it. No hassles in obtaining a return authorization or from a store manager. We also believe that Shareware is maturing as a product distribution concept and that its general quality and functionality is improving at a rapid rate. This could only happen because users, like yourself, are supporting Shareware products by remitting their registrations when they find a product useful enough to keep. We are certain that you will find at least one such product on your Night Owl CD-ROM. ! Your support of the Shareware concept is important and greatly appreciated. With it, Shareware authors are encouraged to design and distribute new products. Without it, a great deal of high quality, low cost software will cease to be available as an alternative to commercial software. A We hope that the Night Owl CD-ROM continues to be a useful and productive element of your system and we urge you register those Shareware products or our disk that you find useful. And finally, we wish to point out that New-Ware, the company that designed this file retrieval system, is a well-known Shareware company. While viewing the user-defined file list, you can accomplish the following: UnPack File(s) Copy File(s) View Search Delete These operations are executed by depressing the associated control button, pressing plus the highlighted letter ( to copy), or by pressing to view the file under the cursor bar. - You may send the file list to your printer by pressing or clicking on the area of the bottom menu line. You will be prompted to choose just the file names or the file names and full text descriptions and you will be reminded to ensure that your printer is on and ready for printing. TOPIC: Deleting Items from the User-defined List Topic Index Using Help You may delete individual items from your user-defined list of files by moving the cursor bar to the desired file name and pressing the key or via the user list menu.