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REGISTRATION
Make Shareware work for everybody-
please register NOW!
BENEFITS OF REGISTRATION
■ FREE videofile library disk containing hundreds of popular
video entries.
You are saved a tremendous amount of time by not having to type
in video information!
■ MERGE utility to combine videofiles
■ ENHANCED ENGLISH language interpreter (including ability to
select videos e.g."from 1985 to 1987"," **1/2 or better ")
■ A printed, bound, MANUAL
■ VASCII utility to convert Questor database files to
text files.
Act now by sending your name, shipping address, and
preference as to whether you would like standard 5-1/4
inch floppy disks or 3-1/2 inch disks, along with
$29.95 (check or money order preferably) to :
Random Tree Software Inc.
111 Eden Lane
Duluth, Minnesota
55805
---------------------------------------------------------
Enclosed is $29.95 Rush me the full featured version of
Questor complete with manual, several hundred typed in
videos, and enhanced language interpretation and search
abilities.
NAME:___________________________________________________
STREET:____________________________________ APT# _______
CITY:______________________ STATE: _____ ZIPCODE _______
DISK PREFERENCE (circle one): [5.25 inch] OR [3.5 inch]
VISA/MASTERCARD #______________________ EXP. DATE:________
NAME ON CREDIT CARD:______________________________________
----------------------------------------------------------
QUESTOR SHAREWARE USER DOCUMENTATION
Copyright (c) 1990 by Random Tree Software, Incorporated.
All rights reserved.
This user documentation may be copied only if it is copied in
its entirety and only if it if no charge is charged to the
recipient of the copy or if a charge is charged to a recipient
equal only to the cost of materials for the copying, not to exceed
a cost of $5.00 US dollars.
No part of this documentation may be altered in any manner,
electronic or written, without the written permission of Random
Tree Software, Incorporated.
IMPORTANT !
Throughout this documentation, when you are instructed about
what to type using your keyboard, always type only what is
listed between double quotes (" "). Anything outside of the
quotes is what your computer operating system (DOS) or Questor
might display on your computer screen. The ONLY exception to
this rule will be when using the artificial intelligence mode of
Questor where you must type in the title or partial title of
a video within double quotes ( DO type quotes using your keyboard
when doing this! ).
TOPICS COVERED IN THIS DOCUMENTATION
( IN THIS ORDER )
1. INTRODUCTION
2. WHY QUESTOR IS USEFUL TO YOU
3. HELP: available using the [F1] key
4. KEYS: important keys on your keyboard
5. MENUS and how to use them
6. GETTING STARTED- QUICKLY
7. INSTALLING Questor onto a hard disk
8. GETTING QUESTOR UP AND RUNNING on a hard disk
9. GETTING QUESTOR UP AND RUNNING using two floppy disks
10.GETTING QUESTOR UP AND RUNNING using a 3-1/2 inch disk
11.OPENING a video database FILE
12.CLOSING a video database FILE
13.SELECTING VIDEOS using the artificial intelligence
language interpreter
14.ADDING video information
15.EDITING video information
16.PRINTING video titles
17.LISTING video database files
18.MAKING a video database file
19.BACKING UP a video database file
20.RESTORING a video database file
21.INDEX "patching"
22.HOW QUESTOR WORKS
=====================================================================
1. INTRODUCTION
■ WELCOME to Questor v1.0 ! We at Random Tree Software
hope you enjoy this software, as we have taken great
care to make it as professional and user-friendly as
possible. We have also strived to make it as affordable
as possible while still maintaining a quality product
worth many times its cost!
■ Questor is a state of the art database managment system
for maintaining a list of videos and their associated
information (title, star, rating, etc.). It is a simple
database to operate, but powerful in managing the video
information and in selecting videos of interest to you.
=====================================================================
2. WHY QUESTOR IS USEFUL FOR YOU
Are you walking into video rental stores lately and feeling
overwhelmed at the infinite numbers and variety of videos
available? You are not alone! And the situation is only going
to get worse as older and newer movies and music videos continue
to be made into videos.
Questor will help you decide what video(s) you want to see,
without going nuts pondering over the rows upon rows of videos.
Questor will help you remember a favorite video, perhaps one you have
forgotten about but is on the "tip of your tongue"!
Unique features of Questor:
■ Enter, edit, and catalog up to 2 billion videos, the
number of course dependant on your computer diskettes
or hard disk storage capacity.
■ Artificial Intelligence Language Interpreter! You can
talk to Questor using ordinary english sentances to
tell Questor what videos to search for and display.
You might remember part of a video title, so you could
tell Questor,
Find a video with a partial title of "house"!
Then Questor would search the database and find all
videos with the word "house" in its title. The video
"Roadhouse" with Patrick Swayze might appear, just
the video you may have been thinking of! You could then
look at all the information about "Roadhouse" and see if
it was the movie you were thinking of; if not, press any
key and Questor will continue looking for other movies
with "house" as part of the title. When you've seen enough,
just press the [Esc] key to return to the 'Request:' mode.
You might tell Questor,
Show me all action movies rated R with Sylvestor Stallone
Then Questor would show you all videos matching the criteria
you had asked for. WOW! And you didn't even have to fill out
any computer screen templates or press fancy buttons to make
it happen. You used the language you are used to- english,
not computer language!
■ Pop-up notepad: allows you to add to or customize a personal
note about each video. This is a full featured word processor
with word wrap, line deletes, paragraph reformat, block moves
and copies, etc. When you later ask Questor to show you
various movies, you will be shown the pop-up notepad notes so
you will know a little bit about a movie!
■ Menu driven at all steps!
■ Context sensitive help at ALL steps, for EVERY piece of
information or menu choice you must face!
=====================================================================
3. HELP: available using the [F1] key
[F1]
The [F1] key will cause a pop-up help box to appear on the screen no
matter where you are within Questor. The text displayed in the help box
will contain information relevant to what you are involved with.
To get rid of the help box, press [F1] again (the help box title
will also tell you to press [F1] to make the box disappear).
=====================================================================
4. KEYS: important keys on your keyboard
[Esc]
The escape key [Esc] of the keyboard is used to cancel a command or step
you are at during use of Questor. You can "back out" of a phase of use of
Questor using the [Esc] key.
Pressing [Esc] from the main menu, if no pull-down menus are displayed,
will exit you from Questor.
Arrow Cursor keys
The arrow keys on your keyboard can be used to do several things. They
can be used when selecting an option from a menu.
The up and down arrow keys select options from a vertical pull-down
menu. They also move you between pieces of information (title, star, rating,
etc.) which you fill in or edit on a "template" of video information
while in the EDIT or ADD modes of Questor (see EDIT menu).
The left and right arrow keys move you from item to item on the main
Questor menu, even when a pull-down menu is active. They also move you
around in a piece of information that you are typing in during typing
in of information on a "template" during the Edit or Add modes.
[Enter] key ( sometimes known as the "carriage return" key)
This key "confirms" information that you have typed in, perhaps when
telling Questor the name of a video database file ("videofile") that you
wish to open for use, or after typing in a "Request:" when using the
artificial intelligence language mode of Questor.
When typing in information (new or modified) about videos in the
"template" mode, you do not need to use the [Enter] key to confirm new
or modified information; the [Enter] key when pressed will simply move you
to the next piece of information ("field"), as would the "down arrow key".
The following keys perform functions only when you are in the "data edit
mode, i.e. when you have chosen "Edit/View datafile information" from
the EDIT pull down menu of the main menu.
[Esc] Returns you to the main menu of Questor.
[F9] Wipes (destroys, deletes) the current video
information from disk.
[F3] Rewinds the database to the first video.
[F4] Fast forwards the database to the last video.
[F5] Rewinds the database one video.
[Shift][F5] Rewinds the database 10 videos or to the beginning,
whichever comes sooner.
[Ctrl][Shift][F5] Rewinds the database 100 videos or to the beginning,
whichever comes sooner.
[F6] Fast forwards the database one video.
[Shift][F6] Fast forwards the database 10 videos or to the end,
whichever comes sooner.
[Ctrl][Shift][F6] Fast forwards the database 100 videos to the end,
whichever comes sooner.
[F7] Displays a notepad which may or may not contain notes
on the current video. You may word process up to 650
characters of information about the current video.
When done, just press the [Esc] key to make the notepad
vanish (typed information is automatically saved).
Press [F1] while using the notepad to get information
on word processing commands available.
The following keys perform functions only when you are using Questor
for ADDing new video titles and related information, i.e. when you
have chosen "Add new video information to a datafile" from the EDIT
pull down menu of the main menu.
[Esc] Returns you to the main menu of Questor.
[F1] Displays a context-sensitive help box of
information to help you.
[F7] Displays a notepad which may or may not contain notes
on the current video. You may word process up to 650
characters of information about the current video.
When done, just press the [Esc] key to make the notepad
vanish (typed information is automatically saved).
Press [F1] while using the notepad to get information
on word processing commands available.
[F10] Erases the information on the screen so you can
start retyping. Use this if you want to start over.
[Ctrl][Enter] Stores the information displayed on the screen
data entry template to the videofile currently
open. Unless you press this key combination when
you are done entering in the video information,
all your typing will have been for nothing!
Important! So that Questor does not store empty
screen information, Questor looks for somthing
other than a 'space' character as the first or
second letter of the video title. Make sure you
start typing in a title immediately on the title
line. Do no 'tab' in or space in more than two
space bar presses or Questor will not save the
data.
=====================================================================
5. MENUS and how to use them
Questor menus are simple to use. The main menu of Questor looks
like this:
________________________________________________________
| FILE EDIT PRINT |
--------------------------------------------------------
To select FILE, EDIT, or PRINT, you need only press the right and left
arrow keys,or press the f,e,or p to select one of the three. Then
confirm your selection by pressing the [Enter] key. A pull-down menu
will then appear giving you more options.
For example, Pressing 'e' to select the EDIT option of the
main menu and then pressing the [Enter] key will cause the
following to appear on the screen:
_______________________________________________________
| FILE EDIT PRINT |
------------- |Edit videos in a videofile |------------
|Add videos to a videofile |
---------------------------
Notice the difference- a new menu, called a "pull-down menu",
has appeared. You can now either select one of the options of
this pull-down menu, or you can use the right or left arrow
keys to see the pull-down menus of FILE or PRINT.
To select "Add videos to a videofile", you simply press the
letter 'a' on your computer keyboard, OR you can press the
down arrow key. You can still change your mind and select
"Edit videos..." or use the right and left arrow keys to look
at the FILE or PRINT pull-down menus, or you can confirm your
selection of "Add videos to a a videofile" by pressing the
[Enter] key (carriage return) on your computer keyboard now.
Pressing the [Enter] key now will cause activation of the portion
of Questor that will let you type in information about videos
not yet in the videofile database and will let you store such
information into the database.
To get rid of a pull-down menu, you need only press the [Esc]
key (lightly) once. Don't press it too long or Questor will think
that you pressed it twice and will take the "second" [Esc] keypress
to mean that you want to quit Questor! (don't worry too much about
this- if it happens, Questor will ask you if you really want to
quit using Questor to which you simply press the letter 'n' on
your keyboard.
Well, that's basically how you use Questor menus (and most other
software menus, for that matter). Remember, press [F1] at the main
menu ( FILE EDIT PRINT ) to get info on using the main menu, and
press [F1] when using any pull-down menu to see information on what
the currently selected pull-down menu option is used for and how to
use it.
=====================================================================
6. GETTING STARTED - QUICKLY
[ Six easy steps ]
■ From the DOS ">" prompt, type the word QUESTOR. Wait a few seconds
for Questor to appear.
■ From the FILE menu of Questor, press the <Enter> key to cause the
FILE pop-down menu to appear.
■ Now choose "Open a videofile" from the FILE menu
(by simply pressing the <Enter> key again)
■ What name should you provide Questor for the videofile to open?
IF you are using Questor on a 3-1/2 inch disk, the
videofile database "movies" is on the 3-1/2 inch
disk, so just type "movies" (without the quotes).
IF you are using Questor on 5-1/4 inch disks, the
videofile database "movies" in on its own 5-1/4 inch
floppy disk. You will need to have the videofile disk
containing "movies" in drive B. Then type in "B:movies"
(without the quotes) when asked what videofile to open.
When you have typed in the videofile to open, Questor
should open it for use and then display a message in
a window saying the videofile was successfully opened.
Now press the <space bar> to make the message window
disappear.
■ Press the letter 'A' on your keyboard to cause the [Artificial
Intelligence Search] option of FILE to become selected.
Then press the <Enter> key to activate it. Wait a few seconds
and the language interepreter will appear.
■ Type in some english sentances to see how Questor responds.
Type in the sentance below:
Help me Questor!
to get some help if you are not certain what to type!
Be certain to press the [Enter] key on the keyboard after
every request that you type in. The [Enter] key confirms your
request and tells Questor to begin interpreting your request.
■ You might try typing in
Show me all action movies
and then press the [Enter] key.
=====================================================================
7. INSTALLING QUESTOR ONTO A HARD DISK
■ Step 1: Make a subdirectory called QUESTOR on your
hard disk drive C.
To do this, type in the following DOS
command when you see the DOS ">" prompt
on the screen
>"md c:\questor"
(do not type the quotes " " or the ">").
Now press the [Enter] key!
■ Step 2: Copy all the disk files from each Questor
disk which you received, onto this new hard
disk subdirectory which you created in step 1.
To do this, place your Questor disk into a
floppy drive, then type the following DOS
command when you see the DOS ">" prompt
"copy ?:*.* c:\questor"
but replace the "?" with the letter of the
floppy disk drive that you placed your Questor
disk into (i.e. replace "?" with either "a" or
"b"). The floppy drive "a" is usually the top
disk drive and floppy drive "b" is usually the
bottom drive. NOTE: make sure you leave a space
between the copy ?: *.* and the c:\questor.
EXAMPLES: Typical sequences that you and DOS
might produce on the computer screen include
{ copying Questor from drive A to hard disk }
C>md c:\questor
C>copy a:*.* c:\questor
{ copying Questor from drive B to hard disk }
C>md c:\questor
C>copy b:*.* c:\questor
The "C>" does not have to be "C>". If you see a
"A>" or a "B>" do not worry.
If you are using the 3-1/2 inch Questor disk, all
files needed will have been copied. If you are using
two 5-1/4 inch floppies, you will need to repeat the
directions given above for each of the two Questor
5-1/4 inch floppies, placing each floppy into a disk
drive and copying disk files to c:\questor as
instructed above.
■ Step 3: Now that you have installed Questor onto your hard disk
drive C, all you need to do to load and run Questor when
turning on you computer is to
a. Make sure you are logged onto the hard drive C.
To do this, just type "C:" when you see the
DOS ">" prompt. Don't type the quotes (" ").
b. Make sure you are "logged" onto the Questor
subdirectory. To do this, simply type
"cd c:\questor" (without the quotes) when
you see the DOS "C:>" prompt.
c. Now type "questor" to load and run questor!
=====================================================================
8. GETTING QUESTOR UP AND RUNNING ON A HARD DISK
■ When Questor appears on the screen, a main menu will be at
the top of your screen. Press the [Enter] key to cause the
FILE pull-down menu to appear. Press the [Enter] again to
confirm your choice of the currently selected "Open a videofile
datafile for use" option of the FILE menu.
■ Questor will ask you for the name of a videofile to open for
use. Type in "movies" (without he quotes). Now press the [Enter] key.
Questor should successfully locate the "movies" database file
on the hard disk and tell you that it did so by displaying a window
with such a message in it. If Questor is unable to find "movies",
you may not have correctly copied the following disk files to the
hard disk
movies.db
movies.idx
■ Press the [space bar] on your keyboard to make the message
window go away. You are now ready to utilize the information
stored in the sample video database!
=====================================================================
9. GETTING QUESTOR UP AND RUNNING
USING TWO FLOPPY DISKS
■ One of the floppy disks contains the Questor program files,
the other contains a sample video database and its associated
files. The video database is called "MOVIES" but actually
consists of two disk files called "MOVIES.DB" and "MOVIES.IDX".
■ Place the floppy disk containing the Questor program into
your floppy disk drive "A" (usually the top disk drive).
Place the floppy disk containing the Questor sample video
database "MOVIES" into your floppy disk drive "B" (usually
the bottom disk drive).
■ Make sure you are logged onto the "A" floppy disk drive.
To do this, type "A:" (without the quotes) when you see
the DOS ">" prompt on the screen.
■ Now simply type "questor" (without the quotes) when you
see "A>" on the screen. It will take about 30 seconds for
Questor to load and run.
■ When Questor appears on the screen, a main menu will be at
the top of your screen. Press the [Enter] key to cause the
FILE pull-down menu to appear. Press the [Enter] again to
confirm your choice of the currently selected "Open a videofile
datafile for use" option of the FILE menu.
■ Questor will ask you for the name of a videofile to open for
use. Type in "B:movies" (without he quotes). Make certain that
you have the floppy disk containing the sample video database
"movies" in the floppy drive B ! Now press the [Enter] key.
Questor should successfully locate the "movies" database file
on the floppy disk in drive B and tell you that it did so by
displaying a window with such a message in it.
If Questor is unable to locate "movies" in the B: drive,
double check to make sure the following disk files are on the
disk in drive B
movies.db
movies.idx
■ Press the [space bar] on your keyboard to make the message
window go away. You are now ready to utilize the information
stored in the sample video database!
=====================================================================
10. GETTING QUESTOR UP AND RUNNING
USING THE 3-1/2 INCH DISK
■ The 3-1/2 inch disk contains the Questor program files and
a sample video database and its associated files. The video
database is called "MOVIES" but actually consists of two disk
files called "MOVIES.DB" and "MOVIES.IDX".
■ Place the 3-1/2 inch floppy disk into its disk drive.
Usually the 3-1/2 inch drive is the "B:" drive on the
bottom, but it may be the top "A:" drive on occasion.
■ Make sure you are logged onto the floppy disk drive.
To do this, type "B:" (without the quotes) when you see
the DOS ">" prompt on the screen.
Now simply type "questor" (without the quotes) when you
see "B>" on the screen. It will take about 30 seconds for
Questor to load and run.
IF QUESTOR DOES NOT LOAD AND RUN you will get an error
message on your screen from DOS saying "file not found".
This means that your 3-1/2 inch drive is hooked up to
your computer as the "A:" drive. No problem. Just log
onto the "A:" drive by typing "A:", press [Enter],then
type "questor". Now Questor should load and run.
■ When Questor appears on the screen, a main menu will be at
the top of your screen. Press the [Enter] key to cause the
FILE pull-down menu to appear. Press the [Enter] again to
confirm your choice of the currently selected "Open a videofile
database for use" option of the FILE menu.
■ Questor will ask you for the name of a videofile to open for
use. Type in "movies" (without he quotes) and then press the
[Enter] key. Questor should find the "movies" sample database
on the 3-1/2 inch floppy disk and tell you that it did so by
displaying a window with such a message in it.
■ Press the [space bar] on your keyboard to make the message
window go away. You are now ready to utilize the information
stored in the sample video database!
=====================================================================
11. OPENING a video database FILE
■ Before you can use a video database file ("videofile") for things
like viewing video titles and information, adding new videos and
information, printing video titles, or doing searches for videos]
of interest, you must "open" the file. This lets Questor know
what disk file of video information to use.
■ When Questor appears on the screen, a main menu will be at
the top of your screen:
________________________________________________________
| FILE EDIT PRINT |
--------------------------------------------------------
FILE should be selected, but to make sure, you can press
the 'f' key on the keyboard.
Now press the [Enter] key to cause the FILE pull-down menu
to appear as illustrated:
________________________________________________________
| FILE EDIT PRINT |
--------------------------------------------------------
|Open a video datafile for use |
|Close a video datafile in use |
|Artificial intelligence search |
|List video database file available |
|Make a video datafile for use |
|Backup a video datafile |
|Restore a video datafile |
|Index restoration |
-----------------------------------
"Open a video datafile for use" should look different from the
other options (it will be highlighted or underlined or be of a
different color). To be certain it is selected, press the 'o'
key ("oh" key, not zero key!).
Now press the [Enter] key to confirm your choice of the currently
selected "Open a video datafile for use" option of the FILE menu.
■ Questor will ask you for the name of a videofile to open for
use.
________________________________________________________
| FILE EDIT PRINT |
--------------------------------------------------------
|Open a video datafile for use |
|Clos ------- FILE TO OPEN ? ---------
|Arti| |
|List ---------------------------------
|Make a video datafile for use |
|Backup a video datafile |
|Restore a video datafile |
|Index restoration |
---------------------------------
IF you are using a 3.5 inch disk, the sample database "movies"
should be on the 3.5 inch disk, so just type in "MOVIES"
(without the quotes) and then press the [Enter] key.
IF you are using two 5.25 inch floppy disks, make certain the
5.25 inch disk containing the sample database "movies" is in
the "B:" disk drive (usually the bottom disk drive); then
type in "b:MOVIES" (without the quotes) and then press the
[Enter] key on the keyboard.
IF you have placed the sample data disk on some other part of
a hard drive, you can specify a "pathname" of where the data
file is, e.g. "C:\questor\movies
Examples of what to enter for each type of disk used:
________________________________________________________
| FILE EDIT PRINT |
--------------------------------------------------------
|Open a video datafile for use |
|C ------- FILE TO OPEN ? ---------
|A| MOVIES | { If you are using
|Ma--------------------------------- a 3.5 inch disk }
|Backup a video datafile |
|Restore a video datafile |
|Index restoration |
-------------------------------
________________________________________________________
| FILE EDIT PRINT |
--------------------------------------------------------
|Open a video datafile for use |
|C ------- FILE TO OPEN ? ---------
|A| b:MOVIES | { If you are using
|Ma--------------------------------- two 5.25 inch disks }
|Backup a video datafile |
|Restore a video datafile |
|Index restoration |
-------------------------------
Questor should find the "movies" sample database and tell you that
it did so by displaying a window with such a message in it.
■ Press the [space bar] on your keyboard to make the message
window go away. You are now ready to utilize the information
stored in the sample video database!
=====================================================================
12. CLOSING a video database FILE
■ Before you can backup or restore a video database file ("videofile")
you must "close" the currently open file. This might seem contrary
to what you might think, but it is due to some strange inner
workings of Questor and is neccessary.
■ When Questor appears on the screen, a main menu will be at
the top of your screen. If it is not, press the [Esc] key a
few times until you see the main menu as seen below:
________________________________________________________
| FILE EDIT PRINT |
--------------------------------------------------------
FILE should be selected, but to make sure, you can press
the 'f' key on the keyboard.
Now press the [Enter] key to cause the FILE pull-down menu
to appear as illustrated:
________________________________________________________
| FILE EDIT PRINT |
--------------------------------------------------------
|Open a video datafile for use |
|Close a video datafile in use |
|Artificial intelligence search |
|Make a video datafile for use |
|Backup a video datafile |
|Restore a video datafile |
|Index restoration |
-------------------------------
"Open a video datafile for use" should look different from the
other options (it will be highlighted or underlined or be of a
different color).
You need to select "Close a video datafile in use". To do so,
press the letter 'c' on your keyboard, or press the down arrow
key on the keyboard once.
Now press the [Enter] key to confirm your choice of the currently
selected "Close a video datafile in use" option of the FILE menu.
Questor should close the currently open video database and tell
you that it did so by displaying a window with such a message in it.
■ Press the [space bar] on your keyboard to make the message
window go away.
=====================================================================
13. SELECTING VIDEOS USING THE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
LANGUAGE INTERPRETER
■ This is where the REAL POWER of Questor comes into play!
■ You can have Questor show you information on videos matching
your search criteria, including combinations of criteria.
■ To use this feature, you must first have "Opened" a video
database file by selecting "Open a video database file for use"
from the main menu FILE pull-down menu.
Then, select "Artificial intelligence search" from the FILE
pull-down menu. Wait a few seconds for this module of Questor
to load into the computer's memory.
■ You will be presented with a screen showing the word "Request:"
on the top of the screen, inside of a box ("window"); this is
the "request window". There will also be another box taking up
most of the screen beneath the request box; that one is the "report
window".
■ The language interpreter is a "Structured Query Language" (SQL)
interpreter. So what does that mean?! Well, it means that Questor
lets you use LANGUAGE to ask/command (='QUERY') Questor to do
certain things, but the words you use must be part of a STRUCTURED
subset of english. You can ask Questor who won the last world series
baseball game, but Questor won't know what you are talking about!
However, if you ask or command Questor to find/show/display videos
of a certain category and/or rating and/or title...etc., well, you
get the drift- Questor understands only language pertaining to
videos, nothing else. Questor loves to be asked or commanded to do
things with a video database file, but is pretty ignorant on other
matters pertaining to life and philosophy!
■ You may command Questor to, e.g.
- find videos of a certain category, e.g.
Request:Find me all the action videos!
- find videos of a certain viewer rating, e.g.
Request:Please show me only PG-13 rated videos.
- find videos starring a certain star, e.g.
Request:Display movies starring Basil Rathbone.
- find a video or videos of a certain title
or containing a partial title, e.g.
Request:Find a movie title containing the phrase "always"
■ You may combine search criteria, e.g. you may want to ask (query)
Questor to find videos of a certain rating, category, and star. e.g.:
Request:show all G rated comedies starring Tom hanks
Request:find R rated movies with a partial title of "house"
■ Questor will understand what you have asked or commanded.
Questor usually does. In fact, Questor is quite tolerant of many
typing errors. Questor will then search the database of the
videofile, and each video matching the search criteria you have
specified will be displayed to the "report window", one at a time.
If you specified "all" or "every" or "movies" (not "movie"), etc. in
your request, Questor will search for multiple matches, otherwise
you will only be shown the first match.
For multiple matches, Questor will let you view video information,
then ask you to << Press any key >> (see bottom of report window)
to continue the search. If you press any key other than the [Esc] key,
Questor will continue the search process; if you press the [Esc] key
at this stage, Questor will cease the search process and return you
to the request window so that you may specify another request.
■ Need help? Press the [F1] key or type in the request "help!" to
get some information on what you can ask Questor, including some
examples.
■ IMPORTANT: IF you want Questor to find a video with a certain
title or with a certain partial title, you MUST place the title
or partial title you want to find within double quotes. For example,
if you want to find a video containing the phrase "a baby" in it,
you could tell Questor
Request: I am looking for a video with "a baby"
Questor would search the videofile currently open, and might perhaps
find the movie "Three men and a Baby" (if this movie was in the
videofile database).
■ Experiment! Try typing in different requests.
■ Shortcuts! Questor actually looks for only the important words or
phrases needed to understand your request. For example, the following
three requests will mean the exact same thing to Questor:
Request:Please find me all R rated action movies that exist.
Request:find action R all
Request:all R action
=====================================================================
14. ADDING VIDEO INFORMATION
■ First, make sure that you have opened a videofile database.
If you have not, Questor will tell you to do so when you try
to add video information (i.e. your computer will not blow up),
and you must then choose "Open a video database file for use"
from the FILE pull-down menu of Questor's main menu.
See the section of this documentation on OPENING a videofile
if you are uncertain on how to open a vide database file for use.
■ With a videofile database open, select "Add video information"
from the EDIT pull-down menu. To select this option, either press
the letter 'a' on your keyboard when you see the EDIT pull-down
menu, or use the up and down arrow keys to select this option.
Now confirm your selection of "Add video information" by pressing
the [Enter] key (carriage return) on the keyboard.
■ A "data entry template" will appear on the screen, with colored
or underlined 'fields', i.e. spaces, where you can type in information
for each piece of information you wish stored about the video title
you will type in.
■ The following keys perform functions only when you are using Questor
for ADDing new video titles and related information, i.e. when you
have chosen "Add new video information to a datafile" from the EDIT
pull down menu of the main menu.
[Esc] Returns you to the main menu of Questor.
[F1] Displays a context-sensitive help box of
information to help you.
[F10] Erases the the current video information on
the screen for re-typing of information.
Does NOT affect diskette information.
[F7] Displays a notepad which may or may not contain notes
on the current video. You may word process up to 650
characters of information about the current video.
When done, just press the [Esc] key to make the notepad
vanish (typed information is automatically saved).
Press [F1] while using the notepad to get information
on word processing commands available.
[Ctrl][Enter] Stores the information displayed on the screen
data entry template to the videofile currently
open. Unless you press this key combination when
you are done entering in the video information,
all your typing will have been for nothing!
Important! So that Questor does not store empty
screen information, Questor looks for somthing
other than a 'space' character as the first or
second letter of the video title. Make sure you
start typing in a title immediately on the title
line. Do no 'tab' in or space in more than two
space bar presses or Questor will not save the
data.
■ On the first line you will see the word "TITLE:", followed by a
colored/underlined line ('field') where you will type in the video title.
You have as much space as the colored field is long to type in a title.
If you try and type in more than the space allowed, Questor will 'beep'.
You may use the arrow cursor keys, the [Del] key, the [Ins], etc. to
"word process" the title you are typing in for the video you wish stored.
■ Now move to a different 'field', perhaps the "RATING:" field by
using the [Enter] key (press it!) or the down arrow key on the
keyboard. Press the [F1] key to find out what to type in for the
"RATING:" field. A box will appear telling you to type in G,PG,
R,X, etc. and you will be shown an example of what to type.
Type in a rating for the video you are recording for storage.
It is not neccessary to press the [Enter] key when done typing in
a rating; pressing the [Enter] key will simply move you to the
next 'field'.
■ Now move back up to the "STARRING:" field by pressing the 'up' arrow
cursor key on your keyboard until you see the field highlighted that
asks you to type in the video star. Press [F1] to see information on
what you may type in and how to do it, and an example.
You may type in one or several video stars, each separated by a space
or a comma.
■ At ANY point during your typing in of information for any of the
fields, you may press the [F7] key on your keyboard to activate a
pop-up box ("window") for storing personal notes about the video.
This box allows you to word process notes about a movie. Just start
typing some notes! Words will 'wrap' when you reach the right hand
side of the box, so you need not press the carriage return , i.e.
the [Enter] key, unless you wish to end a paragraph. Press the
[F1] key to see information on what keys do what while using this
box to word process some notes on a video. Then press the [F1] key
again to make the 'help box' disappear. When you have typed in all
the personal notes you wish to record for now (you may change the
notes or add more at a later time) just press the [Esc] key; your
notes will be saved automatically!
■ Continue to type in information on any other pieces of information
that you wish to store on the disk videofile database. You MUST type
in a video title. Other pieces of information ('fields') are entirely
optional; you may choose to type in such information or you may choose
not to.
■ You may press the [F10] key to 'erase' the screen, i.e. clear the
'fields'. Anything typed on the screen will be lost. This keypress
can be useful at times if you goof up half way through addition
of information and just want to start all over typing in info.
■ When you have typed in all the information you wish to record for
the present time (you may add or delete information on the video at a
later time using the "Edit" option of te EDIT pull-down menu), you
MUST HOLD DOWN THE [Ctrl] KEY on the keyboard while you BRIEFLY PRESS
THE [Enter] KEY to store the information you have just typed in. The
information will then be stored in the videofile, and Questor will
then clear all fields so you can type in information about another
video.
■ When you have typed in and stored information for some videos, just
press the [Esc] key to return to the EDIT pull-down menu, from which
you can decide what Questor menu option you wish to do next.
=====================================================================
15. EDITING VIDEO INFORMATION
■ First, make sure that you have opened a videofile database.
If you have not, Questor will tell you to do so when you try
to edit video information (i.e. your computer will not blow up),
and you must then choose "Open a video database file for use"
from the FILE pull-down menu of Questor's main menu.
If you are unsure of how to open a video database file, see
the section of this documentation on OPENING a videofile.
■ With a videofile database open, select "Edit video information"
from the EDIT pull-down menu. To select this option, either press
the letter 'e' on your keyboard when you see the EDIT pull-down
menu, or use the up and down arrow keys to select this option.
Now confirm your selection of "Edit video information" by pressing
the [Enter] key (carriage return) on the keyboard.
■ A "data entry template" will appear on the screen, with colored
or underlined 'fields', i.e. spaces, where you can edit information
displayed about the video currently displayed.
■ Questor automatically keeps video titles and information stored
in ascending alphabetical order. The first video title displayed will
thus be in the 'a' range of the alphabet most likely.
■ Edit any pieces of information about the currently displayed video
title that you wish to. See the section of this manual on
"ADDING VIDEO INFORMATIN" for instructions on how to type in and
edit pieces of information about a video.
■ At the bottom of the screen you will see a list of "function keys"
which you can press to cause various actions to occur. Function keys
are the keys marked "F1" to "F9" on your computer keyboard. Pressing
these keys will cause the following events to happen while you are
using this stage of Questor (i.e. the Edit mode):
Arrow Cursor keys
Up and Down arrow keys move you between pieces of information (title,
star, rating, etc.) which you fill in or edit in this mode of Questor.
Left and right arrow keys move you around in a piece of information
that you are typing in.
[Enter] key ( sometimes known as the "carriage return" key)
When typing in information (new or modified) about videos in the
"template" mode, you do not need to use the [Enter] key to confirm new
or modified information; the [Enter] key when pressed will simply move you
to the next piece of information ("field"), as would the "down arrow key".
[Esc] Returns you to the main menu of Questor.
[F1] Make a help box appear or disappear.
[F3] Rewinds the database to the first video.
[F4] Fast forwards the database to the last video.
[F5] Rewinds the database one video.
[Shift][F5] Rewinds the database 10 videos or to the beginning,
whichever comes sooner.
[Ctrl][Shift][F5] Rewinds the database 100 videos or to the beginning,
whichever comes sooner.
[F6] Fast forwards the database one video.
[Shift][F6] Fast forwards the database 10 videos or to the end,
whichever comes sooner.
[Ctrl][Shift][F6] Fast forwards the database 100 videos to the end,
whichever comes sooner.
[F7] Displays a notepad which may or may not contain notes
on the current video. You may word process up to 650
characters of information about the current video.
When done, just press the [Esc] key to make the notepad
vanish (typed information is automatically saved).
Press [F1] while using the notepad to get information
on word processing commands available.
[F9] Wipes (destroys, deletes) the current video
information from disk.
■ When you have typed in and stored information for some videos, just
press the [Esc] key to return to the EDIT pull-down menu, from which
you can decide what Questor menu option you wish to do next.
=====================================================================
16. PRINTING VIDEO TITLES
■ First, make sure that you have opened a videofile database.
If you have not, Questor will tell you to do so when you try
to edit video information (i.e. your computer will not blow up),
and you must then choose "Open a video database file for use"
from the FILE pull-down menu of Questor's main menu.
If you are uncertain on how to open a video database file, see
the section of this documentation on OPENING a videofile.
■ Get to the main menu of Questor. To do this, press the
[Esc] key on the keyboard until you see this at the top
of the computer screen:
________________________________________________________
| FILE EDIT PRINT |
--------------------------------------------------------
Now press the letter 'p' on your keyboard; this will cause
the PRINT choice of the main menu to be selected.
Now press the [Enter] key on the keyboard; this will cause the
pull-down menu of PRINT to appear as seen below:
________________________________________________________
| FILE EDIT PRINT |
--------------------------------------------------------
|Video Titles |
-------------
Now press the [Enter] key again. This will confirm your desire
to print the video titles. If you change your mind and do not
wish to print the video titles, just press the [Esc] key to return
to the main menu (make the pull-down menu vanish).
Questor will notify you to make sure that your printer is on.
Double check to make certain your printer is ON and that the
paper is adjusted to the top of a form. When Questor asks you
if the printer is ready, just press the 'y' key on the keyboard.
DO NOT turn off the printer during printout, or Questor will
'freeze up' (in which case you will need to turn off your computer).
Wait for the printout to end, then you may turn off your printer if
you wish.
You will be able to specify (T)itles only or (A)ll information.
Simply press the 't' or 'a' key on the keyboard.
=====================================================================
17. LISTING video database FILES
■ It may be helpful at times to know what vide database files,
i.e. "videofiles" are present on a given disk and disk drive.
Questor lets you specify a disk drive and/or 'pathname' to
have Questor look at. Questor then will list videofiles
present on the disk/drive.
■ When Questor appears on the screen, a main menu will be at
the top of your screen. While using Questor, you can get
to the menu by pressing the [Esc] key a number of times until
you do see the main menu, as illustrated:
________________________________________________________
| FILE EDIT PRINT |
--------------------------------------------------------
Select FILE by pressing the 'f' key on the keyboard.
Now press the [Enter] key to cause the FILE pop-down menu
to appear as illustrated:
________________________________________________________
| FILE EDIT PRINT |
--------------------------------------------------------
|Open a video datafile for use |
|Close a video datafile in use |
|Artificial intelligence search |
|List video datafiles available |
|Make a video datafile for use |
|Backup a video datafile |
|Restore a video datafile |
|Index restoration |
---------------------------------
"Open a video datafile for use" should look different from the
other options (it will be highlighted or underlined or be of a
different color).
You need to select "List video datafiles available". To do so,
press the letter 'l' on your keyboard, or press the down arrow
key on the keyboard three times.
Now press the [Enter] to confirm your choice of the currently
selected "List video datafiles available" option of the FILE menu.
Questor will ask you what directory ('pathname') you want
searched for videofiles. If you do not fully understand what
a pathname or directory is, don't worry; just type in the letter
of the disk drive you want searched, e.g. "A" or "B"
EXAMPLE:
________________________________________________________
| FILE EDIT PRINT |
--------------------------------------------------------
|Open a video datafile for use |
|Close a video datafile in use |
|Artificial intelligence search |
|List video datafiles available |
|Ma------ DIRECTORY TO SEARCH? ------
|B| B |
|Re----------------------------------
|Index restoration |
---------------------------------
Now press the [Enter] key on the keyboard to confirm your
desire to have, in this example, the "B:" disk drive searched
for Questor videofiles {you could just have easily typed in
"A" if you had wanted the disk in drive A searched}.
Questor will list any videofiles in the directory you specified,
for example you might see something like this:
________________________________________________________
| FILE EDIT PRINT |
--------------------------------------------------------
|Open a video datafile for use |
|Close a video datafile in use |
|Artificial intelligence search |
|List video datafiles available |
|Make a video datafile for use |
|Backup ----------------- LISTING OF VIDEOFILES ---------------
|Restor| MOVIES |
|Index | |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| << Press any key to continue >> |
-------------------------------------------------------
Press any key to make the directory listing disappear. You will be
returned to the FILE pull-down menu.
=====================================================================
18. MAKING A VIDEOFILE
■ You may never need to make a videofile, since one comes with
Questor. But if you wish to maintain separate videofiles for
reasons of privacy from others, etc. you can easily do so.
■ When Questor appears on the screen, a main menu will be at
the top of your screen. While using Questor, you can get
to this main menu by pressing the [Esc] key a number of times
until you do see the main menu, as illustrated:
________________________________________________________
| FILE EDIT PRINT |
--------------------------------------------------------
Select FILE by pressing the 'f' key on the keyboard.
Now press the [Enter] key to cause the FILE pop-down menu
to appear as illustrated:
________________________________________________________
| FILE EDIT PRINT |
--------------------------------------------------------
|Open a video datafile for use |
|Close a video datafile in use |
|Artificial intelligence search |
|List video datafiles available |
|Make a video datafile for use |
|Backup a video datafile |
|Restore a video datafile |
|Index restoration |
---------------------------------
"Open a video datafile for use" should look different from the
other options (it will be highlighted or underlined or be of a
different color).
You need to select "Make a video datafile for use". To do so,
press the letter 'm' on your keyboard, or press the down arrow
key on the keyboard four times.
Now press the [Enter] key to confirm your choice of the currently
selected "Make a video datafile" option of the FILE menu.
Questor will ask you what name you want to give the new datafile.
You may give a simple 8 characters or less name, or you may specify
a full pathname. If you do not fully understand what a pathname
is, don't worry; just type in a name for the new datafile, made up
of 8 or less characters. You may prefix the name with a "A:" or
"B:" or "C:" (don't type the quotes) if you want to tell Questor
what drive to put the datafile to.
EXAMPLE: to create a new, blank video datafile on a floppy disk
in drive B, place a preformatted floppy disk in drive B
and then tell questor the name of the new file is, e.g.
B:mymovies
________________________________________________________
| FILE EDIT PRINT |
--------------------------------------------------------
|Open a video datafile for use |
|Close a video datafile in use |
|Artificial intelligence search |
|List video datafiles available |
|Ma------ NAME OF NEW VIDEOFILE? ----
|B| B:mymovies |
|Re----------------------------------
|Index restoration |
---------------------------------
Now press the [Enter] key on the keyboard (or press [Esc]
to cancel). A new videofile on drive B: called "mymovies"
should have been created and prepared. Questor will tell
you if all is well or if an error occured.
=====================================================================
19. BACKING UP A VIDEOFILE
■ Sometimes things happen you don't expect, like the power
in your house going out just when you are using your computer,
or a floppy disk going bad. It is thus best to have a
duplicated ("backup") copy of a videofile stored under a
name different than the original. Questor will do this for
you if you tell Questor the name of the videofile to backup
and the name you want to give the backup file.
■ You must not have a videofile open when using this feature
of Questor. If you have opened a videofile and are looking
at video information, etc., first "Close" the videofile by
selecting "Close a video datafile in use" from the main
menu of Questor.
■ When Questor appears on the screen, a main menu will be at
the top of your screen. While using Questor, you can get
to this main menu by pressing the [Esc] key a number of times
until you do see the main menu, as illustrated:
________________________________________________________
| FILE EDIT PRINT |
--------------------------------------------------------
Select FILE by pressing the 'f' key on the keyboard.
Now press the [Enter] key to cause the FILE pop-down menu
to appear as illustrated:
________________________________________________________
| FILE EDIT PRINT |
--------------------------------------------------------
|Open a video datafile for use |
|Close a video datafile in use |
|Artificial intelligence search |
|List video datafiles available |
|Make a video datafile for use |
|Backup a video datafile |
|Restore a video datafile |
|Index restoration |
---------------------------------
"Open a video datafile for use" should look different from the
other options (it will be highlighted or underlined or be of a
different color).
You need to select "Backup current datafile". To do so,
press the letter 'b' on your keyboard, or press the down arrow
key on the keyboard five times.
Now press the [Enter] key to confirm your choice of the currently
selected "Backup current datafile" option of the FILE menu.
Questor will ask you for the name of the videofile you want to
have backed up. Provide Questor with the name (including a disk
drive prefix,e.g. "A:" or "B:", if the videofile is on a disk
other than the disk Questor is on).
Questor will also ask you for the name to give the backup version
of the videofile. Give Questor a name when asked. You may prefix
the name with a disk drive or you may provide a full pathname if
desired. Make sure that there is enough room on the disk that you
have Questor make the backup file on!
=====================================================================
20. RESTORING A VIDEOFILE
■ If something (lightning storm, bad disk, etc) causes damage
to a videofile, it will be important to have a copy of the
videofile (see BACKING UP A VIDEOFILE in this documentation).
■ Questor can take a backup file that you made at an earlier time
and copy its contents to a damaged videofile. Of course, any
changes made to the videofile that is damaged since it was
backed up will not be restored.
■ To restore a videofile, just choose "Restore damaged videofile"
from the main menu of Questor and provide the name of the
backup videofile (including the disk drive prefix) when asked.
■ For computer users comfortable with DOS: Questor videofiles
actually consist of two separate disk files. Each has the
same prefix name, but one has the extension ".db" and the
other has the extension ".idx" So to use the DOS copy command
to make copies of database files or move them around on disk
drives or paths, make sure to copy both files!
Example: to copy a videofile named "MOVIES" from drive A:
to drive B: you would need to issue the following
DOS commands:
>copy A:movies.db B:
>copy A:movies.idx B:
=====================================================================
21. INDEX "patching"
■ Questor uses two actual disk files when keeping track of video
database entries. The "videofile" is thus actually comprised of
a physical database disk file (*.db) and an index file (*.idx)
to know the order of video entries.
■ Unforseen circumstances (hardware errors, disk damage, etc.) may
cause the index file (or the physical file!) to become "garbled"
in which case Questor would not know the order of the video
entries.
■ Use the "Index restoration" option from the FILE menu of Questor
to rebuild a damaged index file. You will simply need to type in
the filename (or pathname) of the file, e.g. "C:\questor\movies"
that has a damaged index file in need of repair. Questor will then
attempt to rebuild an index from the physical database file.
=====================================================================
22. HOW QUESTOR WORKS
■ Questor was written in the 'C' programming language, the
most powerful and efficient programming language around.
Exploding windows and bullet-proof data entry templates
make this a very friendly piece of software.
■ Data is stored using the most efficient file system in
existence, the ISAM and B+tree indexing system. This
method of data storage allows for FAST data access
when searching for a specific piece of information,
because all data is indexed automatically, even when
edited. And all newly entered data is automatically
inserted in the database in alphabetical order! WOW!
■ Language interpretation (artificial intelligence) is
accomplished using a unique (and hence secret!) logic
of interpreting the words and grammar of a sentance
input by the user (you). This is helped by the unique
capabilities of the C programming language and its
powerful text manipulation abilities!
============================ END ============================
