The PC-SIG Library 9

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tm PC-Browse User's Guide By Steven B. Levy, Bob Wallace, and Corey Smith Version 1.00 September, 1989 The unmodified PC-Browse distribution diskettes may be freely copied and shared in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, but not in Great Britain or elsewhere in the world. Printed copies of this document may not be copied in any way without a license from Quicksoft. For more information, see the Licensing Appendix. (c) Copyright 1989 by Bob Wallace, Quicksoft. All Rights Reserved. Quicksoft, 219 First Ave N. #224, Seattle, WA 98109. (206) 282-0452. Printed and published in U.S.A. PC-Browse is a trademark of Quicksoft. Quicksoft is a registered trademark of Quicksoft. PC-Write is a registered trademark of Quicksoft. Microsoft Word is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. WordPerfect is a registered trademark of WordPerfect Corporation. WordStar is a registered trademark of WordStar Inc. WordPerfect is a registered trademark of WordPerfect Corporation. IBM PC, PC AT, and PS/2 are registered trademarks of the IBM Corporation. Any other trademarks should be credited to their respective companies. Additional editing: Betty Houser Special thanks to our Beta testers for their suggestions and corrections, and to all of our registered users for their continued support. Package ISBN 0-926447-00-9 Manual ISBN 0-926447-01-7 Disk 1 ISBN 0-926447-02-5 Disk 2 ISBN 0-926447-03-3 Table of Contents What is PC-Browse 5 About this User's Guide 6 Manual Terminology and Notation 6 Installing PC-Browse 7 PC-Browse Tutorial 9 For People Who Don't Read Manuals 9 What Does PC-Browse Do? 10 Finding, Viewing, and Pasting Text 11 Using PC-Browse Applications 17 More Advanced Applications 20 Developing Your Own PC-Browse Applications 23 Summary 27 Suggested Applications 29 Dictionary 29 PC-Write Page Layout Library 29 Political Party Platform 30 Family Tree 30 Class Notes 31 Telemarketing Script 31 On-Line Help 31 Programmer's Library 32 How to Build PC-Browse Files 33 About Delimiters 33 Rules for Delimiters 33 What are Targets and Triggers? 34 The Linear Search 34 The Lookup Search 37 Requirements for a Lookup File 37 Entering and Sorting the Data 38 Merging the Data 40 Defining the Parameters 41 Using the File 41 Links Between Files 43 Creating an Index Page 43 Using the Index Page 44 Reference Section 45 Getting Help 45 Viewing the Main Menu 45 Running PC-Browse 46 Exiting PC-Browse 49 Popping up PC-Browse 49 File Name Patterns 51 Loading a File into PC-Browse 52 Files You Can Load with PC-Browse 54 Moving Around in PC-Browse 55 Normal Search 58 Case Matching and Wild Cards in a Search 59 Foreign and Special Characters in a Search 61 Searching Multiple Files 62 Keyword Searches 64 Links Between Files 68 Running Other Programs 69 Additional Windows 70 Navigating Within PC-Browse 71 The Location List 71 The Bookmark 73 Pasting and Printing 73 Setting the Output File Name 76 Customizing 77 Descriptions of the Parameters 77 File Load Parameters 77 Startup Parameters 81 How to Define Parameters 85 Summary of Parameters 88 Appendix 89 Using PC-Browse with Other Programs 89 About the Program's Author 89 Licensing PC-Browse 89 Glossary 91 What is PC-Browse? PC-Browse is a memory-resident program for IBM PC compatible computers that helps you find information in your files. In its most basic form, it searches a file (or a number of files) for specific text. It uses about 60K of memory; or 3K if you put it into EMS memory. You can pop up a PC-Browse window over your application program, enter the name of a file to search and the text you want to find, and press the search key. PC-Browse quickly finds and displays the information you seek. Press the search key again to continue searching until it finds all occurrences of the text. You can paste information into your application program, copy it to a file, or print it. PC-Browse offers some "navigational" tools, or place markers, so you can quickly move back and forth between pages of text. PC-Browse offers a second level of search features, used with easy-to- build PC-Browse application files. First you can do a linear search for a keyword in a file, which is a word defined by special characters. Second, you can do a much faster lookup search in a file whose keywords are in alphabetic or numeric order. Finally, you can trigger either kind of search from a cross-reference at one place to a keyword at another place, in the same file or another file. This link ability gives PC-Browse a hypertext quality. Some applications for PC-Browse: * Create pop up on-line help for a custom application. * Look-up customer information while you're doing something else. * Find a lost memo when all you remember is a word or two from it. * Make catalog and pricing information quickly available online. * Pop up your company procedures manual. PC-Browse is a brand new product. As with version 1.00 of any product, be extra careful. We have tested PC-Browse extensively, but just to be on the safe side: 1. Save your application file before you bring up PC-Browse. 2. Use extra caution when using PC-Browse with EMS memory (/E switch). On the other hand, don't hesitate to search for or look at any file with PC-Browse. Because it doesn't write to the file, there is no chance of harming your file. Finally, we'd really appreciate your ideas and suggestions for new features or changes. We'd also like to know how PC-Browse helps you get your work done. Write to us at: Quicksoft - Browse Ideas 219 First Ave N. #224 Seattle, WA 98109 - 5 - About this User's Guide This Guide is divided into seven main sections: The Installation section shows how to put PC-Browse on your computer. The Tutorial guides you through PC-Browse, giving you hands-on experience with the sample files included on the PC-Browse diskette. The Suggested Uses section presents several sample applications of PC-Browse, emphasizing the lookup search. In How to Build PC-Browse Files you learn how to build application files, using the lookup search, the linear search, and cross- referencing. The Reference section contains definitive information on every PC-Browse operation. The Customizing section gives detailed instructions on adapting PC-Browse to your files and preferences. Finally, the Appendix contains a glossary and special PC-Browse information. Manual Terminology and Notation * The notation <Enter> means you should press the Enter or Return key. * This manual uses abbreviations for some keys. These are: Shf The Shift key Ctl The Ctrl key Bksp The Back Space key Grey+ The grey-colored + (plus) key at the right of your keyboard. Grey- The grey-colored - (minus) key at the right of your keyboard. * Text that you should type is often surrounded by double quote marks. For instance, if the instructions tell you to type "A:", type only A: and not the quotes. * If a command requires that you press a combination of keys simultaneously, they are shown as a unit. For instance, Shf Ctl F1 means press and hold the Shift key and the Ctrl key and while holding them down press the F1 key. * If a command requires pressing a sequence of keys, they are shown following each other, separated by the word "then". For instance, F9 then Grey+ means press the F9 key, then release it and press the Grey+ key. - 6 - * Since most printers are unable to print the entire extended ASCII character set (0 to 31 and 128 to 255) this on-disk version of the manual does not contain any. These characters are described or represented by other printable characters. The printed version of this manual does contain them, as do most printer manuals. Installing PC-Browse The following instructions assume you have some familiarity with your computer and DOS. If you are unfamiliar with terms such as "default drive," "file name," "subdirectories," or "path", or with basic DOS commands such as COPY and FORMAT, you may want to review your PC-Write or DOS manual before installing PC-Browse. PC-Browse comes on two 5 1/4 inch diskettes or one 3 1/2 inch diskette. The Program diskette contains the PC-Browse program plus some documentation and sample application files: GO.BAT Types the next file, READ.ME. READ.ME Text file with any last minute release information. BR.EXE PC-Browse program; the only file you need to use PC-Browse. BR.HLP PC-Browse help file (has links to BTUT.BRS and BREF.BRS). BTUT.BRS PC-Browse on-line tutorial (used with BR.HLP). BREF.BRS PC-Browse on-line reference (used with BR.HLP). BRxxx.DEF Various control files to set alternate color combinations. BRDEF.LST Describes all the BRxxx.DEF files. AREACODE Area code and city listings, explores linking concepts. MISUSED Commonly misused words, explores finding the word at the cursor. HAMLET Heavily cross-referenced "To be or not to be" hypertext example. QUARTO Subsidiary file used by the HAMLET application. GLOSSARY Subsidiary file used by the HAMLET application. DECISION Decision-tree application that shows how to create online- help. SAILBOAT A parts list for a sailboat that shows the lookup search. MENU A menuing application that launches other programs. CATALET Text file used with the MENU application. CREDLET Text file used with the MENU application. PCWRHELP Text file used with the MENU application. ADDRESS An address "book" that shows the PC-Browse paste feature. PARTTEM A PC-Write merge template used in building a lookup file. PARTSRT A sorted parts-list for use with PARTTEM. SUPPLIER A cross-referenced listing to demonstrate the index page. The Reference diskette contains PC-Browse documentation. The GO command on this disk types the instructions for using it. The full PC-Browse manual is in files BR1.DOC, BR2.DOC, BR3.DOC, and BR4.DOC. You can print the manual with a DOS command like: COPY BR?.DOC PRN <Enter> - 7 - To install PC-Browse on a hard disk system: 1. Choose or create a directory on your hard disk to be your PC-Browse work directory. Make it the default directory. You can install PC-Browse either in an existing directory (with your PC-Write files, for example) or in a directory of its own. To create a new directory to use PC-Browse and make it the default, at the DOS prompt type: MKDIR drive:\directory <Enter> CHDIR drive:\directory <Enter> where "drive" is the letter of your hard drive and "directory" is the name you want. For example, for a subdirectory called PCBR on your C drive, type: MKDIR C:\PCBR <Enter> CHDIR C:\PCBR <Enter> Move ahead to "To continue installing PC-Browse:", below. To install PC-Browse on a two-floppy-drive system: 1. Select a blank, formatted diskette. Label it "PC-Browse Work Disk". Place it in the B drive, and make B the default drive. To continue installing PC-Browse: 2. Place your original PC-Browse Program diskette in drive A. Copy the PC-Browse files to your work diskette or directory by typing: COPY A:*.* <Enter> 3. Decide if you want the full plain text manual. The PC-Browse Reference diskette contains the full PC-Browse manual in plain text form. If you want these files, replace the diskette in drive A with the PC-Browse Reference diskette and type: COPY A:*.* <Enter> 4. Add a line to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file so PC-Browse can find its Help file. To use PC-Browse from any directory and have PC-Browse help available, add this line to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file (where drive:\directory is the same as above): SET PCBROWSE=drive:\directory 5. That's it. Remove your original PC-Browse diskettes and store in a safe place. - 8 - PC-Browse Tutorial First, A Word for People Who Don't Read Manuals What's that? You never read manuals? Not even if we say, "Pretty please?" Aw, c'mon, just the first two sections of the Tutorial. We promise they'll be short. Just skip the introduction and read the section What Does PC-Browse Do? Then load PC-Browse and your favorite word processor (that's PC-Write, right?), and try the examples in the next section, Finding, Viewing, and Pasting Text. Many of the hints, suggestions, and sample uses described in this manual have come from people who tested early versions of the product as we developed it; we're grateful for their suggestions. In fact, we'd love to hear from you about how you're using PC-Browse; drop us a line at Quicksoft. Now, Back to the Tutorial Remember your first Swiss Army Knife? Remember looking at all those blades and gizmos, trying to figure out each one? Remember, too, how quickly it became indispensable? Sure, there were better knives if you needed to do some serious cutting, and real screwdrivers for assembling your bookshelves. But all of your "real" tools were bulky. There was the Swiss Army Knife, always ready to work for you when you needed to tighten a screw, or cut a loose thread. Likewise, PC-Browse is a tool you can always keep on your computer, to help when you need it to look at or find a file, or get a directory. PC-Browse is both a familiar and a completely new type of product. You've already used many of its functions. Pop-up programs (or TSRs) have been around for years. There are a number of find-text-on-my-disk utilities. You can use any word processor to view text files and extract portions of them for further use; even hypertext, or cross- referenced on-screen information, is used for on-line help in a few products. In some ways, there's little new in PC-Browse. What is new is that PC-Browse combines these concepts, with a few more, into a handy Swiss Army Knife utility. As with any product, there are two steps to learning it: first, figuring out what it does and second, discovering how to do it. In this tutorial, you'll learn the "what" and the "how." This tutorial is divided into the following topics: * What Does PC-Browse Do? An overview of the capabilities of your new Swiss Army Knife. - 9 - * Finding, Viewing, and Pasting Text. How to use PC-Browse with the text files already on your disk. * Using PC-Browse Applications. A view of more interesting application files, along with an introduction to cross-referenced material (hypertext). * Developing Your Own PC-Browse Applications. How to develop PC-Browse applications for your own use or for distribution to other folks. What Does PC-Browse Do? In this tutorial, we'll look at some problems you could solve with PC-Browse: 1. How can I find the memo on restructuring I wrote 6 months ago? Pop-up PC-Browse and tell it to search the whole disk for, say, "restruct." It will quickly find each file containing the search text, and show you that text in context! A single keystroke moves from one reference to the next. You can even use multiple windows to keep track of different references. 2. What's Mr. Walton's address? If you're typing a letter to him, put the cursor on his name and pop up PC-Browse to jump to his page in your address file. PC-Browse can even paste the address right into your letter. 3. What's the area code for El Paso? Simply pop-up PC-Browse's area code application and ask it to find El Paso. 4. Is it correct to say, "What's the affect of this decision?" With our sample misused-words application, just put the cursor on "affect" and press the hot key. You'll see how to use "affect" and "effect" correctly. 5. What do we charge for part #73241? Pop up PC-Browse with your parts list, type in the part number, and you can look it up in a flash! It takes only a few seconds to look up any of thousands of parts. 6. How do I add online help to an application or product designed without it? You can create a PC-Browse file with an index of help topics on the first page. A user needing help just pops up PC-Browse, uses the arrow or tab keys to select a topic, and jumps right to it. - 10 - 7. Could I do that with an online procedures manual? Of course. You can use PC-Browse's cross-referencing feature (hypertext) to let users explore company procedures and decision- making policies in as much detail as necessary. We'll answer all seven of these questions in greater detail at the end of the tutorial. Finding, Viewing, and Pasting Text We suggest that you read this section at your computer, with PC-Browse and a word processing program loaded. It takes only a few minutes to copy PC-Browse to a disk and try out the dozen or so main commands. Loading PC-Browse: 1. If you haven't installed PC-Browse on your computer, just copy the following files from your PC-Browse Program diskette to a work disk (if you have a hard disk, put them in a new subdirectory such as \PCBR): BR.EXE ADDRESS DECISION HAMLET QUARTO BR.HLP AREACODE GLOSSARY MISUSED SAILBOAT 2. Load PC-Browse from the DOS prompt by typing: BR <Enter> If you have a full-color monitor, instead type: BR /C <Enter> You'll see the copyright screen, and then the DOS prompt. 3. Now load your favorite word processor, and create a "scratch" file for editing. This file is only for practice, as you explore ways in which PC-Browse and other applications can communicate. With a hard disk, start your word processor from the PC-Browse subdirectory if possible (or else give the PC-Browse subdirectory path whenever you enter PC-Browse file names during the tutorial). Remarks Like most pop-up programs, PC-Browse works only with text-based programs such as PC-Write, Word Perfect, WordStar, Microsoft Word in text mode, etc. PC-Browse won't pop up over Microsoft Word in graphics mode, other graphic programs, or Windows. - 11 - Popping Up PC-Browse: You should be in your word processor, editing a practice file. 1. Hold down the Shift and Ctrl keys, and press the F1 key. We'll refer to this process as "Press Shf Ctl F1". This is the main hot key that pops-up PC-Browse "over" whatever program you're using. PC-Browse covers the top part of your screen. (If you need to change this hot key because another of your programs uses Shf Ctl F1, see the Customizing section.) The initial screen is: +File:------------------------------Find:cursorword-------------------+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +Esc:Exit F1:Help F6:File F9:Find----------------------------------+ 2. To return to your application, simply press the Esc key. Your word processor's screen is restored. Now press Shf Ctl F1 again to pop PC-Browse back up. The basic operation in PC-Browse is file viewing. You can view one file while you're working in another. Even with a multiple-window word processor such as PC-Write or Microsoft Word, it's easier to keep a file you're referring to in PC-Browse and pop it up when you need it. If you're in Lotus 123 and need to review the memo that describes your spreadsheet, PC-Browse may be the only way to go. Viewing a File with PC-Browse: 1. Press F6 to select a file. 2. Type the file name "ADDRESS" and press the Enter key. PC-Browse quickly loads the file and displays the first page. 3. Browse through the file by pressing the PgDn or PgUp keys. These keys scroll the file one line at a time, within a page. To scroll faster, a whole window at a time and across pages, press Shf PgDn or Shf PgUp. If you reach the start or end of the file, PC-Browse beeps. Little triangles just above the lower right corner point up or down to show you which direction you can scroll. - 12 - 4. Look at the major PC-Browse functions on the menu at the bottom of the window: | | +Esc:Exit F1:Help F4:Backtrack F6:File F7:Paste F9:Find F10:First-page+ 5. Press and hold the Shift key by itself to view another group of functions: | | +Esc:Unload F4:View-locations F7:Print ----------PgUp/Dn:more+ Now you've seen both of the PC-Browse menus. This will be easy. There are a few more function key operations, not on these menus. You can use PC-Browse with an alternate pair of menus which show all function keys but with more abbreviated labels (see: Customizing). 6. Release the shift key to see the Main Menu again. 7. Press the F1 key to see on-line help. You can use PgDn, Shf PgDn, and so on to browse through the help screens. When you're done, press the Esc key (or the F1 key) to return to PC-Browse. Let's search for Spencer Katt's address in this file. Searching for Text in One File: 1. Press the F9 key to type the Find text. Type: katt The Find text is the text you're asking PC-Browse to search for. We're searching a single file, ADDRESS, as you can see on the top line of the window. 2. Press the Grey+ key to begin the search. You don't have to press the Enter key after typing the Find text. If you do press Enter after typing the Find (or the File) text, either Grey+ or a second Enter starts the search. The Grey+ key is the darker + key on the right side of the keyboard. PC-Browse finds the right address immediately. Of course, this is a small file, but it can search files quite rapidly, even on a basic PC or XT. Mr. Katt's address is on the screen, and the word "Katt" is highlighted. What if this is not the Katt you're looking for? Press Grey+ or Enter to continue the search. Since this is the only Katt in the ADDRESS file, PC-Browse will beep and tell you it couldn't find it. - 13 - PC-Browse can interact with your host application in two ways. First, when you pop it up, the word at the cursor (if any) automatically becomes the Find text. Second, you can paste selected text directly into your application, just as if you had typed it yourself. 3. Press Esc to return to your word processor. 4. Enter "Walton" on a line in your practice file. Leave the cursor just after the "n". 5. Try to remember the address. Scratch your head, since you don't know it, unless you've done the Tutorial before! 6. Press Shf Ctl F1 to pop-up PC-Browse. The Find text will be the name "walton". 7. Press Enter or Grey+ to search. PC-Browse finds "Walton" this time. Let's paste this address into your word-processing practice file. Pasting Text Into Another Program: 1. Press Esc to return to your word processor, and put the cursor at a place in the document to insert the address. Press Shf Ctl F1 to pop-up PC-Browse again. 2. Press the F7 key. The Paste Menu appears: | | +Esc:Cancel F4:Start mark F5:Marked text F6:Filename F7:Window F8:Page+ 3. Use the Up and Down Arrow keys to move the cursor to the first line of the address. 4. Press the F4 key to start marking lines for pasting. 5. Use the Down Arrow key to extend the marked (highlighted) area through the last line of the address. If you didn't start with the right line, simply move the cursor to the correct first line and press F4 again to restart the marking process. - 14 - +File:address.sam------------------Find:walton------------------------+ | | |Jack Walton | |1139 73rd Place | |Seattle, WA | | | |Victoria I. Warshawski | |Lake Front Drive | |Chicago, IL | | | | | +Esc:Cancel F4:Start mark F5:Marked text F6:Filename F7:Window F8:Page+ 6. Press the F5 key to tell PC-Browse that you want to paste the marked lines. PC-Browse asks when you want to paste the text: | | +Esc:Cancel paste F9:Paste now F10:Paste when Paste-hotkey pressed----+ Your word-processor's cursor (since it's the host application, this cursor is not visible) was just after the "n" in "Walton", but you want to paste it to the line below. Press F10 to tell PC-Browse you will press the Shf Ctl F7 key to paste these lines into your application. (You could press F9 to paste them after "Walton", and put it on the next line with your word processor.) Pressing F10 (or F9) returns to your word processor. 7. Move to the next line in your word processing file, make sure you're in "push" or "insert" mode, and press the Shf Ctl F7 hot key. The address is pasted into your file. You can also print text if your printer is hooked up (Shf F7 on the Main Menu), or print text to a file (Shf F6 to set the file name, then Shf F7). See Printing and Pasting in the Reference section for more information. We knew where to look for Mr. Walton's address. What if we don't know what file it's in? Searching for Text in Many Files: 1. Press Shf Ctl F1 to pop-up PC-Browse again. This time, we'll search the entire directory (or diskette) for references to "walton". 2. Press F6 to type a file name. Type *.* and press Enter. The "*.*" says to search all files in the current directory. These are the same wild card characters you use with DOS. You could type - 15 - "?." for all one-character file names or "*.doc" for files with .DOC extensions. Since we haven't specified a particular file and haven't told PC-Browse to search yet, no file is loaded into the PC-Browse window. 3. Press F9 to type the Find text. Type "walton" and press Grey+ to begin the search. This multi-file search can present the results to you in two ways: showing you each file in turn, or showing you a list of files by name. Now PC-Browse asks which you would like, with the following prompt: | | +Esc:Cancel F9:View each match as found F10:Collect matches and list--+ 4. Press F9 to see each file containing "walton". PC-Browse quickly loads and scans each file in turn, looking for the Find text. As it scans a file, it displays the file name at the top of the window. When it finds your text, it displays the file, highlighting the text found. If this is not the reference you were looking for, you could press Enter (or Grey+) again to keep searching. Don't do this quite yet, however. Before we move to the next section of the Tutorial, we'll describe two other features related to finding text, with suggestions for exploring these features on your own. Exploring on Your Own: First, suppose you're not sure this is the "walton" you're looking for. You could search for another with the Grey+ or Enter key, but how would you get back to this one if you wanted to? PC-Browse offers two ways to do this. The first method is to open another PC-Browse window. The second method uses the automatic location list. 1. Press F2 to Open another window. There's room on your screen for two windows (you can set this; see Customizing). PC-Browse copies the current window to the bottom half of the screen, and all activity now occurs in this lower window. The upper window is "frozen" for now. 2. Press Enter (or Grey+) to search again in the new window. PC-Browse first saves your place (location) in a list. In a few seconds you'll find another reference to "walton". Let's return to the first "walton" you found. - 16 - 3. Press F4 to return to the previous location. Even if that reference was in a different file, PC-Browse quickly switches back to the first one. It saves your "trail" back to where you started, if it can. When the list gets too long (about ten levels by default) it only saves the most recent locations. 4. Return to the upper window by pressing Shf F2. This closes the lower window. The original text returns to the lower part of the screen. What if you want to search your entire hard disk for "walton"? 5. Press F6, type "\*\*.*", and press Enter. The "\*\" represents all directories on the disk. We've extended the DOS asterisk convention a bit. Just as "\brs\*.*" tells PC-Browse to search all files in the BRS directory, "\*\*.*" tells PC-Browse to search all files in all directories. Press Enter again to start the search. You can also press Grey+ right after typing the File text to start searching immediately. Since the PC-Browse directory, if you created one, is one of the last directories, it may take a while to reach the ADDRESS file. PC-Browse asks you to press F9 to see each file containing the search text, or F10 to see a list of all such files. If you have more than one disk drive, you can also search multiple drives. For example, "ce:\*\*.*" searches both drives C and E. Using PC-Browse Applications PC-Browse comes with a number of sample applications. Some are useful on their own; others simply help you explore the various tools of the PC-Browse Swiss Army Knife. We'll start with two "real" applications that you may find useful. Then we'll use some of the "demonstration" files to explore more features, such as hypertext. Finally, we'll look more closely at these files so you can learn how to design your own applications. 1. If you haven't already loaded PC-Browse and then your word processor, please do so. Make sure you have a practice file loaded in your word processor. 2. Pop-up PC-Browse by pressing Shf Ctl F1. 3. Press F6, type the file name AREACODE, then press Enter. 4. Press Ctl PgDn and Ctl PgUp to browse through the file page by page. - 17 - Each page has an area code, the state and time zone for that area code, and a list of the major cities in that area. Since this file (like most PC-Browse oriented files) is divided into pages, you can look through it quickly with Ctl PgDn. In this file each page is shorter than the window, but that's not always the case. (You can look at a longer page with the scrolling keys PgUp and PgDn, but they don't skip across pages like the Ctl PgUp and Ctl PgDn keys.) What's the area code for El Paso? We need to find El Paso in the AREACODE file. Finding an Area Code for a City: 1. Press F9 and then type "El Paso". Previously, we used Grey+ to start a search. However, it searches from your current position in the file to the end. Since you may be in the middle of this file, we need to search from the top. 2. Press F10 or Shf Grey+ from the Find prompt to search from the start of the file. PC-Browse finds El Paso and highlights it. Since the 915 area code covers two time zones, El Paso is noted specifically as being on Mountain Time. +File:areacode---------------------Find:El Paso-----------------------+ |915 | |Texas <TX> (CST/MST) | |Abilene (CST), El Paso (MST), Midland (CST), Odessa (CST) | |San Angelo (CST), Sweetwater (CST) | | | | | | | | | | | +Esc:Exit F1:Help F4:Backtrack F6:File F7:Paste F9:Find F10:First-page+ Let's try a harder city to spell, such as Hamtramck (near Detroit). Luckily, we don't have to spell the whole word. 3. Press F9, type "hamt", then press F10 to search from the beginning. PC-Browse finds whatever text you type; you're not limited to whole words. You can also use PC-Browse wild cards in the Find text, as described in the Reference section under Using Wild Cards in a Search. Note that a city in this area code, Warren, has the same name as a city in another state. The city name is followed by a cross-reference to this other state, with the state abbreviation in a different color (depending on your monitor type). - 18 - 4. Press Tab to highlight the cross-reference (to Ohio). The Find text changes to the text you highlighted, surrounded by a pair of "funny characters." These characters indicate a cross- reference, or hypertext link. 5. The Find text is now "oh" surrounded by PC-Write's bold face characters (code 2). Press Enter to search for it. PC-Browse finds the first page in the file with OH as the "page title." You can now check the area code for Warren, OH rather than Warren, MI. Automatic cross-referencing is the heart of the hypertext concept. You select text that is specially marked, and then at the press of a key you're whisked off to the material referenced by that text. In PC-Browse terminology, the "OH" that you tabbed to is called the trigger keyword, because the code 2 characters trigger a search for other material. When you pressed Enter, PC-Browse jumped to the target keyword of that search, the <OH> on the Ohio page. This type of searching is called keyword searching. 6. Press F4 to return to the page you started the cross-reference from. As you jump around a cross-referenced document or group of documents, pursuing ideas and connections, you can always work your way back up the trail you followed. Checking a Commonly Misused Word: 1. Press F6, type the PC-Browse application file name MISUSED, then press Enter. This file contains about 100 often misused words, listed in an index in the first page. Each word in this list is the trigger to a page of information about correct and incorrect usage of the word. To get back to this first page at any time, press F10 (or Shf Grey+). 2. Use Tab and Shf Tab to select words. The Find text reflects each selection. Since this list is arranged as a table, you can also use the four Arrow (cursor) keys to move about it. When the trigger words are not in nicely lined-up rows and columns, only Tab and Shf Tab select them. Let's assume you're writing about Swiss Army Knives and "Their Affect on Software Utilities". Should you use "Effect" instead? - 19 - 3. Select (with Tab or Arrows) affect (or effect) and press Enter. PC-Browse displays a page of information about the use of the words "affect" and "effect". A little reading, and you discover that the correct word here is "effect." You can also conduct a keyword search by typing in a word directly. 4. Press F9, type "alter", and then (instead of pressing Enter) press F3. This converts the Find text to a trigger keyword and does a keyword search from the start of the file. Of course, that's a lot of keys to check one word. Now let's see how to call PC-Browse directly from your application and check a word with just one keystroke. 5. Press Esc to return to your word processing practice file. Assume that you're typing along when you're confronted by the devastating question of using "it's" or "its" in a sentence. You could pop up PC-Browse, press F9, type the word, and press F3, or you could pop up PC-Browse, point to "its" in the index at the start of the file, and press Enter. But there's an easier way. 6. Type "its" (or "it's") in your word processing practice file. With the cursor still on or just after the word, press Shf Ctl F3. PC-Browse pops up and automatically jumps to the page where "its" and "it's" are discussed. The Shf Ctl F3 hot key is simply a shortcut to look something up from your word processor or other program. More Advanced Applications From here on, the Tutorial is addressed to users who might want to create their own PC-Browse files, whether for their own use or for use by others. If this doesn't describe you, here's a good point to leave the Tutorial and simply begin using PC-Browse. As you work further with the program, feel free to turn to the Reference section of the manual to learn more about the features we've introduced here. "Hyper-Documents" That Span More Than One File: 1. Load the sample PC-Browse file HAMLET. Use the Tab key to mark the trigger keyword "To be..." on the first page, and then press Enter to link to the famous speech. This file contains a heavily annotated version of the most famous passage in English-language theatre. Normally when you read Shakespeare, the footnotes are distracting, pulling your eye to the bottom of the page and making it hard to concentrate. Most notes - 20 - contain only simple definitions of obscure words; notes about the content refer to essays at the back of the book, so you have to flip back and forth. Hypertext solves these problems. HAMLET is simply a neutral example of some heavily cross-referenced material. It could be a procedures manual or employee handbook, on-line help specific to a Lotus payroll application, or a genealogy record. 2. Use Shf PgDn to browse through the speech a bit. When you're done, use Shf Grey+ or F10 to return to the first page, and then Tab to the reference "Quarto Text". It will appear in the Find text prompt surrounded by the trigger delimiters, code 22 and code 20. The so-called First Quarto is the first published version of Shakespeare's Hamlet; it's different, to say the least. Note the word (a file name) in brackets after the reference. This means the cross-reference is in another file. The Find text doesn't show the other file name, but PC-Browse keeps track of it. +File:hamlet-----------------------Find: quarto text -----------------+ |of the play. | | | | The text given here of "To be, or not to be" is from the First | |Folio; the few significant differences from the later Quartos are | |noted in the cross-references. | | | | This famous speech also exists in the First Quarto in a much | |different form (see Quarto Text [quarto] for comparison.) | | | | (Press F4 to return to previous view) | | | +Esc:Exit F1:Help F4:Backtrack F6:File F7:Paste F9:Find F10:First-page+ 3. Press Enter to find the target of the cross-reference "Quarto Text". PC-Browse automatically switches files. The file name on the top line changes. 4. Tab to the "To be..." trigger, then press Enter to view this speech as it appeared in 1602. Now Tab to the note on "Marry" to the right of the text. The "Marry" trigger also cross-references to another file, but here you can't see the file name. When you build a PC-Browse file, you decide whether a cross-reference shows the file name or not. Here it would have been distracting. In fact, we could have made "marry" in the text itself the trigger, once again hiding the file name. 5. Press Enter to follow the "Marry" cross-reference into the GLOSSARY file. - 21 - 6. Press F4 a few times, backtracking along your reference trail and eventually returning to the HAMLET file. If you did some exploring already, the location list may have filled up, so you may not get all the way back. Explore this file on your own, tracing some of the cross-reference trails between the different files. "Hyper-Fast" Searching with Lookup Trigger Keywords: So far in this Tutorial, we've been looking at normal text searching and one type of PC-Browse keyword search, linear keyword searching. Here we'll look at the other type of keyword search, lookup keyword searching. A lookup search is extremely fast; it can search a two megabyte file in under 2 seconds on a PC AT. A file designed for lookup searching has several special requirements: the keywords must be unique, and the pages in the file must be sorted by keyword. Lookup files are usually created from a database program. Common uses include parts lists, customer names, and so on. 1. Load the PC-Browse file SAILBOAT. We have a customer who ordered part 9047; we need to know how much it costs. 2. Press F9 and type "9047" as the Find text. Press F2 to do a lookup search. PC-Browse places special characters around the Find text to turn it into a lookup trigger. A lookup search isn't noticeably faster on a short file such as SAILBOAT. By the time your parts file grows to 100K or so, the speed difference will be obvious. Cross-references within the file can also trigger a lookup search. There's one for the part we're looking at, a "Barberhauler Bullet Block w/Becket." It's actually the special trigger characters, not the F2 or F3 key, that indicate a lookup search is appropriate. This parts list is designed for lookup by part number, but it could have used a part name instead. Your database program can create a lookup file for each case. You could also search for a part by pressing F9, typing the part number, and pressing F3 to do a linear keyword search. This would not search as quickly, however. You could even press F9, type the part number, and press Grey+ to just search for the number as normal text. This is as slow as a linear search, and it would also find the same number within a phone number or address, not just as a part number. - 22 - As you see, from the user's perspective lookup keyword searching is almost the same as linear keyword searching. The differences are internal, within the file. In the next section, we'll examine these differences. Developing Your Own PC-Browse Applications In this last section, we'll see how PC-Browse files are created by examining them "side-by-side" in your word processor and in PC-Browse. To follow along in this section, you'll need a word processor that can display the ASCII characters between 1 and 31, often called control codes. PC-Write is ideal; however, the non-document mode of WordStar also works, as well as WordPerfect, Microsoft Word, and most other word processors in their "no-format" modes. You can build PC-Browse files with any word processor or editor that can produce ASCII text; you don't have to use control codes. The files we'll examine were built using these control codes. PC-Browse files that use control codes are cleaner looking, since the control codes are invisible. A Simple PC-Browse File: AREACODE 1. If you haven't already loaded PC-Browse and then your word processor, please do so. Follow the instructions in the first part of this Tutorial, under Loading PC-Browse. 2. Load the file AREACODE into your word processor. Pop up PC-Browse (Shf Ctl F1) and then press F6 to load AREACODE there, too. Some word processors may keep a file open, preventing other programs from using it. PC-Browse loads a file in read-only mode, but your word processor may still have it locked out. In this case, return to DOS and make copies of the files AREACODE, MISUSED, HAMLET, and SAILBOAT under alternate names. Now you can look at one copy of the file in your word processor and another copy in PC-Browse. 3. Press Esc from PC-Browse to return to your word processor. Note the form feeds separating each PC-Browse page, shown as a pair of characters, code 12 and 15, or "^L". Information in a PC-Browse file should be divided into "bite-sized" nuggets for easy digestion by users. PC-Browse can handle pages of any size, but 5 to 20 lines, or one window full, is a good size for most application pages. Consider breaking up longer material into two or more pages, connected with hypertext links. 4. In your word processor, go to the first line of the file and scroll horizontally to the end (In PC-Write, press End. In WordStar, press Ctrl-Q D.) Note the material in brackets that begins [BR=. - 23 - The text in brackets defines the file characteristics for PC-Browse. It looks for [BR= when it loads a file, in the first 160 characters of the first line. We place it out beyond character 80 in our files so that it doesn't show up on the screen and confuse users. The /I, /J, and /K parameters define the characters that delimit trigger and target keywords in this file. The /I part gives the first and last character of a target keyword. The target keyword is the text sought during a keyword search (either a linear search or a lookup search). The /I:60.62 says a target keyword is any text that begins with character 60 ( < ) and ends with character 62 ( > ). These characters are called Delimiters. Note the "<NJ>" on the second line of the file; since it's surrounded by angle brackets, "NJ" is a target in this file. The target delimiters can be different in each application; that's why there can be a [BR= line in each application file. The /J part gives the delimiters for a linear search-trigger keyword. Here, /J:2.2 says that a linear trigger is any text with a character 2 on both sides of it. (In PC-Write, this appears as the bold face font; in WordStar, as "^B".) On the fifth line of the file, note the two cross-references, "DE" and "OH", surrounded by these symbols. PC-Browse does not display characters whose ASCII value is less than 32. Therefore they make ideal characters to use for delimiting keywords, since they don't interfere with the text. The /K part would give the delimiter for a lookup search-trigger keyword. Here, /K is undefined, since this file isn't designed for lookup searching. The various keyword delimiters highlight their keyword on screen. Characters less than 32 that aren't used as delimiters also highlight text on the screen, making them valuable for emphasizing words. You can control both kinds of highlighting (see Customizing). You'll see an example of this when we look at MISUSED. 5. Pop up PC-Browse to see how this file appears in a PC-Browse window. Skip back and forth through the file in PC-Browse and in your word processor to see how it looks in PC-Browse and what's really in the file. PC-Browse Index Page: MISUSED 1. Load the file MISUSED into your word processor. Pop up PC-Browse and load MISUSED there, too. In your word processor, find [BR= on the first line of the file. The target and trigger keyword delimiters are different here from those used in AREACODE. Also, neither the target nor the trigger delimiters for this file are visible in PC-Browse, because both are less than 32. - 24 - 2. Scroll your word processor file down about 20 lines until you come to the page titled "ACCEPT versus EXCEPT". Pop up PC-Browse and press Ctl PgDn from the first page to find this page, too; then press Esc to return to the word processor. This page has target keyword delimiters around ACCEPT and EXCEPT at the top as well as general-emphasis "font" characters around the words as used in a sentence. The in-sentence words are neither triggers nor targets; they are just emphasized with the PC-Write bold font, character 2. Some monitors show this emphasis highlighting better than others; pop up PC-Browse briefly to see how it appears on yours. Don't be confused by the fact that we used character 2 as a trigger keyword delimiter in the file AREACODE. Each PC-Browse file can have the same delimiters, or every file can use different ones. You can develop a style and stick to it for your applications; we've mixed and matched in ours for demonstration purposes. 3. Return to the start of the file in both PC-Browse and your word processor. In PC-Browse, all of the columns line up; in PC-Write and some other word processors, they also line up. The trigger keywords must line up in columns to be selected in PC-Browse with the up and down Arrow keys as well as the Tab key. If there is an index page, it is normally the first page of the file, but a row-and-column index works on any page. Cross-References to Other Files: HAMLET 1. Load HAMLET into your word processor. Pop up PC-Browse and load HAMLET there, too. In your word processor, find the [BR= in the first line. This file uses visible delimiters for target keywords (characters 60 and 62, the angle brackets) and hidden delimiters for the linear trigger keywords (characters 22 and 20). 2. In your word processor, look at the third paragraph. Note that the trigger keyword "Quarto Text" is followed by a word in brackets. The word in brackets is the name of the file that will be loaded and searched when the user Tabs to this trigger and presses Enter to follow the link. This cross-reference file name in brackets is visible in PC-Browse. Pop up PC-Browse to confirm this. A bracketed file name must follow the trigger immediately (one space between them is allowed, to keep the screen from looking cluttered). - 25 - 3. In your word processor, scroll down about 30 lines to the middle of the soliloquy. Find the trigger keyword "Rub" followed by a word in brackets. This is also the name of the file to load when the user Tabs to this trigger and presses Enter. Because the file name starts with a question mark, it is invisible in PC-Browse. Pop up PC-Browse to confirm this. 4. The triggers in parentheses to the right of the soliloquy may not line up in your word processor. Pop up PC-Browse briefly and press Shf PgDn to reach this part of the file; confirm that they are aligned in PC-Browse. PC-Write font characters (values 0 to 31) are not displayed in PC-Browse; therefore, they're ignored in counting column positions for alignment. The line with the "Rub" note also has a trigger in the text of the soliloquy. Therefore the "Rub" note may appear to the right of the "Coil" note a few lines below in your word processor, since there are no other triggers on the "Coil" line. Lookup-Search Files: SAILBOAT 1. Load the file SAILBOAT into your word processor. Pop up PC-Browse and load SAILBOAT there, too. In your word processor, find the "[BR=" text. This file uses a visible start-delimiter for targets (character 35, #) and hidden delimiters for the lookup triggers (characters 22 and 20). This time there is no linear search-trigger, only a lookup search-trigger. The end-delimiter for target keywords in this file, character 8, has a special meaning to PC-Browse. It indicates that a target keyword is ended by any character that is not a letter or a number. So in this file any space, end-of-line, or other non-letter-or-number after the word or number marks the end of the target. In this file, the ending delimiter is usually the end-of-line. Here, too, character 2 is used for emphasis on part names and prices. 2. Look at the second page of this file (part #1012, the shroud pin). In a lookup file, each page must contain exactly one target (1012 on this page). It can contain any other information you wish. The targets must also appear in ASCII-sort order (basically alphabetical, with numbers sorting ahead of letters). It is this ordering that makes lookup searching so fast even on huge files. - 26 - Summary That's your guided tour of PC-Browse features. There are a number of features we haven't covered, such as more Hot Key shortcuts, search wild cards, printing information, and the many customization options. We started this Tutorial by asking a series of seven questions in the section "What does PC-Browse Do". Now we'll give the specific answers: 1. How can I find the memo on restructuring I wrote 6 months ago? Pop up PC-Browse, press F6, type "\*\*.*", and press Enter. Then press F9, type "restruc", and press Grey+ then F9. If it's on your disk, PC-Browse will find it. 2. What's Mr. Walton's address? Put the cursor on "Walton" in your word processor. Pop-up PC-Browse, press F6, and load the ADDRESS file. Press Enter or Grey+ to find the address. To paste in the address, press F7, move to the first line of the address, press F4, move to the last line, press F5, and then press F9. 3. What's the area code for El Paso? Pop up PC-Browse and press F6 to load the AREACODE application. Then press F9, type "El Paso", and press Grey+. 4. Is it correct to say, "What's the affect of this decision?" Put the cursor on "affect", pop up PC-Browse, press F6, and load the application MISUSED; then press F9, then F3. Read the text of the page PC-Browse displays. 5. What do we charge for part #9054? Load the SAILBOAT file, press F9, type "9054", and press F2 to do a lookup search for the part number. 6. How do I add online help to an application or product designed without it? Cannibalize a copy of the MISUSED application. Build a table of contents of all the terms you think users might look under; set them up as keyword triggers to help-text pages, as they are in MISUSED. Even if a specific term isn't in the table, users can search for it by typing it at the Find prompt and pressing Enter. You could even build a series of sub-indexes; certain terms in the table of contents could link to another table with additional choices. - 27 - 7. Could I do that with an online procedures manual or decision tree? Adapt the sample DECISION file, "What To Do on the Weekend". This is a computerized decision tree for deciding what to do on a weekend in Seattle. 8. Explore PC-Browse on your own. Modify our sample files to see how they work. Experiment. What do you mean, there wasn't a Question 8? Life always gives you a Question 8 -- "Where do I go from here?" - 28 -