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Night Owl's CDROM File Retrieval System
User's Manual
i
CONTENTS
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1.0 Introduction .............................................. 1
1.1 About the Manual ........................................ 1
1.2 Night Screens ........................................... 2
2.0 Getting Started ........................................... 2
2.1 Quick Start ............................................. 2
2.2 Full Installation ....................................... 3
2.3 Problems Starting ....................................... 4
3.0 The Main Menu Screen ...................................... 4
Table 3.1 Main Menu Command Information .................... 5
3.1 DOS Shell ............................................... 5
3.2 Format Floppy ........................................... 5
3.3 Go to User Directory .................................... 6
3.4 Mouse Window for Main Menu .............................. 6
Table 3.2 Main Menu Mouse Window Command Information ..... 6
3.5 On-line Help............................................. 6
3.6 Search All Categories ................................... 6
3.7 Select Category ......................................... 7
3.8 Exit .................................................... 7
4.0 Category Listing .......................................... 8
Table 4.1 Category Listing Command Information ............. 8
4.1 Mouse Window from Category Listing ...................... 8
Table 4.2 Mouse Window from Category Listing Command
Indformation ................................... 8
4.2 Print Category Listing .................................. 9
4.3 Search Category Listing ................................. 9
4.4 Tagging and Untagging Commands .......................... 9
Table 4.3 Tagging Command Information ..................... 9
4.5 Exit Category Listing ................................... 10
5.0 Category Information Window ............................... 10
Table 5.1 Category Information Window Commands ............. 10
5.1 Copy Files From the Nightowl CD ROM ..................... 10
5.2 Execute a Program ....................................... 11
5.3 Extract File(s) ......................................... 11
5.4 Go to Work Area ......................................... 12
5.5 Mouse Window from Category Information Window ........... 12
Table 5.2 Category Information Window Commands ............. 12
5.6 Exit Category Information Window ........................ 12
5.7 Show Picture file ....................................... 13
5.8 View File Contents ...................................... 13
6.0 Work Area ................................................. 13
Table 6.1 Work Area Command Information .................... 14
6.1 Print File .............................................. 14
6.2 Read Text File .......................................... 14
Table 6.2 Read Text File Command Information ............. 14
6.2.1 Print File .......................................... 15
6.2.2 Search Text File .................................... 15
6.2.3 Mouse Window from Read Text File .................... 15
6.2.4 Exit Reading Text File .............................. 15
6.3 Mouse Window for Work Area .............................. 15
Table 6.3 Mouse Window from Work Area Command Information 16
6.4 Exit Work Area .......................................... 16
7.0 Shareware Information ..................................... 16
8.0 Credits and Acknowledgements .............................. 16
9.0 Glossary .................................................. 17
10.0 Error Messages ........................................... 18
1
1.0 Introduction
Welcome to the Nightowl CDROM File Retrieval System. You have just
purchased the most up-to-date single source of Shareware, Freeware and
Public Domain software available on one CDROM. Many hours of work
have gone into making the Nightowl CDROM as enjoyable and user friendly
as possible.
Your ROM contains many thousands of compressed files. Nearly 660 Mb
to be more precise. They are all Shareware, Freeware or Public Domain.
Night Owl's Publisher takes pains to insure that no commercial software
appears on the ROM. Please tell us if you find any commercial software
on this CD!
The Night program and accompanying files allow you to easily search for,
find, examine, and copy the desired file(s) from this cornucopia of
software. On-line help, mouse support and many other features are included
to help you in this process. We beleive (and have been told by others) that it is
this is the best retrieval system in the world today! We are interested in
your suggestions to help keep it that way.
Contact us at:
Night Owl's Publisher Inc. Office 716/484-3066
1161 Falconer Stillwater Rd. FAX 716/483-3920
Jamestown, NY 14701 BBS 716/483-3925
1.1 About the Manual
The tutorial section discusses what the Night Owl's CD ROM is and how to
get started. The manual is written in index fashion and heavily cross
referenced to facillitate its use as a reference.
Due to heavy cross-referencing we abbreviate the section number on
the contextual subject. For example, we may refer to Search All
Categories (3.5). The prior sentence tells us that Search All Categories
is covered on more detail in section 3.5.
Commands appear as shown in the format show below. Each command
command is labeled by section. In our example the section number is
9.9.9.
Example:
9.9.9 Command Title Here
Command Keys: Keys that trigger this command, separated by commas (,).
To Quit: ESC
One or more paragraphs explaining the purpose and use of the command
follow.
Most Command Keys are case insensitive, meaning that either an upper or
lower case keystroke will activate the command.
2
All the tables are listings of the commands available in the current screen
context.
When instructed to "enter" a line, press ENTER when the line is ready.
Consult the glossary for a listing of capitalized terms that do not appear
in a section title.
1.2 Night Screens
A gray command bar appears at the bottom of a screen. It lists of the
commands available for that screen. A short command title appears in
black lettering. Command Keys for commanda appear in red lettering next to
or within the command.
Limited mouse support is available. No mouse cursor appears. Instead,
the mouse can manuver a Highlight Bar to the selection desired.
The escape key (ESC) will back you out of most places.
2.0 Getting Started
If you are just looking Night over then we suggest you use the Quick
Start (2.1). If you intend to run Night several times then we suggest
that you install it (2.2).
Everything needed to run Night is on the CD itself. Although you can
take advantage of all the features of Night without installing it,
installation gives a faster response time during the Night session.
The Quick Start differs from an Installation in two regards. It lets
you bypass entering configuration information and run Night immediately.
When Night needs some information that is normally supplied during
installation it will ask for it the first time it is needed. Thus,
all features are available without installing. Secondly, it leaves
no record of the configuration you supplied once that Night session
has ended. That means that the same information may need to be
reentered each time Night is run until Night is Installed.
2.1 Quick Start
To Quick Start Night follow these steps:
1. Place the Nightowl CDROM in your CDROM drive and get to a DOS prompt.
2. Make the CDROM drive your default drive by entering the CDROM drive
letter followed by a colon (:).
For example, if your CDROM is drive D you would type the following:
D:
and press ENTER.
3
3. Enter NIGHT.
5. The Quick start screen appears and offers several choices. Select
"C" to choose a new CD ROM drive and run from that drive.
6. Enter the drive letter as in step 2 when asked, "What drive is your CD
ROM?".
7. Respond yes or no when asked, "Do you have a color monitor?".
Quick start is completed. The Main Menu screen (3.0) immediately
displays.
2.2 Full Installation
Installation only need be done once. It will create the file NIGHT.CFG,
to hold the custom configuration for all subsequent runs of Night. This
configuration may be changed by selecting the Install command from the
Main Menu. To use the Quick Start feature after Night has been installed
just delete the file NIGHT.CFG.
1. Place the Nightowl CDROM in your CDROM drive and get to a DOS prompt.
2. Make the CDROM drive your default drive by entering the CDROM drive
letter followed by a colon (:).
For example, if your CDROM is drive D you would type the following:
D:
and press ENTER.
3. Enter NIGHT. The Quick Start screen displays.
5. The Quick Start screen appears and offers several choices. Select
I" to choose to install Night Owl's CD ROM File Access Tools.
6. Respond yes or no when asked, "Do you have a color monitor?".
7. The Installation screen displays and prompts for configuration
information. The text appearing in square brackets ( [] ) are the
default answers. Be careful in responding to these questions since
an invalid answer may cause Night to quit the installation.
8. Enter the drive letter and path where the Night Owl files will
reside when asked for the "Location of the Default NIGHT directory."
9. Enter the drive letter when asked, "What drive contains the Night
Owl's CD ROM?".
4
10. Enter the file name of the executable file that will be used to
view any picture files when asked, "What is the name of your picture
file viewer?". The file you select must be in the DOS path or
Night won't find it. Refer to your DOS manuals for more information
on the DOS path command.
11. Respond with "Y", "N", or "Q" to respectively verify your answers, try
again, or quit the installation process when asked, "Is the above
information correct?". Remember, responding "Y" with invalid answers
may cause the installation to abort.
12. Finally, tell if the Nightowl DIR Category Listings should be copied to
your hard drive. Copying these files gives a faster response time when
displaying a new Category Listing. These files require approximately
1 Mb of disk space.
"Y" continues the installation from step 13.
"N" takes no action. The Nightowl dir text files on the ROM will be
used when needed.
If you choose not to copy the Category Listings then go directly to
step 14.
13. Name the directory where the Nightowl dir text files will be stored
when asked for the "New location for the DIR text files." Files
will be copied to the specified directory. This process takes a
little while so please be patient.
14. The installation is complete. Any key displays the Main Menu Screen
described in the next section.
2.3 Problems Starting
If some required files are not found then an error message (10.0) will
be issued for each unlocated program. Night will search through the
DOS path first before looking on the CD ROM. Although all the
decompression software is included on the ROM, an erroneous declaration
of the ROM drive during nstallation (2.2) will trigger this error message.
3.0 The Main Menu Screen
Welcome to the Nightowl CDROM File Retrieval System.
The Main Menu Screen should appear upon starting Night. If you get the
installation screen (2.2), or error messages (10.0) then refer to the
section noted here. The screen includes a title bar, a listing of all
of the categories of software covered, and a Command Bar at the bottom
of the screen.
Due to screen space, not all commands are visible on the Command Bar.
Table 3.1 has a complete command list.
5
Upon initial entry the upper left category is hilit. The only command
affected by the position of the Highlight Bar is the Select Category
command. Use Manuvering Keys or mouse to move the highlit bar to the
software topic desired before Selecting.
Table 3.1 Main Menu Command Information
Command Refer to
Command Name Keys Section
-------------------------------------------------
DOS Shell D, d 3.1
Format Floppy F, f 3.2
Go to Work Area G, g 6.0
Go to User Directory U, u 3.3
Help F1 3.4
Install I, i 2.2
Mouse Window Click Right 3.5
Search All Categories S, s 3.6
Select Category ENTER, 3.7
Click Left
Exit ESC, 3.8
Mouse Window
3.1 DOS Shell
Command Keys: D, d
To Quit: type EXIT at the DOS prompt
This command creates a DOS shell which access to all DOS commands,
subject to RAM storage requirements. Each new shell starts from
the directory containing the Nightowl files.
To return from the DOS shell type "EXIT" at the DOS prompt. Night
will return to the place that the shell was invoked from.
3.2 Format Floppy
Command Keys: F, f
To Quit: ESC, Enter N when asked "Format another (Y/N)?".
This command allows formatting either the A: or B: drive via the
DOS format command. It is useful for preparing disks to receive
files via the Copy command (5.1).
Respond with 'A' or 'B' when asked which drive to format. Then
choose one the media type of that drive from the menu that then
appears. ESC here to quit or formatting will proceed when a choice
is entered.
6
3.3 Go to User Directory
Command Keys: G, g
To Quit: ESC
The User Directory (3.3) is a Category Listing (4.0) of all current
search results. The User Directory itself can be searched by invoking
a Category Search (4.3) and then exiting and reentering the User
Directory.
3.4 Mouse Window for Main Menu
Command Keys: Click Right
To Quit: ESC, Click Right, Click Left on Exit
This feature opens a window lets you perform some commands with the mouse.
Table 3.2 lists those commands. Move the highlit text to the desired
command with Manuvering Keys or mouse and trigger it with ENTER or Click
Left.
Table 3.2 Main Menu Mouse Window Command Information
Refer to
Command Name Section
-----------------------------------
DOS Shell 3.1
Format Floppy 3.2
Go to Work Area 6.0
Go to User Directory 3.3
Help 3.4
Search All Categories 3.6
Exit 3.8
3.5 On-line Help
Command Keys: F1
To Quit: ESC
This command pops up a window with context sensitive. If the help
information for a particular topic takes more than one window then
use the up and down arrows or mouse to make off-screen text visible.
3.6 Search All Categories
Command Keys: S, s
To Quit: See below
This command opens up a window which prompts you for the text string to
search for. This search is not case sensitive.
7
Enter the phrase to search for. All Category Listings (4.0) except the
User directory (3.3) will be searched for the phrase. A spinning
triangle in the lower right hand corner of the screen moves each time
a new file is being checked. When the first screen is filled you may
enter further commands as shown below.
The User directory is where search results are kept. Choose to "A" or
"C" respectively to append this search to the current User directory or
create a fresh User directory.
Appending allows several searches to be stored at once in the User
directory. Note that appended searches are added such that the User
Directory remains as one big alphabetical listing. Each new search
has its results appended to the end of the current User Directory.
As each Category Listing is searched, a listing will be created and
displayed on the screen. The phrase being sought and the number of
successful finds is displayed in the Command Bar.
To continue the search when a screen has been filled type "N" for
Nonstop Search mode or ENTER to fill the next screen. Search also
pauses when it has completed searching a Category, unless a Nonstop
search is active.
Nonstop Search mode causes the search to continue without stopping
until the search is complete, or until ESC is pressed.
All lines found during the Search are placed in the User directory (3.3).
When the search is complete a window appears to remind you of this fact.
3.7 Select Category
Command Keys: ENTER, Click Left
To Quit: ESC, or Mouse Window (4.1)
This command will display the Category Listing (4.0) of the currently
highlit category title. A Category Listing contains the file name,
file size in bytes, date the file was created, and a description of
the file's contents for each file in the category. Further commands
become active on the Category Listing screen.
3.8 Exit
Command Keys: ESC
Quitting from the Main Menu quits Night and returns to DOS.
8
4.0 Category Listing
Command Keys: ENTER, Click Left
Quit: ESC, Mouse Window (?.?)
A Category Listing contains the file name, file size in bytes, date the
file was created, and a description of the file's contents for each file
in the category. Files are listed in alphabetical order by file name.
Scroll the screen with Manuvering Keys to examine the listing. Indicate
the file to Select with the highlight bar. Either tag files for copying
before Selecting, or trigger an available command.
Table 4.1 Category Listing Command Information
Command Refer to
Command Name Keys Section
-----------------------------------------------
Select ENTER, 5.0
Click Left
DOS Shell D, d 3.1
Format 3.2
Mouse Window Click Right 4.1
Print Category Listing P, p 4.2
Search Category Listing S, s 4.3
Tag/Untag Commands 4.4
Exit ESC 4.5
Note that some of these commands do not appear in the command bar.
The Category Information Window gives you access to further features
that aid in examination of selected files.
4.1 Mouse Window from Category Listing
Command Keys: Click Right
To Quit: ESC, Click Right, Click left on ESCAPE
This feature opens a window lets you perform some commands with the mouse.
Table 4.2 lists those commands. Move the highlit text to the desired
command with Manuvering Keys or mouse and trigger it with ENTER or Click
Left.
Table 4.2 Mouse Window from Category Listing Command Information
Refer to
Command Name Section
-----------------------------------
Print file list 4.2
Format floppy 3.2
Help system 3.4
Exit 5.6
9
4.2 Print Category Listing
Command Keys: P, p
Before printing the Category Listing, Night requests confirmation by
asking, "Do you want to print this directory?". A 'Y' or Click Left
causes Night to check the printer before printing the file. A 'N' or
Click right quits without printing.
If the printer is not ready then Night says "Printer not ready - Any key
continues." Any key or click then returns to the Category Listing.
4.3 Search Category Listing
Command Keys: S, s
This command is the same as Search All Categories (3.6) except that only
the current Category Listing is searched.
4.4 Tagging and Untagging Commands
The purpose of tagging files is to mark them for inclusion in the Copy
Files command (5.1) when ready to copy all the selected files or the
highlit file.
Upon entering a category the first file is highlit and no files are
tagged. The highlit file appears with a gray background instead of the
usual blue. The Highlight Bar is used to select the file that will be
acted upon by the Category Information Window (5.0) or the Copy Files
command. Files stay tagged until untagged or until leaving the Category
Listing.
A tagged file has different colors than a file that is both tagged and
the highlit file. A tagged file always has either a green foreground or
background color. The highlit file will always have a gray background.
Files can be tagged or untagged individually or all at once. Table
4.1 lists the tagging commands
Table 4.3 Tagging Command Information
Command Refer to
Command Name Keys Section
-----------------------------------------------
Toggle highlit file tag space
Tag whole listing +
Untag whole listing -
Tagging with the space bar also advances the highlight bar to the next
file. This accomodates advancing through the file and tagging at will
with a minimum of keystrokes.
10
4.5 Exit Category Listing
Command Keys: ESC
Exiting returns to the Main Menu (3.0).
5.0 Category Information Window
This window is accessed from a Category Listing (4.0). It displays
some category information and activates a new command bar of features.
This command bar varies depending on the extension of the highlit file
in the current Category Listing. Table 5.1 lists the available commands
in these Command Bars.
Table 5.1 Category Information Window Commands
Command Refer to Available with
Command Name Keys Section File Extensions
----------------------------------------------------------------
Copy C, c 5.1 all extensions
DOS Shell D, d 3.1 all extensions
Execute ENTER, 5.2 EXE, COM, BAS, BAT
Mouse Left
Extract File X, x 5.3 ZIP, ARJ, LZH
Format floppy F, f 3.2 all extensions
Goto work area G, g 5.4 all extensions
Help F1 3.4 all extensions
Mouse Window Mouse Right 5.5 all extensions
Print File p, p 5.6
Show Picture file S, s 5.7 GIF, PCX
View File Contents V, v 5.8 ZIP, ARJ, LZH
Exit ESC 5.9 all extensions
5.1 Copy Files From the Nightowl CD ROM
Command Keys: C, c
To Quit: See below
This command allows copying the highlit or tagged files to the path
and drive you specify. Night verifies the target path, gives
information about storage on the target drive, and gives progress
messages during the copy process.
If some files are tagged then enter a "T" or "H" when asked, "Copy
<T>agged or <H>ighlighted files?".
Enter the complete target drive and path name when requested. If
tagged files are to be copied then the number of tagged files will be
restated in this window. To quit, enter a blank line.
The target path will be checked before copying begins. If the path
does not exist then an error message is issued. Press any key to clear
the message and return to the Category Information Window.
11
The available storage on the target drive will be checked. If copying
to A: or B: drive then Night tells how many blank disks are needed to
hold the source files. If the target hard drive has insufficient
storage to contain the source files then Night tells how many bytes
short the drive is.
If the foregoing messages are satisfactory, then press "Y" when asked
to confirm the copy command. Once final confirmation is given the
copy command cannot be aborted.
File(s) are copied in the order they appear in the Category Listing
window. Progress messages issued during the copying process tell
which file is being copied, how many files have been copied, and how
many total files will be copied, and if any errors are encountered.
If a copy command fails then a warning is issued. Night will prompt for
the insertion of the next diskette when the current one can not hold the
next file to be copied.
When the copying is completed Night returns to the Category Information
window.
5.2 Execute a Program
Command Keys: ENTER, Mouse Left
To Quit: See third paragraph below
If the highlit file has a BAS, BAT, COM, or EXE extension then Night
asks for confirmation before offering an opportunity to enter command
line arguments for the program.
If the program has a BAS extension then Night must find BASICA or
GWBASIC in the path before executing. If either of those files cannot
be found then Night say so before any key returns to the Category
Information Window.
Once the program is done a message window pops up and asks for a keystroke
before returning to the Category Information Window. This was done to
make ending messages from the executed program visible on screen. If
the last keystroke of the executed program normally shows up on the DOS
prompt when the program is run from DOS then no ending message will
appear. This is because Night is fooled into thinking that the last
stroke was your confirmation to return to the Category Information Window.
5.3 Extract File(s)
Command Keys: X, x
To Quit: See third paragraph below
If the highlit file has an ARJ, LZH, or ZIP extension then this feature
will decompress that file by calling the appropriate decompression
software from a DOS shell. If Night could not find that software then
it would have already mentioned it at the start of the program.
12
If Night was Quick Started (2.1) and this is the first decompression then
it asks which directory the files should be decompressed in.
As soon as the decompression is complete Night goes to the Work Area (6.0)
to await further commands. Night returns to the Category Information
Window upon exiting the Work Area.
5.4 Go to Work Area
Command Keys: G, g
To Quit: ESC, Mouse Window (5.5), See also Section 6.0
This command displays the Work Area (6.0). It contains all the files
that have been extracted (5.3). If the work area is empty then Night
issues a message saying so.
5.5 Mouse Window from Category Information Window
Command Keys: Click Right
To Quit: ESC, Click Right, Click left on ESCAPE
This feature opens a window lets you perform some commands with the mouse.
The available commands are shown in Table 5.2. The up and down arrows and
ESC key also work while in this window.
Table 5.2 Category Information Window Commands
Command Name Refer to Section
-----------------------------------
Exit 5.6
Extract highlit 5.3
View highlit 5.8
Show picture file 5.7
Go to work area 5.4
Copy file(s) 5.1
Print file 5.6
DOS Shell 3.1
Format floppy 3.2
Help system 3.4
5.6 Print File
Command Keys: P, p
To Quit: N or Click Right
This will allow printing the highlit file. Night asks, "Do you want to
print <filename>?" to confirm. Press N or Y appropriately. If the
printer is ready then the file prints immediately. Otherwise Night says
the printer is not ready and awaits an acknowledging keystroke.
13
5.7 Show Picture file
Command Keys: S, s
To Quit: Quit your picture viewer
If the highlit file has an GIF or PCX extension then this command allows
that picture file to viewed. Usually the viewer selected during
installation (2.2) is used. If this is the first time viewing a file
during a Quick Start (2.1) then Night asks for the name of the picture
viewer to use. This viewer must be in the DOS path for Night to find it.
When done viewing the file, Night returns to the place it was called from.
5.8 View File Contents
Command Keys: V, v
To Quit: ESC, Click Right, or Mouse Window (5.5)
The decompression software used by Night allows a list of the contents of
a compressed file to be viewed without extracting the file. The informaion
displayed varies with the compressed file extension. Each type of display
carries appropriate column headers so there should be little trouble
interpreting the information.
5.9 Exit Category Information Window
Command Keys: ESC
Exiting returns to the Category Listing (4.0).
6.0 Work Area
This window allows further examination of the files that were extracted
with the Extract command (5.3). It may be entered from the Main Menu
(3.3), or the Category Information Window (5.4). If there are no files
in the work area then Night says so before quitting the command. To use
a file specific command just manuver the hilit bar to the desired file
and press the appropriate command key.
Table 6.1 lists the commands available from this screen. "File Specific"
in table 6.1 is marked if a command applies to the hilit file. The
remaining commands are not sensitive to the hilit file. Night allows you
the freedom to perform a command on a file even if it may not make sense;
reading an EXE file or viewing a TXT file for example. Even when a mistake
is made the command is usually harmless to Night. It just returns quickly
from the execution of that command.
14
Table 6.1 Work Area Command Information
Command Refer to File
Command Name Keys Section Specific
-------------------------------------------------------
DOS Shell D, d 3.1
Execute File ENTER, 5.2
Mouse Left
Print File P, p 6.1 X
Read File R, r 6.2 X
Extract File X, x 5.3 X
Format floppy F, f 3.2
Help F1 3.4
Mouse Window Mouse Right 6.3
Show picture file S, s 5.7 X
Exit ESC 6.4
6.1 Print File
Command Keys: p, p
To Quit: ESC, Mouse Window (6.3)
Before printing the highlit file Night requests confirmation by prompting,
"Do you want to print <filename>?". A 'Y' answer causes Night to check the
printer before printing the file. If the printer is ready then the file is
printed. If the printer is not ready then an error message pops up to
notify you.
6.2 Read File
Command Keys: R, r
To Quit: ESC
This allows reading the contents of the highlit file. It is meant
for ASCII text files and works best when the lines are under 80 characters
long. Scroll the screen by use of the Manuvering Keys or select a command.
Table 6.2 Read Text File Command Information
Command Refer to
Command Name Keys Section
----------------------------------------------
DOS Shell D, d 3.1
Mouse Window Click Left 6.2.3
Print File P, p 6.2.1
Search Text File S, s 6.2.2
Exit ESC 6.2.4
15
6.2.1 Print File
Command Keys: P, p
To Quit: N
The message "Do you want to print <filename> ?" asks for confirmation
before printing. Enter N to abort printing or Y to confirm it.
If the printer is not ready then a warning message appears.
Any key removes this message and returns to the Work Area (6.0).
Beware printing executable or other files that do not contain text.
If unsure about the contents of a file then read it first with Read
File (6.2). If there are garbage characters in it then printing
the file will be of little use.
6.2.2 Search Text File
Command Keys: S, s
To Quit: Automatic
A window appears and asks, "Text string to search for?". Press ESC to
abort the search or enter the search phrase. Night starts searching from
the second line on the screen and brings the next occurance of the search
phrase to the top of the screen and highlights all occurances. If no
matched are found then Night advances to the bottom of the file.
The last phrase entered becomes the default phrase to allow searching
again by just ENTER. To remove the highlit phrases, start a search and
ESC from it.
6.2.3 Mouse Window from Read Text File
Command Keys: Click Left
Table 6.2 Contains all the commands available from this Mouse Window.
Use Manvuering Keys or mouse to highlight your choice. Then Click Left
or ENTER to trigger that choice.
6.2.4 Exit Reading Text File
Command Keys: ESC, Mouse Window (6.3)
Exiting the work area return to the place where it was called from.
6.3 Mouse Window for Work Area
Command Keys: Click Right
To Quit: ESC, Click Right, Click Left on Exit
This feature opens a window lets you perform some commands with the mouse.
Table 6.3 lists those commands. Move the highlit text to the desired
command with Manuvering Keys or mouse and trigger it with ENTER or Click
Left.
16
Table 6.3 Mouse Window from Work Area Command Information
Refer to
Command Name Section
---------------------------
DOS Shell 3.1
Extract file 5.3
Format floppy 3.2
Help system 3.4
Print file 6.1
Read file 6.2
Show picture file 5.7
Exit 6.4
6.4 Exit Work Area
Command Keys: ESC, see below
Night asks if the files in the work area should be deleted before leaving.
Press Y or N appropriately. A Click Left is the same as 'Y.' A Click
Right is the same as 'N.'
7.0 Shareware Information
Shareware programs are not FREE programs or public domain programs. They
are copyrighted programs that the authors have released to the public for
the purpose of examination and test use only. You should register the
program with the author if you like it and want to continue to use it.
Night Owl's Publisher Inc. takes pains to insure that no commercial software
appears on the CD. If you find any such software on the CD then please
notify us as soon as possible. Our address is listed in the Introduction
(1.0).
8.0 Credits and Acknowledgements
(c) Copyright 1993 All Rights Reserved
ASP Trademark of (c) Association Shareware Professioals
PKUnzip.exe Trademark of (c) PKware Inc.
VPIC Trademark of (c) Bob Montgomery
WordPerfect Trademark of (c) Word Perfect Corporation
Pascal Trademark of (c) Word Perfect Corporation
List Trademark of (c) Vernon D. Buerg
Lotus Trademark of (c) Borland Inc.
Windows Trademark of (c) Microsoft Corporation
Gap Trademark of (c) Gap Development Company
Night Trademark of (c) Night Owls
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We also want to take the time to acknowledge the scores of other
trademarks and copyrights found throughout the zipped files on the
Nightowl CDROM.
Again, support shareware authors by registering their programs.
Special thanks to:
Phil Katz
For allowing us to use his program as a part of the Nightowl CDROM.
PKZip is a very useful program.
9.0 Glossary:
Category Listing Window - See section 5.0
Command Bar - A command bar appears at the bottom of the screen. It shows
a list of keystroke commands that are active for the current
screen.
Command Key - A key which, when pressed, will trigger a specific feature
of Night.
Compressed Files - Files whose contents have been compressed to minimize
storage requirements. Night handles compressed files with ARJ, LZH, or
ZIP extensions.
Configuration File - Holds custom settings for an installed version of
Night.
ENTER - The "Enter" or "Return" key.
ESC - The Escape key. Usually labeled as "Esc".
Work Area - See section (6.0).
file specific command - A command that will process only the selected file
or files. Only the Category Listing allows several files to be included
in a file specific command.
Highlight Bar - Sometimes refered to as the being "hilit." Some commands
act upon the highlit file.
Main Menu - You know... the Main Menu. Geez everybody knows that.
Manuvering Keys - Keys usually used when moving a reference point on the
screen. The keys that comprise all manuvering keys are PgUp, PgDn,
Up and Down arrows (), Home, End.
Night - The program name for the Nightowl CDROM File Retrieval System
user interface.
Nightowl CDROM File Retrieval System - The CDROM itself.
Picture file - A file that holds a graphic mode picture. GIF or PCX
extensions currently recognized as picture files.
Quick Start - See section 2.1. Allows operation of Night from ROM without
the full installation process. Night will ask for needed information as
required by the features selected. This information is recorded and
used for the remainder of the program session.
User Directory - See section 3.3.
Work Area - See section 6.0.
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10.0 Error Messages
Some error messages mention varying items. A general decription of
those items are enclosed in angle brackets (<>). Those errors that
may be correctabe will have remedies listed.
Cannot find file info - Night requries special information about some
of the files it opens. This special could not be discerned.
Cannot find home directory - Night could not save the name of the
current directory before switching to another directory.
Cannot open <Category Title> in read_dir_file - The Night routine
read_dir_file() could not find the requested file. Check
configuration by the Install command (2.2).
Cannot open <filename> - Could not open the requested file.
Cannot open file for printing - Could not open the requested file.
Cannot open Main Categories File - Could not find the Main Menu file.
Try deleting NIGHT.CFG and reinstalling Night.
Cannot write to <path> - Could not write the new configuration file.
See if the path exists from DOS.
Chmod error copying <filename> - File attributes prevented copying.
Alter the attributes with the DOS "attrib" command.
Drive <drive> is to full. - The destination drive for a copy command did
not have enough remaining storage to copy the last file requested.
Delete some files on the target drive. Smaller files mayu still fit.
Error copying <filename> - DOS copy command failed for unknown reason.
Try the copy command from DOS.
Error restoring text in <routine name> - Could not restore an the screen
under the pop up window. Any key continues. This may result in
garbage on the screen. Exit and reenter the screen if garbage appears.
Error saving text in <routine name> - Could not save a portion of the
screen for later redisplay. Press any key to contine. This will
probably result in garbage on the screen when returning from the
pop up window. Exit and reenter the screen to remove garbage.
Error writing to <User Directory> - Could not open the User directory
(6.0). Try searching with the Create option (3.5, paragraph 3). You
may wish to save the existing User Directory file named DIR.USR before
doing this.
Failed dirlines [<line number>] malloc in malloc_dirline - The Night
routine malloc_dirline() ran out of memory to hold a Category
Listing in the dirlines array. Remove TSRs or other programs that
take up RAM.
Failed malloc for <variable> global_malloc - Could not allot memory
for a needed variable. Remove TSRs or other programs that take up
RAM.
Failed malloc in <routine name> - Ran out of memory when requesting
needed space in the named routine. Remove TSRs or other programs
that take up RAM.
Failed to copy <filename> - DOS copy command failed for unknown reason.
Try the copy command from DOS.
No PKUNZIP.EXE in path. Need it for *.ZIP decompression. - Could not
find pkunzip.exe in the DOS path. Change your path or move pkunzip.exe
into a directory that is in the path.
No ARJ.EXE in path. Need it for *.ARJ decompression. - Could not
find pkunzip.exe in the DOS path. Change your path or move pkunzip.exe
into a directory that is in the path.
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No LHA.EXE in path. Need it for *.LZH decompression. - Could not
find pkunzip.exe in the DOS path. Change your path or move pkunzip.exe
into a directory that is in the path.
Not enough free space. - The destination drive for a copy command does not
have enough remaining storage to copy all of the files requested. Some
files may be able to fit. Delete some files on the target drive.
<Path> does not exist. - Could not find the specified path. Check spelling.
<Path> is an invalid path name - The entered path contains illegal
characters or could not be found. Check spelling.
Printer not ready - Check to see if the printer is connected and on line.
Search phrase to broad. - There were to many matches for the search phrase
entered. Up to 500 matches are allowed. Make the search phrase more
explicit.
Target drive to full. - The destination drive for a copy command did not
have enough remaining storage to copy the last file requested. Delete
some files on the target drive.
