DP Tool Club 17/CD_ASCQ_17_101194.iso/vrac/orchis10.zip/CHAPT1.TXT

Text File | 1994-05-17 | 14KB | 266 lines

<Chapter 1:  Introduction>

Copyright (c) 1994 Trionum Inc. All rights reserved.

ORCHIS, TRIONUM and PEP are trademarks of Trionum Inc. All other brand
and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their
respective companies.

<Section 1.1:  What is ORCHIS?>
     The name ORCHIS stands for "Org Chart Imaging Software". ORCHIS makes
it easy to create and maintain org charts. An org chart is a picture of a
tree-like hierarchy. The most common use for such charts is to represent
the structure of an organization by a diagram of who reports to whom, but
there are many other applications. For example, org charts can represent
menu structures, decision trees, sentence parsings, or taxonomies of
plants and animals. With ORCHIS, pictures of these charts can be displayed
on your computer's monitor, printed on your printer, and saved in graphic
files compatible with other software packages.

     ORCHIS eliminates the necessity of actually drawing these charts
yourself. Using simple data forms, you enter text for each chart element
and specify its properties, such as type face and color. Using the
graphical EDIT-CHART display <[2]>, you identify how the chart elements
are linked together. The layout and drawing of the chart is done
automatically by ORCHIS. Later, you can easily add to the chart, or change
the text, properties, or linkages, and have ORCHIS instantly redraw the
chart to your new specifications.

<Section 1.2:  Getting Started>
     In order to install and use ORCHIS, you will need to be familiar with
the basic commands of the DOS operating system. If you have any questions
about using DOS, consult your operating system manual.

<Section 1.2.1:  Hardware and Software Required>
     In order to run ORCHIS you need an IBM PC compatible computer running
DOS 2.0 or a later version of DOS. You also need a color VGA display. You
do not need a hard disk, or a mouse, but both of these are recommended.

     In order to print directly from ORCHIS, you need one of the following
printers: an Epson printer, an IBM graphics printer, an IBM Color Printer,
a Postscript based printer such as the Apple LaserWriter, an HP LaserJet,
an HP DeskJet, or a printer compatible with one of these.

     You can output pictures from ORCHIS to PDL files (the format of
TRIONUM's drawing program, PEP: Picture Editing Package) <[7.1]>, to PCX
files (a popular bitmap format) <[7.3]>, and to EPS files (the
encapsulated Postscript format) <[7.2]>. Many word processors and desktop
publishing packages accept graphics in these formats. Charts created in
ORCHIS can be included, in this way, into documents, presentations and
slide shows created by any of these compatible packages.

<Section 1.2.2:  Installation>
     Before you can use ORCHIS, you must identify the kind of printer that
you have and how it is connected to your computer. The utility INSTALL.EXE
supplied with ORCHIS will guide you through this simple installation
process. To be able to use ORCHIS, you must first run INSTALL. Full
instructions for installing ORCHIS are provided in Chapter <[12]>.

<Section 1.2.3:  About this Manual>
     In the present chapter, we provide the definitions and background
information necessary to understand the chapters that follow. We recommend
that you read this chapter before trying to use ORCHIS. Then if you need
information about a particular command, you will be ready to turn directly
to the relevant section in the reference chapters that follow.

     After this introductory chapter, is the main part of the ORCHIS
manual, namely the individual command descriptions in Chapters <[2]>
through <[10]>. In those chapters, you will find a complete explanation of
each of the commands available in ORCHIS.

     Chapter <[11]> describes the HELP system, which allows you to view
the information in this manual, on your computer's display, while you are
using ORCHIS. Because the HELP system is context sensitive and includes a
cross-reference facility, it is often a more convenient method of learning
about ORCHIS than referring to the physical manual would be.

<Section 1.2.4:  Some Terminology>
     The individual nodes that make up an org chart are simply called
boxes. Each box contains one or more text lines, sometimes simply call
lines. The boxes have a hierarchical ordering relation shown by the
relative positions of the boxes when the chart is drawn and the lines
drawn between them called links. The ordering relation has the structure
of a tree, but charts are drawn upside down, with the root of the tree at
the top and leaves at the bottom. <[FIG16]> shows three typical examples
of such charts.

     The relationship between a subordinate box and the box above it (for
example, the relationship of boxes 2 and 1 in the any of the charts above)
can be described in any one of the following ways:

     1 is over 2.
     2 is under 1.
     1 is the parent of 2.
     2 is a daughter of 1.

We also say that two daughters of one parent (for example boxes 2 and 3,
or boxes 6 and 7 in any of the illustrations) are sisters.

<Section 1.3:  Menus and Commands>
     ORCHIS commands are presented in a series of menus organized into a
menu hierarchy. The menu that is displayed when you first load ORCHIS is
called the top menu. Most of the commands in this menu cause new menus to
be displayed. In some cases, these new menus have commands leading to yet
other menus.

     In all of these menus, one letter in each command is underlined. To
execute a command, just type this letter. Alternatively, you can point to
a menu item with the cursor. Then, if you press the left mouse button (or
the ENTER key on your keyboard), the selected command will be executed.

For example, in the top menu, if you type "X" (for "Export"), a new menu
will appear as shown in <[FIG02]>. This new menu lists the file formats
available for exporting org chart images. If you now type "E" (for "EPS")
you will export the chart to a file in the Encapsulated PostScript format.
(See Chapter <[7]> for complete information on file export options.)

<[FIG15]> is a chart of the principal menus in ORCHIS.

<Section 1.4:  Windows>
     The ORCHIS screen is divided into three windows: a menu window, a
text window, and a chart windows. The menu window is used by ORCHIS to
display its commands. The text window is used for prompts and error
messages. The chart window is used either to display a data entry form for
one org chart box or to display the chart itself. <[FIG10]>

     A different screen layout is used when you are in the HELP system.
For more information see Chapter <[11]>.

<Section 1.5:  Data Entry Forms>
     When you load a chart into ORCHIS, the initial display in the chart
window is a data entry form for one box of that chart. Such forms are the
tools you use to change the text contents and properties of the various
boxes in the chart. A typical data entry form is shown in <[FIG17]>.

     To change a line of text, activate its entry field by using the TAB
key or by clicking on the field with the cursor. To display a property
sheet for the box or for any one of its text lines, click on the
appropriate [P]-button. You can also access property sheets through the
PROPERTIES command in the top menu. For more information on using property
sheets see Chapter <[3]>.

     The data entry form lists the boxes linked to the current box. To
switch to the entry form for another box, either use the left, right, up,
and down goto buttons in the data entry form, or display the entire chart
by using the EDIT-CHART command <[2]> and then select the new box with the
EDIT-BOX command <[2.1]>. Invoking EDIT-CHART also provides access to the
commands for creating, deleting, linking and unlinking boxes. See Chapter
<[2]> for more information on these commands.

<Section 1.6:  Scroll Bars>
     A scroll bar is a tool for using the mouse to move the view in a
given window. In ORCHIS, scroll bars may appear in the menu window, in the
chart window, or (if you are in the HELP system) in the help document
window. In this section, we will assume that you have a mouse. (If you do
not have a mouse, there are commands for adjusting window views from the
keyboard. See Chapter <[10]> for the single keystroke commands relevant to
the chart window and the menu window. See Chapter <[11]> for the commands
relevant to the help document window.)

     Scroll bars will be automatically created in the menu window, the
chart window, and the help document window whenever they are needed. For
example, the LOAD-CHART command <[5.1]> displays a menu of all available
org chart files. If there is not enough room in the menu window to display
all of the file names, a horizontal scroll bar is created at the bottom of
the window. You can use this bar, as described below, to control which
part of the file name list is to be displayed. In the chart view window,
two scroll bars are required, a horizontal bar to control left/right
motion and a vertical bar to control up/down motion.

     A scroll bar contains three buttons, an arrow button at either end
and an unmarked button that can moved freely along the bar between these.
This latter button is called the slider. The position of the slider shows
the current location of the window view in its range of possible
positions. The size of the slider shows what fraction of the range is
currently visible in the window. For example, when you shrink a chart
window (so that twice as much is displayed in it), the sliders expand to
twice their former size.

     To adjust the window view by a small amount, click on the appropriate
arrow button. One click will move a menu window or a help document window
up or down by a single line of text. A graphic window will be moved by a
small fraction of the total range of motion. If you hold down an arrow
button (that is, you click on it and do not release the mouse button), the
window motion will be automatically repeated.

     To adjust the window view by a larger amount, click on the scroll bar
outside the slider (above or below the slider on a vertical bar, to the
left or right on a horizontal bar). One click will move the window view by
one half of the size of the window.

     If you click on the slider, the mouse becomes locked to the slider.
By moving the mouse, you now move the slider. When you click a second
time, the slider and the window view become fixed in their new positions.

<Section 1.7:  Moving the Cursor>
     There are several ways to move the cursor in ORCHIS. These are
described below.

<Section 1.7.1:  Mouse>
     If you have a mouse, you can move the cursor by simply moving the
mouse.

<Section 1.7.2:  Cursor Motion Keys>
     The four arrow keys on the numerical key pad move the cursor in the
direction of the arrow. See <[FIG09]>. These keys are also called the
cursor motion keys.

<Section 1.7.3:  Automatic Motion>
     If you need to move the cursor over a large distance, using the
cursor motion keys can be tedious. If you do not have a mouse, you may
want to use the automatic cursor motion capability. You can start the
cursor moving, accelerate it, change its direction, and stop the motion
when the cursor arrives at its destination.

     To start the cursor moving, press the Grey-plus key, and then press
one of the cursor motion arrow keys. The cursor will begin to move at a
constant speed in the direction indicated by the motion key. To make the
cursor move faster, press the same key again. To change direction, press a
different cursor motion key. To stop the cursor, press the Grey-plus key a
second time.

<Section 1.8:  Moving Up The Menu Hierarchy>
     There are three ways to move up the menu hierarchy. Most menus
include an explicit QUIT or CANCEL command. This command will take you
back to the previous menu, the next higher menu in the hierarchy. The
second method is to use the super-escape key (function key F10)
<[10.1.5]>. Pressing this key takes you in a single step to the top level
menu no matter where you are in the command structure. Finally, you can
use the Escape key (ESC). Pressing this key takes you back one step in the
command execution. Often, ESC is equivalent to QUIT, taking you back to
the prior menu. Sometimes, however, it takes you back to an earlier stage
in the current operation. For example, in the EDIT-CHART menu <[2]>, when
you move a box you first choose the box you want to move and then choose a
new parent box for it. If you are at the second stage (choosing the
parent), pressing ESC takes you back to the first stage (choosing the
moving box). In any case, if you continue to press ESC, you eventually
return to the prior menu and ultimately to the top level menu. If you have
a mouse, pressing the right mouse button is equivalent to using the ESC
key.

<Section 1.9:  More about the Mouse>
     ORCHIS has been designed so that you can use a mouse if you have one,
but a mouse is by no means necessary. Every function can be accessed
directly from the keyboard. Cursor motion, in particular, can be
controlled from the keyboard in a number of ways which have been described
above.

     If you do have a mouse, pressing a mouse button is equivalent to
pressing one key on the keyboard. Pressing the left mouse button is
equivalent to pressing ENTER (carriage return). Pressing the right mouse
button is equivalent to pressing ESC (the escape key). See <[FIG11]>. In
the discussion below, we use the key names ENTER and ESC without
explicitly mentioning the mouse. In each case you can use the equivalent
mouse button instead.

<Section 1.10:  Org Chart Files>
     ORCHIS stores org charts in files with the extension "ORG". These are
pure ASCII text files using a simple context sensitive format. This simple
text based format makes it easy for third party programmers to create
compatible utilities, such as, for example, a program to automatically
generate ORCHIS files by extracting information from a data base.

     To assist such third party developers, TRIONUM will provide a file
format specification document, free of charge, to any registered user upon
request.