CD ROM Paradise Collection 4/CD ROM Paradise Collection 4 1995 Nov.iso/science/ischem20.zip/IS_FILES.EXE/ETCETERA.ISD

Text File | 1994-08-15 | 15KB | 264 lines

ETC■■■ETCETERA FILES - INDEXED FILE VIEWER
■0100
│    ƒ9  Etcetera        Data screens of useful technical information.     │

The Etcetera function of The Integral Scientist serves several purposes.
It is the working "engine" behind the on-line User's Guide, providing
on-line access to the documentation files as well as providing a viewing
tool for files of data or information which can be created by the user for
his or her own purposes.

In addition to the .ISD files several sample files of scientific
information are included with the program as examples of how data files can
be created.  The Etcetera function provides many of the features of
hypertext programs but uses a simple file structure which is easily created
with an ordinary text editor.  Details of how to create your own ETC files
complete with automatic indexing, footnotes and prompted cross-references
or links to other pages of the file are presented in the User's Guide
Etcetera chapter.

All the information presented here in this section on the Etcetera function
also applies to using the User' Guide.

To start the "Et cetera" structure file viewer function from the main menu,
press "C" or [ƒ9] or select with the highlight bar and press [enter] or with
your mouse, double-click the menu line.

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■1105
THE ETCETERA LIBRARIAN

When you press [ƒ9] or execute the Etcetera function from the main menu,
the function first scans the IS home directory for any files bearing the
extension .ETC.  As it finds each such file it checks the format to
determine if it is a valid ETC file, then, if so, stores the file name and
the first line of the file in a library list.  The library list is then
presented in menu format, allowing you to select the ETC file you want to
view.

╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║  up/down arrow keys  move selector up/down in list  ║ ü Find a file in
║      pgup/pgdn keys  up or down in list one page    ║ │ the displayed
║              [home]  goto beginning of list         ║ │ library list.
║               [end]  goto end of list               ║ │
║             [enter]  load and view highlighted file ║ ┘
╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝

One or more .ETC files are distributed with The Integral Scientist.  The
User's Guide also uses the Etcetera function to view ISD documentation
files.  Create your own Etcetera files using a standard text editor.  é
________________________________________________________________________________
ȟSelecting And Loading A File
As with other full-screen menu lists in The Integral Scientist, you can
select by moving the selector bar or by clicking on a selection.  If the
list is longer than a single screen, you can scroll up or down in the list
with the [pgup] and [pgdn] keys or buttons.  You also can move to the
beginning and end of the list with the [home] and [end] keys.  Pressing
[enter] with an item highlighted, clicking on a highlighted line or double
clicking on an item will load that file for viewing.
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ȎMaking Your Own Data-Indexed (ETC) Files
The Etcetera utility is a special purpose file viewer meant to handle
indexed files supplied with The Integral Scientist or created by you.  The
structure of the special file format is very simple and can be created with
any ASCII text editor or word-processor which can write pure ASCII files
and place upper-bit characters.
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■5105
USING THE ET CETERA VIEWER LIBRARIAN

  THE LIBRARIAN SCREEN
When the Etcetera function is run from the main menu of The Integral
Scientist the first screen presented is the "librarian" function.  The home
directory of The Integral Scientist is scanned for all .ETC files.  The
list of files is presented in a menu for selection.

The top section of the Librarian screen includes hints and a line which
indicates how many files have been found In the bottom section of the
screen is a scrolling list of the files including the identification line
for each.  If the list is longer than 14 files, the additional files can be
displayed by scrolling the list down with the [pgdn] key.

  SELECTING A FILE TO VIEW
Each file in the list is given a number, you can select a file for viewing
by entering the number, by moving the selector bar down and up in the list
and pressing [enter] when the file you want to view is highlighted or by
double clicking on the file to view.
~
~>  Two sample ETC files are supplied with The Integral Scientist.        <
~>  After starting the Etcetera function, you will see a list of the two  <
~>  files.  If you are using the User's Guide function, which is just     <
~>  the Etcetera function under another name, you will see a list of      <
~>  more than 14 files which you can view.  For our example, we will      <
~>  select from the Users Guide library list.  Press the down arrow to    <
~>  move the selector bar.  Take it all the way to the bottom of the      <
~>  list and keep pressing.  The list will scroll up, revealing           <
~>  additional files.  When you reach the last file in the list a         <
~>  information display informs you that you are at the end of the list.  <

  ENTERING THE VIEWER FUNCTION
When you double click with your mouse or press the [enter] key the selected
file is loaded into the viewer.  It is scanned and a structured index built
then the first page is read into the view screen.

  RETURNING TO THE LIBRARIAN
When you are done viewing a file, pressing [esc] or [alt-ƒ4] will unload
the file and return you to the librarian screen.  To return to the main
menu, press [esc] or [alt-ƒ4] again.
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■1110
VIEWING AN ETC FILE

The file selected for viewing is analyzed and indexed, then read into the
viewer and displayed on the screen one page at a time.  With the file in
display mode you have many commands with which to select pages, view
additional lines of the current page, and display footnotes and crosslinks.
╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║        [pgup] or [-]  back one page                       ║ ─┐
║        [pgdn] or [+]  forward one page                    ║  ü Find a page
║               [home]  goto page one                       ║  │ of the file.
║                [end]  goto last page                      ║ ─┘
║              [alt∙A]  advance in history list             ║  é Retrace your
║         [ƒ3]/[alt∙B]  retrace history list                ║ ─┘ steps.
║                 [ƒ9]  highlight footnote and link keys    ║  â More info.
║                [ƒ10]  search file for occurrences of word ║  ä Find a word
║            [alt∙ƒ10]  from search or link to prior page   ║ ─┘
║    up∙arrow/dn∙arrow  scroll current page view            ║  à See more of
║  ctrl pgup/pgdn keys  view up/down in page by screen      ║ ─┘ current page.
╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
________________________________________________________________________________
ȟSelect A Page From List
A three line space at the bottom of the Etcetera file view screen is an
index to the pages of the file.  You can move the highlight in the index
section by clicking on a listing.  As the highlight is moved, the new page
is displayed.  Move through the pages in order by pressing [pgdn] or [+] to
move toward the end or [pgup] or [-] to move toward the beginning.  The
plus and minus buttons are presented on the divider bar between the index
and the text section.  Additional lines of index are indicated by page
markers in the corner of the index window.  You can click on the marks to
display new index lines.  The current page number is displayed in the
center of the divider.
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ȎRetracing The History List
A history list of the last 100 pages displayed is maintained.  You can
return to the beginning of the list with the [ƒ3] key or retrace one page
at a time using the [@B] key.  Move forward in the history list with the
[@A] key.  Footnotes calls are not saved, but links to other pages are
stored as a page change.
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ȉRevealing Footnotes And Links
The most convenient way of accessing a footnote or a link is to click on
the symbol with a mouse.  If you are not using a mouse, you can reveal
access codes for the footnotes and links by pressing [ƒ9].  The symbols are
changed to highlighted letters or numbers.  Press the highlighted letter or
number to open a footnote or link.
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ȊFinding A Word Or Page
You can search through all pages with the find function.  Press [ƒ10] and
enter a string of text (a word or portion of a word) to search for.  You
can also enter a page number by preceding the number with the letters pg.
(Entering just the numeric page value will result in a text search for an
occurrence of that number.) The first occurrence of the search pattern will
be located.  To search again for the next occurrence, press [ƒ10] again and
press [enter] without changing the search text.  To return to the previous
page, press [alt∙ƒ10].
________________________________________________________________________________
ȈScroll The Current Page
Some pages of text may be more than the 19 lines of the text window.  Marks
in the right corners of the text screen indicate additional lines of text.
Press [dn∙arrow] or [up∙arrow] or click on the marks to view the complete
text.  [control∙pgdn] and [control∙pgup] scroll the text one full screen at a
time.
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■5110
USING THE ET CETERA VIEWER

  THE FILE VIEWER SCREEN
The file viewer screen is divided into a view area of 19 lines and a control
and index area of four lines.  In the upper area the currently selected
page of the file is displayed.  In the bottom section is a control line and
three lines of page indexes.  The control line, separating the index
section from the text view section provides additional information about
the current page.  The page number is in the center of the line and in the
areas on either side of the page number are plus and/or minus buttons that
indicate whether there are pages in the file preceding or following the
current page.  Also there may be displayed indicators that the current page
has either or both cross-links or footnotes.

  TURNING THE PAGES
You can turn the pages in several ways.  Clicking on the plus or minus
buttons on the control line or pressing [+] or [-] or [pgdn] or [pgup] will
take you to the next or previous page in order.  You may also directly
select a page from the three visible lines of the page menu by clicking on
the page index with your mouse.  If you see page indicators in the corners
of the index area that indicates that there are additional lines of index
and pages beyond what is shown on the three lines.

  VIEWING ADDITIONAL LINES OF A PAGE
When the current page has more than 19 lines of text, you will see arrow
indicators in the right corners of the viewing area.  Clicking your mouse
on the arrow marks or pressing the up and down area keys will scroll your
view of the current page.

  FOOTNOTE AND LINKS
Et Cetera files, whether they are .ETC data files or .ISD documentation
files may contain footnotes and cross-reference links.  Footnotes are
pop-up windows of additional text and crosslinks are connections to other
pages of the document.

When you turn to a page which contains either or both, you will see the
indications "[ ] = footnotes" or "< > = crosslinks" on the control line.
An additional button also appears on the bottom bar labeled "ƒ9 reveal
notes".  In the body of the text you will see superscript 2 characters or a
letter inside square brackets ( [a] ) indicating footnotes or double-headed
arrows or a number inside angle brackets ( <1> ) indicating crosslinks.

  VIEWING A FOOTNOTE
To view a footnote, click on the mark with your mouse.  If you are not
using a mouse, press [ƒ9] and the footnote indicators will be replaced by
highlighted letters.  Press the letter to view the footnote.  The footnote
will pop-up as a window at the bottom of the screen.  To close the footnote
window, press any other key.

  FOLLOWING A CROSS-REFERENCE LINK
Crosslinks are similar to footnotes except that with an additional command
they can optionally send you to another part of the document for related
information.  Crosslinks are indicated in the body of the text by a
vertical double-headed arrow character or a number between angle brackets.
To view a crosslink, click on the mark with your mouse or press [ƒ9] to
reveal the link number and press the revealed highlighted number.

When you open a link, a footnote-like window will open at the bottom of the
screen with an explanation of the link.  If you want to take the link,
press "Y" or click on the YES in the crosslink text.  The page will change
to the one indicated in the link text.  To close the link window without
moving to the new location, press any other key.

  FINDING A STRING OR A PAGE
You can search the text for a string (a pattern of characters) or for a
page number by pressing [ƒ10].  A dialog box will open and at the prompt,
enter the character string or word for which to search.  Searches ignore
case and can search for partial words or strings of words.  After entering
the target string, press [enter] to begin the search.  If the target is
found, the viewer will change to that page and highlight the target in the
text.  If the target is in a footnote or link text, the window will open
but the word itself will note be highlighted.

To turn to a particular page of the file, enter pg, a space, and the page
number.

  RETRACING YOUR STEPS
You can retrace your steps through an Et Cetera file.  Pressing or clicking
on [alt-B] (shown on the screen as "@B" or [alt-A] (@A) goes "Backwards" or
"Advances" through your previous page changes.  The last 100 page changes
are stored.  A separate command, [alt-ƒ10] returns you to the previous
page, permitting a quick way of getting back to where you were after using
a crosslink.

  MAKING YOUR OWN ET CETERA FILES
Et Cetera files can be created in any standard text editor.  The editor
must produce standard ascii text files and be able to enter upper-bit
characters (usually with the alt key and the numeric keypad).
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■■