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SPEAKER'S RESOURCE
1.00
A Resource for Managing Speaker's Stories and Notes for IBM PC and
Compatible Computers
April 1992
(C)Copyright TexaSoft, 1983-1992
P.O. Box 1169
Cedar Hill, Texas 75104
All Rights Reserved
All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part
of this book may be reproduced without prior permission. For
information, address inquiries to TexaSoft, PO Box 1169, Cedar Hill,
Texas 75104 USA or Fax:214-291-3400.
No patent liability is assumed with respect to the use of the
information contained herein. While every precaution has been taken in
the preparation of this publication, the publisher assumes no
responsibility for errors or omissions. Neither is any liability
assumed for damages resulting from the use of the information herein.
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Contents
--------
Introduction to Speaker's Resource
Installing Speaker's Resource
Beginning Speaker's Resource
Take a Quick Tour
Textbases on disk
How Speaker's Resource is Organized
Using the Files Menu
Using the Edit Menu
Using the View Menu
Options While Viewing Records
Using the IPPCX Program
Speaker's Resource Editor
Edit Function Keys
Edit Control Commands
Using Command Line Switches
User Ballot
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Introduction to Speaker's Resource
Speaker's Resource is a text storage and retrieval program allowing
you to store stories, notes, quips, and other information that might
be useful to you as a speaker. It gives you the ability to store an
encyclopedia of information on the computer and to "look up" pieces of
that information by searching for certain key words. Information about
a certain topic is stored in an Speaker's Resource "textbase"
database. Enter information from the keyboard, ASCII files, or import
from your favorite word processor. Speaker's Resource textbases are
compatible with TexaSoft's Information Please databases.
For example, suppose you are required to give talks about the
franchise business. In order to keep up with what is going on, and
what is avaibable for particular industries, you may want to have a
textbase the includes information on available franchises. Finding the
right story or joke to tell is always a problem when preparing a
speech. You can store hundreds of stories in a textbase, and search
for them by topic or for a keyword. If you are a minister, you can
store full sermons, selections from sermons, commentaries on passages
of scripture, and so on in a textbase.
When you begin to prepare a speech, you can search through one or more
textbases, find information that you want to include in your speech
and print it out or collect it into a file that can be used in your
word processor.
Speaker's Resource can replace your cumbersome paper files (and save a
few trees while its at it), and make looking up information quicker
and easier.
Installing Speaker's Resource
To place Speaker's Resource on your hard disk, place the Speaker's
Resource distribution disk in your A: drive (or B:, C:, D: etc). Make
A: (or B: etc) the default by typing A: (or B: etc) at the DOS prompt.
Enter the command:
INSTALL
Then follow the prompts on the screen. You will be prompted to enter
or confirm the name of the disk to install FROM, and the disk to
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install TO, and the DIRECTORY where you want the program installed.
Suggested answers will be presented for each of these questions. To
accept the suggestion, press Enter. To enter a new TO, FROM or
DIRECTORY, press backspace to erase the suggested answer, then enter
your own specification.
Beginning Speaker's Resource
To begin Speaker's Resource from the DOS prompt, make sure you are
logged into the correct drive and are in the \SR directory. If you are
not in the SR directory, enter the command:
CD \SR
To begin Speaker's Resource, enter the command
SR
Depending on what edition you are running, Copyright information may
appear on the screen. If it does, press Enter. A screen will appear
with a menu bar at the top and a status bar at the bottom. The Files
menu will be displayed. To choose an option from the menu, press the
first letter of the option or use the up and down arrow keys to
highlight the desired option, then press Enter.
Setup Speaker's Resource
To setup Speaker's Resource for your computer, select "Choose Program
Options" from the menu. You will be prompted to enter the path to be
used for the program. For now, just enter the name of the disk drive,
such as C: or A: and press Enter. You will then be prompted to choose
the kind of monitor you are using. If your monitor will display
colors, choose color. If you are using a laptop with an LCD monitor,
you will probably choose the LCD option or else choose the monochrome
option (black and white, green and black, etc). Choose the one that
is most comfortable to you. Next, you will choose your printer port,
usually LPT1:.
You will also be asked to enter default margins for printing our
records, and you will be allowed to choose if you want to
automatically have the printer go to the top of form each time a
record is printed.
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The setup information is saved to disk so you will not have to set
these options again unless you want to change something. You can reset
these program options at any time by choosing the Choose Program
Options from the FILES menu.
Take a Quick Tour of Speaker's Resource
To give you an idea of what Speaker's Resource can do, follow along
with the example given here. All of the menus and options used here
are explained later in more detail. Begin Speaker's Resource by
entering the command SR at the DOS prompt. You should first see a
copyright notice. Press Enter.
1. Choose Textbase: Choose the Speaker's Resource textbase to use by
selecting the option "Open a Textbase" from the Files menu (Either
press the O (letter O, not zero) key or highlight this option and
press Enter). When you choose this option, one or more textbase names
will be listed on the screen. Using the up and down arrow keys,
highlight the name "SUCCESS" and press Enter. At the bottom left of
the screen, you should see a note that the textbase SUCCESS is
currently in use.
2. Go To View Menu: The View menu will now be extended. Use the up and
down arrow keys to highlight the option "View Keyword List." With this
option highlighted, press the Enter key to select it. A list of
keywords, one list per line, will appear on the screen. Use the Up and
Down arrow key to move to record number 5, then press the Enter key.
This causes the contents of record number 5 to be displayed on the
screen.
3. View Nearby Records: With record number 5 displayed on the screen,
press the F10 key a couple of times. This moves you forward in the
textbase. Pressing the F9 key moves you backwards in the textbase.
Press the Esc key to return to the screen listing the keywords. Press
Esc again to return to the View Menu.
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4. Do A Keyword Search: While in the View menu, press the "K" key to
choose the option "Keyword Search." A list of match types will
appear. Choose the Single Keyword Search option. You will be prompted
to enter a keyword. Enter the word AMOS and press Enter. Speaker's
Resource will now search the keyword lists for the word DISK, and will
display the first record that contains that keyword.
5. Continue Same Search: When a record is displayed, observe the
keyword list to find the word DISK. Press the F10 key to continue the
search to the next keyword list containing the word DISK, or press the
F9 key to search backwards in the file. If there are no more matches,
the search ends.
6. End the Program: Press the Esc key one or more times until you are
back to the View menu. Press Esc once more and you will be prompted
End Speaker's Resource (y/N)
Enter Y key and press Enter to end the program and return to the DOS
prompt.
You can also begin SR from the DOS prompt and automatically open a
textbase to use. For example, to open the PARKS textbase, enter this
command at the DOS prompt:
SR /OPEN:PARKS
This time the SR screen appears with the VIEW pull down menu extended
and KEYWORD SEARCH highlighted. Press the downarrow key once to select
In-Text search and press Enter (or press I). Choose single keyword
search, and enter the word BEAR. The program will locate the first
record in the PARKS textbase that matches the search word BEAR.
This textbase also uses the PCX viewer to display a map of the park's
location. Press the F4 key, and a map of Alaska should appear. (If it
does not, you may not have a CGA compatible monitor.) Press Enter to
go back to the text description. Press the Esc key one or more times
until you are back to the View menu. Press Esc once more and you will
be prompted
End Speaker's Resource (y/N)
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Enter Y key and press Enter to end the program and return to the DOS
prompt.
Textbases On Disk
Other Speaker's Resource textbases on disk are:
IP-DOS: This textbase contains information about how to respond to DOS
error messages concerning the use of disk drives. It gives suggestions
for how to recover from problems you may encounter. PARKS Textbase:
This textbase contains information about US National Parks. Open this
textbase and look at the first record for an Alaska National Park.
Notice that when the record is displayed, there is a menu item F4 at
the bottom of the window. This indicates that there is a command
associated with this record. In this case, it is a command to show a
map of the Alaska National Parks. (Action commands are described
later) If you have a CGA compatible monitor (including an EGA or VGA),
press the F4 key and the Alaska parks map should appear on the screen.
Press Enter to return to the text of the record.
FRANCHISE Textbase: There is a file on disk called FRANCHIS.TXT that
is the text of a textbase which you can use to try out the import
feature of SR. From the SR Files menu, choose New Textbase, and call
it FRANCHIS. Then go to the Edit menu and choose Import. Import the
file FRANCHIS.TXT, then look at the records to see how this
information was easily imported into SR. This textbase contains
information about US Franchise Opportunities. Only a few records are
included in this example textbase. Also, you might examine the
FRANCHIS.TXT file with your word processor to see how to prepare a
file to be imported into SR.
Besides the information in these textbases, you can create your own
textbases. The following information details the various commands and
options available to you in Speaker's Resource.
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How Speaker's Resource is Organized
The Speaker's Resource main menu consists of three options; Files,
Edit, and View. When you choose one of these options, a menu will be
displayed giving you another set of options. The FILE menu item is
used to deal with file (textbase) related issues such as creating a
new textbase, opening a current textbase, deleting a textbase and so
on. The EDIT menu item is used to deal with individual entries
(records) in the textbase such as editing a record, deleting records
and so on. The VIEW menu item is used to search for and look at
entries in the textbase.
Each entry in an Speaker's Resource textbase is called a record. A
record consists of two parts, a keyword list and a description. The
keyword list is a list of words that describe the entry. For example,
the keywords might be "HARD DISK WILL NOT BOOT" and the entry might
explain what can cause a hard disk to lose its ability to boot, and
give some solutions for solving the problem. The Keyword list consists
of up to 65 characters. The entry description can consists of up to
500 lines (or about 32K of information) of free-form information -
usually one or more paragraphs of information.
Using The Files Menu
The File menu allows you to use and manipulate Speaker's Resource
files and also contains some options that deal with program setup and
operation. The Files menu options are:
Files Menu Options
------------------
Help
New Textbase
Open a Textbase
Delete a Textbase
Edit Textbase Description
Print a Textbase
Encode/Decode a Textbase
Sort a Textbase
About Speaker's Resource
Choose Program Options
Go to DOS, Return with EXIT
Quit, Return to DOS
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To choose one of these options, you may use the up and down arrow keys
to highlight the desired option and then press the Enter key.
Optionally, you can press the first letter of the option. For example,
to choose the "About Speaker's Resource" option, press the A key.
Following is a brief description of each of these options.
HELP
The Help option displays a series of help screens that summarize the
contents of the manual. When Help is chosen, a menu of items will
appear. You can then choose a topic to examine or return to the main
menu.
NEW TEXTBASE
The New Textbase option allows you to name a new textbase. Before
entering information into a textbase you must either open an existing
textbase or create a new textbase.
OPEN TEXTBASE
The Open Textbase option allows you to choose which Speaker's Resource
textbase on disk you will be using. A list of the available textbases
will be displayed on the screen from which you can choose one to open.
DELETE A TEXTBASE
The Delete a Textbase option allows you to delete textbase files from
your disk. It will delete the currently open textbase -- but will ask
for a confirmation to make sure you really want to delete the textbase
files.
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EDIT A TEXTBASE DESCRIPTION
The Edit a Textbase Description option allows you to enter or edit the
40 character description of the currently open textbase. This textbase
description is displayed in the list of textbases when you choose the
Open Textbase or Delete Textbase options.
PRINT TEXTBASE
The Print Textbase option allows you to print the contents of the
textbase to a printer or to a file.
ENCODE/DECODE A TEXTBASE
The Encode/Decode option allows you to scramble the contents of a
textbase to prevent unauthorized persons from extracting information
from the textbase. When you encode a textbase, you will be asked to
enter a password. Later, if you want to decode the textbase (and turn
it back into a normal textbase) you will have to enter the same
password before the program will decode the textbase. When you encode
a textbase, you can choose to have:
1. the information scrambled in the textbase but available for viewing
from SR. No printing is allowed from the textbase. You would use this
option when you want the information to be available for viewing, but
you want some protection from the user printing the information to a
printer or to the file.
2. the information scrambled in the textbase and cannot be viewed
unless the correct password is entered when requested. No printing is
allowed from the textbase. You would use this option when you want to
limit who will be able to read/print the contents of the textbase.
3. Similar to 2, except printing is allowed. When you choose to encode
a textbase, you will be asked questions about how you want to allow
the information to be viewed (one of the three options described
above).
Encoding will slow the display and searching of records, particularly
on PC's using 8088 microprocessors. You will want to test the encoded
textbase to see if encoding makes search times too long. Encoding is
not fool-proof. A competent hacker would be able to decipher the
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scrambled data eventually, but the encoding is sufficient enough that
it will keep the nosy from easily viewing or capturing the contents of
a textbase. The decoding process simply returns an encoded textbase
back to its original non-encoded state.
SORT Textbase
The Sort Textbase option allows you to sort the textbase keyword
lists. In order to effectively use the sort option, you may pre-plan
your keyword list so they can be sorted. For example, you might make
the first word in your keyword list your most important word. For
example, in the Franchise Textbase, it might be the kind of franchise
such as AUTOMOTIVE, BUSINESS, FOOD, and so on. Then, when you enter
new items and want to place the keyword list in alphabetical order,
you can sort on the first word of your keyword list. When you choose
to Sort a Textbase, you will be asked to enter the range of the
keyword list to use as the sort key. For example, if you want to use
the first 5 characters of the keyword list, you would enter 1-5 as
your sort key range. When Speaker's Resource sorts a textbase, the
textbase is also automatically compressed. Thus, any records that have
been marked for delete will be gone when you perform a sort. If this
sort does not place your textbase in the order you want, another
option is to print the textbase to a file, then use a word processor
to move records around. When your textbase is in the order you want,
delete the old Speaker's Resource textbase and re-create the textbase
name and import the information from your word processed file (it must
be an ASCII text file). - See Import.
ABOUT Speaker's Resource
The About Speaker's Resource option gives copyright information about
the program.
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CHOOSE PROGRAM OPTIONS
The Choose Program Options item allows you to choose the disk drive
and path to use for Speaker's Resource and to indicate what kind of
monitor you are using. For the path, you can enter just the disk drive
name, such as C: or a drive and path, such as C:\SR\. If no path is
specified, Speaker's Resource will use information in the current
default directory on your disk. You may choose from monitor types
Color, LCD or Monochrome. The color option refers to CGA, EGA, PGA,
VGA or other monitor types that display color. The LCD option displays
only black and white. The Monochrome option displays black, white and
bright white. Choose the one that is most pleasant for your use. After
you make your choice, the information is stored to disk so the
settings will be the same the next time you begin the Speaker's
Resource program.
GO TO DOS
The Go to DOS option allows you to temporarily return to the DOS
prompt. You may enter DOS commands or run another program. When you
type EXIT at the DOS prompt, Speaker's Resource will resume.
QUIT
The Quit, Return to DOS option ends the Speaker's Resource program and
returns you to the DOS prompt.
Using The Edit Menu
The Edit menu is used to edit or manipulate individual records in the
textbase. Before using the Edit menu, you must have an open textbase.
If a textbase is open, the textbase name will be located at the bottom
left of the screen. The options on the Edit menu are:
Edit Menu Options
-----------------
Add New Entry
Delete an Entry
Restore a Deleted Entry
Edit and Entry
Import from a File
Compress the Textbase
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ADD NEW ENTRY
The Add New Entry option allows you to enter a new record into the
textbase. This record consists of a description and a keyword list.
When you choose to enter a record, the Speaker's Resource Editor will
display with a mostly blank screen. On this screen, you will enter the
description that you want to appear in the record. Also, you must
enter a keyword description. To display the keyword entry box, press
the F2 function key. A dialog box will appear in which you can enter
the keywords for this record. Press enter to return to the editor.
Optionally, you can enter an Action Command to be associated with this
record. An Action Command is a DOS command that you want to be issued
during the viewing of the record. For example, In the PARKS textbase,
when you view information about Alaskan parks, you can view a map of
the parks by pressing the F4 key. The F4 key invokes a command that
was defined when this entry was added (or edited). To define a
command, press the CTRL-K key while adding or editing this record. The
command may be any DOS command up to 25 characters in length. The main
stipulation is that there must be enough memory in the computer for
this command to execute. See the discussion on ACTION COMMANDS later.
When you have finished entering the description and keywords, press
the F7 function key to save the information. If you decide to abandon
this entry and not save the information, press the Esc key.
DELETE AN ENTRY
The Delete an Entry option allows you to delete a record from the
textbase. You will be asked to enter the record number of the entry to
delete. Optionally, you can enter a range of records to delete. This
process does not actually permanently get rid of the entry or entries
- you can restore a deleted entry. If a record is deleted, you cannot
read it or display its contents. To permanently get rid of all deleted
records, use the Compress option.
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RESTORE A DELETED ENTRY
If you have deleted an entry, you can get it back by using the Restore
a Deleted Entry option. You will be prompted to enter the number of
the entry to restore.
EDIT AN ENTRY
The Edit an Entry option allows you to edit the keywords and
description of an entry. The entry will be displayed in the Speaker's
Resource editor, where you can change, add to, or delete information
in the description. Use the F2 key to edit the keyword list or CTRL-K
to edit the Action Command (see description for Adding an Entry).
Editing records can cause slack space in your textbase file. This is
space in your textbase that formerly held information, but now is not
used because of editing. You should periodically run the Compress
option to free up the slack space in the textbase.
IMPORT FROM A FILE
Using the Import from a File option, you can enter information that
you may already have on your computer into an Speaker's Resource
textbase. To import information into Speaker's Resource, your
information should be in a standard ASCII text file with lines less
than 75 characters long. Most word processors will save information in
this manner as an option. Your text file should have keyword lists
before each description. This keyword list must begin with KEY:
followed by up to 65 characters for the key list. For example:
KEY:HARD DISK WILL NOT BOOT
After the key, place the text of the description. You may have any
number of entries in your text file. When you import them into
Speaker's Resource, the "KEY:" statement will signal the beginning of
a new entry.
Optionally, you may also have a command line in the file. For example,
if you want the command
SRPCX ALASKA /M:0
to be available when this record is viewed, place
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COMMAND:SRPCX ALASKA /M:0
flush left in the description of this record on a line following the
KEY: line. (see Action Commands, described later). You may also
include a title (Textbase description) in the text file by placing
TITLE: and a description on the first line of the file. For example:
TITLE:FRANCHISE INFORMATION
Once you have created the file containing the entries you may choose
the Import From a File option. You will be asked the name of the file
to import, and Speaker's Resource will read the file and add those
entries to the record of the currently opened textbase. If you are
beginning with a blank textbase, choose Create a Textbase from the
Files menu, then choose Import from the Edit menu.
A sample text file that you can import is on disk. The file is named
FRANCHIS.TXT. To import this file:
1) From the FILES menu, choose NEW Textbase and enter the name FRAN.
Leave the textbase description blank since the text file contains a
TITLE.
2) Go to the EDIT menu and choose IMPORT. When asked for the file
name, enter FRANCHIS.TXT.
The information will be converted to an Speaker's Resource textbase,
and is now ready to be searched and used.
COMPRESS THE TEXTBASE
When you have deleted records from a textbase, they are not physically
removed, and they may be restored. To permanently get rid of these
records, use the Compress the Textbase option. This will free up space
on your disk and make searching the textbase more efficient.
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Using The View Menu
The View menu is where you search and view the information in the
Speaker's Resource textbase. You may choose to view a record by
number, by searching for a keyword in the keyword list, by searching
for one or more words in the record description or by looking at a
list of the keywords. The items on the View Menu are:
View Menu Options
-----------------
Keyword Choice
In-Text Search
View Keyword List
Number Choice
You must have a currently open textbase to choose one of these
options. Choose an option by highlighting the option and pressing the
Enter key, or press the first letter of the option.
KEYWORD CHOICE
When you choose the Keyword Choice option, you will see another menu
giving you the following options:
Single Keyword Search
AND - Multiple AND Search
OR - Multiple OR Search
Quit
A single keyword search allows you to enter a keyword or phrase (such
as DISK). Speaker's Resource will then display the first record that
matches the search. Case is not checked, so DISK will match disk. You
may use the F9 key to view the previous matching record, the F10 key
to view the next matching record. Deleted records will not be
displayed. Press the F2 key if you wish to edit this record. Press the
Esc key to end the viewing.
A Multiple AND search allows you to specify 2 to 10 words to match.
For example, you might want to match on the words DISK and BOOT. The
AND match criteria means that the keyword must contain BOTH the word
DISK and the word BOOT. You will be prompted to enter a list of match
words with the AND sign (&) between each word. In this case you would
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enter
DISK&BOOT
Speaker's Resource will display the first record that matches the
search criteria. You may use the F9 key to view the previous matching
record, the F10 key to view the next matching record. Deleted records
will not be displayed. Press the F2 key if you wish to edit this
record. Press the Esc key to end the viewing. A Multiple OR search
allows you to specify 2 to 10 words to match. For example, you might
want to match on the words DISK or BOOT. The match criteria means that
the keyword must contain EITHER the word DISK or the word BOOT. You
will be prompted to enter a list of match words with a ~ (tilde)
between each word. In this case you would enter
DISK~BOOT
Speaker's Resource will display the first record that matches the
search criteria. You may use the F9 key to view the previous matching
record, the F10 key to view the next matching record. Deleted records
will not be displayed. Press the F2 key if you wish to edit this
record. Press the Esc key to end the viewing.
IN-TEXT SEARCH
An In-text Search searches the contents of the entry, not just the
keyword list. This search tends to be slower than a keyword search.
When you choose the In-Text Search option, you are give the same
options as in the Keyword search - a single keyword search, multiple
AND matches and multiple OR matches.
VIEW KEYWORD LIST
The View Keyword List option displays a list of the keyword
descriptions of all of the entries in the currently opened textbase.
If there are more entries than the screen can display, you may press
the down arrow key or PgDn to view additional keyword lists. To move
back up the list, press the up arrow key or PgUp. To view the contents
of a record, highlight the keyword list and press the Enter key.
Press the Esc key to end the View Keyword List option.
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NUMBER CHOICE
When you choose the Number Choice option, you will be asked to enter
the number of the record to view. This record will then be displayed
on the screen. You may use the F9 key to view the previous record, the
F10 key to view the next record. Deleted records will not be
displayed. Press the F2 key if you wish to edit this record. Press the
Esc key to end the viewing.
Options While Viewing Records
While viewing records, there are several function key commands that
are available to you. Pressing the F10 function key will cause
Speaker's Resource to search for the next record. The F9 key searches
for the previous record. Pressing the F2 key allows you to edit the
record being viewed. Pressing the F3 key allows you to print this
record or save the contents to a file. If an action command has been
defined for a record, the F4 key will activate that command. Press the
Esc key to quit viewing records and return to the previous menu.
USING ACTION COMMANDS (F4)
An Action Command is a DOS command that you want to be issued during
the viewing of the record. If an Action Command has been created for a
record, while viewing the record the F4 function key will appear at
the bottom of the view window. When the F4 function key is pressed,
the Action Command is executed.
An Action Command is defined when an entry is added (or edited) in an
Speaker's Resource textbase. To define a command while in the editor,
press the CTRL-K key. The command may be any DOS command up to 25
characters in length. The main stipulation is that there must be
enough memory in the computer for this command to execute. The Parks
information file uses an Action Command to display a map of Alaska
associated with the description of Alaskan National Parks. A program
that displays PCX (Paintbrush) files is included on your Speaker's
Resource disk. This program, SRPCX.EXE, displays a graphic on the
screen. When the user presses any key, the program ends, and control
is turned back over to Speaker's Resource. See the description about
how to use the SRPCX program.
You can use any DOS command as an Action Command. There are any number
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of programs available to you that can display graphics (PCX, GIF, TIF
and others), programs that can display spreadsheets, textbase file,
text files, and so on. When the program you have initiated quits,
control will be turned back over to Speaker's Resource.
The primary concern in using an Action Command is if the user's PC has
that program available and if it will work on his or her PC. For
example, if you have a PCX graphic created to be viewed on a VGA type
monitor, a person with a CGA monitor will not be able to see the
graphic properly.
If the command you want to issue is longer than 25 characters, you can
use the Action Command to call a batch file. The batch file can then
contain other commands that you want executed. See your DOS manual for
a description of batch files.
The program SRPCX was included on disk to illustrate how to use an
Action Command. A description of how SRPCX works follows.
USING THE SRPCX PROGRAM
The SRPCX Program allows you to display PCX type files to the monitor.
The format of the SRPCX program is
SRPCX filename [/M:n]
where filename is the name of the PCX file and the optional switch
/M:n designates the Monitor type being used. The option n may range
from 0 to 9, with the following meanings:
PCX Monitor Modes for the SRPCX Program
---------------------------------------
0 - 320 x 200 pixel CGA (4 colors)
1 - 640 x 200 pixel CGA (2 colors)
2 - 320 x 200 pixel EGA (16 colors)
3 - 640 x 299 pixel EGA (16 colors)
4 - 640 x 350 pixel EGA (2 colors)
5 - 640 x 350 pixel EGA (16 colors)
6 - 640 x 480 pixel VGA (2 colors)
7 - 640 x 480 pixel VGA (16 colors)
8 - 320 x 200 pixel VGA (256 colors)
9 - 720 x 348 pixel Hercules (2 colors)
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The monitor type should match the type used to create the PCX file. If
a monitor cannot display the monitor type, the PCX graphic will appear
distorted.
For example, in the PARKS textbase, the command
SRPCX ALASKA /M:0
was used as an Action Command. This command began the SRPCX program to
display the PCX file named ALASKA.PCX. The switch /M:0 indicates that
this graphic is made to display on a CGA type monitor. (It will also
display properly on most EGA and VGA monitors.)
Using the Speaker's Resource Editor
The Speaker's Resource editor allows you to enter new record
descriptions or to modify descriptions already in a textbase. The
following commands are available in the editor. Commands are accessed
by pressing a function key or by entering a CTRL (control) command.
The edit keys command are:
EDIT Function Keys
------------------
Esc-End - Exit without saving modifications
F1-Help: Help screens.
F2-Keyword - Enter or Modify Keyword list
F3-Top: Move to the top of the record
F4-Bottom: Move to the bottom of the record
F5-Files: List files or get file from disk.
F6-Center a line
F7-Save Record and any modifications
F8-Clear: Clears editor contents (Does not clear
copy buffer).
F9-Mark: Mark block for copy.
F10-Copy: Copy text. See also Ctrl-C.
To edit or enter a keyword list, use the F2 function key. The F9 and
F10 commands are used to copy text from one location to another. To
mark text (store it to be moved), place the cursor at the top left of
the text and press the F9 key once. Then move the cursor to the bottom
right of the text and press the F9 key again. Make sure your rectangle
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covers all of the text to move. When you mark the text, it will be
highlighted on the screen. Move your cursor to where you want the text
to be moved and press the F10 key. This will insert the text between
existing lines in the record. To copy text directly over exiting text,
use the CTRL-C command rather than the F10 command.
To exit the editor and save the description, press the F7-Save key. To
exit and not save, press the Esc key.
The following Control commands are issued by pressing the CTRL key
like a shift key, and then simultaneously pressing a single command
key.
Control Commands (CTRL)
------------------------
CTRL A - Makes characters UPPER CASE.
CTRL C - Is similar to the F10 function key. However, instead of first
inserting blank lines before making a copy, CTRL C will place the
copied text in the position specified by the cursor, directly over any
text that may happen to exist.
CTRL D - Deletes all characters on the current line which are to the
right of the cursor. If the cursor is in column one, the entire line
will be deleted.
CTRL K - Allows you to enter or edit an Action Command.
CTRL F - "Fills" the text from the current line to the next blank line
which starts with a dot "." Each line is filled with as many words as
will fit while observing the current line length specifications.
CTRL J - Justifies line to right line length (margin) in editor.
CTRL L - Resets the line length (right margin) within EDIT. After
pressing CTRL L, you will be prompted to enter the new line length.
CTRL S - Will search for a specified text. You will be prompted to
enter the text to be located. Each time this text is matched, it will
be highlighted on the screen.
CTRL W - Deletes text from the position of the cursor to the next
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blank. This is usually used to delete a word.
CTRL Y - Deletes a line.
CTRL Z - Makes characters lower case.
Using Command Line Switches
This section lists some special features of Speaker's Resource. These
may be of particular interest to organizational PC Support
Coordinators.
Command Line Switches
---------------------
The format for the Speaker's Resource command is
SR [/MESS:filename][/OPEN:textbasename]
The items in brackets are optional switches to the command.
Information in switches must not contain any blank spaces. The /OPEN:
switch allows you to open an Speaker's Resource textbase file without
having to choose it from the Speaker's Resource menu. This allows you
to setup the Speaker's Resource program to automatically use a
particular textbase. For example, if you want the textbase SUCCESS to
be open when you begin the program, you would enter the command:
SR /OPEN:SUCCESS
The /MESS: switch allows you to display the information from a text
file on the screen at the beginning of the Speaker's Resource program.
This could be helpful if you are using Speaker's Resource as a part of
an organizational support program. You can use this "Special Message"
as a description of how to use Speaker's Resource, what updates you
have included in a textbase, and other important messages. For
example, suppose you place some ASCII text in a file named SPECIAL.TXT
that you want displayed when Speaker's Resource is begun. You would
use the command:
SR /MESS:special.txt
This message will be displayed in a message box with the caption
"Special Message" at the top and "Press Enter to Continue" at the
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bottom. ASCII text files can be created by most word processors.
Create a file using margins that create a document about 60 characters
wide. Save the document as a DOS, ASCII or Text file (different word
processors use different terms.). Then, use the /MESS: switch in the
Speaker's Resource command to display the message.
Application Notes
Speaker's Resource allows you to store and retreive information on
disk. However, it can do more than that. It can provide a resource for
working with other programs.
Using Speaker's Resource with Word Processors
Although Speaker's Resource is not itself a word processor, it can be
a valuable tool for using your own word processor. When you are
beginning to write a talk, you will want to gather material -- that's
where Speaker's Resource comes in. Search for the information you need
from one or more texbases. When you find an entry you want, choose the
option to print it out. Then you can choose to print to the printer or
to capture it to a file. If you are locating the material for the
purpose of importing it to yout word processor, you will want to
append the material to the same file each time you save to a file.
To save a located record to a file, display the record on the screen.
Press F3, which is the option to print or save to a file. Choose the
option to save to a file, and enter a file name such as TALK.TXT. The
next time you choose to save to the file, enter the name TALK.TXT+.
The "+" plus disk tells SR to append the information to the existing
file naemd TALK.TXT. When you have finished locating and saving
information, the file TALK.TXT will contain all of the records you
have saved.
The information in the saved file (i.e., TALK.TXT) is in standard
ASCII format, which virtually every word processor will import. For
example, to import this information into Word Perfect, Enter Word
Perfect and choose the Shift-F10 Retreive command, and enter the name
TALK.TXT (or \SR\TALK.TXT, if appropriate). The information from the
TALK.TXT file will then be imported into your Word Perfect Document.
You can also use the F5-List Files and Ctrl-Text inOut commands in
Word Perfect to import a text file. Other word processors have similar
ways to import, retreive or merge files into a document.
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USER BALLOT
In order to continue to improve Speaker's Resource, we need your
input. This ballot is used to help us prioritize changes in future
versions. Please indicate the changes you would like to see most in
this program. Place a number from 0 to 10 next to each item, where 10
indicates a HIGH priority for change and 0 means a LOW priority for
change. We appreciate your suggestions.
Your Vote Item
--------- -------------------------------
_____ Support use of a mouse
_____ Make the program searching faster
_____ Make the keyword field longer
_____ Allow fixed-length fields within the
keyword field
_____ Allow sort by numeric and/or date keyword
items
_____ Provide more examples on disk & in the
manual
_____ Allow mixed AND and OR search criteria in
a search
_____ Use single keystroke commands for commonly
used options (such as Alt-V to go to
view keyword list)
_____ _____________________________________
_____ _____________________________________
_____ _____________________________________
Write Other Suggestions Here:
Please fill out this ballot and return to Texasoft, PO Box
1169, Cedar Hill, Texas 75104, or fax to 214-291-3400.
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