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- PSI 2.3 / June 21, 1992
-
- Personal System for Information Management and Retrieval
-
- ⌐ 1989, 1992 Markus P.J. Fromherz
-
-
- This text has been formatted for display in a non-proportional font such as
- Monaco or Courier.
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-
- SAMPLE SESSIONS
-
- In the following, a term ╥M:E╙ means entry ╥E╙ of menu ╥M╙.
-
- Ñ First session: Using the file ╥Videos╙
-
- * I this session, you will retrieve information from an existing PSI file,
- using descriptors and templates. The file ╥Videos╙ contains information
- about (mostly science fiction) movies. (The texts are in German.)
-
- 1 To start PSI and load ╥Videos╙:
- Double-click on file ╥Videos╙, or double-click on PSI and then open
- ╥Videos╙ with menu ╥File:Open ╔╙. (A card window ╥Video╙ should open on
- loading; if no such window appears, open it with menu ╥Schema:Video╙.)
-
- 2 To search for movies of a specific category:
- a Press button ╥Descriptors╙. In the descriptor selection window, select
- ╥Animation╙ in the list menu on the right and press ╥Okay╙.
- (╥Category:Animation╙ appears on the bottom of the card window.)
- b Press ╥Find╙; since several animations are stored, a window opens that
- allows to select one of them. Select one and press ╥Okay╙ to see its full
- information in the card window. To see the next one, press ╥>>╙; to see a
- previous one, press ╥<<╙ (repeatedly). (There are nine movies belonging to
- category ╥Animation╙.)
-
- 3 To search for movies that belong to several categories:
- a Press ╥Clear╙ and then bring up the descriptor selection window again by
- pressing ╥Descriptors╙. Select both ╥Animation╙ and ╥Science Fiction╙ and
- press ╥Okay╙.
- b Press ╥Find╙ to find movies that are both animations and science fictions;
- as only one movie is annotated as such, this one is displayed immediately
- in the card window.
-
- 4 To search for movies of several categories:
- a Press ╥Clear╙ and select descriptors ╥Animation╙ and ╥Fantasy╙ in the
- descriptor selection window, select the radio button ╥or╙ (i.e. switch from
- ╥and╙ to ╥or╙), and press ╥Okay╙.
- b Press ╥Find╙ to find movies that are either animations or fantasies; there
- are 16 movies described as either ╥Animation╙ or ╥Fantasy╙ (or both).
- Select one; scroll through them with ╥<<╙ and ╥>>╙.
- c In the descriptor selection window, to switch to the other descriptor
- class, select it and press ╥Show╙, or double-click on it. Descriptor
- selections remain valid when you switch classes. Press ╥Clear╙ in the
- descriptor selection window to clear all selections. Try to find movies for
- some of your selections.
-
- 5 To search for movies by templates:
- a In the card window, press ╥Clear╙. To look for movies directed by Terry
- Gilliam, enter ╥*gilliam*╙ in the field labeled ╥Director╙. Press ╥Find╙
- and select movies as before.
- b Press ╥Clear╙ and then ╥Pattern╙, so that your previous template reappears.
- To look for movies Terry Gilliam directed in 1984, enter ╥1984╙ in the
- field labeled ╥Year╙. Press ╥Find╙ (only one such movie exists).
- c Combine field entries to search for other movies that match your templates.
-
- 6 To search for movies by descriptors and templates:
- Combine descriptors and templates. For example, select descriptor ╥Science
- Fiction╙ and template (director) ╥*gilliam*╙ in order to look for SF movies
- directed by Gilliam. Or use the same pattern, but check ╥not╙ in the
- descriptor selection window in order to find movies directed by Gilliam
- that were not SF movies.
-
-
- Ñ Second session: Creating a new file
-
- * In this session, you will create a new PSI file, define a new card schema,
- and then enter and describe (annotate) cards for this schema.
- (To monitor your operations, turn on logging, i.e. check ╥Write log╙ in the
- Options window.)
-
- 1 To start PSI, create a new file, and define a new schema:
- a Start PSI, and create a new file with menu ╥File:New ╔╙.
- b Select ╥Schema:Schema╙, and a dialog window ╥Schema╙ appears; enter
- ╥Address╙, the name for your first schema, in the field ╥Name╙, position
- the cursor to the field ╥Fields╙ and enter
- Name, 3, Title, 1, "Home:", 3, Street, 3, ZIP Code, 1, City, 2
- Press the ╥Add╙ button to define the schema.
- You just defined a schema ╥Address╙ with the fields ╥Name╙, ╥Title╙,
- ╥Street╙, ╥ZIP Code╙, and ╥City╙, and with the additional text ╥Home:╙.
- c Press ╥Close╙ to close the window ╥Schema╙.
-
- 2 To add and find cards of your schema:
- a Select ╥Schema:Address╙ to open the dialog window for your schema
- ╥Address╙.
- b Enter a sample address in the fields of the window and press ╥Add╙. You
- just defined a new card for the schema ╥Address╙.
- c Add more cards to ╥Address╙ by repeating the previous step.
-
- d Check if all fields of the window are empty (press ╥Clear╙ if not) and press
- ╥Find╙. If you have entered several cards, a menu window offers all names of
- the address you defined; if only one card exists, it is displayed immediately.
- e If several cards where found, you may browse through these with the ╥<<╙ and
- ╥>>╙ buttons.
-
- 3 To define descriptors:
- a Select ╥Schema:Descriptors╙ to open the descriptor-handling window. Enter a
- new descriptor class (e.g., ╥relation╙) in the left edit field (labeled
- ╥Descriptor class╙) and press the ╥Add╙ button on the left. Add new descrip-
- tors for that class (e.g., ╥relative╙, ╥friend╙, ╥business╙) via the right
- edit field (labeled ╥Descriptor╙), pressing the ╥Add╙ button on the right
- after entering each term. Try and add more descriptor classes and descriptors.
- b In the list menu on the left, the descriptor classes are listed; to the right,
- the descriptors for the currently selected class are listed. Double-click on
- a class (or select one and press ╥Show╙) to switch from class to class.
- c Press ╥Close╙ to close the window.
-
- 4 To describe your cards:
- a Back in the ╥Address╙ window, find and display one of your addresses as you
- did before.
- b Press ╥Descriptors╙, select one or more fitting descriptors in the various
- classes for the current address and press ╥Okay╙. (Note the terms appearing
- on the ╥Descriptors╙ line. The current address has been described (or
- annotated or indexed) with these terms.)
- c Press ╥Modify╙ to replace the old address by the new one.
- d Annotate and modify all your addresses in the same way. (For new addresses,
- you will of course add the descriptors at the time you enter the texts.)
-
- 5 To find cards by templates and descriptors:
- To find cards matching patterns, proceed as in steps 2 through 6 of the
- first session.
-
- 6 To list cards matching patterns:
- Define patterns, but instead of pressing ╥Find╙, press ╥List╙ to list all
- matching addresses.
- (See below on how to define export procedures to list your addresses
- differently, as well as how to define import procedures to read addresses
- from other files.)
-
- 7 To save your information:
- Save you data with ╥File:Save╙; quit with ╥File:Quit╙.
-
-
- Ñ Third session: Using the file ╥References╙
-
- * In this session, you will experience card-to-card links and card-to-text
- links. Imagine you want to build a database of book references and notes
- concerning these books (two kinds of cards). Usually, you will look in your
- notes to find literature for a certain topic; once you have found it, you
- are interested in the actual bibliographic data of the books. Finally you
- might want to get an abstract or summary of the book.
-
- 1 To start PSI and load ╥References╙:
- Double-click on file ╥References╙, or double-click on PSI and then open
- ╥References╙ with menu ╥File:Open ╔╙.
-
- 2 To test the links:
- a Open card ╥Book╙ and move the window towards the bottom or side of your
- screen. (Note that ╥Book╙ will show bibliographic data.)
- b Open card ╥Note╙; try to move the window so that it doesn╒t obscure the
- ╥Book╙ window.
- c Assume that you are interested in literature that gives advice on alcohol
- problems. Select the descriptors ╥Advice╙ and ╥Alcohol╙ in card ╥Note╙ and
- press ╥Find╙; the only card pointing to an adequate text reference is
- displayed immediately.
- Note how the card referred to by the link in field ╥Ref╙ is displayed in
- the ╥Book╙ card.
- d Select the ╥Book╙ card and press ╥File╙; the text referred to by the link
- in field ╥File╙ is loaded into a new text window. You can change and save
- this text.
- e Repeat step c with other ╥Note╙ cards.
-
- 3 Background:
- The ╥Ref╙ button and the automatic card-reference function are active if
- the schema contains a field called ╥Ref╙. The link syntax is
- Schema:FirstField.
- The ╥File╙ button is active if the schema contains a field called ╥File╙.
- The link has to be a standard Macintosh path name, which can be abbreviated
- to denote a path relative to the home folder of the current PSI file.
-