The Datafile PD-CD 5/DATAFILE_PDCD5.iso/utilities/i/index/!Index/!Help

Text File | 1995-04-22 | 25.9 KB | 650 lines

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• Acorn Computing Index (V1.30 March 1995)        !Help Manual •
•         System                           © 1995 Tim Boughton •
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1. What is !Index?

!Index is a database containing 11 years worth of articles,
reviews and features from Acorn Computing between April 1984 to
March 1995. You can use it to locate any article or review,
simply by asking the program to search for a keyword you enter.

You can view all the matching articles on screen, or you can save
or print a list for reference.

This manual will help you to use !Index to its full potential and
can be printed out for reference using a suitable wordprocessor.

!Index is fully multi-tasking and Risc OS 3.10+ compatible, so if
you know the basics of using Risc OS then using it will be easy.
It will automatically claim about 400k of application memory when
loading.

Had Acorn Computing magazine not been so mercilessly and
prematurely terminated then this Index would have appeared on the
March 1995 MegaDisc, and would have been automatically updated
each month from a unique file on the subscription disc. However,
it was not to be. This version is a standalone, complete index of
the magazine as it ended.

2. Loading & Startup

To load the application simply double-click as normal on the icon
!Index and wait for the program to install itself onto the icon
bar. The hourglass appears on screen during this process.

Clicking Select or Adjust on the iconbar icon will display the
main window. Clicking Menu will bring up a short menu.

The program supports !Help so if you require "on-line" help just
load this up (from the Apps directory) and move the pointer over
the icon you want more information about.

3. The Main Window

The main window is where all searching and viewing takes place.
It may be resized, scrolled, closed and put to the back as
normal.

There are a number of icons displayed which allow you to interact
with the program :

• At the top, the toolbar contains a number of icons which let
you control the way the program works.
• Towards the right hand side, are the start and finish years of
the search which can be altered using the arrows on either side
or alternatively by typing into the boxes.
• Below, the number of records currently available is displayed.
• In the middle of the window is an area where each record is
displayed - containing areas for the article, author, date and
page.
• Finally at the bottom, is a panel containing the search word -
which is initially empty - and three operators for the advanced
search.

The menu can be used to alter the configuration, gain output from
the program or see what data is available. This can be activated
by clicking Menu in the main window. The options available are
listed in section 12. Most of the facilities on the menu are
duplicated on the toolbar.

4. Performing a search

To make a search of the data, click on the uppermost white text
box (in the lower half of the main window) and the red caret will
appear. Type a search-word (for example, SCROLL - see below for
some guidelines) into this box. Now move up to the large Search
icon in the top right and click Select or alternatively, just
press Return after typing in the word.

The search will now begin. After a few seconds you will see the
information area displaying some data. At the top, the record
number and how many records were found to match are displayed.

If the search does not return any matched records, try using a
different or more general search-word.

All of the records which matched your search-word are now
available for you to look through. Use the arrow icons at the top
to move through the records.

The inner, opposite facing pair move through the records one at a
time in each direction. The outer pair move through faster in
each direction by jumping a certain number of records each time.
The size of this jump can be set using the options box (see
below).

5. Search Word

The search-word can be a single word or a phrase and will
obviously reflect the article or item you are searching for.
However, a few guidelines will make finding a reference easier.

You should try to be fairly general with your phrase. For example
if you are looking for references to Scrolling, enter SCROLL as
the search-word. This will pick out SCROLL, SCROLLer and
SCROLLing.

A record will be matched if the search-word is contained within
the description of the article or in the author of the article.
This means that authors' names can be searched for as well -
entering MIKE COOK will display all the articles written by him.

Sometimes a search will bring up an irrelevant article amongst
the ones you want. For example if you are looking for articles on
memory and enter RAM as a search word, you will get all
references to RAM but also references to progRAMming and other
words which include RAM. This is no problem because you can view
the records at leisure and quickly pick out the relevant ones.

It is possible to exclude words like this from the search by
typing in the search-word as ' RAM '. That is, with a single
space either side. This will then only pick out records in which
the search-word occurs as a separate word.

The general format used for the wording of records is described
in the section on Wording. The search-word can be up to 80
characters long and include spaces and punctuation, but note that
the longer and more full of spaces it is, the less likely it is
that a direct match will be found.

Obviously it is impossible to fit every conceivable relevant word
into each reference. However, in practice, by choosing a suitable
word and experimenting, it is always possible to find the record
you want - provided that it has occurred in the magazine between
the dates set.

The case of the search phrase is not important - whatever you
type is automatically converted into upper case by the program.

6. Advanced Search

The advanced searching facilities allow the use of two search
phrases and three operators (AND, OR and NOT) to link them
together, this is often useful for more detailed searches.

For example,

• A search for MIKE NOT MIKE COOK would give all the articles
written by a Mike, but not those written by Mike Cook.

• A search for GRAPHICS OR SPRITES would give all those articles
containing the word GRAPHICS as well as all those articles
containing the word SPRITES.

• A search for RAM AND DISC would give all the articles which
contain both the word RAM and the word DISC.

(Note that for AND, a record will match only if both words are
present in the same record whereas for OR a record with either
word in will match.)

The advanced search facility can be switched on using the icon
represented by a waving wand.

When you perform a search, you must enter your second search-word
into the lower white text box and choose the operator by
selecting it's button.

If no operator is selected or the second search word is blank,
the search is treated as an ordinary search for the first word.

The advanced search facilities are invaluable in a situation
where the exact format, spacing or punctuation of a record is
unknown.

7. Setting the dates

The length of the search can be set using the Start and End years
at the top right of the window. It is useful to set the search
dates to different values because sometimes you know that a
particular article will not appear before or after a certain date
and thus can avoid matching up unwanted records.

The date itself can be set either by clicking on the arrows at
either side (for up/down) or by clicking on the box and typing a
new date in. The date can obviously not go below 1984 or above
the most recent year available.

8. View

This is separate from the search facility and is simply a means
of viewing all of the data between the dates specified. This can
be useful if you know a particular article occurred, but don't
know what it's title was.

When the icon (represented by an eye) is clicked on, the first
item within the two set years immediately appears and the records
can be viewed and printed in exactly the same way as for the
search.

Note that the Cut facility is disabled during View.

9. Outputing data

There are two ways of getting data out of the program. The main
aim is to obtain a hard copy quickly so that you can dig out the
relevant magazines from your attic or whatever. You can either
print out some or all of the references via a suitable printer
driver or save the data as a text file.

In either case, you can control the way in which the file is
compiled using the Options... box. The exact options are detailed
in the section below on Options but you can decide which of the
four categories Article, Author, Date and Page are included, and
also specify whether you would like spaces in between records,
numbered records, labelled records or a date stamp at the bottom.

These options should be set before embarking on a save or print.

10. Printing using the program

Getting records onto paper is achieved by clicking on the printer
icon at the top of the window or by using the menu - Output =>
Print =>. Note that you must have loaded a printer driver before
you can print.

The printer dialogue box which appears is fairly simple. The
number of records about to be printed is shown. You can choose
whether to print the current record only - the one displayed - or
the current set.

The name of the printer driver is also displayed.

The top message bar gives you instructions as to what to do next.
It will warn you if you have not loaded a driver or performed a
search.

When everything is correct the Print icon will be 'ungreyed' and
you can click to print. Clicking on Cancel will close the box.
The program will work with any printer - provided you've got the
correct driver. If you have !Printers loaded, the printing will
run in the background from the queue. You can control the printer
queue using !Printers if necessary.

11. Saving search lists

The save routine is standard and can be accessed from the disc
icon at the top of the window, or using the menu selection Output
=> Save list => OK/Drag. It will save a list of all the
references in the current set, neatly titled and dated according
to the format chosen in Options. It is a standard text file so
can be dragged into a wordprocessor, DTP package or whatever you
like. You can then restructure or change the list before printing
it out for reference.

12. Menus & Configuration

There are two menus, obtained by clicking Menu on the iconbar
icon and in the main window respectively. The various options
control the general configuration of the program :

Iconbar menu
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
Info
= Displays the program information.

Options...
= Produce the Options dialogue box so you can set the options.

Quit
= Fairly obvious! Ends the program.

Main Index Menu
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
Info
= Displays the program information.

Output => Print => Current
= Prints the current record to printer - see section 10.

Output => Print => Set
= Prints the current set of data to printer - see section 10.

Options...
= Produce the Options dialogue box so you can set the options.

Options box
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
This dialogue box allows you to set various startup options, and
save them to disc if necessary. It is accessed from the main
menu, or by clicking on the options icon (represented by 3 tick
boxes).

Advanced
= Turns the advanced search facility on/off.

Beep
= Switches the beep on or off - the beep sounds when searches are
completed or problems arise.

Shuttle Speed
= Allows you to specify the number of records jumped each time
the fast search buttons are clicked. You can either type in a
value in the white box, or by clicking on the arrow make a
selection from one of the presets in the associated menu.

Output
= Allows control over how the data is saved or printed
     Article  }
     Author   }  Set which categories are printed/saved
     Date     }
     Page     }

     Dated    }  Include the date at the bottom of file
     Spaced   }  Include a blank line between records
     Numbered }  Number each record
     Labelled }  Label the fields 'Author :', 'Article :' etc

At the bottom of the box, clicking OK sets the options, clicking
Cancel reverts to the previous options and Save sets the options
and saves them to disc ready for the next startup.

The only way to really decide which output options you prefer is
to try them out by performing a search, and then saving or
printing the data to see what it looks like.

13. Wording

The index includes all regulars, articles and features (except
the News column, Letters, and editorials) from the magazine. It
also contains all reviews linked to the 32-bit machines and all
pre-1987 (8-bit machine) hardware reviews.

The records have been worded carefully so as to ensure that as
many relevant words as possible are included in each title :

Article type                                   contains the words

Body building                                       BODY BUILDING
Library                                                   LIBRARY
Routine Matters                                   ROUTINE MATTERS
TechForum                                               TECHFORUM
Utilities                                                 UTILITY
Features                                                  FEATURE
Graphics programs,references                             GRAPHICS
Text programs,references                                     TEXT
Programming utilities,aids,interest articles          PROGRAMMING
Type-in games                                                GAME

32-bit reviews (post-1987) contain a brief header containing the
type of product the review is about (listed below) followed by
the name of the product and its price at the time of review. The
Author section of these records contains the product supplier and
their telephone number - not in this case, the actual author of
the review.

32-bit review headings :

Review : Books & Manuals
Review : Hardware & Upgrades
Review : Programming Aids & Utilities
Review : Games & Leisure
Review : Software
Review : Information Storage
Review : Educational
Review : Graphics & Design
Review : Business
Review : Text : Word Processing
Review : Interfacing & Control
Review : Video & Graphics Digitising
Review : Music & Midi

You could search for any of these to bring up all reviews in that
category - or you could search for the individual product names
or suppliers.

8-bit hardware (generally pre-1988) reviews contain the word
REVIEW and the manufacturer in brackets, for example (WATFORD
ELECTRONICS). The Author field in these cases contains the author
of the review and no prices have been included since they are
somewhat out of date.

12. The Toolbar

Save icon (disc) : click to activate the save dialogue box and
save a search list

Print icon (printer) : click to activate the print dialogue box
and print a search list

View icon (eye) : click to view all the available data - as
detailed above

Jump icon (curving arrow) : click to jump to the extremes of the
current data. This is useful if you know that the record you're
looking for is likely to be towards the end and makes it easier
to get to.

Cut icon (scissors) : click to remove the currently displayed
record from the search-list. All the others will shuffle down.
The idea of getting a printout is to get the records quickly onto
paper so that you can go and hunt for the magazines. This is
hampered by the presence of unwanted or irrelevant records in the
data. By using the Cut icon you can delete the records you don't
want to print or save and get only the ones you actually want to
look up. (The actual data is unaffected)

Add icon (plus) : The add facility is designed to increase the
scope of the searches, allowing several search results to be
combined into one set for printing or saving. When you click on
the add icon, each subsequent search list is added to the
previous list. This can continue until the size of the data set
is the same size as the number of records available. At this
point, attempting another search will produce a message telling
you that the current search has been aborted. To perform another
search, you will need to turn the Add facility off.

Advanced icon (waving wand) : The Advanced icon toggles the
advanced search facility on or off. See above for a full
description.

Beep icon (bell) : toggles the audible beep on or off.

Options icon (3 tick boxes) : click to activate the options
dialogue box

Search icon (search) : click to start a search for the current
search words

Movement icons (arrows) : The two icons with the single arrows
move the data back or forward one record in the direction of the
arrows. Those with two arrows jump by the number of records
selected in the options box Shuttle speed option.

They will jump by this number only when there are enough records
left to allow them to do so. When there aren't enough left, the
program bisects the difference and jumps that far (ie makes a
jump of half the size). Thus it will jump to the limit in
decreasing size jumps.

Both sets of arrows have an auto-repeat action which means that
quick movement can be achieved by holding down the button -
skipping over unwanted data. Also clicking the arrow icons with
adjust rather than select has the opposite effect - clicking on
the forward icons with adjust moves the data back and vice versa.
This means you do not need to move the pointer if you want to
change direction.

13. Notes

Not search : If you want to search for 'NOT GRAPHICS' (as opposed
to 'TEXT NOT GRAPHICS' for example), use a single space for the
1st search word and GRAPHICS for the second with the Advanced
search on and the NOT operator set.

Keyboard shortcuts : Some standard keyboard short cuts are
included as follows. Note the caret must be in the main window
for these to work.

F3 produces the save box on screen
Ctrl+F2 closes the main window
Print produces the print box on screen
Tab cycles through the writable boxes
Shift+Tab cycles in the opposite direction
Page Up and Page Down are equivalent to clicking on the shuttle
search icons.
Return will either start the search or cycle through the boxes
depending upon which box the caret is in.

14. Revision history

Since nobody except Steve Turnbull at AC has used versions less
than 1.30, it seems a little pointless to include this, but just
in case reading this help file is your evening's entertainment,
here it is.

Beeb Version 0.1 (November 1992) ...Finished data entry and
completed course of plastic surgery to replace finger ends.
Polished off program.

Arc Version 0.1 (January 1993) Got my new A3010 and got all
enthusiastic about re-coding this program - spent all Christmas
holiday trying to understand WIMP SYS calls. But it did work...
just.

Version 0.11 (Still January 1993) Changed the button sprites to
3D to make it all look sparkly. Changed the disc load so it
happens automatically.

Version 0.12 (some time in February 1993) Changed the Micro User
bits to Acorn Computing and designed the new iconbar icon.

Version 0.2 (July 1993) Altered it to accept updated file format
so I can edit it more easily. Wrote an edit program called
!CreateIndex.

Version 0.3 (September 1993) Changed the display round, added a
menu to make selections easier and added the pretty icon to the
Info window! It was originally animated (spinning) but this took
so much processor time in BASIC that I had to drop it. If you've
got a good imagination, just imagine it spinning.

Version 0.4 (September 1993) Fixed various bugs - I don't know
who put them there but some of them were bloody well hidden.
Added Jump and Remove icons to make finding records easier.

Version 0.5 (December 1993) Fixed a whole host of other bugs
which had sprung from nowhere. Added the save list facility and
changed the printout style. Halved the memory that the search
data consumes by some crafty little techniques which I was too
stupid to think of last Christmas.

Version 0.6 (January 1994) Added decent print routine (via
drivers). Added !Help support and messages.

Version 0.7 (March 1994) Changed the data format once again to
allow easy monthly updating. Coded the update routine, so you can
now drag each monthly file directly onto the !Index icon and have
it added to the data automatically. Added the Add facility to
increase the scope of the search. Added the data filetype icon
(for no apparent reason). Changed the start, remove and jump
icons again. Encoded the date part of each record so that it
didn't use up so much disc space and memory. (As you can see,
this was the Easter holidays and I was feeling ambitious!)

Version 1.0 (April 1994) Fixed a couple of bugs connected with
the updating file sequence and the Add facility. Went through the
data again and standardised some of the words to make hunting for
that elusive record a bit easier. Altered the update routine to
include a 'fail safe' mechanism so data is not lost if an problem
occurs. Decided to call this version 1.0 as it's virtually
complete.

Version 1.1 (April 1994) Realised version 1.0 isn't complete at
all. Modified print routine. Changed saving routine to speed it
up a little and display hourglass.

Version 1.15 (May 1994) Added !Template support and new Risc OS 3
3D borders and icons. Rearranged the window layout completely.
Fixed a few minor bugs and made icon redrawing faster. Added
Shuttle speed option and icons. Made hourglass come on during
Searching and speeded the process up slightly. Added Data format
menu to control saving and printing. Made options saveable and
loadable using menu. This allows a certain amount of
'customisation'.

Version 1.2 (August 1994) Changed the printer routine again. It
now can run in the background as it goes into the printer queue.
Also added the updating dialogue box and checked it all over.

Version 1.25 (October 1994) Improved the printer dialogue box and
update dialogue box - trying to eliminate the need for unsightly
Message boxes springing up all the time. Improved the Messages
file and generally tidied up. Redid the Options setting so that
it's in a dialogue box which is far clearer to understand. Added
keyboard shortcuts so that Risc OS style conformity is reached.

Version 1.30 (March 1995) Removed all the carefully programmed
updating and data handling code when I found out that AC was
closing. Sob sob! Made the system stand-alone and ready for a
general release.

And that's it. If you've any constructive comments or
improvements you'd like to see, let me know and I'll see what can
be done.

15. Legal bits

The data entries involved in the program represent a large amount
of time and effort, spent mostly wearing my fingers to the bone.
This was pretty tedious, but I hope the results go at least
someway to putting the huge volume of information in The Micro
User and Acorn Computing on tap. I have certainly found it very
useful and quick to use.

This program, its associated data entries and other files are the
sole work of Tim Boughton. All rights reserved.

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This program is Shareware. This means that you are free to try it
out for a period of one month, after which you must register if
you want to continue using the program.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Registering is simply a courtesy to me as the author. It let's me
know who is using my software, and perhaps make a modest return
on the time I've spent on this project. It also means that you
will get the latest version (when updates are available) at the
time you register, and will also get to hear more information
about other software I've written.

I do not want to stipulate a set registration fee because it may
prohibit some users from being honest and registering. Please be
as honest as your pocket allows and send however much you think
the program is worth to you. You don't even have to send money if
you are genuinely unable to. I will be (almost) as happy with
some discfuls of PD software. (Please, if you're sending only a
small amount, send an SAE and disc as well.)

Send your registration fee or discs to the address below. Also,
if you have any queries, problems, suggestions for modifications,
gifts (eg new Risc PC) or just want to write to me, please do not
hesitate to do so. I will try to reply to any mail - SAE's will
help.

Also, if you're interested in using the Index system for a
different application, I may be able to help - providing I don't
have to enter any data!

© 1995 Tim Boughton

33 Westbourne Avenue
Harrogate
North Yorkshire
HG2 9BD
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16. Everything else.

I would just like to take this opportunity to thank everyone at
Acorn Computing (and The Micro User before that) for providing an
excellent magazine which has captured the magic of using and
programming the Acorn range over the years since the very
beginning. I'm just sorry we've lost it now.

Also, to Acorn, thanks for creating the most powerful, adaptable
and compatible computers ever. Hope to be seeing some even
greater machines in the future to really beat the competition
hands down.

Thanks must go to Lee Calcraft and Alan Wrigley authors of "Wimp
Programming for All" from Risc Developments (BEEBUG). This truly
is the best book for creating multi-tasking RISC OS applications
- such as this one - from Basic. Although I've been programming
for many years, when I started coding this program, I didn't have
a clue about RISC OS SYS calls or multi-tasking and didn't have
any manuals but after about a week with just this book, I had the
basics of this program together - that says a lot for such a
small paperback. (I have no financial interests in BEEBUG!)

Many thanks to all PD and Shareware programmers, libraries and
users for keeping the price of decent software right down and
keeping us all amused!

And finally thanks to you, for being a fellow reader and user.

If you've just spent most of your evening reading the whole of
this file, go and dig around in someone else's application!

© 1995 Tim Boughton