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Monster Media 1993 #2
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CISREF.HLP
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1993-05-26
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╔════════════════════════════╗
║ GETTING STARTED ║
╚════════════════════════════╝
This catalog viewer is specifically for the LONG description
catalogs, in the format current as of Jan. 1992, available in
the CompuServe IBMNET. They are in library 0 of each IBMNET
forum and are named as follows:
Forum File Name Unzips to
IBMAPP IBMAPP.ZIP IBMAPP.CAT
IBMBBS IBMBBS.ZIP IBMBBS.CAT
IBMCOM IBMCOM.ZIP IBMCOM.CAT
IBMHW IBMHW.ZIP IBMHW.CAT
IBMNEW IBMNEW.ZIP IBMNEW.CAT
IBMPRO IBMPRO.ZIP IBMPRO.CAT
IBMSYS IBMSYS.ZIP IBMSYS.CAT
If other forums have catalogs with the same format, CISREF will
work for them as well.
One or more of these files must be downloaded and made available
to CISREF before you can effectively use the program for anything
except generating "No *.CAT files found on this directory".
In order to retrieve a list of catalogs for viewing, CISREF expects the
catalog files to have and extension of ".CAT" and be located in the
current directory. There is a limit of 20 Catalogs per directory.
The program itself can be located in the current directory, or any
directory specified in your PATH.
Once you are in the directory with the *.CAT files, start the program
with:
CISREF
or
CISREF/m for a monochrome monitor
╔════════════════════════════╗
║ OPERATION ║
╚════════════════════════════╝
The program is directed with menu selection and various keys.
The applicable key definitions are displayed on the screen during
program execution for reference.
The Function Keys generally have the following effect:
[F1] - Display these instructions
[F2] - Mark this item (see "Marking", below)
[F3] - Continue with the same search criteria
[F8] - Go to Main Menu
[F9] - Exit the program
[ESC] - Back out of current activity/Interrupt search
[HOME] - Restart same search at beginning of file
[ENTER] - Select high lighted menu item/Page forward
One note on [F9] and [ESC] - The [F9] key will go immediately to
the program exit. [ESC] will keep backing up, until finally you
back out the door to the program exit.
╔════════════════════════════╗
║ SEARCH CRITERIA ║
╚════════════════════════════╝
The search criteria will find a hit on any occurrance of the search
string you enter, within the field being searched. Therefore, if
your search field is "File Name", and your search string is "ZIP",
all of the following file names would be a "hit":
CISREF.ZIP
PKZIP.ARC
UNZIP.EXE
ZIP210.EXE
If your search string is ".ZIP", then only CISREF.ZIP would be found.
If you enter no search string, all records are displayed in turn.
If there is room in memory, the program uses an index file for the
search. If the index has not yet been created, it creates one. This
greatly speeds up searching. If there is not room in memory, the
search is sequential, and much slower.
╔════════════════════════════╗
║ MARKING FILES ║
╚════════════════════════════╝
After finding something that looks interesting, you can "mark" the
item for later viewing or printing. [F2] will mark it, and at the end
of the program, all these items are gathered together into three files,
described next. Any number of catalogs can be searched during one
execution of the program. All marked items from every catalog visited
during the session will be saved.
If any items are marked, three files will be issued:
FORUMARK.TXT - a text (ASCII) file of header information.
FORUMARK.DES - a text file of the full description of the
item marked.
FORUMARK.CUR - a one record file containing an array of
all the header information for use by other
programs. See the documentation for a
description of the layout.
If no items are marked, only a zero length FORUMARK.DES will be issued.
╔════════════════════════════╗
║ END OF THE JOB ║
╚════════════════════════════╝
Before exiting, CISREF will give you the option to print the first
two files if any items were marked. The files will remain intact
but will be overwritten next run, whether or not you elect to print.
See the documentation for samples of expected input and the format
of all output.
The time and cost estimates for downloading are based on values in
CISREF.CNF, which is initialized to 1200 Baud, $12.80/Hour. You
can change these by selecting "Change Rates" from the Main Menu.
╔════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ If you have problems or questions, contact the author: ║
║ JN Goodale ║
║ CIS ID 71116,302 ║
║ Phone (704)-537-0329 (Your nickel!) ║
╚════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝