                     ╔════════════════════════════╗
                     ║      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!)        ║
   ╚════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
