Features added to www line-mode browser
Features added
Improvements made to the line-mode
browser are listed in reverse chronological
order. (See also the bug list )
1.4a
- REFRESH command refreshes current
document
11 Dec 92: 1.4
Dec 92 1.3c
- Makefile for rs6000 fixed. (rs6000
cc does not have good -o flag). Binary
available for rs6000 again.
- -version option on command line for
quick version check
16 Oct 92: Version 1.3a
- SOURCE command prefix allows printing,
pipiping etc postscript source without
formatting. SOURCE PRINT prints a
postscript file. SOURCE > allows
the original source to be saved.
- -listrefs option allow noninteractive
output to be followed by lists of
addresses of documents referred to.
- MANUAL command takes a hypertext
jump straight to the latest version
of the online manual. (HELP is still
local slightly context-sensitive
help).
Oct 92 version 1.2l
- Bug in Gopher access removed.
- Now uses common code library
version 1.2k
- Default port number changed to 80
****.
18 May 92 version 1.2h
- PS command added to print document
on local printer attached to a terminal.
Special compilation flag SLAVE_PRINTER.
- BUG FIX: Crashes on some machines
only fixed (malloc length error on
HTTP.c.)
version 1.2f
- Bug fix: telnet under unix: -l option
was put AFTER the host name. Fixed
27-Mar-92.
Version 1.2e
- New command: 'Verbose' toggles verbose
mode on/off as per '-v' command switch.
- New command: for Unix, 'cd' or 'lcd'
changes the local working directory
(as in FTP clients).
- Command input handled more efficiently.
Should use readline() in the future,
with completion on anchor names..
- Some minor bug fixes.
Version 1.2d
- COMMENT tag introduced for future
use only.
- Speed improvement: Use of a hash
table for document names improves
load time especially of documents
with many links.
Version 1.2c
- Bug fix: unknown tags without attributes
caused text to be skipped until the
end of the next tag. This lead to
missing information (like phone numbers!
) in CERN yellow pages listing and
a strange format for the xfind server.
Version 1.2b
Release includes a few strict C bug
fixes for the Mac, and adds makefile
for pc-nfs.
Version 1.2a
- Feature: the -source option makes
www load the unparsed source from
HTML servers. See details ...
- Tags MENU and DIR introduced for
future use.
- Bug fix: The style was not set until
a style change occured: therefore,
formatting of any text before a heading
etc was wrong (no paragraph spacing,
indents, etc).
- Bug fix: Newlines in HTML source
are not taken as blanks if they follow
other white space. This caused initial
blanks on some paragraphs when a
newline followed a tag.
Feb 12 1992: Version 1.2
- Binaries generated for unix and vms
hosts, for general announcement.
Code fixes for compilation on the
various platforms.
Version 1.1c
- www can be used as a filter: The
- option (a dash by itself) makes
it take HTML data from stdin. See
details
- FTP directories contain pointers
back to their parent directory.
- Bug fix: News access didn't work
on little-endian machines (VAX etc).
- Bug fix: VMS descrip.mms file was
not complete.
Version 1.1b
- Bug fix: when using the ">" and "|"
commands in www on a document whose
name contained shell metacharacters,
it failed.
- Bug fix: HTBrowse.h missing from
source release.
Version 1.1a
- Bug fix: news server address always
taken as "cernvax" : see documentation
January 1992 Version 1.1
- "Gopher" protocol added to allow
access to those campus-wide systems
using that protocol.
- "Telnet:" access added for information
system which don't have a server
at all;
- Allows gateways to be defined for
arbitrary new (or old) naming schemes,
eg setenv WWW_wais_GATEWAY //node:port/
- Bug fixes: the -n option didn't work
properly in v1.0
Version 1.0 (released as alpha test
only)
- New archiecture, more modularity.
- "News" access added: picks up news
using NNTP as the NeXT W3 browser
does.
- Forward and reverse scrolling.
- "Next" and "Previous" commands added
to allow to move to next article
in a list.
- Bug fix: Searches are now only allowed
on indexes.
Version 14a
- Logfile option -l, and -h allows
remote usage to be logged. (Existed
in version 14, but bug in that log
file was all one line!)
- If telnet used, default logfile /usr/adm/www-log-
is used even though no -l logfileroot
is specified.
November 1991 version 0.14
- The `Recall' command now displays
references as `R 1', `R 2', etc.
instead of just `1', `2', etc. so
the user is reminded to type `R <number>'.
- An out-of-range reference number
will launch a keyword search if applicable.
For instance, in the phone book,
you can now type directly `3755'
instead of `K 3755'.
- New command : `(G)OTO <address>'
jumps to the document specified by
its hypertext address. The address
may be absolute or relative to the
current node.
- Clear screen after user input for
NEWLIB and VM. NEWLIB-special source
put in. VM version defaults to home
page on //info.cern.ch.
- Entity handling ., . and . put in
for text and TITLE fields.
- Bug fix: CR now ignored in remote
FTP files which used to be displayed
double-spaced.
- Bug fix: tabs in plain text were
displayed as newlines! Now to next
multiple of 8 columns.
version 0.12
- -a xxx option now allows the anchor
format to be specified. The old -a
option for anchor supression is renamed
-na.
- Bug fix: occasional crash when going
"back".
- Bug fix with the -n command line
option. In non interactive mode the
prompt was still produced.
- Now treats '\r' characters as '\n'
characters.
- Reproduces last line of page at the
top of the next page if a paragraph
is split between them.
- Bug fix in FTP handling as for NeXTStep
editor . (Could not access some sites).
- HTTP host addresses may now contain
a port number after a colon to override
the default.
15 August 1991 version 0.11
- You can read the address of the current
document in the HELP information.
- MVS and VM only: Line width reduced
to 78 characters.
July 91 version 0.10
- Bug fix for TOP commmand. Now functions
correctly, and data is only buffered
and formatted when the user requires
more text, hence saving time.
- Can pick up on the users home environment,
to display a certain intial page.
Set variable (on VMS, logical name)
WWW_HOME to the full hypertext of
the file or index you want to start
with.
- Keyword search accepts longer strings.
- On VMS, VMS files may be accessed.
The WWW address is still unix-like,
with slashes, and is converted into
VMS syntax by the browser. VMS users
can now write their own hypertext
and keep it on VMS, though it will
only be readable (at the moment)
from VMS machines.
June 91 version 0.9
- Bug fix in anonymous FTP. The first
version with a-ftp access.
24 May 91 version 0.8
- Page size selection now works with
-p (bug in version 0.7)
- Styles have been made more compact,
plain text uses all 80 columns.
- Bug fix: Missing loop end condidtion
caused crash when listing some documents
- Files with suffixes other than .HTML
are treated as plain text.
21 May 91 version 0.7
- Parameters avaliable on the command
line :-
- -v
- Shows trace comments, including
the pathways taken to locate a file.
- -n
- Makes the program non interactive
with the user. No prompts are shown,
and after the node is displayed it
exits the program
- -p
- Turns off the paging. The page
size can be selected by adding the
value immediately after the 'p'.
- -a
- Stops positions of anchors being
shown in the text.
- These options are particulary useful
when redirecting the input into either
a file or to the printer. They can
also be used in any order on the
command line, as long as 'WWW' is
the first arguement.
- When the recall command is used to
view what files have been visited,
the titles of the files are used,
rather than the file name. If there
is no title then the file name is
used.
14 May 91
- The function HTOpen() called from
HTAccess has been changed so that
it takes two parameters instead of
one. This extra one being a pointer
to an address where the format style
is stored as an integer. The translations
of the integers to the formats can
be seen in WWW.h. At the momment
this extra parameter is not used
but will be in the near future so
that more files can be accessed.
10 May 91
- WWW now reads the formatted text
into a double linked buffer one screen
full at a time and then produces
it on the screen. This enables checking
of documents so that splitting of
small paragraphs or titles does not
occur at the bottom of the screen.
- An option is offered to return to
the top of the present document being
viewed.
- Tim added the necessary code so that
WWW can now access remote files using
anonymous FTP.
17 April 91
- Modified WWW so that it is also executable
on the SUN machines., i.e. using
ordinary C.
- First version realeased on PRIAM,
for testing by a few users, to gain
feedback.
- Accepts keywords with the execute
command.
8 April 91
- Keywords can be entered on the command
line.
- The input file is copied into a buffer
as soon as it is opened, so that
the input channel is closed as soon
as possible and the server freed.
The first 23 lines of the document
are read into the buffer and produced
onto the screen. As soon as this
is done, the remaining file is read
into the buffer so the input channel
is closed.
7 March 91
- Created an array called 'string_space'
which is filled with blank spaces
to be used for printing out margins
etc. This method of printing a string
was found to be faster than individually
printing spaces.
- A history mechanism has been included
so that a list of all the documents
viewed are stored so that the user
can refer back to them using the
BACK, HOME and RECALL commands.
- Changed code so that the browser
can handle text which contains long
words which exceed the allowed line
length on their own. This is just
done by continuing the word on the
following line.
- Read titles and headings into a buffer
before outputting so that in cases
where the title has a word longer
than the allowed line length can
be dealt with (for example above).This
could also be useful in helping to
solve the above problem. Maybe extend
the length of headings.
5 March 91
- Handles a "LISTING" tag by treating
it in the same way as an "XMP" tag.
This is because, in the case of the
line mode browser, the screen is
limited to 80 columns and so the
browser is unable to work with the
132 columns which the "LISTING" tag
normally expects.
- Handles an "ADDRESS" tag, which left
justifies the text.
27 Feb 91
- Lists and the help menu are not so
spread out, as before.
- The browser works with file numbers
rather than the file pointers.
- Tidied up paging, with the last line
of a page repeated at top of next.
- Deals with tags within anchors.
11 Feb 91
- HTTP access to cernvm server, including
FIND and NEWS tested.
- Browser can be executed by 'WWW'
, 'YP' (yellow pages), 'XNEWS', or
'FIND'.
- "PLAINTEXT" tag added. Prints out
the node exactly as it finds it in
the file.
- Prompt only contains appropriate
options, as does the help message.
- Keyword search option added.
Before Feb 91
- Text formatting and line wrapping
completed to a reasonable standard.
- Removed section of program where
'r' has to be entered in order to
select a reference.
- When no hypertext references have
been found, the browser informs the
user, and doesn't offer the list
option in the help menu.
- Produces an error message if the
user tries to select a reference
or menu, when no references have
been found.
- Records whether an anchor is a NAME
or an HREF.
- Stop **** END **** (now [End]) appearing
in the wrong places. This problem
appears due to the lines in the html
file being too long, so this causes
an error in the 'C' run time.
- Handles a glossary.
- __________________________________________________________
Nicola P , Tim BL , JFG