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- Section 8 -- Interactive Mode
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- Interactive Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-1
- The Interactive Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-2
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- Conference Mode Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-3
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- TAPCIS(tm) Documentation Copyright (c) 1990, Support Group, Inc.
- 800-USA-GROUP, 301-387-4500
-
- ========================================================================
- Interactive Mode
- ========================================================================
-
- Up to this point we have described primarily the autopilot capabilities of
- TAPCIS. This manual started off by telling you that TAPCIS was designed
- primarily for forums and CompuServe Mail. That is true. However, TAPCIS can be
- used to access the other parts of the vast CompuServe Information Service,
- too. This is done in "interactive mode" where you give the CompuServe
- computers commands directly. This is also referred to as "terminal mode."
-
- The <I>nteractive command is given from the main menu. If you want to go to a
- specific forum, enter that forum's number at the prompt. Otherwise, press
- <Enter> to connect to CompuServe and be left in your personal file area. For a
- list of CompuServe commands see page ?.
-
- Issue the command GO CIS to get to the top of the CompuServe menu system. You
- can tour CompuServe just by following the menus to areas you find interesting.
- Watch the elapsed time in the upper right corner though!
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- TAPCIS Interactive Mode 8-1
-
- ------------------------------------
- The Interactive Keyboard
-
- Most of the keys when interactive are passed directly through to CompuServe.
- Some are interpreted by TAPCIS as commands. A letter preceded by a caret <^>
- means to hold the control key and press the letter:
-
- <Alt-Q> This is perhaps the most reliable way to end an interactive
- session. TAPCIS sends a command to CompuServe to logoff and
- then immediately drops the connection. However, if you are in
- the middle of downloading a file, TAPCIS will wait until the
- download is complete to logoff.
-
- <Alt-H> Aborts whatever you're trying to do and hangs up the phone.
- This is the "bail out" key. You should first try to logoff
- normally or use <Alt-Q>.
-
- <PgDn> If you want to capture what you are doing interactively, press
- <PgDn> and then enter the name of the file in which you want
- the captured session stored. If you want to stop the capture at
- any time press the <PgDn> key again. You can use PRN as a file
- name to echo the screen to your printer. However, this slows
- transmission down and is much less economical than capturing
- the file and printing it offline.
-
- <PgUp> Is used to upload an ASCII file without error checking or to
- start the execution of a script. TAPCIS scripts must end with
- the file extension .SCR.
-
- <Ctrl-X> Enter the CO mode. In this mode you type in a small three line
- window at the bottom of the screen. When you press <Enter>
- twice in a row or you press <Enter> at the end of the third
- line, your input is sent to CompuServe all at once. In a CO
- this is useful so that you can start typing your response while
- the other person is still "talking." When the other person is
- done you can send your text or erase it. Remember that in a
- conference that all CO commands start with a slash in the first
- column. All other lines are sent to all people in the
- conference.
-
- <Alt-L> Scrollback allows you to look at the last 350 lines of text.
- Useful for reviewing information that passes too quickly on the
- screen. A reminder that you are viewing the scrollback buffer
- remains at the top of the screen. You can use the up/down
- arrows and PgUp/PgDn to review the text.
-
- <Alt-B> Sends a <break>.
-
- You can also tell TAPCIS that you would like to stay online interactively
- during a normal session generated by pressing <N>ew or <O>nline. After TAPCIS
- logs on you can press <Esc> at any time to stay online. A "Remaining online"
- message will appear on the top line as a reminder. <Esc> is a toggle, and if
- you press it twice, the message will disappear and TAPCIS will log off
- automatically.
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- 8-2 Interactive Mode TAPCIS
-
- ========================================================================
- Conference Mode Screen
- ========================================================================
-
-
-
- Figure 0 shows several CO commands. The /HELP will give you a full list of
- commands. (You could capture that list with the <PgDn> key). The /UST command
- gives you a list of users in the forum and the names of the ones in CO. The
- /HANdle command lets you change your name for the CO (you should do this to
- make your name shorter).
-
- The /EXIT command gets you out of the CO. Notice that the command has not been
- transferred to CompuServe since the second <Enter> has not been pressed.
-
- A second ^X (<Ctrl-X>) switches back to terminal mode.
-
- <Ctrl-Y> erases the current line.
-
- <Ctrl-U> in the above example would erase the /EXIT command even though it is
- on the line above the cursor. (Once the command is sent to CompuServe these
- keys would not have an effect).
-
- Macros can also be used to automate many of the conference functions. See
- Macros on page 9-7.
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- TAPCIS Interactive Mode 8-3
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