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- SEEKEASY.DOC
-
- Short-form Manual For SeekEasy
- The Free-Form
- Information Retrieval Program
-
-
- SEEKEASY VERSION 7.07
- FOR PC/MS-DOS
-
- Correlation Systems
- P.O. Box 39
- Lomita, CA 90717
-
- (310) 833-3462 (Voice)
-
-
- (C) Copyright 1992 by Correlation Systems
- All Rights Reserved.
-
-
-
-
- /-------------------\
- | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
- \-------------------/
-
- Short-form Manual
-
- Introduction ............................................ 1
- System requirements ..................................... 2
- Installing SeekEasy - For DOS & Windows ................. 2
-
- Running SeekEasy ........................................ 4
- Main Search Screen .................................... 4
- Search Specifications Screen .......................... 6
- Utility Settings Screen ............................... 10
- Block Mark/Print Screen ............................... 11
- Searching Screen ...................................... 12
- Performance Tips ...................................... 12
-
- Technical support ....................................... 13
- What is Shareware? ...................................... 13
-
-
-
-
- /--------------\
- | INTRODUCTION |
- \--------------/
-
- SeekEasy is a file-searching, information-finding program that's uniquely
- easy to use. It uses "fuzzy-matching" logic to let you find information
- stored on your disk without having to worry about specific filenames, the
- exact wording of what you're looking for, word-order, capitalization,
- exact spelling, etc.
-
- SeekEasy only READS files. It will not alter files.
-
- It can search ANY file for the desired text - word-processor files,
- database files, even ".EXE" and ".COM" program files.
-
- SeekEasy will search a single file, a specified group of files, all the
- files in a directory, all the files in a directory and its "children"
- directories, or all files on a given drive. It will search floppies, hard
- disks, RAM-disks, etc.
-
- It supports extensive user-customization, so you can have it automatically
- "come up" set to match the way you work.
-
- SeekEasy is distributed as "User-supported Software" - Shareware. This
- means that if you find SeekEasy useful, you are expected to register your
- copy with Correlation Systems and pay a nominal fee.
-
- You are encouraged to copy the SeekEasy program and any other files on the
- distribution disk and pass them on to others, post them on computer
- bulletin boards, etc., as long as the files remain unaltered. The more
- people who see SeekEasy, the greater the number of registered users we'll
- get.
-
- This manual doesn't discuss information already covered in the program's
- help screens. When you have a question about some aspect of the program's
- operation, first check the appropriate help screen to see what it has to
- say, then look to this manual for possible amplification or more examples.
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- 1
-
-
-
-
- /---------------------\
- | SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS |
- \---------------------/
-
- SeekEasy will run fine on just about any IBM PC or compatible computer.
- The minimum system requirements are:
-
- PC-DOS or MS-DOS, version 2.0 or higher.
-
- If running under Windows, Windows 3.0 or higher.
-
- 256K or more of RAM.
-
- One or more disk drives.
-
- Monochrome or color monitor.
-
- Parallel- or serial-interface printer for printouts.
-
-
- /---------------------\
- | INSTALLING SEEKEASY |
- \---------------------/
-
- General issues:
-
- There are two things you should probably do before you install and use
- SeekEasy. Neither is required, but each may make using SeekEasy easier
- and more productive:
-
- A) Run the DOS "TREE" command and direct the output to your printer, for
- later study. This will show you how your disk is divided up. To do
- this, at the DOS prompt, type "TREE > PRN" - and then press Enter.
- This assumes your PRN device is on, and if it is a serial printer it
- has been set to the proper baud rate.
-
- B) If it's not already part of your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, issue the
- following command at the DOS prompt: "PROMPT $P$G" - then press Enter.
- This changes the standard DOS prompt to show your current location in
- the directory tree. It would be best to place this command into your
- AUTOEXEC.BAT file, so it will be invoked each time you turn on your
- system.
-
- Installing for use under PC-DOS or MS-DOS:
-
- To install SeekEasy onto your system, you only need to copy the program
- file SEEKEASY.EXE from the distribution floppy disk to your hard disk.
- All configuration info, etc. is in that one file. See your DOS manual
- regarding the use of the COPY command if necessary.
-
- It's best that you have only ONE copy of the SeekEasy program on your hard
- disk, to avoid confusion when saving your customized default settings,
- which go into the SEEKEASY.EXE program file itself.
-
-
-
-
- 2
-
-
-
-
- The SEEKEASY.EXE program should be copied to a location that is on your
- DOS "search path." This usually includes the "root" directory, "C:\" -
- and probably other spots as well. To see which directories are in your
- path, at the DOS prompt type "PATH" and then press Enter. DOS will
- display the path, with the individual directories separated by semicolons.
-
- The purpose behind copying SEEKEASY.EXE to a directory on your search path
- is that this lets you run SeekEasy from any directory on your disk. While
- not strictly necessary, most users find it best to use SeekEasy this way.
-
- Installing for use under Windows:
-
- SeekEasy will run under Windows 3.0 and above. It operates the same as
- under DOS, except that under Windows it can perform searches in the
- background (in 386 Enhanced Mode).
-
- The SEEKEASY.PIF file is a Program Information File that tells Windows
- about the program and its capabilities. SeekEasy will run under Windows
- just using the "default PIF" Windows assigns to "unknown" programs, but it
- will run better if Windows can use the customized SeekEasy ".PIF" file.
-
- For best performance, copy both the SEEKEASY.EXE and the SEEKEASY.PIF
- files from our disk to your \WINDOWS directory. An alternate choice would
- be to copy the two files to any directory on your DOS "Path" list.
-
- To give SeekEasy an icon under Windows, please see your Windows manual.
- For Windows 3.0, the appropriate instructions are in Chapter 3 - Program
- Manager, on p. 88, Changing The Contents Of Groups - Adding Program Items
- And Documents To a Group.
-
- PROBLEM TO WATCH FOR WHEN RUNNING UNDER WINDOWS 3.0:
- To search files in a CD-ROM under Windows - using SeekEasy or any other
- program - two things have to be verified or done:
-
- A) If it isn't there already, add the following statement to your
- SYSTEM.INI file, in the [386Enh] section: "DEVICE=LANMAN10.386".
-
- Yes, you may not be on a LAN (Local Area Network), but you still have
- to do this, say the Windows folks, in their README.TXT file. Believe
- it. If you don't do this, you WILL eventually see crashes while
- searching your CD-ROM with SeekEasy!
-
- B) If it isn't already there, expand/copy the LANMAN10.386 file from the
- Windows source disk to your C:\Windows directory. Note that you have
- to "Expand" this file while copying it - it is delivered in compressed
- form on the Windows source (floppy) disk. For Windows 3.0, the
- compressed version is 1548 bytes long, and the expanded version is
- 8786 bytes. To expand the LANMAN10.386 file, first find the
- EXPAND.EXE program file on the Windows source disks, and copy it into
- your hard disk's \Windows directory. Then insert the Windows source
- disk that has the LANMAN10.386 file on it, and - from your Windows
- directory on your hard disk - issue the command: "EXPAND
- A:LANMAN10.386 C:\WINDOWS". You should then see the LANMAN10.386 file
- on your hard disk, and it should be larger than the copy on your
- Windows source (floppy) disk was.
-
-
- 3
-
-
-
-
- /------------------\
- | RUNNING SEEKEASY |
- \------------------/
-
- Running SeekEasy under MS-DOS:
-
- To run SeekEasy once it's installed per the above instructions, just type
- "SEEKEASY" and then press Enter. If the program does not run, it is
- probably because it is not in a directory on your DOS "Path."
-
- If you wish to run SeekEasy under the DOS 5.0 DOSSHELL program-switcher,
- we refer you to your DOS manual. See chapter 3 (MS-DOS Shell Basics) and
- chapter 8 (Customizing MS-DOS Shell). They explain it better than we
- could.
-
- Running SeekEasy under Windows:
-
- Since it's basically a DOS application, SeekEasy runs best in the full-
- screen mode. It will do searches in the background, if Windows is running
- in the 386 Enhanced mode.
-
- In the preferred full-screen mode, you may use the standard Windows
- program-switching keys: Alt-enter toggles SeekEasy between a window and
- full-screen display mode. Alt-spacebar brings up the "switch to another
- program" menu, and Alt-esc toggles between SeekEasy and any other open
- program windows.
-
- Running SeekEasy in general:
-
-
- MAIN SEARCH SCREEN:
-
- To perform a search, you need to specify two things:
- A) The text you'd like to find matches to.
- B) Which file or files you want the program to search.
-
- Pressing the Enter key toggles you between the two fields that specify
- these items.
-
- You specify the text to be matched in the blank screen area to the right
- of the "Search for:" prompt.
-
- Specifying which file or files to search is a bit more involved. The
- basic file specification is the file-spec indicated in the blank screen
- area to the right of the "File Spec:" prompt. This basic specification
- can be added to, subtracted from, or overridden by settings made on the
- "Search Spec" screen which can be reached by pressing F2. See the
- discussion in the following section regarding the Search Specification
- Screen for a more complete description of how this all works.
-
- Note that when you press Enter to select the "File Spec:" area, a box pops
- up showing "Search Specification" information. This is just a summary of
- the major settings from the Search Specification Screen, shown for your
- verification prior to your starting a search. To actually change the
- settings you must press F2 to go the Search Specification Screen.
-
-
- 4
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-
-
- The file specification may include the DOS wildcards "?" and "*". "?"
- means "any single character matches this," while the "*" means "any one or
- more characters matches this, from here to the end of the filename prefix
- or suffix." See your DOS manual for a more thorough description of
- wildcards. The file specification most people use is just "*.*".
-
- When you're viewing the results of a search, you may occasionally notice
- that the same line of information appears in two different items. This is
- normal. In "Stream" mode, to ensure the text you are looking for is not
- split - partially in one item and partially in another - the items
- "overlap" by one line. Thus, if a search found an item with high-scoring
- text in the last line of the item, it would also see that the next item
- (with its one line of overlap) STARTED with that line, and give it a high
- "match score" also.
-
- In "Formatted" mode, the program logic tries to break "items" at the ends
- of sentences. If it cannot find what it believes is the end of a sentence
- within the last three lines of a screen's worth of text, it will
- arbitrarily force the end of the item, and set a one-line
- duplication/overlap as is done by the "Stream" mode. Except for this
- case, "Formatted" mode does NOT overlap item boundaries.
-
- If you have set the settings on the Search Specification screen to perform
- a search that includes the files listed on the "Scan List" as well as the
- one you specify on the Main Search Screen, then the instructions to the
- right of the "Search Spec:" prompt will change to indicate that putting an
- entry there is optional. The program will start a search without any
- specified file(s) here, since the "Scan List" entries on the Search
- Specification Screen will satisfy the requirement that SOME file
- specification must exist before a search can be done.
-
- Due to memory limitations, SeekEasy will display only the 200-best matches
- to the text you told it to search for. If what you ask for isn't within
- the best 200 matches, you need a clearer search specification!
-
- SeekEasy DOES "evaluate" ALL the matches it finds while searching. The
- 200 items you see after a search operation are the BEST 200 it could find,
- not just the FIRST 200!
-
- When you press F10 to begin a Search operation, SeekEasy may occasionally
- warn you that it appears you are performing the same search you just did,
- and ask for verification. The purpose for this is this: If you had just
- completed a LONG search of a big hard disk or CD-ROM, you DON'T want to
- accidentally press F10 again, throw away all the search results, and start
- the search all over again! SeekEasy therefore requests confirmation
- before it starts the search, to ensure that you really DO want it to
- "forget" all the search results but repeat the identical search again.
-
- Starting a Search Operation erases all records of the previous Search
- Operation, so be sure you are done with the results of one search before
- beginning another.
-
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-
- 5
-
-
-
-
- Strange-looking characters on the screen, unusual data display, etc.:
- SeekEasy attempts to work with the widest possible range of data formats.
- One of the ways it does this is to clip off the high bit (bit 7, counting
- from 0) of the file data it reads. This allows files in WordStar and
- similar formats to be read without confusion. This bit is normally 0 for
- standard ASCII, so removing it creates no problems. However, for graphics
- characters, clipping off this bit sometimes converts the graphics
- character into a printable character, which will be displayed on the
- screen. This is normal, and just a function of SeekEasy's efforts to
- convert everything it sees into human-readable format.
-
- Also note that while "Formatted" mode tries to display data in a more-
- normal manner - expanding tabs, recognizing carriage-return/line-feeds,
- etc. - it also clips the high bit, and will also generate the same
- strange-looking characters.
-
- Down near the bottom-right corner of the screen you'll see two status
- items displayed - "MODE:" and "BEEP:". These are information-only
- displays of settings made in the Utilities Settings screen, reachable by
- the F3 key. To change these, you have to go to the Utility Settings
- screen. They are shown here just for your information, as it is often
- useful to know what they are prior to starting a search. The "BEEP:"
- setting can also be changed DURING a search.
-
-
- SEARCH SPECIFICATION SCREEN:
-
- Any changes you make to the settings on this screen only apply for the
- current SeekEasy session, unless you save them as your new default
- settings - see the F10 discussion, below.
-
- The discussion that follows assumes you are familiar with DOS's directory
- structure. If not, please review the information in your DOS manual
- regarding directories, paths, and so on.
-
- Once SeekEasy is running, it ignores any DOS "path" settings. SeekEasy's
- search area is controlled only by the path information you specify on the
- Search Specification screen.
-
- Starting at the top of this screen, and working down:
-
- The "current location" shown just below the screen title refers to the
- drive and disk path/directory that you were in when you started the
- SeekEasy program. Once SeekEasy has been started, this cannot be changed.
- These settings are the ones used in the F2 operation discussed below, if
- no explicit settings are shown there.
-
- "F2 - BEGIN SEARCH AT": This specifies where SeekEasy BEGINS its search.
- It may also be where the search ends, depending on other settings on this
- screen.
-
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- 6
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- A typical entry in this section would be "C:\TEST". In this, the DRIVE
- (or disk) is specified as "C:" and the STARTING DIRECTORY is specified as
- "\TEST".
-
- This area is left blank in the "as shipped" configuration of SeekEasy.
- With this blank, when you start SeekEasy from a given directory, the
- search automatically starts in that directory, on that drive. This was
- deemed the most "general purpose" setting possible.
-
- Note that one common mistake is to put an entry in this spot of "C:".
- This specifies the DRIVE ("C:") but NOT the "root directory" ("\").
-
- "F3 - SEARCH AREA": This specifies HOW FAR the search goes, once it is
- started in the drive/directory set by the F2 setting above. The options
- are "this directory," "this plus child directories," and "the entire
- drive."
-
- The first choice - just the selected directory - says to search all the
- files in this directory that meet the file spec criteria (see below for
- more on this).
-
- The second choice - "child directories" - bears more discussion. Suppose
- you had a disk directory structure (simplified for this discussion) as
- follows:
-
- C:\-----DOS
- |
- |--UTIL
- |
- \--TEST\-----HARDWARE
- |
- \--SOFTWARE
-
- Further, suppose your "starting directory" was C:\TEST.
-
- - If you chose "just the selected directory," your search would only cover
- the files in the C:\TEST directory.
-
- - If you chose "selected directory plus its child directories," then your
- search operation would cover the files in THREE directories:
- - C:\TEST
- - C:\TEST\HARDWARE
- - C:\TEST\SOFTWARE
-
- - And, if you chose the "whole disk" option, search would cover ALL SIX
- directories - the three above, plus:
- - C:\ (the root directory)
- - C:\DOS
- - C:\UTIL
-
- Note: if you choose the "whole disk" option, only the drive information
- ("C:") in the F2 setting is used - any directory/path information is
- ignored, since the search will always start at the root directory of the
- specified drive, and cover ALL directories in the drive.
-
-
-
- 7
-
-
-
-
- "F4 - SEARCH FILES": While the F2 and F3 keys above specify the area(s)
- on the disk to be searched, this specifies which files within those areas
- will be opened and examined.
-
- SeekEasy builds a "file specification" - or file spec for short - from up
- to THREE sources:
- A) The "File Spec:" you entered on the Main Search Screen.
- B) The Scan List file specifications.
- C) The Skip List file specifications.
-
- This entry controls which of the above three sources are active during a
- search.
-
- There are four choices:
-
- - The Specified File Only: This tells SeekEasy to JUST search the file(s)
- specified in the "File Spec:" entry the user typed in on the Main
- Search Screen. You may have specified a specific file ("MYFILE.DOC")
- or a group of files, using wildcard characters ("MYFILE.*").
-
- - The Specified File Blocked By The Skip List Names: This is the default
- configuration as shipped. This tells SeekEasy to operate the same as
- in the above mode, EXCEPT to ignore any file whose name is covered by
- the filenames (or specifications using wildcards) shown in the Skip
- List. This is normally used to speed searches by having SeekEasy skip
- ".EXE" and ".COM" files, etc.
-
- There are two things to know about priorities here:
-
- First, the Skip List can block a file specified by the "File Spec:"
- entry. In other words, if a user specified a file spec of "HELP.*",
- and had a Skip List entry of "*.EXE", SeekEasy would search a file
- called HELP.DOC, but would NOT search a file named HELP.EXE, if it
- existed.
-
- Second, the Skip List will NOT block a user-entered "File Spec:" entry
- if that entry is SPECIFIC - if it has no wildcards in it. Thus, if in
- the above example the user had specified a file spec - not of "HELP.*"
- but of "HELP.EXE" - then SeekEasy WOULD search the HELP.EXE file, even
- though it was on the Skip List.
-
- - The Specified File, Blocked By The Skip List Names Plus The Scan List
- Names: This acts just like the option above, except IN ADDITION TO
- the user-entered "File Spec:" name, the program also uses all of the
- entries - if any - in the Scan List.
-
- As before, the Skip List can block Scan List or user-entered "File
- Spec:" entries, unless they are specific file names (without
- wildcards).
-
- If this option is chosen, the user does not have to actually enter a
- "File Spec:" entry on the Main Search Screen to start a search, as
- long as the Scan List has at least one entry.
-
-
-
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- 8
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-
-
-
- - The Specified File, Plus The Scan List Names: This acts just like the
- option above would act, if the Skip List were empty - it searches
- "File Spec:" plus Scan List files.
-
- As an example: If you wished to search, say, all ".DOC" and ".TXT"
- files, you could specify this any number of ways, all equivalent.
- Here are two:
-
- A) Enter "*.DOC" for the "File Spec:" info on the Main Search Screen,
- and put "*.TXT" in the Scan List, then choose the Search Files
- choice of Specified File Plus Scan List Names.
-
- B) Or, you could leave the "File Spec:" entry on the Main Search
- Screen blank, and put "*.DOC" and "*.TXT" both into the Scan
- List, and enable that.
-
- "F5 - SKIP LIST": This is used per the above instructions. Entries must
- be separated by spaces. They can be uppercase or lowercase, or any
- mixture. Note that if you specified a file specification of "*.*" here,
- it would block ALL files from being searched when this list is activated,
- except for any file specified on the Main Search Screen without any
- wildcards at all. You normally should NOT use a file specification of
- "*.*" here.
-
- The normal use for the Skip List is to ignore files you don't want to
- waste time searching through. Users normally customize this list to block
- the scanning of large files on their systems that have nothing of interest
- in them. The settings shipped as the factory defaults are only a first
- approximation of the files most users want to skip. You should change
- these settings to suit your preferences, then save the settings as the new
- default settings.
-
- "F6 - SCAN LIST": Same formatting, etc. as the above. You MAY use "*.*"
- here if you wish, without any danger of missing files.
-
- "F10 - SAVE AS NEW DEFAULTS": This takes ALL of the settings on this
- screen, plus those on the "UTILITY SETTINGS" screen, and saves them to
- disk as the new default values. The next time SeekEasy is run from disk,
- it will "come up" with the settings as they were when you saved them as
- your new defaults.
-
- Note that the defaults settings are stored inside the SEEKEASY.EXE program
- disk file. There are no separate "configuration" files to worry about.
- This will become apparent by the status messages issued during this
- operation, as the program finds the SEEKEASY.EXE file, then finds the
- proper spot to insert the information, then successfully saves it.
- However, you will NOT cause any problems if you rename SeekEasy to
- something shorter - SE.EXE, etc. It "knows" what name it's run as.
-
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- 9
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- UTILITY SETTINGS SCREEN:
-
- As in the SEARCH SPECIFICATIONS screen, any changes you make here only
- hold for the current SeekEasy session, until you save them as your new
- default settings - see the F10 discussion, below.
-
- Going down the functions, from the top of the screen on down:
-
- "F2 - BEEP AT END OF A SEARCH": This one's pretty clear. Try the three
- choices and see which one you like. Note that this item can also be
- changed DURING a search operation itself - see the bottom of the "Search
- In Progress" screen for what key to use. A change made then is just like
- a change made here. It will remain as you set it, but will not become the
- new default setting until you save it to disk as such.
-
- "F3 - BEEP ON ERRORS": This either enables or not a single beep whenever
- an error or occurs such as disk-read error, trying to send a marked block
- out to a printing device that doesn't exist, etc. Set it to match your
- preference.
-
- "F4 - EXPAND TABS": The program help screen says it all.
-
- "F5 - PRINTER LOCATION": Used to select the destination of marked blocks
- sent to the printer. The "factory default" setting is LPT1. Note: if you
- select a non-existent printer, or if you have a printer problem while
- printing marked blocks, don't panic. Even if everything appears locked
- up, be patient - in at the most about 90 seconds SeekEasy will "unlock"
- things and recover, giving you an error message explaining the problem.
-
- If you're using a serial printer and it doesn't respond, suspect baud-rate
- settings, or that the printer or its cable is not wired to hold both the
- CTS and DSR signals high when it's ready to accept data.
-
- "F6 - PRINTER LEFT-MARGIN OFFSET": The program help screen says it all.
- Experiment with this to see what your printer is most happy with, then
- save it as the new default setting.
-
- "F7 - SEARCH AND DISPLAY MODE": The program's help screen pretty much
- covers this. Note: if you do any "block mark" operations, then change
- this mode from Formatted to Stream or Stream to Formatted, the blocks you
- marked may now have their start/finish points in error by one line or so.
-
- "F8 - FLAGGING MATCHED TEXT IN REVERSE VIDEO": This applies to the
- results of Search operations. Words that the SeekEasy algorithm thinks
- are significant are normally flagged in reverse video to make the probable
- matches easier to find on the screen. How the displaying is done does not
- change how items are evaluated or scored, only which words are flagged in
- reverse video.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- 10
-
-
-
-
- The choices are:
- - Flag All Matches: SeekEasy flags any word fragment that it thinks is
- even a little bit significant. This gives you the most information,
- but results in a very cluttered display.
- - Flag Medium And Strong Matches: This raises the threshold of what should
- be shown in reverse-video slightly, to get rid of some of the
- "clutter." This is the factory-default setting.
- - Flag Only Strong Matches: This only reverse-video flags good, solid
- matches - but may cause you to miss something "sorta similar" to what
- you asked for because it wasn't flagged.
- - Flag No Matches At All: If you don't like the reverse-video flagging of
- probable matches, choose this - it doesn't flag anything in search
- results, just shows you what it found, in the standard "best matches
- first" order.
-
- Note: this setting can be changed at any time, without affecting the
- search results. You can look at the search results, go to this screen and
- change this setting, then return to the Main Search Screen and see how the
- data looks at the new setting.
-
- "F9 - TEXT/BACKGROUND COLOR SELECT": The factory-default setting for this
- is #3, yellow/blue. When it's started, SeekEasy checks the hardware
- configuration and either allows color choices or allows only black-and-
- white choices. You can change the choices, and even save them as the new
- defaults, but SeekEasy will still allow only what it thinks are the proper
- range of choices the next time it is run. You can force it to think it is
- running on a color or black-and-white system by invoking SeekEasy with an
- extra parameter, as:
- SEEKEASY C <Enter>
- SEEKEASY M <Enter>
-
- "SEEKEASY C" forces the program to ignore the hardware configuration it
- detects, and allow color choices. "SEEKEASY M" tells it to act as if it
- detects a black-and-white (monochrome) system, and allow only B/W color
- combinations.
-
- "F10 - SAVE DEFAULTS": See the description of the similar key in the
- description of the Search Specifications screen. Note that if you do
- this, it saves both the settings on this screen AND the settings on the
- Search Specifications screen, as the new defaults.
-
-
- BLOCK MARK/PRINT SCREEN:
-
- The same scrolling keys work essentially the same way here as they did in
- the Main Search Screen.
-
- Follow the screen instructions to mark the block. The text shown in
- reverse-video is what will be sent to the printer or disk file you
- specify.
-
- Be sure to move the cursor to the line PAST the last line you want
- included in your block.
-
-
-
-
- 11
-
-
-
-
- If you choose to send the block to a disk file, SeekEasy may tell you that
- the file that you specify already exists. If so, it will give you the
- option of overwriting the file or appending the block onto the end of the
- file. Overwriting erases the old file and replaces it with a new one
- holding just the block you've marked, while Appending simply adds the
- content of the block onto the end of the existing file.
-
- When the marked block is being sent to the printer or a disk file, the
- display will position the text such that the top line in the display area
- is the one currently being sent to the printer or disk file. Thus you can
- monitor the progress of the operation by watching the display and seeing
- what data is currently going out. At the end of the operation, the last
- line of the marked block will be shown at the top line of the display
- area.
-
-
- SEARCHING SCREEN:
-
- You may end the search operation at any time by pressing the ESC key.
- SeekEasy will use whatever it has managed to find in its search up 'till
- that time.
-
- Each "progress indicator dot" indicates 10% of the file has been read.
-
- F3 : During a search (but not after), if you realize you wish to change
- how - or if - the computer beeps at the end of a search, just press F3 to
- skip through all the possible "beep after" settings. Just press the key
- once, then wait - it may take a second or so for the program to break into
- its search at a convenient spot to act on your keypress. You'll see the
- new status reflected at the top of the screen.
-
- F9 : If you see that the program has started scanning through a large
- file, and you know that the file doesn't have any information in it you
- want, you can skip the rest of it by pressing this key. SeekEasy will go
- on to the next file and continue its search.
-
- If the file (or file type - .PIC, whatever) you skipped is a file or file
- type you regularly have to skip over, you should consider adding it to the
- Skip List and saving that as your new default setting.
-
- PERFORMANCE TIPS:
-
- See the full manual supplied to registered users for information regarding
- how to maximize the speed of your Search operations. There are many
- (sometimes interacting) choices in this area.
-
- The full manual also contains information describing how the SeekEasy
- algorithm "sees" your search request. This will help you perform more
- accurate searches, increasing the odds that the item you want will be the
- first one or two SeekEasy shows you after a search.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- 12
-
-
-
-
- /-------------------\
- | TECHNICAL SUPPORT |
- \-------------------/
-
- Correlation Systems offers unlimited telephone and by-mail support of
- SeekEasy to registered users.
-
- We'll answer simple questions about getting SeekEasy up and running from
- anyone, but we can handle more complicated issues only for registered
- users.
-
- We support what we sell. However, we sell SEEKEASY - we don't sell MS-DOS
- or Windows. Microsoft does. For SEEKEASY problems, call us. For
- questions about how to use DOS or WINDOWS, please see your DOS or Windows
- manuals, or call Microsoft, or the dealer who sold you the computer.
-
-
- /--------------------\
- | WHAT IS SHAREWARE? |
- \--------------------/
-
- SeekEasy is distributed as "Shareware." Shareware is software that may be
- freely copied, but for which the copyright and other intellectual property
- rights are retained by the author. A user who finds the program useful
- after trying it is expected to "register" his copy and pay for it.
-
- Shareware is different from "Public Domain" software in that the authors
- of Public Domain software have given up their copyright rights to the
- software without expecting payment by users.
-
- With Shareware, you can "try before you buy" - a much better situation
- than what exists for commercial software!
-
- If a user finds a Shareware program useful, he is expected to pay a
- registration fee to the program's authors.
-
- You are encouraged to copy the SeekEasy program and any other files on the
- distribution disk, pass them on to others, post them on computer bulletin
- boards, etc., as long as the files remain unaltered. The more people who
- see SeekEasy, the greater the number of registered users we'll get.
-
- The SeekEasy program's Opening Screen will display a registration form if
- you press the F3 key, per the instructions at the bottom of the screen.
-
- We hope you like SeekEasy, find it useful, and register!
-
- To copy this file to your printer: Be sure your printer is turned on and
- ready, then at the DOS prompt type: COPY SEEKEASY.DOC PRN
- - and then press Enter.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- 13
-
-
-
-
- ----------------end-of-author's-documentation---------------
-
- Software Library Information:
-
- This disk copy provided as a service of
-
- Public (software) Library
-
- We are not the authors of this program, nor are we associated
- with the author in any way other than as a distributor of the
- program in accordance with the author's terms of distribution.
-
- Please direct shareware payments and specific questions about
- this program to the author of the program, whose name appears
- elsewhere in this documentation. If you have trouble getting
- in touch with the author, we will do whatever we can to help
- you with your questions. All programs have been tested and do
- run. To report problems, please use the form that is in the
- file PROBLEM.DOC on many of our disks or in other written for-
- mat with screen printouts, if possible. PsL cannot debug pro-
- programs over the telephone, though we can answer questions.
-
- Disks in the PsL are updated monthly, so if you did not get
- this disk directly from the PsL, you should be aware that the
- files in this set may no longer be the current versions. Also,
- if you got this disk from another vendor and are having prob-
- lems, be aware that some files may have become corrupted or
- lost by that vendor. Get a current, working disk from PsL.
-
- For a copy of the latest monthly software library newsletter
- and a list of the 4,000+ disks in the library, call or write
-
- Public (software) Library
- P.O.Box 35705 - F
- Houston, TX 77235-5705
-
- 1-800-2424-PSL
- MC/Visa/AmEx/Discover
-
- Outside of U.S. or in Texas
- or for general information,
- Call 1-713-524-6394
-
- PsL also has an outstanding
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-