InfoMagic Internet Tools 1993 July/Internet Tools.iso/RockRidge/info-service/gopher/Unix/xgopher.1.3/xgopher.help

Text File | 1993-04-05 | 11.6 KB | 278 lines

  Help file format
  ----------------
  This file contains any number of help sections.  Each is started
  by the characters "++" at the beginning of a line.  Following this
  is a "key string", a string used by the Xgopher program to identify
  the help section.  The key string is ended by a ":" or new line.
  The colon is optional, and if present, the rest of the line is
  used as a title of the help section when it is displayed to the
  user.

  Any text may appear in a help section EXCEPT "++" at the very
  beginning of a line.


++xgopher help:Xgopher Assistance
Xgopher is an X window system client interface to the gopher
information project from the University of Minnesota.

The initial display will show the top level directory of
gopher information available.  Selecting an item from this
list will fetch the contents of a file, subdirectory, or
other information.  The directory display may be updated to
show the new subdirectory.

An item is selected by pointing at a directory list item
or a previously marked item (a bookmark) with the mouse
and clicking the left button.  The item that is selected will
be highlighted.  The display button marked "Fetch selection"
is used to act on the selection.  An accelerator allows you to
simply "click" a second time on an already selected item to
activate the fetch.

By default, all interactions use only the left mouse button.

See the manual page for additional information on the use
of xgopher and personal customization by selecting
application resources.

Some gopher file types may not be supported by Xgopher.

Xgopher was developed by
    Allan Tuchman
    Computing and Communications Services Office (CCSO)
    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
    Urbana, Illinois.
    USA
Please send problems and comments by e-mail to [e-mail].

Copyright 1992 Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.
++options help:Xgopher Options Panel Assistance
Xgopher options are normally set as X resources.  This panel
allows you to change some of these options during an Xgopher
session.

The first four items are either true or false as indicated by the
presence of a check mark in a box.  Clicking in the box will
toggle the value for that item.  The items are:

  . Show all gopher items
    Normally Xgopher will display only items which it knows
    it can process or fetch for you.  Other items are simply
    discarded.  If this option is checked (true), then all
    items are displayed.

  . Append bookmarks to list
    If this option is checked (true) then each time Xgopher
    reads in a file of bookmarks the new bookmark items are
    added to the end of the list.  If the option is false
    then the new bookmarks will replace the entire existing list.

  . Load bookmarks at restart
    If Xgopher is restarted by the restart option and this item
    is checked (true) then the original (or current) bookmark
    file will be processed.  If the option is false, then no
    bookmarks are read.

  . Reset these options at restart
    If this option is checked (true) then all the options on
    this panel that may have changed will be reset to their
    original startup values by a restart command.  If this
    option is false then the values changed on this panel
    will be preserved.

The remaining options are text fields that display file names
and system commands.  Only those fields that are permitted
by the application resources will be displayed, so all of the
following may not appear.  For each option you may replace or
modify an existing value with a new one.

  . Bookmark save file
    This is the file that bookmarks will be read from at
    startup and whenever the "load bookmarks" command is
    used.  The current bookmark list will be written to this
    file when you exit Xgopher or use the "save bookmarks"
    command.  You may change this filename at will to
    merge several files of bookmark lists.

  . Print command
    The command used to print text files and other information.

  . Image display command
    The command used to display image files such as GIF files.

  . Telnet command
    The command used to start a telnet session.  Under the X
    window system this is usually "xterm -e telnet".

  . tn3270 command
    The command used to start a tn3270 session.  Under the X
    window system this is usually "xterm -e tn3270".  If you
    use a different 3270 emulator or use an IBM AIX system you
    may have a different default command.
++single help:Entering a single special gopher item
As an intermediate or advanced level gopher user, you may have
specific information which will point you directly at some item
available through Gopher.  You may supply such information through
this panel.

   *** You should know what you are doing if you use this function.
   *** You probably can't break Xgopher, but you may get some
   *** strange results.

The information is entered into five text lines described below.
Once this information is entered, the "Process" button will remove
this panel and process your selection as if this was an item chosen
from a Gopher menu in the usual way.  The "Cancel" button may be used
to void any activity and remove this panel.  The "Mark" button will
add this item to the bookmark list.

The information you must enter is:

    Type: A single character identifying the gopher item type.  Some
          common types are

              0 - text file                 7 - index search
              1 - directory                 8 - telnet session
              2 - CSO name server           9 - binary file

          Others are defined in the Gopher protocol documents.

    Name: (Optional) This text item serves only as a label for the
          displayed information.  You do not need to provide any
          meaningful value.

    Path: The "selector string" that is passed to the gopher server
          (Host) identifying the item to be retrieved or processed.

    Host: The internet address of a gopher server.

    Port: The port to connect to on Host.  For most gopher requests
          this is port 70, so this value is supplied as a default.

Since these are all text fields, you can use the usual X cut
and paste with the mouse to enter text.

The first time the panel is displayed some defaults are already
present for some items.  Your previous entries are always left
intact when the panel is hidden then redisplayed.  This way, you
can also decide to bookmark the item later, after selecting it once.

A neat trick: Any gopher data can be fetched as a text file by
entering its host/path/port and setting the type to 0 (ascii text file).
Even a directory can be fetched as text in this way.  Similarly, any
gopher data may be retrieved as binary by setting the type to 9 (binary
file type).  This works even for types unknown to Xgopher.
++cso help:CSO Name Server access via Xgopher
This CSO name server will search a data base with information
similar to, but beyond that of a telephone directory.  You may search
for individuals by first name, last name or both.

Enter a name in the box labeled "Query name:", then press the
"Do query" button.  Any names matching your selection are returned
in the text area below.  If your request matches too many names,
your request may be refused.  So, it may be prudent to search
for "lawrence smith" instead of "smith".

Pressing "Clear query" will erase any name in the query box.
Pressing "Clear text" will erase all the text in the results
box below.

The "Show fields" menu will show you the names of the fields that
are maintained by in the specific name server data base that you are
searching.  Once you know the field names, they may be used as in
the examples shown here.

   Default:  the fields returned for a simple name search.  For example:
                john smith

   Indexed:  those fields that can be searched for (e.g., name,
             office phone, etc.).  For example:
                 office_phone=555-1212

   Lookup:   fields that can be used to filter for more specific
             matches.  For example:
                 john smith department=biology
   Public:   fields that are publicly available (e.g., ham radio
             call sign, etc.)
                 john smith return all

For additional information, see your local documentation on "ph",
the CSO name server program.

++index help:Index searches with Xgopher
Index searches allow you to search potentially large sets of documents
or files for keywords of your choice.  To search for documents
containing the word "network", just enter that word (without quotes)
and press the "Do search" button.

A list of files (documents) which contain your requested keywords
is returned just like a standard gopher directory.  When you display
the contents of these files, the chosen words are highlighted.

All words are matched without regard for the case of your input.

The reserved keywords "and", "or", and "not" may be used as boolean
operators to provide more powerful search capabilities.  For example
you may search using the words:

      telnet and linemode and not ethernet

to return a set of files which contain the words "telnet" and "linemode",
but not the word "ethernet".

There are different matching programs that may actually do this work,
and each may behave sightly differently than another.  There is no
way to tell which capabilities are present without trying them.
Some of the searching programs do not support the "and", "or", or "not"
operators.  Some programs match only full words, others may match any
substring.  With the latter, a search for "star" will also find files
which contain the words "start", "started", "starling", and so on.
++save-copy help:Saving or Copying files with Xgopher
A file will be created in the directory listed at the top of this panel.
The message in the center of the panel gives you additional information
about what will be saved and may refer back to the name of the original
gopher item.

If a name already appears in the file name entry area, it is a name
that Xgopher is suggesting based on the name that the file originally
had on the gopher server.  You may accept this name, modify it, or
replace it.  Use the backspace or delete keys to delete letters.
(The sequence control-U is defined to delete the entire name.)

The buttons along the bottom of the panel allow you to accept your
entry, cancel the entire file copy, or change to another directory.
++change dir help:Changing the working directory
This panel allows you to change the current working directory where
new files are created.  Type the name of an existing directory into
the text entry box, then press the "OK" button to accept your choice.

If you enter a path name that is not a directory, or if you do not
have write permission to that directory, a message will be displayed
warning you of this and no action will be taken.

You may use the shorthand ~ (tilde) to indicate your own home directory
or ~username to refer to the home directory of another user.

The "Cancel" button may be used to remove the window without
changing the current working directory.
++dup file help:File already exists
You have entered a file name which already exists in the current directory.

You must make a choice from the options presented on the buttons in this
window.  The button labels may differ slightly from this explanation.
Your options are:

"Overwrite contents"       will force the use this file name; which will
                   destroy the previous contents of that file.

"Cancel file save or copy" will remove the file save/copy window.

"Append to existing file"  will append this new data to the existing file
               that you named.

"Enter another file name"  will return back to the file save window and
               allow you to change the file name that you
               entered or use another option such as changing
               the working directory.