Arawak OS/2 Shareware/PAKLED.ISO/arawak.hlp

OS/2 Help File | 1995-03-20 | 19.3 KB | 315 lines

ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1. About the Arawak OS/2 CD ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This collection and its PM interface are the result of having many ideas and
opinions about what "should be". There are many shareware collections available
but most are for DOS with a handful of OS/2 programs thrown in. The few
completely OS/2 collections seem to be still burdened by kludgy DOS-like
interfaces and archaic organization. We felt that an OS/2 shareware collection
should include an interface which actually uses the features and power of the
operating system, and offer a straightforward directory structure.

With this in mind, we discussed the pros and cons of all the CD-ROM collections
we had seen, and debated ways of making the package easy to use. The prime goal
in all of this is to promote and support our choice in operating system and
offer the OS/2 community quick and easy access to good software.

This collection consists of software from the public domain, commercial demos,
and shareware. Please support the people who provide all of us with the fruits
of their labour. Shareware in general, and OS/2 shareware in particular, is
vastly underrated. Many of these applications and utilities equal and surpass
their commercially available counterparts while being substantially more
affordable and often better supported. Try emailing a large software company
with a beef or a suggestion and see if their next release responds to your
input.

Lastly, while we make every effort to ensure that everything on the disc is
freely distributable, mistakes do occur. If you are aware of anything in this
collection which is not freely distributable, please let us know.

Credits


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2. Overview ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The Arawak interface is designed to operate in an object oriented manner like
the Workplace Shell. Thus, each file in the collection is an object. Using the
interface is as easy as selecting an object and performing an action on it.

Currently, we have four main types of objects. The first type of object is a
directory. Directories are indicated by a size of "<DIR>". The second type of
object is an archive. Typically these are ZIP files which can be uncompressed
into a folder. Document files make up the third type of object and these can be
.TXT, .DOC, or .INF files which are viewed on the desktop according to type.
The fourth type of object is a non-ZIP file which can be copied to a folder.

Each object can be manipulated from the menu bar, the keyboard, or by mouse
actions such as a double click or a drag. The type of action is dependent on
the type of object.

For specifics see:

Main Window
Uncompress Dialog
Search Dialog
How Do I...?


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.1. Main Window ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The main window is the one which first appears on the screen when this program
is started. Above is a representation of the main window. It is where almost
everything in this browser takes place. Notice that it is composed of three
main sections: the Menu bar, the File display, and the Status bar.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.1.1. Menu Bar ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The menu bar is found near the top of the window, just below the title bar. It
provides pull down menu access to most of the features of the browser. The menu
bar contains three menus: File , Search, and Help.

The File Menu

Entries in the File menu are used to perform actions upon a selected archive in
the file display. Three entries are available in the menu: Uncompress/copy,
View, and Exit.

Uncompress/copy is selectable whenever the currently highlighted entry in the
file display is not a directory. Select this entry to have the browser copy or
uncompress the highlighted file to the location of your choice (eg. hard
drive). Once selected, a dialog will appear asking for a destination.

View is selectable whenever a .TXT, .DOC, or .INF file is highlighted in the
file display. Select this entry if you desire to view the file without copying
it off of the CD. Selecting view will cause the browser to start a viewer and
load the appropriate file into the viewer.

Exit is always selectable and is used to exit the program. You will be prompted
to make sure that this was your intended action.

The Search Menu

The Search menu is used to perform text searches on the name, size, and
description of the files on the CD. The menu contains two entries: Find, and
Find next.

Find is always selectable and is used to start a search. When selected, a
dialog will request the text to be search for, whether the whole disk should be
searched, and if the search should be case sensitive. If the text to be
searched for is not found, the browser will notify you via a dialog.

Find next is selectable whenever a successful find or find next has been
performed. Select find next when you desire to search for the next occurrence
of the text being searched for. As with find, if the search is unsuccessful,
the browser will notify you via a dialog. In addition, find next will be made
unselectable.

Find next remembers the ending location of the last successful find or find
next. Even if you change directories, issuing a find next will cause the search
to continue from the point of the last successful find or find next.

The Help Menu

The Help menu provides assess to the online help feature of the browser. It
contains four entries: Help index , General help, Using help , and Product
information.

Help index, General help, and Using help are self explanatory. Product
information provides some very brief information about the product.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.1.2. File Display ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The file display shows files available in the current directory. Each file is
displayed as a line of text. Each line contains the name of the file, the size,
and a description. Each file in the display may be thought of as an object. The
words file and object are used in this document to refer to the same thing. The
actions which may be performed on an object depend on the type of the object.
There are four types of objects: directory, archive, non-archive, and document.

Directory objects represent directories. A directory object displays a file
size of <DIR>. The only action which is valid on this object is change
directory. This is the default action.

Archive and non-archive objects act in a similar manner. Archive objects may be
recognized by the file extension .ZIP in the name field. Non-archive objects
are any object which does not fall under any other category of object. The only
action which may be used on either of these objects is uncompress/copy. This is
the default action. In addition, these objects may also be dragged from the
file display to a destination where they will be copied or uncompressed to.

Document objects represent certain ascii text or hypertext documents.
Currently, document objects are any file with a .TXT, .DOC, or .INF extension
in the name field. Both view and uncompress/copy are valid actions with these
objects. View is the default action. Like archive and non-archive objects,
document objects may also be manipulated using drag and drop.

The file display and the objects displayed in it may be acted upon in various
ways. Either the keyboard or the mouse may be used to perform most actions.

An object may be selected using either the keyboard or the mouse. To select a
file using the keyboard, use the cursor keys to move the selection cursor up or
down until it is on top of the desired file. To select a file using the mouse,
place the mouse pointer over the desired file and click the left mouse button.

To execute an object's default action using the keyboard, select the desired
file and press the ENTER key. To perform the same action using the mouse, place
the mouse pointer over the desired file and double click the left mouse button.

To uncompress/copy an archive, non-archive, or document object to a destination
of your choice via drag and drop, place the mouse pointer over the desired
object. Depress and hold down the right mouse button and then move the pointer
to the desired destination. Once over the destination, release the mouse
button. The file will be copied or uncompressed to that location without any
further user intervention.

Each object also has its own context sensitive pop up menu. To activate this
menu, place the mouse pointer over the desired file and click the right mouse
button.

Actions may also be performed on a selected file by using the File menu from
the menu bar.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.1.3. Status Bar ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The status bar is found at the bottom of the main window. It usually displays
the current directory. During a search it displays 'Searching...'.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.2. Uncompress Dialog ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The Uncompress/copy dialog appears after you have selected Uncompress/copy from
the menu bar or a popup menu.

To use this dialog correctly enter the desired installation path in the
Location field. The path must include the drive letter. An example follows.

C:\MyDir

Select OK, once you have entered the installation path, to have the browser
perform the uncompress/copy.

Select Cancel to abort the uncompress/copy.

Selecting Help activates the online help and displays this page.

Once the path is entered and OK has been selected, the browser will look for
the path you have specified. If the path is not found, the browser will ask if
you want the path created. If the browser is unable to create the path, you
will be notified and the uncompress/copy will be canceled.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.3. Search Dialog ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The Search dialog appears after you have selected Find from the Search menu.

Enter the text you wish to search for into the Search for field.

The Case sensitive checkbox allows you to specify whether the search should
match the case of the text which you have entered into the search for field.
The default is to ignore case.

The All directories checkbox is used to indicate the scope of the search. The
search can take place on all directories or it can be limited to the current
directory. The default is to search just the current directory.

Select OK, once you have entered the text to be search for and set the
checkboxes, to start the search.

Select Cancel to abort the search.

Selecting Help activates the online help and displays this page.

If the search is unsuccessful, you will be notified and the search will end.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3. How Do I...? ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

How do I...

Copy a non-ZIP file
Search for a string of text
Uncompress an archive
View a document


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.1. Copy a Non-ZIP File ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

If a file is not a .ZIP archive or a document, you may copy it to a
destination. This is accomplished in exactly the same manner as uncompressing
an archive. It may be dragged to a destination, or selected and either press
ENTER or choose Copy/Uncompress from the File menu or from the right click
popup menu.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.2. Search for a String of Text ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

You can search for a literal text string in the collection to help you track
down what you need. To do this, select Find from the Search menu. A dialog will
appear asking for the string and giving you the options of searching all
directories and case sensitivity. If the string is found, you will be placed in
the directory of the highlighted entry where the string exists. Otherwise, you
will be notified that the search was not successful. At this point you may
select Find Next from the Search menu to find the next occurrence.

Note that the search is literal. If you search for "ATI" you could find it in
"ORGANIZatiON". Also, a recursive search through the entire directory tree is
very intensive on a 640 meg CD. Be patient.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.3. Uncompress an Archive ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

There are several ways to do this. The most obvious and perhaps the easiest is
to use the mouse to drag the archive to an area of your choice, perhaps a hard
drive or the desktop. The program will create a folder named after the archive
(without the .ZIP) and uncompress the archive there, maintaining any directory
structure stored in it.

Another way is to double click on the archive or select it and either press the
ENTER key or select Copy/Uncompress from the File menu. You will be prompted
for the location and name of the folder in which to uncompress the archive. If
the folder specified does not exist, you will be asked if you wish to create
it.

The third way is to right click on the archive and select Copy/Uncompress from
the popup menu. As above, you will be prompted for the location of the target
folder for the archive.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.4. View a Document ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Documents are either .INF, .DOC, or .TXT files. Double click on a document to
view it. Depending on the document type, it will be loaded into either the
default editor or into the hypertext viewer. Alternatively, select the file and
either press ENTER or select View from the File menu or the documents pop up
menu.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Credits ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The design and coding of the interface was by Chris Dray , with much
interference and many silly suggestions from Sean Mitchell . Dean Danis  edited
thousands of file descriptions. John Green, Eric Geissinger, Steve Holden, and
some guys from Canada Trust gave valuable input. IBM gave us OS/2 (well, we had
to buy it, but...). Above all, hundreds of unnamed programmers made something
to collect.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden>  ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

 Chris is a programmer and avid OS/2 user. He has been working with Arawak
since 1994.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden>  ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

 Sean is owner and president of Arawak CD Solutions in London, Ontario, Canada.
When he's not busy running the business, he's busy trying to make OS/2 do more.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden>  ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

 Dean Danis has worked at Arawak since January 1995.  His fantastic work on the
file descriptions has been invaluable.