The Business Master (3rd Edition)

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Information Please 2.1 A Full-Text Information Storage and Retrieval System for IBM PC and Compatible Computers February 1992 (C)Copyright TexaSoft, 1983-1992 P.O. Box 1169 Cedar Hill, Texas 75104 cen 214-291-2115 Fax:214-291-3400 All Rights Reserved All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be reproduced without prior permission. For information, address inquiries to TexaSoft, PO Box 1169, Cedar Hill, Texas 75104 USA or Fax:214-291-3400. No patent liability is assumed with respect to the use of the information contained herein. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this publication, the publisher assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions. Neither is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of the information herein. ___________________________________________________________________ Please Register 1 Information Please 2.10 ___________________________________________________________________ CONTENTS Introduction to Information Please Differences in this version Installing Information Please Beginning Information Please Take a Quick Tour Tour, Part 2 - National Parks Textbases on disk How Information Please is Organized Using the Files Menu Using the Edit Menu Using the View Menu Options While Viewing Records Using the IPPCX Program Information Please Editor Edit Function Keys Edit Control Commands Using Command Line Switches Using the Run Time Program Distributing IP Textbases User Ballot ___________________________________________________________________ Please Register 2 Information Please 2.10 ___________________________________________________________________ INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION PLEASE Information Please is a text storage and retrieval program allowing you to access full-text information. It gives you the ability to store an encyclopedia of information on the computer and to "look up" pieces of that information by searching for certain key words - such as memos, catalogues, briefs, letters, invoices, articles, product descriptions, scientific papers, and so on. Information about a certain topic is stored in an Information Please "textbase" database. Enter information from the keyboard, ASCII files, or import from your favorite word processor. IP textbases may contain information such as: - How to Respond to PC-DOS Error Messages - Information on Toxic Chemicals - Directory of National Parks - Poison Control Information - Franchise Opportunities - Patent Infringement Case Studies For example, suppose you ran a brokerage business for people wanting to get franchises. If you had the Information Please textbase called Franchise Information, and you wanted to know what automotive franchises that deal with brakes were available, you could easily look up that cross-referenced information in the Information Please textbase. (Could you imagine how much time it could take to cross-reference that look-up in a book (or books))? Once you have defined your search, you can examine the information on the screen, print it to the printer, or continue your search for more relevant information. Suppose employees in your company call into a central help line to get help when their cash register or computer acts up. Over a period of time, most questions will have standard answers. Do you need to have a staff of several experts to answer these questions over and over again? Should you reinvent a solution each time a question is asked -- even though it may be the same question that was asked two weeks ago, a month ago, or a year ago? Why not store a description of the problem in an Information Please textbase. Then, when someone calls up with a problem that has been previously solved, the helpdesk operator can easily search for that problem and relate the answer to the caller. In fact, if you place a copy of Information Please on each employee's computer, they can find the answer to their own question without even having to call the central help line. What you have is a time saving, money saving, productivity enhancing benefit! Information Please is designed specifically to help you find the information you need quickly and with a minimum number of keystrokes. It uses a conceptually easy menu system that can be mastered in a matter of ___________________________________________________________________ Please Register 3 Information Please 2.10 ___________________________________________________________________ minutes. Differences in IP Version 2.1 Version 2.1 of Information Please contains these changes from the original release of version 2.0: o Includes a runtime module that you may use to distribute IP textbases without any royalty fee. o Print individual record to a file or printer. o Select automatic page after print of a record. o Select margins for printing a record. o Password protection and encrypting with multiple levels of authorization. o Count records containing a search match. o Improved /OPEN parameter and menu improvements. o More examples. INSTALLING INFORMATION PLEASE To place Information Please on your hard disk, place the Information Please distribution disk in your A: drive (or B:, C:, D: etc). Make A: (or B: etc) the default by typing A: (or B: etc) at the DOS prompt. Enter the command: INSTALL Then follow the prompts on the screen. You will be prompted to enter or confirm the name of the disk to install FROM, and the disk to install TO, and the DIRECTORY where you want the program installed. Suggested answers will be presented for each of these questions. To accept the suggestion, press Enter. To enter a new TO, FROM or DIRECTORY, press backspace to erase the suggested answer, then enter your own specification. BEGINNING INFORMATION PLEASE To begin Information Please from the DOS prompt, make sure you are logged into the correct drive and are in the \IP directory. If you are not in the IP directory, enter the command: CD \IP To begin Information Please, enter the command IP Depending on what edition you are running, Copyright information may appear on the screen. If it does, press Enter. A screen will ___________________________________________________________________ Please Register 4 Information Please 2.10 ___________________________________________________________________ appear with a menu bar at the top and a status bar at the bottom. The Files menu will be displayed. To choose an option from the menu, press the first letter of the option or use the up and down arrow keys to highlight the desired option, then press Enter. SETUP INFORMATION PLEASE To setup Information Please for your computer, select "Choose Program Options" from the menu. You will be prompted to enter the path to be used for the program. For now, just enter the name of the disk drive, such as C: or A: and press Enter. You will then be prompted to choose the kind of monitor you are using. If your monitor will display colors, choose color. If you are using a laptop with an LCD monitor, you will probably choose the LCD option or else choose the monochrome option (black and white, green and black, etc). Choose the one that is most comfortable to you. Next, you will choose your printer port, usually LPT1:. You will also be asked to enter default margins for printing our records, and you will be allowed to choose if you want to automatically have the printer go to the top of form each time a record is printed. The setup information is saved to disk so you will not have to set these options again unless you want to change something. You can reset these program options at any time by choosing the Choose Program Options from the FILES menu. TAKE A QUICK TOUR OF INFORMATION PLEASE To give you an idea of what Information Please can do, follow along with the example given here. All of the menus and options used here are explained later in more detail. Begin Information Please by entering the command IP at the DOS prompt. You should first see a copyright notice. Press Enter. Next, you should see a screen like the one illustrated in Figure 1. 1. Choose Textbase: Choose the Information Please textbase to use by selecting the option "Open a Textbase" from the Files menu (Either press the O (letter O, not zero) key or highlight this option and press Enter). When you choose this option, one or more textbase names will be listed on the screen. Using the up and down arrow keys, highlight the name "IP-DOS" and press Enter. At the bottom left of the screen, you should see a note that the textbase IP-DOS is currently in use. 2. Go To View Menu: The View menu will now be extended. Use the up and down arrow keys to highlight the option "View Keyword List." With this option highlighted, press the Enter key to select it. A list of keywords, one list per line, will appear on the screen. Use ___________________________________________________________________ Please Register 5 Information Please 2.10 ___________________________________________________________________ the Up and Down arrow key to move to record number 5, then press the Enter key. This causes the contents of record number 5 to be displayed on the screen. 3. View Nearby Records: With record number 5 displayed on the screen, press the F10 key a couple of times. This moves you forward in the textbase. Pressing the F9 key moves you backwards in the textbase. Press the Esc key to return to the screen listing the keywords. Press Esc again to return to the View Menu. 4. Do A Keyword Search: While in the View menu, press the "K" key to choose the option "Keyword Search." A list of match types will appear. Choose the Single Keyword Search option. You will be prompted to enter a keyword. Enter the word DISK and press Enter. Information Please will now search the keyword lists for the word DISK, and will display the first record that contains that keyword. 5. Continue Same Search: When a record is displayed, observe the keyword list to find the word DISK. Press the F10 key to continue the search to the next keyword list containing the word DISK, or press the F9 key to search backwards in the file. If there are no more matches, the search ends. 6. End the Program: Press the Esc key one or more times until you are back to the View menu. Press Esc once more and you will be prompted End Information Please (y/N) Enter Y key and press Enter to end the program and return to the DOS prompt. TOUR NUMBER 2 - NATIONAL PARKS You can also begin IP from the DOS prompt and automatically open a textbase to use. For example, to open the PARKS textbase, enter this command at the DOS prompt: IP /OPEN:PARKS This time the IP screen appears with the VIEW pull down menu extended and KEYWORD SEARCH highlighted. Press the downarrow key once to select In-Text search and press Enter (or press I). Choose single keyword search, and enter the word BEAR. The program will locate the first record in the PARKS textbase that matches the search word BEAR. This textbase also uses the PCX viewer to display a map of the park's location. Press the F4 key, and a map of Alaska should ___________________________________________________________________ Please Register 6 Information Please 2.10 ___________________________________________________________________ appear. (If it does not, you may not have a CGA compatible monitor.) Press Enter to go back to the text description. Press the Esc key one or more times until you are back to the View menu. Press Esc once more and you will be prompted End Information Please (y/N) Enter Y key and press Enter to end the program and return to the DOS prompt. TEXTBASES ON DISK The Information Please textbases on disk are: IP-DOS: This textbase contains information about how to respond to DOS error messages concerning the use of disk drives. It gives suggestions for how to recover from problems you may encounter. PARKS Textbase: This textbase contains information about US National Parks. Open this textbase and look at the first record for an Alaska National Park. Notice that when the record is displayed, there is a menu item F4 at the bottom of the window. This indicates that there is a command associated with this record. In this case, it is a command to show a map of the Alaska National Parks. (Action commands are described later) If you have a CGA compatible monitor (including an EGA or VGA), press the F4 key and the Alaska parks map should appear on the screen. Press Enter to return to the text of the record. SAMPLER Textbase: This textbase contains single examples of other kinds of information you could store in an Information Please Textbase. Look through the records in this textbase to give you ideas about how you can more effectively use Information Please. FRANCHISE Textbase: There is a file on disk called FRANCHIS.TXT that is the text of a textbase which you can use to try out the import feature of IP. From the IP Files menu, choose New Textbase, and call it FRANCHIS. Then go to the Edit menu and choose Import. Import the file FRANCHIS.TXT, then look at the records to see how this information was easily imported into IP. This textbase contains information about US Franchise Opportunities. Only a few records are included in this example textbase. Also, you might examine the FRANCHIS.TXT file with your word processor to see how to prepare a file to be imported into IP. Besides the information in these textbases, you can create your own textbases. The following information details the various commands and options available to you in Information Please. ___________________________________________________________________ Please Register 7 Information Please 2.10 ___________________________________________________________________ HOW INFORMATION PLEASE IS ORGANIZED The Information Please main menu consists of three options; Files, Edit, and View. When you choose one of these options, a menu will be displayed giving you another set of options. The FILE menu item is used to deal with file (textbase) related issues such as creating a new textbase, opening a current textbase, deleting a textbase and so on. The EDIT menu item is used to deal with individual entries (records) in the textbase such as editing a record, deleting records and so on. The VIEW menu item is used to search for and look at entries in the textbase. Each entry in an Information Please textbase is called a record. A record consists of two parts, a keyword list and a description. The keyword list is a list of words that describe the entry. For example, the keywords might be "HARD DISK WILL NOT BOOT" and the entry might explain what can cause a hard disk to lose its ability to boot, and give some solutions for solving the problem. The Keyword list consists of up to 65 characters. The entry description can consists of up to 500 lines (or about 32K of information) of free-form information - usually one or more paragraphs of information. USING THE FILES MENU The File menu allows you to use and manipulate Information Please files and also contains some options that deal with program setup and operation. The Files menu options are: Files Menu Options Help New Textbase Open a Textbase Delete a Textbase Edit Textbase Description Print a Textbase Encode/Decode a Textbase Sort a Textbase About Information Please Choose Program Options Go to DOS, Return with EXIT Quit, Return to DOS To choose one of these options, you may use the up and down arrow keys to highlight the desired option and then press the Enter key. Optionally, you can press the first letter of the option. For example, to choose the "About Information Please" option, press the A key. Following is a brief description of each of these options. ___________________________________________________________________ Please Register 8 Information Please 2.10 ___________________________________________________________________ HELP The Help option displays a series of help screens that summarize the contents of the manual. When Help is chosen, a menu of items will appear. You can then choose a topic to examine or return to the main menu. NEW TEXTBASE The New Textbase option allows you to name a new textbase. Before entering information into a textbase you must either open an existing textbase or create a new textbase. OPEN TEXTBASE The Open Textbase option allows you to choose which Information Please textbase on disk you will be using. A list of the available textbases will be displayed on the screen from which you can choose one to open. DELETE A TEXTBASE The Delete a Textbase option allows you to delete textbase files from your disk. It will delete the currently open textbase -- but will ask for a confirmation to make sure you really want to delete the textbase files. EDIT A TEXTBASE DESCRIPTION The Edit a Textbase Description option allows you to enter or edit the 40 character description of the currently open textbase. This textbase description is displayed in the list of textbases when you choose the Open Textbase or Delete Textbase options. PRINT TEXTBASE The Print Textbase option allows you to print the contents of the textbase to a printer or to a file. ENCODE/DECODE A TEXTBASE The Encode/Decode option allows you to scramble the contents of a textbase to prevent unauthorized persons from extracting information from the textbase. When you encode a textbase, you will be asked to enter a password. Later, if you want to decode the textbase (and turn it back into a normal textbase) you will have to enter the same password before the program will decode the textbase. When you encode a textbase, you can choose to have: ___________________________________________________________________ Please Register 9 Information Please 2.10 ___________________________________________________________________ o 1. the information scrambled in the textbase but available for viewing from IP. No printing is allowed from the textbase. You would use this option when you want the information to be available for viewing, but you want some protection from the user printing the information to a printer or to the file. o 2. the information scrambled in the textbase and cannot be viewed unless the correct password is entered when requested. No printing is allowed from the textbase. You would use this option when you want to limit who will be able to read/print the contents of the textbase. o 3. similar to 2, except printing is allowed. When you choose to encode a textbase, you will be asked questions about how you want to allow the information to be viewed (one of the three options described above). Encoding will slow the display and searching of records, particularly on PC's using 8088 microprocessors. You will want to test the encoded textbase to see if encoding makes search times too long. Encoding is not fool-proof. A competent hacker would be able to decipher the scrambled data eventually, but the encoding is sufficient enough that it will keep the nosy from easily viewing or capturing the contents of a textbase. The decoding process simply returns an encoded textbase back to its original non-encoded state. SORT Textbase The Sort Textbase option allows you to sort the textbase keyword lists. In order to effectively use the sort option, you may pre-plan your keyword list so they can be sorted. For example, you might make the first word in your keyword list your most important word. For example, in the Franchise Textbase, it might be the kind of franchise such as AUTOMOTIVE, BUSINESS, FOOD, and so on. Then, when you enter new items and want to place the keyword list in alphabetical order, you can sort on the first word of your keyword list. When you choose to Sort a Textbase, you will be asked to enter the range of the keyword list to use as the sort key. For example, if you want to use the first 5 characters of the keyword list, you would enter 1-5 as your sort key range. When Information Please sorts a textbase, the textbase is also automatically compressed. Thus, any records that have been marked for delete will be gone when you perform a sort. ___________________________________________________________________ Please Register 10 Information Please 2.10 ___________________________________________________________________ If this sort does not place your textbase in the order you want, another option is to print the textbase to a file, then use a word processor to move records around. When your textbase is in the order you want, delete the old Information Please textbase and re-create the textbase name and import the information from your word processed file (it must be an ASCII text file). - See Import. ABOUT INFORMATION PLEASE The About Information Please option gives copyright information about the program. CHOOSE PROGRAM OPTIONS The Choose Program Options item allows you to choose the disk drive and path to use for Information Please and to indicate what kind of monitor you are using. For the path, you can enter just the disk drive name, such as C: or a drive and path, such as C:\IP\. If no path is specified, Information Please will use information in the current default directory on your disk. You may choose from monitor types Color, LCD or Monochrome. The color option refers to CGA, EGA, PGA, VGA or other monitor types that display color. The LCD option displays only black and white. The Monochrome option displays black, white and bright white. Choose the one that is most pleasant for your use. After you make your choice, the information is stored to disk so the settings will be the same the next time you begin the Information Please program. GO TO DOS The Go to DOS option allows you to temporarily return to the DOS prompt. You may enter DOS commands or run another program. When you type EXIT at the DOS prompt, Information Please will resume. QUIT The Quit, Return to DOS option ends the Information Please program and returns you to the DOS prompt. USING THE EDIT MENU The Edit menu is used to edit or manipulate individual records in the textbase. Before using the Edit menu, you must have an open textbase. If a textbase is open, the textbase name will be located at the bottom left of the screen. The options on the Edit menu are: ___________________________________________________________________ Please Register 11 Information Please 2.10 ___________________________________________________________________ EDIT MENU OPTIONS: Add New Entry Delete an Entry Restore a Deleted Entry Edit and Entry Import from a File Compress the Textbase ADD NEW ENTRY The Add New Entry option allows you to enter a new record into the textbase. This record consists of a description and a keyword list. When you choose to enter a record, the Information Please Editor will display with a mostly blank screen. On this screen, you will enter the description that you want to appear in the record. Also, you must enter a keyword description. To display the keyword entry box, press the F2 function key. A dialog box will appear in which you can enter the keywords for this record. Press enter to return to the editor. Optionally, you can enter an Action Command to be associated with this record. An Action Command is a DOS command that you want to be issued during the viewing of the record. For example, In the PARKS textbase, when you view information about Alaskan parks, you can view a map of the parks by pressing the F4 key. The F4 key invokes a command that was defined when this entry was added (or edited). To define a command, press the CTRL-K key while adding or editing this record. The command may be any DOS command up to 25 characters in length. The main stipulation is that there must be enough memory in the computer for this command to execute. See the discussion on ACTION COMMANDS later. When you have finished entering the description and keywords, press the F7 function key to save the information. If you decide to abandon this entry and not save the information, press the Esc key. DELETE AN ENTRY The Delete an Entry option allows you to delete a record from the textbase. You will be asked to enter the record number of the entry to delete. Optionally, you can enter a range of records to delete. This process does not actually permanently get rid of the entry or entries - you can restore a deleted entry. If a record is deleted, you cannot read it or display its contents. To permanently get rid of all deleted records, use the Compress option. ___________________________________________________________________ Please Register 12 Information Please 2.10 ___________________________________________________________________ RESTORE A DELETED ENTRY If you have deleted an entry, you can get it back by using the Restore a Deleted Entry option. You will be prompted to enter the number of the entry to restore. EDIT AN ENTRY The Edit an Entry option allows you to edit the keywords and description of an entry. The entry will be displayed in the Information Please editor, where you can change, add to, or delete information in the description. Use the F2 key to edit the keyword list or CTRL-K to edit the Action Command (see description for Adding an Entry). Editing records can cause slack space in your textbase file. This is space in your textbase that formerly held information, but now is not used because of editing. You should periodically run the Compress option to free up the slack space in the textbase. IMPORT FROM A FILE Using the Import from a File option, you can enter information that you may already have on your computer into an Information Please textbase. To import information into Information Please, your information should be in a standard ASCII text file with lines less than 75 characters long. Most word processors will save information in this manner as an option. Your text file should have keyword lists before each description. This keyword list must begin with KEY: followed by up to 65 characters for the key list. For example: KEY:HARD DISK WILL NOT BOOT After the key, place the text of the description. You may have any number of entries in your text file. When you import them into Information Please, the "KEY:" statement will signal the beginning of a new entry. Optionally, you may also have a command line in the file. For example, if you want the command IPPCX ALASKA /M:0 to be available when this record is viewed, place COMMAND:IPPCX ALASKA /M:0 flush left in the description of this record on a line following the KEY: line. (see Action Commands, described later). You may also include a title (Textbase description) in the text file by placing ___________________________________________________________________ Please Register 13 Information Please 2.10 ___________________________________________________________________ TITLE: and a description on the first line of the file. For example: TITLE:FRANCHISE INFORMATION Once you have created the file containing the entries you may choose the Import From a File option. You will be asked the name of the file to import, and Information Please will read the file and add those entries to the record of the currently opened textbase. If you are beginning with a blank textbase, choose Create a Textbase from the Files menu, then choose Import from the Edit menu. A sample text file that you can import is on disk. The file is named FRANCHIS.TXT. To import this file: 1) From the FILES menu, choose NEW Textbase and enter the name FRAN. Leave the textbase description blank since the text file contains a TITLE. 2) Go to the EDIT menu and choose IMPORT. When asked for the file name, enter FRANCHIS.TXT. The information will be converted to an Information Please textbase, and is now ready to be searched and used. COMPRESS THE TEXTBASE When you have deleted records from a textbase, they are not physically removed, and they may be restored. To permanently get rid of these records, use the Compress the Textbase option. This will free up space on your disk and make searching the textbase more efficient. USING THE VIEW MENU The View menu is where you search and view the information in the Information Please textbase. You may choose to view a record by number, by searching for a keyword in the keyword list, by searching for one or more words in the record description or by looking at a list of the keywords. The items on the View Menu are: VIEW MENU OPTIONS: Keyword Choice In-Text Search View Keyword List Number Choice You must have a currently open textbase to choose one of these ___________________________________________________________________ Please Register 14 Information Please 2.10 ___________________________________________________________________ options. Choose an option by highlighting the option and pressing the Enter key, or press the first letter of the option. KEYWORD CHOICE When you choose the Keyword Choice option, you will see another menu giving you the following options: Single Keyword Search AND - Multiple AND Search OR - Multiple OR Search Quit A single keyword search allows you to enter a keyword or phrase (such as DISK). Information Please will then display the first record that matches the search. Case is not checked, so DISK will match disk. You may use the F9 key to view the previous matching record, the F10 key to view the next matching record. Deleted records will not be displayed. Press the F2 key if you wish to edit this record. Press the Esc key to end the viewing. A Multiple AND search allows you to specify 2 to 10 words to match. For example, you might want to match on the words DISK and BOOT. The AND match criteria means that the keyword must contain BOTH the word DISK and the word BOOT. You will be prompted to enter a list of match words with the AND sign (&) between each word. In this case you would enter DISK&BOOT Information Please will display the first record that matches the search criteria. You may use the F9 key to view the previous matching record, the F10 key to view the next matching record. Deleted records will not be displayed. Press the F2 key if you wish to edit this record. Press the Esc key to end the viewing. A Multiple OR search allows you to specify 2 to 10 words to match. For example, you might want to match on the words DISK or BOOT. The match criteria means that the keyword must contain EITHER the word DISK or the word BOOT. You will be prompted to enter a list of match words with a ~ (tilde) between each word. In this case you would enter DISK~BOOT Information Please will display the first record that matches the search criteria. You may use the F9 key to view the previous matching record, the F10 key to view the next matching record. Deleted records will not be displayed. Press the F2 key if you wish to edit this record. Press the Esc key to end the viewing. ___________________________________________________________________ Please Register 15 Information Please 2.10 ___________________________________________________________________ IN-TEXT SEARCH An In-text Search searches the contents of the entry, not just the keyword list. This search tends to be slower than a keyword search. When you choose the In-Text Search option, you are give the same options as in the Keyword search - a single keyword search, multiple AND matches and multiple OR matches. VIEW KEYWORD LIST The View Keyword List option displays a list of the keyword descriptions of all of the entries in the currently opened textbase. If there are more entries than the screen can display, you may press the down arrow key or PgDn to view additional keyword lists. To move back up the list, press the up arrow key or PgUp. To view the contents of a record, highlight the keyword list and press the Enter key. Press the Esc key to end the View Keyword List option. NUMBER CHOICE When you choose the Number Choice option, you will be asked to enter the number of the record to view. This record will then be displayed on the screen. You may use the F9 key to view the previous record, the F10 key to view the next record. Deleted records will not be displayed. Press the F2 key if you wish to edit this record. Press the Esc key to end the viewing. OPTIONS WHILE VIEWING RECORDS While viewing records, there are several function key commands that are available to you. Pressing the F10 function key will cause Information Please to search for the next record. The F9 key searches for the previous record. Pressing the F2 key allows you to edit the record being viewed. Pressing the F3 key allows you to print this record or save the contents to a file. If an action command has been defined for a record, the F4 key will activate that command. Press the Esc key to quit viewing records and return to the previous menu. USING ACTION COMMANDS (F4) An Action Command is a DOS command that you want to be issued during the viewing of the record. If an Action Command has been created for a record, while viewing the record the F4 function key will appear at the bottom of the view window. When the F4 function key is pressed, the Action Command is executed. An Action Command is defined when an entry is added (or edited) in ___________________________________________________________________ Please Register 16 Information Please 2.10 ___________________________________________________________________ an Information Please textbase. To define a command while in the editor, press the CTRL-K key. The command may be any DOS command up to 25 characters in length. The main stipulation is that there must be enough memory in the computer for this command to execute. The Parks information file uses an Action Command to display a map of Alaska associated with the description of Alaskan National Parks. A program that displays PCX (Paintbrush) files is included on your Information Please disk. This program, IPPCX.EXE, displays a graphic on the screen. When the user presses any key, the program ends, and control is turned back over to Information Please. See the description about how to use the IPPCX program. You can use any DOS command as an Action Command. There are any number of programs available to you that can display graphics (PCX, GIF, TIF and others), programs that can display spreadsheets, textbase file, text files, and so on. When the program you have initiated quits, control will be turned back over to Information Please. The primary concern in using an Action Command is if the user's PC has that program available and if it will work on his or her PC. For example, if you have a PCX graphic created to be viewed on a VGA type monitor, a person with a CGA monitor will not be able to see the graphic properly. If the command you want to issue is longer than 25 characters, you can use the Action Command to call a batch file. The batch file can then contain other commands that you want executed. See your DOS manual for a description of batch files. The program IPPCX was included on disk to illustrate how to use an Action Command. A description of how IPPCX works follows. USING THE IPPCX PROGRAM The IPPCX Program allows you to display PCX type files to the monitor. The format of the IPPCX program is IPPCX filename [/M:n] where filename is the name of the PCX file and the optional switch /M:n designates the Monitor type being used. The option n may range from 0 to 9, with the following meanings: PCX Monitor Modes for the IPPCX Program 0 - 320 x 200 pixel CGA (4 colors) 1 - 640 x 200 pixel CGA (2 colors) 2 - 320 x 200 pixel EGA (16 colors) ___________________________________________________________________ Please Register 17 Information Please 2.10 ___________________________________________________________________ 3 - 640 x 299 pixel EGA (16 colors) 4 - 640 x 350 pixel EGA (2 colors) 5 - 640 x 350 pixel EGA (16 colors) 6 - 640 x 480 pixel VGA (2 colors) 7 - 640 x 480 pixel VGA (16 colors) 8 - 320 x 200 pixel VGA (256 colors) 9 - 720 x 348 pixel Hercules (2 colors) The monitor type should match the type used to create the PCX file. If a monitor cannot display the monitor type, the PCX graphic will appear distorted. For example, in the PARKS textbase, the command IPPCX ALASKA /M:0 was used as an Action Command. This command began the IPPCX program to display the PCX file named ALASKA.PCX. The switch /M:0 indicates that this graphic is made to display on a CGA type monitor. (It will also display properly on most EGA and VGA monitors.) USING THE INFORMATION PLEASE EDITOR The Information Please editor allows you to enter new record descriptions or to modify descriptions already in a textbase. The following commands are available in the editor. Commands are accessed by pressing a function key or by entering a CTRL (control) command. The edit keys command are: EDIT FUNCTION KEYS Esc-End - Exit without saving modifications F1-Help: Help screens. F2-Keyword - Enter or Modify Keyword list F3-Top: Move to the top of the record F4-Bottom: Move to the bottom of the record F5-Files: List files or get file from disk. F6-Center a line F7-Save Record and any modifications F8-Clear: Clears editor contents (Does not clear copy buffer). F9-Mark: Mark block for copy. F10-Copy: Copy text. See also Ctrl-C. To edit or enter a keyword list, use the F2 function key. The F9 and F10 commands are used to copy text from one location to another. To mark text (store it to be moved), place the cursor at the top left of the text and press the F9 key once. Then move the cursor to the bottom right of the text and press the F9 key again. ___________________________________________________________________ Please Register 18 Information Please 2.10 ___________________________________________________________________ Make sure your rectangle covers all of the text to move. When you mark the text, it will be highlighted on the screen. Move your cursor to where you want the text to be moved and press the F10 key. This will insert the text between existing lines in the record. To copy text directly over exiting text, use the CTRL-C command rather than the F10 command. To exit the editor and save the description, press the F7-Save key. To exit and not save, press the Esc key. The following Control commands are issued by pressing the CTRL key like a shift key, and then simultaneously pressing a single command key. CONTROL COMMANDS (CTRL) CTRL A - Makes characters UPPER CASE. CTRL C - Is similar to the F10 function key. However, instead of first inserting blank lines before making a copy, CTRL C will place the copied text in the position specified by the cursor, directly over any text that may happen to exist. CTRL D - Deletes all characters on the current line which are to the right of the cursor. If the cursor is in column one, the entire line will be deleted. CTRL K - Allows you to enter or edit an Action Command. CTRL F - "Fills" the text from the current line to the next blank line which starts with a dot "." Each line is filled with as many words as will fit while observing the current line length specifications. CTRL J - Justifies line to right line length (margin) in editor. CTRL L - Resets the line length (right margin) within EDIT. After pressing CTRL L, you will be prompted to enter the new line length. CTRL S - Will search for a specified text. You will be prompted to enter the text to be located. Each time this text is matched, it will be highlighted on the screen. CTRL W - Deletes text from the position of the cursor to the next blank. This is usually used to delete a word. CTRL Y - Deletes a line. CTRL Z - Makes characters lower case. USING COMMAND LINE SWITCHES This section lists some special features of Information Please. These may be of particular interest to organizational PC Support Coordinators. Command Line Switches The format for the Information Please command is ___________________________________________________________________ Please Register 19 Information Please 2.10 ___________________________________________________________________ IP [/MESS:filename][/OPEN:textbasename] The items in brackets are optional switches to the command. Information in switches must not contain any blank spaces. The /OPEN: switch allows you to open an Information Please textbase file without having to choose it from the Information Please menu. This allows you to setup the Information Please program to automatically use a particular textbase. For example, if you want the textbase IP-DOS to be open when you begin the program, you would enter the command: IP /OPEN:IP-DOS The /MESS: switch allows you to display the information from a text file on the screen at the beginning of the Information Please program. This could be helpful if you are using Information Please as a part of an organizational support program. You can use this "Special Message" as a description of how to use Information Please, what updates you have included in a textbase, and other important messages. For example, suppose you place some ASCII text in a file named SPECIAL.TXT that you want displayed when Information Please is begun. You would use the command: IP /MESS:special.txt This message will be displayed in a message box with the caption "Special Message" at the top and "Press Enter to Continue" at the bottom. ASCII text files can be created by most word processors. Create a file using margins that create a document about 60 characters wide. Save the document as a DOS, ASCII or Text file (different word processors use different terms.). Then, use the /MESS: switch in the Information Please command to display the message. To get rid of the "Print an Order Form" message on the opening screen, use the /N switch in the command line. For example, enter IP /N to begin the program. USING THE RUN TIME PROGRAM The Information Please run time version is named IPRT.EXE. This program can be used to distribute your textbases without royalty. As a registered user, you may distribute the files IPRT.EXE, IPRT.HLP (the help file), TXHELP.EXE (the help screen driver) and IPPCX.EXE (the PCX viewer) to provide access to any textbase you may develop. The IP run time program contains all of the function needed to view and search your textbase and to optionally allow the user to print ___________________________________________________________________ Please Register 20 Information Please 2.10 ___________________________________________________________________ records (password protection and encoding are supported in this version). It does not contain the ability to create new textbases or any of the editing functions. Otherwise, the programs are identical. To begin the runtime module, enter the command IPRT at the DOS prompt. You may want to create a batch file to begin the program and open up your textbase. For example, if your textbase is called CATALOG, you would use the command IPRT /OPEN:CATALOG You can also use the /MESS: option to cause a message screen to appear as the program begins. This can contain your own copyright and instructional information. DISTRIBUTING INFORMATION PLEASE TEXTBASES If you are distributing Information Please textbases, you must supply two files for each textbase. Of course, there must be a copy of the Information Please program or the run time version on each computer also. The file with the .IPI extension contains the index of Keywords. The file with the extension .IPD contains the data records. To distribute an Information Please textbase, all you need to do is supply these two files. That is, copy these files to the PC hard disk directory where you want them to be available. When you choose "Open a Textbase" from the Files menu, Information Please searches the directory for textbase names. Those textbase names that are found are the ones displayed when the user chooses Open Textbase. To distribute the run time version: The program files required to run the IP run time version are IPRT.EXE, TXHELP.EXE and IPRT.HLP. Optionally, you can include the IPPCX.EXE file if you are using the PCX viewer. You may distribute these files as a part of a textbase you are distributing (including commercial distibution) without making any royalty payment if you are a registered IP user with TexaSoft. To distribute the full version: The program files required to run the full version of IP are IP.EXE, TXHELP.EXE and IP.HLP. Optionally, you can include the IPPCX.EXE file if you are using the PCX viewer and/or the IP-SORT.EXE and IP-ENC.EXE files. To distribute the fully functional version of IP within an organization, you must purchase a site license from TexaSoft. To distribute the full version in a commercial (retail, shareware, etc.) program, you must obtain a distribution license from TexaSoft. ___________________________________________________________________ Please Register 21 Information Please 2.10 ___________________________________________________________________ USER BALLOT In order to continue to improve Information Please, we need your input. This ballot is used to help us prioritize changes in future versions. Please indicate the changes you would like to see most in this program. Place a number from 0 to 10 next to each item, where 10 indicates a HIGH priority for change and 0 means a LOW priority for change. We appreciate your suggestions. Your Vote Item --------- ----------------------------------- _____ Support use of a mouse _____ Make the program searching faster _____ Make the keyword field longer _____ Allow fixed-length fields within the keyword field _____ Allow sort by numeric and/or date keyword items _____ Provide more examples on disk & in the manual _____ Allow mixed AND and OR search criteria in a search _____ Use single keystroke commands for commonly used options (such as Alt-V to go to view keyword list) _____ _____________________________________ _____ _____________________________________ Write Other Suggestions Here: Please fill out this ballot and return to Texasoft, PO Box 1169, Cedar Hill, Texas 75104, or fax to 214-291-3400. 22