home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
The Datafile PD-CD 3
/
PDCD_3.iso
/
internet
/
groups
/
!Groups
/
!Help
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1995-07-13
|
9KB
|
275 lines
---------------------------
| Help file for !Groups |
| A newsgroups selector |
| |
| © David Croft, 1995 |
---------------------------
This document is divided into 11 sections:
1. Copyright notice
2. Requirements
3. Installing Groups
4. The main window
5. Adding/removing groups
6. Searching
7. New groups
8. Wish-list
9. Release history
10. Acknowledgements
11. Contact addresses
Groups also supports interactive help. Click SELECT on the icon in the bottom
right of the main window and move the pointer around to receive further help.
1. Copyright notice
-------------------
The !Groups application and most of its contents are Copyright 1995 by David
Croft, whose address may be found at the bottom of this document. The parts
that are not are:
* The Dynamite module, which is © 1994 Straylight
* The "sort" utility which is © Andy Armstrong
You may copy this program freely, so long as:
* You do not charge for it in any way.
* You distribute it intact, with all original files present and unmodified.
(this means you must delete your "Config" file before redistribution)
* You understand that the copyright remains with the author.
This program comes with no guarantee, implied or stated. No responsibility
can be accepted by the author for any kind of loss.
Permission is granted to Dr. Alan Hassey to include this software in his
Internet Starter Pack.
2. Requirements
---------------
Operating System:
* RISC OS 3.10 or greater
Software:
* Newsbase version 0.54 or greater
* A transport system (e.g. ka9q or uucp)
The latest version of Newsbase can be found in:
ftp://ftp.demon.co.uk/pub/archimedes/developers/
3. Installing !Groups
---------------------
There are currently two ways of running !Groups:
(i) Double click on it directly.
(ii) Use the "New groups..." option in Newsbase.
If you are not likely to use method (i) then you should install !Groups inside
the directory !Newsbase.AutoBoot. This will still boot it so that other
programs can run it, but will hide the actual application from view.
Groups needs Newsbase to be present before it can begin, and you will be
prompted for it if it is not loaded. Otherwise the main window will appear.
Section 4 details this window.
If you have a file containing a full newsgroups listing, you should now tell
Groups about it. Click MENU over the window, and choose "Configure". Drag
the file to this new window and then click on Save.
If you are a Demon subscriber, this file can be found as:
ftp://ftp.demon.co.uk/pub/news/active.dis
or the compressed (zip) version:
ftp://ftp.demon.co.uk/pub/news/active.zip
which you must unzip before giving it to Groups.
If you use Acorn TCP/IP or FreeNet, Groups can grab the list directly from
your news server. To do this, click MENU over the main window, and use the
"Newsgroups list" option. This will open a taskwindow which can grab the list
for you. (** NOTE ** This facility is not implemented in version 0.14)
Finally, you should configure the Newsbase "new groups expiry" time to
be longer than the regularity of your new group checks. I would suggest
two or three weeks as a sensible value.
4. The main window
------------------
This window contains two subwindows: a source window (on the left) and a
feed window (on the right).
The source window shows you the contents of the various source lists. Click
SELECT over the menu icon at the top of the window to choose a different list.
"Newsgroups file" shows you the contents of your full newsgroups file, if
you have one. "New groups" shows you new groups created since you last
clicked on "Catch Up". "Search results", when available, shows you the
results of your last search.
If you have a suitable WWW browser loaded (e.g. ArcWeb version 0.28 or
greater), you can double-click on a group name to read that group.
The feed window on the right hand side shows you the groups you are currently
receiving.
5. Adding/removing groups
-------------------------
To add a group to your feed, drag it from the source window into the feed
window. It will then be automatically added to your feed.
If you drag a group to another application it will be inserted into the text.
If you drag to a filer window, a file called "Newsgroup" will be created
containing the name of the group.
In both instances, hold down CTRL to insert the group in URL format
(news://group/). (this modifier will be abolished soon)
To remove a group from your feed, click on it with ADJUST.
6. Searching
------------
There are two methods of searching.
a) Start-of-name searching
You must be viewing the main list to use this method. Click MENU over the
main window and choose "Find a group", and a small !Zap-style search window
will appear. Type in the first few letters of the group's name, and the window
will scroll to find the group. It will keep searching for your group name as
you type, so you will get closer and closer to it as you type more.
There is a little box on the far right of this window which shows a tick if
it has found a match, and a cross if it hasn't. If there is a tick in this
window, you can press RETURN to add the last group found. Press ESCAPE to
close this window when you have finished with it.
While this window is open, you can use the following keys to navigate the
main list:
⇧ / ⇩ Scroll up and down the list by one group
^⇧ / ^⇩ Move to top or bottom of the list
PgUp/PgDn Move up and down by one page.
b) Wildcard searching
You can use wildcard searching while viewing any source, but note that it will
only search the main list. Click MENU over the main window and go to the
submenu "Wildcard search". Type in the the search string, including wildcards
where necessary, and then press RETURN. The search will then commence.
Note that the search is not case-sensitive. If you are looking for a word as
a part of a group name, then search for that group surrounded by wildcards.
See examples below.
When the search is complete, the source window will change to display the
results of your search.
Examples:
demon.* to search for all Demon newsgroups.
*music* for all groups with "music" in their name.
*.test to list all the test newsgroups.
If you want to display the contents of the big-8 hierarchies (alt, comp, etc.)
then there is a submenu off the main menu to do this for you.
7. New groups
-------------
When you have selected the "New groups" source, Groups will display all
the new groups created since you last used the button "Catch up".
The "Catch up" button will place a marker at the current date and time so
that next time you select "New groups" you will only be given the most
recent new groups.
If you wish to change this time to anything else, you may do so in the
Configure window. Note that the date and time are in the NNTP format of
"yymmdd" and "hhmmss", as mentioned in this window.
Click on "Beginning" to list all new newsgroups on record.
There is an option (in the configure window) to automatically merge the new
groups listing into the main list when you catch up. The procedure followed
is as below:
i) Copy the main list into the scrap directory in case something goes wrong
ii) Add the new groups to the bottom of the main list
iii) Run the file "PostMerge" inside !Groups, which will normally run a
suitable re-sorting program.
iv) Move the new list back into the original list's position.
Since version 0.11, Groups will work out whether the re-sorting was
successful and, if not, move the original file back into position. If for
some reason this does not happen, you should be able to find a backup inside
!Scrap.
8. Wish-list
------------
Soon:
* Put feed groups in dynamite block. (I suspect this will push the WimpSlot
of the crunched version down further to 32k!)
Later:
* A decent icon.
* Grabbing newsgroups list from NNTP server using a TCP/IP protocol stack.
* "Add all" option on search results window
* Selection of multiple groups in either window.
9. Release hist