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MacWAIS User Manual MacWAIS User Manual Version 1.25 Document No. EINet-0005-0293 Copyright (c) 1993 Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation (MCC). All rights reserved. Permission to use and reproduce this documentation for internal purposes is granted to EINet subscribers under the following conditions: * No right is granted to transmit or externally distribute this documentation to non-EINet subscribers. * EINet subscribers may modify and distribute this documentation to other EINet subscribers as long as this copyright notice and permission notice are included. * All reproductions shall include this copyright notice and permission notice. Macintosh(R) is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. Microsoft(R) is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. WAIS(TM) is a trademark of WAIS, Inc. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are property of their respective owners. This document was produced using Microsoft(R) Word. MCC EINet 3500 West Balcones Center Drive Austin, TX 78759-6509 USA Email: einet-info@einet.net Contents -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Introduction 5 MacWAIS - What is it? 5 What is needed to run MacWAIS? 5 How much disk space? 5 Which System/Finder? 5 What's in the rest of this Manual? 6 2 Overview 7 How does MacWAIS fit in? 7 3 Installation 7 4 A Quick Tour 8 5 MacWAIS Reference 17 The Apple Menu 17 About MacWAIS… 17 The File Menu 18 New Question 18 Clone Question 18 Open Question… 18 Close 18 Save 19 Save As… 19 Revert 19 Page Setup… 19 Print… 19 Preferences… 19 Quit 20 The Preferences Dialog 21 The Select Folder Dialog 24 The Edit Menu 25 Undo 25 Cut 25 Copy 25 Paste 25 Clear 25 Launchers… 25 Find… 25 Find Again 26 The Edit Launchers Dialog 27 New… 27 Edit… 27 Delete 28 Enable 28 Disable 28 The Edit Launcher Dialog 29 The Sources Menu 31 New… 31 Edit… 31 Select… 31 The Edit Source Dialog 33 The Select Sources Dialog 35 The Text Menu 37 Add Section As Feedback 37 The Windows Menu 38 MacWAIS Help 38 The Question Window 39 The Multi-Type Dialog 42 1. Introduction ================================================================================ Welcome to MacWAIS. This chapter briefly tells you what MacWAIS is, what equipment you need to run it, and what information is covered in the remainder of this manual. 1.1 MacWAIS - What is it? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MacWAIS is an application that allows you to find, retrieve, and intelligently process information via the WAIS protocol. MacWAIS is also EINet-authentication savvy, so it is capable of communicating with EINet-secured WAIS servers. (See EINet Manager for the Macintosh User Manual for more details on EINet authentication.)1 1The shareware version of MacWAIS is not EINet-authentication savvy. The secure version of MacWAIS and EINet Manager for the Macintosh are available exclusively to EINet customers. 1.2 What is needed to run MacWAIS? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MacWAIS is intended to run on all Macintosh platforms. It is recommended that you run MacWAIS with at least 4M RAM. Because MacWAIS is a TCP/IP-based network application, it also requires MacTCP 1.1 or newer. 1.2a How much disk space? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The distribution, MacWAIS1.25.SEA, is a self-extracting Compact Pro(TM) archive that contains the following: * two README files: one named README (which provides information about the current release), and the other README.shareware (which provides legal/license information), * the MacWAIS application, MacWAIS, * a WAIS Question entitled EINet Shareware (that’ll get you information about shareware available from EINet), * the User Manual you’re currently reading(MacWAIS User Manual), as well as a text-only version (MacWAIS User Manual (text)), * a folder named wais-sources, that contains the following two Source files: Directory of Servers and EINet Directory of Servers. MacWAIS1.25.SEA is 153K in size. When extracted and decompressed, MacWAIS (276K), README.EINet (.5K), and the wais-sources folder and its contents (3K) take up ~280K on your disk. This total does not reflect the Preferences File, or retrieved Source or Document files created as part of MacWAIS's execution. 2These file sizes are approximate in nature, and apply only to the secure version of MacWAIS. 1.2b Which System/Finder? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Use the latest System and Finder provided by Apple. MacWAIS requires at least System 6.0.7. Certain features of MacWAIS are System 7-specific (e.g., Document launching). On non-System 7 platforms these features are simply not invokeable. 1.3 What's in the rest of this Manual? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The remainder of this manual provides: * a brief overview of WAIS and the part MacWAIS plays within it, * instructions for installing MacWAIS, and, finally, * detailed descriptions of all of the MacWAIS commands. 2. Overview ================================================================================ Wide Area Information Servers, or WAIS, contains three basic parts: * servers - the indexers and retrievers of sets of information (referred to as Sources), * clients - the user's front-end for querying the information fronted by servers (i.e., "asking" Questions), and * a standard protocol (Z39.50) - the mechanism through which clients and servers communicate. 2.1 How does MacWAIS fit in? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MacWAIS is just one of several WAIS client programs that are available. Few, however, run on the Macintosh. And none, except MacWAIS, combine Document launching (i.e., the ability to invoke a particular program based on the WAIS type of the Document being retrieved) and the ability to communicate with secure servers. For more information on WAIS, see either of the following documents from the public domain WAIS release: overview.txt, or wais-concepts.txt. 3. Installation ================================================================================ Installation of MacWAIS is as easy as double-clicking on the distribution archive, MacWAIS1.25.SEA. The archive contents may be stored anywhere you choose. 4. A Quick Tour ================================================================================ Let's find some information with MacWAIS! For the sake of example, let's find weather information for Austin (Texas). First, launch MacWAIS. Do this by double-clicking on the MacWAIS icon. At this stage, you'll see an empty, unnamed Question Window and the Select Sources Dialog as shown in Figure 4.1.1. [Graphic Omitted] Figure 4.1.1 MacWAIS - After Launching Next we must find a Source that knows about weather. This can be done by "asking" the Directory of Servers Source about weather. First, we must locate the folder that contains WAIS Sources. In this case, it happens to be the only folder currently listed (i.e., wais-sources). The contents of this folder may be listed by clicking on the Open button, or by pressing Return or Enter. The contents of the wais-sources folder are shown in Figure 4.1.2. [Graphic Omitted] Figure 4.1.2 MacWAIS - After Locating wais-sources Folder The Select Sources Dialog allows you to specify one or more Sources for use by this new, unnamed Question (i.e., of whom the Question will be asked). It will be displayed every time you open a new Question. Note A default Source may be selected for use with new Questions via the File Preferences... command. To add Directory of Servers to the list of selected sources (located on the right side of the Select Sources Dialog) highlight it, by clicking the mouse on it once, and mark it for use with the current Question by clicking the Select button (or pressing Return or Enter). Tip An unmarked Source may be marked for use by simply double-clicking on it. Figure 4.1.3 shows the Select Sources Dialog after selecting Directory of Servers. (Notice the appearance of Directory of Servers in the list on the right-hand side of the dialog entitled Selected Sources. This indicates it has been selected for use by the current Question.) [Graphic Omitted] Figure 4.1.3 MacWAIS - After Selecting Directory of Servers To update the current Question with your Source selection, click the Done button. At this stage, the Question Window will be updated, as shown below in Figure 4.1.4, indicating that the Directory of Servers Source was selected. Notice also that the window title has changed - it now has a preceding bullet ('*') - indicating that the Question has been modified. Note The Selected Sources Popup, displayed by pressing the shadowed button with the downward-facing triangle, shows the names of all of the Sources selected for use by this Question. [Graphic Omitted] Figure 4.1.4 MacWAIS - After Selecting Directory of Servers To ask the selected Source about weather, simply type weather (which you'll see echoed in the "Tell Me About:" box as shown in Figure 4.1.5), and click on the Ask button (or press Return or Enter). [Graphic Omitted] Figure 4.1.5 MacWAIS - After Typing weather While MacWAIS is "asking" Directory of Servers about weather, you should see several status messages (in the Status box near the bottom of the Question Window) as shown in Figure 4.1.5, and the cursor should turn into a spinning globe. After receiving a successful response, you should see several Result Documents (in this case three) in the "Information Found:" box as shown in Figure 4.1.5. [Graphic Omitted] Figure 4.1.5 MacWAIS - After Searching Directory of Servers To view the Result Document named weather.src (shown in Figure 4.1.5 as the first Document in the list) simply click on it once (which will highlight it and enable the View button) and click on the View button. Tip A Result Document may be viewed by simply double-clicking on it. During the retrieval of this (or any) Document, you might see the Transfer Progress Dialog shown in Figure 4.1.7a. This Dialog is displayed depending on how long the transfer takes. Short transfers, big or small, don't bother displaying this Dialog. Long transfers, on the other hand, do. This Dialog indicates how the transfer is progressing by simply filling the bar according to the percentage of the Document that has been transferred. [Graphic Omitted] Figure 4.1.7a Transfer Progress Dialog For cases where the length of the document is not known (e.g., multi- type documents), you might see a textual version of the Transfer Progress Dialog as shown in Figure 4.1.7b. [Graphic Omitted] Figure 4.1.7b Textual Transfer Progress Dialog Note You can switch between the Textual and non-Textual (i.e., graphical bar) versions of the Transfer Progress Dialog by clicking the mouse anywhere on the dialog. After retrieving weather.src, you'll see the Edit Source Dialog displaying information about weather.src as shown in Figure 4.1.8. [Graphic Omitted] Figure 4.1.8 MacWAIS - Editing weather.src Notice that the only thing you can edit about this source is its name. Check the "Use with current question" option (this will save you from having to explicitly select it later), and click the OK button. At this stage, you'll be prompted for where and under what name this Source should be saved via the standard Macintosh Save Dialog as shown in Figure 4.1.9. Initially, the name will be that specified in the Retrieved Source Dialog shown earlier in Figure 4.1.8. [Graphic Omitted] Figure 4.1.9 MacWAIS - Saving weather.src After dismissing the Save Dialog (by clicking on the Save button), notice that the Question Window has been updated to indicate that weather.src was selected, and that the previous "Tell Me About:" text is now highlighted as shown in Figure 4.1.10. (Highlighting the previous "Tell Me About:" text allows you to overwrite it by simply typing new text.) [Graphic Omitted] Figure 4.1.10 MacWAIS - After Selecting weather.src To ask the newly selected Source about weather in Austin, simply type austin, and click on the Ask button. While MacWAIS is "asking" weather.src about austin, you should again see several status messages, and the cursor should again turn into a spinning globe. After receiving a successful response, you should see a single Result Document entitled Austin-TX.txt in the "Information Found:" box as shown in Figure 4.1.11. [Graphic Omitted] Figure 4.1.11 MacWAIS - After Searching weather.src To view this Document (Austin-TX.txt) simply double-click on it. You'll then see a Text Document Window viewing it as shown in Figure 4.1.12. [Graphic Omitted] Figure 4.1.12 MacWAIS - Viewing Austin-TX.txt And there you have it - the MacWAIS Tour! 5. MacWAIS Reference ================================================================================ The following sections describe each of the MacWAIS commands as they're available either from menus, or directly from the Question Window. 5.1 The Apple Menu -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Apple Menu, shown in Figure 5.1.1, provides a single MacWAIS command for displaying information about the MacWAIS application itself. [Graphic Omitted] Figure 5.1.1 The Apple Menu About MacWAIS... This command displays information about the MacWAIS application. Among other things, it displays MacWAIS's version. 5.2 The File Menu -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The File Menu, shown in Figure 5.2.1, provides commands for opening new and previously saved Questions, cloning Questions, saving Questions and retrieved Text Documents, closing Question and Text Document Windows, editing printer setup, printing retrieved Text Documents, editing Preferences, and quitting MacWAIS. The following paragraphs will describe each of these commands in more detail. [Graphic Omitted] Figure 5.2.1 The File Menu New Question This command opens a new Question Window. If the "Default Source for New Question" Preference has not been set, then the Select Sources Dialog will automatically appear. Otherwise, the new Question will have its Source set to that specified by the "Default Source for New Question" Preference. See the section entitled The Preferences Dialog for more details on the "Default Source for New Question" Preference. Clone Question This command opens a new Question Window whose contents are copied from the current Question Window. Tip Clone Question may be invoked by pressing command- option-N. Open Question... This command opens a Question that was previously saved to disk. You will be presented with a standard open dialog box from which you can select the Question to be opened. Close This command closes the currently active Question or Text Document Window. If the currently active window is a Question Window that has been modified, and if the "Query to Save Dirty Questions and Sources" Preference is set (which is the default), then you'll see a dialog box similar to the one shown in Figure 5.2.2. [Graphic Omitted] Figure 5.2.2 The Save Dirty Question/Source Dialog This Dialog is giving you a chance to save (or not) a dirty Question before it is closed. Tip The Close command may be invoked forcing the suppression of the Save Dirty Question/Source Dialog (independent of the "Query to Save Dirty Questions and Sources" Preferences) by pressing command-option-W. Save This command saves the contents of the currently active Question or Text Document Window. If the currently active window has not been previously saved, then this command acts just like the Save As... command described below. Save As... This command saves the contents of the currently active window to disk. You will be presented with a standard save dialog that will allow you to specify the filename and folder in which the data should be saved. Revert This command restores the contents of the currently active Question Window to those last saved to disk. Note Revert only applies to Question Windows that: (a) have been modified since being opened, and (b) represent previously saved Questions. Page Setup... This command displays the standard Page Setup dialog that lets you edit the current printer setup parameters (e.g., specify the size of paper you're printing on). Print... This command prints the contents of the currently active Text Document Window. You will be presented with a standard print dialog that will allow you to specify such things as the number of copies to print, page range, etc. Preferences... This command lets you edit MacWAIS's Preferences. When you select this command, you'll see a dialog box similar to the one shown later in Figure 5.3.1. The section entitled The Preferences Dialog will explain this dialog box in more detail. Quit This command quits the MacWAIS application. Warning Quitting MacWAIS will close all open windows. See the Close command description above, and the "Query to Save Dirty Questions and Sources" Preferences description below for more details. Tip All open windows may be closed and the application quit without query by pressing command-option-Q. 5.3 The Preferences Dialog -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Preferences Dialog, shown in Figure 5.3.1, allows you to view and optionally edit MacWAIS Preferences. It is displayed by selecting the Preferences... command from the File menu. [Graphic Omitted] Figure 5.3.1 The Preferences Dialog The "View WAIS Catalog as:" radio button gives you a choice of viewing WAIS Catalog Documents as either text (the default) or as a list of Documents. If it is viewed as text, then it is displayed in a separate Text Document Window (i.e., it is treated as any other WAIS Document of type TEXT). If it is viewed as a list of Documents, then the WAIS Catalog is parsed and each of the Documents described therein (up to the Maximum Result Documents limit) is displayed as a Result Document in a new Question Window (cloned from the current Question Window) as if your query had resulted in each of these Documents. The "Maximum Result Documents" field specifies the maximum number of Result Documents that a Server is to return in response to a query. This value, the default of which is 40, is applied to new Questions at the time that they're initially opened. If the "Apply MaxResDocs to All Open Questions" check box is checked, then all open Questions will be updated to reflect the "Maximum Result Documents" value. The "Default Source for New Question" check box allows you to specify the default Source to be used by all subsequent new Questions (at the time they're initially opened). If unchecked, which is the default, then opening a new Question will immediately display the Select Sources Dialog shown later in Figure 5.9.1. Checking this box will immediately display the Select Sources Dialog giving you the opportunity to identify the Source that is to be designated the default Source for use in new Questions. See the section entitled The Select Sources Dialog for more details on selecting a Source. After selecting an initial Source, the space to the right of the "Default Source for New Question" check box will be updated to display the name of the selected Source as exemplified in Figure 5.3.2. [Graphic Omitted] Figure 5.3.2 The "Default Source for New Question" Check Box If an initial Source is not selected from the Select Sources Dialog, then the "Source for New Question" check box will remain unchecked. Note To change a selection you must click the "Default Source for New Question" check box twice. The "Default Folder for saving Sources" check box allows you to specify the folder in which newly created and retrieved Sources should automatically be saved. If unchecked, which is the default, then attempting to save a newly defined or retrieved Source will require you to specify the folder in which the Source should be saved. (This will occur every time you save a Source!) Checking this box will immediately display the Select Sources Folder Dialog, shown later in Figure 5.4.1, giving you the opportunity to identify the folder in which new and retrieved Sources should be saved. See the section entitled The Select Sources Folder Dialog for more details on selecting a Sources folder. After selecting a default folder, the space to the right of the "Default Folder for saving Sources" check box will be updated to display the name of the selected folder as exemplified in Figure 5.3.3. [Graphic Omitted] Figure 5.3.3 The "Default Folder for saving Sources" Check Box Note To change a selection you must click the "Default Folder for saving Sources" check box twice. The “Default Folder for Temp Files” check box allows you to specify the folder in which documents, retrieved for the purposes of viewing, should automatically be saved. (Use this Preference, for example, to store the MacWAIS application on a read-only Appleshare volume.) If this Preference is unchecked, which is the default, then retrieved documents will be saved in the folder from which MacWAIS was started. Checking this box will immediately display the Select Folder Dialog, shown later in Figure 5.4.1, giving you the opportunity to identify the folder in which retrieved documents should be saved. See the section entitled The Select Folder Dialog for more details on selecting a Temp Files folder. After selecting a default folder, the space to the right of the “Default Folder for Temp Files” check box will be updated to display the name of the selected folder as exemplified in Figure 5.3.4. [Graphic Omitted] Figure 5.3.4 The “Default Folder for Temp Files” Check Box Note To change a selection you must click the “Default Folder for Temp Files” check box twice. The "Query to Save Dirty Questions and Sources" check box specifies how modifications to Question Windows (that have occurred since they were opened) and Sources (that have occurred since they were last saved to disk) should be handled. If checked, then you'll be asked, via the Save Dirty Source/Question Dialog shown in Figure 5.2.2, whether or not the modifications should be saved before they are discarded. Otherwise, modifications are automatically discarded. The "Delete Search Results Immediately as Question is Modified" check box specifies when Result Documents (i.e., the fruits of a successful query) are discarded. If checked, then they're discarded the instant the Question is modified. Otherwise, they're discarded only when either a new search is initiated or the Source(s) to be queried are changed. By default, this option is not checked. 5.4 The Select Folder Dialog -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Select Folder Dialog, shown in Figure 5.4.1, allows you to select the folder in which new and retrieved sources will automatically be saved. It is displayed by clicking either of the “Default Folder for saving Sources” or “Default Folder for Temp Files” check boxes in the Preferences Dialog shown in Figure 5.3.1. [Graphic Omitted] Figure 5.4.1 The Select Folder Dialog This dialog is identical to the standard save dialog except for the addition of the folder selection button at the bottom of the dialog. In Figure 5.4.1, its title is Select: wais-sources. Clicking on this button will select the currently listed folder as the default folder. Note that the button’s title is updated with the name of the folder that is currently listed. 5.5 The Edit Menu -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Edit Menu, shown in Figure 5.5.1, provides not only the standard Macintosh editing commands, but also three MacWAIS-specific commands: Launchers..., Find..., and Find Again. The following paragraphs will describe all of these commands in more detail. [Graphic Omitted] Figure 5.5.1 The Edit Menu Undo This command undoes the last text editing command. Cut This command deletes the currently highlighted text and copies it to the paste buffer. This command will be dimmed when either the currently active window is a Text Document Window or there is no currently highlighted text. Copy This command copies the currently highlighted text to the paste buffer. This command will be dimmed if there is no currently highlighted text. Paste This command copies the contents of the paste buffer to the current text field. This command will be dimmed if either the currently active window is a Text Document Window or there is nothing in the paste buffer. Clear This command deletes the currently highlighted text. Note that it is not placed in the paste buffer as with Cut. This command will be dimmed if the currently active window is a Text Document Window. Launchers... This command allows you to edit MacWAIS's Document Launcher information. When you select this command, you'll see a dialog box similar to the one shown later in Figure 5.6.1. The section entitled The Edit Launchers Dialog will explain this dialog box in more detail. Find... This command brings up the Find Dialog shown in Figure 5.5.2. [Graphic Omitted] Figure 5.5.2 The Find Dialog The Find Dialog allows you to specify words and/or phrases to be found in the current Text Document Window. Text separated by <option- space> constitutes multiple search words. For example, specifying enterprise integration (i.e., the words "enterprise" and "integration" separated by a normal space) will find occurrences of the phrase "enterprise integration". However, specifying enterprise<option-space>integration (i.e., the words "enterprise" and "integration" separated by <option-space>) will find occurrences of the individual words "enterprise" and "integration". Note Searches are case-insensitive. The "Use Keywords" button replaces the current Find text with the associated Question's keywords parsed into words separated by <option-space> (which means each keyword is interpreted as a separate search word). Find Again This command continues searching through the current Text Document Window for the next occurrence of the previously specified search word(s). If no search words have been previously specified, then this command acts just like the Find... command described above. 5.6 The Edit Launchers Dialog -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Edit Launchers Dialog, shown in Figure 5.6.1, allows you to create, edit, and delete MacWAIS Launcher information. It is displayed by selecting the Launchers... command from the Edit menu. [Graphic Omitted] Figure 5.6.1 The Edit Launchers Dialog Clicking on the Cancel button will discard all changes made. Clicking on the OK button will permanently update MacWAIS's Launcher information. The Edit... and Delete buttons are dimmed until an existing Launcher is highlighted. In this case, they are not dimmed because the TEXT Launcher is highlighted. The Enable and Disable buttons are never both on, and their respective dimmed states reflect whether or not the highlighted Launcher is enabled. In this case, the Disable button is dimmed because the highlighted Launcher, TEXT, is currently not enabled for launching (as evidenced by the minus sign (-) in the left-hand margin). When the .c3.New...; command is selected (either by clicking on the New... button or by pressing -N), you'll see the Edit Launcher Dialog shown later in Figure 5.7.1. It is initially blank. See the section entitled The Edit Launcher Dialog for more details. When the .c3.Edit...; command is selected (either by double-clicking on an existing Launcher, clicking on the Edit... button, by pressing - E, or by option-double-clicking a Result Document in a Question Window), you'll see the Edit Launcher Dialog shown later in Figure 5.7.1. It will be initially populated with information from the currently highlighted Launcher. See the section entitled The Edit Launcher Dialog for more details. When the .c3.Delete; command is selected (either by clicking on the Delete button, or by pressing -K), the currently highlighted Launcher is deleted. When the .c3.Enable; command is selected (either by clicking on the Enable button, or by pressing -?), the currently highlighted Launcher is enabled for launching. Notice that the existing minus sign (-) in the left-hand margin is replaced with a plus sign (+). When the .c3.Disable; command is selected (either by clicking on the Disable button, or by pressing -D), the currently highlighted Launcher is disabled for launching. Notice that the existing plus sign (+) in the left-hand margin is replaced with a minus sign (-). Tip You may toggle a Launcher's enabled state by option-double- clicking on it. 5.7 The Edit Launcher Dialog -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Edit Launcher Dialog, shown in Figure 5.7.1, allows you to define new Document launching information. It is displayed by clicking on either the New... or Edit... buttons in the Edit Launchers Dialog,, shown earlier in Figure 5.6.1, or by option-double-clicking on a Result Document in a Question Window shown later in Figure 5.13.1. Specifically, the Edit Launcher Dialog lets you define: * the mapping between WAIS Documents and Macintosh files (which enables MacWAIS to save WAIS Documents), and * the mapping between WAIS Documents and Macintosh applications (which enables MacWAIS to launch applications to view WAIS Documents). [Graphic Omitted] Figure 5.7.1 The Edit Launcher Dialog The WAIS Type field specifies, as the name implies, the WAIS Document type (in this case TEXT). The Description field is a user-specified description of this Document type (in this case Text Files). The Type and Creator fields specify the Macintosh file type and creator that correspond to the specified WAIS type (in this case TEXT and ttxt, respectively). When a WAIS Document is retrieved and saved, the resulting Macintosh file that is created will have its type and creator attributes specified by these fields. For example, from the information shown above in Figure 5.7.1, a WAIS Document of type TEXT that is retrieved and saved will yield a Macintosh file of type TEXT and creator ttxt.(i.e., a TeachText file) The "Choose Example..." button allows you to specify the Type and Creator fields by selecting an existing Macintosh file from a standard file open dialog box. The "With Translation" popup specifies the type of translation that will be applied to the WAIS Document before it is processed or saved. Current choices include None and MacBinary. The Signature field specifies the Macintosh application that will be launched to process this file. When the Creator field, above, is specified, the Signature field, if blank, is initialized to this value. The "Choose Application..." button allows you to specify this field by choosing the desired Macintosh application from a standard file open dialog box. The "Don't Launch" check box indicates whether or not the Launcher is enabled. If checked, then the Launcher is not enabled; thus, MacWAIS will not launch the specified application when a WAIS Document of this type is retrieved (i.e., this type of Document can not be viewed). Note, however, that even though the Launcher may be disabled, the Document can still be saved. 5.8 The Sources Menu -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Sources Menu, shown in Figure 5.8.1, provides commands for defining new Sources, editing Sources, and selecting Sources for use with the currently active Question The following paragraphs will describe all of these commands in more detail. [Graphic Omitted] Figure 5.8.1 The Sources Menu New... This command allows you to define a new Source. When you select this command, you'll see a dialog box similar to the one shown later in Figure 5.9.1. It is initially blank except for the Name field which is set to unnamed and the Port field which is set to 210. The section entitled The Edit Source Dialog will explain this dialog in more detail. Edit... This command allows you to edit an existing Source. When you select this command, you'll see the Select Source Dialog shown in Figure 5.8.2. [Graphic Omitted] Figure 5.8.2 The Select Source Dialog This dialog allows you to identify the Source that is to be edited. It is identical to the standard open dialog except for the addition of the "Show All Files" check box at the bottom of the dialog. With this box unchecked, only Source files created by MacWAIS will be shown. Checking this box will allow all files to be listed. (This is a good way for utilizing Source files from WAIStation or files that were ftp'd and didn't assume the proper creator.) Once a file is selected, you'll see a dialog box similar to the one shown later in Figure 5.9.1. It is initially populated with information from the selected Source. See the section entitled The Edit Source Dialog for more details. Select... This command allows you to select Sources for use by the currently active Question. When you select this command, you'll see a dialog box similar to the one shown later in Figure 5.10.1. The section entitled The Select Sources Dialog will explain this dialog box in more detail. Note If there is no currently active Question then the Select... command will be disabled. 5.9 The Edit Source Dialog -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Edit Source Dialog, shown in Figure 5.9.1, allows you to edit MacWAIS Source information. It is displayed by selecting the New... or Edit... command in the Sources Menu, shown earlier in Figure 5.8.1, or by retrieving a Source, as shown in Figure 4.1.8. [Graphic Omitted] Figure 5.9.1 The Edit Source Dialog The Name field specifies the name of the Macintosh file in which the Source information will be stored. Existing Sources that are being edited are saved in the folder from which the Source was originally selected (even if the Source is renamed). New Sources, however, are saved in the folder specified by the "Default Folder for saving Sources" Preference. If this Preference is unspecified, then you will see the standard Macintosh save dialog which offers you the opportunity to specify the name and folder in which the Source should be saved. Note In the case of retrieved Sources, only the Name field is editable. Otherwise, all fields are editable. The Database field specifies the Server-relative (path)name of the WAIS database. The Host field specifies the hostname (either a DNS style name or an IP address) on which the Server is running. The Port field specifies the port number on which the Server is "listening." The default is 210. Note Leading and trailing blanks are automatically trimmed from the Host and Port fields. The Description field is a textual description of the information offered by this Source. The "Use with current question" check box, if checked, specifies that the currently active Question should be updated to use this Source exclusively. This option is only available if there is a currently active Question. 5.10 The Select Sources Dialog -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Select Sources Dialog, shown in Figure 5.10.1, allows you to select Sources for use by the currently active Question. It is displayed by selecting the Select... command from the Sources menu. [Graphic Omitted] Figure 5.10.1 The Select Sources Dialog This dialog is actually a standard open dialog with the following exceptions: * Addition of Selected Sources list * Addition of Select and Remove buttons * Addition of "Show All Files" check box * Addition of "View Source..." button * Modification of Open button (name changed from "Open" to ">> Select >>") A Source is selected for use by the currently active Question by highlighting it in the file system list and clicking on the Select button (or pressing Return or Enter). A Source may be included in the selection list only once. A Source is deselected for use by highlighting it in the Selected Sources list and clicking on the Remove button (or by pressing Delete). Notice that the Remove button remains dimmed until a Source in the Selected Sources list is highlighted. A Source is viewed by highlighting it in the Selected Sources list and clicking on the View Source button. The View Source Dialog is identical to the Edit Source Dialog, shown in Figure 5.9.1, except none of the fields are editable. Select Sources Tips: * You may scroll to sections of the file system list by typing the first letter of a Source. The first Source whose name begins with the specified letter will be displayed. MacWAIS will attempt to center this Source in the list display. * You may scroll through the list using the arrow up/down keys. * You may select a Source by double-clicking on it in the file system list. This selection will be appended to the current Selected Sources list. * You may uniquely select a Source by shift-double-clicking on it in the file system list (or by highlighting it in the file system list and shift-clicking on the Select button, or by pressing either shift-Return or shift-Enter). * You may deselect a Source by double-clicking on it in the Selected Sources list (or by highlighting it and pressing Delete). * You may view a Source by option-double-clicking on it in either list. 5.11 The Text Menu -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Text Menu, shown in Figure 5.11.1, provides a single command, Add Section As Feedback. The following paragraph will describe this command in more detail. [Graphic Omitted] Figure 5.11.1 The Text Menu Add Section As Feedback This command incorporates the line currently highlighted in the front-most Text Document Window as Relevance Feedback in its associated Question. If the current selection has already been incorporated as Relevance Feedback, or if there is no current selection, then this item will be dimmed. Note If the currently active window is not a Text Document Window, then the Text Menu, itself, will be dimmed. 5.12 The Windows Menu -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Windows Menu, shown in Figure 5.12.1, allows you to select any of the currently open windows. It is populated with one static entry, MacWAIS Help, and dynamically populated with one entry for each of the Question and Text Document Windows that are currently open. The following paragraph will describe the MacWAIS Help command. [Graphic Omitted] Figure 5.12.1 The Windows Menu MacWAIS Help This command is not currently implemented. A numeric command-key is defined for each of the dynamic menu entries. Their number is based on the order in which they were opened. The first window is assigned -1 (command-one ), the second -2, and so on. As windows are closed, their numbers are reused, but the list is not compacted. 5.13 The Question Window -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Question Window, shown in Figure 5.13.1, is the main user interface component in MacWAIS. It allows you to specify and direct queries, and operate on the "fruits" of successful queries (i.e., Result Documents). [Graphic Omitted] Figure 5.13.1 The Question Window Asking a Question is really quite simple. First, open a Question Window by selecting either New Window or Open Window... from the File Menu (or by pressing -N or -O, respectively). Next, specify the free-form text comprising the query (e.g., weather, as shown above). Then, specify the Source(s) of whom this Question should be asked by selecting the Select... command from the Sources Menu (or by pressing -E). Finally, click on the Ask button (or press Enter or Return). Documents returned as a result of the Query (or Result Documents) may be viewed or saved by first highlighting the desired Document and then clicking on the appropriate button. Tip A Result Document may be viewed by simply double-clicking on it. For multi-type documents, the desired type must be designated before the document can be retrieved, or it’s corresponding Launcher information can be edited. Document type selections are made from the Multi-Type Dialog shown later in Figure 5.14.1. For more information regarding this dialog, see the section entitled The Multi- Type Dialog. If the Save button remains dimmed after highlighting a Result Document, then MacWAIS does not have the necessary information to map this Document to a Macintosh file (i.e., it doesn't know the kind of Macintosh file to create in which to store the Document's data when it is retrieved). This information may be defined via the Edit Launcher Dialog which is displayed by first selecting Launchers... from the Edit Menu and then clicking on the New... button in the Edit Launchers Dialog. See the section entitled The Edit Launcher Dialog for more details on defining WAIS-to-Macintosh file mapping information. Tip Launcher information may be edited by option-double- clicking on a Result Document. This has the benefit of extracting the WAIS type from the selected document. If the View button remains dimmed after highlighting a Result Document, then one of three things is true. Either (a) the Launcher information corresponding to this WAIS type has not been defined, or (b) the Launcher has been defined but is currently disabled, or (c) you're running MacWAIS on a System 6 machine. In case (a), you must simply define the necessary WAIS-to-Macintosh file mapping information. See the section entitled The Edit Launcher Dialog for more details. (Remember that you can option-double-click a Document to edit its Launcher information.) In case (b), you must simply enable the Launcher that's already defined. See the section entitled The Edit Launcher Dialog for details on enabling Launchers. (Remember that you can option-double-click a Document to edit its Launcher information.) In case (c), System 6 doesn't provide application launching. To use this feature, you must upgrade to System 7. Questions may be refined by incorporating Documents as Relevance Feedback. This is done by highlighting a Result Document and clicking on the Add Ref button. Tip A Result Document can be added as Relevance Feedback by shift-double-clicking on it. After a Document is added as Relevance Feedback, the Add Ref button is dimmed. Note Only Documents of WAIS type TEXT can be added as Relevance Feedback. Thus, the Add Ref button will be dimmed if either no Result Document is highlighted, or the highlighted Result Document is not of WAIS type TEXT. Document portions can be added as Relevance Feedback from Text Document Windows. See the section entitled The Text Menu for more details. 5.14 The Multi-Type Dialog -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Multi-Type Dialog, shown below in Figure 5.14.1, applies only to multi-type documents (i.e., single documents with multiple types). It allows you to select one of the available types for either document retrieval or launcher editing purposes. It will appear when attempting to view, save, or edit the launchers of a multi-type document. [Graphic Omitted] Figure 5.14.1 The Select Type Dialog Notice that the OK button remains dim until an item is highlighted. An item may be selected by highlighting it (by clicking the mouse on it once), and clicking on the OK button (or pressing Return or Enter). Tip A Multi-Type Dialog item may be selected by simply double- clicking on it.