Resource Library: Multimedia

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ Resource Library: Multimedia / Resource Library: Multimedia.iso / hypertxt / msdos / hs25 / hshell.doc < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1989-05-10 | 39.3 KB | 1,454 lines

HyperShell Hypertext control system Version 2.5 Product Description and Shareware notice Copyright (c) 1988,1989 Text Technology Text Technology 66 Kennedy Avenue Macclesfield Cheshire England SK10 3DE - 1 - Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 Product description HyperShell is a Shareware product designed to fill the requirement for a fast text based hypertext system at low cost. Not only does it provide a sophisticated hypertext browsing system, but also includes menuing facilities and DOS management facilities, and a whole host of extras designed to support a wide range of applications. As such it can be used as the front-end to a set of programs, and can provide most things that such a system would require, including help facilities, menuing, password entry, directory navigation, form fill facilities, and file I/O. It is a very versatile system containing a concise scripting language, and provides the power of a high level language interpreter. HyperShell provides the facilities with which a custom interaction and presentation style can be easily created, and does not force a particular style upon the author. Where other hypertext systems have attempted to do everything themselves, HyperShell takes the approach of allowing OPEN extensibility in a simple and easy fashion. An example would be to display graphic images in support of the text. This is easily catered for by providing a simple program to do the display for you, such as the 'EXP -c' program provided. This is simply invoked from HyperShell when required. Further programs could easily be written to provide iconic menus, dialogue boxes, buttons etc. as well as Voice output, music, and stupid noises as provided by other hypertext systems. 1.2 Hypertext HyperShell is a Hypertext system. Hypertext systems have been around since the early 60's, but until recently they have not been available on personal computers. A number of systems have started appearing on the more popular personal computers, and - 2 - HyperShell Introduction Product notes certain manufacturers have put a lot of commitment behind the concept. In spite of its long history, Hypertext has not evolved a standard format for the databases upon which the systems are based. Most recent Hypertext systems have supported both text and graphics, and due to the rather heavy storage requirements of graphic images, their performance has been somewhat less than optimal, and their disk storage requirements have been rather large. This has not helped the acceptance of Hypertext as a powerful means of browsing text. A purely text based approach, still utilising popup menus, windows and mouse selection, can provide the speed and economy of data storage required for acceptable use. HyperShell provides such a facility. So what is Hypertext? For thousands of years, man has used the written word to convey his message to others. This has taken the form of linear text in, for instance, a book. Hypertext is an attempt to apply the modern technology provided by interactive computers to the presentation of information in a non-linear form. When we are reading a novel, we are not concerned with anything other than the linear approach. When we are reading a reference book or a tutorial book, however, we look things up in a contents list or an index, and follow references in certain parts of that book to other chapters, or even other books. Hypertext is therefore intended to replace, or support, this type of literature. Hypertext provides the means to follow references in the text, without worrying about 'losing your place' due to lack of fingers, pencils and slips of paper to mark pages on the way to following up a reference. Not only does the computer have lots of fingers, it also gets the books down off the shelf for you and looks up the reference. The 'Hyper' in Hypertext means that you get more than just convenience extra. How would you like to search through every page of a book looking for a particular word? Computers are pretty good at this kind of thing, so can do this in a fraction of the time it would take you. Hypertext provides even more than this, and contains some surprisingly advanced features. A description of what Hypertext provides cannot do full justice to the concept, and it is suggested you 'give it a try' to find out just what it does provide, and the ease with which it can be used. 1-3 Version 2.5 HyperShell Introduction Product notes 1.3 HyperShell HyperShell is an attempt to make hypertext available at minimal cost to the general PC user. By providing menu systems, DOS control and a comprehensive set of building blocks, HyperShell can be used for many more application areas than previous systems. HyperShell also provides an extension to the Hypertext concept by removing the requirement to always use a specially formatted text file. By loading a HyperShell reference file on a particular subject, for instance MSDOS commands, you can then browse through ANY text file containing the odd reference to MSDOS commands. When a command is within the section of text displayed on the screen, that command is highlighted as a frame reference, and can be selected to display a frame giving details of that command, and permitting full reference following to take place, before returning to browsing through the text file. As well as providing a basic Hypertext system, HyperShell provides the kind of facilities you expect to find in a 'Menu' system. Not only can you select programs to run, by use of menus, but you can also kick off a DOS 'shell' to execute a few commands from the command line, and return to the same position in HyperShell. The fact that HyperShell does not impose a fixed screen format on you is of great benefit to those using HyperShell as the front-end to their own systems. As HyperShell provides input fields, popup menus and windows, you can in fact use HyperShell to 'prototype' the appearance of a system, which can be of great benefit to those developing applications software, as it allows you to try out various layouts and interaction styles before you do all the hard work of writing the software. HyperShell reference files (known as hyperfiles) have a notation which can be readily understood, whilst providing a degree of conciseness in the more powerful areas that is far preferable to the excessive verbosity of some of the scripting languages used by other Hypertext systems. Extensive parsing has been avoided for performance and space reasons, and because it does not provide as much as it costs. In recognition of the fact that not everybody takes to such terse and at times cryptic languages, an interactive 'authoring' system is available, which allows you to edit the hyperfiles using an editor that 1-4 Version 2.5 HyperShell Introduction Product notes understands the format of them. 1.4 Features Release 2.5 is the third public release of HyperShell. The product supplied as shareware is the full system, and is not restricted in any way. Release 2.5 provides these features:- - Hypertext based on one or more hypertext files. - Text based hypertext file, allowing editing with normal editors and word processors, and permitting use with general text processing utilities. - Command execution via DOS command processor and direct execution, and support of DOS 'shell escape'. Access to exit status of executed programs. Ability to specify own exit status for use in batch files. - Automatic referencing when browsing any text file. - Mouse or keyboard driven (or both!). - Configurable highlighting colour scheme. - Full knowledge of 'where you are' via backtrack list, with single step backtracking and direct multistep backtracking to a selected frame. Direct movement to 'home' frame available by default. - Display of the current hyperfile contents list, allowing selection of any frame in the hyperfile. - Automatically sized popup 'notes' in support of main frame text, and permitting further references to be followed therefrom. - Popup 'menus' to allow choice of references. - Input fields with specified trigger actions. - Command chaining (with no return to HyperShell), if required. - Set of control actions available through direct reference selection, menu selection, mapped keystroke, script or 1-5 Version 2.5 HyperShell Introduction Product notes direct request. - Extended action modification via menus, prompted input, file input, integer expression evaluation and variable expansion. Resulting value can be optionally formatted via a pattern string. - Menus 'dynamically' formed from directory listing, file contents etc. - Variable setting and expansion within actions and within text displays. - Expansion of HyperShell system variables within actions and text displays. - Control of runtime options. Display of option settings. - Key mapping to actions and references in frame text, including function keys with all three shifts. - Configurable control menu. - Help facility supplied as part of hyperfile by convention - can be extended by use of separate hyperfile dedicated to providing help or tutorial material. - Directory system navigation with file type recognition. - Formatted and unformatted file input and output. - Screen save facility to retain screen contents on entry for redisplay on exit. - Reference 'notepad' with optional retention between sessions, and browsing selection. - Dedicated editor for the creation and maintenance of hyperfiles, incorporating interactive assistance with action building and interpreting. - Extensive reference checking utility, which provides autogeneration and embedded messages for use by the editor. - Formatted print utility to permit file to be listed in a form suitable for reading. Also supports extended modes for authors use, with full reference listings and sorted index for cross references. Uses Epson printer codes for highlighting, or can use plain printer. 1-6 Version 2.5 HyperShell Introduction Product notes 1.5 Potential uses HyperShell can be used for a number of applications, amongst which are the following:- - Conventional Hypertext system. - Help system. - Computer aided instruction. - Simple expert system using decision trees. - Menu driven front end to multi program application. - Simple applications user interface prototyping. - Intelligent text file browser. - Directory structure browser / DOS manager. - Any combination of these. 1.6 Design aims HyperShell has been designed with the following goals in mind:- Speed of execution reasonable and independant of hyperfile size. Minimal memory occupancy for when HyperShell used as a menuing system. Text based hyperfile to facilitate production and maintenance of material. Primary usage as hypertext, with secondary emphasis on menuing, DOS management, text file viewing and user interface prototyping. 1-7 Version 2.5 HyperShell Introduction Product notes Complexity of specification related to complexity of functionality - simple hyperfiles are easy to specify. We believe in small but powerful programs, and programs that do not need overlays or extensive runtime configuration files. Other programs adopting this philosophy include Qedit, which is highly recommended as a general text editor. 1.7 Release 2.5 1.7.1 Enhancements Release 2.5 of HyperShell brings a very much improved editor, with many changes aimed at making the editor quicker and easier to use. In particular, frames and local items can be added with one key stroke, and a new 'explain' feature interprets those cryptic action strings into a more intelligible form. The editor key macro facility now uses the ALT shifted alphabetic keys, to free the function keys for editing commands and TSR hotkeys. A graphic character map with character select feature is available. A view mode has been added to permit items to be viewed without editing. The item list editing has been changed to improve program flow. The frame display now includes the header and footer text, and supports direct viewing, editing, checking and explaining of references. The HyperShell browser has been enhanced in a number of ways:- Notes are now automatically sized, and can be up to 76 columns by 22 lines in size. A file can now be used to supply the contents of a popup note. This feature can be used with the normal HyperShell hyperfile structure, and with the alternative file based hypertext structure, for which improvements have been made in the paged display for typed files. File notes can be used whereever normal notes can. 1-8 Version 2.5 HyperShell Introduction Product notes Option flags can now be toggled. Input fields for forms are better supported, with a width specification, an immediate reference capability and an action to select the next input field. A system variable is now available to give the remaining memory. Paged displays now permit the use of function keys in a manner consistant with the frame display, and support bidirectional paging in many cases. Other improvements have been made to paged display processing. DOS commands can now be run 'silently' without disturbing the display. The condition codes are now set by the evaluation of an expression. The END key can be used from a frame display to toggle the saved screen display if the '-s' option was specified on the command line. Named variables are now supported, to extend storage capability. One variable can be split on a separator into other variables. Most paged lists now support paging backwards as well as forwards, and can be restarted. Function keys can be used in paged displays. A set of string functions has been added to the action modifiers. A sequential file lookup capability is now available. The reference notepad list can now be sequentially read in the same manner as a file. A number of files can now be concurrently open for input or output. The notepad list and backtrack list display have been improved. Output to the printer and other devices is now supported. The default header has been improved. 1-9 Version 2.5 HyperShell Introduction Product notes The display adaptor type is now automatically sensed. A normal text file can now be supplied instead of a hyperfile, and will be treated as a single (large) frame. Also in this release, a new utility is provided, which permits the formatted listing of hyperfiles at varying degrees of detail, on a plain or Epson compatible printer. Demonstration hyperfiles have been modified, where necessary, to reduce the likelihood of failure when the environment has not been set up correctly. 1.7.2 Bugs fixed in 2.5 HyperShell does not permit a search operation to be aborted during searching. The reference set up during global searches is not correct, and cannot be selected. The dynamic menu short menu of directories (@E) did not work in all cases. Input fields could not be selected by mapped key. Input fields in notes did not work properly. The 'next frame' reference behaves unexpectedly when frames are duplicated. References over 40 characters cause errors. Script lines over 40 characters cause program crash if J action used. The last few lines of a search operation paged display do not show the located line. Highlighting schemes specified in frame and note text are not retained over a reference. HyperShell editor can lose files if current directory not used. Errors can occur also when using TEMP variable. HyperShell editor edit mode can enter an error state after reference flags are removed. 1-10 Version 2.5 HyperShell Introduction Product notes A number of minor bugs exist in the help and action creation stages. HyperShell checker does not handle local items referenced in global items. Errors exist in the Editor documentation and in the shareware notice documentation (this document). 1.7.3 Incompatibilities in 2.5 Version 2.5 has a few small incompatibilities with version 2.0. The system variable '@' was previously used to hold the HyperShell copyright notice. It is now used to hold the available memory. Option codes 3,5,8 now have new meanings. The original meanings were not changeable during processing anyway. The editor now has different mappings for control keys. This has been done to improve the usability. Further changes will be avoided. 1.7.4 Known problems in 2.5 The hyperfile must not start with a .SCRIPT, .MENU or .NOTE line, otherwise the first item will not be found when referenced. Put .REMARK line at start of file to overcome this. If a hyperfile with an index is edited, but does not change size, the index is not rebuilt. This does not matter unless you change the name or title of a frame, or move an item from one location to another. It is good practice to delete the .HIX file after an edit if the size may not have changed. Very long lines can still cause program errors, but these do not occur with lines of 80 characters or less. The -d flag causes BIOS screen updating rather than direct video access. This should only be used on a non-compatible computer. Small errors occur with popup menus in this case, but as this flag is not officially supported and non-compatibles are not officially supported, this problem will not be fixed unless a specific request is made for it. 1-11 Version 2.5 HyperShell Introduction Product notes Setting the autoreference option in HyperShell when browsing a large hyperfile will cause the screen to be redrawn slowly. 1.8 Release 2.0 1.8.1 Enhancements in 2.0 The major addition in release 2.0 of HyperShell is the hyperfile editor. This has been designed to make the job of creating and maintaining hyperfiles easier. It permits interactive browsing and editing of a hyperfile, using the HyperShell interaction style. It includes an advanced editor designed specifically for the HyperShell environment. The editor works alongside the hyperfile checker to provide a powerful set of author's facilities. The main HyperShell program now supports selectable references in notes, and supports notes as 'dynamic menus'. Note that the Notepad dynamic menu code 'N' has been replaced with 'R', to allow 'N' and 'n' to be used for notes. This is the only change to influence upward compatibility, and any hyperfiles using this type of dynamic menu should be changed. A search for '@N' will determine if such a menu is being used. It is now possible to save the reference 'notepad' to a file, to retain its contents between HyperShell sessions. Improvements have been made to the notepad facilities in support of this. The search capability in HyperShell has been changed to be case insensitive. Whilst this has slowed down the search, it is thought that this is a lot more useful feature. The text cursor positioning has been improved in the main HyperShell program. A different form of highlighting is used for frame references which do not cause the current frame to be added to the backtrack list. Hercules and MDA machines are now better supported through the -h switch, providing a separate highlighting scheme. The 'type file' action now overrides a previous file if a filename is provided. This allows files to contain references causing other files to be typed. Another enhancement supports embedded note references in text files. 1-12 Version 2.5 HyperShell Introduction Product notes The HyperShell checker program has been enhanced to output embedded errors and remarks in a form usable by the HyperShell editor. The HyperShell checker program now provides an option to create a cross reference file showing all explicit cross references. The MSDOS sample hyperfile has been extensively improved and now provides a useful MSDOS help system. The documentation set has been restructured to improve readability, and to include the new features. The documentation has been revised to improve coverage, and to provide more help for beginners. 1.8.2 Bugs fixed in 2.0 Bugs present in release 1.8, fixed in release 2.0, include the following:- Direct mouse support does not work correctly, causing mouse cursor to disappear upon occasion. Direct mouse support does not reset the mouse driver to permit normal use of the mouse after exit. First Note/Script/Menu cannot be found if immediately after another section. Use of default title stops certain system variables from being set. Null .HEADER did not suppress default title. Section names can only have one space to separate them from the section type. (Multiple spaces/tabs are now supported). Autoreferencing is too fussy about word endings. HyperShell checker puts erroneous remark before inserted undefined items. 1-13 Version 2.5 HyperShell Introduction Product notes 1.9 System requirements The following are necessary:- IBM/PC/XT/AT/PS/2 or true compatible. Other MSDOS machines may work but are not officially supported (try -d flag for these). MSDOS 3.0 or later (I haven't tried a previous version) 256k memory CGA,EGA,VGA,MDA or Hercules display adaptor. Preferably Microsoft compatible mouse (although not essential), or other format mouse controlling cursor keys and having buttons mapped to RETURN and ESCAPE keys. A hard disk is recommended, but only for speed and capacity. If caching is available, floppy drives will be almost as fast. RAM disk is even quicker, but has limited capacity. Other hardware and compatible operating systems (e.g. Concurrent DOS) are thought to work satisfactorily, but you are advised to try the system out before committing to it on other than the above configurations. The HyperShell program occupies about 42k on disk and about 104k when resident in memory. 1.10 Installation The distribution disk contains two archive files. HSBASE.LZH contains the runtime system and HSDEV.LZH contains the development components and documentation. If you are reading this, you have presumably found out how to dearchive the files. The HyperShell runtime system can be run as it stands. The COMSPEC environment variable must point to a location where the COMMAND.COM program is held, and the PATH environment variable must be set up to include the drive/directory containing the programs, for the MENU hyperfile and the DOS EXIT to work, but 1-14 Version 2.5 HyperShell Introduction Product notes are not essential to try out HS against a hyperfile directly. To install HyperShell for regular use, the .EXE files should be copied into a directory on your program search path. e.g. A> COPY *.EXE C:\BIN etc... The .HYP, .HIX and other supporting files should be copied into a new directory on the disk, and the pathname of this directory should be set up in the HSPATH environment variable as described in the HyperShell document. e.g. A> MKDIR C:\HYPSHELL A> COPY *.H?? C:\HYPSHELL A> COPY . . . etc . . . A> SET HSPATH=C:\HYPSHELL\ The last line may also be inserted in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file so that it is set up each time you start the computer. When this has been done, the programs may be invoked from anywhere. e.g. A> HS -S MSDOS COPY Write permission is needed to the drive only if the notes file is present, although if an index file is specified in a hyperfile and it is not present on the disk, it will be created. If Authoring is to be done using the HyperShell Editor, the development components need to be extracted in a similar way. TEMP environment variable may be set up to utilise a RAM disk or second drive, to speed up the processing. It is not essential, however. e.g. A> SET TEMP=D:\ 1.10.1 The EXP program The program EXP.EXE replaces the previous EXP and SHOW programs. Using the same compression technique, CGA graphic images normally taking 16k bytes are reduced to around 4k bytes. The -c option is used with the EXP program to display compressed images. The images are BLOAD format 16k CGA graphic images, compressed using SQ (supplied) or a related program. The image is decompressed and displayed on a CGA screen, the EXP program will then await a key depression before returning to 1-15 Version 2.5 HyperShell Introduction Product notes text mode. A sample file HS.CGA is provided, and this is displayed using the command:- EXP -c HS.CGA The program is intended to provide graphic images in support of the text based hypertext files, and may be used from a hyperfile. A set of screen capture, compression and presentation utilities will be available in the next release, and extensions to support EGA are under consideration. 1.10.2 Acknowledgments The HyperShell system was developed using Borland Turbo-C, and would not have been possible without the many features available therein. Thanks are due to Borland for making such compilers available to the public at a sensible price. Support Borland, and lets hope that they keep their prices low. Thanks are due to those users who have supplied bug reports and the many suggestions for improvements. Thanks are especially due to all users who have registered so far. 1.11 Shareware notice The following notice relates to the current version (2.5), and any preceding versions. HyperShell is a trademark of Text Technology. The HyperShell system is copyrighted and is the property of Text Technology. HyperShell is a shareware product. This means the following. You are encouraged to make copies of the HyperShell system, provided this document file is included with all such copies, as a minimum. Preferably the entire distribution should be copied. The system may be offered for download via Bulletin Boards, and may be offered for distribution by shareware distributors, provided undue overheads are not charged for such 1-16 Version 2.5 HyperShell Introduction Product notes distribution. Overseas distributors can arrange with us to handle registration, and/or support in return for a percentage of registration fees. You are permitted to make unlimited use of HyperShell with the hyperfiles supplied to you, without further registration, although a contribution would be welcome. If you produce your own hyperfiles for your own use, and find HyperShell of some use, you are required to register as a HyperShell Author. If you produce hyperfiles for use by others, either for use with your own product or as a package in their own right, you are required to register as a Vendor, on the basis that use of HyperShell adds value to your product, but you are then entitled to distribute the basic HyperShell package, consisting of the HyperShell program and User Guide, as part of your system. You are encouraged to register if you are using HyperShell as an author, as you will gain many benefits from this, and we will be encouraged to improve the product. If you feel that your use of the system is only occasional, and is not sufficient to merit full registration, a donation of any amount will be welcome, and will entitle you to receive update notices. If HyperShell is to be used by others within an acedemic or other non profit making establishment, and no charge is to be levied for the use of the system, a reduced rate is applicable, subject to negotiation. If such use is to be made in a commercial establishment, the full Vendor rate is applicable. Such use covers any number of 'end' users within the one fee. Corporate licences are available by negotiation at favourable rates. HyperShell is provided 'AS IS' without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. In no event is any liability accepted for any damages incurred, either directly or indirectly, as a result of using HyperShell. The hyperfiles provided may be used, in whole or in part, in your own hyperfiles. 1-17 Version 2.5 HyperShell Introduction Product notes 1.12 Registration The following scale of charges are applicable to version 2.5 only, and are applicable only until version 3.0 is released. Late registrations will be considered on an individual basis. Author registration - 25 pounds Vendor registration - 60 pounds (no per-copy royalties) Continuation Support - 10 pounds per annum Printed documentation - 10 pounds per copy Latest version disk - 5 pounds (not including registration) Registration entitles you to a registration pack including disks with the current version, a further demonstration hyperfile and a copy of any other software that has become available, but does not include printed documentation, which is only available at additional cost. One year of limited support, and a copy of all updates issued within the year, is included with the registration. The support includes postal and telephone support for problems of use and for bug reports. If you do not want support or updates, you may deduct 10 pounds from the registration fee. Additional support, for instance in the design and production of hyperfiles, is chargeable on a time and materials basis at mutually agreeable rates. Printed documentation comes as looseleaf A4 for ring binding, or as a spiral bound book. Please state in which form you would like it, if you order the printed documentation. The source for the HyperShell components, which are written in C, is available at a negotiated price. Custom modifications will be charged on a sliding scale from free for a generally useful feature up to full time and materials for a specialist modification. The above figures apply to registration in the British Isles in pounds sterling. Sorry we can't handle credit cards, so cheques/postal orders only please (or hard cash if you prefer). 1-18 Version 2.5 HyperShell Introduction Product notes Overseas customers please send an equivalent amount (plus an additional 5 pounds to cover additional postage if documentation is required). However, registration and documentation may be provided by your local distributor. 1.13 Bug reports Bug reports and suggestions for improvements are welcomed from all users, including unregistered users evaluating the product. Important, previously unreported, bugs will be rewarded with cash or credit against registrations or other services. All bug reports and problems from registered users will be responded to. All problems should be posted to the provided address. Full details of problems should be included, along with any related hyperfile if this would be of assistance in solving a problem. Bug reports should indicate the full circumstances of the bug, including the machine type, monitor type, the version of HyperShell, the memory size, the size of hyperfiles being accessed and the size of any lists being held. 1.14 Hyperfile register If you produce hyperfiles for use by others, we can provide two alternative services. We can either distribute the hyperfiles for you as shareware, in which case we charge a small commission to cover the handling, or we will add details of your available hyperfiles to a register, which will be distributed with HyperShell releases, so that people can get in touch with you for a copy of your hyperfile. If you produce a 'shareware' hyperfile, we can distribute it with each HyperShell release. We will also test each hyperfile we hold when a new release is produced. We will advise on whether a hyperfile is saleable, and how to 'productise' a hyperfile, if you send a copy to us. Potential hyperfiles include tuition systems, adventure systems, a full scale browser (possibly based on the 'browser' hyperfile), and a system to generate menus based on HyperShell. 1-19 Version 2.5 HyperShell Introduction Product notes 1.15 Registration address The following address should be used for registration and support:- Nick Taylor 66 Kennedy Avenue Macclesfield Cheshire England SK10 3DE Cheques should be made payable to N.G.Taylor. Please state which version you have. Also it would be useful if you could give an indication of what type of application you are using HyperShell for. 1.16 Next release The next release of HyperShell will be a bit bigger. This is because it is envisaged that a number of powerful extensions will be added. Those of you who register can have a say in what features should go into the next release. Please indicate when you register which of the following features you would like. Also indicate any other feature that you feel would be useful. Extensions to the range of styles of menu and notes available, including shadow edges. Full menu bars with help lines. Horizontal menus. Stacked popups and movable popups. Extended autoreferencing, including notes, menus, scripts, note/text file directory listings and user specifiable 1-20 Version 2.5 HyperShell Introduction Product notes autoreference lists. Extended script facilities, including control structures. Full database forms supporting relational databases and query by example. Utility for program code generation from hyperfile, allowing use of HyperShell as a fourth generation language. Graphic display support for CGA and EGA adaptors, from within HyperShell, with selection areas on graphic displays. Terminate and Stay Resident capability. Automatic reentry at same place after chained execution from menu, allowing use as full menu system running full size programs. The main HyperShell browser will be carefully planned such that the additional facilities will not impact too strongly on the static and resident size of the program, with an envisaged total image size of 48k. Other products are in the pipeline, including a textfile based database with query language and relational features and further text file based systems. Those who register in 1989 will automatically qualify for free registration of future products, when these become available. 1.17 Post Scriptum If you evaluate HyperShell and find it unsuitable for your requirements, please consider sending a copy of any evaluation report to us. We hope you will find HyperShell of use. Please don't hesitate to send suggestions for improvements, bug reports etc. Good luck. - END OF DOCUMENT - 1-21 Version 2.5 HyperShell Introduction Product notes Table of Contents Chapter 1 Introduction 2 1.1 Product description 2 1.2 Hypertext 2 1.3 HyperShell 4 1.4 Features 5 1.5 Potential uses 7 1.6 Design aims 7 1.7 Release 2.5 8 1.7.1 Enhancements 8 1.7.2 Bugs fixed in 2.5 10 1.7.3 Incompatibilities in 2.5 11 1.7.4 Known problems in 2.5 11 1.8 Release 2.0 12 1.8.1 Enhancements in 2.0 12 1.8.2 Bugs fixed in 2.0 13 1.9 System requirements 14 1.10 Installation 14 1.10.1 The EXP program 15 1.10.2 Acknowledgments 16 1.11 Shareware notice 16 1.12 Registration 18 1.13 Bug reports 19 1.14 Hyperfile register 19 1.15 Registration address 20 1.16 Next release 20 1.17 Post Scriptum 21 1-22 Version 2.5