ProfitPress Mega CDROM2 …eeware (MSDOS)(1992)(Eng)/ProfitPress-MegaCDROM2.B6I/APPS/DATABASE/INFOP207.ZIP/XXIPARC.EXE/IP.HLP

Text File | 1991-06-26 | 14.8 KB | 376 lines

Information Please On-Screen Help Menu
@1,Files Menu Options
@2,     Help, New Database, Open Database, Delete Database
@3,     Edit Description, Print Database, Choose Options
@4,     Shell To Dos, Quit
@5,Edit Menu Options
@6,     Add New Entry
@7,     Delete/Restore and Entry
@8,     Edit an Entry
@9,     Import Text From a File
@10,    Compressing the Database
@11,View Menu Options
@12,    Choose Record by Number
@13,    Choose Record by Keyword Search
@16,    Choose Record by Searching Entire Record
@17,Editor Commands
##1 ~FILESMENU
                        USING THE INFORMATION PLEASE 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:

          Help
          New Database
          Open a Database
          Delete a Database
          Edit Database Description
          Print a Database
          About Information Please
          Choose Program Options
          Shell to DOS
          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.

##2
                            OPTIONS ON THE FILE MENU

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.

The NEW DATABASE OPTION allows you to name a new database. Before entering
information into a database you must either open an existing database or
create a new database.

The OPEN DATABASE option allows you to choose which Information Please
database on disk you will be using. A list of the available databases will be
displayed on the screen from which you can choose one to open.

The DELETE A DATABASE option allows you to delete database files from your
disk. It will delete the currently open database -- but will ask for a
confirmation to make sure you really want to delete the database files.

continued...
##3
                      OPTIONS ON THE FILE MENU continued

The EDIT A DATABASE DESCRIPTION option allows you to enter or edit the 40
character description of the currently open database. This database
description is displayed in the list of databases when you choose the Open
Database or Delete Database options.

The PRINT DATABASE option allows you to print the contents of the database to
a printer or to a file. The About PC-Database option gives copyright
information about the program.

The SORT DATABASE option allows you to sort the keyword lists. You will asked
to enter a key range to sort on. For example 1-5 would mean to use the first
five characters in the keyword list to sort on. If you are going sort, you
need to plan your keyword list to allow you to specify a meaningful sort
range.

continued...
##4


                      OPTIONS FOR THE FILES MENU Continued

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. 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.

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.

The QUIT, RETURN TO DOS option ends the Information Please program and
returns you
to the DOS prompt.

##5 ~EDITMENU




                        THE INFORMATION PLEASE EDIT MENU


The Edit menu is used to edit or manipulate individual records in the
database. Before using the Edit menu, you must have an open database. If a
database is open, the database name will be located at the bottom left of the
screen. The options on the Edit menu are:

          Add New Entry
          Delete an Entry
          Restore a Deleted Entry
          Edit and Entry
          Import from a File
          Compress the Database

These options are described below . . .

##6


                                 ADD NEW ENTRY

The Add New Entry option allows you to enter a new record into the database.
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.

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.
##7


                                DELETE AN ENTRY

The Delete an Entry option allows you to delete a record from the database.
You will be asked to enter the record number of the entry to delete. This
process does not actually permanently get rid of the entry - 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 record, use the Compress
option.

                            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.

##8



                                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. If your resulting description is longer than
the original description, the edited entry will become the last entry in the
database, and the old entry will be marked for delete. For example, if you
have 50 records and edit record number 5, making the new description 10 lines
longer, this record will be saved as record number 51 and the old record 5
will be marked for delete. You must run the Compress option to free up the
deleted space in the database.

##9
                              IMPORT FROM A FILE

You may already have information on your computer that you want to place in a
Information Please database. To import information in to 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 list 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. 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 database. If you are beginning with a blank database, choose
Create a Database from the Files menu, then choose Import from the Edit menu.

##10



                             COMPRESS THE DATABASE

When you have deleted records from a database, they are not physically
removed, and they may be restored. To permanently get rid of these records,
use the Compress the Database option. This will free up space on your disk
and make searching the database more efficient.

##11 ~VIEWMENU
                           THE INFORMATION PLEASE VIEW MENU

The View menu is where you search and view the information in the Information
Please database. 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:

          Number Choice
          Keyword Choice
          In-Text Search
          View Keyword List

You must have a currently open database to choose one of these options.
Choose an option by highlighting the option and pressing the Enter key, or
press the first letter of the option.

These menu options are described below . . .
##12



                                 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.

##13
                                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 single keyword (such as DISK).
Information Please will then display the first record that matches the
search. 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.

continued...
##14
                            KEYWORD CHOICE continued

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 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. continued...

##15

KEYWORD CHOICE continued

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.


##16
                                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 database. If there are more
entries than the screen can display, you may press the down arrow key of 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.

##17 ~EDITOR
                              Information Please EDITOR

The Information Please editor allows you to enter new record descriptions or
to modify descriptions already in a database. The following commands are
available in the editor. Commands are accessed by pressing a function key or
by entering a CTRL (control) command. The function 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 (Does not clear copy buffer).
F9-Mark: Mark block for copy.
F10-Copy: Copy text.  See also Ctrl-C.


##18
                            EDITOR CONTROL COMMANDS

The following list of commands are Control commands. Control commands are
issued by pressing the CTRL key like a shift key, and then simultaneously
pressing a single command key.

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 there.

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.

continued...
##19
                       EDITOR CONTROL COMMANDS continued

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 in editor.

CTRL L - Reset the line length specifications 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 - Delete a line.

CTRL Z - Makes characters lower case.