ProfitPress Mega CDROM2 Shareware Freeware (MSDOS)(1992)(Eng)

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ORDER BLANK FOR INFORMATION PLEASE SN:IP205191 INFORMATION PLEASE software package, bound manual, latest version registration, diskette ($49) x _______= $____________ Information Please EXTRA MANUALS ($10 each) x ______= $____________ AUTO UPDATE to next future IP version ($25)x _______= $____________ Other TexaSoft Programs: KWIKSTAT:Statistical Analysis Package ($49)x _______= $____________ PC-CAI:Write your own tutorials ($49)x _______= $____________ SPELL GAMES:Practice spelling game ($19)x _______= $____________ BANNERIFIC:Vertical/Horizontal Banners($15)x _______= $____________ ALL ORDERS:Add $4 P&H or $8 if PO, COD or RUSH, $____________ $15 for Express Mail or add $10 if overseas. Texas Residents add 7.25% sales tax $____________ TOTAL ENCLOSED $ ============ Ask about quantity discounts and site licenses ------------------------------------------------------------------- Specify: ____5 1/4 inch disk or ____ 3.5 inch disk ------------------------------------------------------------------- Check one:___Check or M.O. ___MC ___VISA ___P.O. #___________ ------------------------------------------------------------------- IF CREDIT CARD:Name on card:______________________________ Card Number is:____________________________Exp Date_______ Authorized Signature:_____________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------- Mail order to:____________________________________________ Address:__________________________________________________ City, State, Zip:_________________________________________ Phone ( )______________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------- Where Did you hear about Information Please?_______________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------- MAIL TO:TexaSoft, P.O. Box 1169, Cedar Hill, TX 75104. Thanks! 30 day guaranteed satisfaction or return for a full refund. Phone Orders: Call 214-291-2115 (MasterCard & Visa) ORDER TODAY! FAX Orders:214-291-3400. 1 INFORMATION PLEASE 2.00 An Information Storage and Retrieval System for IBM PC and Compatible Computers (C)Copyright TexaSoft, 1983, 1990 P.O. Box 1169 Cedar Hill, Texas 75104 214-291-2115 Please Become a Registered User 2 Information Please Version 2.00 __________________________________________________________ All Rights Reserved No patent liability is assumed with respect to the use of the information contained herein. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this publication, the publisher assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions. Neither is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of the information herein. What is Shareware? Shareware programs are copyrighted just like programs you purchase from a retail software store. However, there are some differences. Shareware is a way to distribute software programs so that users can "try it before they buy it." Instead of paying the full retail price for a program and then getting stuck with it when you decide its not for you-- with shareware your investment to try a program is minimized. Shareware software companies "advertize" by allowing you to copy disks and give them to friends and by allowing disk-copy companies permission to copy the disks and sell them at a low cost to users. These disk duplicating companies are selling disks, not fully registered versions of the software. When you purchase a disk from a disk vendor, you can try out the program to decide if you want to use the program on a regular basis. If you make the decision that the program is what you want, you should fill out the registration form and send in the registration fee. When you register a TexaSoft program, this not only gives you a license for long-term use of the program, but you will receive a printed manual, 90 day phone support, information and discounts on future versions and you will receive the Kwik-Bits newsletter. Professional shareware companies, like TexaSoft, subscribe to the principles of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). Thank you for your support of the shareware concept. Please Become a Registered User 3 Information Please Version 2.00 __________________________________________________________ C O N T E N T S Introduction to Information Please.............5 Installing Information Please..................6 Beginning Information Please...................6 Take a Quick Tour..............................7 How Information Please is Organized............10 The Files Menu..........................10 The Edit Menu...........................13 The View Menu...........................17 Options While Viewing Records..................20 Information Please Editor......................23 Edit Function Keys......................23 Edit Control Commands...................24 Using Command Line Switches....................25 User Ballot....................................27 Please Become a Registered User 4 Information Please Version 2.00 __________________________________________________________ INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION PLEASE Information Please is a text storage and retrieval program allowing you to store and retrieve full-text information - such as memos, catalogues, briefs, letters, invoices, articles, product descriptions, scientific papers, and so on. "Text is the next great frontier of information processing." (John Verity, Information Processing Magazine, June 18, 1990) Enter information from keyboard or import from ASCII file. Search, Display and Print entries using keyword or full-text searches that allow multiple AND and OR criteria. Relate text to a PCX graphic or another program. User interface is an easy to learn pull down menu (Windows-Like) interface. Example "textbases" databases could store information such as: - How to Respond PC-DOS Error Messages - Information on Toxic Chemicals - Directory of National Parks - Poison Control Information - Franchise Opportunities - Patent Infringement Case Studies Suppose you run a business for people wanting to buy franchises. If you had the Information Please textbase "Franchise Information", and you wanted to know what AUTO franchises deal with BRAKES, you could cross-reference that information in an IP textbase-database. (Could you imagine how much time it would take cross-referencing that look-up in a book (or books)! After defining a search, examine the find on the screen, print it, or continue the search for more relevant information. Simple. Intuitive. Suppose employees in your company call into a central help line to get help when their cash register or computer acts up. Over a period of time, most questions will have standard answers. Do you need have a staff of several experts to answer these questions over and over again? Should you reinvent a solution each time a question is asked -- even though it may be the same question that was asked two weeks ago, a month ago, or a year ago? Why not store a description of the problem in a Information Please (IP) database. Then, Please Become a Registered User 5 Information Please Version 2.00 __________________________________________________________ when someone calls up with a problem that has been previously solved, the helpdesk operator can easily search for that problem and relate the answer to the caller. In fact, if you place a copy of Information Please on each employee's computer, they can find the answer to their own question without even having to call the central help line. IP is a time saving, money saving, productivity enhancing benefit! IP is designed to help you find the information you need quickly and with a minimum number of keystrokes. Its intuitive menu system can be mastered in minutes. INSTALLING INFORMATION PLEASE To place Information Please on your hard disk, place the Information Please distribution disk in your A: drive (or B:, C:, D: etc). Make A: (or B: etc) the default by typing A: (or B: etc) at the DOS prompt. Enter the command: INSTALL Then, follow the directions on the screen. The program will be installed and automatically started in setup mode. BEGINNING INFORMATION PLEASE To begin Information Please from the DOS prompt, make sure your are logged into the correct drive and are in the \IP directory. If you are not in the IP directory, enter the command: CD \IP To begin Information Please, enter the command Please Become a Registered User 6 Information Please Version 2.00 __________________________________________________________ IP Copyright information will appear. Press Enter. A screen will appear with a menu bar at the top and a status bar at the bottom. The Files menu will be display. To choose an option from the menu, press the first letter of the option or use the up and down arrow keys to highlight the desired option, then press Enter. SETUP INFORMATION PLEASE To setup Information Please for your computer, select "Choose Program Options" from the menu. You will be prompted to enter the path to be used for the program. For now, just enter the name of the disk drive, such as C: or A: and press Enter. You will then be prompted to choose the kind of monitor you are using. If your monitor will display colors, choose color. If you are using a laptop with an LCD monitor, you will probably choose the LCD option, else choose the monochrome option (black and white, green and black, etc). The monitor selections control the colors used to display information on the screen. Choose the one that is most comfortable to you. You will be asked to specify a printer port. Usually your choice will be LPT1: (first parallel printer port). This information is saved to disk so you will not have to set these options again unless you want to change something. You can reset program options at any time. TAKE A QUICK TOUR OF INFORMATION PLEASE To give you an idea of what Information Please can do, follow along with the example given here. All of the menus and options used here are explained later in more detail. Begin Information Please by entering the command IP at the DOS prompt. You should first see a copyright notice. Press Enter. 1. CHOOSE DATABASE: Choose the Information Please database to use by selecting the option "Open a Database" from the Files menu (Either press the O key or highlight this option and press Enter). When you choose this option, one or more database names will be listed on the screen. Using the up Please Become a Registered User 7 Information Please Version 2.00 __________________________________________________________ and down arrow keys, highlight the name "IP-DOS" and press Enter. At the bottom left of the screen, you should see a note than the database IP-DOS is currently in use. 2. GO TO VIEW MENU: Press the right arrow key twice to change to the View menu. With the View menu extended, use the up and down arrow keys to highlight the option "View Keyword List." With this option highlighted, press Enter to select it. A list of keywords, one per line, will appear on the screen. Use the Up and Down arrow key to move to record number 5, then press the Enter key. This causes the contents of record number 5 to be displayed on the screen. 3. VIEW NEARBY RECORDS: With record number 5 displayed on the screen, press the F10 key a couple of times. This moves you forward in the database. Pressing the F9 key moves you backwards in the database. Press the Esc key to return to the screen listing the keywords. Press Esc again to return to the View Menu. 4. DO A KEYWORD SEARCH: While in the View menu, press the "K" key to choose the option "Keyword Search." A list of match types will appear. Choose the Single Keyword Search option. You will be prompted to enter a keyword. Enter the word DISK and press Enter. Information Please will now search the keyword lists for the word DISK, and will display the first record that contains that keyword. 5. CONTINUE SAME SEARCH: When a record is displayed, observe the keyword list to find the word DISK. Press the F10 key to continue to the search to the next keyword list containing the word DISK, or press the F9 key to search backwards in the file. If there are no more matches, the search ends. 6. END THE PROGRAM: Press Esc one or more times until you are back to the View menu. Press Esc once more and you will see an "End Information Please (y/N)" prompt. Enter Y and press Enter to end the program and return to the DOS prompt. Please Become a Registered User 8 Information Please Version 2.00 __________________________________________________________ OTHER DATABASES ON DISK There are other Information Please Databases on Disk to give you more examples of how the program may be used: PARKS DATABASE: This database contains information about US National Parks. Open this database and look at the first record for an Alaska National Park. Notice that when the record is displayed, there is a menu item F4 at the bottom of the window. This indicates that there is a command associated with this record. In this case, it is a command to show a map of the Alaska National Parks. (Action commands are described later) If you have a CGA compatible monitor (including an EGA or VGA), press the F4 key and the Alaska parks map should appear on the screen. Press Enter to return to the text of the record. FRANCHISE DATABASE: This database contains information about US Franchise Opportunities. Only a few records are included in this example database. SAMPLER DATABASE: This database contains single examples of other kinds of information you could store in an Information Please Database. Look through the records in this database to give you ideas about how you can more effectively use Information Please. This quick tutorial has shown you a little of what Information Please is all about. You can also perform more complicated searches in a database, edit the keywords and record contents, deleted records and more. Besides the information in the IP-DOS database, you can create your own databases. The following information details the various commands and options available to you in Information Please. Please Become a Registered User 9 Information Please Version 2.00 __________________________________________________________ HOW INFORMATION PLEASE IS ORGANIZED The Information Please main menu consists of three options; Files, Edit, and View. When you choose one of these options, a menu will be displayed with another set of options. FILE is used to deal with file (database) related issues such as creating a new database, opening a current database, deleting a database and so on. EDIT is used to deal with individual entries (records) in the database such as editing a record, deleting records and so on. VIEW is used to search for and look at entries in the database. Each entry in a Information Please database is called a record. A record consists of two parts, a keyword list and a description. The keyword list is a list of words that describe the entry. For example, the keywords might be "HARD DISK WILL NOT BOOT" and the entry might explain what can cause a hard disk to lose its ability to boot, and give some solutions for solving the problem. The Keyword list consists of up to 65 characters. The entry description can consists of up to 500 lines of free-form information - usually one or more paragraphs of information. 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: FILES MENU OPTIONS ------------------ Help New Database Open a Database Delete a Database Edit Database Description Print a Database Sort a Database About Information Please Choose Program Options Go to DOS, Return with EXIT Quit, Return to DOS Please Become a Registered User 10 Information Please Version 2.00 __________________________________________________________ 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. HELP The Help option displays a series of help screens that summarize the contents of the manual. When Help is chosen, a menu of items will appear. You can then choose a topic to examine or return to the main menu. NEW DATABASE 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. OPEN 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. DELETE A DATABASE 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. EDIT A DATABASE DESCRIPTION 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. Please Become a Registered User 11 Information Please Version 2.00 __________________________________________________________ PRINT DATABASE The Print Database option allows you to print the contents of the database to a printer or to a file. SORT DATABASE The Sort Database option allows you to sort the database keyword lists. In order to effectively use the sort option, you may pre-plan your keyword list so they can be sorted. For example, you might make the first word in your keyword list your most important word. For example, in the Franchise Database, it might be the kind of franchise such as AUTOMOTIVE, BUSINESS, FOOD, and so on. Then, when you enter new items and want to place the keyword list in alphabetical order, you can sort on the first word of your keyword list. When you choose to Sort a Database, you will be asked to enter the range of the keyword list to use as the sort key. For example, if you want to use the first 5 characters of the keyword list, you would enter 1-5 as your sort key range. When Information Please sorts a database, the database is also automatically compressed. Thus, any records that have been marked for delete will be gone when you perform a sort. If this sort does not place your database in the order you want, another option is to print the database to a file, then use a word processor to move records around. When your database is in the order you want, delete the old Information Please database and re-create the database name and import the information from your word processed file (it must be an ASCII text file). - See Import. ABOUT INFORMATION PLEASE The About Information Please option gives copyright information about the program. Please Become a Registered User 12 Information Please Version 2.00 __________________________________________________________ CHOOSE PROGRAM OPTIONS The Choose Program Options item allows you to choose the disk drive and path to use for Information Please and to indicate what kind of monitor you are using. For the path, you can enter just the disk drive name, such as C: or a drive and path, such as C:\IP\. If no path is specified, Information Please will use information in the current default directory on your disk. You may choose from monitor types Color, LCD or Monochrome. The color option refers to CGA, EGA, PGA, VGA or other monitor types that display color. The LCD option displays only black and white. THe Monochrome option displays black, white and bright white. Choose the one that is most pleasant for your use. After you make your choice, the information is stored to disk so the settings will be the same the next time you begin the Information Please program. GO TO DOS The Go to DOS option allows you to temporarily return to the DOS prompt. You may enter DOS commands or run another program. When you type EXIT at the DOS prompt, Information Please will resume. QUIT The Quit, Return to DOS option ends the Information Please program and returns you to the DOS prompt. USING THE 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: Please Become a Registered User 13 Information Please Version 2.00 __________________________________________________________ EDIT MENU OPTIONS ----------------- Add New Entry Delete an Entry Restore a Deleted Entry Edit and Entry Import from a File Compress the Database 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. Optionally, you can enter an Action Command to be associated with this record. An Action Command is a DOS command that you want to be issued during the viewing of the record. For example, In the PARKS database, when you view information about Alaskan parks, you can view a map of the parks by pressing the F4 key. The F4 key invokes a command that was defined when this entry was added (or edited). To define a command, press the CTRL-K key while adding or editing this record. The command may be any DOS command up to 25 characters in length. The main stipulation is that there must be enough memory in the computer for this command to execute. See the discussion on ACTION COMMANDS later. When you have finished entering the description and keywords, press the F7 function key to save the information. If you decide to abandon this entry and not save the information, press the Esc key. Please Become a Registered User 14 Information Please Version 2.00 __________________________________________________________ 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. Optionally, you can enter a range of records to delete. This process does not actually permanently get rid of the entry or entries - you can restore a deleted entry. If a record is deleted, you cannot read it or display its contents. To permanently get rid of all deleted 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. EDIT AN ENTRY The Edit an Entry option allows you to edit the keywords and description of an entry. The entry will be displayed in the Information Please editor, where you can change, add to, or delete information in the description. Use the F2 key to edit the keyword list or CTRL-K to edit the Action Command (see description for Adding an Entry). Editing records can cause slack space in your database file. This is space in your database that formerly held information, but now is not used because of editing. You should periodically run the Compress option to free up the slack space in the database. IMPORT FROM A FILE Using the Import from a File option, you can enter information that you may already have information on your computer into an 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: Please Become a Registered User 15 Information Please Version 2.00 __________________________________________________________ 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. Optionally, you may also have a command line in the file. For example, if you want the command IPPCX ALASKA /M:0 to be available when this record is viewed, place COMMAND:IPPCX ALASKA /M:0 flush left in the description of this record on a line following the KEY: line. (see Action Commands, described later). You may also enter a title for the database. to do this, place TITLE:The title you want as the first line in the file. 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. An example text file is included on disk called FRANCHIS.TXT. To make this file into a database, first choose NEW DATABASE from the FILE menu (leave the database description blank) Then, go to the EDIT menu and choose IMPORT. When you are asked for the import file name, enter FRANCHIS.TXT. The information from this file will be read into Information Please, and the new database will be ready for use. Please Become a Registered User 16 Information Please Version 2.00 __________________________________________________________ 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. USING 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: VIEW MENU OPTIONS ----------------- 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. 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. Please Become a Registered User 17 Information Please Version 2.00 __________________________________________________________ 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 one keyword or phrase (such as DISK). Information Please will then display the first record that matches the search. Case is not checked, so DISK will match disk. You may use the F9 key to view the previous matching record, the F10 key to view the next matching record. Deleted records will not be displayed. Press the F2 key if you wish to edit this record. Press the Esc key to end the viewing. A Multiple AND search allows you to specify 2 to 10 words to match. For example, you might want to match on the words DISK and BOOT. The AND match criteria means that the keyword must contain BOTH the word DISK and the word BOOT. You will be prompted to enter a list of match words with the AND sign (&) between each word. In this case you would enter DISK&BOOT Information Please will display the first record that matches the search criteria. You may use the F9 key to view the previous matching record, the F10 key to view the next matching record. Deleted records will not be displayed. Press the F2 key if you wish to edit this record. Press the Esc key to end the viewing. A Multiple OR search allows you to specify 2 to 10 words to match. For example, you might want to match on the words DISK or BOOT. The match criteria means that the keyword must contain EITHER the word DISK or the word BOOT. You will be prompted to enter a list of match words with a ~ (tilde) between each word. In this case you would enter DISK~BOOT Please Become a Registered User 18 Information Please Version 2.00 __________________________________________________________ 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. 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. Please Become a Registered User 19 Information Please Version 2.00 __________________________________________________________ OPTIONS WHILE VIEWING RECORDS While viewing records, there are several function key commands that are available to you. Pressing the F10 function key will cause Information Please to search for the next record. The F9 key searches for the previous record. Pressing the F2 key allows you to edit the record being viewed. Pressing the F3 key allows you to print this record. If and action command has be defined for a record, the F4 key will activate that command. Press the Esc key to quit viewing records and return to the previous menu. USING ACTION COMMANDS (F4) An Action Command is a DOS command that you want to be issued during the viewing of the record. If an Action Command has been created for a record, while viewing the record the F4 function key will appear at the bottom of the view window. When the F4 function key is pressed, the Action Command is executed. An Action Command is defined when an entry is added (or edited) in a Information Please database. To define a command while in the editor, press the CTRL-K key. The command may be any DOS command up to 25 characters in length. The main stipulation is that there must be enough memory in the computer for this command to execute. The Parks information file uses an Action Command to display a map of Alaska associated with the description of Alaskan National Parks. A program that displays PCX (Paintbrush) files is included on your Information Please disk. This program, IPPCX.EXE, displays a graphic on the screen. When the user presses any key, the program ends, and control is turned back over to Information Please. See the description about how to use the IPPCX program. You can use any DOS command as an Action Command. There are any number of programs available to you that can display graphics (PCX, GIF, TIF and others), programs that can display spreadsheets, database file, text files, and so on. When the program you have initiated quits, control will be Please Become a Registered User 20 Information Please Version 2.00 __________________________________________________________ turned back over to Information Please. The primary concern in using an Action Command is if the user's PC has that program available and if it will work on his or her PC. For example, if you have a PCX graphic created to be viewed on a VGA type monitor, a person with a CGA monitor will not be able to see the graphic properly. If the command you want to issue is longer than 25 characters, you can use the Action Command to call a batch file. The batch file can then contain other commands that you want executed. See your DOS manual for a description of batch files. The program IPPCX was included on disk to illustrate how to use an Action Command. A description of how IPPCX works follows. USING THE IPPCX PROGRAM The IPPCX Program allows you to display PCX type files to the monitor. The format of the IPPCX program is IPPCX filename [/M:n] where filename is the name of the PCX file and the optional switch /M:n designates the Monitor type being used. The option n many range from 0 to 9, with the following meanings: PCX Monitor Modes for the IPPCX Program 0 - 320 x 200 pixel CGA (4 colors) 1 - 640 x 200 pixel CGA (2 colors) 2 - 320 x 200 pixel EGA (16 colors) 3 - 640 x 299 pixel EGA (16 colors) 4 - 640 x 350 pixel EGA (2 colors) 5 - 640 x 350 pixel EGA (16 colors) 6 - 640 x 480 pixel VGA (2 colors) 7 - 640 x 480 pixel VGA (16 colors) 8 - 320 x 200 pixel VGA (256 colors) 9 - 720 x 348 pixel Hercules (2 colors) Please Become a Registered User 21 Information Please Version 2.00 __________________________________________________________ The monitor type should match the type used to create the PCX file. If a monitor cannot display the monitor type, the PCX graphic will appear distorted. For example, in the PARKS database, the command IPPCX ALASKA /M:0 was used as an Action Command. This command began the IPPCX program to display the PCX file named ALASKA.PCX. The switch /M:0 indicates that this graphic is made to display on a CGA type monitor. (It will also display properly on most EGA and VGA monitors.) Please Become a Registered User 22 Information Please Version 2.00 __________________________________________________________ USING THE 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 contents (Does not clear copy buffer). F9-Mark: Mark block for copy. F10-Copy: Copy text. See also Ctrl-C. To edit or enter a keyword list, use the F2 function key. The F9 and F10 commands are used to copy text from one location to another. To mark text (store it to be moved), place the cursor at the top left of the text and press the F9 key once. Then move the cursor to the bottom right of the text and press the F9 key again. Make sure your rectangle covers all of the text to move. When you mark the text, it will be highlighted on the screen. Move your cursor to where you want the text to be moved and press the F10 key. This will insert the text between existing lines in the record. To copy text directly over exiting text, use the CTRL-C command rather than the F10 command. To exit the editor and save the description, press the F7-Save key. To exit and not save, press the Esc key. The following list of commands are Control commands. Control commands are issued by pressing the CTRL key like a shift Please Become a Registered User 23 Information Please Version 2.00 __________________________________________________________ key, and then simultaneously pressing a single command key. CONTROL COMMANDS (CTRL) ---------------------------------------------------------- CTRL A - Makes characters UPPER CASE. CTRL C - Is similar to the F10 function key. However, instead of first inserting blank lines before making a copy, CTRL C will place the copied text in the position specified by the cursor, directly over any text that may happen to exist. CTRL D - Deletes all characters on the current line which are to the right of the cursor. If the cursor is in column one, the entire line will be deleted. CTRL K - Allows you to enter or edit an Action Command. CTRL F - "Fills" the text from the current line to the next blank line which starts with a dot "." Each line is filled with as many words as will fit while observing the current line length specifications. CTRL J - Justifies line to right line length (margin) in editor. CTRL L - Reset the line length (right margin) within EDIT. After pressing CTRL L, you will be prompted to enter the new line length. CTRL S - Will search for a specified text. You will be prompted to enter the text to be located. Each time this text is matched, it will be highlighted on the screen. CTRL W - Deletes text from the position of the cursor to the next blank. This is usually used to delete a word. CTRL Y - Delete a line. CTRL Z - Makes characters lower case. Please Become a Registered User 24 Information Please Version 2.00 __________________________________________________________ USING COMMAND LINE SWITCHES This section lists some special features of Information Please. These may be of particular interest to organizational PC Support Coordinators. COMMAND LINE SWITCHES: The format for the Information Please command is IP [/MESS:filename][/OPEN:dabasebasename] The items in brackets are optional switches to the command. Information in switches must not contain any blank spaces. The /OPEN: switch allows you to open a Information Please database file without having to choose it from the Information Please menu. This allows you to setup the Information Please program to automatically use a particular database. For example, if you want the database IP-DOS to be open when you begin the program, you would enter the command: IP /OPEN:IP-DOS The /MESS: switch allows you to display the information from a text file on the screen at the beginning of the Information Please program. This could be helpful if you are using Information Please as a part of an organizational support program. You can use this "Special Message" as a description of how to use Information Please, what updates you have included in a database, and other important message. For example, suppose you place some ASCII text in a file named SPECIAL.TXT that you want displayed when Information Please is begun. You would use the command IP /MESS:SPECIAL.TXT This message will be displayed in a message box with the caption "Special Message" at the top and "Press Enter to Continue" at the bottom. ASCII text files can be created by most word processors. Create a file using margins that create a document about 60 characters wide. Save the Please Become a Registered User 25 Information Please Version 2.00 __________________________________________________________ document as a DOS, ASCII or Text file (different word processors use different terms.). Then, use the /MESS: switch in the Information Please command to display the message. Distributing Information Please Information Databases If you are distributing Information Please databases around your organization, you must supply two files for each database. Of course, there must be a copy of the Information Please program on the computer, also. The file with the .IPI extension contains the index of Keywords. The file with the extension .IPD contains the data records. To distribute an Information Please database, all you need to do is supply these two files. That is, copy these files to the PC hard disk where you want them to be available. When you choose "Open a Database" from the Files menu, Information Please searches the directory for database names. Those database names that are found are the ones displayed when the user chooses Open Database. If you are going to commercially distribute an information database you have created, you will need to include a runtime version of Information Please on the disk. Please contact TexaSoft for information about licensing the run-time module. Please Become a Registered User 26 Information Please Version 2.00 __________________________________________________________ USER BALLOT In order to continue to improve Information Please, we need your input. This ballot is used to help us prioritize changes in future versions. Please indicate the changes you would like to see most in this program. Place a number from 0 to 10 next to each item, where 10 indicates a HIGH priority for change and 0 means a LOW priority for change. We appreciate your suggestions. Your Vote Item --------- ----------------------------------------------- _____ Support use of a mouse _____ Make the program searching faster _____ Make the keyword field longer _____ Provide password protection for use of a database _____ Allow encryption of database contents so the user cannot change the contents of a database _____ Allow fixed-length fields within the keyword field _____ Allow sort by numeric and/or date keyword items _____ Provide more examples on disk & in the manual _____ Allow printing of all records that match search criteria with one command _____ Allow mixed AND and OR search criteria in one search _____ Use single keystroke commands to go to commonly commonly used options (such as Alt-V to go to view keyword list) _____ __________________________________________________ _____ __________________________________________________ Write Other Suggestions Here: Please fill out this ballot and return to Texasoft, PO Box 1169, Cedar Hill, Texas 75104. 27