Help Version 2.01  Anthony Towns  Ed: Note well - both ARexx and AmigaGuide required to run this program! Find AmigaGuide on Fish 870. The program Help.rexx has no icon but is in this drawer.  <> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <>  Description ===========  Help is a program that allows easy referencing of program manuals and readme files. NB: THIS PROGRAM REQUIRES ARexx, AND AmigaGuide TO RUN NB: DO NOT RUN THIS PROGRAM WITHOUT FIRST READING THIS DOCUMENT! HELP REQUIRES A SPECIAL DIRECTORY STRUCTURE! Requirements ============  Not too extreme I hope, this program needs: An Amiga (obviously) ARexx (bought as either as a seperate program or with WB2) AmigaGuide (from the Public Domain, eg MegaDisc's UT 339) Preferably including A HardDrive (somewhere to put all those Doc files) 1 MB RAM (as usual, the more the better!) How to setup Help =================  NB: This requires a little CLI/Shell knowledge, if you aren't quite sure how to do some of this, I'd suggest you try and get some form of CLI/Shell tutorial, there are quite a number on previous (current?) MD's... To get this degree of flexability, Help requires a special directory structure. First of all, all the documentation files are all centred around one logical aream the HELP: assignment/disk. This is then divided into subdirectories, one called "miscellaneous" and any others corresponding to the program they belong to. For example: HELP: Help ToolManager AmigaGuide DirectoryOpus term Miscellaneous If there is more than one file relating to a single program, a special directory should be created, eg "DirectoryOpus", and the files placed in that. If there is only one, called for example "Patch2.0.doc", that may simply be placed in the "Miscellaneous" directory. It is not necessary to remove the extension (ie ".doc"), Help will find it as long as the extension is in the appropriate config file. The following structure could result: HELP: DirectoryOpus (DirectoryOpus - Dir Util) Addenda ReadMeFirst term (term - Comms program) term.doc term.guide termRexx.doc termRexx.guide News Contents Miscellaneous Help.man (Help - A little vanity can't hurt.. ;-) NewPos.txt (NewPos - Window fiddler) Patch2.0.doc (Adds a few features to OS2.0) NB: If your Hard drive is a little full (gasp!) or you're working from floppy, rather than create a logical assignment simply format a blank disk and call it "HELP", then whenever you run the program a little requester saying "Please insert volume Help in any drive" will appear... Configuration =============  For Help to work, two configuration files must be placed in the ENV: logical device in a directory called HelpRX. These are "Names" and "Extensions", indicating what program Help should use to display the files and whether or not they are HyperText (ie AmigaGuide) compatible files. The format is: HyperText compatible? (Y/N) Name/Extension (12 chars (including the ".") Program (rest of line) If the program section is left blank, the program used for the previous extension will be used - saves a little typing.  Now, where will we put the actual program? Assuming you're running WB2.0 simply set the Script bit and place it somewhere in your path, eg Copy DF0:ARexx/Help/Help.rexx C:Help ; Note ".rexx" extension removed Protect C:Help +s ; Set the script bit Then simply type "Help" at the CLI to run... From WB1.3 do the following: Copy DF0:ARexx/Help/Help.rexx REXX:Help.rexx ; Note ".rexx" extension ; remains Then type "rx Help" at the CLI to run... (Note: "DF0:ARexx/Help/" represents the directory where the program was when you got it. It may differ depending on where you got the program) Usage =====  The command template is: PROGRAM,DATABASE,SEGMENT This is quite complicated, so I'll use as an example the term documentation and a number of examples. It is fairly intuitive (I hope ;-)... (If you are using WB1.3, change references to "Help" to "rx Help") Assuming the following directory structure: HELP: term term.guide (containg a number of "documents" including Screen and Index) term.doc termRexx.guide termRexx.doc DirectoryOpus Addenda ReadMe Miscellaneous Patch2.0.doc the following Extensions FullView .guide AmigaGuide .doc FullView And the following names ReadMe FullView ReadMeFirst Help term -> Brings up AmigaGuide with the contents of "HELP:term/term.guide" Help term term.doc -> Brings up FullView with "HELP:term/term.doc" Help term term.guide -> Brings up AmigaGuide with the contents of "HELP:term/term.guide" Help termRexx -> "Couldn't find Help file" Help term Rexx -> "Can't find node" Help term termRexx -> Brings up AmigaGuide with the contents of "HELP:term/termRexx.guide" Help term Screen -> Brings up AmigaGuide with the Screen section of "HELP:term/term.guide" Help Patch2.0 -> Brings up FullView with "HELP:Miscellaneous/Patch2.0.doc" Help DirOpus -> "Couldn't find Help file" Help DirectoryOpus -> Brings up FullView with "HELP:DirectoryOpus/ReadMe" Also, Help can be used with AmigaGuide Cross Reference files. To use this feature, "amigaguide.library" must be in your LIBS: directory, AmigaGuide must be somewhere in the path, and you must have used "LoadXRef" on any XRef files beforehand. Then, simply type Help OpenWindow() ; Or whatever to access the appropriate XReference. For more information, read the appropriate section of the AmigaGuide manual and, if you can program in ARexx, the source. Summary =======  In short, all you need to do is: Install Help somewhere appropriate. Install AmigaGuide (if you haven't already) Make a directory/disk called Help: (by assign if necessary) Make a subdirectory entitled "Miscellaneous" in Help: Copy and manuals that have only one file there. Make a sepereate directory for each other program and copy its relevant files there. Run the program using "Help " (where is the program's name) Not as difficult as I make out, is it? Crystal Ball Gazing ===================  In the future, I plan on adding a couple of features (some of which are already under development) to make this program more usable. So here they are... o Rewrite in a compiled language (probably C++ or E) o Better config files (ie Names + Extensions) o File requester when help file not found o Commodities Interface for the Help key o Ability to see what program is being run (as per JBPHelp) Distribution ============  This program is FreeWare, and as such may be distributed by anyone, as long as all the original files are included in unmodified form. If you wish to include this with a commercial product I would appreciate it if you would contact me to discuss the program and make certain you have the latest version. Bug Reports, Upgrades, Compliments, Gifts, Complaints etc... ============================================================  If you have any questions, bug reports, suggestions and so forth, I can be reached by sending a letter to: Anthony Towns 24 Chester Road Eight Mile Plains Qld 4113 AUSTRALIA If you'd like a reply don't forget a SSAE or something else worthwhile. Upgrades can be obtained by either the Public Domain, or by sending a couple of PD disks to the author (along with your address of course) Anyway, that's about it, so... Au revoir, ANT! (Beware the little nipper!) Anthony Towns.  <> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <%> 34 <>