VIEW

================================== VIEW.TXT ===================================

CDROM Browser - DOS/Windows Documentation

>------------------------------------------------------------------ Contents --

         Introduction
         Using View
           Running VIEW.EXE
           File/Directory Indexing
           Reading Text Files
           Uncompressing Files
           Dynamic File Index Menu
           Copying Files
           The Global Index
           General Tips
         Troubleshooting
         Credit

>-------------------------------------------------------------- Introduction --

 For better accessibility of our CDROMs, we at Walnut Creek developed a CDROM
 browsing program called "View."  With this program, you can traverse through
 the directories and examine all the file descriptions.  "View" can search for
 files, as well as extract and uncompress them from the CDROM to your hard
 drive.  It is a very useful program.

 There are DOS and Windows versions available:

   view.exe     - (DOS) located in the root directory of the CDROM
   w16view.exe  - (Win3.x) located in the CDROM \utils directory
   w32view.exe  - (Win95/NT) located in the CDROM \utils directory

>---------------------------------------------------------------- Using View --

 _____Running VIEW.EXE

 To use the view program from DOS, change the current drive to your CDROM
 drive. Type "VIEW" at the root directory and press enter to start the
 program.

 To use the view program from Windows 3.x, use the "Run" option under Program
 Manager.  Assuming the CDROM drive is accessed through "D:", type
 "D:\utils\w16view.exe" into the command line box and click on the "OK"
 button.  The view program can also be accessed through the File Manager.
 There may also be an icon labeled "CDROM Browser - WINDOWS" that appears
 after you run setup.exe from this CDROM.

 To use the view program from Windows 95/NT, click on "Start", then "Run",
 then type in "D:\utils\w32view.exe".  Be sure to change "D:" to your CDROM's
 drive letter.  In many cases, View will automatically appear when you insert
 the CDROM so this will not be necessary.  There may also be an icon labeled
 "CDROM Browser - WINDOWS" that appears after you run setup.exe from this
 CDROM.

 _____File/Directory Indexing

 Once started, the view program displays a listing of the directories of the
 CDROM along with their content descriptions.  In general, you will see the
 names of files and directories on the left side of the window, and
 descriptions on the right.  Use the arrow keys or the mouse to move the
 cursor bar up and down the list to select the desired directory.

 Pressing  or double-clicking on any of the entries will have one of
 several different results, depending on what was highlighted:

   Directory : View changes to that directory and shows you a new listing.
               Press the  key or click on "Back" to return back.

        File : If you selected a text file, view will display it.
               If you selected a binary file (like a .gif or .jpg), view will
               try to use a helper program to display the file.  If there is
               no helper program defined, view will display the file as text.
               If you selected a file ending in ".zip", view will try to
               uncompressed it (see "Uncompressing Files" below).

 _____Reading Text Files

 To read a text file from the file index menu, position the cursor bar onto
 the file entry and press  or double-click.  The view program will open
 up the text file, and will allow the user to read and scroll through the
 document.  While scrolling through a text file, searching of a text string is
 accomplished by pressing the key 'S'.  (The key 'R' searches a string in the
 reverse direction.)  To return back to the file index menu after reading the
 text file, press the  key.

 _____Uncompressing Files

 To uncompress an archived file from the index menu, select the file entry
 with the cursor bar and press .  In general, archived files have names
 that end with the file extension of ".zip".

 After selecting an archived file for extraction, a "destination query" screen
 will appear to ask for the directory where the archived file is to be
 uncompressed.  A default destination directory will be already suggested by
 the view program, printed and highlighted in the destination box.

 Press  here to use the default directory, or modify the default entry
 before pressing .  The user may also scroll through some "suggested"
 default directories by using the down-cursor key.  Once the  key is
 pressed, the view program will then create the destination directory if it
 doesn't already exist, and begin to uncompress the archived file into that
 directory.

 _____Dynamic File Index Menu

 After the archived file is successfully uncompressed, the view program then
 displays another index menu similar the previous one based on the files
 extracted from the archive.  Here most of the "readme" files and text files
 extracted are be labeled as documentation on the right side.  Use the cursor
 bar to select these files to open them for viewing.  Extracted files that
 have ".bat", ".com", or ".exe" as extensions are executable files and are
 labeled as such on the right side.  Selecting these files will run these
 applications on top of the view program.

 If wished, the extracted files can be removed from the hard drive at this
 point by pressing the keys "Alt-R" (DOS View) or by hitting the  key
 (Windows View).  To return back to the first index menu, press the  key.

 _____Copying Files

 To copy a file from the index menu, again highlight the file entry with the
 cursor bar, and press the 'C' key.  A screen similar to that from the archive
 uncompressing process will appear asking the user for a destination.  Enter
 the desired directory name where the file is to be placed, and press .
 The view program then copies the file to the destination directory, and
 returns back to the file index menu.

 _____The Global Index

 You can also perform all of the above functions on the Global Index File.  To
 jump into the Global Index File mode, press the keys "Alt-G" (DOS View), or
 select "Go" -> "Global Index" from the pulldown menus (Windows View).  You
 will then be viewing the global index containing all of the files on the
 disc.  You can search, view, and unzip from this one large index file instead
 of having to enter multiple directories.

 _____General Tips

 At any stage of the program, hitting the  key (DOS View) or clicking on
 "Back" (Windows View) always brings you back to the previous state -- so
 don't worry about accidentally hitting a wrong key.  The On-line help is also
 provided at all stages of the program.  Pressing the '?' key any time can
 bring up the help screen.

>---------------------------------------------------------- Trouble Shooting --

 Due to memory problems and the restrictions of other software, the view
 program may at times conflict with other applications when running them on
 top of itself.  Whenever any newly uncompressed program retrieved from the
 cdrom doesn't run from the interactive file menu, please try running it
 directly from MS-DOS or MS-Windows.  And in most cases, a shareware program
 usually comes with its own documentation and instructions.  These
 instructions are normally stored in files such as "readme.txt".  Please read
 all documentation included with a file before running a program.  Doing so
 will prevent the occurrence of common problems that many users often
 encounter.

>-------------------------------------------------------------------- Credit --

 The view program uses the SPAWNO routines by Ralf Brown to minimize memory
 use while shelling to DOS and running other programs

================================== VIEW.TXT ===================================