U-027, INTRODUCTION TO INFOEXPLORER ON THE RS/6000
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TITLE: Introduction to InfoExplorer on the RS/6000 DOCUMENT NO: U-027
DATE: March 17, 1998 VERSION NO: 4
INTRODUCTION
The InfoExplorer program is a text retrieval tool that gives access
to the IBM AIX manuals for the RS/6000 computers supported by Information
Technology and Communication at UVa. InfoExplorer runs under the X Win-
dow System or a standard terminal interface. The interface provided by
the X Window System is quite different from the terminal interface; the
information you need to use InfoExplorer can be found in the section
corresponding to the interface you are using.
For information about using X Windows, see U-014, ``Introduction to
the X Window System.'' It can be reached by going up one level from here
and is document U014.
USING INFOEXPLORER IN X WINDOWS
Starting InfoExplorer
Open a window if you need to. Start InfoExplorer by typing
info
at the command line prompt.
(Ignore any font error messages that may be displayed.)
First a window will open with the title ``Info: Introduction'' which
contains version information. After a while, this window will be re-
placed with two new windows entitled ``Welcome to the InfoExplorer Window
Interface'' and ``Topic & Task Index.''
Leaving InfoExplorer
To exit the InfoExplorer, select Quit from the info menu on any In-
foExplorer window.
Introduction to InfoExplorer on the RS/6000 U-027
Getting Around
InfoExplorer is a collection of documents connected to one another
through a set of hypertext links. A hypertext link is a statement or word
in one document that, when selected, takes you to a different document
that contains specific information about that word or statement. Hyper-
text links may also take you to different locations in the same document.
In InfoExplorer, any text in the main window that has a box around
it is a hypertext link. You can click on any hypertext link and it will
bring up the page to which the link points. The page that gets brought up
may contain text information and/or other hypertext links. This should
be familiar to users of Internet browsers, such as Netscape or Microsoft
Internet Explorer.
You can always get back to the starting place by clicking on the
button labeled ``Topic & Task Index.''
As you select hypertext links, you will be moving along a path in
the InfoExplorer information space. The path is just a list of the docu-
ments you have passed through on your way to the document you are now
viewing. The button at the bottom titled ``Path'' gives access to your
path. At any time, some buttons or arrows may be grayed out, indicating
that you cannot use them at this point. The group of buttons contains an
up-arrow, down-arrow, and a button labeled Path. Clicking on the up-arrow
takes you back along your path, visiting the documents you passed
through to get to the current document. Clicking on the down-arrow takes
you forward along the path after you have used the up arrow to move
backwards. It is usually grey because you are usually not backtracking
through your path. Clicking on the Path button displays a window
containing the names of all the documents in your path allowing you to go
directly to one of those named documents.
C++ and Fortran Compiler Information
Information and manuals for the C++ and Fortran compilers (xlC and
xlf, respectively) are not included in the default info database since
they are not standard software bundled with AIX. You may select these
libraries within info by clicking on the top left info button in the
``Topic & Task Index'' window, choosing ``Library'' and then ``Select''.
If the ``Select'' button is not highlighted, chose the ``Define'' button
and then enter xlC or xlf in both the directory and library name boxes.
Close the ``Define'' window, and then chose ``Select.'' Another window
will appear from which you can select libraries. Click on the desired
library with the mouse and press the Return key.
InfoExplorer has a command line option for starting with a library
that is not in the default database, -l library-name; e.g. type
info -l xlC
or
info -l xlf
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U-027 Introduction to InfoExplorer on the RS/6000
Searching for Information
InfoExplorer is frequently used to get information on a specific
topic. It has an extensive search facility well-suited to this task.
Begin the search by selecting the button labeled ``Search'' at the
bottom of a window. This brings up a window with a box for you to type in
the text for which you want to search. If you want to search only the
titles of articles, select the ``Search Title Only'' box. If that box is
not selected, the entire text is searched. When the ``Enter'' button is
selected, the search proceeds and eventually returns with a window
listing how many matches were found in each category. The list is
comprised of hypertext links presented in order of number of occurrences
in the specified text. To go to a document from that list, just select
it as you would any other hypertext link.
You can also search for multiple parameters where you specify more
specifically the information you want. To invoke a multiple search, first
select the ``Search'' button, then the button labeled ``Compound Search''
below the input box. Type the text for which you want to search in the
box next to the text labeled ``Find:.'' You can enter multiple words and
specify their proximity to one another and their location in the
document. Fill in the boxes next to the button labeled ``And'' to specify
multiple words. Clicking on the button labeled ``And'' cycles it between
``And'',``Or'', and ``But Not'' which can be used to further specify your
search.
Saving Information
In the X Window System, there are two ways to save information:
print the information to a printer or save it to a file.
To print an InfoExplorer document, go to the info menu of the docu-
ment you want to print and select Print. To be able to print, you may
need to change the printer command. Do this by selecting Defaults from
the Options menu. A window entitled Info:Defaults Editor appears with
a section entitled Default Printers. In that section, there is a label
Simple Print with some text next to it. If you are unable to print, try
changing that text to read:
enscript -2r -b"InfoExplorer Documentation (c)1994 IBM"
If this works, select the ``Save'' button at the lower left to keep this
as your default.
To save information into a file, you can copy the information into a
text editor using X Window's Copy and Paste. First, open your favorite
text editor. To select the region of the document that you want to copy,
click the left mouse button at the beginning of the region, then click
the right mouse button at the end of the region. The region will become
highlighted. Go to the Edit menu and select Copy. You can then paste
the information into a text editor window: move the mouse into the editor
screen and press the middle mouse button. When you have saved all the
text you want into your screen, save the contents to a file. The saved
text is not broken by carriage returns or line feeds. Depending on your
editor settings, the text may not all be visible at one time, or it may
wrap the text in whatever manner your editor handles it. To make it
readable, you may want to fix this before saving your file. Check the
documentation on your editor available in the Unix manual pages, the
/help/docs directory (one level up from here), or with the hints command.
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Introduction to InfoExplorer on the RS/6000 U-027
An Example: I/O Stream
Say, for example, that you wanted to know about how to use I/O
streams. Without using the InfoExplorer, the best way to try to gather
this information would be to go to a book or to documentation on the
specific compiler you are using. With the InfoExplorer, getting this in-
formation is a relatively simple task. Start InfoExplorer and then
select the ``Search'' button from the ``Topic and Task Index'' window.
Select ``Compound Search'' from the Search window. This will allow
you to specify which databases you want to search. Press the ``Select...''
button near the bottom left of the window. By default, all databases are
selected. Un-select every Database except for ``Programming Guides''
in the window that comes up and then press ``Apply'' in that window.
Enter the text ``I/O Stream'' in the box next to ``Find'' at the top of
the Search window and click on ``Enter'' in the bottom left. Info-
Explorer not only positions itself in the ``Input and Output Handling
Programmer's Overview''; it also locates the one occurrence of the string
``I/O Stream''.
USING INFOEXPLORER FROM AN ASCII TERMINAL
Starting InfoExplorer
Start the InfoExplorer program by typing
info
(From the Umenu system, select the item ``Go to UNIX'' and then type
info.)
If you are using an X terminal, type instead
info -a
When you type info, your screen will blank and the following will appear
on the bottom left of your screen:
IBM info 1.3.0 1990 KnowledgeSet Corp.
Eventually (perhaps a few minutes), another screen will appear with the
following message:
Welcome to the InfoExplorer ASCII Interface
Across the top of the screen will be a series of menus similar to the
following:
_info _Help _Display _History _Bookmarks _Notes _Search _Exit
Leaving InfoExplorer
To exit InfoExplorer, press Ctrl-o (hold down the Control key and
press the letter ``o'' ). This will put the cursor up on the info menu.
Typing e will select the Exit menu. Press the Return key to confirm your
intent to exit.
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U-027 Introduction to InfoExplorer on the RS/6000
Getting Around
InfoExplorer is a collection of documents connected to one another
through a set of hypertext links. A hypertext link is a statement or word
in one document that, when selected, takes you to a different document
that contains specific information about that word or statement. Hyper-
text links may also take you to different locations in the same document.
In ASCII mode, the default hypertext link is displayed with inverse
video. Other possible links are displayed either as underlined text or
text in a different color. If you press the Return key, the selected hy-
pertext link will be followed. The following is a table of useful com-
mands.
___________________________________________
| Command | Result |
|___________|______________________________|
|Return Key | follow selected link |
| Tab Key | select subsequent link |
| Ctrl-b | select previous link |
| Ctrl-n | page forward in document |
| Ctrl-p | page backward in document |
| ^ | move text cursor up a line |
| v | move text cursor down a line |
| Ctrl-o | access menu bar (toggle) |
|Ctrl-o e | exit infoExplorer |
|___________|______________________________|
To access the menu at the top of the screen, use Ctrl-o. This will
move the cursor to the menu and select the Info menu as a default. You
can select a different menu by typing the first character of the name of
the menu you are interested in, or by pressing the right or left arrow
key. To make a menu drop, press the down-arrow key or the Enter key. You
can select an item from any submenu by moving the cursor to the item you
wish to choose and pressing the enter key, or by typing the character
that starts the name of the item that you wish to select. If you want to
leave the menu without making a selection, press Ctrl-o again and the
cursor will return to the text part of the screen.
As you select hypertext links, you will be moving along a path in
the InfoExplorer information space. To access your path, you can use the
``History'' feature. The History is just a list of the documents you
have passed through on your way to the document you are now viewing. To
navigate using History, select the History menu (Ctrl-o, use the right
arrow key (->) to select ``History'' and then press the Return key). Your
list of visited documents is maintained under the the List all option.
Selecting List all brings up a subwindow of the titles of the documents
you visited. Select the title you want to visit and then select the Goto
menu to return to the desired document.
C++ and Fortran Compiler Information
Information and manuals for the C++ and Fortran compilers (xlC and
xlf, respectively) are not included in the default info database since
they are not standard software bundled with AIX. The xlC library is not
accessible via the ascii version of info but the xlf one can be be ac-
5
Introduction to InfoExplorer on the RS/6000 U-027
cessed with the library option. To start info using the xlf library, use
the -l library-name command line option; e.g., type
info -l xlf
You may ignore the message stating ``The Help Database is not defined''
and press any key to continue.
Searching for Information
A frequent use of InfoExplorer is to get information on a specific
topic. InfoExplorer has an extensive search facility well-suited to this
task.
Use Ctrl-o to get to the menu and select Search. From the search
menu, you may select one of ``Simple'', ``Compound'', ``Article Titles'',
``Glossary'' or ``Files''. A simple search consists of looking for the
indicated text in all of the documents available. Selecting a compound
search will allow you to combine search strings (for example, you could
search for both ``this'' and ``that''). Selecting any of the other
search topics will allow you to search those areas.
Saving Information
To print a document, select ``Print Article'' from the info menu
with Ctrl-o i p. As in the X Windows version, you may need to set your
default printer (printing command) before successfully printing. To do
this, select Defaults from the Info menu with Ctrl-o i d. A separate,
smaller window will appear. Press the Tab key until you get to ``Simple
Printer:''. Change the entry to read as follows:
enscript -2r -b"InfoExplorer Documentation (c)1993 IBM"
When you have finished, type Ctrl-o to go to the menu bar and select
Save from the menu on the smaller window. Most terminals do not have a
buffer like X Windows, so there is no way to store information into a
file.
An Example: I/O Stream
Say, for example, that you wanted to know about how to do use I/O
streams. Without using InfoExplorer, the best way to try to gather this
information would be to go to a book or to documentation on the specific
compiler you are using. With InfoExplorer, getting this information is a
relatively simple task. Start InfoExplorer, and then select ``Compound''
from the _earch menu. Select the _Bselect Menu (Ctrl-o d.) This brings
up a smaller ``window'' with the possible databases in it. Move the
cursor down to ``Programming Guides'' and select using the _elect menu.
Then select _uit from the menu bar (Ctrl-o q) to get back to the ``Compound
Search'' Screen. In the Find field, enter the text ``I/O Stream''. If
Press ``TAB'' until the cursor is in the ``all information bases'' box
in the bottom-right corner. Press ``SPACE'' until it says ``current
navigation article.'' Then select _earch from the menubar (Ctrl-o s).
6
U-027 Introduction to InfoExplorer on the RS/6000
A menu will come up with ``Input and Output Handling Programmer's
Overview''. To read this article, use the down-arrow key to select and
then press the Return key.
acc2g/mas8y/March 13, 1995
cpr4k March 17, 1998
cpr4k July 21, 1998
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