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 NetLookout for OS/2 - Version 2.01 ( formerly Lookout )
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Table of Contents:

0. What's new in this version?

1. What is NetLookout for OS/2?

2. How do I install it?

3. How do I use it?

4. How does it work?

5. Where do I send bug reports & suggestions?

6. Known bugs & what's planned?

7. How do I register?

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0. What's new in this version?


Version 2.01

- change to .zip file - now only one .zip file, not two
- More improvements to the FTP code
- Option to ignore all HTML tags for Web Lookouts
- Option to not display the Settings dialog when creating a site
  by dropping a URL on the main window.


Version 2.00

- much improved user interface
- HTTP proxy support
- drag'n'drop support for creating Lookouts
- importing Lookouts from other OS/2 and Windows internet apps
- improved communication code

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1. What is NetLookout for OS/2?

NetLookout for OS/2 is a internet notifier.  It will watch Web, FTP and
Gopher sites, and tell you if they have changed.  A "Lookout" is
also known as a "bot", an "agent" or an "informant".  In this
document, we refer to them as "Lookout"s.

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2. How do I install it?


The file nlook201.zip should unzip into 5 files:

- readme.txt
- netlook.exe
- netlook.hlp
- frugrsrc.dll
- register.txt

Just unzip nlook201.zip into a directory, then run netlook.exe


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3. How do I use it?


Start by running netlook.exe.  Program settings are saved in lk.ini,
and information about the various sites is stored in lookout.dat.

The main window of NetLookout contains a "details" view, where information
about each Lookout is displayed and updated.  You can right-click
on a Lookout's line to display a popup menu, with choices of actions
to perform on that Lookout.  Here's a list of what you can do:

	Create - create a new Web, FTP or Gopher Lookout
	Edit - change the settings and parameters for a Lookout
	Delete - self-explanatory
	Check - have the Lookout check right now if the site has been changed
	Reset - change the Lookout's status to "Idle"
	Start watching - if the selected Lookout is suspended, start watching it
	Stop watching - stop checking the selected Lookout

If the selected Lookout watches an FTP site, you also get the choice:

	Details - if an FTP site has changed, this will display a
	dialog that lists what files have been added, removed or changed.

To create a new Lookout, select "Lookout|New|Web", or "FTP" or "Gopher".
Most of the fields on the Create & Edit dialogs are obvious.  Here are
the not-so-obvious ones:

	Gopher:
		Selection string - the selection string of the Gopher item
		you want to watch.  If left blank, will default to a new-line,
		which is the Gopher default.

	Web:
		URL - the "Universal Resource Locator(?)".  Basically,
		this is what you see in the URL field on a browser.
		More... - displays another dialog, where you can enter words
		and strings that the program will ignore when comparing two HTML
		files to see if a site has changed.

	FTP:
		Directory - defaults to "/".
		More... - displays another dialog, where you can enter file names
		and parts of file names that the program will ignore when checking
		if an FTP site has changed.  "index" is a good one to add here.


Select "Settings|Program settings..." to bring up the settings notebook.  Web, FTP
and Gopher each have a notebook page where you can select and enter the client program
used to "view" a Lookout.  Also, there is a field to format the command line of the
client program.

For FTP Lookouts, place the following in the "FTP Client Parameters"
field in the order your FTP client needs them:  %host %user %password %port %dir %desc

Web Lookouts only recognize two parameters:  %URL %desc

Gopher Lookouts recognize %host, %port, %selector and %desc

For example, if you want to use the IBM WebExplorer as your Web client, and you normally
start it from the command line with the "-q -t 6" options, in the "Web Client Parameters"
field, you would enter "%URI -q -t 6".

For another example, if you use VXFTP for your FTP client, you could enter the following
command line in "FTP Client Parameters":  "%host %user %password %dir".

If a client program that you select is not in your PATH, you must enter the full path to
the program in the "Client" entry field.

The %desc parameter outputs the description of this Lookout to the specified program.

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4.  How does it work?


Each Lookout has a thread that does the checking.  Every 60 seconds, the main thread goes
through the list of Lookouts, and sees if it's time for any of them to be checked.  If it
is, that Lookout's thread is signalled, and it does the checking.

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5.  Where do I send bug reports & suggestions?


Obviously, I need bug reports.  But, I am very interested in any ideas you have for improving
the performance and usability of this program.  If you have any problems, suggestions or
enhancements, please send them to:

	ckennedy@primenet.com

Also, use Lookout to watch the Lookout for OS/2 home page, at

	http://www.primenet.com/~ckennedy/software/lookout


***NOTE***
This distribution DOES NOT contain a lookout.dat file with the information for this site.
Users didn't like the fact that their previous lookout.dat file was getting overwritten.



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6.  Known bugs & what's planned?


Known bugs?
- Occasionally, an FTP Lookout will get stuck waiting on a directory listing.  The site will say "Checking...",
and the program will become sluggish.  Close the program and restart.  I'm working on this one very hard!


What's not implemented yet?

*POSTPONED - Applying temporary overrides permanently, on the "Global Overrides" page of the settings notebook.


What's planned?

- Interface to BackTalk speech synthesizer
- Import from Internet Adventurer, Internet Explorer and NetExtra
- Support dragging from the main window


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7.  How do I register?


Please see the file "register.txt" included with this distribution.


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Chris Kennedy
February 17, 1998

Frugal Software
ckennedy@primenet.com
http://www.primenet.com/~ckennedy/software/lookout
