Help file for ThePier(tm) CD-ROM Access Program Do not alter this file! %% 1,0:1 2,0:2 2,1:3 2,2:4 2,3:5 3,0:6 3,1:7 3,2:8 3,3:9 4,0:10 4,1:11 4,2:12 4,3:13 4,4:14 5,0:15 6,0:20 7,0:16 8,0:17 9,0:18 10,0:19 11,0:21 11,1:22 11,2:3 11,3:4 11,4:5 12,0:23 12,1:7 12,2:8 12,3:9 13,0:24 14,0:25 14,1:26 14,2:27 14,3:28 14,4:29 15,0:30 16,0:21 16,1:22 16,2:3 16,3:4 16,4:5 %% .1 Subjects Help This is a list of the subjects on the CD-ROM. Selecting one of the subjects will display the files in that subject. The menu at the top of the screen will allow you to exit the program, search for files, keywords, or archive contents, or configure ThePier(tm) CD-ROM Access Program. You can select the items from the top menu with your mouse or by pressing the highlighted letter of the desired choice in combination with the Alt key. (For instance, to select System, hold down the Alt key and press the 'S' key.) .2 System Menu Help The System menu is used for overall program control. From it, you can exit the program, drop to DOS temporarily, or execute your custom shell program. .3 DOS Shell Help The DOS Shell option will allow you to go to DOS and return to ThePier(tm) by typing EXIT. .4 Custom Shell Help The Custom Shell option will allow you to jump to your favorite file management program. (See Configure for more information on this.) .5 Exit Help Exit ends ThePier(tm) and returns you to DOS. .6 Search Menu Help The Search menu allows you to search the database for filenames, keywords, and archive content filenames. Searches at this level will include all subjects. .7 Filename Search Help This option will allow you to search the database for a particular filename. .8 Keyword Search Help This option will allow you to search the database for a particular keyword. All significant words in the file descriptions have been indexed, so any file with the word you specify in its description will appear in the file list. .9 Archive Content Search Help This option will allow you to search the database for a particular archive content filename. Most of the files on the CD are archive files that actually contain other files. The resulting file list will contain all the archive files that contain a file matching the search criteria. .10 Configure Menu Help The Configure menu allows you to set up ThePier(tm) for your system. It lets you control the display mode, the active database, the directories used by ThePier(tm), and the viewer programs. .11 Configure Display Help The Display option allows you to force ThePier(tm) to use text mode displays. .12 Configure Active Database Help The Active Database option is used to select an alternate database. If you have more than one The Pier Shareware CD-ROM, you can use this option to switch among the CDs. .13 Configure Directories Help The Directories option is used to identify the directory paths used by ThePier(tm). .14 Configure Viewers Help The Viewers option allows you to associate external programs with specific file extensions. When you click on a content file with the specified extension, the associated external program will be executed. .15 Search Criteria Help This screen allows you to specify the criteria used for a database search. The Key field is used to specify the filename or keyword for which to search. Wildcard characters are not allowed, but you can enter a partial key. If Exact Match Only is checked, complete words must be entered in the Key field. If not checked, the beginning of a word or filename may be entered. .16 Configure Display Help This screen allows you to force ThePier(tm) to use text mode displays. ThePier(tm) will normally use graphics mode if your display systems supports it. Text mode displays are slightly faster than graphics mode and may be necessary if your display system is non-standard. Changes to the Display setting will take effect the next time you run ThePier(tm). You can also force text mode by using the /T option on the command line when you start ThePier(tm). .17 Configure Database Help This screen is used to select an alternate ThePier(tm) database. If you have more than one The Pier Shareware CD-ROM you can use this screen to select the database associated with one of the other CD-ROMs. If you only have one The Pier Shareware CD-ROM, do not change the settings on this screen. You can select any of the directories shown in the lower right section by clicking on them with your mouse. If you don't have a mouse, use the TAB key to switch to the directory section, then use the arrow keys to highlight the desired directory. Press the ENTER key to select the directory. If the desired directory is on another drive, position to the Dir field and type the desired drive letter. When you've selected the proper directory, position to the left window and select the desired database file. To finalize the database selection, position to and select the OK button. To exit the Active Database screen without making a selection, press ESCAPE or select Cancel. .18 Configure Directories Help Directories Configuration allows you to specify the directories used by ThePier(tm). The Work Directory is used by ThePier(tm) for temporary files. A default value is set up by the installation program, but you can change it if desired. The Default Copy/Extract Directory specifies the default directory used when copying or extracting archive files. This is just a default and can be changed on the fly when copying or extracting files. The Comment Database Directory specifies the location of the comment database. By default, this is the directory where ThePier(tm) program resides. It is recommended that you stay with the default. CD-ROM Drive specifies the drive letter of your CD-ROM drive. The installation program initially sets this value to the drive from which ThePier(tm) was installed. If you have more than one CD-ROM drive, you will need to change this value if you move The Pier Shareware CD-ROM to a different CD-ROM drive. .19 Configure Viewers Help The Viewer Configuration screen is used to define external programs that will be activated by ThePier(tm) in different situations. Default Viewer is the file viewer program used by ThePier(tm) when another viewer is not associated with the selected file. ThePier(tm) contains a built in default viewer, but it is suitable only for text files. If the Default Viewer field is left blank, the built in viewer will be used. An excellent alternative viewer is Vern Buerg's List program. The current version of List should be available on The Pier Shareware CD-ROM. (List is a shareware program and should be registered if you use it.) Shell Program is the program executed when you select the Custom Shell option from one of the drop-down menus. It can be used to execute a file management program such as Norton Commander or PCTools. The remainder of the screen contains pairs of Viewer specifications and their associated File Extensions. When a file with one of the specified extensions is selected from an archive content list, the viewer associated with that extension is executed. Each viewer can have up to ten extensions associated with it. If you need more than ten extensions associated with a particular viewer, you can specify the viewer more than once. The Viewer field should contain the whatever you would normally enter at the DOS command line to execute the program. It should be noted that these programs are not strictly limited to "viewer" programs. For instance, if you have a sound card, you may find it useful to associate a sound file player with file extensions like .MOD and .WAV. This will allow you to click on a .WAV file and have it automatically extracted and played on your sound card. In all of the above program specification fields, ThePier(tm) will substitute the sequence $F with the full path and filename of the selected file. The sequence $D will be substituted with the name of the target directory. For instance, to use Vern Buerg's List program as the Default Viewer, you would enter LIST $F in the Default Viewer field. This would activate List and pass on the command line the name of the file to be viewed. $D may be useful with the Shell Program if your selected file management program will accept a directory on the command line. .20 Files Help This is a list of the files in the selected subject. To get complete details on a specific file, click on the file with your mouse or highlight the desired file and press ENTER. The menu at the top of the screen can be activated by clicking on it with your mouse or by holding down the Alt key and pressing one of the highlighted letters in the menu. To return to the previous screen, press ESCAPE or select System from the drop-down menu and select Return To Previous Screen. .21 System Menu Help The System menu is used for overall program control. From it, you can return to the previous screen, exit the program, drop to DOS temporarily, or execute your custom shell program. .22 Return to Previous Screen Help Return to Previous Screen will take you back to the previous screen. .23 Search Menu Help The Search menu allows you to search the database for filenames, keywords, and archive content filenames. Searches at this level will include only files in the current subject. .24 File Detail Help This screen contains details about a specific file. The archive file name, directory, date and size are at the top left of the screen. At the top right is a list of the files contained within the archive file. If the file is not an archive, the list at the upper right will be a repeat of the file name. The scroll bar at the right of this window can be used to scroll through the list of files. Selecting one of the files in this list will cause ThePier(tm) to extract that file from the archive and pass the extracted file to the appropriate "viewer". In the middle of the screen is the complete description of the file. The scroll bar at the right can be used to scroll the description up and down. Under the description window is the comments window. This can be used to enter your own comments about this file. These comments will be saved in a special database and will be displayed whenever you view the detail information about this file. At the very bottom of the screen is a prompt bar showing the active keys and their effects. PageDown will move to the next file in this subject. PageUp will move to the previous file in this subject. Ctrl-PageDown will move to the first file in the next subject. Ctrl-PageUp will move to the first file in the previous subject. Alt-C will move the cursor to the comment window from anywhere on the screen. Clicking on any of the prompts with your mouse will take the associated action. .25 File Menu Help The File option allows you to take certain actions on the current file. .26 File Copy Help The Copy option will copy the current archive file to the selected directory. .27 File Extract Help The Extract option will extract the contents of the current archive file into the selected directory. .28 File Extract and Custom Shell Help The Extract and Custom Shell option will extract the contents of the current archive file into the selected directory and then activate the Custom Shell program. .29 File Extract and Shell to DOS Help The Extract and Shell to DOS option will extract the contents of the current archive file into the selected directory and then shell to DOS in that directory. To return to ThePier(tm), type EXIT at the DOS command line. .30 Search Files Help This is a list of the files that met your search criteria. To get complete details on a specific file, click on the file with your mouse or highlight the desired file and press ENTER. The menu at the top of the screen can be activated by clicking on it with your mouse or by holding down the Alt key and pressing one of the highlighted letters in the menu. To return to the previous screen, press ESCAPE or select System from the drop-down menu and select Return To Previous Screen. .End