Compute! Gazette "Gazette 5 Year Index" disk help files are the instructions for using the Gazette Index software. The contents of all help files are in this document. Compile by Burton Craddock E-mail: thecommodorefiles@yahoo.com Website: The-CBM-Files http://members.tripod.com/the-cbm-files/ October 7, 2000 ======================================== Gazette 5 Year Index: 0help: RECORD DELETE DISK INFO Previous Insert Load Help Next Delete Save ^ docs Goto Clear 4 dir \ print Begin X copy Options End V paste = about Kill+ J kill- Use CTRL-key combinations to execute all commands in this mode except the function-key commands. Kill+ deletes from the current record forward. Kill- deletes backwards. Kill commands do not delete the current record. Copy and Paste are for moving one record to a new location. Files are limited to a maximum of 256 records. Free memory is displayed in the upper right corner. ======================================== Gazette 5 Year Index: 1help View mode help screen F1 Menu F3 Browse F5 View F7 Edit RECORD FIND SORT INFO Previous Title Title Help Next Author Author ^ docs Goto Category Category \ print Begin Issue Issue Options End Machine Machine = about Descrip Descrip F repeat SHIFTED Find commands search from the current record forward. Press F to repeat the search and view the next occurrence. Sorts change the actual order of the file in memory. Press \ for a screen dump. Use the shift key for Sort commands. Press O to go to the Options screen. ======================================== Gazette 5 Year Index: 2help Browse mode help screen F1 Menu F3 Browse F5 View F7 Edit RECORD FIND DFIND INFO Previous Title Title Help Next Author Author ^ docs Goto Category Category \ print Begin Issue Issue Options End Machine Machine = about Descrip Descrip F repeat SHIFTED To view a record, highlight an entry and press F5 or the fire button. Previous and Next move 15 records at a time. Find locates all matches in the file. Press F to find the next occurrence. Dfind searches the entire disk. Use SHIFT for Dfind commands. Press \ to print the screen. The back-arrow key in the upper left corner of the keyboard activates the menus. ======================================== Gazette 5 Year Index: 3help Welcome to "Gazette 5-Year Index." This index covers the complete history of COMPUTE!'s Gazette from July 1983 through December 1988. Features include the ability to search a file or the complete disk for a single topic, dump any screen to the printer, and sort by title, author, issue, machine, category, or description. Look for an update with complete 1989 information a year from now. You are currently in COMPUTE!'s Index program. Index is written for the Commodore 64 and will not work on the VIC, Plus/4, or Commodore 16. If you have a Commodore 128, insert the Index disk in your drive before turning on the computer. If you encounter problems, go to 64 mode and run the program according to the instructions on the label. A joystick or mouse is optional. This article will help you learn how to use Index. Index is a powerful and complex program, but we've worked hard to make it intuitive and easy to use. If you ever get confused while using the program, we recommend these steps: 1. Examine the top line of the screen. This is the mode line. It tells you which mode you're in. The current record number will appear on this line in each of the three modes. 2. Press H for help. You'll see a help screen which is specific to the mode you are in. If you're on the menu screen, you'll get this article. 3. Remember the organization of the program. A menu screen shows the directory, and three modes of operation are possible. Browse mode lets you quickly scan for information. View mode gives you more information about each entry. Edit mode allows you to change information or add entries to files. We suggest you avoid Edit mode until you are familiar with the program. You can switch between modes directly, with F1 returning you to the menu screen and F3 putting you in Browse mode; F5, in View mode; and F7, in Edit mode. Organization The files on this disk are organized according to the layout of the contents page of COMPUTE!'s Gazette. Pick up a copy of Gazette and you'll see articles arranged in these categories: Features Reviews Games Education/Home Applications Programming Departments Program Listings Some issues contain fewer categories than others do. Plus, we've isolated "Bug-Swatter" and "Gazette Feedback" (from the "Departments" section) into their own files. The Index disk is double-sided. Both sides contain all the program files needed to boot the Index. Files for the period 1983-1985 are on side 2. Files for the period 1986-1988 are on side 1. Here is a list of all the data files on the disk: Side 1 Side 2 FEATURES 86-88 FEATURES 83-85 REVIEWS 86-88 REVIEWS 83-85 DEPART 86-88 DEPART 83-85 GAMES 86-88 GAMES 83-85 PROGRAMMING 86 PROGRAMMING 83 PROGRAMMING 87 PROGRAMMING 84 PROGRAMMING 88 PROGRAMMING 85 EDUCATION 86-88 EDUCATION 83-85 BUGSWATT 86-88 BUGSWATT 83-85 FEEDBACK 86-88 FEEDBACK 83-85 Menu Control Index features a user-friendly interface employing pull-down menus. All of Index's functions are available from these menus. You can move through the menus and select menu options with a joystick, a mouse, or the keyboard. Later in this article you'll find a list of all the menus and menu entries, with complete descriptions of the operations each menu item performs. When you first use Index, you'll be able to use the joystick or keyboard. If you wish to use a mouse, you can change the pointer controller from joystick to mouse on the options screen, which is accessed from the INFO menu or by pressing O (for Option). Accessing Index's menus with the joystick or mouse is simple. Moving the joystick or mouse controls the arrow-shaped pointer. Move the pointer to the top of the screen. A menu will pop down. As you continue to move the pointer along the top of the screen, the menus drop so that you can see the entries for each one. To make a selection from a menu, place the pointer over a menu entry and press the mouse button or the joystick fire button. To leave the menus, simply move the pointer off the bottom of the current menu. You can also use Index's menus with the keyboard. Press the back-arrow key to bring down the menus. Use the cursor-left and -right keys to move between menus. Use the cursor-up and -down keys to access an entry, and press RETURN to select it. To leave the menus, press the back-arrow key again. For maximum speed, Index's menu items have keyboard equivalents. That means that you can perform menu functions with a single keystroke. Here's a sample menu: Info Help ^ docs \ print Options = about This is the Info menu. Keyboard equivalents are shown in menus as capital letters (H and O in this case) or by specially designated keys (^,\,and = here). On some menus, you'll see SHIFTED at the bottom of the menu. This keyword means that the options in this menu can be accessed by holding down the SHIFT key as you press the keyboard equivalent. A Walk-Through Let's take a quick journey through Index. The first mode you encounter after loading the program is the main menu. This screen displays a directory of only the Index data files (Index data filenames are preceded by a CTRL-I character). If you attempt to enter another mode without loading a data file, Index will report a "No File in Memory" error. From this screen, select the file called PROGRAMMING 85. When you load the file, you'll be in Browse mode. If you've loaded the wrong file, you can go back to the menu screen by pressing F1. Move the cursor to record 10, "Color Swap." At the top of the screen you'll see Browse Record #10 PROGRAMMING 85 In each record, an article is identified by title and author name, as well as the date and page number for the issue containing it. Press the controller button or F5 to move to View mode. In View mode, you can see even more information about the entry, including which computer or computers the article is devoted to, and a brief (six lines maximum) description of the article's contents. This is how the View screen looks: Title: Author: Category: Month: Year: Page: Machine: Description: The Description field may contain program requirements (such as disk drive and joystick) or, for categories such as "Feedback" and "Bug-Swatter," the subtopics discussed. Press F3 to return to Browse mode. "Color Swap" will now be the top entry. You can press B to move back to the beginning of the current file. Pressing P or N anywhere within Browse mode will display the previous or next 15 entries, respectively. Choose an entry and go back into View mode by pressing F5. Press P or N, the keyboard equivalents for Previous and Next. You'll move backward or forward by a single entry. Other entries in the Record menu are Begin, which takes you to the first record; End, which takes you to the last; and Goto, which takes you to a record that you specify by typing a number. Index the Way You Like It Index features an options screen where you can change Index's screen colors, turn the turbo disk option on or off, set the drive number, choose between joystick and mouse, and select a printer. Plug the joystick--or mouse--into port 2. This should be done before you turn on the computer; otherwise, problems may occur. Use the cursor keys to move between fields and make selections. When you've finished, you can press RETURN to set your selections or press the back-arrow key to escape without making any changes. If you press RETURN, you'll be asked if you'd like to save a version of Index with your options saved as default settings. Press Y for Yes or N for No. The Fast Lane We've included the Turbo load option because Index is a disk-intensive program. Some drives may not work correctly with Turbo turned on. If the data you load is garbled or never appears, turn Turbo off. Month by Month As you receive each issue of Gazette in the upcoming year, you may want to keep Index up-to-date. To do this, you'll need to learn how to use Edit mode. We suggest that you do all editing on a backup copy of the Index disk. Haphazard use of Edit mode could leave you with a disk that no longer functions as a useful index to the Gazette. This disk is write protected. If you do not have a disk-copying program, use a file copier to copy the following files to another disk: BOOT 128BOOT INDEX TL NT 0HELP 1HELP 2HELP 3HELP 4HELP After you've loaded a file, you can enter Edit mode by pressing F7. Edit mode is designed to let you alter a file or start a new one. If you'd like to start a new file, press N on the menu screen. Before you begin editing, it is important to learn your way around the Edit mode screen. Since Edit mode is the only place in Index where you type in data, you must hold down the CTRL key while entering the keyboard equivalents discussed earlier. When in Edit mode, use the cursor-up and -down keys or RETURN to move between fields. If you cursor down while in the Description field (the final field) the cursor will appear in the Title field, at the top of the screen. Cursoring up from the Title field will take you to the Description field. In Edit mode, there are two different types of fields. In the Title, Author, Year, Page, and Description fields, you type in the information directly. In the Category, Month, and Machine fields, you use the space bar to move between several predefined entries. For example, if your cursor is at the month field, you can step through the months (January, February, March, and so on) by pressing the space bar. Index supports two special keypresses in Edit mode. To move to the beginning of a field, press CLR/HOME. Press SHIFT-CLR/HOME to clear the data in that field. To move to the first selection in those fields which step between predefined entries, press CLR/HOME or SHIFT-CLR/HOME. For example, pressing CLR/HOME in the Month field will take you to January. Index uses word-wrap in the Title and Description fields. This feature (which is common in word processors like SpeedScript) keeps your words from being split between lines. You'll encounter word-wrap when you type beyond the right edge of the screen and Index moves the word onto the next line to keep it intact. Index supports up to 256 records in a file (0-255), with a maximum of 40 Index files per disk. Do not exceed this limit. Record numbers for all Index files start with 0. When you are ready to exit Edit mode, you will be prompted with a save-file option. Choose Yes if you wish to save any changes. The filename of the current file will appear at the filename prompt. If you use this filename, you'll be asked if you want to replace the old file. If you press the Y key, the old file will be scratched and the new one will then be saved. If you'd rather save it with a new name, use the DEL key to erase the existing name; then type in the name. Alternatively, you can press SHIFT-CLR/HOME to clear out the filename before you start typing. Saving the file under a new name preserves the old file. Your new version is saved under the new name. If you decide not to save the updated file, simply press RETURN. Menu by Menu Now let's take a look at the various menus found in Index. Mode (found in all modes) menu F1 browse F3 view F5 edit F7 quit F2 The Mode menu lets you select from Index's modes. To quit Index, press F2. Record (found in all modes) Previous Next Goto Begin End The Record menu lets you move between records. In Browse mode, you move 15 records at a time. Info (found in all modes) Help ^ docs \ print Options = about The Info menu gives you information about Index. Help calls up a context- sensitive help screen. Docs brings up this article. Print allows you to print the contents of the screen. With Options, you can customize Index for your system. Find (found in Browse and View modes) Title Author Category Issue Machine Descrip F repeat The Find menu allows you to search for a specified string in any of Index's fields. You can select the search string by typing it. For the Category option, use the space bar to cycle through the selections. For the Machine option, select one of the numbered choices. Before you begin the search, make sure you start from the first record in the file. The Find option searches from the current record forward. To continue the search after an occurrence, press the F key. The Find function ignores spaces and is not case-sensitive. For example, tophat could be found if you searched for Top Hat. Dfind (found in Browse mode) Title Author Category Issue Machine Descrip SHIFTED The Dfind menu is similar to the Find menu, but it searches the disk for records containing the phrase that you specify. Each time a match is found, the file information is displayed on the screen. If there are enough matches to fill an entire screen, Index will wait for a keypress, giving you the opportunity to print the screen (press \) before continuing the search. When the search is complete, Index leaves you in the last file searched. As with the Find function, Dfind ignores spaces and the case of letters. Sort (found in View mode) Title Author Category Issue Machine Descrip SHIFTED The Sort menu lets you sort any file by field. For instance, you can group entries by machine if you sort by the Machine field. Delete (found in Edit mode) Insert Delete Clear X copy V paste Kill+ J kill- The Delete menu lets you manipulate the file that you are currently editing. Insert places a record at the current record position, moving up (by one position) any records above the current one. Delete scratches the current record, pulling down (by one place) the records above it to fill the hole. Clear erases the current record. Copy copies the current record into a buffer; Paste will copy it into another record. Kill+ and Kill- delete all records after and before the current record, respectively. When using Kill on large files, be patient. Don't attempt to access other modes or features until Index has finished the Kill operation. Disk (found in Edit mode) Load Save 4 dir The Disk menu allows you to perform disk access, including loads, saves, and getting a disk directory. Troubleshooting Problem Possible Solutions ----------------- ------------------ loading files Turn Turbo off from Options screen. mouse Plug into port #2. Check ptr selection from Options. joystick Plug into port #2. Check ptr selection from Options. joystick & mouse Before turning on your computer, plug in joystick or mouse to avoid problems. 128 keypad Doesn't work from within Index. FIND option Start search from the top of the file; press F to continue the search after the first occurrence. aborting Use the exit feature (RUN-STOP/RESTORE) to return to the main menu at any time. Answer N at the Exit? prompt. Note: Unless you have saved your custom settings, Index will default to the original options. printing From the options screen, change prt. out of memory When editing, be aware of free memory displayed in the top right-hand corner of the screen. If you ever encounter an out-of-memory error, reboot the computer. Helpful Hints * Press RETURN without entering a string (Find option) or a filename (Save & Load option) to return to the file without changing its status. * Gazette 5-Year Index and all the required files are saved on both sides of the disk. If you want information from 1986-88, load Index with the label side up (1983-85 label side down). * To abort any function (including this documentation), press RUN/STOP and RESTORE. Index will ask if you wish to exit the program. Answer N and you will return to the main menu. * The help screens included with Index are saved on the disk in SpeedScript format. The filenames are 0HELP, 1HELP, 2HELP, 3HELP, and 4HELP. * The screen-dump option is available from any mode (it can be used to print out important parts of this article). This article is also in SpeedScript format and can be printed from within SpeedScript using the print option. The filename is 3HELP. * Different help screens are available from each mode. Each help screen has information that pertains to the mode that you accessed it from. * Specific requirements (joystick, printer, and so on) for program entries are listed in the Description field. * To access the pull-down menus using the keyboard, press the back-arrow key, located in the upper left-hand corner of the keyboard. **************************************** Copyright 1989 COMPUTE! Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Senior Editor: Lance Elko Editorial Director: Tony Roberts Project Leader: David Hensley, Jr. Assistant Editor: Rhett Anderson Program Designer: William Chin Programming Assistant: Joyce Sides Copy Editors: Karen Siepak Tammie Taylor Karen Uhlendorf Consultants : Robert Bixby Randy Thompson COMPUTE! Publications, Inc. P.O. Box 5406 Greensboro, N.C. 27403 919-275-9809 GAZIND881116 ======================================== Gazette 5 Year Index: 4help Copyright 1989 COMPUTE! Publications, INC. All rights reserved, Senior Editor Lance Elko Editorial Director Tony Roberts Project Leader David Hensley, Jr. Program Designer William Chin Assistant Editor Rhett Anderson Programming Asst. Joyce Sides Copy Editors Karen Siepak Tammie Taylor Karen Uhlendorf GAZIND881116