Copyright: ® 1994 Nigel G Thomas


WnBrowse Topic Index
WnBrowse 3.7 Topic Index

This Index lists Help topics available for WnBrowse 3.7.

To learn how to use Help, press F1 or choose Using Help from the Help menu.

Commands

   File Menu Commands

   Edit Menu Commands

   Search Menu Commands

   View Menu Commands

   Options Menu Commands

Topics

   Setting Preferences

   Customizing the Button-Bar

   File Information Dialog

   View Mode

   File Types

   Keyboard Use

   Font Selection

   Selecting Text

   Viewing ZIP Files

   Print Options

   Command Line Options

   Button Bar

   Registering WnBrowse


  File Menu Commands

Open

Opens a new file.

When you select the Open command you are presented with the Open File dialog box. From there you can select the file that you want to browse. If the selected file is a text file, then the  initial viewing mode will be text, otherwise the hex viewing mode will be selected.

Related Topics

   View Mode

   File Types

Save As...

Displays a Save As dialog box from where a file can be selected for saving the currently selected text. This option is greyed when no text is selected.

Close File

Closes the current file, releases any storage and iconizes WnBrowse.

Launch

Launches the current file, with it's associated application, or with the default text editor. If the file being viewed is a Windows 16 bit program, it is executed.

Delete

After confirming that you wish to proceed, the current file is deleted. If the Load next/previous file after delete option is on, the next or previous file will be loaded after the current file has been deleted.

Previous

Displays  the previous file from the list of currently selected files.

Next

Displays the next file from the currently selected files.

Print...

The Print option can be used to print the entire file, or a selected portion of a file on the currently active printer. A dialog box is displayed allowing various options to be selected.

Related Topics

   Selecting Text

   Print Options

Printer Setup

Presents a dialog box from where you can select the printer to use and set printer options, such as page size and orientation.

Show Information...

Displays a dialog box containing information about the currently selected file, including the file size, modification date and version information

Exit

Exits WnBrowse


Edit Menu Commands

Copy

Copies any selected text to the Windows Clipboard.

Select All

Quickly selects the entire contents of a file. Selected text can be copied to the Windows clipboard, printed, or saved to a file.

Edit File

Edits the current text file using the default editor. The default editor is set from the Preferences dialog on the Options menu.


Search Menu Commands

Find

Displays the find dialog box from where you can search for a character string within the file being browsed. The following options can be selected :

Find What

Enter the string to be searched for. This can be entered in ASCII or hexadecimal

Direction -

Specifies the direction of the search, backwards or forwards.

Origin -

Specifies from where the search comences. Entire Scope searches from the top or bottom of the file. Current position searches from the top or bottom of the current window.

Options -

Match Upper/Lower case - string comparison is case sensitive

Scroll to - Matching lines are scrolled to the top or middle of the window

Repeat Last Find

Following a successful find, finds the next occurance of the same string within the file.

Goto

Displays a dialog box from which you can select the new file location.

In text view mode, enter the line number.

In Hex view mode, enter the hexadecimal offset.


View Menu Commands

Text Mode

The selected file is displayed in text mode.

Hex Mode

The selected file is displayed in hex mode.

View ZIP File Contents

Displays information about the contents of a ZIP file.

Redisplay Zip File

Redisplays the Zip file containing the Zipped file being viewed.

Related Topics

   View Mode

   Viewing Zip Files


Options Menu Commands

Select Font

Selects the font to be used for displaying and printing the selected file.

Related Topics

   Font Selection

Preferences...

This item displays a dialog box from where you may specify your preferences for many  of the WnBrowse  options. For details, see Setting Preferences

Customize Button Bar...

Displays a dialog box from where where you can customized the appearance of the button bar. For details, see Customizing the Button Bar

Colours

Displays a dialog box that allows the colours of certain WnBrowse elements to be selected.

Set Line Length

Sets the  display length for lines of non-text files using the text viewing mode.

Save Settings

Saves the currently active options, (Font, Ruler, tabs, scroll bars and Colours), so that they  are automatically used every time WnBrowse is started.


Setting Preferences

The Preferences menu item on the Options menu displays a dialog box from where many WnBrowse options can be set.

Translation Options

When the EBCDIC to ASCII option is selected, any EBCDIC characters are converted to ASCII before being browsed or printed. This option is useful when browsing or printing a file downloaded from an IBM mainframe computer.

The OEM to ANSI option can be used to translate OEM characters (such as box drawing characters) to their ANSI equivalents. This option should be set off when browsing files containing special national language characters.

Display Options

When the Ruler option is set, a ruler will be displayed at the top of the output window while in text view mode.

When the Scroll Bars option is set, scroll bars are displayed if the file length or width exceeds the output window size. If this option is not set, scroll bars will not be displayed and the keyboard must be used to scroll the file.

The Status Line option, when set, causes a Status line to be displayed at the bottom of the output window.

The Button Bar option, when set, results in the display of a button bar at the top of the output window.

Tab Processing

The Expand Tabs option controls whether embedded tab characters within the file will be expanded when the file is viewed or printed.

The Tab Size value specifies the number of characters between each tab stop. This value must be between 2 and 16.

Launch Options

The Default Editor input box contains the name of the editor that is to be used to edit text files when the Launch option is used.  If the name is blank, then editing will not be allowed.

When the Minimize on Launch option is set, WnBrowse will minimize after a file is launched via the Launch button, or Launch command.

Delete Option

When the Load next/previous file after delete option is set, WnBrowse will load the next (or previous) file after the current file is deleted. This option allows you to browse through a selection of files, deleting unwanted files as you go.

Any changes that you make using the Preferences dialog effect the current execution of WnBrowse only. If you wish to save the settings for all future executions, you should select 'Save Settings' from the Options menu.


Customizing the Button-Bar

You can add, remove, and alter the position of buttons on the button bar from the Customize Button Bar dialog selected from the Options menu.

Adding a button:

Select the button that you want to add from the list of available buttons in the listbox on the left of the dialog.

Select the button in the button bar listbox to indicate the position where you want the new button added, the new button will be added above the selected button (to the left on the button bar). If you do not select an insertion point the new button will be added to the end of the button bar.

Press the Add button.

Removing a button

Select the button that you want to remove from the button bar listbox.

Press the Remove button. The button will be removed from the button bar listbox, and added to the list of available buttons.

Changing the position of a button

Select the button that you want to move.

Move the button up or down by pressing the Up or Down button respectivly.

Selecting Button Bar Bubbles

The Show Button Bar Bubbles check box activates or disables the display of button bar bubbles.

When you have finished customizing the button bar, press the OK button to save your changes. Pressing the Cancel button will end the dialog, canceling any changes that have been made.


File Information Dialog

The file information dialog can be requested by selecting 'Show Information...' from the File menu, or by clicking on the information button in the Button Bar.

Depending on the type of file being viewed, some or all of the following information will be displayed :

File Name

The full path name of the file that is being browsed. Long path names will be truncated to fit in the dialog box by replacing some directory levels with ellipses ('...').

Type

The type of file being browsed. WnBrowse primarily classifies files as text or non-text. Some types of files are further classified as specific types if possible. This includes Zip files and program executables. If the file being browsed is a member of a Zip file, this will also be indicated. Any file that has an associated application is also identified.

Size

The size of the file being browsed is displayed in bytes and in kilobytes.

No. of Lines

For text files only, the number of lines in the file is displayed.

Last Modified

The date and time that the file was last modified is displayed.

Attributes

The attributes of the file (archive, read-only, hiddden and system) are displayed.

Program Version Information

If the file being browsed is a Windows 16 bit executable (EXE,DLL etc), WnBrowse will check to see if it contains version information. If such information is present, the File Information dialog is expanded to display the following information:

Version

The version of the file being browsed. For example, 3.10 is displayed when browsing the Windows 3.1 version of WRITE. The exact format of the version information will vary and is dependant on the programs authors requirements.

Company

The name of the Company that produced the file being browsed.

File Description

A description of the file being browsed. The level of detail provided by this information is again dependant on the programs author, but should be useful in recognizing what the file is used for, or what application it belongs to. If version information is not available for the file being browsed, WnBrowse will check to see if a program description has been included in the executable. If it has, it will be displayed here.

The program version information can be useful in determining what a file is used for, and can assist in tracking down and deleting remnants of discarded products. It can also be interesting  to know what some of those strangely named DLL's are actually used for !

Imported DLL List

If a 16 bit Windows EXE or DLL file (or an OS/2 1.x executable) is being browsed,  a list of DLL's that are imported can be displayed by selecting the More... button. This information can be useful in determining what application a DLL file belongs to. You should be aware however that a DLL might be used by an application even if it is not on the list of imported DLL's.

Related Topics:

File Types


Viewing Mode
View Modes

WnBrowse can display files in two ways or modes. The initial view mode is selected automatically according to the file type,  but can be changed from the view menu or Button Bar.

Text Mode

The file is displayed line by line. Scroll bars are provided if necessary for both vertical and horizontal scrolling.

If the file is a non-text  file, then the file is displayed with 75 characters per line. This can be changed by selecting 'Set Line Length' from the Options menu.

Related Topic

   File Types

Hex Mode

Each display line is separated into three parts.

1. The offset into the file of the line in hex.

2. 16 bytes of the file displayed in hexadecimal.

3. the ASCII or EBCDIC translation.

When hex mode is selected, WnBrowse will switch to a fixed font if necessary.

Related topics

   View Menu Commands


File Types

When WnBrowse opens a selected file, it classifies the file into one of three types.

Text File

A text file consists of one or more lines of text, each containing 256 characters  or less, separated by  ASCII NL/CR characters. Text files are presented initially using the text viewing mode.

Note: The 256 character per line limit can be changed to any value between 80 and 1024 by adding or changing  the following parameter in WNBROWSE.INI

MaxLineLen=nnn

Where 'nnn' is the required line length limit.

Non-Text File

Any file that does not meet the criteria for a text file, is considered to be a non text file. All such files are presented initially using the hex viewing mode.

While it makes no sense to display some non text files in the text viewing mode, for example EXE files. some files that WnBrowse classifies as non text , contain large amounts of text, best read using the text viewing mode. Such files include word processing files.

ZIP Files

All non-text files are checked to see if they are ZIP files. Such files are processed by WnBrowse as for non-text files, except that their contents can be listed from the View menu or Button Bar.

File Information

The File Information menu option (or the information button) can be used to display information about the file being browsed. Displayed along with other file details is the file type. For non-text files, WnBrowse will attempt to identify what type of file is being displayed. Currently WnBrowse recognizes Windows 16 bit, Windows NT and OS/2 executables. For Windows 16 bit files, WnBrowse will  display the file description and version and company name (if available).

Related topics

   View Mode

   Viewing Zip Files

   File Information Dialog


Keyboard Usage

F1	Displays the Help index
F3	Repeats the last find
Ctrl-T	Selects text view mode
Ctrl-H	Selects hex view mode
Ctrl-M	Toggles the menu display option
Ctrl-S	Saves the current options
Ctrl-Page Up	Displays the previous file
Ctrl-Page Down	Displays the next file
Page Up	Scrolls back one window full
Page Down	Scrolls forward one window full
Up Arrow	Scrolls back one line
Down Arrow	Scrolls forward one line
Left Arrow	Scrolls left eight positions
Right Arrow	Scrolls right eight positions
Home	Scrolls to the top of the file
End	Scrolls to the bottom of the file


 Font Selection

WnBrowse supports fonts for both displaying and printing the selected file.  Fonts are selected by using the Select Font command from the options menu. The number of fonts available will vary according to the currently selected printer.

Sometimes WnBrowse will select a new font automatically. For example if you switch from text view mode to hex view mode WnBrowse will ensure that a fixed font is being used. When you switch back to text view mode, the original font will be restored.

Related Topics

   Options Menu

   View Mode


Selecting Text

You can use a mouse to select text from the file being browsed. The selected text is displayed in a different colour to distinguish it from the unselected text. You can copy selected text to the clipboard, print it on an attached printer, or save it to a file.

Select text using the following procedure.

1.	Move the cursor to the first or last character you wish to select.

2.	Press and hold the left mouse button. The cursor will change.

3.	Drag the mouse, up or down , left or right, until you have selected the required text.

4.	Release the mouse button.

If you move the mouse above or below the WnBrowse window, the text will be scrolled while being selected.

Selection Hint :

If you want to select a large portion of the file, click and hold the mouse before the first character required, then press the Page-Down key to select text a page at a time.


Viewing ZIP Files

WnBrowse allows you to browse the files contained within a ZIP file without having to unzip the entire file first. When WnBrowse opens a file, it checks to see if it is a normal ZIP file or a self extracting ZIP file. If it is, the View menu option 'View ZIP file contents' and the ZIP button are activated. Selecting either of these will display a scrollable list of the files contained within the ZIP file. Also displayed is the total size of the ZIP files and the level of PKUNZIP needed to unzip them.

If a file in the list is double-clicked, or if  a file is selected and the View button pressed, WnBrowse will unzip the selected file and display it. After the viewing of the file is completed, WnBrowse will delete the unzipped file.

When a zipped file is being displayed you can redisplay the original ZIP file by pressing the redisplay ZIP file button on the button bar or by selecting Redisplay Zip file from the View menu

WnBrowse uses the PKUNZIP program to unzip any selected file. Therefore, you must have a copy of PKUNZIP.EXE on your system. The level of PKUNZIP must also match or better the level required to unzip the selected file.

When you browse a zipped file, WnBrowse creates a temporary file, and deletes it after browsing is complete. By default, the temporary file is placed in the directory defined by the TEMP environment variable, or in the root directory  of the disk containing Windows, if there is no TEMP variable.

NOTE	To avoid the possibility of inadvertently overwriting a file in your root directory, it is strongly recommended that you define a temporary directory.


Print Options

The print dialog box can be used to select a number of print options.

Print What

You can print the entire file, or only those lines that have been selected.

Margins

You can set the sizes required for the page margins, left, right, top and bottom. The units used, inches or centimeters, depend on the settings made via the Windows control panel. The right page margin is ignored unless the option 'Wrap print lines' is set.

Options

The 'Use default printer font' option causes the file to be printed using the printers default font, rather than the currently selected WnBrowse display font.

If 'process form feeds' is set, embedded form feed characters (hex '0C') will be honored, and a new page started.

If the 'Wrap print lines' option is set, lines that are too long to fit within the selected margins will be split and printed on two or more lines. If possible, the split will be made at a word boundary.

If the 'print headers and footers' option is set, header and footer lines will be printed at the top and bottom of each page (see below).

 	Note : 	When you select the process Form Feed option, you should make sure that the current page size is large enough to accommodate the resulting pages.

Headers and Footers

If you select the Print Headers/Footers box, the dialog box is expanded to include two extra edit boxes, one for the header text and one for the footer text. You may use the default values, or select your own. Along with the text in the header and footer string, you can include the following special codes:

&d 	- Inserts the current date

&t 	- Inserts the current Time

&p 	- inserts the current page number

&f 	- inserts the file name

&l	- Draws a line below the header or above the footer

Along with the special codes, you can use the '/' character to left justify, right justify and centre the text contained in the headers and footers. For example :

      left/centre/right

Will print 'left' left justified, 'right' right justified and 'centre' in the centre of the page.

      //Page &p

Prints 'Page n' right justified .

Headers and Footer Font

The Header and footer lines can be printed using the same font as the file, or you can select a different font. The Select button will display a dialog box from where the font to be used can be selected. The Reset button resets the header/footer font to be the same as the display font.


Command Line Options

The command line can be used to pass the name of the files to be browsed and/or parameters defining WnBrowse options. A parameter is distinguished from a file name by preceding it with a dash (-).

WnBrowse currently supports three parameters. One specifies the initial position and size of the WnBrowse window, one allows a  set of saved options (including the window size and position) to be used, and the third supports drag and drop printing.

Specifying the Window Size and Position

The window size and position is  given as four values, respectively the position of the upper left hand corner of the window, and the width and height of the window. All values are given in  pixels.

                      -100 150 300 400

This  results in a window  with a top left hand corner positions at X and Y (100,150) with a width of 300 pixels and a height of 400 pixels.

Using Saved Options.

WnBrowse allows you to save a number of different options in the wnbrowse.ini file. Each set of options can be given a name, the default being 'WnBrowse'. To use  (or save) a set of options with a different name, you must tell WnBrowse what name to use with a command line parameter :

            -Iname

Where 'name' is the name of the options you wish to use (or save).

Drag and Drop Printing.

Windows 3.1 drag and drop printing is supported by WnBrowse via a new parameter (-P). When this parameter is specified on the command line, the file will be printed and WnBrowse will then close. To use this facility, you must register WnBrowse as the printing program using the Windows 3.1 REGEDIT program.


Button Bar

The WnBrowse button bar allows you to perform many operations with a single click of a mouse button. You can customize the Button Bar using the procedure described in Customizing the Button-Bar

The buttons available are:

Displays the file open dialog box.

Browse the previous file.

Browse the next file.

Print the current file.

Display information about the current file.

Copy selected text to the Windows clipboard.

Search the file for a character string

Repeat the previous search.

Display the file in the text view mode.

Display the file in the hex view mode.

Display the files contained within a ZIP file.

Select a font.

Set your colour preferences.

Display the WnBrowse help.

Launch the file with it's associated application.

Redisplay the previous ZIP file

Close the current file and Iconize

Exit WnBrowse

Goto a file location

Edit the current file.

Delete the current file

If a button is not currently active then it will be greyed and will not go down when it is clicked. For example, the clipboard button is disabled when there is no selected text, and the launch button is disabled when the file has no associated application.

If the mouse cursor is moved over a button on the button bar and left there, the function of the button will be displayed in a small bubble..


Registering WnBrowse

WnBrowse is a shareware product. This means that you can use  WnBrowse for a reasonable  amount of time without charge for evaluation purposes. If you decide to keep WnBrowse, you must register your copy by sending payment to the author. You can also pass on WnBrowse to friends and colleagues so that they may also evaluate the product.

You can also register WnBrowse using the CompuServe shareware registration process. Simply go to the SWREG service (GO SWREG) and follow the online prompts. For details refer to WNBROWSE.TXT.

When you register WnBrowse you will receive many benefits :

*  You will have access to free product support.

*  You will receive advanced details of new versions of this and other products.

* You will be able to request changes to WnBrowse to help me make it a better tool.

* You will allow me to continue to support this and other tools in the future.

For further details please refer to the file WNBROWSE.TXT .


Author

Nigel G Thomas. I can be contacted at 39 Redshank Avenue, Winsford, Cheshire CW7 1SP, England or on CompuServe (ID 100117,1542). I would love to hear your comments and suggestions.


ZIP File

A file format that enables one or more files to be contained in a compressed format in a single file, commonly used to ship files on disk or via a communications link. The format and supporting programs (PKZIP and PKUNZIP)  are copyright PKWARE Inc.