TVision Links Reader Help
                             Help Table of Contents

VLR.HLP,24                       Introduction                      
VLR.HLP,66                       Navigating the view window        
VLR.HLP,93                       Using the menus                   
VLR.HLP,278                       Hypertext links                   
VLR.HLP,309                       If you have a mouse               
VLR.HLP,365                       Print                             
VLR.HLP,447                       Save                              
VLR.HLP,466                       The Table of Contents             
VLR.HLP,474                       The Index                         
VLR.HLP,482                       Research History                  
VLR.HLP,494                       The Notepad                       
VLR.HLP,522                       Cut and Paste                     
VLR.HLP,549                       Selecting text                    
VLR.HLP,574                       Bookmarks                         
VLR.HLP,609                       Find                              
VLR.HLP,639                       Search                            
VLR.HLP,704                       Navigating links                  
VLR.HLP,760                       About Vision Links Software       
VLR.HLP,781                       Help Index                        


Introduction

        The Vision Links Reader (VLR) is an integrated information base
        viewer. Using VLR is like having the entire text of one or more
        books in your computer.  The text of this "electronic book" has  
        been divided into modules that are similar to the chapters in a 
        conventional book. You can read the modules sequentially or you 
        can use advanced Vision Links features which enable you to move 
        quickly from module to module. 

        The first feature you will notice are  VLR.HLP,278hypertext links.  Text 
        that is surrounded by the characters  '' and '' are linked to 
        another module or part of the project and you can jump directly
        to the reference by opening the link. Place the cursor anywhere
        on the linked word or phrase and depress the Enter key. You can 
        also use your mouse by  placing the mouse pointer over the link 
        and double clicking the left mouse button.

        The online hypertext VLR.HLP,474keyword index lets you locate key
        references.  Select Keyword Index from the View menu to see the
        index. This is a hypertext module too. When you find the refer-
        ence, position the cursor over the link and press Enter.

        The search engine enables you to perform fast full text string
        searches. You can use search to find any data, anywhere within
        the book. For more information see VLR.HLP,639Search.

        The notepad lets you record notes to yourself for future refer-
        ence. You can copy text from other modules onto the notepad and
        save your notepad to an ASCII (text only) file for use in other
        programs. For more information see VLR.HLP,494Notepad.
    
        The bookmark feature lets you keep track of your progress.  See
        VLR.HLP,574Bookmarks for more information.

        VLR provides full mouse support. See VLR.HLP,309If you have a mouse.
        for more information.

        To return to the HELP table of contents, press the escape key or
        click the right mouse button.


Navigating the view window

        The view window displays the text of the current module.
        Use the cursor movement keys listed below to scroll through
        The module.

        Character left                             Left Arrow
        Character right                            Right Arrow
        Line up                                    Up Arrow
        Line down                                  Down Arrow
        Beginning of current line                  Home
        Beginning of next line                     Enter
        End of line                                End
        Page up                                    Page Up
        Page Down                                  Page Down
        Next Link Reference                        Tab
        Previous Link Reference                    Shift+Tab
        Open Link                                  Enter
        Close link, return to parent               Escape
        Mark text                                  Shift+arrow

        The elevator bar at the right edge of the view window lets you
        know the relative position of the cursor in the module. Mouse
        users can interact directly with the elevator bar to scroll the
        text. For more information see VLR.HLP,309If you have a mouse.


Using the menus
 
        VLR provides a full complement of drop down menus. Using the
        menus is simple. To open a drop down menu: hold down the Alt
        key and press the first letter of the menu. You can also access
        the menus by pressing the F10 key.

        One the menus are open, use the arrow keys to move through the
        menus, highlight what you want to do and press the Enter key.
        You can find out what each menu item does by highlighting the
        item and pressing the F1 (help) key. A help window will provide
        context sensitive help.
 
        All menu items provide a quick key which lets you choose the
        required item quickly by pressing the highlighted letter. In
        addition, many menu features can be invoked with a hotkey that
        runs the item without having to invoke the menu function.

        If you have a mouse you can select a menu by placing the
        mouse pointer on the menu bar and pressing the left button.
        When the drop down menu appears, place the pointer over the
        menu item and press the left mouse button.
 
        To illustrate the many ways of accessing the menu functions, we
        can look at the Print function. VLR.HLP,365Print makes a paper copy
        of part or all of a hypertext book.
 
        1) Using the menus:
                . Hold down the Alt key and press F. This will open the
                  File drop down menu.
                . Press the down arrow key until Print is highlighted.
                . Press Enter.

        2) Using the menus and quick keys.
                . Hold down the Alt key and press F.
                . Press P

        3) Using the program hotkey.
                . Hold down the shift key and press F7.
 
        4) Using the mouse.
                . Place the mouse pointer over the word File and
                  press the left mouse button once.
                . Place the pointer over the word Print and press
                  the left mouse button.

        When the menus are active, some of the keys assume special
        characteristics:
                Right one menu                  Right arrow
                Left one menu                   Left arrow
                Item down                       Down arrow
                Item up                         Up arrow
                Select item                     Enter
                Item help                       F1


The File Menu

        Open    If the cursor is situated over a link indicator,
                the referenced link will be opened and displayed
                in the view window.
    
        VLR.HLP,447Save  Use to copy the contents of the current module
                to disk. You can save all or part of the module.
                The text is saved in ASCII format and can be used
                by a large number of other programs such as a text
                editor or word processing program.

        Close   Closes the current module and returns you to the
                parent module.

        VLR.HLP,365Print Prints part or all of a hyperbook to disk.

        Exit    Closes the hypertext book and exits the program.



The Edit Menu

        Cut     Removes selected text from the notepad and places it
                into the clipboard. You can use paste to insert this
                text at some other location in your notepad.

        Copy    Removes selected text from the current module and
                places it into the clipboard. The original text remains
                unchanged. Use Paste to insert the text into your notepad.

        Paste   Copies a block of text from the clipboard into your
                notepad. The text is placed at the current cursor
                position.
   
        Append to Notepad
                Copies the highlighted text and adds it to the end
                of the notepad.

        VLR.HLP,574Create Bookmark
                Adds a reference to the current module to the
                bookmark module.


The View menu

        VLR.HLP,466Contents.
                Loads the main table of contents into memory and
                it in the view window.

        VLR.HLP,474Index Loads and displays the keyword index.

        VLR.HLP,278Link  Opens a link. If the cursor is situated over a
                link indicator, the link will be opened.

        Search Results
                Displays the results of the last search in the
                view window.

        VLR.HLP,482History
                Displays a list of all modules you have viewed
                since starting the program. The history module is
                a hypertext document too.


        VLR.HLP,494Notepad
                Loads your personal notepad into the view window.
                The notepad can be used to make personal notes.

        VLR.HLP,574Bookmarks
                Displays a list of your bookmarks in the view window.

The Search menu

        Find    Places the cursor on the next occurrence of the
                specified text. Find always looks for the text
                between the current cursor location and the end
                of the current module. For more information see
                VLR.HLP,609Find.

        Find again
                Repeats the last find.

        Search  Scans a series of modules for occurrences of the
                specified text and generates a list of modules
                containing a hit. For more information see VLR.HLP,639Search.


The Navigate menu

        Prev module
                Jumps to the previous sequential module in the
                hyperbook.

        NEXT module
                Jumps to the next module in the hyperbook.

        Prev reference
                Jumps to the module that is referenced by the
                hyperlink in the parent module immediately prior
                to the hyperlink to which was used to open the
                current module. The actual module which is
                displayed depends upon which module was used to
                open the current module. If the parent module
                is the search results module, this has the
                effect of moving you directly to the previous
                module that was identified in the search.

        NEXT reference
                Jumps to the module that is referenced by the
                hyperlink in the parent module immediately after
                the hyperlink to which was used to open the
                current module. This function can be particularly
                useful if the parent module is the keywords index
                or the result of a search operation.

        Back    Returns you to the parent module. The parent is the
                module from which the current module was opened.

        Top     Returns you to the highest level module in the hyperbook.


The Help menu.

        Help    Displays the program help hyperbook.

        About   Displays information about the hyperbook and the program.


Hypertext Links
  
        Hypertext links are references to another module or to another
        location in the current module.

        The characters '' and '' indicate the presence of a hypertext
        link.


        Opening Links:

                To open a link, place the cursor anywhere on a linked
                word or phrase and press the enter key.

                To return to the parent module press the Escape (Esc)
                key. If you have opened numerous successive links,
                press the Escape key more than once to go back one
                module at a time.


        Closing Links

                The parent module is the module that was used to open
                this module. To close a link a return to the parent
                module, press the Escape (Esc) key. If you have opened
                numerous successive links, press the Escape key more
                than once to go back one module at a time.
 
                To return quickly to the highest level module in the
                hyperbook, choose Top from the Navigate menu.

If you have a mouse
 
        VLR provides full mouse support. Here are some of the shortcuts
        available to you if you have a mouse.

        Opening Links:
 
                To open a link: place the mouse pointer over the link
                reference and press the left mouse button twice.

        Closing Links:
         
                To close a link and return to the point at which the
                link was opened in the parent module, press the right
                mouse button.

        Scroll the view window:
         
                To scroll the view window down, place the mouse pointer
                over the down arrow at the lower right corner of the
                view window and depress the left mouse button.

                To scroll the view window up: place the mouse pointer
                over the up arrow at the top right corner of the view
                window and depress the left mouse button.

                The elevator bar at the right edge of the view window
                indicates the relative cursor position. When the elevator
                is at the top of the bar, you are at the start of the
                module. When the elevator is at the bottom of the bar,
                you are at the end of the file. You can move the
                elevator directly to a relative file position by placing
                the mouse pointer at any point in the elevator bar
                and pressing the left mouse button.

        Selecting Text:
         
                To select text, place the mouse pointer over the first
                character to be selected, and depress the left mouse
                button while moving the mouse to the last character
                to be selected.
         
                You are not limited to the text that is displayed on the
                screen. Moving the mouse pointer to an area above or below
                view window while the left mouse button is depressed will
                cause the view to scroll automatically, enabling you to
                select additional text.

        Accessing the menus:
         
                Select a drop down menu by placing the mouse pointer on
                the menu bar and pressing the left button. When the drop
                down menu appears, place the pointer over the menu
                item and press the left mouse button.


PRINT
 
        Use Print to get a copy of the text on paper. You can print
        the entire text of the book, referenced modules, the current module
        or selected text.

        To print, choose Print from the File drop down menu. Options on
        the Print screen are:

        ┌──────── Print ──────────┐
        │  ( ) All modules        │───── Print the entire book
        │                         │
        │  ( ) Referenced modules │───── Print the current module and all
        │                         │       modules that can be opened from
        │                         │
        │  ( ) Current module     │────  Print the module in the view window
        │                         │
        │  ( ) Selected text      │────  Print the highlighted text
        │                         │
        │  ( ) Selected modules   │────  Print all modules that can be
        └─────────────────────────┘       opened from within the selected
                                          Text

        ┌─────── Printer ─────────┐
        │  ( ) Text only          │───── Your printer is not listed below
        │                         │
        │  ( ) Epson              │───── You have an Epson or compatible
        │                         │       dot matrix printer.
        │  ( ) IBM PPDS           │────  You have an IBM laser printer
        │                         │       such as the IBM 4019, 4029, 4039
        │  ( ) HP Laserjet        │────  Your printer is a Hewlett Packard
        │                         │       laserjet, paintjet or HP compatible.
        │  ( ) Postscript         │────  You have a postscript laser printer.
        │                         │
        └─────────────────────────┘

        See VLR.HLP,404Selecting your printer for more information about
        selecting the correct printer.

Selecting your printer
 
        VLR support numerous standard printers. The following
        information may help you determine which printer to select.

        Choose Text Only if none of the other options work.

        Choose Epson if you have an Epson or Epson compatible dot
        matrix printer. Most dot matrix printers and many inkjet
        printers support the Epson standard. Examples are:
        Epson - all dot matrix models
        Roland - all dot matrix models
        Star - most dot matrix models
        Gemini - most dot matrix models
        Canon - most BJ models

        Choose IBM PPDS if you have and IBM dot matrix or laser printer.
        Examples are:
        IBM lineprinters
        IBM 4019, 4029 and 4039 printers

        Choose HP Laserjet if you have a Hewlett Packard Laserjet or
        Inkjet printer. Most laser printers support the HP standard.
        Check your printer manual to determine if your printer is HP
        compatible.

        Choose Postscript if you have a postscript laser printer.
        Examples are:
        Apple laserwriter
        IBM 4019, 4029 and 4039 printers with the postscript option
        DATA Products LZR1260 and 1560 printers

        If you cannot find your printer listed above,  check your
        printer manual to determine compatibility. If still in doubt,
        try the following:

        1) First select Epson and try to print.
        2) Next try HP laserjet
        3) Then try Postscript.
        4) Try IBM PPDS
        5) Try Text Only


Save
    
        Use save to copy the contents of the current module to disk.
        When you choose SAVE from the FILE menu you will be prompted
        for the name of the file and given the choice of saving the
        current module or the selected text.

        ┌───────── Save ──────────┐
        │                         │───── The name of the file to save
        └─────────────────────────┘

        ( ) Current module         ────  Save the entire module
        
        ( ) Selected text          ────  Save only the highlighted text

        If you specify a file that already exists, you will be asked
        if you want to overwrite it.


The table of contents
 
        The table of contents is the first module that you will see
        when opening the hyperbook. This module contains hypertext
        references to other modules within the hyperbook. It is
        analogous to the table of contents in a conventional book.


The Keyword Index
 
        The keyword index is a unique hypertext module containing key
        word references to specific modules and lines in the hyperbook.
        It is analogous to the index in a conventional book. You can
        view this module by choosing Keyword Index from the View menu.


Research History
    
        The Research History module is a unique hypertext module
        containing references to all modules that you have opened
        since starting the program. Each time you open a module, a
        line is added to the history module with a hypertext link
        reference to the actual module. You can review your research
        history to find out where you have been since starting the
        program. To display the Research History, choose Research
        History from the View menu.
    

The Notepad
 
        The notepad is a special module that you can use to record your
        own notes. You can type text directly into the notepad or use
        VLR.HLP,522Cut and Paste to copy text from other modules into the notepad.

Editing the notepad

        To copy text into the notepad:
                . Display the module containing the target text.
                . Select text you want to copy and choose Copy from the Edit menu.
                . Choose Notepad from the View menu.
                . Place the cursor where the text is to be inserted and
                  choose Paste from the Edit menu.

        To add text to the end of the notepad:
                . Display the module containing the target text.
                . Select the text to be copied
                . Choose Append to Notepad from the Edit Menu.

        Editing keys are:
        Delete character to left of cursor                 Backspace
        Delete character at cursor                         Delete
        Delete selected text                               Delete
        Insert toggle on and off                           Insert
        Insert text from clipboard                         Shift+Insert
        Delete current line                                Ctrl+Y

Cut and Paste

        Cut and Paste refers to program features that enable you to select
        (highlight) and copy text within and between modules. Cut, copy and
        paste are available on the Edit menu.

        Cut:    Copies the selected (Highlighted) text onto an area known
                as the application clipboard. It also deletes the selected
                text from its original location. Cut is useful for moving text
                from one location in the notepad to another.

                You can Cut text from the notepad, search results and
                bookmarks module. You cannot Cut from any other modules.

        Copy:   Copies the selected text onto the clipboard.

        Paste:  Copies the text from the clipboard into the notepad at
                the current cursor location. Display the notepad prior to
                pasting text. You can paste into the notepad but cannot
                paste into any other modules.

        Append to notepad:
                Copies the selected text to the end of the notepad. It
                is not necessary to display the notepad to perform this
                function.


Selecting Text

        Select text by placing the cursor where the highlight should
        begin and pressing Shift + arrow. To cancel text highlighting
        press an Arrow key without pressing Shift.

        Text selecting keys are:

        Character left                          Shift+left
        Character right                         Shift+Right
        Character to end of line                Shift+End
        Character to start of line              Shift+Home
        Current line                            Shift+Down
        Line above                              Shift+Up
        Screen up                               Shift+Page Up
        Screen down                             Shift+Page Down

        The mouse can be used to select text. Place the mouse pointer
        over the first character to be selected, and hold the left
        mouse button while moving the mouse to the last character. The
        screen will scroll automatically when selecting text.

        Selected text can be saved, printed, cut or copied.


Bookmarks
    
        Bookmarks are modules that you want to remember for  future
        reference. When you create a bookmark, VLR creates a hypertext
        reference to the current line of the current module in your
        bookmarks module. You can create up to 1024 bookmarks.


Creating Bookmarks

        To create a bookmark:
                . Display the module you want referenced by the
                  bookmark.
                . Move the cursor to the exact line where you want
                  the bookmark to place you.
                . Hold down the Alt key and press E to invoke the
                  Edit drop down menu.
                . Press B
         

Displaying Bookmarks
 
        To display your bookmarks: select BOOKMARKS from the VIEW menu.


Deleting Bookmarks
    
        To delete a single bookmark, place the cursor on the bookmark
        and press Ctrl+Y (the delete line key). This will delete the
        bookmark reference from your bookmark module.

        To delete multiple bookmarks, select them using the Shift+Down
        Arrow or Shift+Up Arrow and press the Delete key.
    

Find

        Find and VLR.HLP,639Search let you locate a phrase or reference. Find
        scans the current module for the target text while search
        scans all modules and constructs a list of modules containing
        text that matches the search argument.

        ┌─────── Find ────────┐
        │                     │   ───── The text, word or phrase you want
        └─────────────────────┘          to locate.

          Match Upper/Lowercase ────  Perform a case sensitive find

          Whole word            ────  Recognize a match only when the
                                         target text is surrounded by spaces
                                         or punctuation characters.

        VLR scans the text from the current cursor position to the end
        of the current module. If a match is found, the cursor will be
        repositioned to the first character of the target text.

        Hint:   Find scans from the current cursor position to the
                end of the module.
        
                To scan the entire module, scroll up to the beginning of
                the current module and perform the find.

                Use Find again to repeat the most recent Find command.


Search

        VLR.HLP,609Find and Search let you locate a phrase or reference. Find
        scans the current module for the target text while search
        scans all modules and constructs a list of modules containing
        text that matches the search argument. The search results
        display is a hypertext module.

        ┌────── Search for ──────┐
        │                        │ ───── The word or phrase to match
        └────────────────────────┘ 

          Match Upper/Lowercase  ────  Perform a case sensitive search

          Whole word             ────  Recognize a match only when the
                                          target text is surrounded by
                                          spaces or punctuation
                                          characters.

        X Forget past results    ────  Clear any results of prior searches
                                          from the search results module.
    
          Quick search           ────  Select all modules containing all
                                          of the words in the search phrase
                                          but do not check for a specific
                                          match to the phrase.

        ┌──────── Search─────────┐
        │ ( ) History            │ ───── Search only modules that you have
        │                        │        opened since starting VLR.
        │ ( ) Search results     │ ───── Search only modules which are
        │                        │        referenced by the search results
        │                        │        module.
        │ ( ) Referenced modules │ ───── Search all modules that can be
        │                        │        opened from the current module
        │ ( ) All modules        │ ───── Search the entire hypertext book
        └────────────────────────┘


        Hints:  Searching prior search results lets you perform additional
                searches on the results of all remembered previous searches.
                This lets you perform a series of consecutive searches. The
                number of modules searched will depend upon the number of
                hits  for your last search and whether or not you have
                chosen to forget past results.

                Creating bookmarks, displaying the bookmarks module and
                searching referenced modules will search only those modules
                for which you have assigned bookmarks. This lets you build
                a bookmark list of modules you want to remember later and
                search them for a particular phrase or reference.

                Searching All modules lets you locate specific text anywhere
                in the hyperbook.

                Search and Find information is retained for future use.
                You can open a search result module and press Ctrl+G or
                F3 (find again) to position the cursor to the actual
                target text.

                The Next Hit/Prev Reference feature lets you jump quickly
                from one target module to the next without having to return
                to the search results screen.


Navigating the links

       Prev module

        Use Prev Module (or press F5) to display the previous
        consecutive module in the hyperbook.
   
       NEXT module
                 
        Use Next Module (or press F6) to display the next consecutive
        module in the hyperbook.
  
       Prev reference
    
        Use Prev Reference to display the previous module that can be
        opened from the parent module. The parent module is the module
        that contains the hypertext reference used to open the current
        module.
   
        This function does the same thing as if you pressed Escape,
        Shift+Tab and Enter.

       Next reference
    
        Use Next Reference to display the next reference that can be
        opened from the parent module. The parent module is the module
        that contains the hypertext reference that was used to open the
        current module.

       After a search   
   
        Using Next/Prev Reference after opening a module from the Search
        Results module provides a quick method of moving between those
        modules containing a match to the search argument.
   
       From the bookmark list    
   
        If you load a module from the Bookmark List you will be able
        to jump quickly between modules for which you have created a
        bookmark using the Next/Prev Reference feature.

       Top
    
        Each time you load a module using a hypertext link reference
        or a function from the View menu, VLR records information
        about the calling module (known as the parent) into an internal
        table (known as the Stack).
 
        As you continue to load modules you can easily find yourself
        having to press Escape many times to get back to the top of
        The hyperbook.

        Top avoids this problem by moving you back to the highest
        level module and clearing the stack.


About Vision Links Software

     This information base was developed using the Vision Links Builder.
     The author of this electronic book is a registered user of the
     Vision Links Builder hypertext authoring system, and has purchased
     an unlimited license to distribute the Vision Links Reader 1.2 (the 
     software you are now using) with this project. There is no charge 
     to you for using the software, other than any license fees you have
     paid to the author of this information base.
     
     To obtain a copy of the Vision Links Builder hypertext authoring 
     software and a distributors license, please contact:
         Fish Creek Software
         11423 Braniff Road
         Calgary, Alberta, Canada
         T2W 1V8

     We have also placed a shareware copy of Vision Links on the Compuserve
     Information Services.  
     

                                Help Index
VLR.HLP,574   Bookmarks                                                               
VLR.HLP,582   Bookmarks - creating                                                    
VLR.HLP,594   Bookmarks - displaying                                                  
VLR.HLP,599   Bookmarks - deleting                                                    
VLR.HLP,522   Cut and Paste                                                           
VLR.HLP,170   EDIT Menu                                                               
VLR.HLP,149   FILE Menu                                                               
VLR.HLP,609   Find                                                                    
VLR.HLP,271   HELP Menu                                                               
VLR.HLP,278   Hypertext links                                                         
VLR.HLP,704   Hypertext links - navigating                                            
VLR.HLP,22   Introduction                                                            
VLR.HLP,474   The Keyword Index                                                       
VLR.HLP,278   Links                                                                   
VLR.HLP,704   Links - navigating                                                      
VLR.HLP,549   Mark  (selecting text)                                                  
VLR.HLP,93   Menus - using                                                           
VLR.HLP,149   Menus - File Menu                                                       
VLR.HLP,170   Menus - Edit Menu                                                       
VLR.HLP,193   Menus - View Menu                                                       
VLR.HLP,221   Menus - Search Menu                                                     
VLR.HLP,237   Menus - Navigate Menu                                                   
VLR.HLP,271   Menus - Help Menu                                                       
VLR.HLP,309   Mouse                                                                   
VLR.HLP,237   NAVIGATE Menu                                                           
VLR.HLP,733         - After a search                                                  
VLR.HLP,739         - From the bookmark list                                          
VLR.HLP,711         - Next module                                                     
VLR.HLP,726         - Next reference                                                  
VLR.HLP,706         - Prev module                                                     
VLR.HLP,716         - Prev reference                                                  
VLR.HLP,745         - Top                                                             
VLR.HLP,711   Next module                                                             
VLR.HLP,726   Next reference                                                          
VLR.HLP,494   Notepad                                                                 
VLR.HLP,500   Notepad - editing                                                       
VLR.HLP,706   Prev module                                                             
VLR.HLP,716   Prev reference                                                          
VLR.HLP,365   Print                                                                   
VLR.HLP,404   Printer - selecting                                                     
VLR.HLP,482   Research History                                                        
VLR.HLP,447   Save                                                                    
VLR.HLP,221   SEARCH Menu                                                             
VLR.HLP,549   Selecting text                                                          
VLR.HLP,639   Search                                                                  
VLR.HLP,466   The Table of Contents                                                   
VLR.HLP,549   Text - Selecting                                                        
VLR.HLP,745   Top                                                                     
VLR.HLP,193   VIEW Menu                                                               
VLR.HLP,66   View window - navigating                                                

