                         MULTISEARCH TEXT DOOR HELP

The following subjects are covered in this document:

ANSI graphics files
Errors you might encounter
Exiting the door
Going to a page
How to select a file(s) to search
How to search for text
Finding all files containing text
Moving forward and backward while searching
Known problems
Security to access files
Single line mode
Viewing an entire file with no search
Downloading a document

ANSI GRAPHICS FILES
If  the  file is recognized by the  file  extension (.ANS) as an ANSI graphics
file  it is treated differently. It will be  searched for text, but you may or
may  not  get a hit in a file of  this type because of all the embedded codes,
even  if  the text you are looking for  appears in the displayed graphic. If a
hit  does  occur  the  actual text of  the  file  will be displayed which will
include all characters that matched the search string.

If manually selecting file(s) to view or search you will still be prompted for
a  search  string,  but  the  string will  be  ignored  when  the ANSI file is
processed.  Simply hit Enter to display the file.

ERRORS YOU MIGHT ENCOUNTER:
There  should be very few of these. The primary one that might show up is when
the  system attempts to locate a file it can't find. In this case you will see
the  error  message  and  should notify the  sysop.  You  will  also get error
messages describing various input errors.

EXITING THE DOOR:
Very  simple;  just hit "Q" from the main  menu. The door is also carrier sen-
sitive  and  will  exit  properly  when carrier  is  lost,  but  this is not a
recommended practice. Most sysops will not appreciate it if you simply hang up
without going through the normal board logoff procedure!!

GOING TO A PAGE:
To  find  a particular page just hit "G"  when viewing or searching a file. If
you  are using the graphics mode an entry box will appear in the center of the
screen  to  allow  you to input the page  number  to go to. Otherwise a simple
entry  prompt will be displayed. This feature is great if you haven't finished
reading a document but have to end your session. Just remember the page number
and  you can go straight to it during  your next session. It's also nice to be
able to instantly go back to the beginning of a document.

HOW TO SELECT A FILE(S) TO SEARCH:
You  have  the option of searching or viewing  any  file or files in the list,
assuming  that  your  security level is  appropriately  high. To select a file
simply  enter  the number of the file  you  want to search. To search multiple
files  enter the number of each file,  separating each by a comma. For example
if  you wish to search files 4, 5, and 6 enter 4,5,6 and hit enter. Do not use
spaces or any other character to separate file numbers.

One  exception to the rule is the hyphen (-). You may specify a range of files
to  search  using the first and last  file  numbers separated by a hyphen. For
example, if you wanted to search files 1 through 10 enter 1-10. You cannot mix
commas and hyphens, nor can you specify more than one range per search.

If  the  system is set up with more than  one page of file names you will page
through  these lists with the Enter key until  you reach the menu page. If you
can't  remember a file number from a previous page, hit "R" from the main menu
to re-display the list of available files.

HOW TO SEARCH FOR TEXT:
At the present time the door will only allow a single text string search of up
to  77 characters. To search for text you  must first select one or more files
to search. Once this done the text string enter prompt will be presented. Type
in  the text you want, hit the enter  key, and sit back. The system will begin
the  search  and display the results. If  using  the graphics mode and viewing
full text (not single line mode) all search hits will be shown in white, other
text  will  be green. To obtain a  "hit"  the search string must be completely
contained within a single line of the file. This is because the current search
algorithm scans the file a line at a time. Search strings that extend from one
line  into another will not be found. For  this reason it is best to keep your
search  strings  as short as possible, limiting  to  one or two key words that
form a phrase.

Boolean  searches  allow  you  to use some  simple  logic  in your search. Two
symbols  are  used:  "|" means "or", and  "&"  means "and". For example if you
wanted  to find every line that contained  the text "you" and "me" your search
string would look like this:

                                     you&me

This  would  find  every  line  in  the  document  where  those two substrings
occurred.  It would also, however, find  every line containing the words "you"
and  "mean". Making the search string as specific as possible will produce the
best results.

To find every line where the text "you" OR "me" occurs the search string would
look like this:

                                     you|me

The  search  results would show every  line containing the substrings "you" or
"me". Once again, words such as "mean", "your", etc. would be found.

There  are  a  couple of other  things  concerning  these simple searches that
should  be noted. First, the two different types cannot be mixed. If they are,
only  the  first  operator  will be used.  For  example,  in the search string
"you&me|them"  the system will recognize only  the first operator (&) and will
attempt to locate every line containing "you" and "me|them", as one substring.
There will not be many instances of "me|them"!

Secondly,  spaces  count.  If the search  string  contains spaces, like in the
string  "you & me", the system will look for instances where "you" is followed
by  a space, and "me" is preceded by a space. This can be very advantageous if
it  is understood and used properly. It can also lead to inaccurate results if
not kept in mind.

FINDING ALL FILES CONTAINING TEXT
If  you  want to find each available  file that contains specific text use the
"F"  command from the main menu. Boolean search characters are legal, but keep
in  mind  that just as in a normal  document search the conditions must be met
within a single line of the document. Therefore if you are searching for files
containing "you&me" both "you" and "me" must be found in a single 78 character
line  in  the document. You will receive  a  warning when starting this option
that  the search will take some time. How  much time will depend on the number
of  documents  the  sysop  has made available  and  the  speed of the machine.
Remember  that  EVERY document will be  searched, and each one containing your
search request will be listed.

MOVING FORWARD AND BACKWARD WHILE SEARCHING:
There  will be many occasions when you will  need to backup or page forward in
the  document to view surrounding text while searching. Both of these features
are  available after each page of search  results has been displayed. If using
the  single line mode backing up will move backwards from the last search hit.
No  highlighting is done while manually moving forward or backward through the
text  using either of these two features since no searching is actually taking
place.  Hitting  the  Enter key at any  point  will continue the search in the
forward  direction. Backing up will be slightly slower than paging forward due
to  the  nature of the algorithm used  to calculate the exact distance to move
back up through the file.

You  may  also  advance  a single line  at  a  time while searching. Again, no
highlighting is done during this operation.

KNOWN PROBLEMS:
The  door works extremely well on plain ASCII text files that contain lines of
78  characters  or  less.  Obviously  embedded  ANSI  codes,  special  control
characters,  etc.  may cause a temporary  problem. The program is specifically
written  to  ignore form feed characters  occurring  in text files (popular in
some  program  documentation),  but  there  may  be  others  that  may  affect
operation.  Also, if a line is longer than  78 characters it may be wrapped or
cause  a blank line to be inserted before  the next line of text. This may not
be visually pleasing, but the information will not be lost.

Without  graphics  capability  it's  not  possible  to  use cursor positioning
necessary to display the "working" animation. Therefore you will only see this
during a search if using ANSI graphics mode.

SECURITY TO ACCESS FILES:
This is fully sysop configurable. If you do not have a security clearance high
enough  to  search or read a file a  red  diamond will appear next to the file
name (graphics mode only). Otherwise a green diamond will be present. You will
be denied access to files that carry a higher security level than your current
account.  This  function  works  either with  single  file  selection  or when
performing searches across multiple files.

SINGLE LINE MODE:
There  will often be times when you would  like to display all the search hits
without  the surrounding text. For example, if you were searching the download
log  and  wanted to see who had  downloaded  the file "msrch10.zip", you would
probably  toggle the single line mode ON. This would make the system only show
those lines in the download log file that contained the search string. All the
information  would  be  there  in one  place  without  having  to page through
multiple  screens  of  data. This mode is  typically  good  only for list type
files. It would not be of much value while searching a document like this one,
for  example. Also, no highlighting is done in single line mode; every line is
a hit.

Note  that  when attempting to view an  entire file (no search text specified)
with  this mode on the program will  temporarily suspend the single line mode.
It  is automatically re-enabled after viewing  the file. (See section below on
how to view an entire file.)

VIEWING AN ENTIRE FILE WITH NO SEARCH:
This  is  as  simple as entering the  file  number(s). Just select one or more
files  and  hit the Enter key. If viewing  more than one file the program will
pause  between files and wait for a keystroke before displaying the next file.

DOWNLOADING A DOCUMENT
You  may download only while viewing a  document. The sysop has the ability to
enable  or disable downloading. If he/she has elected not to allow downloading
then  this  option  will  not be available  in  the  prompt line while you are
viewing  a document. If it is available  then select 'D' from the options menu
at  the bottom of the page while you are viewing the file. You will be shown a
list  of available protocols to select from. Be SURE that your comm program is
set  up  for  the one you choose!  Otherwise  the download will fail. When the
download  is complete the door will either continue with the next page of text
or, if you are viewing an ansi graphics file, redisplay the file.
