Starting INFO
O v e r v i e w
E v e r y t t i i m e y o u s t t a r r t t a n d s t t o p a n I I N F O s e s s i i o n , , y o u : : n
Start INFO.
n
Identify a new or existing user area.
n
Close the user area.
n
Stop INFO.
In between identifying and closing a user area, you use the rest of INFO’s commands to do the work you want to do.
Before you begin, keep in mind the following:
For INFO to recognize your response to a prompt, you type your response and then press the <RETURN> key.
note
Starting INFO
If you make a mistake before pressing the <RETURN> key, simply back up and retype the character or characters.
As part of the installation procedure on your computer, you are prompted to supply a command name for invoking
INFO; often, a name such as INFO965 may be chosen to indicate which version of INFO is being run. For the purpose of this manual, the command INFO is the designated term to invoke INFO.
After you see the operating system prompt, you start INFO by typing the word INFO and pressing the <RETURN> key.
INFO responds by displaying its banner screen.
INFO
1
INFO Exchange Call Utilities
FRI, MAY 08 1998
2
INFO 9.65g 01-MAY-98 52.74.63* Customer name
3
Copyright (C) 1997 Doric Computer Systems International Ltd.
All Rights Reserved
ENTER USER NAME>
4
1
Starts INFO. The command and the banner screen might vary, depending on the installation.
2
Displays the current date.
3
Displays the INFO software revision number and product release date.
4
Prompts for a user name to identify user area.
INFO Reference Manual Introduction xi
Starting INFO
Identifying a User Area
As soon as you start INFO, INFO prompts you for a user name. A user name identifies a user area for you to work in. When you type an INFO user name, this tells INFO that you want to work with information that is or soon will be stored in the user area of that name. You can identify a new user area or one that already exists. Each INFO user name is associated with only one INFO user area.
Although you work in only one user area at a time, you can have many user areas, each identified by a different user name. You might want to keep entirely different types of information in different areas.
New User Name
To enter a new user name, type an asterisk (*) before the name, to tell INFO to set up a new user area. For example
ENTER USER NAME>*LANDMARK
ENTER COMMAND >
Existing User Name
When you enter an existing user name, INFO prepares the user area associated with that name. For example
ENTER USER NAME>LANDMARK
ENTER COMMAND >
Abbreviated User Name
INFO recognizes user names on the basis of three characters in your user name: all three characters of a three-character name; or the first, second, and fourth characters of a longer user name. You can used these unique characters as an abbreviated user name.
An example of entering an abbreviated form for the user name LANDMARK follows:
ENTER USER NAME>LAD
ENTER COMMAND > xii Introduction INFO Reference Manual
User Name
Closing a
User Area
Starting INFO
Rules and Features
A user name can be 3 to 8 characters long.
INFO recognizes each user name on the basis of three characters: 1,2,3 or 1,2,4. They must be different from all your other INFO user names. These three characters form an abbreviated user name.
Establish a new user name by typing an asterisk (*) before the name.
Enter an existing user name without an asterisk.
N.B. INFO user names may be set up as external variables: see Appendix N, Application Mode.
To close a user area, use the QUIT command. You can then either identify another user area or stop INFO. An example of closing one user area and identifying another follows:
ENTER COMMAND >QUIT
1
ENTER USER NAME>*CITYSITE
2
ENTER COMMAND >QUIT
3
ENTER USER NAME>
4
1
Closes the current user area.
2
Identifies another user area, in this case, a new one.
3
Closes the second user area.
N.B. Steps 1 and 2 may be combined on the same command line, eg.
ENTER COMMAND >QUIT *CITYSITE
Stopping INFO After you close a user area, you can stop an INFO session by entering the STOP command at the ENTER USER
NAME> prompt.
ENTER USER NAME>STOP
You are now back at the operating system level of your computer.
INFO Reference Manual Introduction xiii
Starting INFO
Shortcut
To close the user area and stop INFO in one step, enter the QUIT & STOP command at the ENTER COMMAND > prompt. The ENTER USER NAME > prompt does not appear in this case.
ENTER COMMAND >Q STOP
Summary
To summarize the commands introduced so far, here is the full dialog that starts and stops an INFO session.
INFO
1
INFO Exchange Call Utilities
FRI, MAY 08 1998
INFO 9.65g 01-MAY-98 52.74.63* Customer name
Copyright (C) 1997 Doric Computer Systems International Ltd.
All Rights Reserved
ENTER USER NAME>*LANDMARK
2
ENTER COMMAND >QUIT
3
ENTER USER NAME>STOP
4
1
Starts INFO from your operating system.
2
Identifies a new user area. Omit the asterisk in subsequent sessions under the same user name.
3
Closes the user area.
4
Stops the INFO session.
xiv Introduction INFO Reference Manual
Starting INFO
INFO invoking options
Unix info -n
If you invoke INFO without the –n option, INFO will use the
UNIX curses terminal handler; it will take the value of the
UNIX environment variable TERM.
If you invoke INFO with the –n option, INFO will use its own terminal drivers for terminal handling. The default terminal type shipped is ANSI but this may be changed, either for an INFO session or system-wide.
info -u username
If you are running INFO on a workstation X11 terminal, you would probably wish to use the curses library for terminal handling. If you are running INFO from an ANSI or VT100 compatible terminal, you may prefer to use the INFO terminal handling mode.
Will invoke INFO and enter a specified user area via username; username could be either a local INFO directory or an environment variable that points to another user area. (See Appendix N “Application Mode”.)
info -e
Operate INFO in Arc/Info 7 mode. INFO will use the same naming conventions as Arc/Info 7: the INFO directory will have a .dir extension, such as abc.dir, datafiles will be of the form abcnnnn.nit and abcnnn.dat and programs, reports and forms abcnnnn.src and abcnnnn.obj.
info -f
Force output to the screen even though output may have been re-directed to a file : e.g. info -f -u dor > doric.como
INFO will be invoked and will enter the dor directory : output will be to both the screen and to the unix file dor.como.
These run-time options may be set in the environment variable _INFOARG: see Appendix O, External Variables.
INFO Reference Manual Introduction xv
Starting INFO
VMS
If INFO or INFO-Text is set up so that the symbol which invokes it incorporates a logical : e.g. INFO :== $INFOSYS:INFO965.EXE where $INFOSYS is a logical whose value is the directory containing the INFO executable INFO965.EXE:
INFO may then be invoked with the following options :
INFO/SUPPRESS
suppress the INFO banner and prompt for the username.
INFO username
invoke INFO with the specified username; username could be either a local INFO directory or a logical that points to another area. (See Appendix N “Application Mode”).
INFO/SUPPRESS username
suppress the banner and invoke INFO with the specified username.
xvi Introduction INFO Reference Manual
