Helpdesk‘s Adviser BlackBox Developers Meeting Version: FinalPage 1 Helpdesk‘s Adviser Helmut Zinn IG-Metall Abt. Informationssysteme Frankfurt am Main Germany

Helpdesk‘s Adviser BlackBox Developers Meeting Version: FinalPage The Starting Point 1. Questions and Answers  There are a lot of questions at the helpdesk  Most of them have already been solved in the past  Where are these solutions?  How can we find them quickly?

Helpdesk‘s Adviser BlackBox Developers Meeting Version: FinalPage The Collections 1. Questions and Answers  A document consists of one question and its answer  Documents are grouped by topic  Each group of documents is stored in a separate folder  A table of contents is created for each topic

Helpdesk‘s Adviser BlackBox Developers Meeting Version: FinalPage 4 1. Questions and answers 1.3 And the Folder Structure Solutions Topics

Helpdesk‘s Adviser BlackBox Developers Meeting Version: FinalPage The Starting Page 1. Questions and Answers

Helpdesk‘s Adviser BlackBox Developers Meeting Version: FinalPage The Tools 1.Questions and Answers BlackBox is used for document browsing & editing It is extended with the following modules:  InfoCmds  DesktopSetup  DosCmds  InfoRefIndex (build) & InfoRefLook (use)  InfoSearch & InfoLinkCheck  HtmlExporter, HtmlImporter & HtmlTags  HtmlTranslate (AllToHtml, AllToOdc, FixOdcLink)

Helpdesk‘s Adviser BlackBox Developers Meeting Version: FinalPage Links 2. How to Organize It? Links in BlackBox can be used to open documents in two different modes:  open a document in browser mode Device already allocated<>  open a document in edit mode Device already allocated<> We would like to have both possibilities for the link of our helpdesk's adviser documents:  the browser mode for using it  the edit mode for inserting new solutions

Helpdesk‘s Adviser BlackBox Developers Meeting Version: FinalPage Specification of InfoCmds 2. How to Organize It? DEFINITION InfoCmds; IMPORT Dialog; VAR rootPath: ARRAY 256 OF CHAR; PROCEDURE OpenDoc (IN file: ARRAY OF CHAR); PROCEDURE SetBrowserMode; PROCEDURE SetBrowserModeGuard (VAR par: Dialog.Par); PROCEDURE SetEditMode; PROCEDURE SetEditModeGuard (VAR par: Dialog.Par); PROCEDURE OpenTopic (IN root: ARRAY OF CHAR); END InfoCmds.

Helpdesk‘s Adviser BlackBox Developers Meeting Version: FinalPage Implementation of InfoCmds 2. How to organize it ? … PROCEDURE OpenDoc* (IN file: ARRAY OF CHAR); BEGIN IF editable THEN StdCmds.OpenDoc(file); SetMarks; ELSE StdCmds.OpenBrowser (file, file); END; END OpenDoc; … and its use Device already allocated<>

Helpdesk‘s Adviser BlackBox Developers Meeting Version: FinalPage 10 Server BlackBox without the development subsystem Server BlackBox without the development subsystem Workstations has only a shortcut to the program BlackBox.exe on the server Workstations has only a shortcut to the program BlackBox.exe on the server Master PC BlackBox including the development subsystem Master PC BlackBox including the development subsystem 2.4 The Local Network 2. How to Organize It?

Helpdesk‘s Adviser BlackBox Developers Meeting Version: FinalPage Installations 2. How to Organize It?  On the server  BlackBox without the development subsystem  Info subsystem  Uhl folders  Opens automatically the starting page  On the workstation  Only a shortcut to the program BlackBox.exe on the server  On the master PC  BlackBox including the development subsystem  Info subsystem  Uhl folders  Persistent desktop

Helpdesk‘s Adviser BlackBox Developers Meeting Version: FinalPage The World is always Changing 3. Solution Changes and Updates  Every day there are a few new documents  Old documents are changing too  Some changes are not yet free for using  We need a program which find the change and can copy them

Helpdesk‘s Adviser BlackBox Developers Meeting Version: FinalPage The Update Program 3. Solution Changes and Updates

Helpdesk‘s Adviser BlackBox Developers Meeting Version: FinalPage Sample Output of Compare 3. Solution Changes and Updates

Helpdesk‘s Adviser BlackBox Developers Meeting Version: FinalPage Signs and Switches 3. Solution Changes and Updates  Compare builds a list of differences. The result is marked with a sign: + more (new in the source) - less (missing in the source) # changed (new version in the source) ! changed (old version in the source) % changed (but file length and date are equal) only possible if not quick compare  Update goes through the list and takes the following actions depending on the sign: + copy the file from source to destination - delete the file at destination only if the switch delete/remove is set # copy the file from source to destination ! copy the file from source to destination only if overwrite is set % copy the file from source to destination

Helpdesk‘s Adviser BlackBox Developers Meeting Version: FinalPage The Rules of Updating 3. Solution Changes and Updates  The source is never changed. Update always changes the destination.  Update works only with files/directories which are in the list and have a sign.  Black files and blue directories are always copied from source to destination.  Red files and red directories are copied or deleted only if the switch is on.  The signs determine the actions (copy or delete). If there is no sign then there is no action.  The colour is just for survey. Red means dangerous. Be careful. Something could be destroyed.  If the switches "Always Overwrite" and "Remove File/Directory" are both on, then the destination is equal the source after the update. Assumption: Long list used.

Helpdesk‘s Adviser BlackBox Developers Meeting Version: FinalPage Build a Cross-Reference List 4. Where Are the Documents?  Advantage  Find the solution quickly  Disadvantages  One word only  After changes in documents the reference list is obsolete. A new one should be created. Stichwortverzeichnis

Helpdesk‘s Adviser BlackBox Developers Meeting Version: FinalPage What Is a Word? 4. Where Are the Documents? word = {letter | digit} List of exception STRINGS ab. aber. all. alle. Should these be words? cross-reference ora sys$user1:[neumann.a1.pc]

Helpdesk‘s Adviser BlackBox Developers Meeting Version: FinalPage Search Trough All Documents 4. Where Are the Documents?  Advantage  More than one word possible  Result is always up to date  Disadvantage  It is slowly

Helpdesk‘s Adviser BlackBox Developers Meeting Version: FinalPage Is Every Document Reachable? 4. Where Are the Documents?  Did a link fail?  Is there a link to a document which does not exist?  Is a link missing?  Is there a document which is not pointed out by a link?  Is there a link outside?  Is there a link to document which is outside the start directory tree?

Helpdesk‘s Adviser BlackBox Developers Meeting Version: FinalPage Html Import and Export 5. Html Converter PROCEDURE ImportText* (f: Files.File; OUT s: Stores.Store); PROCEDURE ExportText* (s: Stores.Store; f: Files.File);  Both commands have the same structure: they loop over all characters in a text and translate and write them to a text or file. Registration in System/Mod/Config.odc Converters.Register(“HtmlImporter.ImportText", "HtmlExporter.ExportText", "TextViews.View", "htm", {});  After registration the converter can be used with the [File][Open] and [File][Save] commands.

Helpdesk‘s Adviser BlackBox Developers Meeting Version: FinalPage Link Fix 5. Html Converter  There are different approaches to relative addressing  odc: relative to the BlackBox starting directory  Html: relative to the current document directory  Example: Document Back05 has a link to document Back07  … <>  …

Helpdesk‘s Adviser BlackBox Developers Meeting Version: FinalPage Tag Views 5. Html Converter … … [Html][Create Tag]  [Html][Expand Tag]  

Helpdesk‘s Adviser BlackBox Developers Meeting Version: FinalPage What Is Missing? 5. Html Converter  Translating tables  Translating rulers  Translating images and graphics

Helpdesk‘s Adviser BlackBox Developers Meeting Version: FinalPage 25 The End