Mosaic: -- List of FAQ's (Frequently Asked Questions)

• How to convert a PS picture into GIF (for inlining) ?
• How to search for a string in a document ?
• How to obtain a local copy of a document ?
• How to remote control VMS MOSAIC?
• Are there hot keys defined ?

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How to convert a PS picture into GIF (for inlining) ?

Pictures are usually produced as PostScript files in our environment and there is often the need to convert them into GIF format to use them as inlined pictures.

This can be done with the GhostScript program using the flags

    -q            quiet startup
    -dNOPAUSE     disables the prompt and pause at the end of each page
    -dSAFER       disables the deletefile and renamefile operators
    -sDEVICE=     selects driver, use either
                     gifmono     for black and white
                     gif8        8 plane colour
    -OutputFile=  output filename, can be either simple filename
                     test.gif
                  or a template to generate one file per page
                     test%d.gif       -->  test1.gif  test2.gif  ...
                     test%02d.gif     -->  test01.gif test02.gif ...
    

Note, that under VMS one has to use quotes to preserve the case, so the final DCL command to convert foo.eps into foo.gif reads: $ gs -q "-dNOPAUSE" "-dSAFER" "-sDEVICE=gifmono" "-sOutputFile=foo.gif" foo.eps Note also, that gs enters a command mode with the prompt "GS>" after processing the input files. Just type ^Z to terminate the program.

For more help use gs -h or inspect the file use.doc in the path of the gs image ( check with sho sym gs).

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How to search for a string in a document ?

To search for a word of phrase in the current document select Find in Current... in the File menu.

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How to obtain a local copy of a document ?

The easiest and most convenient way depends on the type of the document and the way it's displayed:

• HTML: Simply select Save As... in the File menu. In the Save Document Dialog select the output format (Plain Text, PostScript) or HTML and specify the output filename.
• External Browsers: Most external browsers provide a Save function to save the displayed document to a local file. e.g.
  • Ghostview: Use the Save Marked Pages option of the File menu after selecting the pages of interest with the Mark option of the Page menu.
    Note: This doesn't work with encapsulated PostScript files !
  • XView: Click MB3 to activate the Control Panel, use the Save button to activate the Save Dialog.
• Any document: Select Load To Local Disk in the Options menu. Load the document you want to save by
  • clicking Reload if you want to save the current document
  • clicking on an anchor in the current document
  • clicking on the Open... button. In the Open Document Dialog specify the URL and click Open.
  After the transfer a Save Binary File to Local Disk Dialog will popup. Specify local file name and click OK. Don't forget to deselect the Load To Local Disk in the Options menu (it's a toggle button...).
• Inlined images: Determine from the Source View the URL of the image, proceed as described above with the Open... button.

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How to remote control VMS MOSAIC?

From the README.VMS-2.0-10 file by Bjorn S. Nilsson, CERN:

   8. Mosaic can be controlled remotely. If you start the program a -mbx
      switch it will act on commands sent to a mailbox named MOSAIC_username.
      The logical name for the mailbox can also be set with an argument
      following a -mbx_name switch. Finally, the mailbox name can be entered
      in your group name table with a -mbx_grp switch, provided you have
      GRPNAM priv.
      The commands are defined and acted upon in the routine
      mo_process_external_directive in [.src]gui.c The possible commands are:
            goto|URL newwin pagedown pageup scrolldown scrollup
	    flushimagecache backnode forwardnode reloaddocument
	    reloadimages refresh
      The goto command must be followed by a vertical bar and then the URL
      of the page to display.

Example: Start Mosaic with mosaic -mbx -mbx_name my_mosiac -mbx_grp and use create my_mosiac: to write commands into the mailbox.

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Are there hot keys defined ?

From the NCSA MOSAIC documentation:

Hotkeys

While the mouse pointer is in the hypertext viewing area, the following hotkeys (keyboard shortcuts for common actions) are active. Note that Mosaic is case-sensitive, but either case will usually work. a A Annotate m M Mail to b B Back n N New window c C Clone o O Open URL d D Document source p P Print f F Forward r Reload h window History R Refresh H Hotlist s S find in document (Search) l L open Local ESC Close the current window.

Movement Keys

Up and Down arrow keys Scroll up and down one line Left and Right arrow keys Scroll left and right Page Up/Prior/Backspace/Delete Scroll up one page Page Down/Next/Return/Tab/Space Scroll down one page

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