!Help file for !NewsRoom
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1997-2003 Paul Vigay

(Read the 'History' file for details of changes between versions)

Conditions of Use:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This application is COPYRIGHT and may not be copied, distributed or
sold without the express written permission of Digital Phenomena.
   
Purpose
~~~~~~~
To simulate the workings of a news room, receiving snippets of information,
from various sources and displaying it as it arrives.

Use
~~~
Simply double-click on the !NewsRoom application to load the program into
the computer and install an icon on the icon bar.
Clicking SELECT on the icon bar icon will open the main simulation window 
and display the program title and information.

In order to use the application you need to load a news story database.
This consists of a standard Risc OS directory containing a number of
specific NewsRoom files, together with the text of the stories you wish
to use for a particular simulation run.

The format of these files is described below in the section labelled
'Creating your own data'.

Load a news story database into !NewsRoom simply by dragging the whole 
directory onto either !NewsRoom's icon bar icon or onto it's open window.
Once a new database is loaded, assuming it's a valid !NewsRoom database,
the main simulation window will open and the name of the loaded database
will be displayed.

At the top of the main window is a tool bar consisting of a number of
icons. From left to right, these are:-

	Start	Click SELECT on this to start the simulation.
	Pause	Click SELECT on this icon to temporarily pause the running
	        of the simulation.
	        
To the right of the tool bar is a large, user-friendly, LED type clock. 
This shows the current time (or ficticious time if the database uses one)
and runs in 'real time' - ie. The minutes click round every 60 seconds,
irrespective of the running speed of the simulation.
N.B. The actual speed of the simulation can be changed by editing the
time period in the 'Choices' window, described below.

Once the simulation is running, each news story will be displayed in the
main window as it arrives.

The Choices Window
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Clicking SELECT on the !NewsRoom icon displays the icon bar menu. This
consists of three options; Info provides information about the !NewsRoom
application and Quit quits the application and removes it from memory.
Clicking SELECT on the 'Choices' option opens the choices window. This
selection is only available when a simulation is not actually running.

From the choices window you can create a new database directory, set the
speed of the simulation and set the printer options. !NewsRoom uses the
standard Risc OS printer drivers for all printing.

The simulation speed alters how fast the news stories come in. The default
setting is 'real time' (ie. 1 minute equals 60 seconds). However, you may
want to make the simulation run faster or slower by effectively changing
how many seconds are in each simulation minute. For example, if you set 
the time to 30 seconds, the simulation will run twice as fast and each
minute of simulation time will actually be 30 seconds. Setting to 120
will make the simulation go twice as slowly - ie. each minute of news
story will stay on the screen for two minutes of actual time.

The 'print to:' option, when ticked, will print out each news update as
it arrives. This option is only available if a printer driver is loaded.
If not, it is greyed out until you load one. The number of copies selects
the number of copies of each news update you get. This can be useful if
you have a team of people who each want a copy of the news as it arrives.
It can be set to any number between 1 and 12 copies using the two arrow
icons either side of it's value.

Clicking SELECT on 'OK' will set the required values for this run only.
If you wish to save the values back to disc for use next time, click on
the 'Save' icon. This has two ways of working, depending upon what you
are currently doing.
If you have no database loaded, clicking 'Save' will save the current
options back to use as the default value for the program, and any future
files you may create.
If however, you already have a database loaded, clicking 'Save' will
save the options back into the currently opened database directly for
use only with that database. This allows the user flexibility in each
database having it's own preset options.

To create a new database directory, simply drag the directory icon into
a suitable filer window on your local disc or network. This will create
a database directory and any relevant system files within it. To setup
your own news stories, read the following section.

Creating your own data
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Once you have created a database directory (see above), you are ready
to write your own news stories to slot into !NewsRoom. To do this you 
need a suitable text editor such as !Edit, !StrongED or !Zap.
I personally recommend !Zap, but it's up to you.
Each story is contained within a different text file stored within the
database directory. They can be called what you like (as long as you 
don't overwrite any of the default 'system files'. These are currently
called "!ID", "choices" and "starttime". These will be explained in more
detail later (see 'System Files' below).
Each story is written in a number of short paragraphs, each preceeded
by a four digit number. This indicates the time, from the start of the
simulation, that the paragraph will arrive. The first two digits refer
to an hour and the last two digits refer to the minute, so for example,
0005 would refer to the fifth minute into the simulation. (note the
comments above regarding simulation speed)

Each paragraph should be seperated by a single blank line and the file 
should be terminated by entering 9999 as the time.

Each line should be no longer than 56 characters long. If it is longer
than this, !NewsRoom will truncate it and not display characters past
the 57th character. If you have 'wordwrap' or 'linewrap' in your text
editor you should turn it on to ensure that the lines are not too long.

System Files
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Within each news story data directory there are a number of 'system
files' which are created by !NewsRoom itself when you create a new
data directory. You should not call any of your news story files by the
same names.
These are currently as follows:-

	!ID		A file by which !NewsRoom determines if a
			particular directory contains !NewsRoom data.
			If this file is not present, !NewsRoom will fail
			to recognise your directory as a valid one. 
		        This file also contains the version number of
		        !NewsRoom which created the directory.
	        
	Choices		This is the file containing the various settings
	                in the 'Choices' window. Do not alter this file.
	        
	starttime	A four digit time to start the simulation. These
			four digits are in the same format as those in
			the individual datafiles (see above). If this is
			9999 (the default value) then the simulation time
			will mirror the actual time. If it is anything 
			other than 9999 then this is the time that will
			displayed on the LED clock on the right of the
			toolbar.


Future Enhancements/Bugs
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As far as I have tested it, there are no bugs present. If, however you find
what you think is a bug, please contact me, giving details of what you were
doing immediately prior to discovering the bug.

However, the present version is a beta-test version and as such, does not
include all the features I have planned for future versions. Please feel 
free to offer your own ideas and suggestions as well and I will try to
implement any ones I think would be beneficial.

Contacting the author
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
!NewsRoom was written by Paul Vigay, who can be contacted at:

                104 Manners Road,
                Southsea,
                Hants.,
                PO4 0BG
                England

Latest versions and help are available 24hrs a day, 7 days a week from
my BBS: Dial (01705) 871531 (ANSI,8N1) and mail the sysop if in trouble.
Also, check out my web page at:
http://www.interalpha.net/customer/pvigay/shareware.html

or via Email:  pvigay@cix.compulink.co.uk
                or Arcade/World of Cryton BBS
