Conference vaxuum::online_bookbuilding

Liz,
	Are you sure that your LIBRARY.DECW$BOOKSHELF file specifies the
correct .DECW$BOOK file?  It almost sounds as if the book title field is 
the title of your book and the filename field is for the filename of the 
'Using the Bookreader' book.

	I was just reading 'Coding Documentation Source Files for the
DECwindows Bookreader', Section 2.1. If you define the logical DECW$BOOK 
to point to the directory where your book resides and define the logical 
DECW$BOOKSHELF to the name of your .DECW$BOOKSHELF file and then run 
Bookreader, you should get your book.  I just tried it, and it worked for
me.

	Let me know if this helps.

		Wayne

    You want to define the logicals and start the bookreader from a
    terminal window, not by using FileView. For instance, do something like
    this from a DECterm window:
    
$ define decw$book deex1$:[you.directory_that_has_files_and_shelf]
$ define decw$bookshelf deex1$:[you.directory...]library.decw$bookshelf
$ spawn/nowait mcr decw$bookreader

    

    Thanks. That was the problem. I fixed that up and, once I got the
    protections set properly, everything came out OK.
    
    Liz

Re: .2 

>    You want to define the logicals and start the bookreader from a
>    terminal window, not by using FileView. 

Rubbish! You can do it either way. Here's how:


THE CURE FOR TUNNEL VISION (REVISITED)
--------------------------------------

This document explains how you (writers) can get your Bookreader
process to "see" files in your private working directories in addition
to those in your public library (DECW$BOOK). The purpose is to be able
to build, view, and debug online books without having to modify 
the public library files in any way. 

IF YOU RUN THE BOOKREADER ON YOUR WORKSTATION
---------------------------------------------
You need two things: a command procedure and a private "shelf" file. 

Here's the command procedure. Name it BOOKREADER.COM or anything you
like: 

$ if p1 .eqs. "" then p1 = dev:[dir] ! <-- your own directory
$ !                        ^^^^^^^^^ 
$ temp = f$trnlnm("decw$book","decw$logical_names")
$ define/user decw$book 'p1', 'temp'
$ define/user public$library 'temp'library
$ run sys$system:decw$bookreader

Replace dev:[dir] with any valid directory specification. This
specifies the place where you will keep your private shelf file, as
described below; you don't have to put books or anything else in that
directory. 

The procedure uses the lexical function f$trnlnm to translate the
systemwide logical name decw$book. Thus, your system manager can move
the public library and/or spread it over multiple directories without
breaking your procedure. 

If you already have DEFINE DECW$BOOK commands in your LOGIN.COM file
or elsewhere, it is recommended that you delete them. (They probably
use SYS$COMMON[DECW$BOOK] which is not necessarily correct.) That way,
if you invoke the bookreader without using the command procedure, it
will use the current systemwide logical name DECW$BOOK. 

The private "shelf" file is a text file named LIBRARY.DECW$BOOKSHELF.
It should contain: 

shelf\public$library\Public Library
book\dev:[dir]wombat\A Statistical Analysis of the Wombats Softball Team

Replace dev:[dir]wombat with the file specification of your private
book. Add as many additional private book or shelf lines as you need.
The syntax is:

SHELF\filespec\title
BOOK\filespec\title

The default file type for a shelf file is .DECW$BOOKSHELF.
The default file type for a book file is .DECW$BOOK. 

To start up the Bookreader, invoke (@) the command procedure. The
Bookreader opens the first shelf file named LIBRARY that it finds,
namely yours. 


IF YOU RUN THE BOOKREADER AS A CLIENT/SERVER PROCESS
----------------------------------------------------
You need three things: a command procedure, a private "shelf" file,
and a FileView customization.

The command procedure is named VUE$BOOKREADER.COM.

$!  Copyright (c) 1988 Digital Equipment Corporation.  All rights reserved.
$!
$!  Command procedure to start up Bookreader from the DECwindows
$!  User Executive
$!
$ vue$popup_progress_box 8
$ vue$suppress_output_popup
$ temp = f$trnlnm("decw$book","decw$logical_names")
$ define/user decw$book dev:[dir], 'temp'
$ define/user public$library 'temp'library
$ run sys$system:decw$bookreader.exe

Create a LIBRARY.DECW$BOOKSHELF file in dev:[dir] as described above.

In your FileView window:

1. Pull down the Customize menu and select Verbs and Menus.

2. In the leftmost column (Verb Names) select Bookreader.

3. In the "DCL Command for Selected Verb" change VUE$LIBRARY to the
   location of your VUE$BOOKREADER.COM and touch Enter.

4. OK the customization.

5. Pull down the Applications menu and select Bookreader, which opens
   the first shelf file named LIBRARY that it finds, namely yours. 

	.. and not having a lot of extra disk space, I've added another wrinkle
to use the network more fully.

	I prefer the FileView method, so this is my BOOKREADER.COM with a 
"generic" flavor:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

$!  Copyright (c) 1988 Digital Equipment Corporation.  All rights reserved.
$!
$!  Command procedure to start up Bookreader from the DECwindows
$!  User Executive
$!
$ vue$popup_progress_box 8
$ vue$suppress_output_popup
$ temp = f$trnlnm("decw$book","lnm$system_table")
$!
$! Define logicals to all desired bookshelves
$!
$ define/user logical_1 net_file_spec_to_bookshelf_1
$ define/user logical_2 net_file_spec_to_bookshelf_2
$ define/user logical_3 net_file_spec_to_bookshelf_3
$!
$! Define a search string for DECW$BOOK so that it finds everything on the right
$! node, at the right time.
$!
$ define/user decw$book sys$login:, 'temp', logical_1:, logical_2:, logical_3:
$ define/user public$library 'temp'library
$ run sys$system:decw$bookreader.exe

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

	My LIBRARY.DECW$BOOKSHELF looks as follows:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

shelf\public$library\Public Library
shelf\logical_1:bookshelf_1\descriptive_title_1
shelf\logical_2:bookshelf_2\descriptive_title_2
shelf\logical_3:bookshelf_3\descriptive_title_3

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
	As of now, I only have exercised it to 3 different nodes. I would assume
that search strings for logicals have some limit, either characters or entities.
If each node had a common directory naming convention, then the search string
shouldn't be needed, and the node_names could go in the LIBRARY file, I suspect.

	On a real VAXstation, the delay for the network accesses are quite
acceptable during "off-peak" periods, variably painful during peak periods. As
I normally run on a VAXmate with PC DECWindows, the network delays are usually
BETTER than the display delays!

Re: .-1

> $ temp = f$trnlnm("decw$book","lnm$system_table")

Is this the right logical name table on your cluster? I believe that
the "standard" DECwindows startup defines DECW$BOOK in the
DECW$LOGICAL_NAMES table. 

>On a real VAXstation, the delay for the network accesses are quite
>acceptable during "off-peak" periods, variably painful during peak
>periods.

If your VAXmate can become a DFS client, you may be able to mount
disks containing DECW$BOOK directories on other nodes and get much
better performance than from FAL. 

>As I normally run on a VAXmate with PC DECWindows, the network delays
>are usually BETTER than the display delays! 

Yes, running the Bookreader on a VAXstation 2000 with 6mb isn't too
bad. FileView, on the other hand, is hopelessly slow. We run it in a
batch queue on our 8550 in client/server mode. Some of our VAXstations
now have 18mb and can run it locally, although the response still
doesn't match the big VAX. 

	... both tables on our system.  I was trying a number of things to clear
up a problem that I think was solved by the DECW$BOOK search string, so indeed,
I will go back to the DECW table to see if it still works.

	My last paragraph obviously wasn't too clear!  What I meant to say was:

	"When I run on my VAXmate, the net delays are usually trivial when com-
pared to the way text displays on the VAXmate (ka-chunk-----ka-chunk-----...!)."

	On a VAXStation, I don't have any objection to the way it displays, once
the net has passed the data.

	As to the DFS issue, the VAXmate is a "display facility" only,  using a
3500 for the application platform.  I might see if DFS could be installed there.