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From:
[email protected] (The Interleaf FAQ list Editors)
Newsgroups: comp.text.interleaf,comp.answers,news.answers
Subject: Interleaf FAQ -- Frequently Asked Questions for comp.text.interleaf
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[email protected]>
Followup-To: comp.text.interleaf
Date: 13 Apr 1998 18:47:48 GMT
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Summary: Frequently Asked Questions (and their answers) about the Interleaf
documentation system. Read before posting anything to the
comp.text.interleaf newsgroup.
Keywords: Interleaf FAQ
Originator:
[email protected]
Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu comp.text.interleaf:7256 comp.answers:30890 news.answers:127724
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*** INTERLEAF FAQ -- Frequently Asked Questions for comp.text.interleaf ***
This "FAQ" document is arranged into nine sections:
0. What's new in the FAQ
1. Introduction - General info
2. Administration
3. Importing/Exporting, 3rd party tools, customizing
4. Miscellaneous user questions
5. Platform specific questions
6. Interleaf6
7. Cyberleaf
8. Intellecte/BusinessWeb
Appendix. Other Information: newsletters; ftp, gopher and WWW sites.
and then broken down further, in outline form rather than "FAQ list" form.
All section and sub-section numbers are in the form "a.b.c.d", and begin
in column 1 for easy searching in your favorite editor.
0. What's new in the FAQ
27 February 1998 rev 3.3
- Updated description of Filtrix
- Corrected location of leaf2html
- Minor corrections to list of contributors
3 January 1998. Rev 3.2 Add anti-spam to mail addresses. ram
22 February 1997 rev 3.1 First release of Pat Berry's major change
-minor changes in form of revision comments. ram.
21 February 1997 rev 3.0 (not released)
- New maintainer (Pat Berry,
[email protected])
- Deleted lots of out-of date information
- Updated Interleaf's mailing address
- Added note on creating Postscript files with IL6 for Win95/NT
- Added user groups for Sweden and France
- Added import/export filters for IL6 for Win95/NT
- Added Intellecte/BusinessWeb section
- Corrected various WWW and email addresses
- Corrected Interleaf Inc. phone numbers
- Deleted information about ICON conference
- Corrected list of contributors
- Incorporated numerous sections from the FAQ written by Julie Barker
in 1994
14nov95 rev 2.5
- update some www references
rev 2.4
-remove reference to leafline bb--no longer in service
rev 2.3
-added section 7 on Cyberleaf
-minor spelling errors corrected
21dec94 rev 2.2
- add pointers to Julie Barker FAQ list, update archive
pointers.
04dec94
- Change revision level to 2.0 to reflect that Interleaf 6 is
now included (as it was on recent previous revision). No
substantive changes.
17nov94
- Section 0 ("What's new")
- Section 6 ("Interleaf6"),
- Appendix ("Other information") added by
[email protected]; minor
revisions by
[email protected]
- Update references to I6 as though it were a future release, which it
no longer is.
1. Introduction
1.1. What is Interleaf?
Interleaf, Inc. provides software and services to allow organizations
to build, integrate and manage document systems. Interleaf software
covers the full range of document processes: accessing information,
developing text and graphic documents, putting them through their
review and revision processes, distributing them electronically or on
paper, and managing the entire process.
"Interleaf 6" is a document authoring and composition package. It
provides an integrated set of tools for creating compound documents:
word processing, graphics, data-driven business charts, tables,
equations, image editing, automated page layout, book building-
including automatic index and TOC, conditional document assembly. It
includes several features engineered to support the production of large
and complex document sets, including: centralized control over parts
or all of a document (format and/or content), global search and
replace/change on individual graphics objects regardless of specific
orientation or position, revision management.
Also available (on some platforms) is the optional Developer's Toolkit
(DTK) for customizing or extending the capabilities of the above
authoring tool. Developer's Toolkit is used to write programs in
Interleaf Lisp. Interleaf Lisp is similar to CommonLISP, but it also
contains an extensive set of classes, methods, and functions for
examining and changing almost all Interleaf objects, including
documents and their contents. DTK includes an editor, debugger,
compiler, listener, interpreter, and on-line documentation. Lisp code
developed with DTK, or even written with an ordinary editor, can be
executed by the stock system, so that customization or the provision of
special functionality is not limited to installations with DTK. In
fact, much of the distributed system is written in Lisp.
Another option for Interleaf 6 is "Interleaf 6 <SGML>" which provides
complete support for creating structured documents in SGML.
Other products available from Interleaf include the following:
"RDM" (Relational Document Manager) organizes, tracks and manages
documents and data, and automates every stage of the document
lifecycle.
"Worldview" distributes information from virtually any source in
document form for online viewing on virtually any computer. It
combines electronic viewing with hypertext navigation and full-text
retrieval.
"Intellecte/BusinessWeb" provides a Web browser interface to
RDM respositories and WorldView collections via HTML- and
Java-based search engines. Other Intellecte offerings provide a
number of different solutions; contact your Interleaf representative
for the latest offerings.
1.2. What platforms does Interleaf run on, and what are the latest versions?
Full details are on Interleaf's Web page
http://www.interleaf.com
Interleaf 6:
Interleaf 6.1 has been released on certain Unix platforms with
the Motif User Interface. The product is available for Sun,
HP, IBM, and DEC (OSF 1 1.3.x) workstations. Requirements for
memory range from 16mB to 32mB and disk requirements from 36
to 68mB, in addition to minimum swap space of from 32-64 mB
per session, with 64-128mB per host.
Interleaf 6.2 has been released for Windows NT and Win95.
Interleaf 5:
Interleaf 5.4 remains available on the following workstation
platforms: DG Aviion, DEC VAX/VMS, DEC Ultrix, HP 700, HP
300/400, HP/Apollo (Domain), IBM RS/6000,
Motorola Delta 8000, Sun-3, Sun-4, Silicon Graphics Iris.
The "standard" version of Interleaf 5 provides a UI consistent across
all the platforms it runs on.
DOS: (386/486)
Interleaf 5.4 for DOS is the current edition.
The 5.4 release includes international
localizations for French, German and Italian, Full Revision Tracking,
support for DEC Pathworks, improved/additional video device driver
support, and better support for running from within a Microsoft Windows
3.1 environment (as a DOS application). Since Interleaf has not
completed work on the remaining localizations for Dutch, Spanish and
Swedish interfaces, this release is seeing limited distribution in
North America. The additional languages and other new features will be
included in the upcoming release, Interleaf 5.4 for DOS. Customers can
upgrade from Interleaf IBM Publisher 3.x. (aka version 1.x) to version
5.2.02 or wait for version 5.4. Interleaf 5 for DOS is interoperable
with the Unix and VMS based versions. It includes all the
functionality of the workstation-based product (tables, equations,
charting, graphics, etc.) plus some additional features that allow the
user to run in Microsoft Windows 3.1 environments without extra memory
managers or special set-ups. Features planned for v5.4 include a new
simplified GUI install, 32-bit color image support and a new font
hierarchy to greatly reduce disk footprint.
MAC:
The current version is Interleaf Publisher for the Mac, version 3.6.
This product does not conform to the Mac UI, and is no longer available
from Interleaf.
Interleaf has announced that no further Macintosh releases are
planned, though using a Macintosh as an X-server, with the
software running on a remote Unix system, is perfectly feasible.
1.3. How much does Interleaf cost?
Interleaf pricing depends on the exact configuration purchased
and option packaging varies from country to country. There are
several different "options" for Interleaf 5 and 6,
including DTK, Revision Tracking, and Book Catalogs. The
"base model" Interleaf license is *very* competitive with
FrameMaker, or other similar systems. Adding
the above options can be quite expensive. Many sites use a network
pool of many inexpensive "basic" licenses plus a few expensive "full
blown" licenses.
It has been noted that universities receive a tremendous educational
discount, and that commerical and educational license costs for
Interleaf and its competitors differ greatly depending on which country
you live in and which platform you are buying. In the US, full-blown
Interleaf 6 is available to accredited colleges and universities for
about $200 per site, plus handling. See the web page at
http://www.cs.umb.edu/~serl for a pointer to details. That
page describes a program which applies only to North American
universities.Terms for institutions of higher education in
other countries (and for businesses and individuals as well)
vary by country.
1.4 How does Interleaf compare to {FrameMaker,IslandWrite,WordPerfect,etc.}?
This is a religious and/or political issue for many, and it is very
hard to provide an objective answer. The following summarizes a few
majority opinions from the frequent discussions in the newsgroup.
Frame is generally considered to be a "mid-range" application; it is
easy to learn, but experienced users find complex tasks difficult or
impossible. Many I5 users hate the "toolbox", "Mac/PC-like"
interface.
Interleaf is thought of as a "high-end" system; it is difficult to get
started, but expandable and powerful when advanced tasks must be done.
While many new users abhor the I5 UI, a seemingly equal number
of experts praise it. I6 for unix has a traditional Motif
interface whose graphics editory is largely toolbox based. 6.1
offers a combination of traditional Motif/MSWindows style
interface with optional "power user" UI features.
Interleaf's document creation metaphor is object-oriented and
structured in approach, in contrast to the page-layout orientation of
many "Desktop Publishing" products like Frame, Quark, PageMaker, etc.
This is often a widely misunderstood difference when comparing
Interleaf to other "similar" products.
IslandWrite, WordPerfect, MS-Word, et al. have been considered
low end applications, but as they improve on their
capabilities, Interleaf distinguishes itself from them in the
complexity and size of documents it can deal with, in its
level of integration of text and graphics, and in its open
architecture for third party extensibility.
1.5 How can I find out more information about Interleaf?
Interleaf, Inc.
62 Fourth Avenue
Waltham, MA 02154-9524
USA
(617) 290-0710
US and Canada toll-free service numbers:
Customer Support Center (800) 688-5151
Training Registration (800) 955-5323, press 3
Interleaf Direct (product orders, (800) 955-LEAF
identify nearest office)
User Groups, product literature (800) 756-5323
http://www.interleaf.com/
Email:
Customer Support Center
[email protected]
Passwords
[email protected]
Training Registration
[email protected]
There are over 50 Interleaf USER GROUPS worldwide. For information on
the nearest one, or for assistance on starting one, contact Interleaf
at 1-800-456-5323 (outside North America, call (800) 955-5323 and
press 5 for marketing information, as described below).
To receive Interleaf's quarterly newsletter and product announcements,
just send a request to "add me to your mailing list" to the home office
in your country. Include your name, title, company, mailing address
and telephone number. Also let them know which Interleaf products
you're using, and on which computer platforms. Send it to the
attention of "Marketing."
Bundled with service contracts in North America is 24-hour dial-in
access to Customer Support's comprehensive "Releaf24" knowledgebase.
Contract customers can request "Releaf24 Registration Guidelines" by
calling 1-800-688-5151 or by sending email to
[email protected]. Some
subsidiaries outside the US plan to offer this soon.
Occasionally, patch tapes are available to fix bugs or add
functionality between major releases. Contact your local sales
representative for this information.
Customer Services. The toll-free (US and Canada only) customer
contract line give you one-stop convenience for all your sales needs.
Call (800) 955-5325. Press 1 for Software Sales (place an order,
request a catalog, check pricing and order status); press 2 for Support
Contract Sales (order upgrades, purchase a new support contract, renew
an existing support contract); press 3 for Training Registration
(register for a course, request a current training catalog); press 4
for Reseller Information (find out about VARs in your area); press 5
for Marketing Information (get news for trade shows, user groups, and
events in your area, learn about new programs and promotions).
1.6 What does FAQ mean?
If you don't know what a FAQ is, you need to learn more about Usenet.
Read the introductory postings in news.announce.newusers.
1.7 Why doesn't this FAQ contain info on <your-topic-here>?
This FAQ is biased toward the Unix Workstation platforms, but that is
probably a function of the popularity of Interleaf on various
platforms, the popularity of competing products, and the areas of
expertise of the FAQ contributors. If you have valuable information
that we missed, or if our assumptions that you are running Unix
confuse things, we welcome your suggestions on how to improve this
document.
If something in the FAQ doesn't work for you, it may be due to the
version of the software you're running, or the platform you're
running it on. Most of the active newsgroup posters and FAQ
contributors seem to be running very recent versions of Interleaf
(5.4, 6.0 or later) and have Unix workstation platforms,
usually including SunOS.
This FAQ is *NOT* intended to be a substitute for the standard
Interleaf documentation. Hopefully it will contain the most frequently
occurring issues that are hard-to-find or absent from the
documentation.
1.8 Should I post my question to comp.text.interleaf?
- Understand the introductory information in the news.announce.newusers
newsgroup. Be sure to read the "Rules for posting to Usenet"
posting.
- Read this FAQ.
- Post to local.test or misc.test if you've never posted before.
If your question is still unanswered, post it. Be sure to include all
the necessary information as appropriate such as:
The version of Interleaf you are running (including patches)
The hardware platform you are on
The version of your Operating System and windowing system
How much memory and swap space you have
What type of printer it won't print on
etc.
This information is also important when you are asking your question
via email to someone.
1.9 My site does not get netnews. Is there a ListServ or other
mail gateway for comp.text.interleaf?
-No.
1.10 Who wrote this FAQ?
Thanks to the following FAQ contributors:
_____name_____ _____email_____ ____claim-to-fame_______
Heidi Daitch
[email protected] Interleaf
Brian Diehm
[email protected] newsgroup contributor
Ted Fabian
[email protected] Interleaf admin
Amy Farrell
[email protected] Interleaf admin/user
expert
Deborah Graham
[email protected] Interleaf Doc Supervisor
Adam Harrison
[email protected] FTP site maintainer
Daniel Haug
[email protected] newsgroup contributor
Tom Jones
[email protected] FAQ editor
Stephen Keller
[email protected] newsgroup contributor
Christine King
[email protected] Interleaf lead VMS
engineer
Alek Komarnitsky
[email protected] newsgroup contributor
David Lightman
[email protected] newsgroup contributor
Hal Miller
[email protected] newsgroup contributor
Jon Monssarat
[email protected] general netnews wizard
Robert Morris
[email protected] LISP guru, FAQ editor
Nils-Peter Nelson
[email protected] newsgroup contributor
Bret Pettichord former interleafer
Randyl Plampin
[email protected] FAQ editor
Bill Rea
[email protected] FAQ editor
Danny Schales
[email protected] newsgroup contributor
Randy Smith
[email protected] Interleaf admin, ng
contributor
George Snyder
[email protected] newsgroup contributor
Eric Sosman
[email protected] Interleaf VMS engineer
Anne Tice
[email protected] newsgroup contributor
Todd Williams
[email protected] Unix sysadmin, FAQ editor
Brian Wong
[email protected] newsgroup contributor
Dorene Woodrow former Interleafer
You can send mail to the Interleaf FAQ Editors at
[email protected].
2. ADMINISTRATION
2.1 Interleaf administration vs. Unix administration of Interleaf
The Interleaf System Administration manual provides procedures that
require the administrator to be running Interleaf, manipulating icons,
etc., and running Interleaf programs like printer_install and
prhost_install -- is this really necessary?
No. But Interleaf has mixed feelings about providing "Interleaf
procedures" and "Unix procedures" for the same tasks. Most of the
Interleaf procedures have easy Unix shortcuts, but use them at your
own risk. The Interleaf equivalent of "ln -s" takes several mouse/
menu operations. Some administrators edit their printers.lsp file
directly (or have their custom shell script do it), never running
the printer_install or prhost_install programs.
In the DOS version of Interleaf 5, many of these tasks have been
simplified and moved into the hands of the end users. For example,
prhost_install and printer_install have been merged into one program
which is run by the user from within Interleaf 5 itself.
2.2 Printing
2.2.1 Can I create PostScript files on the desktop in Interleaf?
Yes. The administrator runs printer_install and creates a new
"printer" named "PostScript" (or whatever). Choose filtering on the
desktop, the "Other PostScript printer" model, use the NULL.PPD file,
face down output, and choose *not* to spool to the printer. Whatever
menu name you chose (I suggest "<PostScript File>") will now appear in
the printer menu. When selected, it will output to a PostScript file
in the current directory. The filename will have a suffix of "_ps"
(no, Interleaf hasn't learned the ".ps" Unix convention).
[the previous paragraph works fine on the 5.3 Sun version of Interleaf;
for other platforms, your mileage may vary]
Adventuresome hackers can simply insert the following into their
/interleaf/ileaf5/data/printers.lsp file (on Unix hosts):
(
:netname "PostScript"
:menuname "<PostScript>"
:filt-args ("-ppd" "NULL.PPD" "-ft" "3")
:pdltag "ps"
:filter "pl2ps"
:install "ps_install"
:ps-type1 ("-ft" "3")
:ppdfile "NULL.PPD"
:rvopt " "
:european " "
:physical-printer "PostScript"
:spool "n"
:filter-loc "desktop"
:type "ps"
:model "Other PostScript printer"
:id :bsd-other-ps
)
On Interleaf 5 for DOS, this comes as a default setup.
On Interleaf 6 for Win95/NT, you can create Postscript files with the
"Print to file . . ." system printer option.
2.2.2 Can Interleaf 5 create Encapsulated PostScript files (EPS files)?
Yes. Beginning with Interleaf 5.3, you have the ability to create EPS
3.0 files as an option under the printer pulldown menu. To add this
functionality simply add another printer using printer_install. Select
"EPS File" as the printer type. This will add EPS to your PRINT menu.
When printing to EPS, the EPS file will contain one entire page
(including page #, etc.).
In Interleaf 5 for DOS, add the "-EPS" option to the switch settings
for creating PS files in the Printer Setup Tool, and save this as a
new menu entry ("Create EPS File").
If you want to filter an object that will be placed on a page in some
other program, you'll need to set the document size appropriately.
(Unless there is some other way to let Interleaf know where the
boundaries of the object are.) Since a typical EPS file is one graphic
object, you can set the frame size to "Contents," then back to "Fixed"
to see the actual size of the graphic. Then, open the Page property
sheet and enter the frame height and width values as the page size.
(If someone knows a better way, we'd like to hear about it.)
There are some subtle differences between PostScript files and EPS
files. Each format has its appropriate uses, so both are discussed
here. See the comp.lang.postscript FAQ for the gory details.
One idiosyncrasy of Interleaf-generated EPS files is the line
%%BoundingBox: (atend)
Some programs insist on having the BoundingBox at the beginning of
the document, so if you have an application which chokes on Interleaf
EPS, move this line to the initial comments section.
2.2.3 Are there special problems with SPARCprinters using NeWSprint?
Maybe. Some users have noted problems with SPARCprinters, and other
note problems with certain fonts or frames or bullets looking "dirty".
Make sure you have the right PPD file.
[This section is still under construction. If you have info to add,
please send a summary to the editors]
2.2.4 Printerleaf-to-PostScript
The pl2ps command can be very useful in debugging printing problems.
Create a printerleaf (*.pl) output file by selecting "Printerleaf" in
the Printers menu. Now you can convert this to a PostScript file by
running pl2ps. Execute "pl2ps -usage" for a summary of options. A
typical invocation would be:
% pl2ps -v -ppd NULL.PPD -i docname.pl -o docname.ps
The -v (verbose) flag is useful for debugging. You must always specify
a PPD file -- this is a good way to test PPD files.
2.2.5 PPD (PostScript Printer Definition) Files
Adobe PostScript Printer Description (PPD) files describe how to use
the standard and special features (hardware and software) on a
specific PostScript printer. This would include things such as which
fonts are resident, if duplexing is supported, how many trays exist
and which paper sizes are available. PPD files are created by the
printer manufacturer, not Interleaf. Interleaf only includes a few of
the most popular ones on its distribution tape.
Interleaf PPD files are located in the /interleaf/ileaf5/data/ps
directory. These files are usually named with the printer's
designation and the version of PostScript being used (e.g.,
LWNTX470.PPD means Apple LaserWriter NTX with PostScript version 4.70).
Since the Apple LaserWriter is the simple, standard least-common-
denominator of printers, you can probably get by using the default
APPLE422.PPD file if you are running Interleaf 5.0 through 5.3.0.
If you are using version 5.3.1 of Interleaf, you can probably get
by using the NULL.PPD file. If these files don't work (i.e., you
still can't print), or if you want to use advanced capabilites
your printer may have, you need to get the correct PPD file for your
printer.
How to get PPD files. If you have a printer that isn't on the
Interleaf tape, you can obtain PPD files directly from Adobe.
Adobe has an automated mail server that can e-mail PPD files
(and a bunch of other stuff) directly to you over the
Internet. To find out what PPD files are available send mail
to:
[email protected]. In the body of the message, on
the first line, type: "index PPDFiles". The server will send
you a list of the PPD files it has available. For information
on how to use the server, send another e-mail message to
[email protected]. In the body of the message, on the
first line, include one word: "help". The server will send
you a message describing how to access information.
All the PPD files on the Adobe server follow the version 4 PPD
specification. This means that you must upgrade to version 5.3.1 or
higher of Interleaf to use type-4 PPD files. Contact the printer
manufacturer if you need an older type-3 PPD file.
2.2.6 How do I suppress the Interleaf header page by default?
The administrator should change the Print->Properties in the original
document, which lives in the SYSTEM CREATE cabinet; then any new
documents created will inherit those values. This change is probably
effected most easily when the administrator has created a MASTER
SYSTEM5 CABINET icon on his desktop -- see the administration manual
for details.
2.2.7 Where can I get more specific information about my Brand XYZ printer?
See the comp.periphs.printers and comp.lang.postscript newsgroups.
2.2.8 My output seemed to go to the printer, but nothing printed!
One good way to debug PostScript printing problems is to download a
PostScript error handler program. This is a simple PostScript program
that you "print" to your printer (but no output is generated). You
now have an error-handler "loop" running until printer power is cycled.
If your Interleaf output generates improper PostScript code, instead of
silently exiting, you will get an error message printed on a page of
output, which may be of use to a PostScript guru, your printer vendor,
etc. You can get an error handler from the Adobe mailserver (see
"PPD files", above).
2.2.9 Can I print an Interleaf doc without actually running Interleaf?
Use the -print startup option when you enter the Interleaf 5
startup command. This prints a document without opening a
desktop. You supply the name(s) of the document as an
argument.
You can specify a printer other than the nearest printer, print
multiple copies/uncollated copies, print odd or even numbered
pages, and print a range of pages.
To specify a printer other than the nearest printer established
for the workstation, add :printer NAME as an argument to the
command line option. The default is the nearest printer, which
may not be the one you want.
Example: To print 5 copies of pages 2 through 15 of the
document plan.doc on the printer ely, use the following command:
ileaf -print :copies 5 :first 2 :last 15 :printer ely plan.doc
Syntax: Here's the syntax:
-print {:KEY VALUE}* DOCUMENT*
Print specified files in batch mode. Optional KEY VALUEs are
:printer NAME, :copies NUM, :collated T|NIL, :parity
:even|:odd, :first NUM, :last NUM.
(To get info on all of the available startup options, type
ileaf -usage.)
2.3 File management
2.3.1 What are all these ,8 and ,9 files on my desktop?
For every Interleaf document file.doc, you get a set of additional
files with assorted filename extensions. At Interleaf 5, the
filename extensions are as follows:
filename.doc the document
filename.doc,1 the backup version of the document
filename.doc#1 a copy of the document
filename.doc#1,1 the backup version of the copy
filename.doc,2 the checkpoint version of the document
filename.doc,3 the crash version of the document
filename.doc,4 the work-in-progress version of the document
filename.doc,5 Lisp methods associated with the document
filename.doc,6 Lisp data associated with the document,
most often Hyperleaf Toolkit data (see 2.18)
filename.doc,8 an autonumbering and autoreferencing summary file
for this document
filename.doc,9 an indexing summary file for this document
[email protected] an attribute file with information on document
attributes and icon position
When you copy normal documents (without Hyperleaf TK data -
locators or hypertext links), move them, send them through email,
etc, the only version you need is the plain .doc version.
backup version (filename.doc,1)
The backup version is made by Interleaf automatically
(based on the number of keystrokes you make or mouse
movements in a graphics frame). You can use this
file to recover lost changes if something disastrous
happens when you are working on a doc and you don't
have a chance to save a crash file, eg a power cut.
In such a case, list the files to see if the .1 version
has a later time stamp than the .doc version. If it has,
rename the ,1 version (eg backup.doc) and open that - this
should recover some if not all of your changes.
For example:
% ls -l body*
-rw-r--r-- 1 julie 16382 Jan 27 18:15 body.doc
-rw-r--r-- 1 julie 18052 Jan 27 18:27 body.doc,1
-rw-r--r-- 1 julie 532 Jan 27 16:42 body.doc,8
% mv body.doc,1 body-backup.doc
crash version (filename.doc,3)
If you get an Interrupt stickup (eg SIGSEGV signal) in the
middle of editing a document, you can save your document
in a crash file (the File option). Select the File option
for as many open documents as you are working on and then
exit. When you next try to open your original document you
will get a popup telling you that a crash file exists and
offering you the choice which version of the doc you want
to open. If it no good, you can always revert to another
version (backup, saved).
work-in-progress (filename.doc,4)
This is created when you execute Close in a document
you have modified and choose Hold on the stickup. It is
also created if have more than 4 docs open at once in a
book. You can change this limit in the user profile.
With 4 edited and unsaved docs open, when you open a
5th document, Interleaf will close one of the first 4,
keeping all changes you have made in a work-in-progess
file. Next time you open a doc with a work-in-progress
file, Ileaf automatically opens that version.
**NOTE: See also Bugs & Workarounds section**
attribute file (
[email protected])
This is the file that controls where the icon appears
on the screen. When you copy a file to your desktop
using the OS and it doesn't appear on the desktop, it's
because the file has no associated .@ file. When you do
a rescan, a .@ file is created. When you delete a file
from an Interleaf directory using the OS and you don't
delete the associated .@ file, the icon will remain
visible in Interleaf. If you select the icon and look
at its Property sheet, you will see that it is an
incomplete file. You need to delete the associated .@
file when you delete a document (folder/cabinet/file)
using the OS (or you can simply cut the icon in Interleaf).
3. IMPORT-EXPORT, 3rd party tools, customizing
3.1 Importing information into Interleaf
3.1.1 Importing files
3.1.2 How do I get the name of the document into my file?
To put the document name into a frame--typically a header or footer
frame--type Escape-@ into a text string. Some distributions may use
the key binding Escape-n. This won't work in microdocuments. This is
parallel to putting in page numbers with Escape-#, or the date with
Ctrl-X d.
The LISP command "(tell *document* mid:get-name)" will return a string
with the document name. I suppose one could automate the insertion of
this string in much the same way as the autodate2 program (q.v.),
though I'd be interested to see something simpler. This is such a
useful capability that I hope someone posts a nice solution.
3.1.3 How do I get the date into my file?
If working in a book with a catalog, you can place the date in a shared
component or shared-content frame within the catalog. Turn frame
and/or component exports on. Then you only need to update the catalog
when the date changes.
If not working in a book, you can tag the document with an attribute
for "date" and use Effectivity Control to control what date appears in
the document.
In Interleaf 5, you can use the Ctrl-x d command in a component or
microdocument to insert the current system date, although it will not
update automatically each time the document is accessed.
Lisp scripts can be written to insert a date that will change
dynamically, or to change the format of the date.
Bob Morris has written some active document LISP code will make the
current date appear in an I5 document automatically when you
open it. It will also give you the option of freezing the
date upon closing the document, i.e. "deactivating" the
document at close time. The latest version of this LISP file
is named "autodate2", and is available via anonymous ftp ftom
ftp.cs.umb.edu in the /pub/interleaf/lisp/ directory, and by
gopher or the World Wide Web as described in Section 6.
In Interleaf6, a similar facility is provided with the software.
3.1.4 How can I make "form letters" where name/addresses are pulled in from
external sources?
The January 1992 issue of "Foliage", the (now defunct) newsletter of
the Northeast Interleaf User's Group, had an article on how to do this
with ASCII markup.
The general idea (modified somewhat from the article) is
to define components such as <address>, <salutation>, <letter1>, and so
on in an Interleaf document. Use "Global apply" or "Unify all" to make
sure the component masters match what you see on screen. Save
<letter1> with contents, and turn on its "Shared contents" property.
Turn on the "Start new page = yes" property of The first component in
the letter, e.g. <date>. Save the document as ASCII, with a name such
as letter_master.doc.
Have your database write out a file such as:
<!class defaults, fill = blank>
<!Include definitions /home/my/desktop/letter_master.doc>
<date>December 2, 1992
<address>John Smith
<address>1111 Home Street
<address>Anytown, USA 02000
<salutation>Dear Mr. Smith:
<letter1>
<date>December 2, 1992
<address>John Q. Public
<address>222 Any Place
...
The <!class ...> is needed only if your external data contains multiple
lines of text within a component.
Since line breaks are not significant, and a blank line repeats the
preceding component, the following is equivalent:
<!class defaults, fill = blank>
<!Include definitions /home/my/desktop/letter_master.doc>
<date>
December 2, 1992
<address>
John Smith
1111 Home Street
Anytown, USA 02000
<salutation>
Dear Mr. Smith:
<letter1>
...
If you load this file into Interleaf, or print it using Interleaf
command line parameters, Interleaf will expand the shared <letter1>
content in each instance.
Substituting external data into the text of the letter is much harder.
It requires tricks with inline components, which are extremely ugly in
ASCII markup. See the Interleaf File Formats manual for more details.
3.1.5 Importing Graphics
-PostScript
The psfilt program is used to import PostScript into an
Interleaf document. As of ileaf5.3, it is bundled with
Interleaf free of charge.
-other Interleaf 5.3 filters will import CGM and TIFF files
Interleaf 6 for Win95/NT includes what appears to be fairly good OLE
support -- with the Paste Special command, you can paste document
elements from other OLE-compliant applications directly into an
Interleaf document. (For instance, you can paste a Visio flowchart
directly into an Interleaf document.) when you double-click on those
elements, you get a small window into the other application, which
allows you to edit the element in its interface. You can give the
resulting Interleaf document to other people to edit, as long as they
also have the other applications.
Interleaf 6 also ships with a vastly expanded import/export filter
library; filters included (at least in the Windows version) are:
Graphics (B&W and color):
Adobe Illustrator
AutoCAD (import only)
Windows BMP (import only)
CGM
GIF (import only)
GSA Navy DIF
DrawPerfect
HPGL (Hewlett-Packard's plotter language, import only)
IGES (import only, converts 3D to 2D)
Pc Paintbrush PCX (import only)
PICT
TIFF
Windows Metafile (WMF)
Note: Tom Jones reports that Interleaf's import filter crashed
repeatedly when he tried to import a WMF file created by Interleaf's
output filter.
Text:
AmiPro
DCA
DEC DX
EBCDIC
Excel XLS spreadsheets (which convert to tables)
GlobalView
IBM DisplayWrite
Lotus WK3 spreadsheets (which convert to tables)
Mass-11
MultiMate
Plain ASCII text
Microsoft Word RTF (see note below)
Wang PC
WordStar
XyWrite
Note: RTF is a text-only format. To convert Microsoft Word documents
containing graphics to Interleaf, save them in WordPerfect format and
import that file.
Mixed graphics and text:
FrameMaker (import only)
WordPerfect
3.1.6 FrameMaker to Interleaf
Interleaf has a Frame to Interleaf filter called "miffilt" that is
available for SunSPARC, HP, IBM RS-6000, Ultrix, DOS, and Windows
95/NT. It works with Interleaf 5.3 and is included in the Interleaf
Motif release.
See also the "Interleaf-to-Framemaker" section below about Filtrix
by Blueberry Software.
3.2 Exporting information from Interleaf
3.2.1 Exporting Interleaf documents to PostScript format
You can create PostScript or, beginning with v5.3, Encapsulated
PostScript (EPS 3.0) documents as long as your administrator has
installed the printers appropriately. See the administration section
for information on this, plus other filtering caveats.
3.2.2 Exporting Interleaf PostScript into troff
Interleaf, like many other proprietary packages, assumes that its
PostScript output is part of a larger (Interleaf- generated) PostScript
file. Each fragment makes assumptions about the environment, e.g.,
counting on certain macros or variables to be defined, perhaps through
a prologue. The troff PostScript postprocessor would have to know
about every such environment for every proprietary package a priori,
and put it in the prologue for you. Every now and then something
works, often enough to lead you to believe it will always work. If
you're a programmer, it's a bit like taking a C function that requires
global variables and never initializing them. PostScript is, indeed, a
programming language, not just a printer format.
3.2.3 Exporting Graphics
Many users are confused on how to export graphics. Some users report
success when saving the Interleaf document as a PostScript file, then
using other packages to convert the PostScript to whatever format is
desired.
Once you've got PostScript, use the GNU package GhostScript to convert
it to PBM (Portable Bit Map), GIF (Graphics Interchange Format), or PCX
(PC Paintbrush). GhostScript is available at all the popular GNU ftp
sites. These file formats are all compile-time options, so if you've
already got GhostScript at your site make sure it has the right formats
compiled in.
If you need a format other than one listed above, convert to PBM first
then use the PBMPLUS suite of conversion filters to convert PBM to
whatever you need. PBMPLUS handles a ton of file formats, and is
available at many popular ftp sites.
If you're not on a Unix system, GhostScript is available for MS-DOS and
VMS, and PBMPLUS is available on the Amiga (and possibly other
platforms). You can also find other graphics conversion programs for
most platforms. PBM and GIF formats in particular are rather common,
so if you can convert to one of those it's likely you can find
something to convert to the format you really want.
Beware of converting multiple page documents to a graphics format.
Most graphics formats don't really have the concept of "page".
GhostScript will still do the conversion, but will convert each page as
a separate image. That's good. Unfortunately, it puts all those
images in the same file. That's bad. It's pretty easy to write a sed,
awk, or perl script to split multiple PBM images out of a single file;
I've never really tried it for the other graphics formats.
You can go through these steps to produce an image file suitable
for faxing via faxmodem! Tell GhostScript to use a resolution of
210x98 dpi; this is the resolution of a fax machine. (Use 210x196
dpi for "fine" mode.) PBMPLUS includes a filter for PBM to Group 3
FAX.
3.2.4 Interleaf to FrameMaker
Blueberry Software sells Filtrix, which converts to and from Interleaf
IAF versions 4, 5, and 6. Filtrix converts text and graphics between
Interleaf and a wide variety of other formats, including FrameMaker,
Applixware, Word, and WordPerfect. The conversions are very full-
featured, and the product runs on Windows, Sun, HP, and DEC Alpha.
Special builds are available for developers and OEMs. A free demo is
available at www.blueberry.com.
The latest version of Filtrix supports Interleaf 24-bit rasters. An
import and export of HTML has been added, as well as import of Word 97
text, tables, and graphics to all versions of Interleaf.
Frame Technology Corp. now has an Interleaf to FrameMaker filter,
called "ileaf2mif". For a while, Frame was offering it free to new
with new purchases, and advertising it as "the Ultimate Interleaf
Upgrade". Some users report reasonable operation, but others note
that it will not handle equations, etc. It only handles the TPS4.0
version of Interleaf. Users report:
"I've used the Interleaf->Frame filter ileaf2mif on Suns to translate
Interleaf files to MIF for end use on PC. The filter does a
reasonable job of handling Interleaf 4.X ASCII format files, but fails
on Interleaf 5.3 ASCII format files. You can convert within 5.3 to a
4.X format ASCII, but there are still things in the resultant file the
Frame filter doesn't like. The only way I could make this transfer
work was convert our 5.3 files to 4.X; invoke Interleaf 4 and save the
converted files once again from Interleaf 4; then run the filter on
the 4.X files. This worked fine. The large caveat here is that
Interleaf 5.3 supports many features not available in 4.X. If you
depend on any of these new features, you might be out of luck. We
have only a few documents in this unfortunate situation; they will
continue on as Interleaf docs for the time being. Another potential
problem is you must have Interleaf 4. I never did isolate what the
differences were between 4.X ASCII and 5.3-converted-to-4.X ASCII. It
might be possible to hand edit (or sed edit) the files."
"The final hurdle in filtering is that Interleaf and Framemaker
philosophies for handling shared content, graphics objects, page
layouts, you name it, differ enough that the MIF files produced by
Frame's ileaf2mif filter are at best poorly structured Frame files.
To be fair, they do make reasonable compromises and the job of
improving translated files is far easier than the job of hand
translating Interleaf documents to Framemaker."
"[Frame's Interleaf-to-Frame filter] is OK, but no raves. It ...can't
handle all the autoreferencing since the two codes use such different
models. I converted a 900 page manual with lots of references and
figures. It took me about a month to get things back to an
auto-updating state in Framemaker. Oh well, at least it beats
retyping."
3.2.5 Interleaf to HTML
Interleaf's Cyberleaf program is a commercial program which
converts from many sources, including Interleaf binary or
ASCII. See Section 7.0 for more details.
There is at least one free tool: leaf2html, available at
http://www.wpi.edu/ftp/contrib/leaf2html.tar.gz. This program does not
handle hyperleaf links or provide a facility for adding user-provided
links. It chunks large documents into small html files and
automatically links them.
3.3 Third Party Tools
Contact Interleaf at (800) 955-5323 (press 1 for Sales Support) for a
list of current Interleaf business partners, and a brief description of
products that work with Interleaf.
3.3.1 Spelling/Grammar Checkers
Chris Talbott reports:
�My group has had Avalanche's ProofPositive in-house for about a year
now, and it seems to be a fairly nice grammar/style checker. It's
based on the Houghton-Mifflin engine, and it's pretty quick.
ProofPositive is an Interleaf layered application which runs against an
open document on your desktop. It's got a fair level of control over
which rules it uses and how sensitive it is (e.g. how badly an
infinitive has to be split before it complains), and it has a
Dictionary/ Thesaurus program as well. Our only complaint with it is
that it won't work non-interactively (a key concern for us, maybe not
for you). Apparently, a future release of PP will allow you to define
your own grammar rules."
Oracle produces a grammar checker for Interleaf called CoAuthor. It
seems like it offers roughly the same capability that ProofPositive
does, for about the same price. It uses its own UI, however, instead
of the native Interleaf one.
Deborah Graham reports that ProofPositive and CoAuthor do not work
with Interleaf 6.
3.3.2 SQL
Chris Talbott reports:
"A third-party tool called Smartleaf allows SQL calls to be embedded
into Interleaf components, to pull information from databases into a
formatted Interleaf documents, for example. Smartleaf is produced by
Database Publishing Software in Woburn, MA. (617-938-0018) They also
produce a document comparison tool called Smartleaf/Compare. We've had
Smartleaf/Compare in-house for about as long as we have had
ProofPositive. The tool is useful for such things as comparing an
archived version of a document/book with the "current" version
(especially if several revisions have come between the documents in
question). As of Apr 1993, the comparison algorithm is not as robust
as might be desired, and the options for marking the changes in the
'difference document' are less than stellar, but their 3.0 release (in
alpha test Apr 1993?) is supposed to have greatly improved the
algorithm and the marking options. Database Publishing is also
involved in developing applications for CALS/SGML support."
3.3.3 Clip Art
For the (now defunct) GenRad newsletter, Deborah Graham used a demo
package from:
Fusion Graphics
1728 Moorpark Road
Thousand Oaks, CA 91360
(805) 494-8411
They had an extensive collection of clip art that was compatible with
Interleaf and other systems. However, Deborah believes that the
collection is no longer available.
3.3.4 Graphics tools
XV is a shareware program by John Bradley of U. Penn. It can read
and write GIF, PM, PBM, X11 bitmap, Sun Raster, PostScript, JPEG,
and TIFF file formats, and is a very useful translation tool. It is
available via ftp from ftp.cis.upenn.edu in the /pub/xv directory.
IslandPaint, from Island Graphics, is a good bitmap (or raster)
graphic editor. It can read TIFF, GIF, Group3 FAX, Sun Raster, and
X11 bitmap files. It can write TIFF and Sun Raster files that
Interleaf can filter into pasteable graphic images.
IslandDraw, from Island Graphics, is a good object drawing editor.
It can read and edit EPS, EPS objects, CGM, HPGL, PICT, and Frame
3.0 MIF drawings. It writes EPSF, EPSI, TIFF, CGM, and Frame 3.0 MIF
file formats. Interleaf can directly paste in EPSI drawings (and
display them on screen as of v5.3.1)
CorelDraw, from Prior Data Sciences, is a drawing program that
imports and exports "most standard graphics formats such as TIFF
and EPS".
3.4 Customizing tips
3.4.1 Startup options
Many startup options for Interleaf are configurable via X11 resources.
See chapter 1 of the Interleaf 5 System Administation manual. Startup
options start on page 1-8. Xresources are on pages 1-14 through 1-16.
One favorite addition to $HOME/.Xdefaults files is
Ileaf.geometry: 1141x869+0+0
which works well on Suns to make the desktop window cover the whole
screen. Many startup options can also be handled with command line
options.
A list of supported Xresources for Interleaf 6 is provided (with
usage explanations) in the text file: $ILEAF6_HOME/data/x/Xres
3.4.2 Mouse Buttons
How can you change the default mouse buttons on a site-wide basis?
Edit /interleaf/ileaf5/english.cab/Custom.cab/profile.drw/init.lsp
(english.cab may be a different name, depending on the installed
language). Each Interleaf user has a symbolic link to this file from
their ~/desktop/System5.cab/Custom.cab/profile.drw. Uncomment the
three lisp commands shown below, and edit them to specify the desired
system default actions.
;;;
;;; Mouse button mappings:
;;;
;(tell *wn-wmgr* mid:set-props :left-button :select)
;(tell *wn-wmgr* mid:set-props :middle-button :menu)
;(tell *wn-wmgr* mid:set-props :right-button :extend)
Any user with a customized profile (e.g. created with Profile Tool)
will get the settings from the profile, overriding these defaults.
3.4.3 Keyboard mapping
Many users have asked about changing the function/behavior of
certain keys. Some complain of "no R1 key on the Sun keyboard",
or want "a delete-to-the-right key like TPS4.0 had".
One solution is to use xmodmap(1). This, however, is not a "within
Interleaf" solution -- xmodmap will change the keyboard mappings for
the whole login session.
One small example of xmodmap is the following command, which will
make the "Del" key on the right hand keypad of a Sun (keycode 57)
perform the function of the "Cut/L10" key ("F20"):
xmodmap -e keycode 57 + F20
3.4.4 Default document templates
The documents in your ~/desktop/System5.cab/Create.cab are those which
you see when you press the menu button with nothing selected on the
desktop, and then pull right a submenu on "Create". Note that some
files in this directory are typically links into the master cabinet.
You can remove these links and create your own, or use the more popular
method of creating your own subdirectory (called "mytemplates.fdr" for
example). Put your template documents there, and then pull right thru
Create->mytemplates-> to create new documents.
For site-wide templates, the administrator can place templates in
the Master System5/Create.cab/Templates.fdr. Each user will have to
execute Custom-->Misc-->Update in their Templates.fdr to get these
new templates.
3.4.5 Changing the color of the desktop
With the User Interface Painter, you can make your desktop and icons
any color you want. You first need to turn on the UI Painter in the
Custom->ToolMgr. Then you can select a default color scheme from
Create->Tools->UIPainter, and modify it if you wish with the color
editor. To make the change permanent, copy the UI Painter icon you
created into your System5--Custom--profile drawer.
Some users report that use of the UI Painter causes more frequent
occurrences of SIGSEGV and SIGBUS signals. Revision Tracking has also
been blamed for this.
Interleaf 6.2 for Win95/NT uses the operating system's color scheme
(accessible through the Control Panel) and does not have a separate
UI Painter.
3.4.6 Creating color documents
By default, when you try to Edit->Color, you just get shades of gray.
You must create any colors you want to use by first going into the
Palette->Color Editor (document name menu Misc-> pull right menu).
See your hardcopy Interleaf documentation for details. These colors
can be made site-wide by modifing the Master document in the Master
System5 cabinet.
3.4.7 Creating user-defined patterns
By default, interleaf gives you 16 patterns. To add to these, use the
Pallette->Pattern editor. Again, site-wide patterns should be added
to the Master document in the Master System5 cabinet.
4. MISC USER QUESTIONS
4.1 How can I print "DRAFT" diagonally across the background of each page?
Create a frame in a component and designate the placement as "underlay"
through the frame props. Enter text string "DRAFT" using ctrl-O,
convert the text to outline, size it, edit it to a light shade of gray,
then rotate it. Make the frame shared content, and set props to
Repeat=Begin, Anchors_Page=Yes so that it will show up on every page of
the document.
4.2 Is there any way to rotate microdocuments?
No. If you need to rotate text, use ctrl-O text strings (hit ctrl-O
inside a frame, then enter text). You can only rotate ctrl-O text
strings in 90-degree increments. To get anything else, convert to
outline.
4.3 How can I search and replace with a tab or hard return?
In order to search for, or replace with, a tab or a hard return,
preface the tab or return key with the Esc key. (This is the Alt key
for the IBM RT, and F11 on DEC/Ultrix and VAX/VMS.)
4.4 Can I get international characters on my U.S. based version of
Interleaf 5?
Yes, with your cursor in the text area, choose Create->Char, then
choose the desired font. Extend the menu and you will see the
international characters. You can also get these through keys as
described in the online document Compose_Sequences under
System5->Release Notes.
4.5 Will fast startup under Interleaf 5.3 help with performance?
The fast startup options available under Interleaf 5 (5.3) reduce the
amount of time it takes to bring up a desktop. However, once the
desktop is up, no other performance gains are realized. Interleaf
documentation explains the optional fast startup commands available.
Note two things: (a) fast startup creates a file on your
desktop about 5mB in size. (b) A substantial amount of system
state is saved in the fast startup file (that's how it works).
This often means that under some circumstances you may need to
remove the file ileaf.fst from your desktop so that it is
recreated. This is advisable after any new releases of the
software, of site-wide or individuallly installed
applications, or in some cases if carelessly written active
documents make assumptions about the system state.
4.6 How can I capture popups in Interleaf 5.3 under OpenWindows?
At the Unix prompt, type
% sleep 10; capture
You'll then have 10 seconds to setup the popup to be captured. The
capture box will appear and mouse control will be transferred to it.
The middle button will give choices of Move, Capture, Size and Quit.
Capture will create an image.img file, placed in your home directory,
that can be pasted into a document.
4.7 Keyboard types
If Interleaf won't start with error messages like:
In system startup file:
Error: Wrong argument type: nil
(logand 32767 (x-keycode-to-keysym 12 0))
then you need to specify your keyboard type with the -keyboard switch:
ileaf -keyboard keyboard_type
"none" is a valid keyboard type, but you won't have any key mappings,
like page-up/page-down. The choices in 5.3 are: apollo, aviion, dec,
hp, rs6000, sun_type3, sun_type4, none. (The command switches are in
the System Administration manual.)
If you have a Sun Type 5 keyboard, you need the "patch tape" which
brings Interleaf 5.3 to 5.3.1.
4.8 Does Interleaf read this newsgroup?
"Lots of us at Interleaf, from all walks, read the messages. And we're
very glad this newsgroup is up and running. But we also recognize that
this is a medium for our users, not for Interleaf, Inc. So, we are
encouraging Interleafers not to jump into discussions prematurely. Our
unofficial policy is that if a Leafer has an answer to a question which
other users don't appear to be responding to (or if it's a request for
information that really should be addressed by us), then we'll reply
privately. There may, of course, be occasions where a public reply
makes most sense, so we won't rule that out."
4.9 Why does my tutorial crash?
Many problems were noticed with the tutorial in v5.2. Many of these
were fixed in v5.3. Paranoid users who wish to run the tutorial might
want to temporarily rename their desktop directory before running the
tutorial, and then rename it back when finished.
4.10 Why doesn't Interleaf have an indent command or keystroke?
It's not appropriate for Interleaf to have a simple indent command.
Property Sheets are germane to the point of structured document
editors. If you "merely" indent without changing the document objects,
you are essentially imputing structure from format. This is a Bad
Thing as it makes it very difficult to edit structure later on. On the
other hand, format deduced from structure, as provided by many systems
with "style sheet"-like mechanisms, is easy to edit. Also, it does not
lead to confusion when the format is to be changed. For a most
dramatic example, see "Can Structured Formatters Prevent Train
Crashes?", J. Andre, Electronic Publishing---Origination,
Dissemination and Design (EP-ODD), v. 2 #3, pp169-174, October 1989).
However, it is possible in Interleaf 5 to provide keyboard actions
which will edit structure as well as content. Bob Morris has written
some Lisp which will do this for the indentation toggling problem.
Contact him at
[email protected] for more info.
4.11 Memory leaks
Interleaf has been known to allocate large amounts of virtual memory
and never give it back. If you get an "out of memory" message, try
exiting Interleaf and trying the operation again. Users who remain
logged in for days/weeks/months with Interleaf running the whole time
exacerbate this problem. You can use the Unix "pstat -T" command to
view the amount of virtual memory being used.
Under HP-UX, use "/etc/swapinfo -t" instead of pstat. HP-UX has some
memory leak problems in the vfork() call that can be fixed with kernel
patch PHKL_0743 for HP-UX 8.07.
Patch PRA # 93-15 for Interleaf 5.3.1 is available to address memory
leak problems. Some sites have already worked around this problem
by running on workstations with large amounts of memory and swap
space.
4.12 Runaway processes; exiting Interleaf
If Interleaf is not exited properly, it may continue to run. Sun
OpenWindows users, for example, may logout via the OpenWindows menu's
"Exit". This will cause Interleaf to continue to run, consuming memory
and cpu time.
4.13 How do I get a clock permanently on my desktop?
Copy the Clock.lsp lisp program to your profile drawer. Any lisp
programs in your profile drawer will be run every time you start
Ileaf.
For Unix types:
% cp /interleaf/ileaf5/english.cab/Custom.cab/No_Selection.cab\
/Misc.drw/Clock.lsp ~/desktop/System5.cab/Custom.cab/profile.drw
(note that the above is one line, and that I broke the pathname
in the middle)
For Interleaf types:
open System5->Custom->No_Selection->Misc
copy the Clock lisp icon
open System5->Custom->profile
paste the Clock lisp icon at the bottom right.
Lisp hackers can now edit your copy of Clock.lsp, and change the
font/window size/window postion/etc.
4.14 I created a file in my desktop directory but Interleaf doesn't see it!
Any files created under your desktop directory by processes other than
Interleaf (e.g. from a Unix shell prompt) while Interleaf is running
do not appear as icons. Conversely, files removed still have icons
displayed.
To make newly created files appear, choose Custom->Rescan. Automatic
rescan can be set in your profile using the profile tool, but since
it slows things down it is disabled by default.
Also use Rescan when removing files, but remember that any FileName.doc
will have a
[email protected] file associated with it for icon
positioning. If you don't remove both files, you'll get strange
behavior later.
4.15 What are all these funny Unix filenames? What's this Mona Lisa icon?
If you cd to your desktop directory and do an ls -a, you may see things
that don't seem to correspond to the icons Interleaf shows you. These
are documented on pages 1-6 through 1-8 of the System Administration
manual, along with the meaning of each type of icon.
4.16 Is there any way to count the number of words in an Interleaf document?
If you have a lot of documents and want to automate this, you may well
find it easier and faster to run Unix shell scripts which:
1. Run Interleaf in batch mode to make the files interleaf ascii.
2. Run textfilt to strip markup.
3. Use the Unix wc(1) program to count words.
Bob Morris has written some Lisp code which will count words. It may
or may not be useful to you. Ask him for details.
4.17 Is there a way to sum up or sort a row or column in a table?
David Lightman reports that there is a simple Lisp script available
from the Leafline (q.v.) which sorts a column in ascending ascii.
Also he has written some Lisp scripts to sum a column (sorry haven't
done rows), along with changing the attributes of row components based
on a value you enter (simple database query idea). Contact him for
more info.
4.18 Is there a way to view an Interleaf document without starting Ileaf?
This is what Interleaf's WorldView product can do. (q.v.)
4.19 When I try to fill a box, I get a diagonal line instead!
This is a bug that occurs when you use "Zoom" (in the pulldown menu
under the "View" bar just below the filename). It occurs only when
"View" is different than "x1". Use "Zoom" for text only. If you want
to zoom in on a graphics object, inside the frame use the pullright
menu option Misc->View->Magnify->Larger.
4.20 Big blank white squares
On some systems, after you dismiss a menu or other popup over the
desktop, the space under the menu will remain as a blank white square,
instead of refreshing. The fix for this is to edit the .Xdefaults file
and add:
Ileaf.popup.saveUnder: true
This behavior seems common on systems running the MIT X11R5
server. Note that the precise capitalization of the string
Ileaf.popup.saveUnder is critical.
4.21 How do I start a new page with component xyzzy?
Select the component xyzzy, open its props, and click on Page props.
Set the start new page to Yes.
4.22 How do I line up columns? Spaces don't work.
Use tabs and set the spacing on the Tab Property sheet for the
component. You can also use this to align numbers on a decimal
point. Better yet, use tables.
4.23 How do I combine two separate documents into one?
Select the first document and open it. Select the second document
and cut it. Now move to the point in the open document you want to
place the cut document, and execute paste in the COMPONENT BAR.
4.24 What useful lisp scripts come with Interleaf?
If your administrator has installed Leafware from the distribution
tape, you have access to a many UNSUPPORTED lisp scripts. One that
may prove useful is keyboard-typo (a better name is auto-quote).
This automatically puts in an open qoute or close quote as required;
it also changes the - to a hyphen instead of a minus sign. Another
useful script is iconify, which allows you to hide your open document
window and gives you back your desktop space so you can find another
document. There is also a script to mail an ascii stripfiltered
version of your document to a person you specify.
Interleaf 6.2 for Win95/NT no longer has the typo script. It does
support some of the script's features in the Tools -> Preferences
command (which replaces Interleaf 5's Profile Tool).
4.25 What is "Interleaf-J" ?
That's the Japanese (kanji) version of Interleaf. It is reported to
have slightly greater memory/swap requirements than the English
version.
4.26 How do I email Interleaf documents?
There are several ways you can email Interleaf documents:
o If you know the recipient has Interleaf, you can use one
of two methods:
- Save the document as Interleaf ASCII, then include it in a
mail file
- Using OpenLook Mailtool, send the normal (binary) Interleaf
document as an attachment. The mailtool encodes the binary
file for you so it mails successfully. It will complain if
the document is too large. Also, it must be manually decoded
if the recipient is not working in an Openwindows environment.
Refer to the OpenWindows documentation for more information.
Note that this only works in OpenWindows version 3, not in
version 2. Version 3 doesn't run on 3/xx machines - it would
be safer to stick to ASCII if you're not sure what machine
your recipient is using.
o If the recipient does not have Interleaf, you can strip the
Interleaf document down into a plain ascii file which you can
then load into a mail file. This method is fine if you just
want to transfer text, but you lose any graphics in frames.
The instructions below are for people with not much experience at
using mail, so they're fairly detailed. They also had to cover
people who don't have workstations, so it includes instructions on
using the mail program rather than the mailtool.
Sending a Document
------------------
To send an Interleaf document through email, follow this procedure.
1. In Interleaf, save the document in ASCII (Save->ASCII)
2. Mail the ASCII file with one of the following methods:
a. Redirect the file into the mail message with a single
command. For example,
%mail andrew < ~/desktop/whatsup.doc
b. Enter the mail environment or open a mailtool and then
read in the file. Use this method if you wish to preface or
follow the document you are sending with text. For example,
In the mail environment:
1) Type mail andrew
2) Enter any required text.
3) Type ~r ~/desktop/whatsup.doc
4) Enter CONTROL D or a period (.) alone on a line
to end the message.
Using a mailtool (SunView):
1) Press the Compose button to bring up a compose window.
2) Fill in the To, Subject, and Cc fields.
3) Enter any required text.
4) Read in the document:
i. In the message area, type in the pathname of the
document, eg, ~/desktop/whatsup.doc.
ii. Highlight the pathname and then execute the
"File->Include File" option on the menu.
5) Hit the Deliver button.
Using a mailtool (OpenWindows):
1) Press the Compose button to bring up a compose window.
2) Fill in the To, Subject, and Cc fields.
3) Enter any required text.
4) Load in the document:
i. In the message area, execute File > Include file
ii. Enter the name of the document in the popup & press
the "Include File" button.
5) Hit the Deliver button in the Mailtool to send the mail.
When the document is inserted into the mail message, it is in
ASCII format. The first line is always:
<!OPS, Version = 6.4> (for Interleaf 4 documents)
<!OPS, Version = 8.0> (for Interleaf 5 documents)
Text preceding this line must be deleted by the recipient before
the converting the file back to an Interleaf document.
Receiving a Document
--------------------
To convert a file received through mail back into an Interleaf
document, follow the procedure shown below.
Using the mail environment:
1. Change into your desktop directory and enter the mail
environment.
andrew% cd ~/desktop
andrew% mail
2. Save the appropriate mail message into a file. In the
following example, the header command lists the headers of
a user's mail messages. The user saves message #2 into a
file named whatsup.doc.
&h
U 1 fred@sun1 Fri Jan 19 10:09 41/1043 message from bill
> 2 dick Fri Jan 19 15:37 68/2362 What's Up Doc?
&save 2 whatsup.doc
"whatsup.doc" [New file] 68/2363
If you do a Custom -> Rescan, you will see the Interleaf
document icon is now your desktop. DON'T open it yet - goto
step 3 below to edit out the mail header and any other extra
text first.
Using a mailtool (SunView):
1. Open the mailtool and Show the appropriate message.
2. Save the appropriate mail message into a file in your desktop
directory. For example, type the following at the mailtool
"File:" prompt:
~/desktop/whatsup.doc
then hit the Save button. If you do a Custom -> Rescan, you
will see the Interleaf document icon is now your desktop.
DON'T open it yet - goto step 3 below to edit out the mail
header and any other extra text first.
Using a mailtool (OpenWindows):
1. Open the mailtool and View the appropriate message.
2. Save the appropriate mail message into a file in your desktop
directory by entering the pathname of the file in the "Mail
File" field (e.g. ~/desktop/whatsup.doc) and pressing the "Move"
button.
If you do a Custom -> Rescan, you will see the Interleaf
document icon is now your desktop. DON'T open it yet - goto
step 3 below to edit out the mail header and any other extra
text first.
The next four steps are the same whatever mail environment you use.
3. In a shell window, edit the file on your desktop.
4. Delete all lines up to the line <!OPS, Version = 8.0>.
This must be the first line of the file in order for it
to convert back to an Interleaf document.
5. Save the file.
6. Back in Interleaf, open the file icon on your desktop.
4.27 How can I email a Postscript version of an Interleaf doc?
You create a PostScript version of the document and email that -
useful if your recipient doesn't have Interleaf but does have a
PostScript printer.
Procedure
---------
If you don't have Postscript set up as an option on your printer
menu, you have to print to Printerleaf then filter the Printerleaf
to Postscript as follows:
1. Print the document to a Printerleaf file
( Print -> Document -> <Printerleaf> )
The Printerleaf file will be placed on your desktop.
2. INTERLEAF 4:
/interleaf/tps4.0/sysio/ps/pl2ps -T pslw+ < printerleaf_file > ps_file
INTERLEAF 5:
/interleaf/ileaf5/bin/pl2ps -i printerleaf_file -o ps_file
3. Mail the PostScript file.
The recipient must delete everything up to the line
%!PS-Adobe-
4.28 How do I stop a document from opening once it has started?
Hit CTRL-G to cancel the open.
4.29 How can I get Revision Bars to stay on when I'm working in
a document - I don't want to have to keep turning them on all
the time.
To get Revision Bars to appear wherever you add new text in a
document, set the text property to "persistent Rev Bars" when you
first open your document:
1. Move the cursor up into the Text properties box in the doc
header (probably says something like <Default Text Props> or
American-English or at the moment)
2. Execute Rev Bars -> Persistent from the pulldown menu
This will create a rev bar for every new line of text you write,
as you write it, even in new components you create. This is more
automatic than the old method of turning rev bars ON then typing -
whenever you moved the text cursor, the rev bars would turn
themselves off.
Even with persistent rev bars, they can get turned off if you
start doing fancy things with text properties, but generally this
works.
If you want a record of stuff you remove as well as change and
add, then you need to look into Revision Tracking, and that's
another story...
4.30 How do I change the size of the Interleaf desktop on startup?
The default size of the desktop when you run Interleaf 5 under
OpenWindows is annoyingly small. You can change the size of the
window in two ways - using the -geometry startup option or by
adding a line to your .Xdefaults.
-geometry startup option
------------------------
/interleaf/ileaf5/bin/ileaf -geometry 1062x869+0+0
This will give you a window the full height of the screen,
with an icon-sized gap on the right hand size.
.Xdefaults
----------
Add the following line to your $HOME/.Xdefaults file:
Ileaf.geometry: 1141x869+0+0
This makes the desktop window cover the whole screen top to
bottom, and leaves an icon-width strip down the right-hand side of
the screen for all your other OpenWindows applications & tools.
4.31 How do I save the state of my desktop from one session to the next
(so containers etc are left open)?
Use the command-line argument -restore when you start up
Interleaf. This will open the desktop in the state you left it
at the end of the last session, complete with open containers &
documents.
[So long as all open documents are saved, Interleaf should let
you exit in the normal way. It won't let you exit with unsaved
open documents - you get the message "Cannot Exit the desktop
until you Save or Close these documents". So all you do is
save without closing, then exit.]
5. Platform-Specific questions
5.1 DEC VMS
Note: Most of this information can be found in the RELEASE NOTES.
5.1.1 What are the most common issues users encounter when installing and
configuring Interleaf 5 on DEC VMS?
To install Interleaf 5, a minimum of 20K free disk blocks is required
on the system disk. This is used as temporary file storage in
SYS$UPDATE during VMSINSTAL. This is temporary file storage, not
permanent. Should the installation fail due to insufficient disk space
on the system disk, some files may be left kicking around in
SYS$UPDATE. These should be deleted prior to rerunning VMSINSTAL.
In some cases, Interleaf 5 gets installed with incorrect file
ownerships and file protections. The installation procedure attempts
to set the file ownership to SYSTEM. This will fail if the identifier
[SYSTEM] does not exist. This can be fixed by setting the files
ownership to [1,4], and resetting file protections to WORLD
READ/EXECUTE. For example:
$ SET FILE/OWNER=[1,4]/PROT=W:RE disk:[dir...]*.*;*
If the Interleaf top level home directory is created prior running
VMSINSTAL, WORLD protections must be set to READ/EXECUTE.
If running TPS4 and Interleaf 5 concurrently, do not change the IWS
symbol definition for Interleaf 5 as this is called for other routines
such as PRINTER_INSTALL and LICENSE_INSTALL.
Do not install FMU in the Interleaf 5 hierarchy. This will cause
problems with LICENSE_INSTALL and possibly other routines.
5.1.2 What can I do to increase the performance of Interleaf 5 under VMS?
Some performance gains can be acquired by properly tuning the system.
Adjusting working sets so that the Interleaf user has access to all
available free memory can help. This can be done by doing the
following:
Run WSMAX.COM to find out how large the SYSGEN parameter WSMAX can be
set.
$ @IWS5$BIN:WSMAX
Add the value that WSMAX.COM provided to MODPARAMS.DAT
$ SET DEFAULT SYS$SYSTEM:
$ EDIT MODPARAMS.DAT
(add or modify the value of MIN_WSMAX to the one provided by WSMAX.COM)
Modify the UAF records for the Interleaf user(s) by setting their
WSEXTENT to be equal to the value supplied by WSMAX.COM
$ RUN AUTHORIZE
UAF> MODIFY user/WSEXT=XXXXX !where user = the Interleaf username
and XXXXX = WSMAX
UAF> EXIT
Now run Autogen to set the SYSGEN param WSMAX and reboot
$ @SYS$UPDATE:AUTOGEN SAVPARAMS SETPARAMS
$ @SYS$SYSTEM:SHUTDOWN
When the system comes back up, these changes should be in place.
5.2 DOS
5.2.1 How is the performance of Interleaf on the DOS platform?
One may assume that since Interleaf is often slow on a workstation,
it must be unbearable on a DOS machine. "Not so!", say the DOS
Interleaf users. Bob Morris reports that his 33mHz 486 with 8MB
memory and a 12ms IDE disk is faster than his SPARCstation 1.
Note that most workstation users have to deal with multitasking
operating systems that do not dedicate 100% of their cycles to
running Interleaf, plus they often NFS-mount the executables and/or
the data. A workstation with a fast local disk would be a different
story.
5.2.2 How can I run stuff from the command line under DOS?
With I5 DOS all of the filters and print programs are implemented as
Dynamic Link Libraries (DLL's). This means that the command line
invocation requires a slight twist. All of the same I5 programs exist
(pl2ps for example) but have an extension of ".i5". These files must
be run from the command line with the loader "i5load.exe". The way to
run the filters is then (while cd'd to \ileaf5\bin):
C:\ILEAF5\BIN> I5LOAD PL2PS.I5 -v -ppd NULL.PPD -i docname.pl -o docname.ps
6.0 Interleaf 6
Interleaf 6.0 offers very little absolute new functionality
over Interleaf 5. The release is mainly intended to offer a
system more easily used by people familiar with X-windows and
Microsoft Windows.
A brief personally edited list of some typical differences,
written by Bob Morris, follows. For how to get more detailed
information, see the Appendix below.
a. The UI is conformant to Motif and incorporates some Windows
features.
b. Multiple property sheets can be open at one time.
c. Online documentation is hypertext, based on WorldView.
d. Search and Replace is improved.
e. Editable text can be rotated 90 degrees.
f. Initial content of componets can call Lisp functions for
computationally determined content, e.g. the current date.
g. Printer administration is simplified.
7.0 Cyberleaf
Cyberleaf is an Interleaf product for the creation and
management of Webs in the WorldWide Web. It translates
to HTML (the WWW format) from several popular formats,
including WordPerfect 5.x, Microsoft Word 6.0, Interleaf,
plain text, and (without change) HTML. The software allows
a point-and click creation of hypertext links, translates
links from those source documents which support them, and
arranges for the deposit of the resulting Web in a
specified location. Styles in the input document can be
mapped to particular HTML styles at the choice of the user.
The Unix version of Cyberleaf 1.0 was released in
February, 1995. Requirements:
Sun Sparc2/IPX (or greater)
under Sun OS 4.1.x, or Solaris 2.x
24mB RAM, 65mB disk, 64mB swap
HP 700/8xx
under HP-UX v9.x
32mB RAM, 65mB Disk, 64mB Swap
IBM RS/6000
under AIX 3.2.x
32mB RAM, 64mB Disk, 64mB Swap
Dec AXP
under OSF/1
48mB RAM, 64mB Disk, 64mB Swap
Cyberleaf version 2.0 is available for Windows NT and Windows 95.
Cyberleaf and other Interleaf product information is available
on the Web at
http://www.interleaf.com.
7.1 Cyberleaf + Interleaf 6.2
A package bundling Cyberleaf 2.0 for Windows NT/95 and Interleaf
6.2 for Windows NT/95 is available from Interleaf.
8.0 Intellecte/BusinessWeb
Intellecte/BusinessWeb is an application template that
provides a web browser user interface to Interleaf RDM
repositories and WorldView collections. Once installed,
BusinessWeb runs on top of an HTTP server. When users
visit a specific URL, they are taken to the BusinessWeb
homepage and then navigate to a Search page. This is
how users "extract" documents from the RDM or WV locations.
Files matching the query string are returned in a list.
The files are either downloaded to the user's disk or
viewed in a helper application.
Intellecte/BusinessWeb 1.2 is currently shipping on
Sun OS 4, Solaris, DEC-AXPOSF, HP-UX, IBM-RS6000.
Clients running a browser on any platform can use
BusinessWeb. The platform lists refers only to
where the server can be installed and run from.
Customers' Web administrators can modify all the source
code and HTML files shipped with BusinessWeb to create a
site-customized solution.
BusinessWeb CheckIn is an add-on component to BusinessWeb
that allows users to not only check out files from an
RDM repository from their browser, but also check new
files in.
Appendix: Other sources of information
A.1.1 Bob Morris has an ANONYMOUS FTP site at UMASS-Boston.
On ftp.cs.umb.edu, see the /pub/interleaf directory. Many
LISP scripts such as "autodate"are in the /pub/interleaf/lisp
directory. Contributions of interesting LISP scripts are welcome.
The comp.text.interleaf newsgroup is archived in /pub/news, and
comp.text.sgml and maybe some other stuff may be archived soon.
comp.text.interleaf is also available from cs.umb.edu's GOPHER
server.
These archvives can be accessed via gopher against
ftp.cs.umb.edu in the interleaf directory, or on the World Wide
Web at
http://ftp.cs.umb.edu/interleaf. The Interleaf-UMB
University program for US university site licenses is
referenced in
http://www.cs.umb.edu/~serl.
A.1.2 Many local Interleaf user groups and other companies/organizations
publish their own NEWSLETTERS. The following user groups are known
to exist:
Interleaf Sweden User Group (ISUG)
c/o Per Hallenborg
Vattenfall Fuel
S-162 87 Stockholm
Sweden
Email:
[email protected]
Phone: +46 8 739 69 68
Interleaf users in Norway and Finland are welcome. Meets twice a
year, spring and fall. About 50 members. Publishes newsletter
ISUG-BLADET (subscriptions available).
Club des Utilisateurs Interleaf (CUI France)
9 Avenue Franklin Roosevelt
75008 Paris
France
Email:
[email protected]
Web:
Http://www.cui.fr
Phone: 08 55 50 40
Official French user group. More than 30 French companies
represented. Meets in Paris.
A.2 Interleaf has a Web server at www.interleaf.com.
*** END OF INTERLEAF FAQ ***
===============================================================================
=
Bob Morris Dept. of Math and CS, UMASS-Boston, Boston, MA 02125-3393
[email protected] telephone 617-287-6466
