xman(X) 19 June 1992 xman(X) Name xman - manual page display program for the X Window System Syntax xman [-options...] Description xman is a manual page browser. The default size of the initial xman win- dow is small so that you can leave it running throughout your entire log- in session. In the initial window there are three options: Help will pop up a window with on-line help, Quit will exit, and Manual Page will pop up a window with a manual page browser in it. You may pop up more than one manual page browser window from a single execution of xman. For further information on using xman please read the on-line help infor- mation. The rest of this manual page will discuss customization of xman. Customizing xman xman allows customization of of the section names that appear under the Sections menu, as well as the keywords that appear under each section. Two files are used for this purpose: index and mandesc, both of which reside in the directory specified by the MANPATH variable. A third file, permuted.index, also in the MANPATH directory, provides information for the Apropos search function described below. MANPATH is a colon-delimit- ed list of directories for xman to search. For example, to make xman search /mit/kit/man as well as the default directories, execute the fol- lowing command: setenv MANPATH /mit/kit/man:/usr/man If no MANPATH is found then xman searches the /usr/man directory. xman reads the mandesc file as well as default sections, and then reads the index file to add entries sequentially. The mandesc file By using the mandesc file a user or system manager is able to more closely control which manual pages will appear in each of the sections represented by menu items in the Sections menu. This functionality is only available on a section by section basis, and individual manual pages may not be handled in this manner (Although generous use of symbolic links - ln(C) - will allow almost any configuration you can imagine). Each line of the mandesc file consists of two tab-delimited fields: a manual page directory and the label that appears on the xman button for the manual pages in that directory. Note that xman automatically groups directories that use the same label under the same section. Permuted.index file A case-sensitive keyword (Apropos) search function is available through the Options menu. You may also invoke this search function at any time by pressing <Ctrl>S. Upon invoking the function, a dialog appears into which you may enter a keyword. xman then searches the /usr/man/permuted.index file for all occurrences of the keyword and dis- plays them in a new window. From this information you may determine the name of the manual page that contains the information you require. Command line options Xman supports all standard Toolkit command line arguments (see X(X)). The following additional arguments are supported. -helpfile filename Specifies a helpfile to use other than the default. -bothshown Allows both the manual page and manual directory to be on the screen at the same time. -notopbox Starts without the Top Menu with the three buttons in it. -geometry WxH+X+Y Sets the size and location of the Top Menu with the three but- tons in it. -pagesize WxH+X+Y Sets the size and location of all the Manual Pages. Widgets In order to specify resources, it is useful to know the hierarchy of the widgets which compose xman. In the notation below, indentation indicates hierarchical structure. The widget class name is given first, followed by the widget instance name. Xman xman (This widget is never used) TopLevelShell topbox Form form Label topLabel Command helpButton Command quitButton Command manpageButton TransientShell search DialogWidgetClass dialog Label label Text value Command manualPage Command apropos Command cancel TransientShell pleaseStandBy Label label TopLevelShell manualBrowser Paned Manpage_Vpane Paned horizPane MenuButton options MenuButton sections Label manualBrowser Viewport directory List directory List directory . . (one for each section, . created "on the fly") . ScrollByLine manualPage SimpleMenu optionMenu SmeBSB displayDirectory SmeBSB displayManualPage SmeBSB help SmeBSB search SmeBSB showBothScreens SmeBSB removeThisManpage SmeBSB openNewManpage SmeBSB showVersion SmeBSB quit SimpleMenu sectionMenu SmeBSB <name of section> . . (one for each section) . TransientShell search DialogWidgetClass dialog Label label Text value Command manualPage Command apropos Command cancel TransientShell pleaseStandBy Label label TransientShell likeToSave Dialog dialog Label label Text value Command yes Command no TopLevelShell help Paned Manpage_Vpane Paned horizPane MenuButton options MenuButton sections Label manualBrowser ScrollByLine manualPage SimpleMenu optionMenu SmeBSB displayDirectory SmeBSB displayManualPage SmeBSB help SmeBSB search SmeBSB showBothScreens SmeBSB removeThisManpage SmeBSB openNewManpage SmeBSB showVersion SmeBSB quit Application resources xman has the following application-specific resources which allow customizations unique to xman. manualFontNormal (Class Font) The font to use for normal text in the manual pages. manualFontBold (Class Font) The font to use for bold text in the manual pages. manualFontItalic (Class Font) The font to use for italic text in the manual pages. directoryFontNormal (Class Font) The font to use for the directory text. bothShown (Class Boolean) Either ``true'' or ``false,'' specifies whether or not you want both the directory and the manual page shown at start up. directoryHeight (Class DirectoryHeight) The height in pixels of the directory, when the directory and the manual page are shown simultaneously. topCursor (Class Cursor) The cursor to use in the top box. helpCursor (Class Cursor) The cursor to use in the help window. manpageCursor (Class Cursor) The cursor to use in the manual page window. searchEntryCursor (Class Cursor) The cursor to use in the search entry text widget. pointerColor (Class Foreground) This is the color of all the cursors (pointers) specified above. The name was chosen to be compatible with xterm. helpFile (Class File) Use this rather than the system default helpfile. topBox (Class Boolean) Either ``true'' or ``false,'' determines whether the top box (containing the help, quit and manual page buttons) or a manual page is put on the screen at start-up. The default is true. verticalList (Class Boolean) Either ``true'' or ``false,'' determines whether the directory listing is vertically or horizontally organized. The default is horizontal (false). Global actions xman defines all user interaction through global actions. This allows the user to modify the translation table of any widget, and bind any event to the new user action. The list of actions supported by xman are: GotoPage(page) When used in a manual page display window this will allow the user to move between a directory and manual page display. The page argument can be either Directory or ManualPage. Quit() This action may be used anywhere, and will exit xman. Search(type,action) Only useful when used in a search popup, this action will cause the search widget to perform the named search type on the string in the search popup's value widget. This action will also pop down the search widget. The type argument can be either Apropos, Manpage or Cancel. If an action of Open is specified then xman will open a new manual page to display the results of the search, otherwise xman will attempt to display the results in the parent of the search popup. PopupHelp() This action may be used anywhere, and will popup the help widget. PopupSearch() This action may be used anywhere except in a help window. It will cause the search popup to become active and visible on the screen, allowing the user search for a manual page. CreateNewManpage() This action may be used anywhere, and will create a new manual page display window. RemoveThisManpage() This action may be used in any manual page or help display win- dow. When called it will remove the window, and clean up all resources associated with it. SaveFormattedPage(action) This action can only be used in the likeToSave popup widget, and tells xman whether to Save or Cancel a save of the manual page that has just been formatted. ShowVersion() This action may be called from any manual page or help display window, and will cause the informational display line to show the current version of xman. Files <manpath directory>/man<character> <manpath directory>/cat<character> <manpath directory>/mandesc /usr/lib/X11/app-defaults/Xman specifies required resources /tmp xman creates temporary files in /tmp for all unformatted man pages and all apropos searches. Environment variables DISPLAY the default host and display to use. MANPATH the search path for manual pages. Directories are separated by colons (for example, /usr/man:/mit/kit/man:/foo/bar/man). XENVIRONMENT to get the name of a resource file that overrides the global resources stored in the RESOURCEMANAGER property. XAPPLRESDIR A string that will have ``Xman'' appended to it. This string will be the full path name of a user app-defaults file to be merged into the resource database after the system app-defaults file, and before the resources that are attached to the dis- play. See also man(C), X(X), Athena Widget Set