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xman(1X)

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NAME    [Toc]    [Back]

       xman - Manual page display program for the X Window System

SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]

       xman [-options...]

OPTIONS    [Toc]    [Back]

       xman supports all standard Toolkit command line  arguments
       (see  X(1X)).  The following additional arguments are supported.
  Specifies  a  helpfile  to  use  other  than  the
       default.  Allows both the manual page and manual directory
       to be on the screen at the same time.  Starts without  the
       Top  Menu with the three buttons in it.  Sets the size and
       location of the Top Menu with the  three  buttons  in  it.
       Sets the size and location of all the Manual Pages.

DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]

       The  xman  program  is a manual page browser.  The default
       size of the initial xman window is small so that  you  can
       leave it running throughout your entire login 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.  Typing Control-S will pop up a window prompting for a
       specific manual page to display. You may display more than
       one  manual  page  browser  window at a time from a single
       execution of xman.

       For further information on using xman, please read the online
  help  information.  Most of this manual will discuss
       customization of xman.

CUSTOMIZING XMAN    [Toc]    [Back]

       xman allows customization of both the  directories  to  be
       searched  for  manual pages, and the name that each directory
 will map to in the Sections  menu.   xman  determines
       which  directories  it  will search by reading the MANPATH
       environment variable.  If no MANPATH  is  found  then  the
       directory  /usr/man  is  searched  on POSIX systems.  This
       environment is expected to be a  colon-separated  list  of
       directories for xman to search.

       setenv MANPATH /mit/kit/man:/usr/man

       By  default, xman will search each of the following directories
 (in each of the directories specified in the  users
       MANPATH)  for manual pages.  If manual pages exist in that
       directory then they are added to list of manual pages  for
       the corresponding menu item. A menu item is only displayed
       for those sections that actually contain manual pages.

       ------------------------------------------
       Directory   Section Name
       ------------------------------------------
       man1        (1) User Commands
       man2        (2) System Calls
       man3        (3) Programming Routines
       man4        (4) File Formats
       man5        (5) Miscellaneous Information
       man6        (6) Games

       man7        (7) Special Files
       man8        (8) System Administration
       manl        (l) Local
       mann        (n) New
       mano        (o) Old
       ------------------------------------------

       For instance, a user has three directories in  her  manual
       path  and each contain a directory called man3.  All these
       manual pages will appear alphabetically  sorted  when  the
       user  selects  the  menu  item called (3) Subroutines.  If
       there is no directory called mano in any of  the  directories
  in  her MANPATH, or there are no manual pages in any
       of the directories called mano then no menu item  will  be
       displayed for the section called (o) Old.

THE MANDESC FILE    [Toc]    [Back]

       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 -- see ln(1) -- will allow almost any configuration
 you can imagine.)

       The format of the mandesc file is a character followed  by
       a  label.   The character determines which of the sections
       will be added under this label. For instance suppose  that
       you  would like to create an extra menu item that contains
       all programmer subroutines.  This label should contain all
       manual  pages in both sections two and three.  The mandesc
       file would look like this:

       2Programmer Subroutines 3Programmer Subroutines

       This will add a menu item to the Sections menu that  would
       bring up a listing of all manual pages in sections two and
       three of the Programmers Manual.  Since  the  label  names
       are  exactly  the same they will be added to the same section.
  Note, however, that  the  original  sections  still
       exist.

       If you want to completely ignore the default sections in a
       manual directory then add the line:

       no default sections

       anywhere in your  mandesc  file.   This  keeps  xman  from
       searching  the  default  manual sections in that directory
       only.  As an example, suppose you  want  to  do  the  same
       thing  as above, but you do not think that it is useful to
       have the System Calls or Subroutines sections any  longer.
       You  would  need to duplicate the default entries, as well
       as adding your new one.

       no default sections 1(1) User Commands 2(2)  System  Calls
       3(3) Programming Routines 4(4) File Formats 5(5) Miscellaneous
 Information 6(6) Games 7(7) Special Files 8(8)  System
 Administration l(l) Local n(n) New o(o) Old

       xman will read any section that is of the from man<character>,
 where <character> is an upper or lower  case  letter
       (they  are  treated  distinctly)  or  a numeral (0-9).  Be
       warned, however, that man(1) and catman(8) will not search
       directories that are non-standard.

WIDGETS    [Toc]    [Back]

       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    [Toc]    [Back]

       xman  has  the  following  application-specific  resources
       which allow customizations unique to xman.   The  font  to
       use  for normal text in the manual pages.  The font to use
       for bold text in the manual pages.  The font  to  use  for
       italic  text in the manual pages.  The font to use for the
       directory  text.   Either  `true'  or  `false,'  specifies
       whether  or not you want both the directory and the manual
       page shown at start up.   The  height  in  pixels  of  the
       directory,  when  the  directory  and  the manual page are
       shown simultaneously.  The cursor to use in the  top  box.
       The  cursor  to use in the help window.  The cursor to use
       in the manual page window.   The  cursor  to  use  in  the
       search  entry  text  widget.  This is the color of all the
       cursors (pointers) specified above.  The name  was  chosen
       to  be  compatible  with  xterm.  Use this rather than the
       system default helpfile.  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.   Either `true' or
       `false,' determines whether the directory listing is  vertically
  or  horizontally organized.  The default is horizontal
 (false).

GLOBAL ACTIONS    [Toc]    [Back]

       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: 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.  This
       action  may  be  used  anywhere, and will exit xman.  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.  This action may be used anywhere, and  will  popup
       the  help widget.  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.  This action may  be  used  anywhere,
  and  will create a new manual page display window.
       This action may be used in any manual page or help display
       window.   When called it will remove the window, and clean
       up all resources associated with it.  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.  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.

ERRORS    [Toc]    [Back]

       The xman client returns the following error message if you
       do not have any manpage subsets installed on your system:

       Xman Error:  Could not allocate memory for manual sections

ENVIRONMENT    [Toc]    [Back]

       the default host and display to use.  the search path  for
       manual  pages.   Directories  are separated by colons (for
       example, /usr/man:/mit/kit/man:/foo/bar/man).  to get  the
       name   of  a  resource  file  that  overrides  the  global
       resources stored  in  the  RESOURCE_MANAGER  property.   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 appdefaults
 file, and before the resources that are  attached
       to the display.

              See  X(1X)  for a full statement of rights and permissions.

FILES    [Toc]    [Back]

       specifies required resources.  <XRoot> refers to the  root
       of  the X11 install tree.  xman creates temporary files in
       /tmp  for  all  unformatted  man  pages  and  all  apropos
       searches.

SEE ALSO    [Toc]    [Back]

      
      
       X(1X), man(1), apropos(1), catman(8), Athena Widget Set

AUTHORS    [Toc]    [Back]

       Chris  Peterson,  MIT  X  Consortium  from the V10 version
       written by Barry Shein formerly of Boston University.



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