NAME

answerbook - browse, search, and view on-line documentation

SYNOPSIS

answerbook [ navigator-options ]

DESCRIPTION

answerbook starts up navigator(1) (the AnswerBook Navigator window) on the OpenWindows desktop after performing several tasks to initialize the AnswerBook environment. These tasks are important to the proper functioning of the AnswerBook software, so navigator should always be invoked via answerbook, rather than invoked directly by the user.

answerbook performs the following functions each time it runs:

Verify OpenWindows environment

Makes sure that $OPENWINHOME is set, that the correct version of OpenWindows (version 3.3 or greater) is running, etc.

Source answerbook_setup

If there is an executable sh or ksh shell script called "answerbook_setup" in the user's search path, source it. Typically, this file would contain shell commands that enable access to shared AnswerBooks available on the network. See the "AnswerBook Administration" guide for more information on sharing AnswerBooks on a network.

Find locally installed AnswerBooks

If there are any AnswerBooks installed on the local machine, find them (using pkginfo(1) ) and make them available to the current AnswerBook session.

Verify AnswerBooks present

Make sure there is at least one AnswerBook available to the user in the current AnswerBook session. If not, print an error message and exit.

Create Personal Library

For first-time AnswerBook users, create a personal AnswerBook library file ($HOME/.ab_library) that includes all the currently accessible AnswerBooks. See ab_library(4) for more information.

Start AnswerBook Navigator

Invoke navigator(1), passing on any command line options with which it was invoked.

OPTIONS

answerbook passes all command line options on to navigator(1).

ENVIRONMENT

AB_CARDCATALOG

answerbook makes locally installed AnswerBooks accessible by appending their card catalog file names to the this environment variable, which navigator uses in assembling its list of available AnswerBooks. See ab_cardcatalog(4) for more information.

OPENWINHOME

This environment variable must be set appropriately.

FILES

$HOME/.ab_cardcatalog

Personal card catalog file.

$HOME/.ab_library

Default AnswerBook library file. Created automatically by answerbook for first-time AnswerBook users.

answerbook_setup

Shell script containing AnswerBook setup commands, typically for enabling access to shared AnswerBooks on the network. If there is a file by this name in the user's search path, answerbook sources it.

/tmp/ab_cardcatalog.*

Temporary card catalog file occasionally generated by answerbook to facilitate access to locally installed AnswerBooks.

DIAGNOSTICS

If answerbook finds no AnswerBooks during the initialization process, it prints a message to the console and exits without starting up the AnswerBook Navigator.

SEE ALSO

ab_admin(1), docviewer(1), navigator(1), ab_cardcatalog(4), ab_library(4)

NOTES

Pre-Solaris 2.2 AnswerBooks come with answerbook scripts of their own that are customized for that particular AnswerBook. These scripts do not work under OpenWindows 3.2, and are obviated by the new answerbook script.

AnswerBook is a trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc., licensed to SunSoft, Inc.