Users' Knowledge Base

DRAFT

SPECIFICATIONS

• Browser: Internet Explorer v7.0
• Operating Software: MicroSoft XP Home

To upgrade to I.E 7 follow the link: Microsoft Download Center >> Internet Explorer 7

 Subscribing to the UKB RSS Feed via the HomePage

1) Click on the Entries RSS link in the UKB Side Bar at the right of the Homepage.

An Updated Content (UC) page will open in a new window.

Note: The UKB RSS Feed is not actually updated content. It is, in fact, a list of all posts, sorted by date as the default, so that subscribers will receive everything written into their Feed Reader. Updated posts will not automatically move to the top of the list unless their author forces the issue by resetting the posts timestamp.

2) Click on the Subscribe to this feed link in the Information Pane at the top of the UC page (a Subscribe to this Feed window will pop-up).

3a) Accept the defaults and click on Subscribe without any further to do.

OR 3b) Put the link into a custom sub-folder by clicking on the New Folder button, entering a title into the Folder Name input box and picking Create (this is recommended for those who are already subscribed to other RSS services).

That’s all there is to it!

Click on the View my feeds link to go straight to Internet Explorer with the Favorites Center open in Feeds mode.

Subscribe to the UKB RSS Feed via Internet Explorer. 

1) Surf to the UKB homepage (the Feeds icon in the IE toolbar will turn orange to indicate that the site is RSS enabled).

2) Click on the down arrow beside the Feeds icon to open a drop-down menu and select RSS 2.0 from the list that is presented (in this case RSS 2.0 or Atom 0.3).

3) The Updated Content page will open as per instruction two in the example above. From that point on the procedure is exactly the same as before except for the confirmation message at the end (it doesn’t have a link to the Feed Reader since I.E is already open).

Subscribing to other AmiBroker provided RSS feeds.

The ‘official’ Knowledge Base, the DevLog and the AmiBroker Mailing List are all RSS enabled and they can be subscribed to by using the Internet Explorer method.

Link to the official Knowledge Base: AmiBroker Knowledge Base

Link to the DevLog: AmiBroker Development Log

Link to the AmiBroker Mailing List: AmiBrokerYahooGroup

A separate feed for UKB comments can be subscribed to by clicking on the Comments RSS link at the UKB HomePage.

Note: The feeds in Internet Explorer are not integrated and each link to an AmiBroker feed stands-alone. The YahooGroup feed is not threaded. It comprises each message posted to the group in chronological order.

 BROWSER CAUTION

This tutorial was written using Internet Explorer 7 and the same outcomes won’t necessarily be achieved with other I.E. versions or alternative browsers e.g. the author received the following ‘advice’ when Entries RSS was clicked using a machine with I.E v6 installed. 

Note: Information on the I.E version in use can be obtained by clicking on the Help >> About menu on the I.E. menu-bar.

TO BE COMPLETED

COPIED FROM ‘HOW DO I READ RSS?’.

For those subscribed, the Users? Knowledge Base Feed will be listed in the Internet Explorer Favorites Center, under Feeds.

The number of posts saved, the frequency of updates, and other options, can be set from the Feed Properties window. To open the Properties window, right click on the Users? Knowledge Base link in the Feed list and select Properties from the context menu that opens, or, click on the View feed properties link in the browser window RSS page.

If the posts are in a summarised form the text will end with the word (more….) as a link. The full version can be viewed by clicking on the link, or, by clicking on the right arrow at the top of the post.

The full version of the post will open with the comments below. Scroll down to read the comments, if any.

Comments can be viewed separately, in a scrollable list, by subscribing to the Users? Knowledge Base Comments RSS.

To unsubscribe from a feed service, simply right click on the link in the Favorites Center and delete the link.

Filed by brian_z at 3:38 am under RSS Feeds
Comments Off on Using AmiBroker’s RSS Feeds with Internet Explorer

TO BE COMPLETED AT A LATER DATE

Filed by brian_z at 1:38 am under RSS Feeds
Comments Off on Example Feed Reader Program

DRAFT

The majority of computer users are also Microsoft (MS) users, however, for financial reasons, or through personal choice, not everyone who visits the Users’ Knowledge Base (UKB) will use a Microsoft product as their operating system or have Microsoft ‘office’ software installed on their computer. Even for those who do use MS software there are ‘compatibility’ issues between different versions of their ‘office’ products such that users may not be able to read online attachments written in MSOffice, for example, while using MSWorks as the sole MS ‘office’ product installed on their computer.

Fortunately Microsoft attachments can be viewed in other ways, although some of the advanced features available in the higher end products might not be supported by the lower end versions. This article looks at an alternative for MS owners, using Word documents as the primary example.

For those who do not use MS as their operating system some options are canvassed at:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenOffice.org 
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenDocument

Microsoft’s Word Processors

At the time of writing Microsoft’s ‘word processors’ range from Notepad, at the lower end, through WordPad and MSWorks Word Processor in the middle of the range, to Word at the higher end, although strictly speaking Notepad is classified as a plain text editor.

In general Microsoft’s ‘word processors’ are compatible with each other when going up the range e.g. a plain text file written in Notepad will open in Word. However documents written in the higher level programs are not necessarily compatible with the lower order programs e.g. advanced features provided in the professional level programs are not supported by the basic programs.

Opening Attachments On A Microsoft Machine

As a rule of thumb, if the attached document is compatible with local word processing software, the file will open without problems.

•           1) Click on the link to the attachment in the UKB post (the File Download window will open).
•          
•           2) Opt to Open the file to read it ‘online’ or Save it as a local copy.

Note: the program that the file is associated with will vary by Type.

•           3) Allow the process to proceed when a security warning requires input.
•           

If there is not a compatible MS word processor installed on the machine an ‘error message’ will occur when opening the file ‘online’.

An error message of this type can also occur if the default program for the attached file-type is incorrectly set.

Note: in this situation the attachment can be Saved to the local machine without problems and then the file-type default can be reset.

To reset the file type default:

•           1) Click on the link to the attachment in the UKB post (the File Download window will open).
•           2) Click on Save, and download the file to a local disk.
•           3) Use the operating system file browser to locate the ‘saved’ version and right click on the file (a series of pop-up menus will allow users to               nominate their program of choice as the default ‘editor’).
•            
•           4) Select Choose Default Program from the list (the Open With window will appear).
•           
•           5) Pick the highest level of word processor available from the list of Recommended Programs and check Always use the selected program to                        open this kind of file and click on OK (in this example MSWordViewer is the only program compatible with Word documents).

Thereafter Word files will open in the Microsoft Word Viewer in the normal way, albeit without editing capabilities.

Note: novice users should use trial and error to test the compatibility of word processing programs on their machine for themselves. In most cases documents written in higher order Word programs can be ‘forced’ to open in the more basic programs, although they will be stripped of incompatible features.

Microsoft Viewers

Microsoft provides free Office viewers to their users who do not own the Office suite. Installing a Word Viewer will allow machines without a specialist word processing program view, print and copy Word documents. 

 To download Microsoft viewers:

•           1) Link to the MS Download Center at: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/Search.aspx?displaylang=en
•           2) Enter the name of the viewer required into the Download Center search box. (DO NOT Search Microsoft.com in the topmost engine).
•          
•           3) Download and install the files from the search list according to the instructions provided by Microsoft.
•  
•            
•            4) After installation set Word Viewer as the default program for opening RTF files (as per the method above).

Note: at the time of writing the Author successfully installed and tested Word Viewer 2003 on a Vista machine that uses MSWorks as the sole ‘office’ suite.

To access an attachment for testing the compatibility of local software with Word files go to: Quick Posting Example

Viewers are also available for Xcel 2003, PowerPoint 2003 or 2007 and Visio 2003 or 2007 versions.  

 _{version 4 – Aug 6/2007 – written using Windows Live Writer beta1}

Filed by brian_z at 2:43 pm under Readers
Comments Off on Viewing Microsoft Attachments

If at all possible ask your questions in a comment to a closely related post, that way it will be read by someone who knows the topic and who is most likely able to answer your question. Note that some categories have introductory posts that are especially created to provide you with an easy way to ask questions. If you cannot find a related topic you can ask your question in a comment to this post.

Please use the same method when suggesting new topics or categories. If no related topics can be found you can suggest your topic in a comment to this post.

Filed by Herman at 11:28 pm under Readers
5 Comments

In this post we will collect simple Tips and Tricks that can help you get the most out of this site. You are invited to report new ideas of using this site in a comment to this post.

Searching for a topic
At the top of the Right side-bar is a search window in which you can type keywords to search for. The search is restricted to the title and body of the post and does not include author names. You can also use your browser find button (CTRL-F) to find any string in the displayed browser window. While not really a search you can list all posts in a category and its sub-categories by selecting the category in the Category window located in the middle of the Right side-bar. Posts will be listed by the date they were filed with the most recent post at the top.

Copying AFL Code
For the purpose of clarity and reference AFL Code on this site is formatted with line numbers. These line numbers will not copy when you highlight a section of code. You can directly copy-n-paste AFL code from this side to the AFL formula editor. As the site matures download procedures will be provided to download all code for a selected category. Some posts may also have download links to document and/or AFL files.

Creating a local copy of the UKB
There are many free programs that you can use to download, copy or grab, the entire UKB website. Typically these programs will create an icon on your desktop that gives you fast access to a local copy of the UKB. This off-line local copy will function exactly like the on-line one but respond much faster. It is best for you to do a search and select the website copier you prefer however to get an idea of how they work you can try this free product: HTTrack website copier

Filed by Herman at 1:25 pm under Readers
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TO BE DELETED – CONTENT WILL BE COMBINED WITH ‘USING AMIBROKER RSS FEEDS WITH INTERNET EXPLORER

For those subscribed, the Users? Knowledge Base Feed will be listed in the Internet Explorer Favorites Center, under Feeds.

The number of posts saved, the frequency of updates, and other options, can be set from the Feed Properties window. To open the Properties window, right click on the Users? Knowledge Base link in the Feed list and select Properties from the context menu that opens, or, click on the View feed properties link in the browser window RSS page.

If the posts are in a summarised form the text will end with the word (more….) as a link. The full version can be viewed by clicking on the link, or, by clicking on the right arrow at the top of the post.

The full version of the post will open with the comments below. Scroll down to read the comments, if any.

Comments can be viewed separately, in a scrollable list, by subscribing to the Users? Knowledge Base Comments RSS.

To unsubscribe from a feed service, simply right click on the link in the Favorites Center and delete the link.

Filed by brian_z at 1:05 pm under RSS Feeds
Comments Off on How Do I Read RSS Feeds?

DRAFT – SUBJECT TO SUBSTANTIAL REVISION

RSS Feeds, also known as XML feeds, syndicated content, or web feeds, are a means to automatically obtain frequently updated content published by an RSS enabled website. They are most often used for news and blog websites, but they can also distribute other types of digital content, including rich media (pictures, audio files, or video). Popular Internet Browsers like Internet Explorer, FireFox and Safari can discover and display feeds as you visit websites. You can also subscribe to feeds to enable automatic checking and downloading of updates that you can view later. Account holders at the major Internet Portals, like Yahoo and Google, can also access RSS content using inbuilt readers from within their personal pages. Stand alone feed-reading, or news-aggregator software, is also readily available for providing users with access to enhanced features:

• audio or visual announcement of new posts,
• watch or search for keywords automatically,
• save individual articles manually,
• integrate items from multiple feeds and organize by subject,
• offline reading,
• play rich media content,
• view headlines, summaries or full articles,
• and more.

_{Content summarized from Internet Explorer help files and other internet sources. Reference Internet Explorer > Help for the complete transcript.}

_{RESOURCE LINKS}

_{1) Link to a free site that forwards RSS Feeds to an email address: http://www.rssfwd.com/}

Filed by brian_z at 3:15 am under RSS Feeds
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