Online Help

The ASE Card Catalog
Potential Problems with Directory and File Names
Review Codes in the ASE Card Catalog Entries
Some Types of Files Found on the ASE CDROM
Setting Up a Website from the ASE CDROMs

The ASE Card Catalog

The Ada and Software Engineering (ASE) Card Catalog is presented using HyperText Markup Language (HTML). In this form, a user can view the Card Catalog by using a World Wide Web client, such as Internet Explorer or Netscape. The movement and search capabilities provided by the client can be used to move through the ASE Card Catalog. The starting point for any ASE CDROM is the file index.htm at the top level of the CDROM.

The ASE Card Catalog takes two basic formats:

CDROM Format

This is designed for use on a CDROM and is the format employed when a CDROM user accesses the Card Catalog via the index.htm file on a CDROM.

In this format, the content of all the ASE CDROMs is presented in the Card Catalog, but the hypertext links in the FILE SPECS section of the Card Catalog Entry into the content are active only for the CDROM currently loaded. If the user wants to access material not on the current CDROM, the FILE SPECS section indicates that the correct CDROM is not online and what CDROM to load to access the desired content. For example, if the user has CDROM ASE02_01 online and the desired material is on ASE02_01, then the hyperlinks in the FILE SPECS section of the Card Catalog Entry are active and the user can click on them to get to the material. However, if the user has CDROM ASE02_01 online and the desired material is on ASE02_02, then the hyperlinks in the FILE SPECS section of the Card Catalog Entry are NOT active and the user is instructed that he/she should load ASE02_02.

Website Format

This is designed for use on a website and is the format employed when a website user accesses the Card Catalog via the index.html or index.htm file on the website.

In this format, the content of all the ASE CDROMs is presented in the Card Catalog, and, unlike the CDROM Format, the hypertext links in the FILE SPECS section of all Card Catalog Entries into the content are always active.

Potential Problems with Directory and File Names

The Walnut Creek ASE CDROM is formatted using the ISO-9660 standard CDROM format for a maximum of portability between different platforms, and the Rock Ridge extensions to this standard have been included. This means that the CDROM uses 8-dot-3 file and directory names, but, if your system supports both long file names and the Rock Ridge extensions to ISO-9660, the CDROM appears with long file and directory names. The Joliet file system is also installed on the ASE CDROM, so long files names are also supported on Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows/NT platforms.

For users of the CDROM without the Rock Ridge extensions (such as MSDOS, Microsoft Windows 3.x, and some UNIX platform users), the ASE Card Catalog can still be accessed (all of the Card Catalog files and directory paths conform to the 8-dot-3 convention), but as you get down into the asset directories, it is possible that the long file names will force you to manually move through the directories to the files you want. Getting the file you want may end up being a matter of guesswork ... the truncated file name will resemble the original file name, but sometimes it may not be close enough. I'm sorry that I don't have a better solution at this time, but, for what we feel most users will be doing (running Windows 95/98/NT or Sun UNIX), there should be no problem with the long file names (they will be able to handle them without any problem). The vanilla MSDOS users will be hurt the most, but, again, this will only be in some parts of the CDROM, certainly not in all parts.

Review Codes in the ASE Card Catalog Entries

The database maintained on the ASE CDROM includes Review Codes which are used to indicate to some extent the level of trust which may be placed in a particular item. These Review Codes, which appear in the ASE Card Catalog Entries, are defined as follows:

ASE Review Codes

AR AdaNET Report is available (usually in the ZIP file); AdaNET Reports contain information on experiences in compiling this item

C1 The Certifier_1 tool has analyzed the Ada source code in this item; the full format of this entry is "C1 n.n g" where n.n is the version number of Certifier_1 and g is the letter grade given by Certifier_1 (A, B, and C are satisfactory; D and F are not satisfactory)

CMM Comment Files (*.CMM, *.CM2, etc) are available which describe one or more problems with the item

CS Compiled Successfully (followed by an indication of the Ada compiler used in parentheses) by the reviewer

ES Executed Successfully (followed by an indication of the target computer used in parentheses if different from the systems mentioned in the CS list) by the reviewer

MF-CODE Missing File - Code; one or more files of source code are missing; the item cannot be compiled without these files

MF-DATA Missing File - Data; one or more files used as input data when the compiled code runs are missing; the item cannot be executed without these files

NR Not Reviewed

OK This is a text file or set of text files which is believed to be an accurate copy of the original

RI Review Incomplete (only some results of a partial review are posted)

SDA Report generated by the Ada System Dependency Analyzer is available; if followed by a number from 1 to 5 (e.g., SDA5), the number indicates the relative quality of the item, where 5 is of the highest quality

not negation prefix (e.g., not ES or not OK)

ASE Review Codes
AR	AdaNET Report is available (usually in the ZIP file); AdaNET Reports contain information on experiences in compiling this item
C1	The Certifier_1 tool has analyzed the Ada source code in this item; the full format of this entry is "C1 n.n g" where n.n is the version number of Certifier_1 and g is the letter grade given by Certifier_1 (A, B, and C are satisfactory; D and F are not satisfactory)
CMM	Comment Files (.CMM, .CM2, etc) are available which describe one or more problems with the item
CS	Compiled Successfully (followed by an indication of the Ada compiler used in parentheses) by the reviewer
ES	Executed Successfully (followed by an indication of the target computer used in parentheses if different from the systems mentioned in the CS list) by the reviewer
MF-CODE	Missing File - Code; one or more files of source code are missing; the item cannot be compiled without these files
MF-DATA	Missing File - Data; one or more files used as input data when the compiled code runs are missing; the item cannot be executed without these files
NR	Not Reviewed
OK	This is a text file or set of text files which is believed to be an accurate copy of the original
RI	Review Incomplete (only some results of a partial review are posted)
SDA	Report generated by the Ada System Dependency Analyzer is available; if followed by a number from 1 to 5 (e.g., SDA5), the number indicates the relative quality of the item, where 5 is of the highest quality
not	negation prefix (e.g., not ES or not OK)

Some Types of Files Found on the ASE CDROM

A number of file formats have come into play among the files on the ASE CDROM:

MSDOS and UNIX ASCII text files (usually denoted by the .txt file type) - MSDOS text files end in Carriage Return and Line Feed characters (as a part), while UNIX text files end in only the Line Feed character; these files can be converted manually using a conventional text editor or with free automated tools that can be found on sites such as http://www.simtel.net/ and ftp://ftp.freesoftware.com/pub/.
PAGER2 Files (usually denoted by the .src file type) - the PAGER2 in the ASE2 Library can manipulate these files, allowing the user to create them and extract their contents
ZIP Files (usually denoted by the .zip file type) - many commercial programs, such as ZIPMagic (which also handles the GNU ZIP, TAR, UNIX Compressed, and many other archived and compressed files) from http://www.mijenix.com/, and many freeware programs, such as InfoZIP from ftp://ftp.freesoftware.com/pub/infozip/, can create ZIP files and extract their contents
GNU ZIP Files (usually denoted by the .gz file type) - many commercial programs, such as ZIPMagic (which also handles the ZIP, TAR, UNIX Compressed, and many other archived and compressed files) from http://www.mijenix.com/, and many freeware programs, such as GNU ZIP from ftp://ftp.freesoftware.com/pub/gnu/, can create GNU ZIP files and extract their contents
TAR Files (usually denoted by the .tar file type) - many commercial programs, such as ZIPMagic (which also handles the ZIP, GNU ZIP, UNIX Compressed, and many other archived and compressed files) from http://www.mijenix.com/, and many freeware programs, such as GNU TAR from ftp://ftp.freesoftware.com/pub/gnu/, can create TAR files and extract their contents
Compressed (*.Z) Files (usually denoted by the .z file type, and may be combined with tar as .taz files or GNU ZIP as .tgz files) - many commercial programs, such as ZIPMagic (which also handles the ZIP, GNU ZIP, TAR, and many other archived and compressed files) from http://www.mijenix.com/, and many freeware programs, such as GNU COMPRESS and UNCOMPRESS from ftp://ftp.freesoftware.com/pub/gnu/, can create UNIX Compressed files and extract their contents
Adobe Acrobat Reader (PDF) Files - the Adobe Reader can view these files, and it is free from http://www.adobe.com/ for many platforms; the Adobe Acrobat program can be used to create these files, and it is a commercial program also available from the Adobe website

Setting Up a Website from the ASE2 CDROMs

You are invited to set up your own website using the ASE2 CDROMs. To do so, take the following steps:

Step and Explanation Example Result
After Step is Performed

1. Collect all the ASE2 CDROMs available to date Two ASE2 CDROMs are in hand, identified as ASE02_01 and ASE02_02

2. Create a root directory for the website /pub/ase is created

3. Copy each content tree from each ASE2 CDROM into this root directory; the content trees are named ase02_01 on the ASE02_01 CDROM, ase02_02 on the ASE02_02 CDROM, and so on the directories /pub/ase/ase02_01 and /pub/ase/ase02_02 now exist

4. Copy the support tree from the last ASE2 CDROM (such as ASE02_02); this tree covers the previous ASE2 CDROMs by design the directory /pub/ase/support now exists (it was copied from the ASE02_02 CDROM); make sure it includes a support/cardcatx directory with over 370 files in it ... if not, a last-minute change may have been made and the support directory on the ASE02_01 CDROM should be used instead

5. Copy the index.htm file from the support tree to the root; rename this file to index.html, since it is the starting point for your website; edit this file as you wish, possibly adding your own logo the file /pub/ase/index.html now exists

6. You are done - confirm the directory structure and test the index.html website starting point You have the following directory structure under /pub/ase:

ase02_01,
ase02_02,
support, and
index.html

Step and Explanation	Example Result After Step is Performed
1. Collect all the ASE2 CDROMs available to date	Two ASE2 CDROMs are in hand, identified as ASE02_01 and ASE02_02
2. Create a root directory for the website	/pub/ase is created
3. Copy each content tree from each ASE2 CDROM into this root directory; the content trees are named ase02_01 on the ASE02_01 CDROM, ase02_02 on the ASE02_02 CDROM, and so on	the directories /pub/ase/ase02_01 and /pub/ase/ase02_02 now exist
4. Copy the support tree from the *last* ASE2 CDROM (such as ASE02_02); this tree covers the previous ASE2 CDROMs by design	the directory /pub/ase/support now exists (it was copied from the ASE02_02 CDROM); make sure it includes a support/cardcatx directory with over 370 files in it ... if not, a last-minute change may have been made and the support directory on the ASE02_01 CDROM should be used instead
5. Copy the index.htm file from the support tree to the root; rename this file to index.html, since it is the starting point for your website; edit this file as you wish, possibly adding your own logo	the file /pub/ase/index.html now exists
6. You are done - confirm the directory structure and test the index.html website starting point	You have the following directory structure under /pub/ase: ase02_01, ase02_02, support, and index.html

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