XMAN(1) X Version 11 (Release 5) XMAN(1)
NAME
xman - Manual page display program for the X Window System
SYNOPSIS
xman [ -options ... ]
DESCRIPTION
Xman is a manual page browser. This is international
version to browse manual written in various languages.
Although this manual is written in English, an user can
change any English menu label below to that one written in
other language.
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 on-
line help information. Most of this manual will discuss
customization of xman.
OPTIONS
Xman supports all standard Toolkit command line arguments
(see X(1)). 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 buttons in it.
-pagesize WxH+X+Y
Sets the size and location of all the Manual Pages.
-tbl commandname
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Sets the command of tbl function, default is tbl.
-eqn commandname
Sets the command of eqn function, default is neqn.
-roff commandname
Sets the command of roff function, default is nroff.
The roff commands(tbl,neqn and nroff) is used by xman to
preprocess the manual page. If the default commands can not
handle your local language, please find and choose others on
your platform. One example is jnroff on LUNA workstation
for manual in Japanese.
CUSTOMIZING XMAN
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 is /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) Subroutines
man4 (4) Devices
man5 (5) File Formats
man6 (6) Games
man7 (7) Miscellaneous
man8 (8) Sys. 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
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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
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 don't 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
2Programmer Subroutines
3Programmer Subroutines
4(4) Devices
5(5) File Formats
6(6) Games
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7(7) Miscellaneous
8(8) Sys. 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
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
LabelLocale topLabel
CommandLocale helpButton
CommandLocale quitButton
CommandLocale manpageButton
TransientShell search
DialogLocaleWidgetClass dialog
LabelLocale label
Text value
CommandLocale manualPage
CommandLocale apropos
CommandLocale cancel
TransientShell pleaseStandBy
LabelLocale label
TopLevelShell manualBrowser
Paned Manpage_Vpane
Paned horizPane
MenuButtonLocale options
MenuButtonLocale sections
LabelLocale manualBrowser
Viewport directory
ListLocale directory
ListLocale directory
.
. (one for each section,
. created on the fly)
.
ScrollByLine manualPage
SimpleMenu optionMenu
SmeBSBLocale displayDirectory
SmeBSBLocale displayManualPage
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SmeBSBLocale help
SmeBSBLocale search
SmeBSBLocale showBothScreens
SmeBSBLocale removeThisManpage
SmeBSBLocale openNewManpage
SmeBSBLocale showVersion
SmeBSBLocale quit
SimpleMenu sectionMenu
SmeBSBLocale <name of section>
.
. (one for each section)
.
TransientShell search
DialogLocaleWidgetClass dialog
LabelLocale label
Text value
CommandLocale manualPage
CommandLocale apropos
CommandLocale cancel
TransientShell pleaseStandBy
LabelLocale label
TransientShell likeToSave
DialogLocale dialog
LabelLocale label
Text value
CommandLocale yes
CommandLocale no
TopLevelShell help
Paned Manpage_Vpane
Paned horizPane
MenuButtonLocale options
MenuButtonLocale sections
LabelLocale manualBrowser
ScrollByLine manualPage
SimpleMenu optionMenu
SmeBSBLocale displayDirectory
SmeBSBLocale displayManualPage
SmeBSBLocale help
SmeBSBLocale search
SmeBSBLocale showBothScreens
SmeBSBLocale removeThisManpage
SmeBSBLocale openNewManpage
SmeBSBLocale showVersion
SmeBSBLocale quit
APPLICATION RESOURCES
xman has the following application-specific resources which
allow customizations unique to xman.
manualFontSetNormal (Class FontSet)
The font set to use for normal text in the
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manual pages.
manualFontSetBold (Class FontSet)
The font set to use for bold text in the
manual pages.
manualFontSetItalic (Class FontSet)
The font set to use for italic text in the
manual pages.
directoryFontSetNormal (Class FontSet)
The font set 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.
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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).
commandTbl (Class CommandTbl)
Specify the command of tbl function. The
default is tbl.
commandEqn (Class CommandEqn)
Specify the command of tbl function. The
default is neqn
commandRoff (Class CommandRoff)
Specify the command of roff function. The
default is nroff.
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
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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 window. 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.
SEE ALSO
X(1), man(1), apropos(1), catman(8), Athena Widget Set
ENVIRONMENT
DISPLAY the default host and display to use.
MANPATH the search path for manual pages.
Directories are separated by colons (e.g.
/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
RESOURCE_MANAGER property.
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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 display.
XNLSPATH To access the locale database that overrides
the default path /usr/lib/X11/nls.
LANG A string that will specify the language in
which xman browse manual.
BUGS
The 3 styles of fonts, normal, bold and italic are used
often in English manual, however some eastern languages such
Japanese and Chinese have no italic style. So when you
browse the manual written in mixed of English and other
language, say Japanese, it is strongly recommended that you
should choose apporopriate fonts whose sizes are consistent
in the English and Kanji characters, for example, choosing
Latin-1 font with CharCell spacing for English as can as
possible. Otherwise the vertical line on the manual page
would not be looks nice, specially in the case of Latin-1
font with proportional spacing(variable pitch). For example
the widths of blank " " and the letter "M" are different,
they cause some indents are different.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright 1992 by OMRON Corporation.
Copyright 1988 by Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
See X(1) for a full statement of rights and permissions.
AUTHORS
Chris Peterson, MIT X Consortium from the V10 version
written by Barry Shein formerly of Boston University.
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