GHS BULLETIN
The Project System
Rev. 6/02
The Project System in GHS/BHS is a tool for organizing the various files
involved in using the program. It helps you establish directories (folders)
so that the files for each project are kept in a separate directory, and
it's easy to switch to any of these directories. This system operates within
the context of the main program. It enables you to launch GHS/BHS, then
select the working directory.
In GHS32 and BHS32, there is a pulldown "Project" menu that makes it even
easier to use this system because you do not need to remember the various
forms of the PROJECT command.
Project System Concepts
There are two subsystems of the project system which can be used either
independently or together. One is the Project Name System, and the other
is the Project Directory System.
The Project Name System
This system uses a simple mechanism to reduce keystrokes or mouse movements
when editing and running files. It consists of storing a short name (1-8
characters) which becomes the default name of the run file and, optionally,
the geometry and report files. Once this name is set, you can run a file
merely by typing RUN or pressing F5. Similarly you can edit the run file by
typing ED or pressing F4. In both cases the actual file name is formed from
the Project Name by adding the .RF extension. If you are using more than one
run file in the same project, or if you want to use a different extension, you
can just give the extension. For example,
RUN .RF1
will append .RF1 to the project name and use that as the run file name.
Additionally, the Project Name appears at upper right on the screen and
printouts. It is also carried in the system variable named PROJECT.
Note that the Project Name System is useful only when entering RUN and EDIT
commands from the keyboard. It has no use in conjunction with using pulldown
menus to run and edit files, except that the project name still appears on
the screen and printouts.
The Project Directory System
This system enables you to easily create directories for organizing the files
belonging to individual projects. These directories may contain GHS/BHS files
as well as files used by other applications. Once established, the project
directories are easy to select and you can quickly return the last one that you
worked in. There are two, and optionally three, levels in the project
directories. There is what is called the Master Project Directory which
contains individual Project subdirectories. You can have more than one Master
Project Directory and they can be located on any local or network drive and
within any other directory. Within each Project subdirectory are stored the
files belonging to that project. Optionally, the GHS/BHS files can be located
in a subdirectory within the Project subdirectory that has a common name in
all the Project subdirectories, say "GHSDATA". For example,
C: (root of the C drive)
PROJECTS (Master Project Directory)
PRJ0201 (Project subdirectory)
GHSDATA (optional subdir)
GHS data files for project PRJ0201
GREENSEA (Project subdirectory)
GHSDATA
GHS data files for project 9702
etc.
Using the Project Menu
The easiest way to set up and navigate project directories is through the
pulldown menu labeled "Project". At its first level there is a little menu that
offers two choices:
Same
Change ...
Select "Same" to return to the same project you worked on most recently.
Select "Change" to go to a different project or establish a new one. This
brings out the menu,
Directory ...
Name ...
Master Directory ...
To go to a different Project directory within the same Master Directory,
select Directory. If no Master Directory has yet been defined, it will
assume that the root of the current drive contains the Project directories.
A browsing dialog box appears showing all the existing Project directories
and an input field. To select an existing one, click it from the list and it
will appear in the input field. Then press the Directory button at the
bottom of this dialog box. To create a new one, type the project name in the
input field and likewise press the Directory button. It will then show any
existing names of run files (files with .RF extensions). Selecting one of
these establishes the Project Name. Or you may type in a new project name,
limiting it to eight characters without spaces.
Use the Name selection if you just want to switch to a new Project Name within
the same Project directory.
To go to another Master Directory, or to create a new one, use the Master
Directory selection. This brings up a more complex dialog box allowing you to
select the drive and directory that is to be the Master. If you are creating
a new Master Directory, and you want to have the optional intermediate
subdirectory for GHS/BHS data, then fill in the bottom input field; otherwise
just leave it blank. Once established this Master Directory becomes the
default and is remembered between program sessions until you change it.
To verify which directory you are in, you can pull down the "File/Change
directory ..." menu and observe the path to the current directory. Another
way is to type the command,
DIR .HERE
Using the Project Command
An alternative to the Project Menu is to use the PROJECT Command directly.
The PROJECT command has two purposes:
1) It defines a Project Name. The Project Name, which may consist of up to
eight alphabetic or numeric characters, appears at the upper right-hand corner
of the screen and printouts. The Project Name becomes the default name for
certain files. For example,
PROJ ABC
EDIT
This defines the Project Name as "ABC" and opens ABC.RF with the Run File
editor.
2) It manages subdirectories for data files. The PROJECT command will create
directories and subdirectories for data files; and after they are created it
becomes an easy means of selecting a subdirectory to use. For example,
suppose that you want to create the following directory structure for your
data files:
C:
PROJECTS
9701
GHSDATA
GHS data files for project 9701
9702
GHSDATA
GHS data files for project 9702
This represents a master project directory (C:\PROJECTS) in which individual
project directories (9701 and 9702) are located. There can be a subdirectory
within the individual project directory which contains all of the files
relevant to GHS/BHS (in this case it is called GHSDATA).
This structure could be created by the following two PROJECT commands:
PROJECT C:\PROJECTS\9701 (GHSDATA)
PROJECT C:\PROJECTS\9702 (GHSDATA)
Once the directory structure has been established, the PROJECT command can be
used to go to a particular data directory. In other words, the new directory
is created automatically if it does not exist, but in any case the result is
to go to the given directory and make it the current or default directory.
If issued from the keyboard, the above commands will also prompt for a Project
Name. If you do not want a Project Name, simply press Enter. You could have
also supplied the project name as an additional parameter. For example,
PROJ C:\PROJECTS\9702 (GHSDATA) INTACT
This would create and/or go to C:\PROJECTS\9702\GHSDATA while also defining
the project name as "INTACT".
After the project master directory has been established, a particular
subdirectory can be selected as follows:
PROJ C:\PROJECTS\
Note that the parameter must end in a back slash. This command first changes
to the master directory C:\PROJECTS; then it lists the subdirectories and
prompts for the subdirectory name. At this point the name can be typed in or
the up arrow can be pressed to pick a project subdirectory from the list. If
a new name is typed in, a new subdirectory will be created.
When any of these project directory operations are performed, the program
remembers the name of the project master directory, subdirectory and data
directory name (if any). Thereafter, these names are implied when omitted.
For example,
PROJ \9702
This will automatically change to C:\PROJECTS\9702\GHSDATA.
Similarly, the command
PROJ \
will change to the last-used project subdirectory.
And, finally, a special case is the PROJECT command without parameters:
PROJ
This changes to the last-used master directory and asks for the subdirectory.
Note that the first purpose of the PROJECT command, which is simply to define
a Project Name, never contains a back slash (\). The second purpose always
contains a back slash except for this special case.
While it is not ordinarily necessary to do so, you can remove the current
default project setting by means of the command,
PROJ OFF\
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Copyright (C) 2011
Creative Systems, Inc.