MODIFYING ASFA CDROM (VERSION 3) HELP FILE, PART TWO Peter Brueggeman UCSD Scripps Institution of Oceanography Library In the September 1988 IAMSLIC Newsletter, modification of the help file for version two of ASFA CDROM was addressed. The version three help file entitled CC.HLP can also be modified. CC.HLP differs from the version two help file (CCA.HLP); version three's displayed help is now context-sensitive depending on the current activity. The entire help file does not display when help is invoked. The version two help file was not context-sensitive; it displayed in its entirety whenever help was invoked. The current CC.HLP file could use minor modification due to usage of medical terms in its examples; marine terms would be better for ASFA sites. To alter CC.HLP, the following tips worked at Scripps Library using TED, a public domain ASCII word processor available from PC MAGAZINE's PCMAGNET bulletin board service. You must edit CC.HLP with wordprocessing software capable of editing ASCII files; CC.HLP has extended ASCII characters which must remain unchanged. Edit a second copy of CC.HLP so that a backup is available. Be sure to try out the help system after editing to ensure that you did not interfere with its correct functioning. If the help system is malfunctioning, problems will show up when the ASFA CDROM search software is first loading. The two introductory screens (ASFA CDROM version number and the ASFA disclaimer) are located at the bottom of the CC.HLP file; editing problems will affect those two screens. CC.HLP was edited in TED's "overtype" mode with words being typed over what needed changing. No new text was inserted where none existed. Using the word processor's "insert" mode interfered with the correct display of CC.HLP. CC.HLP is an ASCII file consisting of a series of help documents. Each help document is entitled with the title being preceded by a period and a percent sign. The help document entitled .%_MENU_HELP_CODE displays during menu searching with an example for the term "lung"; the term "fish" was typed over "lung". The help document entitled .%_TERM_HELP_CODE displays during menu searhing. The phrase "trade winds" was substituted for "heart attack" and the term "fish" was substituted several times for "lung". In this same document, a left-hand truncation example is given for the term "*PHOBIA". *PLANKTON was substituted along with the terms ZOOPLANKTON, PHYTOPLANKTON, HOLOPLANKTON for the various listed phobias. The help document entitled .%MSG_TITLE displays while the ASFA search software loads and lists Cambridge's CDROM products. This list of CDROMs was overtyped; the opening box now reads "Aquatic Sciences & Fisheries Abstracts (ASFA) draws its references from over 5000 journals and other source items. More references can be found on any topic by searching other databases. See the reference librarian for more information."