WHAT IS XVIEW?
--------------
| IPF for Windows (XVIEW) is a Windows version of the VIEW.EXE .INF file viewer
| that is included with every version of OS/2 since V1.2.  It allows Windows 3.1
| users (and as far as we can tell without rigorous lab testing, Windows 95
| users as well) to view *most* OS/2 .INF files.  (See below for limitations.)
IPF for Windows  was developed by a company called SingaLab, under license
from IBM.  Our distribution agreement with them states that we will not ship
XVIEW all by itself.  The agreement requires that we ship it *with* something--
specifically a product or some other kind of application.  The reason is that
they sell a product called Online View.  Unrestricted distribution of the
viewer might compete, in some small way, with that product.
 
For this reason I have decided to bundle the XVIEW-related files with the IBM
General Info Assistant book (ASST-GEN.INF).  It is one of the smallest of the
IBM PC Assistant series of books, and one of the few nonproduct-specific books.
It didn't make sense to bundle it with *each* of the books, and downloading just
the ASST-GEN.INF file in addition to those you normally get isn't much of an
additional burden.  (Who knows?  You might even find the IBM General Info
Assistant useful. <g>)  The XVIEW files total about 275K zipped.,
 
You may, as a user give these XVIEW files to your friends, however they *must*
be accompanied by at least one INF file, and these instructions.  Software
developers wishing to bundle XVIEW with their products must purchase either the
IBM HyperWise editor product (from which these files are taken), or Online
View, then contact SingaLab for licensing details.
 
 
INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS:
-------------------------
1. Unzip the XVIEW.ZIP file into a subdirectory listed in your Windows path,
   or the directory that contains your INF files.  You should have the following
   files:
     HMHELP.HLP
     IPF.DLL
     IPF.INI
     LIBIPFX.DLL
     LIBIPFX.LIB
     SUPEROBJ.DLL
     VIEWH.HLP
     XVIEW.EXE
     XVIEW.PAL
2. To view a book, simply go to the Windows File...Run... option and type: |
     XVIEW.EXE filename (the .INF is optional)                             |
   If this doesn't work on the first try, use the full path, e.g.:         |
     d:\pathname\XVIEW.EXE d:\pathname\ASST-GEN                            |
   If this works, then either the XVIEW files, or the INF file, or both are|
   not in a directory referenced by your PATH statement.                   |
 
 
KNOWN LIMITATIONS:
------------------
1) The 16-bit Windows viewer is only capable of handling files with up to 16K
   *unique* words (i.e., "and" counts as one unique word, even if it is used
   5000 times in a book).  If a file exceeds that total, the viewer, for some
   reason, starts substituting the words that exceed 16K for the punctuation
   (all commas are replaced by the word Train, all periods by Training, and all
   hyphens by Talk, for example).  There are plans for 32-bit Windows 95 and
   Windows NT versions of XVIEW, to go along with the OS/2 and AIX 32-bit
   versions, that will solve this problem for users of those operating systems,
   but there is nothing that can be done for Windows 3.1x users.  This is
   strictly a limitation of a 16-bit operating system.  Known books affected
   include the IBM PC Marketing Assistant (ASST-MKT.INF) and the IBM OS
   Assistant (ASST-OS.INF), which each contain in excess of 27K unique words.
2) Some characters beyond ASCII 127 will appear differently with XVIEW than
   with OS/2's VIEW due to differences in the Windows and OS/2 language code-
   pages (for example, the ASCII box characters will be replaced with |, -, and
   + under Windows).  I've tried to minimize the impact on Windows users, but I
   may have missed a few characters that will appear strangely under Windows.
3) The Windows 3.1x XVIEW program appears to work fine with Windows 95, but
   hasn't been officially blessed by IBM.
 
 
ONLINE VIEW PRODUCT INFORMATION
-------------------------------
For more info about Singalab (the vendor) and their enhanced version of IPF for
Windows, including a Windows compiler for IPF, contact Singalab at:
 
- 800-903-1888, 7am to 5pm (Pacific Time).
- 206-487-0980 (fax)
- (65) 870-7629 (fax, Singapore)
- online@tech.singalab.com.sg
                                                                     
You can also download a trial copy of the product from the FTP site: 
- tech.singalab.com.sg
 
 
I hope this information helps.  If you have any questions or problems trying to
read INF files with XVIEW, let me know.  I can be reached at
- mchapman@vnet.ibm.com
- 72662,3663 (CIS)
 
Good luck!  Mark Chapman, IBM PC Company, Raleigh, NC.
