The Open Document command creates a document with the name you specify, or, if a document already exists with that name, opens i t for you.
The procedure for opening a document is discussed in Section 3, "Creating a Document." Document naming is discussed in the subsection below.
When you create a new document, a new file is not created on the disk until you give the Save or Finish command.
The document (s) you work with on the screen are copies of files stored on disk. Your changes to these documents are stored in memory. When you give the Save command (CODE-S) or .the Finish command (FINISH), the contents or changes to the contents of the documents are transferred from memory to the disk file.
If the directory or volume on which you want to open the document is password protected, or if the file is, you may have to give the password before you can open the document. The "Password" field in the Open Document command form is there so that you can enter this password. Passwords must be assigned through the Executi ve. (See the subsection "File Protection" in Sectiori 4, "Basic Concepts,1I of the Executive Manual for a complete discussion of file security.)
If you want to be sure that you do not inadvertently change a document, you can open i t with the "Allow changes? II field of the Open Document form set to No. If the document is on the master workstation of a cluster, setting
"Allow changes?" to No, makes i t possible for other users to view the document at the same time that you do.
If you want the new document to begin as a copy of another one, you can enter the name of the document you want to copy in the "Copy from document" field.
NAMING DOCUMENTS
When you create a document, you give i t ci'. name.
The name is used in command forms to specify to which document you want the command applied. An example of this is the Print command, where the field "Document name( s)" must be completed before the command can be executed. The document name is also the name for the document disk file.
You can give a document a name up to 46 characters in length. When the document is shown on the screen, the document status line shows the first
ellipsis, to indicate that the complete name is not being shown.
Capitalization that you assign to the name· is preserved, but i t is not necessary to match capitalization exactly when giving a document name ina command form.
Embedding spaces in the name makes i t more difficult to use the Executive to manipulate the file later, and is not recommended.
Full File Specification
The document name is also a file name, part of a full file specification. The full file specification is an expanded name for the file and indicates the work area where the file is located.
File specifications can be given in their full form or abbreviated.
You can use a full file specification if you want to access a document in another work area without changing your work area.
A full file specification has the form
{Nodename} [Volname] <Dirname>filename"password where:
o {Nodename} is the name of the node where the file is located.
A node is a location in a network of work-stations. It can be a master or a standalone workstation.
A cluster workstation is located at the same node as its master and other workstations in the cluster. However, because communications cannot.. be ini tia ted down the 1 ine from the master to the cluster workstation, a local file on a cluster workstation cannot be accessed from a different node by including {Node} in the file specification.
o [Volname] is the name of the volume where the file is located.
A volume is a disk drive that has been formatted and initialized to store files. It may be a hard disk or a floppy disk.
o <Dirname> is the name of the directory to which the file is assigned.
A directory is a collection of related files on one volume. A volume is divided into one or more directories.
o filename is the name you assign to the file.
The filename is also the Word Processor document name.
A file is a set of related records treated as a unit. A file can contain a series of executable instructions, a series of data items, a document, etc.
You can abbreviate the full file specification by including only as many parts of the file specification as is needed to identify the location and name of the document. For example, if a document you want to access is in another directory on the volume in which you are preseritly working, you only need to specify the directory name and file name.
You can use one of the following formats when you give a file specification:
o [volname] <dirname> filename o <dirname> filename
o filename
Wi1d Card Characters
Wild card characters cannot be included in a file specification in the Word Processor as they can be in the Executive. The Open Document, Copy Document, Delete Document, or Rename Document commands treat wild card characters as though they are a normal character in the document name.
Use of wild card characters in the Word Processor is limited to the "Pattern" field of command forms. (Wild card characters and the IIPattern II field are discussed in Section 4, "Giving a Command. ")