Newton Offline Web Reader 1.2 for Windows Documentation
Copyright 1999 David Luna

e-mail:	nowr@lunation.net
main:	http://lunation.net/nowr/
mirror:	http://nolifers.org/nowr/

This application is freeware and may be distributed freely.

Paperback is a freeware application created by David Fedor and is not affiliated, in any way, with NOWR.


What is Newton Offline Web Reader?

Newton Offline Web Reader, NOWR for short, is a simple application that downloads news and information from Yahoo's news service and compiles them into a sorted Newton Book through David Fedor's Paperback for later reading.  This is especially useful if you use Yahoo News since the program's settings are based upon the services offered by Yahoo News.

The following news and entertainment sites are already entered into NOWR:

	Top Stories from Reuters
	Top Stories from AP
	US News from AP
	World from Reuters
	World Politics (Reuters Securities)
	Science from Reuters
	Science from AP
	Politics from Reuters
	Entertainment from Reuters
	Entertainment from AP
	E! Online News
	Oddly Enough from Reuters
	Movies & Film from Reuters
	Music from Reuters
	People News from Reuters
	Television from Reuters

You can add more sites to the application by following the directions below.


NOWR Requirements:

	Windows 95 or higher
	internet connection (Proxy allowed)
	Any Newton device
	Application to transfer Newton packages (NCU, NBU, NPI)
	David Fedor's Paperback 2.0 - can be obtained from http://www.thefedors.com/pobox/


Running NOWR for the first time:

Before running NOWR, you must adjust the settings in Paperback to how you would like NOWR to create the packages.  You must create a test package using Paperback to keep these settings.


Running NOWR in /auto mode:

If you want NOWR to automatically begin its work using Microsoft Task Scheduler or any application launching utility, you can add the switch /auto after the application's path and file information.

	Example:
	c:\nowr\nowr.exe /auto

Thus, the application, when run with in /auto mode, will download the news, compile it using Paperback, and quit.


Main Program Settings:

Book Title - This is the title you want to appear in the Extras drawer.  You can use the wildcards DD for day, MM for month, YYYY and YY for year in this field.

	Example:
	"My News for MM.DD.YY" would be"My News for 08.29.99" on August 29, 1999.

Output File - You must choose where you would like the Paperback book to be saved.  This setting can also handle the DD/MM/YYYY/YY option.  The title must follow DOS 8.3 filename standards.

	Example:
	"C:\WINDOWS\DESKTOP\MMDDYY.PKG"

Location of Paperback - You must tell NOWR where the Paperback application is stored.

Proxy - If you use a proxy, you must enable the proxy command and list the proxy server in the box below.  This option is untested, but should work.

Show error dialogs - This option, if checked, will prompt you whenever an error occurs.  If an error occurs, option enabled or disabled, it will be displayed in the status text at the bottom-left of the main screen.  This option is ignored when running under /auto mode.

Close after cycle - If enabled, the program will end after the process is complete.

Start - Begins the NOWR process.

Stop - Stops the NOWR process.

Check for Update - Checks the NOWR website if a newer version of NOWR is available.

Pick My News - Allows you to choose the news and information you want to download.  See section below.


My News Settings:

Queue - Lists the sites the application will download.

Add Site to Queue - By highlighting a site in "Name of Site" list and clicking "Add Site to Queue," the application will be set to download that site's news.

Remove Site from Queue - Select a site in the queue and click this button to remove it from the queue.

The options below are used if you wish to Add a Site to the List of available news and information sites.  The program only supports sites from Yahoo's news services.  You can obtain these services using Yahoo News -- http://dailynews.yahoo.com

Name of site - enter the name of the service.
	
	Example:
	Top Stories from Reuters

Site Index URL - the main page for this service.  This can be obtained from dailynews.yahoo.com

* The only sites that have been tested with NOWR are sites with headlines, not the Full Coverage areas. *

	Example:
	http://dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/ts/ is the site index URL for the Top Stories from Reuters

News Mask - the common link between the current news stories for that service.  Most Yahoo News services have their headlines for a specific day's events listed in the same directory.  For example, all news for any year (YYYY or YY), month (MM), or day (DD) for Top Stories from Reuters are located in the directory http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/YYYYMMDD/ts/

To find the directory for a Yahoo News service, check the current headline URLs.  Find the most common directories in the URLs.  Keep in mind that almost all contain the year, month, and day within the directory title.  You can always change these with YYYY, YY, MM, and DD whenever necessary.

* NOWR requires a news mask so it can distinguish what is a news link and if it is current. *

	Example:
	http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/YYYYMMDD/ts/ is the "news mask" for current news from Top Stories from Reuters


Program History

1.2
	Fixed DD date conversion error
	Options Disabled during news download

1.1
	Better reports when no news is downloaded.
	Removes "Type Mismatch" error in most cases while downloading news.
	Paperback *should* run and complete if it is in the background.
	Disabled "Pick My News" and "Start" buttons during Update Check

1.0.1
	Disabled "Pick My News" and "Check for Update" buttons during news download

1.0
	Original Version