AnswerBook2 Overview

The AnswerBook2 product is Sun's online documentation system. It uses a web-browser interface that lets you view and print a variety of Solaris information, including SGML-based AnswerBook^TM collections, Display PostScript^TM AnswerBook collections, and man pages.

The AnswerBook2 product provides a search engine that lets you find information throughout the documentation library. You can install AnswerBook2 document collections on a centralized documentation server or on a local server.

Throughout the AnswerBook2 documentation, the term AnswerBook1 refers to the version of the AnswerBook product provided with pre-2.6 versions of the Solaris operating environment.

AnswerBook2 Features and Functions

The AnswerBook2 product provides the following features and functions:

• Uses a web-browser-based interface so that you can view online documentation from any platform (running any operating system), provided that your web browser supports HTML 3.2

• Lets you copy information from AnswerBook2 documents and paste it into other locations, such as your command line, depending on your web browser's functionality

• Provides a search engine for finding words and word phrases throughout the documentation library

• Gives you the ability to print sections and books directly from the AnswerBook2 interface in a PostScript format that is near print-quality output

• Lets you view old and new AnswerBook documents using a single interface

• Lets you define a subset of document collections (a Personal Library) to be displayed when using a specific documentation server

• Allows you to choose a language in which to view on-screen instructions and Help information

• Uses a client-server architecture that allows the documents to be stored in a single location (server) and accessed from the user's desktop (client)

• Provides a command-line interface (CLI) and a browser-based interface (GUI) for performing documentation server administration functions

New AnswerBook2 Features for This Release

The following list identifies the new or substantially enhanced features provided in this release of the AnswerBook2 software.

• Man pages (Reference Manual) in AnswerBook2 format

  Traditional UNIX-style manual (man) pages are available in AnswerBook2 format. The search interface allows you to choose to search only the SGML-based man pages installed on the documentation server.

• Support for multimedia content

  If the document source includes audio or video files, the AnswerBook2 system lets you access them according to what you have defined in your browser for audio and video support.

• Ability to run an AnswerBook2 server directly from the CD

  You can run the AnswerBook2 server directly from the Solaris 7 Documentation CD using the ab2cd script if you have the CD and you have root access to the system on which the CD is connected. For detailed information about this feature, see the section Running a Documentation Server from the CD in Installing and Administering an AnswerBook2 Server.

Pieces and Parts

The AnswerBook2 product consists of the following elements:

• A client web browser -- The Solaris 7 release includes the Netscape^TM browser; however, you can use any HTML 3.2-compliant browser to view Sun's online documentation. To view Solaris 7 documentation, you need to know the URL for a documentation server or you can view all released Solaris documentation at http://docs.sun.com.

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  Note -

  If you just want to view online documentation, you only need this element. All other elements are part of the documentation server system.

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• A documentation server -- Performs query functions and "serves" documents to the client browser. Includes templates that provide a common "look and feel" for document viewing and printing; and provides both web-browser and command-line administration interfaces that perform database, password authentication, and other administrative functions.

• Document collections -- Can be new (SGML) documents or old (Display PostScript) documents.