Button Files

It is often convenient to create files filled with buttons as a means of navigating distributed information pools or for other purposes. These files can also serve as useful roadmaps that guide a user through both unfamiliar and highly familiar information spaces. Files that are created specifically for this purpose are called Hyperbole button files.

The Hyperbole menu system provides quick access to two types of these button files: personal and directory-specific, through the ButFile menu. (The variable, hbmap:filename, contains the base name of these button files. Its standard value is HYPB.)

A personal button file may serve as a user’s own roadmap to frequently used resources, like a personal home page. Selection of the ButFile/PersonalFile menu item, {C-h h b p}, displays this file for editing. The default personal button file is stored within the directory given by the hbmap:dir-user variable whose standard value is ~/.hyperb. The default Hyperbole configuration also appends all global buttons to the end of this file, one per line, as they are created. So you can edit or annotate them within the file.

A directory-specific button file may exist for each file system directory. Such files are useful for explaining the contents of directories and pointing readers to particular highlights within the directories. Selection of the ButFile/DirFile menu item, {C-h h b d}, displays the button file for the current directory; this provides an easy means of updating this file when working on a file within the same directory. If you want to view some other directory-specific button file, simply use the normal Emacs file finding commands.

If you want group and site-specific button files, simply place links to such files at the top of your personal button file and do so for your colleagues. This provides a flexible means of connecting to such resources.