THE INTERFACE
File
The "File" pull-down menu on the main screen (fig. 1) allows the selection of a new ("New") or existing ("Open") file as the input data file. It also allows the current input data file to be saved ("Save") or renamed ("Save As"). The "Exit" item in the menu closes the program PhreeqcI and returns to Windows.
New Keyword
The "New Keyword" pull-down menu on the main screen (fig. 1) allows a selection of any keyword screen using only keystrokes--that is, without the use of the mouse.
Options
The "Options" pull-down menu is used to set preferences for a browser, text editors, and default database file.
The browser is used by the help facility to view the help files. Commonly, Netscape, Internet Explorer, or Mosaic are available to use as browsers. If no browser is available, then the help facility will not function, but the rest of the interface will function normally. Two boxes are used to define the browser in the "Options" window: (1) The box labeled "HTML Browser" is used to define the browser; on some systems it may be necessary to give the entire path to the browser program, for example c:/mosaic/mosaic.exe, and (2) The box labeled "HTML Browser Options" allows any special options needed to invoke the browser to be defined; for example to invoke Mosaic in stand-alone mode, "-s" should be entered in this box.
The user's preference for text editors for input and output files can be specified in entry boxes within the box labeled "Text Editors" of the "Options" window. The box labeled "Input" is used to define the text editor that is used to edit the input file. Two radio buttons allow the selection of the default Visual Basic editor ("Built-in") or another editor ("User Defined") that is available on the computer. If "User Defined" is selected, the name, or possibly the pathname to the executable file, of the editor, must be entered. A browser is available to locate the pathname to the executable file if the desired editor can not be located through the default "PATH". The box labeled "Output" allows the selection of an editor to use with output files. The default text editor is Notepad. With the Windows(3.1) and Windows95 operating systems, this text editor allows only a limited-size file to be opened and cannot handle long output files. Selection of a more versatile text editor is desirable. As with the user-defined editor for the input file, a browser is available to locate the pathname to the executable file if the desired editor can not be located through the default PATH.
Finally, the chemical database file for calculations is selected through the "Default Database File" box of the "Options" window. The three database files distributed with PhreeqcI, phreeqc.dat, wateq4f.dat, and minteq.dat, are stored in the top level directory of the PhreeqcI installation and may be used by typing the selected name in the entry box. If the user has developed a custom database file, it can be selected with the "browse" button next to the entry box.
Help
The "Help" pull-down menus on all screens use the HTML browser (see Options above) to read on-line documentation. The "Help" pull-down menu on the main screen (fig. 1) has three items: "PhreeqcI" displays the first page of this manual; "User's Guide to PHREEQC" displays the first page of the user's manual for PHREEQC (Parkhurst, 1995); and "About PHREEQC Interactive" displays the version number of PhreeqcI.