39 Displaying Versions in Parallel

 

 

Opening the Parallel Versions Window

Creating Parallel Versions Favorites

Opening a Parallel Versions Favorite Window

The Synopsis Window

The Synopsis Menu

Editing the Synopsis List

 


Opening the Parallel Versions Window

 Clicking on this button displays a menu that gives you the choice of opening the Parallel Versions Window or editing Parallel Versions Favorites. If you have parallel versions windows open they will also be listed at the end of the menu and you can activate any of them by clicking on the appropriate menu item. The Parallel Versions Window can also be opened directly by selecting Tools | Parallel Versions Window from the Main Menu.

 

Creating Parallel Versions Favorites

 

The Parallel Versions Favorites option permits you to create predefined sets of versions that can be opened in parallel by clicking on the Parallel Versions Button (above) and selecting from a menu. Favorites can also be activated from the Command Line. For a discussion of how to create Parallel Versions Favorites see the topic Creating Parallel Version Favorites .

 

Opening a Parallel Versions Favorite Window

 

If you don't have a Parallel Versions Favorite defined or want to open a parallel display without defining a favorite, click on the "New Parallel Versions Window." This will open a window that makes it easy for you to pick the versions that you want to use. All you have to do is choose the versions in the "Available Bible Versions" group box and click on the "Add" button to move them to the list below in the "Versions to Display in Parallel" group box.

 

The "Versions to Display in Parallel" also has buttons to delete items from the list, and to move them up and down. To change an item click on it to activate it and then click on the "delete", "up" or "down" buttons.

 

When you click on the "OK" button a new window will open which contains all the versions you specified laid out in parallel columns. The new window will have its own set of option and spin buttons. These are essentially the same as those available in the BibleWorks Search Window. The three "spin" buttons move the versions a book, chapter and verse at a time (in unison).

 

An alternate way of opening up a Parallel Versions Window is to enter the word "parallel" on the Search Window Command Line followed by a list of the versions you want to view in parallel. For example if you enter the text

 

              parallel kjv nas gnt

 

on the Command Line, a Parallel Versions window will open up containing the KJV, NAS and GNT versions.



The Synopsis Window

 

Clicking on this button will open the BibleWorks Synopsis tool. It can also be opened up by selecting Tools | Synopsis Tool from the Main Menu.

 

The Synopsis Tool is a Window that is similar to the Parallel Versions Window except for the fact that the verses displayed are controlled by an editable ASCII text file rather than by the sequence of the verses in the versions.

 

When you open the Synopsis tool you will see a window with two main parts. The bottom part contains multiple Browse Window arranged in side-by-side fashion. The upper part displays the verse lists that control the way the Browse Windows below are configured. As you scroll through the upper list and click on various lines you will see the number and content of the Browse Window below change.

 

The size of the entire window can be changed as usual by clicking and dragging on the outer border. The relative sizes of the two sections can also be changed by clicking and dragging on the sizing bar in the middle.

 

The Synopsis Tool Verse Lists

 

Each line in the Synopsis Verse List Window contains the description of a Synoptic Parallel. It has a description as well as a list of verses to be displayed. These entries are editable and are saved in a file with an SDF extension. BibleWorks ships with a Gospel Parallels File called gospels.sdf which will be loaded by default the first time you open the Synopsis Tool Window. The name of the currently loaded synopsis file will be displayed in the space just above the list.

 


The Synopsis Menu

 

The upper part of the Synopsis Tool Window contains a menu bar that provides tools to edit, open and modify lists. The options are as follows:

 

File Menu

 

·         Open - This option opens a window that permits you to specify an SDF file to load. The default location for SDF files is in the INIT subdirectory under the BibleWorks main directory, but you can store files anywhere you like. When you open a file it is put into run mode. To edit it you must select File | Edit.

·         Save - This option will save any changes you have made to the current file. You can also change the name when it is saved and change the location where it is saved.

·         New - This option will open up a new empty SDF file with the name that you specify.

·         Run - This option will run the currently loaded SDF file. When this is done any embedded control or option lines will be hidden and you can no longer type in the synopsis verse list area. Clicking on lines will cause the verse listed in them to be loaded into the lower window.

·         Edit - This option permits you to edit the currently loaded Synopsis List. When you select this option the format of the synopsis verse list window will change in several ways. See below for details.

View Menu

 

·         Browse Mode - This option toggles the Browse Mode  state of the Browse Windows below.

·         Analysis Window - This option toggles the Analysis Window state of the Browse Windows below.

·         Remove Blanks - This option toggles the status of blank windows in the display below. If this option is on columns with no verse entries will not show blank windows. See the description of the Synopsis File format below.

·         Find Verse - This option will open up a window that allows you to specify a verse to search for in the SDF file. If found the line containing it will be displayed.

Display Menu

 

This option determines which version is displayed when the Browse Windows are in Browse mode. The menu will contain a list of all the versions in the Display list parameter in the raw SDF file (see below).

 

·         Default - Selecting this option will display the version identified in the Versions list for each column (in the SDF file). In other words, it causes the list if verses on the "/Versions" line in the SDF file to be used in the current display.
 

·         Display Versions - The rest of the list will contain the versions set by the Display List parameter. The phrase "Display Versions" will not appear in the menu. You will see instead a list of versions, as defined by the "/Display" parameter in the SDF file. The current version being used will have a check mark by it.

 

Help Menu

 

This option opens the BibleWorks Online Help for the Synopsis Dialog.

 


Editing the Synopsis List

 

If you want to change or add an entry to the current synopsis file, select File | Edit from the synopsis tool menu. This will load the SDF file into an editor where you can edit the content. When you are ready to use the file, select File | Run.

 

The format of the SDF file is as follows:

 

Configuration parameters

The first part of the file has a series of configuration parameters. They must all begin with a forward slash to distinguish them from synopsis text. The possible options are:

 

·         /Versions - After this option specify a base version for each column in the synopsis list. These will usually all be the same, but do not have to be the same. For example: "/Versions GNT GNT GNT GNT"

·         /Display - This option should contain a list of all the versions you want to be displayed in each Browse Window when multiple-version mode is on. For example "/Display GNT KJV"

·         /Analysis - This option can be "ON" or "OFF". It specifies the state of the Analysis Window to be set when the synopsis file is first run. For example: "/Autoinfo OFF". The term "Auotinfo" was used in earlier versions of BibleWorks instead of "Analysis" and is still recognized so that older SDF files will still work.

·         /Heading - This option specifies the default state of the Browse Window headers. For example: "/Heading OFF". This parameter is optional and will default to "ON" if the option is not used in the SDF file.

·         /Sidebar - This option sets the default state of the parallel versions sidebar. Normally it is set to "OFF".  For example: "/Sidebar OFF". This parameter is optional and will default to "OFF" if the option is not used in the SDF file.

 

The remainder of the file contains the verse lists. Each line should have one more entry than the number of versions specified in the "/Versions" parameter. The first entry is the description of the item. The remaining entries are the verse ranges to be displayed in the columns. Each entry should be separated by a vertical bar character " | ". Columns with no parallel verse should have an asterisk. For example:

 

              42b. Beatitudes: Promises to Messiah's Subjects | Mat 5:3-12 | * | Luk 6:20-26 | *

 

The columns can have multiple verse ranges separated by semi-colons.

 

When you have finished editing the synopsis file click on File | Save to save it. When you "run" the file, it will be saved before running.