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******* MicroCook (C) Copyright 1993-1994
Version 1.37
Written & Published by
Gus Skiaker
NORSKI Software
P.O. Box 76
Franksville, WI 53126-0076
U.S.A.
Phone: (414) 632-9815 (6-9 PM CDT)
GEnie : NORSKI
Internet via GEnie : norski@genie.geis.com
CompuServe : 72713,1667
_______
____|__ | (R)
--| | |-------------------
| ____|__ | Association of
| | |_| Shareware
|__| o | Professionals
-----| | |---------------------
|___|___| MEMBER
Page 1 of 19
Table of Contents:
A Description of MicroCook ............................ 3
Mouse with MicroCook .................................. 4
The KEY file .......................................... 4
The Editors ........................................... 4
Editor Keys ........................................... 5
Duplicates Checking ................................... 5
The File Menu ......................................... 6
Loading MicroCook ..................................... 6
OS/2 and MicroCook .................................... 6
File Menu ***************
Save Recipe ...................................... 7
Save & New Recipe ................................ 8
Start New Recipe ................................. 8
Load By Number ................................... 8
Search for Recipe ................................ 8
Disk View ........................................ 9
Quit ............................................. 9
Index Menu **************
Select from ...................................... 9
Search ........................................... 10
Index View ....................................... 10
Sort ............................................. 10
Delete This Recipe ............................... 10
Un-Delete & Delete Recipes ....................... 10
Print Menu **************
This Recipe ...................................... 11
Other Recipes .................................... 11
Index In Memory .................................. 11
Form Feed ........................................ 11
Database Menu ***********
Change to ........................................ 11
Create New ....................................... 12
Re-Index ......................................... 12
Setup ............................................ 12
Tool Menu ***************
Conversions ...................................... 15
Read Manual ...................................... 15
File Reader ...................................... 15
About ............................................ 15
Status ........................................... 16
DOS Shell ........................................ 16
Export/Import Menu ******
Export MC database ............................... 16
Import MC database ............................... 17
Export MC ASCII .................................. 17
Import MC ASCII .................................. 17
Import MM &+ ASCII ............................... 18
Help .................................................. 18
What's Next? .......................................... 19
THANK YOU ............................................. 19
Page 2 of 19
Description of MicroCook.
MicroCook is a recipe database program written to allow users
to collect, organize, and locate recipes.
MicroCook will run on IBM compatible PC's with MS-DOS, two floppy
disks, or a floppy disk and a hard disk.
A hard disk is recommended as is a minimum of 512 KBytes of RAM.
MS-DOS 3 or higher is required. MicroCook also works well in Windows
3.x and in OS/2.
So what's a database? A database is like a book. The whole
book is the database, while each individual record is a page in the
book. And as in the book, the database has "page numbers" called
record numbers. A page in a book has room for only so much text and
a database record also has a fixed length. This fixed length of each
record means that it is very fast and easy to locate and load
any record in the database. This is done with help of an Index
file, just as you would locate a page with help of the Index Table
in the back of the book.
The Index file in MicroCook consist of the Record Number,
Recipe Name and Category. So when you select a recipe from the Index
in MicroCook, the program loads the corresponding recipe in the
database with help of the record number. The Index file remains
loaded in memory at all times, so you can have easy and quick access
to it. You can also create your own index, built up from a search
word you provide. Index and Disk View provide further information
on this aspect of the program later on in the manual.
The database is a random access file system with two main
files. One database file where all the information is saved, and
one index file where only the recipe name and its categories are
saved. This index file is loaded into memory in its entirety when
MicroCook loads. This will make recipe selection and search very
fast. Because the index remains in memory, there is a limit on how
many recipes you can have per database. This will depend on how much
free RAM you have, but with about 590 KBytes free RAM before MCOOK.EXE
is loaded, there will be room for about 2000 recipes. MicroCook
will keep track of how much free RAM remains and will give you a
warning message when the memory comes down to a preset limit. But a
2000 recipe database will create a main database file of over 8 Mbytes!
But try to keep your databases less than 1500 recipes. Large databases
will slow down MicroCook some since the whole index is loaded in memory.
The amount of free space on your hard drive determines the number of
different database files that you may create.
And for transportation, the main data file compresses very well
with a file compression program like PKZIP, PKXARC or LHA, sometimes
up to 80-90%. If no index file is found when the main data file is
loaded, one will automatically be created. So if you want to mail
an entire database on a floppy disk to a friend, or upload it to a
BBS (compress it first!), you only need to send the file with the
MCD extension.
If you have any recipe databases created with version 1.2 of
MicroCook, a new index file will be created automatically the first
time it's loaded into MicroCook. This must be done because the
Index format has changed slightly.
Page 3 of 19
If a MicroSoft compatible mouse is detected during
initializing, it can be used for navigating the program. Then the
only times you would need to use the keyboard are for typing in
file names, search words or recipes. Anytime you see a message
where a key has to be pressed, you can place the mouse cursor on
the name of the key, and press the LEFT mouse button. These names
usually are printed in RED text. Scrolling of menus or in editors
can also be done by placing the mouse cursor on the red arrows by
scroll bars and clicking the LEFT mouse button. The RIGHT mouse
button acts like an ESC key where ESC is an option. Where a "Press
any key" message is displayed, either mouse buttons can also be
used as the "any key".
MicroCook also has on-line quick help, available by pressing
F1, an ASCII file reader where you can access and read any ASCII
files. You can also read this manual while working in MicroCook
without having a hard copy.
Registered users will receive a small "key" file that will
disable the "Please register" messages and the short time delays
during loading and unloading of MicroCook. This will also display
a serial number and the registered users name in the "About.."
window in the Tools menu and the users name on line 25 in the main
screen. This key file is called xxxxx.KEY, where xxxxx is a 5 digit
number that is your personal serial number. The KEY file MUST reside in
the same directory as MCOOK.EXE.
With your registration you will also receive an ASCII Text
editor that can be used to edit recipe files in formats other than
MicroCook's so they can be imported with the MC ASCII Import
function. This editor has built-in macros for the necessary
keywords, and also a help screen where the MC ASCII format is
described in details. NOTE: This editor is ONLY for Registered
users.
The menus consist of a pull-down windows system with hot-
keys. Hot-keys are keyboard combinations that make it easy to perform a
function. Also pop-up "exploding" windows are used throughout
MicroCook for warnings and/or information messages.
There are actually three different text editors that you
will use to enter recipes with. First, there is a three item
Header Editor that is used to enter the recipe name, category and
the number of servings. Next, there is the Ingredients Editor. On
the screen you only see 7 lines, but this is a scrolling editor
with a total of 34 lines. This editor is 38 characters wide. And
last, there is the Description Editor. This editor is also a
scrolling editor, 34 lines long and 76 characters wide. You can
switch between the editors by using the F5, F6, F7 key, or by
moving the cursor with the mouse or keyboard. If you are on
the last line in an editor, and you press enter or the
arrow-down key, the next editor down will be set as the active
one. If you are at the bottom in the Description Editor, the
cursor will scroll around to the Header Editor. The Ingredients and
Description Editors have a Wrap-Down feature, so when you are at
the end of a line, and the word you are typing is too long for that
line, the whole word will appear on the next line.
Page 4 of 19
If you place the mouse cursor on the red up or down scroll
arrows on the left side of the Ingredients or Description editor,
you can scroll up or down by clicking with the left mouse button.
If you keep the cursor there and keep the button down, the scroll
will go up or down slowly for about 1 second before the "Turbo"
kicks in. Then you will be at the top or bottom of the editor in no
time. Or you can place the mouse cursor above or below the scroll
indicator, and press the left button. Then the indicator will move
towards the mouse cursor.
These editing keys are the available for use in all editors:
Back Space ----------------- Delete character left of cursor
Delete --------------------- Delete character at cursor
End ------------------------ Go to end of line
Home ----------------------- Go to beginning of line
Insert --------------------- Toggle Insert/over write mode
(Insert mode adds a letter without deleting the existing letters)
(overwrite substitutes a new letter for an existing letter)
TAB ------------------------ Move left 4 characters
These additional keys are for use in the Ingredients and Category
editors:
CTRL-End ------------------- Go to last line in current window
CTRL-Home ------------------ Go to first line in current window
CTRL-Y --------------------- Delete line at cursor
CTRL-N --------------------- Insert line at cursor
Shift-TAB ------------------ Move right 4 characters
Page Up -------------------- Move up one screen full
Page Down ------------------ Move down one screen full
ALT-Page Up ---------------- Go to first text line in editor
ALT-Page Down -------------- Go to last text line in editor
If a recipe is selected from a compiled index, there will be
a line displayed on the bottom of the screen that allow you to use
CTRL-Page Up and CTRL-Page Down to page through all the recipes in
the current index.
If the "Check for Duplicates" has been set to "Y" (Yes) in
Setup, MicroCook will check the current index to see if a recipe
exists with same name as the one entered in the editor, or against
the recipes imported with one of the import functions. If a duplicate
recipe name is detected, a pop-up window will warn you. If you are
importing recipes without verifying on, the same window will
pop-up, and you will have the option to save or not save that
recipe. The duplication checking is not case sensitive, so upper
and lower case words mean the same. But the spelling or the recipe
name must be exactly the same. Therefore if you have two or more recipes
with duplicate names, you will need to save each one individually or
make a slight name change before importing the recipe: Coffee Cake1;
Coffee Cake2; etc.
If you loaded a recipe from the Index, you can mark the recipe as
Deleted while it is displayed in the Editors with the "Delete This
Recipe" function under the Index menu. The Hot-key is ALT-Z. You can
disable the Window that pop up after an ALT-Z, but from then on, you
will NOT get any warning that a recipe is deleted when ALT-Z is used.
This will reset next time you load MicroCook.
Page 5 of 19
MicroCook has an easy-to-use File Menu that is used throughout
the program to select files, change directory or disk drive. When
this file menu is displayed, a small window at the top of the
screen will display the current directory.
You can scroll through a file list with the Up Arrow, Down
Arrow, Page Up and Page Down keys. If you have a mouse connected,
you can place the cursor on the red arrows on the right side of the
window and press the left mouse button. Or place the cursor on the
scroll marker between the arrows, and while holding the left mouse
button down, drag it up or down.
In the larger file menu window the top line has two dots
(.. <Parent Directory>) if you are in a directory other than
the root directory. This is the symbol for the Parent directory,
the directory above the current directory. If you place the cursor
bar on that line and press Enter or double click with the mouse,
the parent directory will be displayed.
Any floppy disk drives or additional hard disk drives are
displayed as: [-A-] <Disk drive> (in this case the A drive).
If you select a floppy disk drive and it's not ready or the floppy
disk is write protected, an error message will be displayed.
Any name in all upper case letters and with <DIR> after it is
a directory. You can select any directory and display its files by
placing the cursor bar on the line with the name of the directory.
Now press Enter or double click with the mouse.
File names are displayed in lower case with their size in bytes
and creation date. Select a file to load by pressing enter when the
cursor bar is on the file name, or by double clicking with the left
mouse button.
If only change of directories are called for, no files will be
displayed in the file menu.
Press ESC or the Right mouse button to cancel any work in the
file menu.
You load MicroCook by typing MCOOK in the directory where
the program and its files are saved. The first time you load
MicroCook, the Setup editor will first come up since there are no
configuration files. Please edit and change any of the defaults so
it reflects your system and recipe directory name. As the default
name for recipe file is the RECIPES.MCD file that's included with
MicroCook. See Setup described below for all the defaults.
If you have a monochrome monitor, start MicroCook as MCOOK/MONO
to force the program into a Black & White mode. This will make some
of the color combinations more visible. To see other available
startup switches for MCOOK, type: MCOOK/?
There have been reports that MicroCook locks up when running
in OS/2. But with help from a friend who uses OS/2 (I don't have OS/2
- yet), I think we figured it out. In the meantime OS/2 users should
start MicroCook as: MCOOK OS2. This will bypass some routines that can
cause the lock up. This bypass will NOT make MicroCook lose any of its
functions.
Page 6 of 19
On the top of the screen, the current database name is
displayed along with the number of recipes in it as well as the
status of the recipe currently displayed on the screen. If the
three sections where the name, ingredients, and directions are
normally given are empty, or have text in them without the recipe
having been saved, the word NEW will be displayed. If a recipe
is loaded from the database or is a new recipe that has been saved,
its record number will be displayed. To avoid the possibility of
losing data caused by an electrical outage or other unforeseen
occurrences, it is recommended that you save as soon as you have
completed entering or editing the necessary information. This is easily
done by pressing down the Alt key and the letter F key at the same time;
once the file menu choices appear in the upper left-hand corner of your
screen, press the key S to complete the saving function. With a mouse
simply put the cursor on the letter F in the word File (located in the
upper left hand portion of your screen) and click the mouse. Click the
the left-hand button on your mouse on the letter S from the selections
presented. Or use the Hot-key: ALT-S to save.
If you have an EGA or VGA monitor, a "graphical screen saver" will
be activated after a preset time (see setup) if there has been no
activity in the editors. Press any key or a mouse button to return to
the editors when the screen savers is displayed.
----------- Description of Menus
Press and hold one of the ALT keys, and then the first
character in the menu group name to access any of these menus. Or
use the Hot-key to access the function directly.
If a function isn't available at the time, for example if you attempt to
"Print This Recipe" when the editors are empty, the color for the text
for that function in the menu is turned to black.
File Group (ALT-F)
Save Recipe - Hot-Key: ALT-S
Select this option from the file menu while you are editing your
recipe to avoid losing your work. When this function is selected, either
from the pull-down menu or by the hot-key, the current recipe on the
screen will be saved to the main data file. At the same time the index
will be updated, both in memory and in the disk file. When the recipe is
saved, you will hear a tone in the PC speaker. You will not be able to
save unedited recipes or a recipe without a name.
If you have edited a recipe, and select a menu function that
could clear the data on the screen, you will be prompted so you
can save the recipe. If AutoSave in Setup is set to "Y", the
recipe will automatically be saved without any message.
See Setup for details.
After the recipe is saved, the data is still on the screen,
so you can continue entering more text if necessary.
Page 7 of 19
Save & New Recipe - Hot-key: ALT-A
When you have made your final editing corrections, choose this
option from the file menu. This option will both save your recipe and
clear the screen.
Start New Recipe - Hot-key: ALT-N
This menu function will only clear the screen without saving
the recipes first. But if the editors detect that the recipes have
been edited, you will be asked if you want to save it first, as
described above.
Load by Numbers - Hot-key: ALT-L
This function is only available if the "Enable Display and
Load by Recipe #" in Setup is set to Y (Yes). When enabled, the
recipe numbers will be displayed in the right column in the Index
listing. You can then browse through the index, and write down the
recipe numbers you want to retrieve later with this function. This
might be faster when the database grows to 1500 or more recipes. Or
you can note the recipe numbers during imports and later quickly
retrieve one or more of them.
Search for Recipe - Hot-key: None
If you need to look up some information that is stored in
the main data file on the disk, but you can't remember under
which recipe name it is saved, you can use this (or the next)
function. When this function is selected, a pop-up window will
prompt you for a search word. You can also you use ? as a wild
card character in the word. The search will also find words where
you only supply a part of it. So, if your search word is APPLE,
both APPLESAUCE and APPLECIDER are found (if they are there), along
with ANY word where APPLE is used. Or should you want to find all
recipes where chicken is used, this is the function to use.
After the search word is entered, you will get a new window
with choices of where you want to search. You can search either in
the recipe name, category, ingredients, description or all of the
recipe.
When a recipe is found with the matching search word, it
will be displayed on the screen, and a message will ask if this
is the correct recipe or not. If you answer N (No), the search
will continue to the next occurrence of the word, and you will be
prompted again. If you answer Y (Yes), MicroCook will keep the
recipe on the screen, and enter the editors so you can edit, view
or print the recipe. If no recipes are found, a "Not Found" pop-up
message will be displayed.
If the search has been used previously, the last search word
will still be displayed. You can clear the editor with ALT-C, and
if you need to, restore the cleared word with ALT-R.
Page 8 of 19
Disk View - Hot-Key: ALT-V
This search is similar to Search for Recipe. The main difference is
that instead of asking you to decide whether the recipe that was found
is what you are looking for, a new Index is created which contains any
recipe that meets your search requirements. This is a helpful function
when you have some ingredient that you want to use, an overabundance of
tomatoes or apples or whatever, since you will be presented with all the
recipes that contain the ingredient and can select the one most
appropriate for the situation at hand. You can now select from any of
the displayed recipes. (see "Select from..." below).
This is also the function to use if you want to export only a
certain category in either ASCII or MC database format. First compile an
Index on the search word you want. After the search is done, press ESC
for the editors, then ALT-E to get to the Exports. Select which export
you want, and then after filling in a file name, select one of the last
two export options.
Quit - Hot-key: ALT-Q
This will close all files, clear the screen and exit
MicroCook. If an edited recipe is still on the screen, the "Not
saved" message described above will be displayed.
Index Group (ALT-I)
Select from... - Hot-key: ALT-X
This is the function you will use to select and browse
through already entered recipes. When you choose this function the
first time, the Index will be compiled, sorted alphabetically on
the sort key you selected in Setup. In the index array, only the
recipe name and category is displayed.
Once displayed, you can scroll through the index with the
cursor keys, Page Up or Page Down, or by clicking with the left
mouse button on the up/down arrows on the right scroll bar, or on
the red key names on the bottom of the screen. If there are less
than a screen full of recipes displayed, only the up and down arrow
cursor keys are active. Select a recipe by pressing Enter when the
highlighted cursor bar is on-line with the recipe name you want to
retrieve, or by placing the mouse cursor on the line with the
recipe name and double click with the left mouse button. Once the
recipe is loaded from the main data file, it will be displayed in
the editors.
You can move quickly to recipes or categories by typing the first
letter of the recipe or category names. If the Index is sorted on Recipe
name, the first letter in the recipe name is used. And if sorted on
Category, the first letter in the category is used. If no sort is used,
the first letter in the recipe name is used. When typing a letter, the
cursor bar will move to the first recipe or category name starting with
that letter. If the same letter is typed again, the cursor bar will move
down to the next and so on. When it's past the bottom of the Index
listing, it will start from the top again.
In the lower right corner the number of recipes that are marked as
deleted is displayed. Press ESC in index to cancel any selection.
While in the Index you can re-sort it by pressing F8 or
clicking on F8 (in lower left corner).
Page 9 of 19
Search - Hot-key: None
This is basically the same as the "Search for Recipe" function
described above, except this search is only for the index in
memory. Only words in the Recipe Name and/or Category are searched.
If a search word is found, MicroCook will retrieve the whole recipe
from the main disk file and display it. Then display the "Correct
Recipe? (Y/N)" message.
Since the Index searches are searching in memory only, it's
VERY fast compared to the Disk searches. However, the Index
searches are limited to searching for a recipe name and category only.
Index View - Hot-key: ALT-Y
This function is the same as "Disk View" described above,
except the search is only in the index in memory. You will use this
primarily when you know the name of a recipe and want to avoid scrolling
up or down to locate the recipe in order to bring it up on the screen.
Sort - Hot-key: ALT-O
The Sort is a 2-key sort for the Index array only. The sort
can be performed either ascending or descending, and with either
recipe name or category as the primary sort key. When selected, a
window will pop-up with choices of sort keys. Select one by number,
or by placing the mouse cursor on the corresponding line and
clicking with the left mouse button. Since this a 2-key sort, both
the Recipe Names and Category are sorted. So if Category is the
primary sort key, all recipes within the same category are sorted
in the same order as the category. See Default Sort-key under
Setup.
Delete This Recipe - Hot-key: ALT-Z
By selecting this function, or with the hot-key, while a
previously saved recipe is displayed in the editors, the recipe will be
marked as deleted. Before it is marked, MicroCook will ask if you really
want to delete the recipe. As with the "Delete Recipes" function
described below, you can later un-delete the recipe if the database has
not yet been Packed. If you Disable the window that pop-up after ALT-Z
is used, you will NOT be warned that a recipe will be deleted when ALT-Z
is used. After a recipes is deleted, the next on in the Index order will
be displayed.
Un-Delete Recipes & Delete Recipes - Hot-key: None
When marking recipes for deletion, you are actually not
deleting them, only marking each recipe so it won't show up in the
index listing.
When this function is selected, an Index array with ALL
recipes are compiled and displayed. You can then move through the
index and mark the recipes you want to mark for deletion by
pressing the Enter key, pressing the Space bar or placing the mouse
cursor on the line with the recipe name and clicking the left
mouse button. The recipes that are marked for "deletion" will have
a check mark in the left column by the recipe name. When done
marking, press F10 to write all the makers to the disk files, and
re-initialize MicroCook.
You can un-delete any recipes by selecting this function
again. All recipes that are marked for deletion will have the check
mark by its name. Now just un-mark the recipe, press F10 and the
recipe is back again. See the Pack function for permanent deletion
of recipes. Page 10 of 19
Print Group (ALT-P)
This Recipe - Hot-key: ALT-R
If there is a recipe on the screen, this function will send it
to the printer port assigned to MicroCook in Setup.
You will be asked if you want to re-direct the output to an
ASCII disk file. This can be an handy feature if you later want to
import the recipe(s) into a word processor when you are ready to
write your own cook book. The file output is formatted exactly in
the same way as the printed hard copy.
One recipe will need one sheet of paper, or about 60 lines of
text. If a Laser printer is used, a page eject is performed at the
end of the print job, and if a continuous sheet dot-matrix printer
is used, the printer will advance to the next page break.
If the printer is not on-line and ready when this or any
other print function is selected, an error message will be
displayed. You can then ready the printer and try again without
aborting the printing.
Other Recipes - Hot-key: None
With this function you can print selected recipes from the
Index. You can tag one recipe, or as many you want for multiple
sheets of recipes. Move through the index and mark the recipes you
want to Print by pressing the Enter key, Space bar or placing the
mouse cursor on the line with the recipe name and clicking with the
left mouse button. The check mark will indicate which recipes will
be printed. Press F10 when done selecting to start the printing.
You will also be given the chance to print an ASCII file to a disk
instead of to a printer.
If you are printing to a printer, you will also be asked if you
want to remove the blank lines between recipes. This will place more
than one recipe on a sheet of paper, but a recipe could also be split
between two pages. When printing to a file, there are no space between
recipes.
Index in Memory - Hot-Key: None
The will print the CURRENT compiled index in memory. If you
select this function without performing any of the View searches,
the whole index (minus the recipes marked as deleted) will be
printed. If you perform either an Index View search or a Disk View
search, only those recipes found in the search will be printed.
Form Feed - Hot-Key: None
If you need to advance the paper in the printer one page, this
function will do so for you by sending a form feed command to the
printer (ASCII 12).
Database Group (ALT-D)
Change to - Hot-key: ALT-C
Since you can have several different databases for use with
MicroCook, you will need an easy and fast way to change between
them. And this is it!
When selected, an alphabetically sorted scrolling menu will be
displayed with only the *.MCD database files that are in the
current default directory (see Setup).
By placing the cursor bar on the file you want to load, and
pressing Enter, the file's Index will be loaded into memory.
See description earlier in this manual about the File menu.
Page 11 of 19
Create New - Hot-key: None
Before any database file can be used to save recipes in, it
has to be created. This function will pop up a window where you can
type in an 8 letter filename. Do NOT use extension, as this will be
supplied by MicroCook. Both an empty main data file and the index
file will be created. This will not set the created database to the
one currently in use, so if you want to use it now, you must change
to it as described in the function above. Or you can change the
name of the default database to it in Setup, so it will be loaded
the next time you load MicroCook . The default directory where
the database files will be created is also displayed in the window.
If you want to create the database in a different directory, press
F8. The same file menu as described above will then be displayed.
But this time only the available directories and disk drives are
displayed. After the file name has been entered, you will be asked if
you want to make the new database active. If you answer Yes, the new
database will be loaded. If No (or ESC), the current database will stay
loaded.
Re-Index - Hot-key: None
If the index file for some reason should get corrupted with
garbled data, you can re-create a new index file with this
function. It will delete the old index and read the necessary
information from the main data file and save it in a new index
file.
Setup - Hot-key: ALT-U
Here you let MicroCook know about some of your PC's
configurations and how you want the program to operate.
Default Recipe File...............................
This is the main data file MicroCook looks for when it's
loaded from the DOS prompt. If this file cannot be found, an
error message will be displayed. While working in MicroCook
you can change between databases as often as you want.
Default: RECIPES.MCD
Default Path for Recipe and data files............
Enter the disk drive and the directory where the recipe
database files, index files and any ASCII export or Import
files are. This does not have to be same directory as where
the MCOOK.EXE program and its support files are saved.
Default: Where MCOOK.EXE is located
Auto Save after Edit? (Y/N).......................
If you set this option to Y (Yes), MicroCook will not prompt
you if a recipe has been edited, and you are about to select
a function that possibly could clear the recipes currently
on the screen, but automatically save it for you, no questions
asked. By setting this to N (No), a message will prompt you to
save before you can change function. Now you will have the
option of either saving the recipe or not. Press F, or click on
the letter, to bypass the save. Depending on the function you
selected, the recipe could possibly still be on the screen
when you return. For example, if you only wanted to look at
the index, but not select a new recipe, the recipe on the
screen will still be there. But if don't want to take any
chances, save the recipe first.
Default: N
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Printer Port used (LPT1-LPT4).....................
Enter the parallel port number where your printer is
connected.
Default: 1
Printer Type, Dot-Matrix or Laser? (D/L) .........
There are no printer codes used in MicroCook that are
printer type dependant, so most any printer will work fine.
This function is only to let MicroCook know how to handle
page eject after a print job. If D (Dot-Matrix) printer is
selected, the printer will advance to next page perforation
after a print job is done. With L (Laser) selected, a
standard page eject is performed.
Default: D
Printer Page Length (Lines) ......................
Enter number of lines of effective printing one sheet of
paper can handle. This is usually 66 lines for a Dot-Matrix
continuous feed printer, and 60 lines for single sheet Laser
(or any other single sheet) printer.
Default: 66
Default Index Sort, Name or Category. (N/C).......
When the index is first loaded, it's sorted alphabetically on
two keys, one primary and one secondary key. This function
lets you select the primary key. This can be either on recipe
name (N) or category (C). If you prefer to have recipes grouped by
category instead of by index name, select C.
Default: N
Sort Ascending/Descending (A/D)...................
Here the sort order for the primary key is set. The
secondary key is also sorted in the same order. If ascending
(A) is selected, the sort will be from A to Z. Apples will
be one the top of the index, and Zucchini on the bottom.
Descending sort will put the Zucchini on the top. The sort
is case sensitive, so Zucchini (upper case Z) will come before
apples (lower case a).
Default: A
Index Sort when Recipe Save/Database Load (Y/N) ...
When the database is getting large, over 1500 recipes, the
Index sort will take a few seconds because it's a 2-key
sort. But you can disable the automatic Index sort during
Index load and also after a new or edited recipe has been
saved by marking this item with N (No). You can then sort
the index as needed either while in the Index (F8) or from
the Index menu. If the Sort is set to on, (Y), the Index will
only be sorted if either the recipe name or category is
sorted. If only editing has been done in either the
Ingredients or Description, no sort will be performed when the
recipe is saved again.
Default: N
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Enable Display and Load by Recipe#? (Y/N)........
If this function is enabled, the recipe (record) numbers
will be displayed in the Index listing. The recipes can then
be loaded directly by the Load by Number function in the
File menu, or ALT-L hot-key.
Default: N
Auto check for duplicate recipe names? (Y/N).....
When this function is enabled, MicroCook will check the
current index to determine if a recipe already exists with
the same name as one that is being entered and saved from
the editors or being imported with one of the imports. The
name check is not case sensitive, but the spelling and
punctuation of the whole recipe name must be the same. If a
recipe is about to be saved and has the same name as one
already in the Index, and window will pop up and warn you
about it.
Default: N
12 or 24 hour clock format? (12/24) ................
Here you can chose if you want the clock on the screen to
display the time in the 12 hour format (A.M. & P.M.) or in
the military 24 hour format, also used in Europe and other
parts of the world. 11:37:12 PM vs 23:37:12.
Default: 12
Minutes till Screen Saver Activates (0-60) (0=Not Used)
If you have loaded MicroCook on your PC, and it just sits there and
is doing nothing, this function will make it do "something". If
the keyboard or mouse hasn't been used within the time limit set
here, a graphical screen saver will be activated. This screen
saver has many different screens, and they will change in a random
manner. Just tap a key on the keyboard or click one of the mouse
buttons to get back to the editors again. If you don't want the
screen saver activated at all, enter a 0 (Zero) here, and you'll
never see it again. This screen saver ONLY works on EGA or better
monitors. If a CGA Monitor is detected, it will not be activated.
Default: 5
Silent Mode (NO Chimes)..........................
With an Y (Yes) here, all the chimes and beeps will be disabled.
Default: N
When done editing the setup, press F4 to save, or ESC to
cancel. If F4 was pressed, MicroCook will re-initialize so any
changes can be put into effect.
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Tools Group (ALT-T)
Conversions - Hot-key: None
Selecting this function will bring up an ASCII file viewer
with a file called MCOOK.MCC. This file MUST reside in the same
directory as MCOOK.EXE. This file contains some conversions between
metric and English weights and volume, abbreviations for measures
used in recipes, some substitutes that can be used during cooking,
and conversions between degrees Centigrade and degrees Fahrenheit.
This file is a ASCII text file, so you can edit and/or add
your own data that you might need to look at while entering
recipes.
You can scroll up, down or sideways through the manual with
Page Up, Page Down, the up, down, left or right arrow keys, or by
placing the mouse cursor on the up or down arrows by the scroll
bars and clicking the left button. The End key will place the cursor
on the last line in the document, and Home will place it on the
first line.
F3 will bring up a small window where you can type in text
that you want to search for. When found, the text will be
highlighted, otherwise a Not Found message will be displayed.
Press ESC to return to the editors.
Read Manual - Hot-key: ALT-M
If you don't have a printed manual (this document) nearby
while working in MicroCook, you can select this function and read
it without first exiting MicroCook. See "Conversions" about
navigating in the file viewer. The manual is called MCOOK.MAN, and
it MUST reside in the same directory as MCOOK.EXE.
File Reader - Hot-key: None
This function will bring up the same powerful ASCII file
viewer used with Conversions and Read manual. But now you can
select from ANY of the files in the current directory. Of course,
only ASCII text files will make any sense, EXE or COM files will
only display some characters that won't make for good reading. The
limit on files in the file viewer is about 16,000 lines.
You can change directory by pressing F8 and access the same
file manager as described above in "Change to..." and "Create New".
See "Conversions" about navigating in the file viewer.
About..... - Hot-Key: None
About provides information relating to MicroCook. The program name
and version will be displayed in a pop-up window as well as an
indication as to whether or not the program has been registered. If
it's registered, the serial number and the name of the person it was
registered to are also displayed.
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Status - Hot-key: None
As your recipe database grows, you can take a look in this
Status window to see how many more recipes there are room for in
the database currently in use. This is an estimate only, calculated
from the free memory you currently have in your PC. Also displayed
is how much free disk space is left on the disk currently in use. And
how many more recipes it could hold, if you were to fill up the rest of
the disk with recipes only. Even though the Status window says you can
have for example, 2085 recipes in a database, you should try to keep the
maximum at least 20-30 less than that number. BEST: Keep the databases
below 1500 recipes. Smaller databases are faster in loading, sorting and
selecting from. This will protect you in case you add a new RAM resident
program (TSR) and still allow you to access the database and the index.
Also, if you have many recipes in a database, Imports and editing will
slow down if Duplicate Checking is on.
DOS Shell - Hot-key: None
Need a short trip to the DOS prompt? Here's the door. Since
MicroCook and the index is still loaded in memory, there probably
will be little memory left to run any other programs, but standard
DOS commands can still be performed. If you change directory while
in DOS, MicroCook will change it back to the working directory when
entering the program again. Type EXIT to re-enter MicroCook again.
Export/Import Group *****
Export MC database - Hot-key: None
With this function you can export the whole (basically copy
the one in use), or selected recipes from the one currently in use.
Since MicroCook uses a fixed length record random access database
system, these files can ONLY be used by MicroCook. When selected
you will be asked for a filename to use when you export. Type in a name,
maximum 8 characters and no extension. If a file with that name
already exists, a message will ask you if you want to enter a
different name, append to the existing one, or overwrite the existing
one. If you enter a new file name, a new database will be created, but
without the index file. If you select "overwrite" the existing database
will be deleted, and a new empty one with the same name will be created.
Next you will have the choice of if you want to export all or selected
recipes. If you have compiled an Index on a Search Word and want those
recipes in a separate database, select 3. You can be even more detailed
with #4, Export Selected Recipes from Current Index, where you can tag
from the compiled Index. If Selected is chosen, the index will be
displayed. And now you can tag only the recipes you want to export to
the new database. When done tagging, press F10 to start the export.
This export feature can be a handy feature if you later want
to divide up the recipes into different groups, like different
ethnic foods, or want to mail some of your recipes on a floppy disk
to a friend who also uses MicroCook.
Press F8 to bring up the File menu described earlier if you
want the new database file to be saved in a different directory.
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Import MC database - Hot-key: None
This allows you to import the database files that were exported
with the function described above. When selected, you will see the
scrolling File menu with the available databases in the current
directory. After you have selected one, the next question is if you
want to verify the recipe before it's saved to the one currently in
use. If you answered N (No) all recipes will be imported. If you
are not sure if you want all the recipes in the imported one,
answer Y (Yes). That way you can select those you want to save or want
to edit a little. As the recipes are retrieved from the database, they
are displayed in the editors. If you don't want to save it, just answer
N (No) to save it, and MicroCook will continue on to the next one. Press
Y (Yes) to save it, or E (Edit) if you want to edit it. If you select
Edit, the editors will be activated. When you are done editing, press
ALT-S to Save, or ALT-N if you don't want to save it. The import will
continue on to the next recipe. This editing function is only
available if you answer Y (Yes) to verify the recipes as they are
imported. You can abort the import at any time by pressing ESC, or
clicking the right mouse button. When done importing, you will be asked
if you want to import more files.
Export MC ASCII - Hot-Key: None
If you are using bulletin board systems (BBS) such as GEnie (tm),
Prodigy (tm), CompuServe (tm), America On Line (tm) or any other BBS,
and want to upload one or more of your recipes to share with friends
that also use MicroCook, this is the function to use. If you need to
share ASCII recipe files with someone that doesn't have MicroCook (yet),
use the print to file function from the Print menu.
When MicroCook export recipes as MC ASCII, they are formatted
in a certain way, so they can easily be imported again. And if no
major change has happened in the ASCII recipe between the header
marker and the end of recipe marker, MicroCook can pick out the
recipe and format it for use without any problems from within a
large file with other downloaded E-mail.
If you are sending a file as private E-mail on Prodigy, their
editor is only 40 characters wide, you can set the width of the
output to 40 characters. MicroCook will insert a ^ character at the
end of each full line. This character will be used when Importing
again to reformat the imported recipe so it looks exactly as the
exported one. The ^ characters are removed during import. The MC
ASCII can be formatted between 39 and 78 characters wide.
The procedure to Export MC ASCII files are the same as MC
Database Export, except here you will also be asked for the width
in characters of the ASCII file.
Import MC ASCII - Hot-key: None
This is the function you need to use when importing the
specially formatted ASCII files exported with the function
described above. When selected, the file menu described earlier
will pop up with a listing of ALL files in the current directory.
So be sure you select only the ones that are valid MC ASCII files.
If any other files are selected, nothing will happen because
MicroCook can't find the MC ASCII recipe header, and after it has
gone through the whole file, a "No Recipes found" message will be
displayed putting you back in the editors.
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Here you also will have the option of verifying and/or editing the
recipes before they are saved to the database currently in use, or
importing all of them. If the ASCII recipe has been exported in a
narrower format than the default 78 characters, it will be expanded
again, and all the ^ characters are removed.
MicroCook will still import ASCII recipes created with version
1.2. These ASCII recipes did not have the ^ characters and had a
default of 78 characters wide. When done importing, you will be asked
if you want to import more files.
See MCFORMAT.DOC regarding how a MC ASCII file must look
before it can be imported.
Import MM 7+ ASCII - Hot-Key: None
I know that there are many ASCII recipe files formatted for
Meal-Master(tm) around on various BBS's. And if you want to
download any of them and import them, you can use this function. I
have tried to make this function as flexible as possible without
letting anything but Meal-Master recipes through. This function
will work for both the special Prodigy format and the "generic"
Meal-Master ASCII format.
But since these Meal-Master recipes are not created by
MicroCook, some editing might be necessary during Import to get
them the way you want them. But I think about 99% of them do just
fine as they are.
When this function is selected, the same file manager as
described above will be displayed with a listing of ALL the files
in the current directory. After a file is selected, MicroCook will
look for the Meal-Master header:
---------- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v7.0
After the header is found, the rest of the text is deciphered, and
the recipe name, categories, servings, ingredients and description
are put into the correct places in the MicroCook recipe.
Also the narrow Prodigy (*P) format and recipes from most version of
Meal-Master and MMCONV are recognized. When done importing, you will be
asked if you want to import more files.
Help - Hot-Key: F1
Just that - HELP! This function will bring up an ASCII file in
the ASCII file viewer called MCOOK.HLP. This file MUST reside in
the same directory as MCOOK.EXE.
In this file only keys and key combinations that are not
printed on the screens are listed, like the hot-keys, and editing
keys in the editors. If you need detailed help about MicroCook, use
the Read Manual function in the Tools menu.
If you want to add your own Help and/or tips in this file, use
an ASCII editor like MS-DOS's EDIT, or MCEDIT that you receive
after you have registered MicroCook. You can also use a word
processor, but be sure to save what you write as a pure ASCII text
(WordPerfect = CTRL-F5, T, S).
Page 18 of 19
What's next?
I have received several suggestions from users of previous versions
that I will try to implement in the next version. Some of them are
in this version too. But the more feedback I get from YOU, the
user, the better MicroCook will get. So, please let me know the
GOOD and BAD about MicroCook, and what you would like to see in the
next version. Either by mail, on the registration card, by phone or on
one of the on-line services where I'm a member.
WHATSNEW.DOC
There might be a few new/changed items that has not made it to this
manual yet. See WHATSNEW.DOC for anything "un-documented".
A Special THANK YOU to:
Annie, Beverly, Bill, Berni, Bobbie, Chet, Cindy, Darla, Fred,
Gail, Gloria, Hank, Herman, Irene, Jackson, Judi, Kay, Linda, Neil,
Patsy, Shari, Shirley and Wendy on GEnie On-line Services. They
helped me in getting the "bugs" out of MicroCook. Without them and
their suggestions and keen eye for "something that doesn't work
right", MicroCook wouldn't be what it is today. Couldn't ask for
better Beta Testers!
And thank you for good ideas for improvements from Mike, Charlie,
Bobbie, David and many more. Keep 'em coming!
And also a BIG THANK YOU to Caryl in Texas for help with the
manual.
-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-
IBM is a registered trademark of IBM Corp.
GEnie is a registered trademark of GE Information Systems.
Prodigy is a registered trademark of Prodigy Service Company.
Meal-Master is a registered trademark of Episoft Systems.
MS-DOS is a registered trademark of MicroSoft Corporation.
MicroSoft is a registered trademark of MicroSoft Corporation.
Visual Basic is a registered trademark of MicroSoft Corporation.
Epson is a registered trademark of Epson Corporation.
PKZIP is a registered trademark of PKWARE, Inc.
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