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****************************************
* *
* MEAL-MASTER *
* Quick-Start Instructions *
* *
****************************************
*** WELCOME TO MEAL-MASTER! ***
Thank you for trying Meal-Master. Meal-Master is a menu-driven
database system tailored to manage recipes. It will help you
store, update, and print your recipes in a variety of formats. But
the real power of Meal-Master lies in its search and utility
functions!
You can search for recipes using any combination of Title,
Category, or Ingredient criteria. Imagine being able to find all
the recipes that can be made with a certain ingredient! Plus, just
change the number of servings a recipe makes, and all the
individual ingredient amounts will be adjusted automatically!
To help in entire menu preparation, you can "mark" recipes as you
select them. Then activate the Shopping List function and
Meal-Master will locate the ingredients for all the marked recipes,
total the quantities of like items, and print a shopping list!
Other features allow you to print a recipe index by title or
category, "batch" print a set of recipes, or "export" recipes to a
standard DOS file, so you can use them in a word processor or
upload them to a bulletin board system. Exported recipes can also
be "imported" back into Meal-Master without retyping - making
recipe exchange with other Meal-Master users a real snap!
Meal-Master not only replaces the dog-eared, disorganized
collection of index cards found in most kitchens, it provides a
valuable tool for meal selection and preparation!
*** REQUIRED EQUIPMENT AND CONFIGURATION ***
Meal-Master should run on any IBM-PC, PC-XT, or 100% compatible
with at least 512k of memory. It will run on floppy or hard disk
systems, with either a color or monochrome monitor. (A FILES=xx
statement is required in your CONFIG.SYS file, where xx is at least
12)
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Meal-Master Quick-Start
*** CAPACITY ***
Meal-Master can be used to create one or several Meal-Master
databases. Each database must be located on a separate disk or
subdirectory, and is capable of storing several thousand recipes,
subject to available disk space. Each recipe is limited to a
combined total of 100 direction lines and ingredients.
On the average, you can expect to store about 300 recipes on each
360k disk, 600 on each 720k disk, 1200 on each 1.44mb disk, and
several thousand on a large hard disk. The actual number will
depend upon the average size of the recipes you create.
*** STARTING THE PROGRAM ***
To start using Meal-Master, you need only the program file, named
MM.EXE. When you type "MM" and press return, Meal-Master should
begin running.
Meal-Master stores your recipes in three files: INDEX.MMF,
INGRED.MMF, and DIRECT.MMF. It uses a fourth file, PARM.MMF, to
store information such as what kind of forms you are using on your
printer. Finally, a fifth file named CATFILE.MMF is used to store
a list of valid recipe categories. If any of these files are not
found when Meal-Master starts, they are created automatically.
This makes Meal-Master very easy to install: Just copy the MM.EXE
file to the diskette or hard disk directory of your choice, type
MM, and press return. Meal-Master will ask you for the operating
parameters it needs to build the PARM.MMF file, then create a new
recipe database.
IMPORTANT NOTE: If you have been using a previous version of Meal-
Master (or Meal-Meister), with a version number less than 5.01,
then your current working disk or hard drive directory will contain
the file MM.COM. The presence of this file will prevent the
current version from running. You will need delete MM.COM (or move
it to another directory) before attempting to use the current
program's MM.EXE file. Recipe files created with previous versions
are still fully compatible with the current program.
Also, for Meal-Master to run properly you must have the file
CONFIG.SYS in the root directory of the disk you boot from, and it
must contain a "FILES=xx" statement, where "xx" is at least (12).
If not, some Meal-Master functions will not operate.
If you're in a hurry to see how some of Meal-Master's advanced
features work, you can try it out with the sample recipe database
provided. Use the Import function on the Utilities menu to import
the recipes in the SAMPLE.TXT file. Then try out the search,
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Meal-Master Quick-Start
shopping list and batch print options. You can keep these recipes
and add to them, or delete the files and start your own database.
*** USING THE DATABASE ***
Meal-Master is completely menu driven and very easy to use.
ADDING RECIPES
--------------
Selecting 'A' from the main menu allows you to add new recipes to
the file. You will be prompted for the title, categories (each
recipe can reference up to five categories), and number of
servings. When asked for categories, a window will be displayed
containing all the valid category names (If more than one page of
names exist, the PGUP and PGDN keys will move through the
categories; and category names can be changed, added, or deleted
from the Maintenance/Setup menu). You can highlight the desired
category names using the up and down arrow keys, or press ESC to
type the names in directly.
Next, Meal-Master will display the ingredient screen. Enter a
quantity, unit of measure, and name for each ingredient.
The quantity can be entered as either a common fraction (i.e. 1/2)
or as the decimal equivalent (i.e. 0.5), but will be displayed in
the format selected on the Maintenance/Setup Menu (MM comes setup
to display common fractions; if you want to see decimal
equivalents, simply change the format option on the
Maintenance/Setup Menu). The quantity field will also accept an
"H", to allow a heading to be entered for a group of ingredients.
When you have entered the quantity, press the Enter key to move on
to the unit of measure field.
While the cursor is in the unit of measure field, pressing F1 will
display a window listing the valid codes you may use. Use the
PgUp, PgDn, up-arrow and down-arrow keys to view the list. You may
select a unit of measure from the list by highlighting it with the
up and down arrow keys, or press ESC and type the value in
directly. After selecting a valid code, press the return key to
move on to the ingredient name field.
Enter the ingredient name and press return to complete the
ingredient entry. When you press Enter, the cursor will
automatically move to the quantity field on the next line. You can
also move between fields using the Tab, Shift-Tab, and arrow keys.
When finished entering ingredients, pressing the ESC key will
proceed to directions entry.
Recipe directions are added using a editor similar to a word
processor. Simply type in the directions, and the cursor will
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Meal-Master Quick-Start
automatically "word-wrap" at the end of lines. You can create
multiple paragraphs by leaving a blank line, or indenting a line by
at least one space. Review the legend at the bottom of the screen
for the most common editor commands. These commands will help you
move around in the text, reformat paragraphs, delete lines, and
more. For a complete list of commands, see the printed User's
Manual.
Press ESC when the directions are complete.
SEARCHING FOR RECIPES
---------------------
Selecting 'S' from the main menu takes you to the heart of
Meal-Master. Here you can specify search criteria to find the
recipes that match. You can instruct Meal-Master to select only
those recipes that:
a) Contain a certain word or phrase in their title;
b) Reference a certain category (i.e., "Soups" or "Main Dishes");
c) Use a specific ingredient or combination of ingredients;
d) Any combination of the above three criteria.
Once you have entered your search criteria, pressing "S" will start
the search. The number and title of each recipe that qualifies
will be listed. If you start the search without entering any
search criteria, all recipes in the file will be listed. You may
also use the PgUp and PgDn keys to page forward and backward
through the list of recipes found.
With the title search criteria, you can limit the search to only
recipes whose title contains a certain word or phrase. For
example, entering "Cheesecake" would find all recipes which had the
word Cheesecake anywhere in their title. Entering "Apple.." (note
the two periods) would select all recipes whose title BEGINS with
the word Apple.
When entering the ingredient search criteria, you can specify
multiple ingredients and "connect" them with "And" and "Or" to form
complex searches. For example, you can search for "Chicken or beef
and -salt" to find all the recipes that contain EITHER Chicken or
Beef, but no salt.
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Meal-Master Quick-Start
LISTING, REVISING, and MARKING
------------------------------
As each page of recipes found in the search are displayed,
Meal-Master will pause and ask if you want to View, Print, Revise,
Mark/Clear, or Export any of the recipes found. Simply use the
arrow keys to highlight the desired recipe, then press the key
corresponding to the command you want.
Pressing Enter or "V View" will display the highlighted recipe on
the screen (if the "Serving Sizes" option on the Maintenance menu
is set to "Prompted", you will be asked for a number of servings
first).
Pressing "P" will print the recipe using the parameters specified
in the "Maintenance/Setup, Printer Setup" section of the program
(Access the Maintenance/Setup menu by pressing 'M' on the Main
Menu; there you can specify what size and type forms you are using
and enter special printer controls for type size and margins.
Pressing "R" will open the Revise menu for the highlighted recipe.
From here, you can update the selected recipe title and category
list; add, delete or revise ingredients and directions; or change
the number of servings. When changing the number of servings,
Meal-Master will ask if you want the ingredient quantities
adjusted. If you answer yes, Meal-Master will adjust all the
ingredient quantities in the same proportions as the serving size
change you have made! The Revise menu will also let you Delete a
recipe from the database. When you use this option, the recipe is
not really deleted, but just "flagged" for deletion. The recipe
can still be seen in searches and can be 'Restored' until it is
permanently deleted by use of the Rebuild option on the Maintenance
menu. This gives you a "second chance" in case you accidentally
delete a recipe!
Pressing "M" will toggle the Mark status of the highlighted recipe;
if currently unmarked it will be marked, or if currently marked it
will be unmarked. Once you have marked some recipes, you can use
the 'Shopping List' and 'Batch Print' features on the Utilities
Menu. These options only process marked recipes, allowing you to
quickly print several selected recipes, or produce a consolidated
list of ingredients to use as a shopping list!
Pressing "E" will Export the recipe to a DOS file so that it can be
exchanged with another Meal-Master user, or posted to a Bulletin
Board System (BBS) or time-share service like Prodigy, Compuserve,
or GEnie.
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Meal-Master Quick-Start
*** IMPORT/EXPORT FEATURE ***
A very useful feature of Meal-Master is its ability to export and
import recipe files. These options allow you to move recipes
between the Meal-Master database and standard DOS files, allowing
easy exchange of recipes between Meal-Master users. Thousands of
recipes are available in Meal-Master Export format, and conversion
programs are available to convert other popular formats into
Meal-Master format. Recipe files can be found on many electronic
bulletin board systems, the Compuserve Information System (tm),
GEnie (tm), and Prodigy (tm). By acquiring these files and
importing them into Meal-Master, you can build a large recipe
database with little or no typing!
Individual recipes can be Exported directly from the Search results
screen, as described above. From the Utilities menu, the
"E Export" option also allows exporting all marked recipes or a
numerical range of recipe numbers.
The Import feature is primarily designed for use with recipes
previously exported from Meal-Master, to allow easy exchange of
recipes between users. However, it includes a built-in editor and
lots of helpful messages that allow it to also be used to reformat
most other recipes into a format that Meal-Master can import.
*** SHOPPING LIST ***
After using the Search feature to "Mark" several recipes, the
Shopping list function can be selected from the Utilities menu.
The ingredients from each marked recipe will be extracted and
combined into one list, sorted alphabetically. Quantities of
ingredients that occur on multiple recipes will be combined, and
their unit of measure automatically converted when needed.
*** MORE HELP ***
This file is not intended as a complete user's manual, but as
enough information to introduce the main areas of the program so
you can try it out. These brief instructions and some
experimentation should get you started.
If you decide to keep and register Meal-Master, you will receive a
comprehensive user's manual with over 120 pages describing
Meal-Master's many features. As a registered user, you will also
receive top priority technical support should you have questions or
problems that need our help.
Page 6
Meal-Master Quick-Start
*** REGISTERING MEAL-MASTER ***
Meal-Master is shareware. That means it is not free, but you get a
chance to "try-before-you-buy". Registration is not optional, and
if you continue to use the program you need to register.
Registered users receive a registered master disk with the latest
version of Meal-Master and the User's Manual. The User's Manual is
professionally typeset and bound, with over 120 pages of
description, examples, and a helpful index. Registered users are
given complete technical support, receive discounted upgrade offers
on future releases, and receive a Registration number needed to
access features designed for registered users only.
Because of the manner in which evaluation copies are distributed,
the copy you have now may be days old or years old. When you
register, you will be assured of getting the latest version.
As an additional benefit of registration, several utility programs
are included on the registered master disk. These utilities will
allow you to customize Meal-Master's text and background colors, do
global search and replace operations on recipe categories, globally
change the format of recipe titles, and see statistics about your
recipe database, including analysis and projection of how may more
recipes can be entered based on the average size of your existing
recipes. An integrated menu utility is also provided, which puts
the main Meal-Master program and all the utility programs on a
single menu. These utilities are not shareware, and are provided
only to registered users.
The easiest way to register is by using Meal-Master itself to
generate the order form. From Meal-Master's Main Menu, select
"R Registration Menu", then "O Order Form". Simply fill in the
blanks, and then press your PRINT SCREEN key to print the form.
Mail the completed form with a check or money order in U.S. Funds
for the amount specified to:
Episoft Systems
Suite #143
10121 Evergreen Way
Everett, WA 98204
Note: Shipping is included in the registration fee for orders
within the United States. Orders shipped outside the U.S. must add
an additional $5 (U.S.) for shipping costs.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Compuserve Information Services, Prodigy, and GEnie are registered
trademarks and are not associated with Episoft Systems.
Page 7