United Public Domain Gold 2/United Public Domain Gold 2.iso/business/pb051.dms/pb051.adf/README

Text File | 1993-05-04 | 27KB | 533 lines

                              © 1993 KBE Software

                            R E M I N D E R  v1.0ß

           Written by Damon Bennett, with help from David O'Reilly.
     Written using AMOS Pro v1.0/v1.11 and AMOS v1.35 with compiler v1.36.




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                                About REMINDER:

Reminder is a calendar/Personal Organizer type program.  It does not claim to
be the best and most complete version around, but with enough user feedback it
soon will be.

Reminder uses a standard calendar type format to allow you to schedule daily or
in-day appointments, and you will be able to view these appointments in the
REMINDER program.  Appointments entered into REMINDER can be automatically
checked whenever you wish by simply executing an ARexx program.


                          Using the REMINDER editor:

To load the reminder editor, double-click on it's icon from the workbench.

When the reminder has loaded, a grey screen will appear, and the calendar and
control icons will be drawn on it.  The calendar will display the current month
and highlight the current day, according to your Amiga's system clock.  If
there are any due appointments then they will be displayed in the appointment
list.

The parts of the screen...

Along the top of the screen is the title bar, this has no productive use at
all, but simply contains the name of the program and version number, and also
the copyright message.

Under this is the main part of the screen, which is split into 4 parts, the
calendar, the control icons, the appointments list and the data entry area.

The calendar takes up most of the left side of the screen, and contains a
calendar representation of the currently selected month for the currently
selected year.  You can change months by clicking the arrow icons at the top
right of the calendar section.  This will change the month name which is
displayed above the calendar, and re-draw the calendar for that month.  If you
want to change quickly from one month to another or from year to year quickly,
then you can click on the month name icon, and then select the month and year
directly, also there is the option to re-set to the Amiga's system clock.  The
minimum year you can go to 1989, but no one is going to be scheduling
appointments for 1989 now (unless they are Dr.  Who!), and the maximum is 9999,
which is the biggest number you can get into 4 digits with base 10 number
systems.  To change from day to day is a simple as clicking on the day you want
to change to.

The control icons take up the upper right part of the screen, and are made up
of 15 icons, these are named, and explained below:

QUIT:       As you may expect, this icon allows you to quit the Reminder
            program. If you have edited any data and have not saved it, you
            are warned and given the the chance to cancel the quit or save
            the data before the quit.

ICONIFY:    This icon can be very useful if you have a hard drive, as it
            allows the Reminder program to multi-task. When this is selected
            the workbench screen is displayed to allow you to use other
            programs, and respond to system requirements. A small window is
            opened in the top left corner of the workbench display, and by
            closing this window, you can re-activate the reminder program
            and continue to use it.

ABOUT...:   This is the only big icon, and is twice as wide as the others.
            This icon will display a window on the reminder screen, giving
            general information about Reminder, and also the address of the
            author for any suggestions or criticism to be sent to.

IN-DAY:     When this icon is selected, the appointments that are being
            edited are the In-Day appointments. These are events that happen
            DURING the day, rather that day by day. There is one list of
            appointments per day, and each appointment can have it's own
            time set to warn you.

DAILY:      This is the default. When it is selected the appointments that
            you are looking at and editing are the DAILY, day to day events.
            The events listed may not happen on the current day, but could
            be events that happen on days in the future, and are only
            displayed due to the amount of advance warning you have set for
            them. Events in advance are shown in dark blue, and events for
            the current day are shown in black.

BIRTHDAY:   This icon selects the Birthdays list. This displays all the
            birthdays for any date. Any of these can be edited at any time.

HOLIDAY:    This is the same as Birthday above, but instead the events
            listed are the national holidays FOR THE CURRENT YEAR.

SAVE:       This icon saves the current list of reminders as the default
            reminders to disk. Please note, not all the reminder types
            (Daily, Birthday etc) are written, only the currently selected
            mode. This icon saves as the default file, which is automatically
            read by the reminder editor, and also the reminder checking
            programs.

RELOAD:     If you make a mistake, this icon can be very helpful. When you
            select this, the default file for the current mode only is re-
            loaded, and all the lists etc are reset ready.

SAVE AS:    If you like to have more than one set of reminder data files
            then this icon will allow you to save your data files under
            different filenames. This way you could have a set of business
            and personal reminders in separate files.

LOAD FROM:  This icon complements SAVE AS. This allows you to load a data
            file into the current mode only, and you get to specify the
            actual file that you want to load.

ADD NEW:    This icon will create a new entry for the current mode.
            The important thing to remember is that the day on the calendar
            that is selected when you create the new entry is the expiry
            date, and this is the only way to set the expiry date.
            Once the new entry is created, the normal edit options are
            shown, see below.

EDIT:       When you select the edit icon, it will become highlighted, now
            you can click on the entry that you want to edit.
            After this the edit options are displayed, these are different
            depending upon what mode you are using:
    Daily:  The options here consist of the title and 2 lines of notes.
            As well as these there are also the options for the advance
            warning that you would like, and what type of advance warning,
            however the types of advance warning only apply to the
            reminder checking programs. To edit any of these options, click
            in it's box, and if it is text, use the keyboard to enter the new
            text, if the box is an arrow, then the value next to it will be
            increased or decreased. The Delete after expiry check box can
            be turned on if you would like the reminder checking program to
            remove the current reminder from the data file after it has
            expired, the reminder editor does not delete reminders unless
            you directly tell it to.
    In-Day: Like Daily above, you can enter a title and 2 lines of notes.
            As the in-day reminders happen through the day, the extra
            options in this mode are the expiry time, the advance warning in
            minutes and the types of advance and actual warnings for this
            reminder. The expiry time is in 24 hour format, so 0 hours is
            midnight, and 12 is midday. The reminder editor will not warn
            you when a reminder is about to expire, this is done with one
            of the checking programs.
    Birth.: These two modes use exactly the same options when setting up a
    Holi.:  reminder for them. You may set a title, but no extra notes, and
            the other options are global for all the birthdays or holidays,
            depending upon what you are editing. The global advance settings
            for birthdays are not then used by holidays, and vice versa, they
            have their own separate advance warning settings. In the advance
            settings you can set how many days and months in advance you want
            warning, and also the types of warnings for advance and actual
            warnings. Of course, as the reminder program displays all of the
            birthdays or holidays, it won't be able to tell you when one is
            due, the reminder checker programs do this.

DELETE:     When this icon is selected, it will be highlighted, and now you
            will need to click on a reminder in the appointment list to
            delete it. Before the appointment is deleted, you are asked if
            you are sure that you want to delete it, now you can cancel the
            delete if you change your mind, of if you selected the wrong
            appointment. If you do select cancel, then please note that the
            delete icon is still highlighted, and allows you to immediately
            select a different appointment to delete. If you selected yes
            at the 'Are you sure' check, then that appointment is removed
            from the list, and the list re-drawn to move everything together.

SEARCH...:  The search icon only works in In-Day or Daily modes, as all of
            the reminders are listed in birthday and holiday modes.
            When you have selected search, a number of options will appear:
            You can enter the text that you want to look for in the SEARCH
            STRING box. To be able to do a search, you must have a text
            string in this box, otherwise there is nothing to search for.
            The CASE SENSITIVE check icon allows to select whether you want
            the search to be case sensitive or not. This this off, the
            reminder editor ignores the case (upper/lower case) of the text
            string you selected and the data it is looking at, and with it
            on the cases in the data being searched must match your search
            string exactly.
            The two SEARCH ??? icons allow you to select whether you want
            the reminder to search the titles or the notes. You can select
            only one of them, either SEARCH TITLE or SEARCH NOTES, or you
            can also select both of them at the same time, however you must
            have at least 1 selected, else there is nothing to search on.
            At the bottom of the screen now are the search control icons,
            these are 4 icons, 3 of them start the search and one cancels
            the search. FORGET IT cancels the search altogether and allows
            you to carry on using the reminder normally. FROM START will tell
            the reminder editor to start to search for your data from the
            start of the reminder list. If you are just starting a new
            search, then you should select this first before the other 2
            icons. NEXT ONE will allow you to search for the next appointment
            with the current search settings. If you change the search
            settings then you should use FROM START first. PREVIOUS ONE will
            do the opposite of next one, it will look backwards from the
            last found appointment for the data you want it to search for.

The middle right part of the screen contains the current appointments list.
You can move up and down this list by using the slider bar and arrows if there
is more reminders than can fit on screen at once.  By clicking on a item in
this list, you can get more information on that reminder, and depending upon
what mode you are in, you will get different options, for example, if you
selected a daily reminder, then you are told when it expires, and given the
choice to go to the expiry date, edit this reminder or do nothing.  However, if
you have selected either EDIT or DELETE and then selected a reminder from the
list, then you will edit or delete that reminder.  If you have selected DELETE
then you are given a double-check chance before the reminder is actually
deleted, as deleting is not undoable.  If you start editing something by
accident, then simply select the Cancel icon.

At the bottom of the screen, there is normally a large blank space, however if
you select some other option, then it may display some more icons and controls
down there for you to change.  Once you have finished with whatever function it
was, then the area at the bottom of the screen is cleared again.


                     Using the Reminder Checking programs:

There are 3 reminder checking programs, one for the Daily reminders, one for
the In-Day reminders and one for the Birthdays and Holidays.
These programs are all written in ARexx, so therefore you must have a copy of
the ARexx programming language to be able to use them.  If you have a hard
drive or are installing the reminder onto your workbench disk then you should
already have ARexx.

Installing REMINDER on a Hard Drive.

To install reminder on a hard drive, click once on the install icon, hold down
either shift key and then double-click on the icon for where you want the
reminder placing.  The installation program will ask you if you want to install
this documentation, simply answer Y for yes or N for no.  If you have ARexx on
your hard drive, the installer will detect it and install the checker programs
in to your REXX:  directory, S:  directory if you don't have REXX:  set up.
The installer does not alter your start-up sequence to execute the checker
programs, see below for instructions on doing this.

Installing REMINDER on another disk.

Follow the same instructions as for Hard Drive, but instead select the floppy
disk you want the programs to go onto instead.  To give you an idea of how much
room is needed, the following is a guide of the size of each main part of the
reminder system in bytes:

        Reminder Editor program             85 Kbytes
        Reminder Checking Programs          16 Kbytes
        README documentation                25 Kbytes (+ 11Kbytes PPMORE)

Installing ARexx on the Reminder Disk.

It is perfectly possible to actually install ARexx onto the reminder disk, and
then have the reminder disk run the checking programs when you boot it up.  To
to this, double click on the 'Install AREXX' icon after you have booted from
the reminder disk, now the installation will ask you for the ARexx system disk,
this is normally your Workbench disk, and then it will scan the disk, finding
the files it needs and copying them over to the Reminder Disk.  Also, the
startup-sequence on the reminder disk will be altered to make it automatically
run the checking programs.

Adding the Checker programs to the startup-Sequence.

Load an editor program, and read your startup-sequence into it.
First, make sure that if you have an Arexx script directory, that there is an
assign to it called 'REXX:', and also make sure that the RexxMast program is
run.  After these two are set-up in your startup-sequence, you can enter the
commands to start the Checker programs.
If you want the Daily checker program run, then insert the line:
    RX DAILY-REMIND
If you want the In-Day checker running, then insert the line:
    RUN >NIL: RX INDAY-REMIND
And if you want the birthdays/holidays checker run, then insert the line:
    RX OTHER-REMIND

Please note, the daily and other reminder programs are run once only, as this
is all that is required.  You may re-run the programs from a CLI or SHELL by
using the same lines as above.  However, the In-Day checker is constantly run,
and every minute or so quickly checks to see if there are any appointments due.
When it is run, it scans the data file and picks out all the reminders for the
current day, and then when they are due, a window may pop-up, or your amiga
will SPEAK to you to tell you what the reminder is, all depending on what you
set as the advance and actual warning types as.
IMPORTANT:
To run the reminder checking programs, you must have the following things set
up first, for each, and example line of startup-sequence is given so you know
what to enter or look out for ...

Speak must be mounted.  An entry must be in the mountlist for it,
Narrator.Device must be in DEVS:, Speak-Handler must be in L:  and
Translator.Library must be in LIBS:.  Also the following line must be in the
startup-sequence:  MOUNT SPEAK:

ARexx must be started.  The files REXXSYSLIB.Library and REXXSUPPORT.Library
must be present in the LIBS:  directory, a directory called RexxC must be
present, and have a entry made for the Amiga to search there on it's command
path (PATH SYS:REXXC ADD), also the REXXMAST program must be present, normally
found in the SYSTEM drawer.  The startup-sequence should have the line
SYS:SYSTEM/REXXMAST to start the ARexx interpreter.

A path must be made for ARexx scripts.  A directory called REXX should be made,
and a line in the startup-sequence:  ASSIGN REXX:  SYS:REXX/ included to set it
up.  Now ARexx will look here for programs such as the Checking programs,
otherwise it looks in S:, and then the current directory.

Below is a simple example section of a startup-sequence, including all the
above mentioned commands ...

Assign REXX: SYS:Rexx/
Path sys:c sys:system sys:s sys:rexxc add
Mount Speak:
RexxMast
RX Daily-Remind
RX Other-Remind
Run >Nil: RX InDay-Remind
LoadWB delay
EndCLi >Nil:

An entry in the Mountlist for speak would be:

/* MountList for V2.0 */

/* This is an example of a non-filing system mount using a handler written
   in C.
*/

SPEAK:
    Handler = L:Speak-Handler
    Stacksize = 6000
    Priority = 5
    GlobVec = -1
#

The following would be example listings of the Libs:, L:, Devs:  and system
directories:

Directory "libs:" on Sunday 02-May-93
diskfont.library           51200 ---arwed 16-Jul-91 15:17:17
icon.library                5688 ---arwed 14-Nov-78 01:43:03
iffparse.library            7964 ----rwed 04-Jun-92 07:39:58
info.library               16380 ---arwed 14-Nov-78 01:43:07
mathieeedoubbas.library     5244 ---arwed 20-Jul-92 15:29:25
mathieeedoubtrans.library   16584 ---arwed 20-Jul-92 15:29:26
mathieeesingtrans.library   10428 ---arwed 20-Jul-92 15:29:27
mathtrans.library           4280 ---arwed 20-Jul-92 15:29:28
rexxsupport.library         2524 ---arwed 20-Jul-92 15:29:32
rexxsyslib.library         33392 ---arwed 20-Jul-92 15:29:32
translator.library         10524 ---arwed 20-Jul-92 15:29:29
version.library              384 ---arwed 20-Jul-92 15:29:29
12 files - 738 blocks used

Directory "l:" on Sunday 02-May-93
Disk-Validator              1848 ---arwed 14-Nov-78 01:41:56
Ram-Handler                 6464 ---arwed 14-Nov-78 01:42:03
Speak-Handler               4188 ---arwed 20-Jul-92 15:29:53
3 files - 32 blocks used

Directory "devs:" on Sunday 02-May-93
clipboards                   Dir ---arwed 21-Sep-92 20:10:47
keymaps                      Dir ---arwed 27-Nov-92 19:39:19
printers                     Dir ---arwed 05-Dec-92 20:06:21
narrator.device            65760 ---arwed 20-Jul-92 15:28:20
system-configuration         232 ---arwed 20-Jul-92 15:28:23
mountlist                   2543 ----rw-d 19-Apr-93 15:54:29
3 files - 3 directories - 36 blocks used

Directory "sys:system" on Sunday 02-May-93
CLI                         2156 ---arwed 20-Jul-92 14:58:14
CLI.info                     722 ---arwed 15-Sep-92 18:46:38
DiskCopy                   16128 ---arwed 21-Jul-92 12:44:27
DiskCopy.info                454 ---arwed 15-Sep-92 18:46:37
format                     13676 ---arwed 20-Jul-92 14:58:16
Format.info                  454 ---arwed 15-Sep-92 18:46:37
RexxMast                    2364 ---arwed 20-Jul-92 14:58:17
RexxMast.info                454 ---arwed 15-Sep-92 18:46:37
8 files - 26 blocks used


Other KBE news:

The latest version of our very popular Sound Sampling program; 'Super Sound'
has been out on release for a couple of months now.  This new version is v3.2,
and boasts the following features:

     · Sampling into all available CHIP memory from LEFT, RIGHT, STEREO or
       MONO sampling modes. Samples edited in Stereo or Mono mode.
     · 28 effects can be added to the sample in memory, including variable
       echoes, reverbs, boosts, filters, flanges etc etc.
     · Oscilloscope display
     · Load and save in IFF or RAW format
     · Hardcopy of samples to pritner
     · Full repeating supported
     · Full set of editing features, icluding basic functions like CUT, COPY
       and PASTE. Selecting parts of the sample to edit is as simple as
       clicking and dragging.
     · Useful comand icons always on screen
     · Seperate REALTIME EFFECTS GENERATOR program - perfect for karaoke!
     · Sample Keyboard player - play your samples on the Amiga keyboard
     · Full, complete documentation on disk explaining in detail every feature
     · in Super Sound and it's companion programs
     · Hard Drive installable - Program supplied to do the job for you.
     · Printed Manual available - Detailed and easy to follow tutorial manual
       available designed for the complete novice, over 30 A4 pages with
       quick reference sheet, trouble shooting guide, hints and tips and much
       more - a real bargin at only £7. - Includes disk full of samples, most
       for use with the tutorials.
     · Fully compatable with ALL amigas. Kickstart 1.3/2.x and 3.x compatable.
       Also fully compatable with ALL chipsets - Original, ECS and AGA(AA).
       Loves a faster processor, as most effects are time-consuming.

      Look out later in 1993 for a new sampling program from Microdeal...
                             M E G A L O S O U N D
           ...written by David O'Reilly, the author of Super Sound.
                  See press later this year for more details.


                                  Reminder v2

This program will only emerge with good user feedback.  This program is the
first 'rush' version, and a much more professional version could easily be
written, but it would be nice to know what people thought of this program.
Yes, it is overall very messy, and the AREXX checking programs are a pain up
the arse, but these would be changed for proper executable programs, and the
editor would be written much more professionally.  After all, it will be a CLR
licenseware title.


                                 New Members:

If you think you are good enough to join the elite PD and licenseware
programming team in the UK, then please write to us.  We would be very grateful
for graphics artists and musicians, also people with other specialist talent
like game designing, several degrees in mathematics, a good few art diplomas
etc etc.  If you are a programmer, then please feel free to join, anyone who
can tell us anything about 'C' is very very welcome, we are currently trying to
lear this ourselves.  The only type of programmer we would not like is the tyoe
who thinks the sun shines out from AmigaBASIC (in other words - a total dick
head).


                               Quick Greetings:

This is the first greetings list since Super Sound!  - This is the first
program SINCE Super Sound!!!

Greetings first, to...

Hakan Sundell and Ron Birk - I will remember to write back to you one day!
Darren Bint - Thanks for the windows 'errors' - just like a PC to be so crap.
Paul Wheeler - Thanks for writing to us, it was a great morale boost.
               The ideas for that RPG game sounds great, Dave reackons it'll
               be dead difficult - then again he's only been writing sampling
               programs for about a year and a half now!!
John Symes - The big gun at Microdeal - Thanks for the job.
Commodore - A BIG thanks for the new AGA chipset - PC users - swivel!!!
Tony Horgan and the rest of the gang at CU Amiga-
     Great magazine - thanks for aggreeing to review Super Sound for us Tone,
     but will your magazine give a regular tutorial to show how to use it?
     Please please please please please!!! Grovel grovel.
The guys at Amiga Computing - So you now know that there is one VERY good bit
     of PD sampling program - 'Stay well away' says some tosser in a feature
     on, supposidely, all forms of music programs - the whole bloody article
     waffled on about MED this, MED that!!! No brains, no brains at all!
     Anyway - that out the way - Thanks for the great write-up!
Amiga Format - Thanks for the great review a long while ago for the OLD OLD OLD
               Super Sound v2.1 - Public Domain verison to the now deceased to
               be licenseware Super Sound v2.1a. How you gave it 87% I do not
               know!!!!
Commodore again - hurry up and bring out he DSP - Make sure it goes on to A1200
                  as well .... cos I may be getting one soon - I was going to
                  have a nice big A4000-040!!!!

Now some very special thanks to ....

Amiga Computing:
     A very big thank you for the good review you cave Super Sound v3.2.

CU Amiga & Tony Horgan:
     Thanks very much for offering to review Super Sound v3.2 and it's manual.
     I look forward to next months issue, where hopefully it will be reviewed!

PD-Direct, John and Pete:
     Thanks for buying numerous Catalogue disks from us. It just goes to show
     how good they must be if you are happy to buy more than one catalogue
     from us. Other PD libraries - get in touch if YOU want a top-quality
     database catalogue written for you. Also a big thanks for distributing
     Super Sound for us, and finding a large chunk of you advert for it.

Amiganuts & Mark Meany:
     Thanks for originally aggreeing to distribute Super Sound v3.2 for us,
     but there was no point really, as you are now a fully blown CLR dis-
     tributor!!

CLR Licenseware outlets:
     Many Many thanks for selling Super Sound and finding space for it in your
     adverts. It's a shame sales haven't been doing so well lately, maybe now
     the good reviews will alter that!!

NBS and Paul Ciupek:
     Thanks very much for keping in touch and taking on Super Sound into CLR in
     the first place.
     NBS is one hell of a good library, unlike most other PD libraries that are
     only interested in making a bit of money and sod the authors, NBS really
     understand what goes on behind the scenes. NBS is a member of UPD, the
     United Public Domain Distributors, and always maintains a very, very high
     standard of service. With possibly a good few thousand titles always in
     stock, it isn't likely that there isn't a program there that you are look-
     ing for! Look for the double-spread UPD adverts in CU Amiga magazines (the
     best Amiga magazine). Termly newsbooklet available from NBS for only 25p!