Amiga MA Magazine 1998 #3/amigamamagazinepolishissue1998.iso/bazy/addiction0_8un/addiction_smalldoc.txt

Text File | 1996-10-13 | 8KB | 195 lines

-------------------------------
Addiction v0.8 documentation
BETA RELEASE

The documentation which is
relatively short is also a beta
-------------------------------

1. English No Good ?

Well I have written this documentation after only some years of practice,
so it is certainly crippled with errors. Please consider that I am french
and English is not my natural language, so if you don't like this documentation
because of some majors language flaws there are still some solutions :

- correct it and send it back to me (address somewhere in this doc).
- send me an insult mail ... in french of course.
- don't read it, I don't force you.

This is also the first documentation I wrote so I hope it is useful.

2. Introduction

Like you dear reader I am a Magic: The Gathering addict. I started playing
this game in 1994 and I was caught forever by the gameplay. Since I was
also a student in computer science and by the way a computer user I started
to look for a nice solution to manage my card collection using the computer.
But after some hours of "Aminet Index Reading" I did not found any utilities
to manage my ever growing card collection, so I started to write mine's and
YOU are now reading the documentation of this utilities. I hope that this
little proggys will help to fill a gap in Amiga DP by providing an easy to
use, convenient, powerful, flexible ... bzzzz not enough superlative error...
way of managing your card set without buying a ...censored... PeeCee to handle
the task under the dreaded "yes I am launching 16 bits apps under my 64 bits
processor" Windows. So just try it and get ... addicted !!!

3. Some miscelanous questions.

3.1 Why this old style, plain ASCII documentation ?


Personnally I don't like Amigaguide documentation when I read a documentation
for the first time. I like to follow the author's mind without having to
move my mouse around the screen to read 3 lines of text then go back and so
on... That's why I provide a plain ASCII documentation, but since I don't do
any racism against Amigaguide I also provide the same documentation in
amigaguide for further reference. That means IF YOU READ the amigaguide
documentation first, my utility will self destruct :). (you have been warned)

3.2 Why a documentation after all ?

That's right, I am writting wonderful software which does not need any
documentation if used by normal people but a recent analyse demonstrated that
my software is only used by dumb people... err I reformulate...
This software is simple and intuitive to use, normally you can use it
without even reading the documentation but there's one or two features
which deserve explanation to be used at full power and that's why there's
a documentation which speak even about easy to understand concept.


3.3 Why the version number is 0.8 and not 1.0 ?

When I started coding this utility, I had a clear vision of what I wanted
to do. But (there's always a but in my answers) some of the advanced functions
I planned to insert needed some knoweledge I did not have, for example the
filter function must work with a regular expression, that means using lex
and yacc to create the grammar and so on or I will only study this part of
computer science this year but don't worry it just a matter of time before
the release 1.0.


4. Registration.

As you have already noticed this utility is a shareware. I suppose that all
of you know what a shareware is, so I will not explain that again. The
shareware version of Addiction is almost fully functionnal, the only
missing functions are not key features for the usability of the software.
So why registering ?? Firstly by registering you will get a fully functionnal
version with all the bell and whistles you will ever want. Furthermore you
will encourage me to continue this software which recquired a lot of my time
so far. You will also help the famous association "Fund for Stéphane's Power
Amiga" which, if successfull, will provide nice software like this one for
the next generation of Amiga. I know that registration cost money but, well,
it is good used money (for me at least :) ). The registration fee is not so
high and you can even pay using Magic card. SO DON'T HESITATE, GIVE ME MONEY.

4.1 Registration fee.

The registration fee is 50 French francs, that means around 10$ and the
equivalent amount in any currency (I hope a not so exotic one !!!).
You can pay using fresh cash correctly enclosed against nasty mailmen.
You can send me cheque only from a French bank since I don't want to pay
100FF to get 50FF !! If you are hooked to the net you can also use an
universal money called "Magic card", simply send me a mail to negociate
your registration using "Magic: The gathering" card or boosters, or
Netrunner boosters.

4.2 What will you get by registering ?

You will get the latest fully functionnal version of addiction and all the
updates until next major release. (don't be affraid I don't make "microsoft
like" version warping). At this moment you will get version 1.0 trough
1.999z

4.3 Where to register ?

Here are my coordinates (valid until june 1997) :

Becker Stéphane
14a rue du ballon
67100 Strasbourg
France

EMail: [e-mail]

5. Software description.


Each time you launch the utility you start under the main window. This
window give you access to the three main function of the software :

- card database.
- deck construction.
- deck analyser (statistics and so on...)

You access the different function by using the notebook. You can quit the
application either by closing this window or either by selecting the quit
option in the menu.

5.1 Main Window menu

The menu which is attached to the main menu give you access to some basic
functions of the program which are :

- card database loading and saving.
- printing functions (not yet fully available).
- exportation and importation function (not yet available too).
- quit function (fully available :) ).

5.2 Card database window.

You access this window by selecting "card database" checker in the main window
. This window give you access to all functions which deal with card management.
Here you can enter all your beloved Magic card. You have just to use the buttons
at the bottom of the screen which are, I think, prety explicit !! Adding a
new card or editing an existing one will pop-up the edit card window where
you can enter or modify all caracteristics of a given card. Normally everything
you will ever want to know about a card is recorded in this database but
if you think there are some things that could be asked (like the card illustrator's
hair cut) just mail me your request.

List of buttons :

Add, pop up the new card window and add it to the list.
Edit, pop up the card window, change the value and add it to the list.
Delete, delete the selected card.
Find, find a card (not available in the unregistred version).
Filter, filter the card list (not available in the unregistred version).
Sort, modify the sort criteria of the card list.

5.3 Deck constructor window

The deck constructor is also very easy to use (I know that I am a master in
self explained programms). The upper list is used to list (it's original)
the different card used in your deck, the lower textfield will contains all
your clever remarks about the deck. Two explicit "Load & save" buttons are
also here. Use the add button to add card to your deck and the delete one
to remove some.

5.4 Statistics Window.

This windows is not usable in the unregistred version since it is disabled
(bouhh f*****g coder). The registered version features the "draw some
cards" possibility with deck info and so on...

6. Future

This product is still a work in progress... I am open to all suggestions
about enhancements, features to implement and so on. So feel free
to send bug reports and suggestion to [e-mail]

The 1.0 version will feature all scheduled function plus certainly more !!

1.0 version will feature :

- Filter and Find functions active.
- Duelist Deck Type active.
- Arexx Port
- Scrye and Cloister price list import
- several other deck, card list format import, export (ultradeck - scribe... )
- Print functions supporting PCL Printer
- a www suport site (under construction)
- some championships deck.
- the full magic card list.