Amiga MA Magazine 1998 #3/amigamamagazinepolishissue1998.iso/bazy/demo/english/txt/comic.doc

Text File | 1995-04-14 | 37KB | 859 lines

            Documentation for Comic - Manager

                (by Andreas Zottmann)



  Comic-Manager is a program for collectors of comics, magazines or novels.
With different kinds of evaluations you are able to get a good survey of
your collection. The most important program item concerns the
printing of the data. It is possible to print the data as a small book
which you can take everywhere.


  In the following text some areas are marked with a box. The remarks in
the boxes refer only to the demo version and show some restrictions.
The full version has all functions.

1. Installation


If you have the Commodore Installer, you can install the program by
clicking "InstallComicDemo" or "InstallComic", resp.

Otherwise do the following : (1-6)

 1. If you have installed the demo of Comic-Manager, and you want to
    install the full version and use the data you created with the demo,
    you simply have to drag the program 'comic' out of the directory
    'english' into the directory where you have installed the demo.
    Please delete the program 'comicDemo'.

    Otherwise please do step 2-6.

 2. Copy the directory 'english' to your hard disk or to an empty disk
    (the easiest way is to pull the drawer 'english' at the right place).

 3. Rename the drawer into 'Comic'.

 4. After that you have to copy the needed Fonts. To do this klick on
    'InstallFontsNTSC' if you want to use an NTSC monitor or
    'InstallFontsPAL' for a PAL monitor. (You can also install both
    fonts). These scripsts are in the scripts drawer.

 5. If you have the full version, then go to your new directory 'Comic'
    and start the program InstComic. It creates two directories.
    ('comdat' ist used for the data of your comics and 'comp' for
    management data.)
    You can delete InstComic after that, because you don't need it
    later.

 6. If you have the demo version then please check the directory 'Comic'.
    In this directory there must be an empty directory 'comdat'
    ( without icon ). If there is no such directory you have to open a new
    drawer with this name.


 At the installation you can choose two important parameters.
   _______________________________________________________________________
  |                                                                       |
  | This parameters are fixed in the ComicDemo. The number of conditions  |
  | is 5 and the price unit is 0.50.                                      |
  |_______________________________________________________________________|


  The parameters are
     a) the number of conditions

        When you use Comic-Manager you have to assign a condition to each
        of your numbers. The condition is a digit from 0 to 9 which
        determines the quality of the comic book. 0 is the best condition.
        You have to choose the number of conditions that you want. You can't
        change this value later, so you should be very careful, what you
        choose. I suggest that you first write a list with criteria how to
        criticize your comics. With this list you can decide how many
        conditions you want. The maximal number of conditions is 10, the
        minimal is 1. In the last case no conditions will be used.

     b) the price unit

        You can choose a unit from 0.01 to 100.0. When you use prices in
        the Comic-Manager, they will be rounded on this unit. If you
        choose for example the unit 0.50 only prices like 0.00, 0.50,
        1.00, 1.50 ... are possible, with the unit 0.10 0.00, 0.10,
        0.20, 0.30 ... would be possible. This unit also determines the
        maximal price. I suggest to choose a unit of 0.10 or 0.50. The
        higher values should be used in countries, where the unit of the
        currency has a small value.

    Warning ! Be very careful what you choose because you can't change
    this values.
    ( The only possibility to change them is to delete the directories
    'comp' and 'comdat' and to repeat the installation with InstComic.
    All your inputs will be deleted ! You can do this if you want to
    test different values before you decide which values you want to
    use. )

  The installation is now completed.


2. Description of the program items

    The most program items are easy to use and therefore you should try
  to use the program and only look up the description if you have problems.
  Before you want to print something the first time please choose the item
  "Printer Preferences" and change the values for your printer.

    There are two important things you should know. First you can quit
  the program (nearly) always with the close gadget (top left corner) or
  go back to the main menu with the escape key (Esc). The second thing is
  that you can't use all functions of the program when you use it the
  first time. After you have entered some titles they should all work.

    Some remarks to the used words : "title" stands for one kind of comics,
  "number" for a single number. For example "Micky Mouse" is the title and
  "Micky Mouse 80, Nr. 5" is one number (year 80, number 5). The
  abbreviation CR stands for the return key.

2.1 Numbers

    The item "Numbers" includes all functions, which work with single
  numbers.

2.1.1 Input

    Here you can enter single numbers. At first you are asked for the
  title. You can enter it with the keyboard or select it with the cursor
  keys (up, down). With this keys you can go to the next or previous title
  in the list of existing titles. When you hold a shift key you go 10 titles
  forward or backward. Only those titles are accepted that you made up in
  "New Titles". There is an other way of fast input with the tab key.
  Enter only the beginning of the title (e.g. 'mic' instead of
  'Micky Maus') and press the tab key. Now the title will be completed as
  far as it is possible. If the title is not the only one with this
  beginning the completing will be done to the point where the titles
  differ. You can then enter the next characters and press the tab key
  again. (If you have an other title 'Mickyvision' 'mic' will be completed
  to 'Micky'.)

    If the title has years you can now input the volume. After that you can
  enter the number, the condition and the quantity. Then the cursor jumps
  to the first line and you can continue with the next number. If there
  is a value shown in the input field you can take it over by only pressing
  CR. You can stop the input of numbers by pressing esc.

  If you enter a number which lays in an excluded area (see "Exclude
  Areas"), this number is included again.

2.1.2 Search


    With this item you can first select the title of the comic from a list.
  Then you can input the year and the number. After that the data of this
  number will be shown or a message, if it does not exist.
  With esc you can go back to the main menu.

2.1.3 Delete

    As in item 2.1.2 a number is selected and it's data shown. After a
  confirmation the number will be deleted if you haven't stopped with esc.
  If you have this issue several times you will be asked how many of them
  shall be deleted, and which conditions.

2.2 Titles

    This item summarizes all items that are concerned with complete titles.

2.2.1 New Titles

    With this subitem you can make up new titles. First you have to input
  the name, which must be different from all already existing titles. If
  you have two kinds of numbers with the same name you have to choose
  different names for the titels to distinguish between them. In such a
  case it is reasonable to use the title and subtitle or to use the title
  and the publishers (maybe abbreviated).


    The next input is the first year that is the year in which the first
  number of the title was published. If you don't know this year you can
  use the year of the oldest issue you have or use an estimation. You only
  need to enter this year if the title is numbered with volumes. Otherwise
  only type a full-stop (.) .

    If you have entered the first year you have to enter the last year that
  is the last year in which issues of this title were published. After that
  please input the last number that is the last number in the last year.
  With this inputs you have specified an area for your numbers. You can
  extend this area at any time with the item "Extend Title", restrict it
  with "Exclude Areas" or change it with "Change Basic Data".

  Then you can specify the highest number in a year that is the number
  of issues per volume. The default value is 53, which is a wise value for
  numbers that are issued weekly.
  Warning ! Some titles have volumes with different numbers of issues.
  Choose the maximal number.

    If you have a title which is numbered without volumes, you can enter
  the first number after typing the full-stop. This should be 1, but there
  are titles that start with zero or with higher numbers. Then enter the
  last number of the title.

    After this specifications you can decide if you want to include the
  title in the default list for printing. In the item 'Print' you can choose
  the titles you want to print. For example you can choose this default
  list, and then all this titles will be printed. It stands to reason that
  you can also select titles which are not in this list.

    Then you have to choose if the title has prices. When you type 'y'
  you can enter the prices immediately. That works as in 'Input Price'.
  If you have a price catalogue you can take over the values. After
  that you can resume with the next title or go to the main menu with
  esc.

    A special case are titles which are numbered partly with and partly
  without volumes. Here it is a good policy to divide the title in two, one
  with and one without volumes.

    You can change the data you entered here in the item 'Change Basic
    Data'.

   _______________________________________________________
  |                              |
  | For the demo the number of titles is restricted to 5. |
  |_______________________________________________________|


2.2.2 Exclude Areas

    Here you can first choose the title out of a list. Then you can enter
  the area that shall be excluded that is the start and end number.

    This item can be used, if you have a title where some numbers don't
  exist. This numbers will be marked especially and won't be listed as
  missing any more. An example is the german comic "Zack". In volume 80
  there are only the numbers 1-5 and 11-32. The numbers 6-10 can therefor
  be excluded. This is similar for titles with volumes, where different
  volumes have different numbers of numbers. In the item 'new titles' it was
  noted that you should choose the maximal value in such a case. For the
  volumes with less numbers you should exclude the not existing numbers
  at the end of the volume. For example if a title is published weekly that
  are 52 numbers in a year, but in some years there may be 53 numbers. So
  you can choose 53 numbers per year and exclude the number 53 in years that
  have only 52 numbers.

    An other case happens if a title has only numbers and the numbers don't
  start with 1. Here you can exclude the area from 1 to the start number
  minus one, but it is better to enter the correct number in the item
  'New Titles' or 'Change Basic Data'.

2.2.3 Input Price

    Here you have also to select the title from a list. After that all
  existing numbers will be displayed, and you can input the price. After you
  have entered the price of a number you can enter the year and the number
  up to which the same price is valid. All numbers from the displayed to the
  entered one will get the same price.

    With the F1 key you can enter a new start number from which on the price
  should be entered. With the F2 key the next number will be shown that has
  an other price than the displayed one.

2.2.4 Extend Title
2.2.4.1 Extend Title

    After selecting a title you can input the number up to which the title
  shall be extended. The place for this new numbers will be prepared.

2.2.4.2 Search Last Number

    For the selected title the year and the number of the last number will
  be shown.

2.2.5 Delete Title

    With this item you first have to select a title, which will be deleted
  after a confirmation. The data of this title are lost after that. If you
  only want to delete a single number please use the item 'Delete Numbers'.

2.2.6 Evaluation

2.2.6.1 List Present Numbers
2.2.6.2 List Missing Numbers
2.2.6.3 List Multiple Numbers

    In this three items you first have to select a title. After that the
  present, missing or multiple numbers of this title will be listed on the
  screen. You have the possibility to choose a new start number with the
  F1 key. If you list present or multiple numbers you can also switch to an
  update mode with F2. Then you can update the conditions of the numbers.
  One number will be shown with its conditions. You can take them over with
  the CR key or change them by entering new values. If you press F2 a second
  time you will get back to the listing mode, and the listing will continue.

2.2.6.4 Evaluation of Condition

2.2.6.4.1 One Title
2.2.6.4.2 Select Titles
2.2.6.4.3 All Titles

    With this items you can get statistics about one title, a selection of
  titles or about all titles. The selection works as in 'Print a Book :
  Select Titles'.

    For each condition it will be shown how many numbers there are with this
  condition and their value. The value is weighted with a factor. After
  that the total number will be shown, and how many numbers are missing
  or multiple. The percentage of conditions will be shown with a diagram.

2.2.6.5 Print
2.2.6.5.1 Select Titles
2.2.6.5.1.1 Present Numbers
2.2.6.5.1.2 Missing Numbers
2.2.6.5.1.3 Multiple Numbers

    You first have to select some titles from a list. The numbers of this
  titles will be printed as a list that means the printing will look like
  the lists from the items 2.2.6.1-3. Only the present, missing or multiple
  numbers will be printed, depending on which item you have chosen.

2.2.6.5.2 Print One Title

    The numbers of one title will be printed as list.


2.2.6.5.3 Print a Book : Select Titles

    First a list will be shown with the existing titles. The color of each
  title shows whether it is selected or not. By clicking on a title you can
  switch between selected and not selected. If you want to switch several
  titles point at the first title, hold the left mouse key, move to the last
  title and release the key.
    Below the list there are three buttons. With the 'default' button you
  can choose all titles you have included in the default list for printing
  in the item 'New titles'. With 'all' you select all titles and with 'none'
  none. If you have for example many titles and you only want to print a
  few, the easiest way is to press 'none' and select the titles.
  The rest is the same as in the next section.

2.2.6.5.4 Print a Book : One Title

    The data of a title (or of several titles) will be printed in a
  compressed way. You can build a small book, which you can take on flea
  markets, for example as a list of missing numbers.

    After you have selected the title(s) you can specify which numbers
  shall be printed. The following items are available :

   o present numbers        o price for present numbers
   o missing numbers        o price for missing numbers
   o only double numbers    o condensed price
   o condensed
   o with conditions
   o condensed with restricted condition

  You can also select several items, but not all combinations are allowed
  ( 50 combinations are available and more or less wise ). The items will
  be explained now, where the following example will be used :

  The title "Micky Maus" (the german version of "Micky Mouse") is to be
  printed. In volume 90 there are the numbers 2 to 10, 35,38,40 and 52 with
  the condition 1, the numbers 15 to 16, 36, 37 and 38 with condition 2 and
  the numbers 30, 40 to 50 with condition 3 present. In volume 91 number 2
  and 3 is present with condition 0.

  Present Numbers : The present numbers of the selected title(s) will be
  printed. The example would look like this :

  Micky Maus <<90>> 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,15,16,30,35,36,37,38,40,41,42,
  43,44,45,46,47,48,49,50,52,<<91>> 2,3

  The year is marked with pointed brackets and the number is printed if
  at least one comic is present.

  Missing Numbers : If this item is selected and "Present Numbers" not that
  would look like this :

  Micky Maus ...
  ...
  ...     <<90>> 1,11,12,13,14,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,
  31,32,33,34,39,51,<<91>> 1,4,5,6, ...

  The periods are not printed, they are shown here only to indicate that
  there are volumes before and after the shown volumes. If "Present Numbers"
  is selected at the same time, the present and the missing numbers will
  be printed. To distinguish them, the missing numbers are printed in
  brackets :

  Micky Maus ...
  ...
  ...     <<90>> (1),2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,(11),(12),(13),(14),15,16,(17),
  (18),(19),(20),(21),(22),(23),(24),(25),(26),(27),(28),(29),30,(31),
  (32),(33),(34),35,36,37,38,(39),40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,48,49,50,(51),
  52,<<91>> (1),2,3,(4),(5),(6), ...

  only multiples : Only multiple numbers will be printed :

  Micky Maus <<90>> 38,40,

  condensed : If there is a series of numbers one after the other, not each
  one will be printed, only first to last :

  Micky Maus <<90>> 2-10,15-16,30,35-38,40-50,52,<<91>> 2-3

  with condition : for each number the condition is printed after a colon :

  Micky Maus <<90>> 2:1,3:1,4:1,5:1,6:1,7:1,8:1,9:1,10:1,15:2,16:2,30:3,
  35:1,36:2,37:2,38:1,40:1,41:3,42:3,43:3,44:3,45:3,46:3,47:3,48:3,
  49:3,50:3,52:1,<<91>> 2:0,3:0

  For multiple numbers (38 and 40) only the best condition is shown.

  condensed with restricted condition : This item will be explained in
  detail below.

  Price for present numbers : For the present numbers the price will be
  printed. This works only for titles that have prices. If in the example
  the numbers up to volume 90 number 30 have the price 1.00 DM (or $) and
  after that 3.00 DM ($) that would look like this :

  Micky Maus <<90>> 2 ¹·°°,3 ¹·°°,4 ¹·°°,5 ¹·°°,6 ¹·°°,7 ¹·°°,8 ¹·°°,
  9 ¹·°°,10 ¹·°°,15 ¹·°°,16 ¹·°°,30 ¹·°°,35 ³·°°,36 ³·°°,37 ³·°°,
  38 ³·°°,40 ³·°°,41 ³·°°,42 ³·°°,43 ³·°°,44 ³·°°,45 ³·°°,46 ³·°°,
  47 ³·°°,48 ³·°°,49 ³·°°,50 ³·°°,52 ³·°°,<<91>> 2 ³·°°,3 ³·°°

  The price is raised after the number.

  Price for missing numbers : This corresponds to the last item but the
  price is printed for missing numbers.

  Price condensed : The price is often the same for large areas and so it is
  enough to show it only at changes. With this item selected, the price is
  printed at the first number in the line and then only if something
  changes:

  Micky Maus <<90>> 2 ¹·°°,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,15,16,30,35 ³·°°,36,37,38,
  40 ³·°°,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,48,49,50,52,<<91>> 2,3

  Separation Signs : With this button you get to a screen where you can
  change the separation signs at your own wishes. Separation sign means here
  the text which is printed before or after a certain event. There are the
  following fields :

  separation sign for years : What shall be printed before and after the
  year ? Defaults are the pointed brackets that appeared already in the
  example : "<<" and ">>". If you change that for example to "vol.{" and
  "}" the years in the example would be printed as vol.{90} and vol.{91}
  resp.

  separation sign for missing : The defaults are "(" and ")".

  separation sign for the price : The defaults are " " and "", the raising
  of the price is not influenced by the entered text. A wise example is
  "  " and " DM" or " " and " $".

  After that you can enter a text for each condition that will be printed
  instead of the condition. The defaults are  "0", "1", "2", ... that is
  the condition. A good policy is to choose a numbering, for example roman
  numerals "I", "II", "III", "IV", ... or letters "a", "b", "c", ... .

  It is also possible to condense some conditions, if you think that a
  coarse partition is enough for the print, for example "a", "a", "b",
  "b", ... will condense the conditions 0-1 to a, 2-3 to b and so on.

  You can only change the separation signs that are needed that means that
  if you don't print prices for example, you can't enter separation signs
  for the price. The length of the separation signs is restricted to 10.
  After you entered all signs you get back to the previous screen.

  And now to the item "condensed with restricted condition" :
  With this item you can combine 'condensed' and 'condition' to make
  another compression. Only those numbers are condensed that follow one
  after the other and that have the same condition. The example looks like
  this :

  Micky Maus <<90>> 2-10:1,15-16:2,30:3,35:1,36-37:2,38:1,40:1,41-50:3,
  52:1,<<91>> 2-3:0

  You can get a compression by choosing appropriate separation signs. For
  example if you choose the texts "a", "b", "b", "c" for the conditions 0-3
  that means that you condense the conditions 1 and 2 to a single
  condition :

  Micky Maus <<90>> 2-10:b,15-16:b,30:c,35-38:b,40:b,41-50:c,52:b,
  <<91>> 2-3:a

  This method is useful, if you only want a coarse partition of your present
  numbers, for example in two conditions a and b for "condition is ok" and
  "number is in bad condition" so that you can easily find the numbers that
  you want to buy a second time.

  In the last example much information shall be summarized. The items
  "Present Numbers" an "condensed with restricted condition" are selected.
  The "missing numbers" are printed too so that you can mark a new number
  as soon as you get it. The price is also to be printed, so "Price for
  Present", "Price for missing" and "Price condensed" is also turned on.
  As described above we are now only interested if a number is good enough
  or not. The conditions are
   0 in very good condition, like new printed
   1 in good condition
   2 not so good, but can be accepted
   3 bad condition, not good enough to collect

  that means we can use the separation signs "g" for 'good' (0-2) and "b"
  for 'bad' for the condition 3. The example then looks like this :

  Micky Maus ...
  ...
  (47) ¹·°°,(48),(49),(50),(51),(52),<<90>> (1),2-10:g,(11),(12),(13),
  (14) ¹·°°,15-16:g,(17),(18),(19),(20),(21),(22),(23),(24),(25),(26),
  (27) ¹·°°,(28),(29),30:b,(31) ³·°°,(32),(33),(34),35-38:g,(39),40:g,
  41-50:b ³·°°,(51),52:g,<<91>> (1),2-3:g,(4),(5),(6),(7),...
  ...


  In this screen you have the menu 'Defaults' that has already some
  predefined selections. There is also one menu item 'new' with which
  you can insert a new selection in this menu. After you have selected 'new'
  you have to choose the place of your new selection (in the menu). Choose
  it with the menu or by entering the number (0,1,2,...). After that you can
  enter a name, and then you get back to this screen to select the wished
  items. When you klick "OK" you can enter the separation signs and then
  the preferences are saved. (The separation signs can be different for each
  item in this menu.) Now you can choose this item in the menu.
  With the item 'delete' you can select an item which is deleted.


  Klick on the "OK" button when you are ready.

  While the text is processed the titels are shown. When the processing is
  done a message is shown that says that you shall position your printer
  so that it is at the beginning of a new page. Then press a key.

    The printing is done in four text blocks on a page. This blocks are
  the pages of the printed book. Take each (big) page and fold it
  horizontally in the middle. Then cut each page in the middle along the
  fold.

                    _____________
     _____________         |             |
    |             |        | xxxxx xxxxx |
    | xxxxx xxxxx |        | xxxx  xxxxx |              _____________
    | xxxx  xxxxx |        | xxxxx xxxx  |   lay one   |             |
    | xxxxx xxxx  |        |_____________|   on top    | xxxxx xxxxx |
    |             |  -->    _____________      -->     | xxxx  xxxxx |
    | xxxx  xxxxx |        |             |   of the    | xxxxx xxxx  |
    | xxxxx xxxxx |        | xxxx  xxxxx |   other     |_____________|
    | xxx   xxx   |        | xxxxx xxxxx |
    |_____________|        | xxx   xxx   |
               |_____________|

  Now you can fold the half pages vertically and lay one on top of the other
  in the right order. The order is as you get the pages from printing.
  Be careful that all pages have the same orientation and that the text
  shows to you. The first printed (half) page is the lowest, the next lays
  on it and so on. If you are not sure look for titles in the left block of
  the text. They are sorted alphabetically. You can also look at the last
  numbers in the last line in the left block. The next page has the
  following numbers in the first line or the next title. When you have
  sorted the pages you have to stitch them in the middle (vertically).
  Now you have a book with a quarter of the size of one print page.

  If you don't get a corresponding printing that can indicate that you
  made wrong inputs in the item 'Printer Preferences'.

  _______________________________________________________________
 |                                      |
 | For the Comic Demo the number of printing pages is restricted |
 |_______________________________________________________________|

2.2.7 Change Basic Data

    After you have selected a title you can change the inputs you made in
  'New Titles'. If you want to take over some values you can do this by
  simply pressing the return key. In the field "name" you can choose a new
  name for the title which must not exist already. In the field "year" you
  can change the start year, for example to insert some years before your
  currently used first year, or to delete some volumes. It is also possible
  to enter a first year for a title that had no years up to now. You can use
  that for example if a new title is numbered only with numbers (1,2,3,...)
  in the first year and in the next year it is continued with volume 2,
  # 1,2,3... .
  You have to be careful, if you change from 'without volumes' to 'with
  volumes' or reverse, because the numbers are interpreted in a different
  way. For example if you have a title with 12 numbers per year that begins
  in year 80, the numbers (80) 10 and (81) 1 will have the numbers 10 and
  13 after you have changed the first year to '.' (no year).
    If you change the number of issues per year, in each year numbers will
  be inserted or deleted. If you change the first number the difference will
  be deleted or inserted. The item 'default for printing' can be changed
  without any problems and when you set 'with price' to "y" you should enter
  the price with the item "Input Price".
  With the item "change file" you can specify if the file shall be changed.
  In almost every case "y" is correct. If you enter "n" the file is not
  changed, but the data in the file is interpreted in an other way. If we
  use the same example as above and you change the first year from 80 to
  90 and say "n" to changing the file, the volumes 80-89 are not deleted,
  but the data are interpreted as if everything starts in year 90. That
  means that you will have the numbers (90) 10 and (91) 1 instead of
  (80) 10 and (81) 1.

  Warning ! Be careful when you use this item. By wrong usage it is possible
  to change your data so that it gets useless.

2.2.8 New Evaluation

    With this item you can start a new evaluation that means the values
  that are presented to you in the item "Evaluation of condition" are
  computed. Usually you don't need this item, because these values are
  actualized each time you change your data. You can use this item if you
  couldn't quit the program normally (e.g. at a power breakdown).


2.3 System

2.3.1 Printer Preferences

    Here you can choose some regulations for the printing. In the first
  lines you can enter some control sequences that are sent to your printer
  at certain  events. To the right of this lines there are cycle gadgets,
  with which you can select  "def", "esc" or "raw". "def" stands for
  default that means standard commands are used. You can use the other two
  selections if you want to change the typography, for
  example by choosing an other font. If you have selected "esc" you can
  enter an escape sequence that is a text that starts with "Esc", for
  example Esc[4m stands for underline. There can be more than one escape
  sequences in a line, which can be separated by blanks. You can find a
  list of the possible escape sequences in the AmigaDos handbook oder in
  the handbook to Workbench 2.1 .
  The third possibility is "raw". With this selection your inputs are sent
  directly to the printer, not using the printer driver. You can choose this
  item, if you want to enter commands from your printers handbook. At the
  right top there is a button, with which you can toggle between "Hex" and
  "Escape". If it is set to "Escape" you can enter the escape sequences as
  described above. If it is set to "Hex" you can enter a sequence of
  hexadecimal numbers. (Printer handbooks sometimes write the commands in
  this format.) The example Esc[4m would be 1B 5B 34 6D.

  The following control sequences can be entered :

  normal font   : Here you can enter the control sequence for the font for
                  normal printing.
  small font    : The selected font will be used for printing a book.
  line feed     : The command to go to the beginning of the next line.
  printer reset : Says how to reset the printer. This is used at the start
                  of printing.
  raising on    : The command for raising the text.
  raising off   : The opposite of the previous command.

  The raising is used for printing the price at "Print a book". If your
  printer doesn't support raised text you should use suitable separation
  signs to make it easier to distinguish between price and numbers.

  In the last three fields you can enter how many lines a page has for
  normal or small font and how many characters fit on one line with the
  small font. If you don't know this numbers you should make a test print
  and count the lines and columns.

2.3.2 Change Path

    When you start the program the data are expected in the current
  directory, and new data are created there. With this item you can change
  to another directory, for example to save further data (This directory
  should contain a directory 'comdat'). Before you end the program you
  should go back to the start directory.

  This item is only for users who work with floppy disks. Hard disk owners
  should ignore it and store their data in a single directory.


2.3.3 Weighting Factor for Conditions

    The prices for numbers are normally only valid for numbers in top
  condition. Numbers in weaker conditions are worth less. In this item you
  can enter a value between 0.0 and 1.0 as weighting factor for each
  condition. If you use for example the weights 1.0, 0.5 and 0.2 for
  conditions 0 to 2, a number with price 2.00 has the value 2.00, 1.00 or
  0.4, depending on the condition it has. The factors only influenced the
  item "Evaluation of condition".

2.3.4 Save

    With this item you can save your data. You can select it after some time
  of input.

2.3.5 Save & Exit

    The data are saved and then you quit the program.

3. Additional information

3.1 Using floppy disks

    The program can be used on systems without a hard disk. This will reduce
  the speed of the program and maybe you have to change disks often. If you
  need more than one disk for you data please create a new directory
  'comdat' on the new disk, in which the data will be stored. You should
  organize your disks in a way that the title files are distributed
  alphabetically on the disks. With this organization you can find the
  titles easily and you don't have to swap the disks too often at items
  that work on one title after the other (e.g. Print).


3.2 Usage with low memory

    On Systems with low memory it is possible that you have to temporally
  store data while using the item "Print a book". You can do this on your
  hard disk or an an empty floppy disk.


3.1 Files

    The comic manager demo contains the following files and directories
    ( + some icons )

    ReadMe.first        : please read this before you install the
                                  program
    LiesMich.zuerst        : (the same in german)

    InstallComicDemo.info    : starts the installer
    ComicDemo.install        : installation script


    Scripts (dir)
       InstallFontsNTSC        : installs fonts for NTSC screens
       InstallFontsPAL        : installs fonts for PAL screens

    fonts (dir)            : fonts that you probably have already
       Opal (dir)
            12
             9
       CGTimes (dir)
            23
            30
       CGTimes.font
       opal.font

    deutsch (dir)        : Comic-Verwaltung-Demo (german)
       txt (dir)
          Comic.dok
          FORMULAR
       guide (dir)
          Comic.guide
       comdat (dir)        : empty, but must exist !
       comp (dir)
            Titel
            Voreinstellung
       comicDemo        : Demo der Comic-Verwaltung
    english (dir)        : Comic-Manager
       txt (dir)        : documentation (ascii files)
          Comic.doc
          FORMULAR.E
       guide (dir)        : documentation (AmigaGuide)
          Comic.e.guide
       comdat (dir)        : empty, but must exist !
       comp (dir)
          Titel
          Voreinstellung
       comicDemo        : Comic-Manager-Demo


3.2 Conditions for using the program and making copies

    The demo version of the comic-manager may be freely distributed, but it
  must be complete that means all files which are listed in 3.1 must exist.

  The full version may not be distributed or copied. Of course you can make
  a backup for yourself. Then you may only use one of the copies or the
  original.


3.3 Full version

    You can order the full version from me. My address is :

      Andreas Zottmann
      Stiftsgasse 7
    D 91174 Spalt


email : [e-mail] (Andreas Zottmann)
(I'm not shure how long this will be valid.)


  The price is 50.00 DM.
  Please print the file "Formular", fill it out and send it to me (with the
  money).

3.4 Requirements for running the program

    The program runs with 1MB memory on each amiga with OS 2.0 or higher.

    I recommend a hard disk and a printer.

3.5 Limits and restrictions

    The speed of the program is mainly determined by the used floppy or hard
  disk drive. The maximum number of titles is about 4 billions that means
  it is only restricted by the size of the memory.

    For each title you can have a maximum of 65535 different numbers. This
  number reduces, if you exclude some areas. For each number and condition
  you can have 15 issues at most, for example you can have "Micky Maus,
  year 80, number 2" not more often than 15 times in condition 0.
  (That means the program is not suitable for a publishing house to manage
  their stock.) The numbers may be in the range from 0 to 99999, or
  1 to 400 for volumes. Years are possible from 0 to 99, if a title has more
  than 100 volumes you have to divide it into two titles.

  Further restrictions in the demo version :

  o The price unit is set to 0.50.
  o The number of conditions is set to 5.
  o Only 5 titles are managed.
  o If you use the item "Print a book" maybe not all pages are printed.

3.6 Errors

    The program has been tested for errors. If you find another one
  nevertheless please describe it exactly and send your description to me.
  The following items should be included :

  o The type of your computer (A500, A1200, A2000, A4000, ...) and
    processor (68000, 68020, 68030,...)
  o at which item did the error occur, and how did you get there
    (describe your inputs until the error occurs)
  o error messages if there are any


  Known errors :
  o The name completion at item 'Input' may not work well with titles that
    have spaces or umlauts. You then have to type more characters.
  o If you get an error at the item "Extend Title" (e.g. when the disk is
    full) the extension is only done as far as possible. It can happen that
    you get wrong numbers at "Evaluation of conditions" after such an error
    so that you have to do a "New Evaluation" for this title.

  The author takes no responsibility for any kind of errors in the program.
  You use the program on you own risk.

3.7 Tooltypes

    The following tooltypes are supported :
    STDCOLOR  when this tooltype is set, the standard colors of you
    workbench are used.
    NTSC      Without this tooltype the program tries to open an PAL screen,
              and if that does not work a standard screen is used.
              If you set NTSC the program tries first to open an NTSC screen.

  You can use this options from the CLI by typing "stdcolor" or "ntsc" after
  the program name.


3.8 Upgrades from version 1.0

    Unregistered users of version 1.0 have the possibility to order a
  program for further 10 DM with which they can convert their data for the
  new version. If you want this program please specify this in your order.