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1991-01-11
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MAGCAT
Magazine Cataloger
by Scott Davis
Box 173
Salt Point, NY 12578-0173
January, 1991
Version 2.31
(C) Copywrite 1988-1991 by Scott C. Davis
All Rights Reserved
1) Introduction
MagCat is a program to organize a collection of comic books.
MAGCAT can store titles with information on condition, value and with
associated comments. It allows for a clear display of all magazines
with hardcopy output if desired and it can also tally up the number
of magazines and titles in the collection along with the total value.
MagCat was developed on the IBM Personal Computer using Turbo
Pascal. It should therefore run on any IBM compatible computer.
The MagCat disk should contain the MAGCAT.COM program, an example
data file (EXAMPLE.DAT), a program to convert data files from 1.X
versions to the current format of 2.X (CONVERT.COM), and this text
file (MAGCAT.DOC).
2) Use of CONVERT program
This program is used to convert data files from old format to the
new format. To run the program type CONVERT at the DOS prompt. This
will then ask for the names off the old data file names and the new
data file name. The new file will then contain the collection data
in an ASCII format usable by MAGCAT 2.X series.
3) Use of MagCat
To run the program type MAGCAT at the DOS prompt. After this
MAGCAT is a fully menu driven program. When you first start MAGCAT,
it will try to open the file COMICS.DAT, if it does not find this
file, it will ask to create it. You can say no and use any other
file as a data file. As a first try, you may want to use the
EXAMPLE.DAT file.
The first menu gives the following options:
A)dd new titles
D)elete a title
E)dit the entries in a title
L)ist titles
U)tilities (this takes you to the second menu)
V)iew titles
X) exiting from the program
Each of these options gives instructions when it is selected. To
select an option press the desired letter. In addition, pressing the
escape key will exit from the current screen at any point.
A short description of each option follows:
A) Choose this option when adding a new title. When
selected you are prompted to enter a new title name. The title may be
entered with any combination of upper and lower case characters, and
this is how it will appear in a listing. However, titles can be
recalled with this or any other combination of upper and lower case.
If the title already exists a message is given and you are returned
to the main menu. If it does not exist, you will be prompted to enter
data for the title. Title data consists of issue numbers, value,
condition, and an optional comment on the issue. Any of this
information may be omitted.
D) Used to delete a title from the database. You are
prompted to enter a title which, if found is then removed from the
listings after a request for verification.
E) Option to edit which issues are contained in a given
title. Editing a title is a two step process. After entering a title
to edit, if the title exists, you are shown the issues that are
already contained in the title.
1) You are then asked to enter any issues that you want to add.
When entering issues, you are prompted for number, value, condition
and an optional comment. The current issues can be reviewed at any
time by pressing the '-' key. Press <RET> when complete.
2) Then you are prompted to enter any issues that you want to
remove from the database. Again, a '-' will show the current issues
present. When finished a <RET> terminates.
L) This option is used to get a listing of all titles
currently in the database. At any point you can press <ESC> to stop
viewing the list and you will be returned to the main menu.
Q) Quit from program without saving changes.
U) Utility menu.
V) The View option takes you to a menu where you can
choose the type of information about out title that you would like to
see. Available choices are:
C) To see issues and comments
L) To view issue numbers, condition and value
S) Shows just the issue numbers
X) Exits out of the program and saves data if changes
have been made. To prevent data from being saved you can use the
UNsave option from the utility menu.
The utility menu is the second available menu with the following
options:
A)utosave
C)ount titles and values
D)isable autosave
E)dit a particular title's entered name
N)ew data files
P)rint out title(s)
S)ave everything that has been entered since starting
U)nsave
X) exit back to main menu
Each of these options also prompts for input when selected.
A) During a session, there is an automatic save option
which is active on start up. This will save the data file after 20
choices have been made from the main menu. This can prevent the loss
of data if the is a system crash for some reason.
C) This tallies up all the titles and issues and prints
the count to the screen. Also, it supplies the total current value of
all issues contained in the database.
D) Disables the autosave so any save must be done
manually, or at the end of a session the data will be saved if
there have been changes made. Be careful of system crashes if you
select this option.
E) This edit allows you to change how a title name was
entered without making it necessary to reenter all the information.
You are prompted for the title to change, then you are asked to enter
what you would like it to be changed to (i.e., How you want it to
appear in listings).
N) By default MAGCAT uses COMICS.DAT for storing
information. By using this option, you can switch between several
different sets of data files.
P) This option will take you to a secondary print menu
where you are given a choice of either long or short format. In both
cases when you are prompted for a title, if none is given, all titles
will be printed.
U) This will cause the program to think that no changes
have been made. Therefore, data will not be saved when exiting unless
further changes are made. When this option is selected, a manual save
must be selected or all changes in the current session will be lost.
S) Saves all the data that is presently contained in the
computer. This is to protect from power outages, etc..
X) Returns to the main menu.
3) Notes
This program gives an easy way to keep track of any collection of
magazines. It has been tested up to 300 titles with a total of 2700
issues. With these entries it still runs very quickly. (Though
reading and writing the files may take some time on a slow PC.)
If you would like to be a registered user and be notified of
future versions, or if you have any comments or suggestions about
this program, please send your name and address, version of MAGCAT,
and where it was obtained, along with a $10 registration fee to:
Scott C. Davis
Box 173
Salt Point, NY 12578-0173
MagCat is distributed exclusively on:
Krynn BBS
Milton, NY [914] 795-5199
300-2400 Baud, 24 hours
I hope that you enjoy using this program and that you find it
useful in your collecting.
ADDITIONAL UPDATE NOTES
I have made several changes to the program in moving from 1.X to
2.X. These include condensing the data files into one file and
storing them as text. (This will aid in the simple perusal of the
data file, as well as making it possible to use other means to create
the data file.) Additional information has been added to the
database of title information, making it easier to keep track of the
condition and value of your collection. Also, I have made some
cosmetic changes to the data input process. I think that these
changes will be to the liking of most users. (I like them.)
I realize that the are many more things that can be added, and
some probably will be. If you have any specific suggestions or
comments, send them to me (hopefully along with the registration
fee) either at the above address or I can be contacted on the KRYNN BBS,
and I'll see what I can do. (Several changes in this version came from
user input.)