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▒▒▒▒▄ ▒▒▒▒▄ ▒▒█▀ ▒▒█▀ ▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▄ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▄ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▄ ▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒█▀▀▀▀ ▒▒█▀▀▀▀ ▒▒█▀▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▄ ▒▒▒▒▄ ▒▒▒▒▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▀▀▀▒▒█ ▒▒█▀▀ ▒▒█▒▒█▀ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒█ ▒▒▒▒▒▒█ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▄ ▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▄ ▒▒█▀▀▀▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▄ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▄ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▄ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒█▀ ▒▒█▀▒▒█ ▒▒█▀▀▀▀ ▒▒█▀▀▀▀ ▒▒█▀▀▀▒▒█ ▒▒▒▒▒▒█ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▄ ▒▒▒▒▄ ▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒█▀▒▒█ ▀▀▀▒▒█ ▒▒█▀▀ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒▒▒▒▒█ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▄ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀▀ - Version 2.0 - (c) Copyright 1992 Rand Nowell ╒══════════════════════╕ │ RaLin Enterprises │ │ 40728 Sundale Dr. │ │ Fremont, Ca. 94538 │ │ │ │ (510) 651-0253 │ ╘══════════════════════╛ User Base 2.0 Program Documentation UB20.DOC The Legal Stuff.... Copyright: User Base 2.0 is not a Public Domain or Free program. It is the Copyrighted (c) 1992 work of Rand Nowell dba Ralin Enterprises. All rights are reserved. Copying, duplicating, selling or otherwise distributing this product except as noted in the Distribution Policy below is a violation of Federal Copyright Law. You are authorized to evaluate the program for a period of 30 days. If after 30 days you wish to continue using the program, registration IS REQUIRED. Please see REGISTER.FRM Distribution: 1. Feel free to distribute the Shareware version of this program as often as you like to any interested parties. Distribution to Electronic Bulletin Boards is encouraged. 2. Please do not distribute this program without all the original related files such as documentation, readme files, registration forms etc. 3. Please distribute ONLY the original authenticated ZIP format file. 4. Please obtain our written permission before including the program with any "bundled" software packages. 5. Please do not accept payment for the program; a copying fee of $5.00 per diskette may be charged by a non-profit user-group. 6. Please do not alter the program or documentation in any way. 7. Individuals, groups, vendors or other software distribution companies which market diskettes contaning shareware or test-drive evaluation programs, for profit, must obtain written permission from RaLin Enterprises prior to distribution. DISTRIBUTION of the REGISTERED version of this program is in violation of the license agreement and copyright law. ************************* DISCLAIMER ***************************** This program is supplied "as is" without warranty of any kind. The entire risk of using, and results from the use of, is assumed by you the user. You assume all costs of repair, servicing and corrections stemming from the use of this program. Rand Nowell and/or RaLin Enterprises, or any other associated company of the program author will not be held liable for any damages from the use of this program. No warranties are expressed or implied. ******************************************************************** To the original licensee of the REGISTERED version of User Base 2.0 RaLin Enterprises DOES warrant that the program disk(s) on which the program is recorded, be free from defects in material and workmanship under normal use and service for a period of (90) ninety days from date of delivery as evidenced by your receipt. Our entire liability and your exclusive remedy shall be replacement of the defective disk not meeting the standards of this limited warranty. User Base 2.0 Program Documentation UB20.DOC ┌──────────────────────────────────┐ │ THE BENEFITS OF REGISTRATION │ └──────────────────────────────────┘ 1. Those stupid Shareware screens you see at program start will no longer irritate you. 2. The << UNREGISTERED >> message at the bottom of reports and on the Main Menu screen will be removed. 3. Dos Program availability and the option to Shell to the command prompt will be activated. 4. The capability to backup and/or archive your data to floppies. 5. Option of printing reports to a Disk File instead of printer. This allows you to import into a word processor program and enhance it. 6. Notification of MAJOR upgrades, also new program releases. 7. Discounted price on any MAJOR upgrade of the program. 8. Registered users can have the program modified to suit their needs. Personalization, extra reports, printer enhancements etc. See CUSTOM.DOC for more information. 9. Access number to our BBS, which we hope to have up and running in the next few months. Program support will be available, new programs as they are produced, and many general utilities. Registered users will be notified when the board goes up. All of the above, plus the good feeling of supporting the SHAREWARE CONCEPT - Manual Contents - Overview..............................1 Key presses.......................2,3,4 Screen Blanker........................3 Setup.................................4 Dos Shell...........................4,8 Menus Tables Forms Explanation........5 Main Menu Selections..................6 Entering Users......................6,7 User Reports..........................7 Entering Programs, Program reports....7 Mailing Labels........................8 Utilities.............................8 Batch Menu............................4 Support...............................9 User Base 2.0 Program Documentation UB20.DOC Overview: Page 1 User Base 2.0 was developed to provide Shareware Limitations: When I set out to release my programs as Shareware, I was really not to sure what I should do as far as protecting my programs from un-registered use. After all, I have put in a lot of hours on this, its part of my income to feed my family, and how do I do that if people use my program without compensating me? I HATE crippled shareware, you can't really try a program thats all crippled up, and one that dies after 30 days is a real NO-NO. I had the option of limiting the amount of records that could be entered into the program, but I don't like that either. -------- I would rather work on TRUST -------- So...... User Base 2.0 is not crippled, (much..) its NOT limited as to how many programs or Registered Users you can enter and maintain, and it has enough types of record viewing and reports to be a very useful program even if you don't register it. BUT.... if you register it, it becomes even more useful. There are some extra handy things that are available in the registered version, that you won't have in the Shareware version. Some of these show on the Menus, but are NOT active. Some will have a note explaining what it will do, and that its available with the registered version. So..... Please Register User Base 2.0 ! By the way... when you first start User Base 2.0, before you get the Main Menu, you will be presented with one or two screens. They explain that the program is shareware, for evaluation, and use beyond the evaluation period requires that you register, and pay the small registration fee. And MAY also list the Benefits of Registration. Once you have reached the Main Menu, you will NOT see these screens again. Sorry....but I felt a little reminder was necessary. Version Naming: Our program version naming method is as such. Using version one as an example. ver 1.0 to 1.9 original and updated shareware versions ver 1.0R to 1.9R original and updated registered versions (which you should NOT see on a BBS) This would maintain with ver 2 - 3 etc of any program. User Base 2.0 Program Documentation UB20.DOC Program Keys: Page 2 Throughout User Base 2.0, certain keys are used for major work in editing, viewing, entering information. They are explained here. You will see references to Tables and Forms below, these will be explained a little further in the manual. Also there are two special keys <F5 and F10> these will be explained in the section where they apply. < Enter > Menus: Enter runs the procedure which is highlighted by the cursor bar. The cursor bar may be moved one of two ways. Use the up and down arrow keys, or press the first letter of the menu choice. Once the highlight bar is placed, pressing enter gets the ball rolling. If there is more than one choice with the same first letter, successive presses of that letter will move to the next corresponding Menu choice. Tables: When pressing Enter while on a highlighted record, a form is called with which you may modify the information for that entry. Forms: Forms are where you add or modify a records information. On all forms there is a message displayed telling you the changes about to take place, whether the record will be ADDED - CHANGED - DELETED. Pay attention. Pressing Enter on a field will accept that field and move on to the next. Once information is entered you can also press the down arrow key to accept and advance. Pressing Enter on the last field in a Form will save the record and exit. General: In general, the Enter key accepts information, or starts a procedure. < Ctrl-Enter > Control key + Enter From any Form the Ctrl-Enter key press is an immediate save and exit. Say you are modifying a record, you modify a field that is half way thorough the form. Instead of having to enter your way to the last field, you can press Ctrl-Enter....save and exit. <Ins> The Insert key Tables: The insert key is your command to ADD a record to the file. Pressing insert will call up the new entry form. Forms: Whenever you are entering information into a form, or any field, toggling the insert key will change from insert to overwrite, as in most any other program you are used to. <Del> The Delete key Tables: Pressing Delete on a highlighted record will call up a Form showing all the information for that record, prompting you to press Enter to Delete. Be sure of what you're doing, one key press and that record is GONE.... User Base 2.0 Program Documentation UB20.DOC Program Keys (con't) Page 3 Forms: The delete key (and the backspace key) work as they would in any other text editing program. <PgUp & PgDn> These keys work as they would in any program. About the only place the are useful is in a table, if you have more entries that are not showing, this will jump up or down. <End & Home> While editing a field, will move to beginning or end of line. <Esc> General: In general the escape key is your back-up key. If you are at a sub menu, pressing Esc will will exit back to the calling menu. If you are in a Table it will exit back to the calling Menu, unless the Table has a prompt field for searches, then it may back up to that field first, then exit to the calling Menu. In a form the Esc key will back out of a Form one field at a time until reaching the first field, at which time it will return to the calling Table. CAUTION: When using Esc to exit, NO SAVE IS MADE. <Ctrl-Esc> Control + Esc General: This works similar to the Ctrl-Enter key. This is a fast exit key. Pressing this key combination from any location in a Form or Table will immediately exit to the calling procedure. CAUTION: When using Ctrl-Esc to exit, NO SAVE IS MADE. This pretty much covers the General use keys in the Program. There are a couple of others to explain, some may be keys especially pertaining this particular program. <Alt-B> This is the Screen Blanker. This key is available from All Menus, and most Tables and Forms. Pressing it will blank the screen to black on black to eliminate screen image burn-in, should you wish to leave the keyboard for awhile but don't want to exit the program. If you find that it won't work from where you're at, simply back up a step and try it again. <F1> This is the Help Key, it calls up a help screen system, if available, (some programs do not have online help, their so simple). * * User Base does NOT have any Online Help * * * Online Help: There isn't any. User Base 2.0 is pretty simple to use. One time through this manual and you should have no problems. Not having Online Help allowed me to keep the program size quite small. The following four key presses apply only to Tables. PgUp: Scrolls backward one page. PgDn: Scrolls forward one page. Ctrl-PgUp: Positions cursor bar on first record in Table. Ctrl-PgDn: Positions cursor bar on last record in Table. User Base 2.0 Program Documentation UB20.DOC Program Keys (con't) Page 4 Special Keys: User Base has two keys that are very useful. <F5> From the Main Menu will call the Setup screen, where you enter your or your Company name, which is used in some entry screens and is printed in report headers. This should be the first thing you do when you start User Base. <F10> When this key is displayed, at the Main Menu, and many of the other menus too, pressing it will take you to the Batch Window. This is where external DOS programs are called to run, Backup and Archive can be accessed etc. NOTE: Shell To DOS (Registered Version) is accessed via the Utilities Menu. There is not any "Hot Key" for this function, its a Menu choice. Batch Menu: Here is where you run your external programs. The Menu selections are Run Dos Command 1 - 6, press <F9> to display a list of programs assigned to each key. This list is filled in at the Setup Screen, and can be changed by pressing Enter while descriptions are displayed. External programs are run by Batch Files. You can edit them to run whatever you wish. DO NOT RENAME THE BATCH FILES the names are hard coded into User Base. Changing the name will get you a Bad Command or File Not Found message. Setup: The setup window is where you fill in your company name, and descriptions of what the DOS calls will run. User Base 2.0 Program Documentation UB20.DOC Page 5 Menus-Tables-Forms: (An Explanation) * Menus: Menus are where you select the procedure to Run. There are two ways to choose your selection, using the arrow/cursor keys, place the Highlight Bar on your choice and press Enter. Or, press the first letter of the Menu choice, then press Enter. If there is more than one choice with the same first letter, press the letter again and the bar will move to the next item with that letter. Menu choices are not Quick Keys, you must press Enter to activate. The Highlight Bar will "Wrap" from Top to Bottom or Bottom to Top. * Tables: The Table is the viewing window, here the specified records will be listed, often in a sorted order, based on name,number etc. Some Tables will have a LOCATOR field. This allows you to search for a specified record, rather than scrolling, if your list is longer than the display area. It will say Find (the search key), you would then start typing in the name,number,code etc. that you wish to find. As you type in each letter or digit, the Highlight Bar will move to the first, the next matching entry. Once this entry is found you would then press the Action key for Edit,Delete or whatever you wish to do to this particular entry. Please refer to the Keys section for the Actions provided. Other Tables may have a Selection Field, where you would enter a particular name,number,code etc. Once this is entered, only the records matching that item will be shown. The first time you access this type of table, the field will be blank. Just press Enter for a list of choices. This will call up another Table, where you select the item you want to use, press Enter, and the item will be placed in the selector field. If you want to change the Selector item, you can either press Ctrl-End to erase the current entry, press Enter again for a list, or simply type in an invalid character such as ] or / over the first letter, and press Enter. As this item doesn't exist, the list will be called for you to select your choice. * Forms: When you press an Action key on a highlighted item in a Table it calls up a FORM. The form is where information is Entered, Modified or Deleted. A message will be displayed on each form telling you what action is about to be applied to this record. The messages appear as such: RECORD WILL BE ADDED - RECORD WILL BE CHANGED - PRESS ENTER TO DELETE. If you are ADDING a record and you enter a value in a field that holds the Indexing item, and it already exists, you will hear a tone and see CREATES DUPLICATE KEY , you are not allowed to have duplicate index keys in the program. For instance, if the records are indexed on a persons name, enter a name that already exists will generate the above message. In this case, if you entered William Bonny, and it already existed, just change it to Bill Bonny, and the entry will be allowed. You can use the Insert key to toggle between Insert and over type mode while entering information. If you are modifying information, and you wish to change a field, you can press Ctrl-End to erase the field and then type in the new information. When entering notes into a memo field, the cursor will "wrap" to the next, when you reach the right margin. You do not have to press Enter at the end of each line. User Base 2.0 Program Documentation UB20.DOC Page 6 The "Meat" of the matter..... Now we'll cover some of the program functions, screens that you'll see, how to get there, what they do, and how you make them do what they're supposed to do. As you access some of the Menus, you will notice that some selections are a little fainter than others, on CGA screens they will be faint gray and on EGA/VGA they will be a little slimmer and a little lighter. Also notice that the Menu Cursor Bar skips over these items. These selections are only available in the Registered Version of User Base. * Main Menu: The first thing you should do is press F5 for Setup, this will let you put in your Company or Personal name. This should be done before entering any records in the files, as the name acts as a key for Reports,allowing the name to be printed in the Report header. Also available is F10 to access the Batch Menu mentioned earlier. * The first selection is Registered User Base; this is where you go to enter new users, search for users and report on users. More explanations will follow. * Next is Program Records; Enter, modify and report on the Programs you have available for your users. * Mailing Labels; You can print labels for ALL users, or users of a specific program. For a specific program you will be asked which program, and have the opportunity to select from a listing of all programs on file. * Utilities; Here you can access the Backup-Archive menu, Show system information, View the current time, Set report destination and Shell to DOS. The Shell to DOS and Backup functions are only active in the Registered version. A note on the Report Destination: You will be presented a screen where you can fill in an alternate destination other than the default of LPT1. You can enter a directory\filename if you want to print to disk now and print out later. Reports sent to disk are fully formatted to send to the printer later. If you attempt to view them with a text file viewer, and they are over 80 characters in width, they may not display right, but they will print our correctly. * Quit; This will exit the User Base program. Registered Users Menu: * Enter-Modify Users will call a screen listing ALL the users you have entered, the keys for Adding, Modifying and Deleting are listed at the bottom of the screen. Also shown is the number of registered users currently on file. Use the up and down cursor keys to highlight an entry and press Enter to Modify, or Press Ins to add a new entry. Adding a new entry is simple. You will be presented a form to fill in. The first field is for your Company Name, if it's blank, pressing enter will pop up a window showing your Company Name, press Enter again to insert it into the field. Now complete the information as prompted. Let me explain a couple of them. The modem field is used here to verify that the user is capable of accessing our BBS, if so they are pre-registered as users there also. If they don't have a modem then we don't bother. Version numbers are Recd, the one you send them, and the other is to show which version they tested before registering. This lets you keep track of which version seems to be getting used more. User Base 2.0 Program Documentation UB20.DOC Page 7 Paid By: You can use the arrow keys to select, the choices are: Check Csh-Ck(cashier check) Card(Visa/MC) MO(money order) Cash(??) Date pmt received, then Payment Number, this is mainly for check numbers and credit card numbers, but we also enter money order and cashier check numbers here. Then you have shipping information, the PU stands for Picked Up...if someone gets it from you directly. NOW....if you press Enter on the LAST field, the record will be saved and you will be returned to the User List, if you want to enter any comments about this user, press F5 BEFORE you press enter. This will open the comments window. To enter comments later you can just edit this record, as soon as the data window is displayed, press F5. NOTE: The Main Menu F5 and F10 keys are visible under these windows, but are not active. Keys showing from other windows either are not active or have a different use. Available keys are always shown IN THE CURRENT WINDOW. All others are temporarily inactive. * The next three Menu selections are search windows, say a user calls for support, and you want to verify that they are registered. You can search by program, phone number or registration number. In each case, a window will popup asking for the particular information. Say the user gives you their registration number, select search by reg#, when the window pops up enter the number, press enter. The user info will be listed. If all you needed to do was verify they existed in your files, you can then press Esc to exit. If you want to view their record, press Enter and the Data Form will be brought forward. NOTE: If you had previously used the window to search for another user, that users reg/phone number etc may be already filled in. Just press Ctrl-End to erase and enter the correct number. Also NOTE, when searching by phone number, if you press enter on a blank number, or invalid, such as (000) 000-0000 the Data Entry window will popup ready for a new user. So you could actually enter a new user this way, but lets stay in the habit of entering new users from the proper window. OK? * Our next menu item is User Reports. * All Users; prints all information for all users on file. * All Users Condensed; Prints one line of info for each user, Name,Program and Ver, phone,registration date, registration number and date shipped. * Selected User; you will be prompted for user name, pressing enter on a blank name field will call the user list from which you can choose the user to report on. * Users - Specified Program; you will be promoted for program name/ver. pressing enter on blank field will call a window showing all programs for you to choose from. * Return; Exits to previous menu * F5: Calls Report Destination Screen * Next selection...Return; you know what it does! * Our next Menu is the Program Records Menu: * Show All Programs: Lists all programs you have entered, you add,modify and delete the same as you did for the users. Information is entered in the same fashion. * Report All Programs: Prints all information entered for all programs. User Base 2.0 Program Documentation UB20.DOC Page 8 Now were at the Mailing Labels Menu. * All Users: Prints labels for all users on file * Specified Program: You will be prompted for what program, again, you will be able to chose from list. Labels will be printed only for users who have registered that program. * NOTE: Labels are formatted for standard mailing labels, one across 15/16" high by 3 1/2" wide. Next is the Utilities Menu. * Backup and Archive: Calls the Backup Menu, selections here will not be active in the shareware version. Backup and Archive functions are performed by batch files. This allows you to edit them and specify a different drive, or another directory. * System Information: Just shows date,time, path & filename of your data files with the number of records in each. It also shows our name address and phone number.....Well I had to fill space with something!! * Current Time: Displays the current time, if your clock is working. * Set Report Destination: Calls the screen for setting alternate destination for your reports. * Shell To Dos: This is active in the Registered version. You will be able to go to the command prompt and run anything you wish. User Base will use up about 8k of memory during the shell. It also writes an image file in the current directory. The file will be named something like $T8976.TMP - DO NOT DELETE THIS FILE!!! SYSTEM WILL CRASH!! Well, this should be enough to get you up and running with User Base. If I have forgotten anything I apologize. But really, the program is so simple, you will probably have it figured out before you even read this manual! User Base 2.0 Program Documentation UB20.DOC Page 9 In Closing: In closing, I would like to thank you for trying User Base 2.0. Also to remind you, registering this program will gain you many more helpful and productive features. Features are being added all the time. You will likely get more than has be mentioned here when you register. Your comments are appreciated. If you can think of anything that may enhance User Base 2.0, let me know. I do listen, and its a good chance your suggestion will be incorporated into the program. Read the CUSTOM.DOC explaining how you can have your Registered copy of User Base 2.0 customized. Many things are possible. Please use the provided REGISTER.FRM to register User Base 2.0. For unregistered users, support is limited. But if you have a problem while evaluating User Base 2.0, I am willing to help. I can be reached several ways. Registered Users are a priority as to receiving help via mail,phone or electronic mail. Mail: Rand Nowell RaLin Enterprises 40728 Sundale Dr. Fremont, Ca. 94538 Phone: (510) 651-0253 If you get a recorder, please leave a message, if you are a registered user give your registration number. Leave a brief description of the problem, your phone number and best time to call. I will return registered users calls at my expense. Unregistered users, be prepared for a collect call. CIS (Compuserve) User ID: 76124,761 I check Compuserve 2-3 times a month. This is not the optimum way to contact me, but it will work. Net Mail: Send Net Mail to Rand Nowell @ 1:161/42 OR 1:215/777 NetMail is checked daily. Fido-Net Messages can be left in the Fido Shareware Echo. These messages are normally checked daily. BBS: I hope to have our Support BBS up and running in the next few months. All Registered Users will be notified by mail when this happens. And if the correct fields have been filled in on the registration form, they will be pre-registered for access on the first call. <eof> User Base 2.0 Documentation