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Roadways PC
Copyright 1990
By Doug Fitler
Roadways PC
Table of Contents
System Requirements ------------------------------------------ 1
Distributed Files -------------------------------------------- 1
Installing Roadways PC on your Computer ----------------------- 1
Final Installation -------------------------------------- 2
Registration -------------------------------------------------- 3
Using Roadways PC --------------------------------------------- 4
Controlling Roadways PC with the Keyboard --------------------- 4
Selecting a city ---------------------------------------- 5
Route Screen -------------------------------------------- 6
Saving Routes to Disk ----------------------------------------- 6
Retrieving Routes from Disk ----------------------------------- 7
Controlling Roadways PC with a Mouse -------------------------- 7
Y/N Prompts --------------------------------------------- 8
Using the Mouse on the Route Screen --------------------- 8
Changing the Mileage Rate ------------------------------------- 8
Option 1 ------------------------------------------------ 8
Option 2 ------------------------------------------------ 9
Option 3 ------------------------------------------------ 9
Quitting Roadways PC ------------------------------------------ 9
Command Line Switches ----------------------------------------- 9
Environment Use ---------------------------------------------- 10
Adding Cities to Roadways PC --------------------------------- 10
Different Kinds of Roads ------------------------------- 13
Things to keep in mind --------------------------------- 13
The City Sorter ---------------------------------------- 14
Common Pitfalls When Adding Cities --------------------- 14
A Note about Windows in Roadways PC -------------------------- 14
Upgrading Roadways PC ---------------------------------------- 15
Background on Roadways PC ------------------------------------ 15
About the Author --------------------------------------------- 16
About Roadways PC -------------------------------------------- 16
Disclaimer --------------------------------------------------- 17
Summary of Changes ------------------------------------------- 18
INVOICE ------------------------------------------------------ 20
ROADWAYS PC
Release Version 2.54
By: Doug Fitler
Copyright 1990 & 1991
Roadways PC is an easy to use program to help you find the
shortest route from one city to another. It fully supports
either a mouse or keyboard entry and will work on any IBM PC/PC-
XT, AT or compatible computer with MS-DOS 2.11 or newer.
Roadways is distributed as Shareware and as such is free to
be copied, passed on and uploaded to any computer service or
bulletin board. After a trial period, it is expected that the
user will register his or her copy if it is going to continue to
be used.
To register your copy, see the registration form at the end
of this documentation.
If you have a modem, you may get the latest news and version
of Roadways PC as well as technical help by calling the Missing
Link bulletin board at (618)233-6982, 2400 baud, 8 bits, No
parity and 1 stop bit (2400, N, 8, 1), and [J]oin the Roadways
conference.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Here are the requirements for running Roadways PC on your
computer:
An IBM PC/XT/AT/286/386/486 or compatible computer
Minimum 384K of RAM
Any type display (Monochrome, CGA, EGA, VGA, etc.)
One Floppy Drive (any size or density) (Hard drive recommended)
Microsoft or Logitech Compatible Mouse or Trackball (Optional)
Printer
DISTRIBUTED FILES
Your copy of Roadways PC should include the following files.
If it does not, please contact the author with information about
where your copy came from, so a good copy of Roadways can be sent
to both you and your source. This will ensure everyone will have
a complete copy of Roadways PC, with all of its features intact.
ROADWAYS.EXE ----------- The main Roadways PC program file
ROADWAYS.DAT ----------- The text file containing the city data
ROADWAYS.DOC ----------- This documentation file
ROADWAYS.STA ----------- Data sorted by State
ROADWAYS.CTY ----------- Data sorted by City
PRINTDOC.BAT ----------- Documentation Printer File
INSTALL.EXE ----------- Roadways PC installation program
REGISTER.EXE ----------- Registration program for Roadway PC
README.DOC ------------- Special information not in the manual
INSTALLING ROADWAYS PC ON YOUR COMPUTER
Installing Roadways PC is very simple. You may install
Roadways PC to either a floppy disk or to your hard disk if you
have one. If you are upgrading from an earlier version, please
go to page 15 and perform the procedures in the section entitled,
UPGRADING ROADWAYS PC.
If you try to run Roadways PC without first running the
INSTALL program, Roadways will remind you. You will see a screen
that informs you that Roadways PC has not been configured for
your system. At this point, Roadways will end and you can run
INSTALL to configure the program.
- 1 -
To install Roadways PC, all you need to do is follow these
instructions:
1. Insert the disk containing Roadways PC into your disk drive.
2. Type INSTALL and press <enter>.
3. After a few seconds, you will be asked if you wish to make a
backup of your Roadways PC program disk. If you answer Y to this
question, you will be exited from INSTALL so you can use DISKCOPY
to back up your original disk. If you answer N to this question,
you will be allowed to continue with the installation procedure.
4. Now you will be asked if you wish to install Roadways PC onto
a Hard drive. If you answer Y to this question:
a. You will be asked if the subdirectory C:\ROADWAYS
is where you want Roadways installed. If you want
Roadways installed in a sudirectory on drive C: called
ROADWAYS, type Y.
b. You can enter a different drive and subdirectory if
you want. Just enter the letter of the drive you want
Roadways installed to, and when asked for the
subdirectory name, type in any legal DOS name.
c. The subdirectory will be created on the specified
drive and Roadways will install (or copy) itself into
that subdirectory.
FINAL INSTALLATION
The next question asks if you want to continue with
installation. If you do not want to do so at this point, simply
type N and Roadways PC will terminate. If you want to continue
(and you really should!), type Y and you will be asked if you
have a color monitor.
If you have any type of color monitor and card, type Y. If
you have a monochrome display of any type, type N.
The next question asks if you want Roadways PC to calculate
a mileage reimbursement cost per mile. This option is primarily
designed for folks that get reimbursed for their mileage on
business trips, although it has other uses as well, such as
calculations for IRS mileage deductions and so forth.
Please note, however, that the author of Roadways PC makes
no claims as to the accuracy of the mileages calculated.
Roadways PC is primarily a tool to help you plan your trip, and
as such should not be used when accuracy is important.
If you want Roadways PC to calculate a cost per mile, simply
type 'Y'. Next you will be asked for the mileage rate. This is
the amount per mile you want Roadways PC to use. You must enter
this number as a decimal. For example, if you want to use 24
cents per mile as the rate, type .24 and hit <enter>.
Don't worry if the amount you want to use changes later, as
you can easily update it from within Roadways PC and save it back
to disk.
Next, you will need to choose the type of printer you have.
Simply select your printer from the list. You will notice that
this list is very general. This is because the options differ
only in the characters that are printed from the trip route
screen. If you have a dot matrix or laser printer, it is
probably IBM compatible. You can tell by looking at the printout
when you do a route.
- 2 -
If you selected the IBM, laser or EPSON selections from the
list, when you print out a route, you should see smooth,
uninterrupted lines between the headings and the list of cities
and routes. If you have an EPSON printer and you get a bunch of
letters instead of smooth lines, you will need to change your
printer dip switches to the IBM or alternate character set.
For other printers, if you see a bunch of letters across the
page separating the headings and the list of cities, you will
need to select the option for daisy wheel printers. This will
use the '-' and the '=' instead of the extended characters.
If you do not have a printer, it doesn't matter what you
select, but you must select something!
After you have made your display and printer selections,
Roadways PC will create a file called ROADWAYS.CFG which will
contain the configuration information for your computer. This
file will be put in the subdirectory where you installed Roadways
or on the floppy disk if you did not put it on a hard disk.
**** NOTE ****
If you have configured Roadways PC for your computer, and wish to
pass Roadways along to someone else, please do not copy the
ROADWAYS.CFG file onto their disk. Also, do not include it in an
archive or zip file, as it may cause problems for the next person
who gets the copy. The files that should be included are the
ones listed above in the section entitled "DISTRIBUTED FILES".
Once the configuration program is complete, you will be
returned to DOS. To run Roadways PC, simply type ROADWAYS and
hit <enter>.
REGISTRATION
If you are a registered user of Roadways, you may bypass the
copyright screen that appears on bootup. To configure your
system to allow this, follow these steps:
1. Insert your Roadways PC disk into your computer or go to the
subdirectory on your hard drive that contains the Roadways PC
program.
2. Type REGISTER <enter>.
3. Next, you will be asked if you are installing Roadways on a
Tandy 1000 HX, EX, SL, TL, SL/2, TL/2 or TL/3. If you own one of
these computers, ROADWAYS.EXE will be renamed RW.EXE, and you
will be taken directly to step 5, and upon completion, a file
called ROADWAYS.BAT will be put on the disk that contains your
copy of Roadways.
4. When asked, enter the letter of the drive where you boot your
computer. REGISTER will check that drive to see if an
AUTOEXEC.BAT file exists.
5. You will be asked for the code that was in the registration
letter that was sent to you by the author. Enter that code and
hit <enter>.
6. If you have a Tandy, at this point the REGISTER program will
end and the file ROADWAYS.BAT will be written to your disk. To
run Roadways, type ROADWAYS and hit <enter>. If all has gone
well, Roadways will run without the copyright screen.
- 3 -
7. IF you do not have a Tandy, REGISTER will check your boot
drive for an AUTOEXEC.BAT file. If one does not exist, you will
be asked if you want to create one. If so, type Y .
6. A single command will be added to the beginning of your
AUTOEXEC.BAT file. This command can be moved anywhere in the
AUTOEXEC.BAT file you wish, as long as it get's executed before
Roadways PC gets run. Please note that without the statement
that REGISTER puts in the AUTOEXEC.BAT, you cannot bypass the
copyright screen.
7. If all has gone well, after you re-boot your computer and
type ROADWAYS, you will find that Roadways PC will start-up
without the Copyright screen.
USING ROADWAYS PC
Roadways PC is designed to be simple to use. If you have a
mouse that is 100% Microsoft compatible (i.e. - Microsoft,
Logitech, Dexxa, etc.) and the driver is loaded, Roadways PC will
detect that it is present and display a Mouse cursor whenever
appropriate.
Once you have Roadways PC properly configured, the program
will load and run, presenting you with a copyright notice if you
are not a registered user. To exit this screen, simply press any
key or left mouse button.
At this point, Roadways PC will check to make sure you have
all of the necessary data files and if not, it will attempt to
create them. The most important file of all is the file
ROADWAYS.DAT. Without this file, Roadways PC will not run. The
other two data files, ROADWAYS.CTY and ROADWAYS.STA are created
from the ROADWAYS.DAT file, so if they are missing, Roadways PC
can still run.
However, before it will work, it must create the missing
files.
If for some reason, either one or both of the sorted data files
is missing, Roadways PC will inform you of this and then it will
proceed to create the files, save them and then run Roadways PC.
This should be an almost automatic action requiring no input from
you other than pressing a key to go on.
Once Roadways has loaded and made sure all of the required
files are present, it will begin loading the city data in. You
will see two lines in the lower portion of the screen that look
like this:
Counting to:
City Number:
The first line indicates the number of cities in the
database. The second line will count up until it matches the
first line. The purpose of this is just to let you know that
something is going on, and that your computer hasn't locked up.
When the two numbers match, you will be presented with a
choice of having the cities sorted either Alphabetically by city
or Alphabetically by state. Press either 'C' or 'S' or use the
mouse to click anywhere on the word 'City' or 'State'.
CONTROLLING ROADWAYS PC WITH THE KEYBOARD
You should now be at the main program screen. Down the left
side there should be a list of cities, arranged either by state
or by city, depending on your choice earlier, with the top choice
highlighted.
- 4 -
At the bottom, you will see a block with five choices,
labeled NEXT PAGE, PREVIOUS PAGE, MILEAGE, RETRIEVE and QUIT.
This block is for the Mouse user only. It can, however, help you
remember the proper keys to use. The first letter of each of the
commands is highlighted. Pressing any of these keys will do what
the function says.
If you have a mouse, see the section on Controlling Roadways
PC with a Mouse for more information on their use.
The key help block will appear just above this Mouse block,
and provides you with the functions of all of the keys that can
be used at this point in the program.
Toward the top, you will see a block with the prompt:
Select Starting City
You do this by using the following keys:
Up Arrow Key --------------------- Move up the list
Down Arrow Key ------------------- Move down the list
PgUp key (or P key) -------------- Go to Previous Page
PgDn key (or N key) -------------- Next Page
Home key ------------------------- Go to the First Page
End Key -------------------------- Go to the Last Page
Enter Key ------------------------ Select a city
ALT Key -------------------------- Activate the menu bar
Q key ---------------------------- Quit Roadways PC
R key ---------------------------- Retrieve saved routes
M key ---------------------------- Change the Mileage Rate
Any other key -------------------- Key help window
If you have problems remembering what keys do what, just
press a key that is not on this list ('H' for example), and you
will be presented with a window that shows the primary key
commands for Roadways PC. To clear the window, just press
<enter>, space bar or ESC.
Selecting a City
To select a city, simply use the arrow keys to move the
highlighted area over the city you want, then press <enter>. If
you do not see the city you are looking for on the screen, press
the PgUp (or P) or PgDn (or N) keys to flip through the 'pages'
of cities until you locate the city you are looking for.
Once you have selected a Starting City, you will notice that
the block at the top right now says:
Select Ending City
Also, you will see a block just below that block which now
indicates what city you chose as the starting city, and is
waiting for you to choose the ending city.
Repeat the above procedure to select the ending or
destination city, and again press <enter>. Now you will notice
that the window that contains the starting city also displays the
ending city along with a prompt for you to decide if these are
correct. If so, type 'Y'. If not, type 'N', and you will be
able to re-select both the starting and ending cities.
If the starting city and ending city are the same, Roadways
PC will clear the block and tell you to select the starting city
again.
- 5 -
Once you type 'Y', you will see a small square toward the
top of the screen that is labeled:
Miles:
You will see numbers count up, as Roadways PC calculates the
total mileage to the destination. As before, this is put on the
screen mostly to let you know something is happening, since on a
slower computer, the route can take longer to complete. This is
especially true of long, coast-to-coast routes.
Pressing and releasing the ALT key will toggle the menu bar
at the top of the screen. From these menus you can perform many
of the functions that are also available from the hot keys, such
as retrieving saved routes and exiting Roadways PC.
ROUTE SCREEN
Once the route is complete, the screen will clear and the
route will be displayed. At this point, you have five more
options:
1. Press 'P' to print the route out to your printer.
2. Press 'O' to save the route to disk.
3. Press 'M' to see Mileage information if it is enabled.
4. Press 'Q' to Quit Roadways PC completely.
5. Press the Spacebar to do another route.
You may print the route out as many times as you wish.
Simply press 'P' for each copy you want. When you are done
printing, you may either quit or run another route.
A help menu is available on this screen as well. To
activate it, press any key not highlighted on the screen in a
command box. I recommend either 'H' or 'F1' since these are the
normal help commands in other programs, but any key will do. The
right mouse button will also turn this screen on.
Once the help window is open, you can close it by pressing
either ESC, <enter> or the space bar, or by clicking in the upper
left hand corner or on the <CLOSE> spot with the mouse.
If you calculate a route that is longer than will fit on a
single screen, you will see two little boxes at the bottom of the
screen that say Scroll Up and Scroll Down. By using the arrow
keys or the U and D keys, you can scroll through the list of
cities at your leisure.
SAVING ROUTES TO DISK
Saving routes to disk is very simple. From the Route sceen,
press 'O'. Roadways PC will ask you for a path and filename. If
you want to save the route in the same directory as Roadways, all
you need to do is enter the filename you want your route saved
under. Do not enter an extender, only a valid MS-DOS filename of
eight characters or less.
PLEASE NOTE: You cannot save any routes under the filename
ROADWAYS. Roadways PC will not allow this, since it would be
possible to overwrite one of the program files by accident.
Also, if you at any time change the extender from .RDW to
another, Roadways PC will not be able to find the file.
- 6 -
All Roadways files are saved with the extender .RDW and are
simply text files. There are no special characters or funny
formatting. This was done to make it easy for you to read into
your favorite word processor for inclusion in a letter or
document you are preparing.
RETRIEVING ROUTES FROM DISK
Retrieving is almost as easy as saving the route. From the
main City Selection screen, type 'R' and you will be asked for
the drive and directory name of the directory containing your
Roadways PC route files. If you have saved the route files in
the same directory and drive that has Roadways PC, all you have
to do is press <enter> .
You will see a directory of all files that have an extension
of .RDW on the screen, and a prompt asking which file you want to
retrieve. Just type in the name of the route file (with or
without the extender. It doesn't matter.) and press <enter>.
You should now see the route just as you saved it. At this
point you may elect to do one of the following:
PRINT - Print the route you just retrieved
MORE - Retrieve another route
RETURN TO ROADWAYS PC MAIN - Return to the City Selection screen
Simply press the first letter of the option you want and do
what Roadways PC tells you.
CONTROLLING ROADWAYS PC WITH A MOUSE
Roadways PC is a program that lends itself well to a mouse
or pointing device. Use of the mouse is almost intuitive, since
it makes sense to point at what you want. This is the philosophy
around which the mouse interface was designed.
When you first boot up, after the copyright screen, you are
presented with a choice of sorting the cities by either city or
state. Simply move the mouse cursor to the one you want, and
click with the left button. You can click on any part of the
word, not just the first letter.
Once at the main menu, the following is the assignment of
the mouse buttons:
Left Button - Select button
Right Button - Activate the Keyboard help window
As this implies, to choose a city, just position the mouse
cursor over the city you want and press the left button.
To page through the cities, simply go to the boxes at the
bottom of the screen. Here is the function of the boxes:
NEXT PAGE - Selects the next page (screen) of cities
PREVIOUS PAGE - Selects the previous page (screen) of cities
MILEAGE - Change the Mileage calculation amount
RETRIEVE - Retrieves previously saved routes from disk
QUIT - Quit Roadways PC
- 7 -
By using the mouse cursor and clicking with the left mouse
button on your selection, you can page through the cities
effortlessly, and select your starting and ending cities.
The same thing goes for the other screens. When you see a
box with several selections in it, simply click on the word or
box you want.
[Yes/No] PROMPTS
When using a mouse, you can answer a yes or no prompt by
simply putting the mouse cursor over your choice. For example,
after selecting the ending city, you are asked:
Is this Correct [Yes/No]?
To answer yes, position the mouse cursor over the 'Y' at the
end of the question and click the left mouse button. This is the
way to answer all Y/N prompts if you do not want to use the
keyboard. This includes the ones when exiting Roadways.
USING THE MOUSE ON THE ROUTE SCREEN
The only active mouse areas on the route display screen are
in the box at the bottom of the screen. Here you have the
options of either Printing, Disk Output, Mileage display,
Quitting or Space bar to continue. By clicking with the left
mouse button on the word with the highlighted letter, you can
select that option.
Also, if you have a route longer than the screen will
display all at one time, you can click in either the Scroll Up or
Scroll Down box to scroll the city route display.
Again, you do not have to click on the highlighted letter,
just anywhere on the word that contains the highlighted letter.
CHANGING THE MILEAGE RATE
You can change the mileage rate at any time by pressing 'M'
from the City Selection screen. Upon entering the Mileage change
screen, you will notice three options:
1) Calculate actual cost per mile based on price of gasoline
2) Calculate cost per mile on a cents per mile rate
3) Don't do a mileage calculation
Option 1
Selecting option 1 will result in your being asked for the
pump price of a gallon of gasoline. For example, if the price of
gas is $1.25 9/10, then enter 1.259 and press <enter>.
Next, you'll be asked for the miles per gallon your car
gets. If your car gets 22 miles per gallon, enter 22 and press
<enter>.
You will then be told how many cents per mile it costs to
operate your car with those figures.
Next, you are asked if you want to save this rate to disk
for permanent use in Roadways PC. If you do, press 'Y', if not,
press 'N'.
If you pressed 'N', you will be asked if the amount
calculated is correct. If it is, press 'Y' and you will be
returned to Roadways PC and that rate will be used until you exit
Roadways PC, or change it.
- 8 -
If the rate calculated is not the one you want used for
routes, press 'N' and you will then be asked if you want a
mileage rate calculation done. If you answer 'N' to this
question, there will be no mileage rate calculations on your
routes, until the end of the current Roadways PC session or until
you change it again by pressing 'M' at the City Selection screen.
Option 2
Use this option if you want to calculate a cost per mile
based on a set per mile rate. For example, if you get reimbursed
by your company at the rate of .24 cents per mile, you would
select this option.
You will be asked what rate per mile you want to use. You
must enter this amount as a decimal number. For example, if you
get 24 cents per mile, you would enter .24 and press <enter> .
If you forget, Roadways PC will remind you and give you some
instructions.
As for option 1, you will have the option of saving the rate
to disk or not. If you select to not save the rate to disk, it
will still be used to provide mileage calculations during the
current session of Roadways PC.
Option 3
Option 3 will turn off the mileage rate calculations. If
you select this option, you will not have the mileage rates
displayed on the route screen or on your printout or disk save.
To re-activate the calculations, just press 'M' to get back into
the Mileage Calculation screen.
As with all of the other screens in Roadways PC, this screen
also supports a mouse. The mouse cursor will appear when it can
be used.
QUITTING ROADWAYS PC
To end your Roadways PC session, go to either the main
screen (the one that contains the city list) or the route display
screen. You may either press 'Q' or click on the appropriate box
with the mouse.
COMMAND LINE SWITCHES
There are several command line switches available to make
loading and running Roadways PC easier and more customizable.
Here are the command line options:
/C - Load Roadways and sort the cities in City order for display
/S - Load Roadways and sort the cities in State order for display
/I - Run the city sorter program (creates ROADWAYS.CTY and
ROADWAYS.STA)
/? - Provides help on the Command Line switches
If at any time you cannot remember what the different
switches are, simply type:
ROADWAYS /?
This will display all the switches available and return you
to the DOS prompt.
The /C and /S switches speed entry into Roadways PC, by
selecting ahead of time, the way you want the cities displayed;
whether by city or by state.
You will find out more about using the /I switch in the
coming section.
- 9 -
ENVIRONMENT USE
If there is one particular setup you always want to use, you
can install it in an environment statement. You can have up to 3
separate environment switches to activate options in Roadways PC.
In reality, if you look at the list of possible command line
switches, you will notice that there is really only a need for
one switch.
The most obvious use for this is to add the capability to
have Roadways PC come up with the cities listed either by city or
by state. Here are the options available:
SET ROADWAYS =/C Makes Roadways PC come up sorted by City
SET ROADWAYS =/S Makes Roadways PC come up sorted by State
To use one of these, just add the appropriate statement
above to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Please note that the command
line will override whatever environment switches you choose.
While you can use some of the other command line switches in
the environment, I don't recommend it, since Roadways PC will
come up with those options selected every time you run it.
ADDING CITIES TO ROADWAYS PC
Obviously, this program would be of only limited use if it
could not be expanded and customized. Since the initial database
is fairly limited, it would be good to be able to add new cities.
Adding cities is fairly easy, but does require some planning.
Before adding your first city, make sure you have the
following available:
A good road atlas
A calculator (to help add up the number of miles)
A printout of the datafile ROADWAYS.DAT
A backup copy of the datafile ROADWAYS.DAT (VERY IMPORTANT!!!)
While I can't help you with the first two, I can help you
get a good printout of the data file.
1. Set up your printer and make sure it is on-line.
2. At the DOS prompt, type COPY ROADWAYS.DAT PRN <enter>
The data file should now print out. Be forewarned. This is
a fairly long datafile (about 4 to 5 pages) so make sure you have
enough paper!
Once you have all of the items at hand, sit down at a table
and lay the data file printout out in front of you. The first 4
lines should look something like this:
201,8
1,ALBANY,NY,5,156,90,146,151,90,85,105,87,88,23,-7,154,14,88,142
2,ALBERT LEA,MN,4,87,90,262,94,35,93,147,90,168,47,35,148
3,ALBUQUERQUE,NM,4,56,40,323,37,25,365,52,25,257,192,40,114
Let's look at what each piece of this data means:
The top line is very important. This line contains two
pieces of data indicating the number of cities in the datafile
and the maximum number of connections that any one city can have.
In this case, the first number tells us that there are 201 cities
in the datafile.
- 10 -
Your listing may have a larger number here depending on
whether or not any new cities have been added since release of
Roadways PC.
The second number tells Roadways PC what the maximum number
of cities any one city is connected to. This will become more
apparent as we move on, so don't worry too much if you don't
understand yet.
On the second line is the first piece of city data. Please note
that the cities are numbered from 1 to 201 (in this example.
Yours may be higher), consecutively.
YOU MUST NOT MOVE THE CITIES AROUND! You cannot change the
order of the existing cities or remove a city without
invalidating the entire listing. You can remove the last city or
put a new city on the end, but that is the extent of the
modification you can make to the city file.
The city data is set up like so:
CNUM,CITY,STATE,CONN,C1,R1,D1,C2,R2,D2,C3,R3,D3...
CNUM is the city number and applies to this line only! In our
example, CNUM for Albany is 1.
CITY is the city name.
STATE is the state name.
CONN is how many other cities this city connects to. In the case
of Albany, it connects to 5 other cities (in the example).
C1 is the city number of the first city that this city connects
to. In our example, the first connection from Albany is to city
number 156, which should be SYRACUSE,NY.
R1 is the number of the route by which this city connects to the
city indicated by C1. Albany is connected to city number 156 by
interstate 90.
D1 is the distance from this city to the city indicated by C1.
Albany is connected to city number 156, by interstate 90 at a
distance of 146 miles.
C2, R2, D2, C3, R3, D3, etc. are the other cities that connect to
this city, in exactly the same format as C1, R1, and D1.
The data for each connecting city is always entered in this
format: City number, route number, distance. Spaces are not
allowed anywhere but in the actual city name.
To make it easier to understand adding a new city, let's
take a look at how city number 201 was added to the data file.
If you haven't already, print out the city data file,
ROADWAYS.DAT.
Take a look at city number 201. We are going to pretend
that this city does not yet exist in the datafile. What we want
to do is add the city MARION, Illinois. By looking at my atlas,
I have decided that I want it to connect to three other cities
that are in the datafile already.
The cities I want Marion, Illinois to connect to are:
Mt. Vernon, Il. (city number 99)
Paducah, Ky. (city number 112)
Sikeston, Mo. (city number 145)
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From my atlas, I get the route information about the roads
like so:
Mt. Vernon, Il. is 53 miles away on interstate 57
Paducah, Ky. is 42 miles away on interstate 24
Sikeston, Mo. is 60 miles away on interstate 57
Now, I just have to build my new line entry. Here are the
steps for this example:
1. First is the new city number: 201
2. Next is the city name: MARION (all caps)
3. Next is the state name: IL (two letter abbreviation)
4. The number of cities we want to connect to: 3
5. City number of the first connecting city: 99 (Mt. Vernon)
6. Route number of the first connecting city: 57
7. Number of miles to the first connecting city: 53
8. City number of the second connecting city: 112 (Paducah)
9. Route number of the second connecting city: 24
10. Number of miles to the second connecting city: 42
11. City number of the third connecting city: 145 (Sikeston)
12. Route number of the third connecting city: 57
13. Number of miles to the third connecting city: 60
Our new line should look like this:
201,MARION,IL,3,99,57,53,112,24,42,145,57,60
The order of the cities in the line is not critical, however
the format of the data is. In other words, it's ok to put
Sikeston, Mo. as the first city in the line of connecting cities,
however it is not ok to put the number of miles before the route
number, since Roadways PC will think the route number is the
distance and vice-versa.
Once you have developed the new line, you must now go and
make the connection at the other end. For instance, you have
added a connection to city number 99 (Mt. Vernon, Il), but Mt.
Vernon still does not have anything showing it's connection to
city number 201.
To complete the connection, go up to city number 99 and
increase the number of cities it connects to. Next add the
connecting city information. In this case you would add the
following to the end of the line:
201,57,53
This should look familiar. 201 is the number of the city
that was added at the end of the datafile. 57 is the route
number from Marion, Il. to Mt. Vernon, Il., and 53 is the number
of miles between the two cities.
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Repeat this for each of the connections made to the new
city.
To simplify matters, I usually just use a pencil to write
the new information on the datafile printout. This way, I can
verify that I haven't left anything out.
Once you have finished adding cities and making the changes
to the printout, load up your favorite text editor. Please be
aware that you should avoid using a word processor if possible,
unless you are very familiar with using it to make a true ASCII
file. You MUST save the datafile as an ASCII file with hard
carriage returns ONLY at the end of each line of data. If you
break any of the data lines anywhere other than at the end of the
last piece of data for that line, Roadways PC will not work.
I recommend using an editor such as MEDIT or even EDLIN, if
you are familiar with it's use.
DIFFERENT KINDS OF ROADS
Roadways PC allows three kinds of roads to be used. They
are 1) Interstates, 2) State Highways, and 3) Turnpikes. To
differentiate between them, you use the following rules:
1) To specify an Interstate, Simply type the number of the
interstate (i.e. 64 would indicate interstate 64 or I-64).
2) To specify a State Road, simply type the number of the road
as a negative (i.e. -64 would indicate US-64).
3) To specify a turnpike, simply type the number 0 (zero). This
will cause Roadways PC to print the word Turnpike, instead of the
highway number.
THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND
Here are some important things to keep in mind when adding
cities:
1. NEVER insert a city into the datafile anywhere but at the
end!
2. NEVER delete a city from the datafile, unless you are
prepared to either delete all of the cities after the city you
want to delete or completely rebuild the file to renumber all the
cities after the deletion and change all references to the cities
to the new numbers.
3. After adding a new city or connection, make sure you go the
cities connected to and make the connection back to the new city
or connection.
4. If you add a city to the listing that is on the path between
two cities that are already connected, it's best to remove the
connection between the two farthest cities and connect them
through the in-between city.
Once you have made all the changes to the datafile, go to
the top of the file to the very first two pieces of data. If you
remember, in our example these were the numbers 201 and 8
separated by a comma. You will need to change the first number
to reflect the total number of cities now in the data file. For
instance, if the last city is city number 205, you should change
the 201 to 205.
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Also, if any of the cities connects to more than 8 other
cities, you will need to change the second number to the maximum
number of connections. For example, if the city with the largest
number of connections has 10 total connections, you will need to
change the number 8 to a 10.
THE CITY SORTER
Now that all of your changes have been made, save the
datafile and exit your editor. If all has been done correctly,
you should now be ready to run Roadways PC with the city sorter
activated. To do this, type:
ROADWAYS /I <enter>
This will run the city sorter, recreating the sorted city
files with your changes included.
Now Roadways will run, and you should see your added cities
in the list. I recommend you try some routes, in both
directions, on your cities to make sure that the information you
put in is correct and that you didn't make any errors.
COMMON PITFALLS WHEN ADDING CITIES
Probably the single biggest pitfall when adding cities is
the temptation to try to add new cities without a printout of the
data file. This is NOT a good idea, and can result in errors or
omissions.
Another big problem area can crop up if you use a word
processor or editor that splits the data lines. When doing an
ASCII save, these programs will frequently put a hard carriage
return at the end of each screen line instead of at the end of
the physical line. This is why it is very important to keep a
backup of the datafile on hand, in the event the one you are
working with gets messed up.
If something goes wrong with your datafile, it will be
obvious, as the program will either not run at all or it will
give you an error and terminate operation. If this happens, you
know something is wrong with your datafile, and you will either
have to correct the problem with a word processor or re-copy your
original datafile back to the directory or disk you are running
Roadways PC from.
It really isn't hard to add cities. Just copy your datafile
to some other place and play with it. Just remember to run
Roadways PC with the /I switch to allow the city sorter to update
the lists of cities.
A NOTE ABOUT THE WINDOWS IN ROADWAYS PC
You will notice that the help windows and the mileage
calculation window are very similar. For the mouse user, these
windows can be either closed or moved at will. To move a window,
just click and hold the left mouse button down on the top bar of
the window, and draw it where you want it.
After the window is closed, it will revert to it's original
location if re-opened. You can close the windows by either
clicking in the top left corner, clicking on 'OK', hitting
<enter>, pressing the space bar or hitting ESC.
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UPGRADING ROADWAYS PC
If you are upgrading from a previous release of Roadways PC,
here are the steps you need to take to avoid losing any changes
you have made to the city datafiles:
1. If you have added or modified your city datafiles, make a
backup copy of YOUR city datafiles (ROADWAYS.DAT, ROADWAYS.CTY
and ROADWAYS.STA). Put the backup away so you don't accidentally
erase or over-write it. If you haven't changed the datafile, you
may want to use the newer datafile as it may contain new city
data you don't currently have. If this is so, copy everything
from the new disk to your ROADWAYS subdirectory, go to step 3 and
skip step 6.
2. Copy the files ROADWAYS.EXE, INSTALL.EXE and REGISTER.EXE
from the newer version to your Roadways directory or disk.
3. Delete the file ROADWAYS.CFG from your Roadways directory or
disk.
4. Type INSTALL at the MS-DOS prompt. INSTALL should load and
run. Follow the steps listed in the section INSTALLING ROADWAYS
PC to make the new ROADWAYS.CFG file.
5. Go through the configuration process. When it is done, you
should now have a completely upgraded Roadways PC!
6. Now, copy the following files from your new Roadways disk to
the disk you are going to run Roadways PC from:
ROADWAYS.DOC
README.DOC
Key things to remember are that the configuration file
(ROADWAYS.CFG) is very likely incompatible with earlier releases.
BACKGROUND ON ROADWAYS PC
The idea for Roadways PC came from a similar program done on
the Apple many years ago. This program worked but was very slow
and not at all flexible. It seemed to me that a much better
implementation of the idea could be had by using the IBM PC with
it's far superior processing speed, memory capabilities and the
availability of better languages to work from.
Initially, Roadways PC was done in GW-BASIC, however it
became apparent very rapidly that this was unsuitable. Besides
being horrendously slow, it was also bulky, requiring the use of
the BASIC interpreter.
After discovering Microsoft QuickBASIC 4.0, the entire
program was re-written in modular form without line numbers.
Several bugs manifested themselves, some of which were in
Roadways PC and some which were part of QuickBASIC.
At this point, I discovered the Microsoft BASIC Compiler,
version 7.1. This is what this version of the program (ver. 2.5)
is written in. Here, finally, was the support I needed without
the limitations and bugs in QuickBASIC. Another nice feature was
not having to re-write the program to compile it under the BASIC
Compiler.
- 15 -
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Doug Fitler is in the U.S. Air Force and has been for the
last 15 years. In his spare time, he is the managing editor of
the magazine One Thousand, a magazine geared to the Tandy 1000
owner.
He has been programming since 1983 and is currently trying
to learn enough 'C' to be able to re-write Roadways PC in that
language to increase it's speed, reduce it's size and maybe
(don't hold your breath) provide a Windows 3.0 interface.
ABOUT ROADWAYS PC
Roadways PC is distributed under the Shareware concept. If
you like it, please register it. This will help support the
further enhancement of the product, as well as compensate the
author for the work put into the program.
Registering Roadways will entitle you to free upgrades for a
year. Also, registered users will be able to disable the opening
copyright screen and will receive a free subscription to The
Roadways Times, a newsletter published quarterly for registered
Roadways PC users. Manuals are available as are lifetime free
upgrades. See the registration form for more information on
these options. Basic registration costs only $10.00.
You are free to give this program to anyone, and put it on
any information services you wish, as long as all of the files
are included.
Send registrations to the following address:
Doug Fitler
Box 424
Scott AFB, Il. 62225
Please make all checks and money orders payable to Doug
Fitler.
If you have any questions or suggestions to improve Roadways
PC, please drop me a line. Thank you for supporting the
Shareware Concept!
- 16 -
DISCLAIMER
The author hereby disclaims all warranties relating to this
software, whether express or implied, including without
limitation any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness
for a particular purpose. The author will not be liable for any
special, incidental, consequential, indirect or similar damages
due to loss of data or any other reason, even if the author or an
agent of the author has been advised of the possibility of such
damages. In no event shall the author's liability for any
software ever exceed the price paid for the license to use this
software, regardless of the form of the claim. The person using
the software bears all risk as to the quality and performance of
the software.
Please note that the author of Roadways PC makes no claims
as to the accuracy of the mileages calculated. Roadways PC is
primarily a tool to help you plan your trip, and as such should
not be used when accuracy is important. It is highly recommended
that if you wish to use Roadways PC to plan a trip, you double
check the route with a reputable atlas to make sure it meets your
requirements. Roadways will provide a route that is the shortest
based on the data it has to work with. Any errors, omissions,
oversights or problems with the data and the algorithm used to
calculate the mileages and display the data are the sole
responsibility of the user and not the author.
- 17 -
SUMMARY OF CHANGES IN VERSION 2.0
1. Added checking of Environment for defaults.
2. Added the ability to bypass the copyright screen for
registered users.
3. Added the option to save routes to disk.
4. Added Retrieval of routes from disk with optional printout.
Includes a directory listing of .RDW files (roadways saved
files).
5. Added 'R' to the help menu and to the Mouse selection blocks.
Also added Disk Output to the display screen. Added a mouse box
with Print, More and Return to Roadways PC Main to the Retrieval
screen.
6. Added the mileage rate input to the config screen.
7. Added mileage output to all output screens.
8. Added the option to change the mileage rate from within
Roadways with the 'M' key.
9. Updated the documentation to include all of the above
features.
10. Changed the Help box to a true window that is closeable and
moveable.
11. Put the mileage information on the route screen into a
moveable, closeable window.
Changes to version 2.5:
1. Pull down menus have been added to the main city selection
screen.
2. The route display is scrollable if it exceeds the room on the
screen.
3. Starting and ending cities in the route display have been
highlighted to make them more visible.
4. A help menu has been added to the route screen.
5. The configuration program has been removed from the main
program and revised to include installation to a hard drive.
Changes to version 2.51, 2.52 and 2.53:
1. Several minor bugs were fixed that caused problems with
calculated dollar amounts in the mileage calculation routines.
2. The Up and Down keys were switched to make the Up Arrow key
scroll the list up and the Down Arrow key scroll down. (oops!)
3. The colors were fixed for monochrome displays to make the
display screens readable and highlighting look correct.
- 18 -
4. A bug in the scroll screen was fixed that caused the scroll
up and scroll down block to appear if only 12 cities were in the
route. The minimum should have been 13.
- 19 -
INVOICE
Roadways PC version 2.54
Remit to:
Doug Fitler
P.O. Box 424
Scott AFB, Il. 62225-0424
From:
Name: __________________________________________________
Company: _______________________________________________
Street Address: ________________________________________
City: ____________________ State: ____________________
Zip Code: ________________
Quantity: ________
Pricing: Check the options you wish
Basic Registration : $10.00 [ ]
Printed Manual : $ 7.00 [ ]
Lifetime Free upgrades: $15.00 [ ]
Special offer:
All of the above : $30.00 [ ]
Total sent : $________
I use 5 1/4" _______ 3 1/2" _______
Home Phone (not required): (____)-______________________
Work Phone (not required): (____)-______________________
Where did you find Roadways PC?_________________________
________________________________________________________
Comments or Suggestions: _______________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Note that Roadways PC has been delivered and accepted by the
customer. Upon receipt of this paid invoice, if an upgrade has
occurred, a current disk and any updated documentation will be
sent.