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Calendar Mate V3.0
Copyright 1989,1990 Hawk Software
All Rights Reserved
Hawk Software
P.O Box 3961
Regina, Saskatchewan S4P 3R9
Canada
Compuserve ID: 75130,1650
Support Line: (306) 543-8899
_______
____|__ | (Tm)
-| | |-------------------
| ____|__ | Association of
| | |_| Shareware
|__| o | Professionals
-----| | |---------------------
|___|___| MEMBER
"This program is produced by a member of the Association of
Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the
shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a
shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the
member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can
help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but
does not provide technical support for members' products. Please
write to the ASP Ombudsman at P.O. Box 5786, Bellevue, WA 98006
or send a Compuserve message via easyplex to ASP Ombudsman
70007,3536"
The Primary Menu 7
The Convenience Calendar 7
The Options Menu 9
Option 1. Events for Today 10
Seeing other days 10
Entering Events 11
Deleting Events 11
Appointment Extend 11
Option 2. File Statistics 13
Option 3. Look at Events File 14
Important Keys 14
The Delete command 15
The Undelete command 15
The Change command 15
The Clone Command 15
The Expand Command 16
The Future Command 16
Deleting an Event 16
Rescheduling an Event 16
Undoing your changes 17
Sorting by date or event 17
Adding a Record 17
Option 4. Add a Record 18
Option 5. System Parameters 22
5.1.1 Choose from a list of Printer Codes 22
5.1.2 Prepare or edit your own 23
5.2 Set Program Parameters 24
5.3 Set Various Colours 27
Option 6. DOS Shell 29
Option 7. Print a Calendar 30
Option 8. Browse Calendar 32
Option 9. Quit 33
Appendix A. Date/Time Formats 34
Appendix B. Data Record Formats 35
Appendix C. ASCII Character Set 36
Appendix D. Repeating Adjectives 37
Appendix E. Some commonly asked questions 39
Appendix F. Order Form 40
INDEX 42
Calendar Mate 3.0 User Reference Guide Page 2
Calendar Mate is designed to help you keep track of important
events. Many homes have a central calendar with everything from
dental appointments to birthdays to PTA meetings marked on them.
With Calendar Mate, you can enter these events into the database
and print off a calendar to put up on your wall.
Calendar Mate's strength lies in its ability to handle repeating
events. You can enter your father's birthday into the database,
specify that it is to repeat on a yearly basis and Presto! Every
year, your father's birthday will be shown on the calendar.
What if you have to work in the church nursery on the 3rd Sunday
of the month or if you have a reunion with a friend on the 2nd
Wednesday in September? What if you have a darts game scheduled
fortnightly? No problem! Calendar Mate can handle repeating
events easily.
Calendar Mate is extremely flexible. You can delete or reschedule
a specific occurrence of a repeating event without affecting
other dates that the event falls on. There are no cumbersome
codes to learn. You can define events in plain English. You can
specify the date format -- whether 05/12/90 means May 12, 1990 or
December 5, 1990.
Calendar Mate is being marketed as Shareware. If you find this
program to be of use, please register your copy. This will
entitle you to the current version of the program, unlimited
technical support, notification of future upgrades and a good
feeling, knowing that you are contributing to the success of the
Shareware industry. For your convenience an order form is
provided at the end of this document.
What is Shareware?
Shareware distribution gives users a chance to try software
before buying it. If you try a Shareware program and continue
using it, you are expected to register. Individual programs
differ on details -- some request registration while others
require it, some specify a maximum trial period. With
registration, you get anything from the simple right to continue
using the software to an updated program with printed manual.
Introduction Page 3
Copyright laws apply to both Shareware and commercial software
and the copyright holder retains all rights, with a few specific
exceptions as stated below. Shareware authors are accomplished
programmers, just like commercial authors, and the programs are
of comparable quality. (In both cases, there are good programs
and bad ones!) The main difference is in the method of
distribution. The author specifically grants the right to copy
and distribute the software, either to all and sundry or to a
specific group. For example, some authors require written
permission before a commercial disk vendor may copy their
Shareware.
Shareware is a distribution method, not a type of software. You
should find software that suits your needs and pocketbook,
whether it's commercial or Shareware. The Shareware system makes
fitting your needs easier, because you can try before you buy.
And because the overhead is low, prices are low also. Shareware
has the ultimate money-back guarantee -- if you don't use the
product, you don't pay for it.
DISCLAIMER - AGREEMENT
Users of Calendar Mate must accept this disclaimer of warranty:
"CALENDAR MATE IS SUPPLIED AS IS. THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL
WARRANTIES, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION,
THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND OF FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
THE AUTHOR ASSUMES NO LIABILITY FOR DAMAGES, DIRECT OR
CONSEQUENTIAL, WHICH MAY RESULT FROM THE USE OF CALENDAR MATE."
Calendar Mate is a "shareware program" and is provided at no
charge to the user for evaluation. Feel free to share it with
your friends, but please do not give it away altered or as part
of another system. The essence of "user-supported" software is
to provide personal computer users with quality software without
high prices, and yet to provide incentive for programmers to
continue to develop new products.
If you find this program useful and find that you are using
Calendar Mate and continue to use Calendar Mate after a
reasonable trial period, you must make a registration payment of
$22.00 to Hawk Software. The $22.00 registration fee will license
one copy for use on any one computer at any one time.
You must treat this software just like a book. For example,
although this software may be used by any number of people and
may be freely moved from one computer location to another, there
must be no possibility of it being used at more than one location
at the same time it is being used at another.
Calendar Mate 3.0 User Reference Guide Page 4
Commercial users of Calendar Mate must register and pay for their
copies of Calendar Mate within 30 days of first use or their
license is withdrawn. Site-License arrangements may be made by
contacting Hawk Software.
Anyone distributing Calendar Mate for any kind of remuneration
must first contact Hawk Software at the address below for
authorization. This authorization will be automatically granted
to distributors recognized by the (ASP) as adhering to its
guidelines for shareware distributors, and such distributors may
begin offering Calendar Mate immediately (However Hawk Software
must still be advised so that the distributor can be kept up-to-
date with the latest version of Calendar Mate.).
You are encouraged to pass a copy of Calendar Mate along to your
friends for evaluation. Please encourage them to register their
copy if they find that they can use it. All registered users
will receive a copy of the latest version of the Calendar Mate
system, unlimited phone support and notification of future
releases of the program.
Since one of the main goals of Hawk Software is to provide a
quality product, your input is very valuable to us. Please feel
free to send us your ideas for enhancements. We would especially
appreciate hearing about any bugs you might come across.
System Requirements
This program runs on an IBM PC/XT/AT or compatible with at least
384K of RAM. The more memory, the bigger the database you can
have. The program has been tested with DOS 3.0 and higher and
works. Your monitor can be Monochrome, CGA, EGA or VGA. You can
use a floppy or hard drive to store the data.
In order to print calendars, you need a printer capable of
printing graphics characters. Several print drivers are supplied
with Calendar Mate and most printers are supported. If none of
the print drivers work you may have to change some dip switch
settings on your printer. Your printer manual will provide you
with this information. Some of the keywords to look for include
'IBM Character Set II' on most printers, 'Epson Extended
Character Set' on Epson printers, 'IBM Proprinter Mode' on Star
printers. If you need help, call the support line listed on the
front page of this manual.
Please note that online help information is available to you.
Press F1 from wherever you are in the program and an
instructional window will appear.
Introduction Page 5
Most Special Mentions
Special thanks go to my unflappable beta testers, Peter Amos,
John Notor, George Abbott, Jim Levin and especially Mike LeDuke,
my documentation editor.
However, the people who really made this program possible were my
wife Laura and two Hawklings Juliana and Joshua whose patience
during the development of this program kept me going.
...Rick Hawkes...
Calendar Mate 3.0 User Reference Guide Page 6
The Primary Menu
On the top line to the left of the title, the current day and
date is displayed. On the top line to the right of the title is
the current day in Julian format. The Julian date consists of the
two last digits of the current year followed by the relative day
in the year (i.e. January 3 is 3, February 1 is 32).
To the extreme right of the title is a clock showing the current
time (as accurately as DOS knows). The clock is updated every
minute.
The Convenience Calendar
In the middle of the screen is this month's calendar. Calendar
Mate takes its cue from DOS. If you haven't set the correct date
and time, you will have an inaccurate calendar on your screen. No
matter, you can change it. To set the date, exit the program and
from the Dos prompt, type in DATE and press <ENTER>
Dos will ask you to enter the current date and you reply in the
format specified. You can also set the time by typing TIME at
the Dos prompt and pressing <ENTER>. See your Dos manual for more
details.
There are a number of keys on your keyboard for manipulating the
convenience calendar. These keys are
Up Arrow Display the next year
If the current calendar is May 1989,
this key will display May 1990
Down Arrow Display the previous year
If the current calendar is May 1989,
this key will display May 1988
Left Arrow Display the previous month
If the current calendar is May 1989,
this key will display April 1989
Right Arrow Display the next month
If the current calendar is May 1989,
this key will display June 1989
Ins Add 100 to the year (next century)
If the current calendar is May 1989,
this key will display May 2089
Introduction Page 7
Del Subtract 100 from the year
If the current calendar is May 1989,
this key will display May 1889
Home Back to today's calendar
Hitting this key will reset the
calendar to the system date
PgDn Hilight the previous day
PgUp Hilight the next day
If you have a mouse installed, a few extra characters will appear
on the bottom of the convenience calendar. They are meant to
represent the arrows on your keyboard. If you position the mouse
cursor on one of the characters and click the mouse button, it
will behave the same way as the similar looking arrow key. The
character that looks like a box with a hole in the middle is
meant to represent the 'Home' key.
You may also position the mouse cursor over a day on the
calendar, click the mouse button, and that day will become the
current day. This behaves much like the PgDn and PgUp keys but
faster because you can target a specific day.
Hilighting the previous day or the next day are meaningful when
you select option 1 from the options menu. This will be discussed
in detail momentarily.
Example Exercise
Look at October 1582.
1) If your current month isn't October, press the left or right
arrow keys until October is displayed in the center of the
screen.
2) Now press the up or down arrow keys. Remember that this will
change the year backward or forward one year. Keep pressing until
you get to 1982.
3) Now press the 'Delete' key a few times until you come to 1582.
Remember that the delete key moves the date in the convenience
calendar one century backward.
Calendar Mate 3.0 User Reference Guide Page 8
Interestingly enough, October 1582 was a pivotal month in the
history of the calendar. The pope at the time, Gregory, was
advised that because of an anomaly in the calendars so far,
Easter was in danger of becoming a summer event. So Gregory
deleted 10 days from the calendar that month to correct this.
This was the start of what we call the Gregorian calendar.
4) To come back to today, press the 'Home' key.
The Options Menu
At the bottom of the main screen is the options menu. You may
select a function either by number or by the hilighted letter in
the description. If you have a mouse installed, to select an
option position the mouse cursor beside that option and click the
mouse button.
Introduction Page 9
Option 1. Events for Today
Introduction
This screen will display two things, events that have been
scheduled for today's date and any future events for which you
have scheduled an early warning that are coming up soon.
In the system parameters file (option 5 on the main menu) you can
specify the hours to be displayed on this screen and the number
of intervals in the hour.
If you have scheduled an event whose time exactly matches a time
period on this screen, the event will be displayed there.
Otherwise, the event will be displayed in the blank area below
the time periods listed on the screen.
Seeing other days
There are several ways to have a look at another day's events
from this screen.
1) PgDn = next day
2) PgUp = previous day
3) Enter the date to skip to. See appendix A for a list of valid
date formats.
4) If you want to see the events scheduled for next Wednesday, on
the input line, type nw and press <Enter>. The letter 'n' is
interpreted by Calendar Mate as meaning 'next'. Similarly, the
letter 'l' is interpreted as meaning 'last'. For the day, use the
following table.
Day Code
Sunday s
Monday m
Tuesday t
Wednesday w
Thursday th
Friday f
Saturday sa
Calendar Mate 3.0 User Reference Guide Page 10
Entering Events
To enter events into the database directly from this screen,
press F10. The input line will move to the first time period. Use
the tab keys or the up and down arrow keys to move the input area
to the desired time period.
If you have a mouse, place the cursor beside a time and click the
button. Enter your event in the input area displayed.
When you have entered your appointment/event, press the enter key
to save it. When you have finished, press the ESC key to return
to the main menu.
Deleting Events
To delete an appointment from your daily calendar, enter the
command
D xxxx
where xxxx represents the time the appointment is scheduled. You
may use any supported format when specifying the time. This
command only works for events that occur between the start and
end hours that you specify in 'System Parameters'. Any
appointments that are scheduled outside those hours must be
deleted using option 3 from the main menu.
Appointment Extend
If your event will span more than one time slot, use the
Appointment Extend feature. In input mode press the F6 key and
then use the arrow and tab keys to move to different time
periods. The text of your event will travel with the input area.
The Appointment Extend feature will move whatever text was on the
input line before the F6 key is hit. You can use this to extend
an appointment that has already been made and save yourself some
keystrokes. See example 3 below. The restriction of Appointment
Extend is that it can only be used for consecutive time slots.
Option 1: Events for Today Page 11
Example 1
Suppose you want to schedule a short meeting with Frank at 10:00
a.m.
1) Press F10
2) Use the down arrow key to move the input area to 10:00
3) Type 'Meeting with Frank'
4) Press the Enter (or return) key to register the event.
Example 2
You must give a lecture on baseball strategy from 9:30 to 11:00
1) Press F10
2) Press F6 for Appointment Extend
3) Use the down arrow key to move the input area to 9:30
4) Type 'Strategy Lecture'
5) Use the down arrow key to move to 11:00
6) Press the Enter (or return) key to register the event.
7) Press ESC to return to the main menu.
Example 3
You've scheduled a meeting with a salesman at 9:00 but he's
called and told you that he'll need 1 hour instead of 30 minutes
to make his presentation. To mark that on your calendar,
1) Press F10.
2) Use the down arrow key to move the input area to 9:00
3) Press F6 for Appointment Extend
4) Press the down arrow key to extend the appointment.
5) Press Enter (or return) to register the event.
Calendar Mate 3.0 User Reference Guide Page 12
Option 2. File Statistics
This option shows the number of records in the database, the
number of deleted records and the 'number of memory slots left'.
When the program starts, it determines how much memory it needs
to load the database and then adds some to allow for the addition
of more records. If your additional records exceed this allocated
memory, Calendar Mate will save the data file and allocate more
memory.
A record will be flagged as deletable when a non-repeating
event's date has passed or you explicitly deleted an event in
option 3.
When a record is flagged as deletable, it will remain in the
database until you save the database (using the autosave option)
or quit the program. Until one of these events occurs, you can
recover a deleted event in option 3.
Option 2: File Statistics Page 13
Option 3. Look at Events File
This command will display a window showing the events database.
There are two main types of event records -- repeating and non-
repeating -- and these are displayed separately, non-repeating
followed by repeating. These records will be sorted in ascending
date order and optionally by time as well (See section 5.2 for
information on how to sort the database by time). A repeating
event will be identified with an asterisk to the right of the
date.
Important Keys on this Screen
F1 Help Information
F8 Sort file by date or event
F9 Skip to top of file
F10 Skip to end of file
PgDn Scroll forward a screen
PgUp Scroll backward a screen
Up arrow Move up 1 event
Down arrow Move down 1 event
Esc Close the window
There are 6 one letter commands that you can use on this screen.
C Change the record
F Show Future occurrences of a repeating event
L Clone an existing record
D Delete the record
U Undelete the record
X Expand the record to see more data
Enter any of these commands in the input area beside a record.
Calendar Mate 3.0 User Reference Guide Page 14
With a mouse you may execute any of the above mentioned commands
by positioning the mouse cursor on the command and clicking the
button.
As well, instead of using the arrow keys to move the input area
beside a record, you may position the mouse cursor beside a
record and click a button to select that record.
The Delete command
Use this command to delete a record from the database. When you
do this, the record will be deleted the next time the database is
sorted and saved to disk. Until then, if you change your mind
about deleting the record, you may undelete it.
The Undelete command
This command undeletes a record from the database. It will undo
the action of the D (delete) command.
The Change command
This command is used to change the event record - date, time,
early warning, description, etc. When you enter the 'C' command
beside the record, you will see an input window not unlike the
'Add a Record' screen. The fields will be filled with the data
that you had specified before. You may now make any desired
changes. When you have changed a field, press the Enter (or
return) key. Then press F5 to save your changes.
The Clone Command
The purpose of this command is to make a copy of an existing
record and allow you to change some of the fields within it.
For example if you're putting your team's softball schedule into
Calendar Mate, this command can save a lot of typing. What you do
is create a record (using option 4 from the main menu) and save
it.
Then, from the main menu, choose option 3 to get back here and
clone the record by putting an 'L' beside the event. You'll see a
menu that looks just like the 'change a record' menu. The
difference is that you're creating a whole new record, using an
existing one as a template. Now change any fields you need to and
hit F5 to save it.
Option 3: Look at Events File Page 15
The Expand Command
This command will help you to remember some of the fields in the
record that aren't shown on the menu. Enter an X beside the
record and the program will display the entire record and make a
best guess at interpreting the repeat field. Please note that if
you have specified weekly or fortnightly, the program may
interpret the repeat field as '7 days' or '14 days' respectively.
The Future Command
This powerful command will show the future occurrences of a
repeating event. When you select this option you will be
presented with another menu showing you the next 10 occurrences
of the event.
From this menu, you may scroll forward and backward using the
PgUp and PgDn commands.
As well, there are three commands you may enter from here
R Reschedule an Event
D Delete this occurrence of the event
U Undo the effects of the above two commands
Note: These commands deal with repeating events only. When you
delete or reschedule an event from this part of the program, you
are deleting or rescheduling one occurrence only.
Deleting an Event
Suppose you have a Rotary Club meeting on the 2nd Tuesday of the
month except for the summer months. You have defined the event as
a repeater but do not want it to appear on your calendar for July
and August. By putting a 'D' beside the dates you want to cancel,
you will not have to see that event on your calendars. As a
reminder, the program will put the word 'Deleted' to the right of
the date you cancelled.
Rescheduling an Event
This is similar to deleting an event except that you want to see
it some other time. For example, you have a squash game scheduled
every Tuesday after work but you cannot play next Tuesday and
would rather reschedule the game to Wednesday.
Calendar Mate 3.0 User Reference Guide Page 16
If this is the case, put an 'R' beside the date. A menu like the
'change' and 'clone' menus will be displayed. Fill in the new
date or time of the event. Press F5 to save it. Calendar Mate
will display the new date of the event with the word
'Rescheduled' shown to remind you. When you print a monthly
calendar or display a daily calendar, the event will appear in
its new time period. The program will create a non-repeating
event at the new time or date.
Undoing your changes
If you have to 'undelete' or 'un-reschedule' an event, type a 'U'
beside the date that has been deleted or rescheduled. This will
restore the event to its previous state.
If you have rescheduled the event (and the program has created a
non-repeating record) the non-repeating record will be deleted.
Sorting by date or event
You may display the file sorted by date or by event. The default
sorting is by date. If you press the F8 key, the file will be
sorted differently from how you see it. If it's sorted by date
and you press F8, it will be sorted by event and vice versa.
Adding a Record
To add a record from this screen, press the Ctrl and 'A' keys
simultaneously. This will present you with the menu from option 4
which is the subject of the next chapter.
Option 3: Look at Events File Page 17
Option 4. Add a Record
When you choose this option you will be presented with an input
window like this
Enter Date :
Enter Time : 0000
Description :
Daily Cal :
Repeat :
Early Warn :
Note that once you have entered all the appropriate data, you
should press F5 to save the record. If, while defining the
record, you decide that you want to start over, press ESC to
close the window and discard the record.
Enter Date
The input area will be positioned beside the 'Enter Date' field.
Specify the date of the event (for non-repeating events) or the
starting date of the event (for repeaters). You will be reminded
of the correct format for the date. See appendix A for a full
listing of the acceptable date formats. If you want to use
today's date, enter an asterisk '*'. The date that is shown is
taken from the convenience calendar.
Enter Time
The 'Enter Time' field is the time the event is scheduled to take
place. This is optional because you might not care what time an
event is to occur. For example, you wouldn't specify a time for
an event such as Labour Day. If you don't need to specify a time,
press enter here. The default, 0000, tells the program to ignore
this field. There are many time formats the program understands.
See Appendix A for a full list of the acceptable formats.
Description
The 'Description' field allows you to describe the event. You may
use up to 20 characters. This field must have something entered
in it to allow you to fill in other fields.
Calendar Mate 3.0 User Reference Guide Page 18
Daily Cal
The 'Daily Cal' field gives you the option of having this event
appear on the daily calendar and/or monthly calendar. The default
is 'Y'. You may enter any of the following options...
Y or B Print event on monthly and daily calendars
N or M Print this on monthly calendar only
D Print this on the daily calendar only
Early Warn
The early warning will display an advance warning of an upcoming
event. The early warning will appear on the daily calendar a
specified number of days in advance of the event. You may specify
up to 99 days in advance.
Warning: If you use too large a number here (greater than 7 days
or so) the program will slow down quite substantially when
displaying the daily events.
Repeat
The 'Repeat' field calls for a Y, N or S response.
1) If this is a one time event, reply N
2) If this event is to come up on a regular basis, reply Y.
3) If the event is a special repeater, reply S.
There are two types of 'special repeating' events that Calendar
Mate can handle. The first type is an event that recurs on a
regular interval unless the date it falls on is a weekend. It
will then be rescheduled to the previous workday or the next
workday depending on your preference.
An example of this type of special repeater is the way that many
companies pay their employees - twice per month. The first payday
falls on the 15th of the month unless that day falls on a weekend
or holiday in which case the employees will be paid on the
previous workday.
The second type of special repeater is a specific date - February
29. If your birthday falls on that day, you will want to
celebrate it on the 28th of February in non-leap years.
Option 4: Add a Record Page 19
If you reply 'S' you will be prompted for the special processing
instructions. If you reply Y and press enter, the program will
show you two more lines so that the input screen will now look
like...
Enter Date : dd/mm/yy
Enter Time : 0000
Description : Testing Event
Daily Cal : Y
Repeat : Y
Early Warn : 00
Frequency : Annually
End Date : Eternity
Special Proc : (If you selected 'S')
Frequency
In the 'Frequency' field you tell the program how often an event
recurs. The program will allow you to describe many types of
repeating events. Some specific examples include:
3rd Workday of the month
Every 4 days
1st Monday in September
2nd Sunday of the month
Last workday
Daily
Every workday
See appendix D for a complete list of repeating adjectives that
the program understands.
End date
In this field tell the program to ignore a repeating event after
a certain date. Use this field, for example, when describing your
vacation to the program. If your vacation starts on 12Aug91 and
ends two weeks later on 26Aug91, how would you arrange to have
this event printed on your calendar for each day you are on
vacation? Specify 'daily' for frequency and 27Aug91 for the end
date.
Another way to specify the end date is to reply '+nnn' where nnn
represents a number of days. In the above example, instead of
specifying 27Aug91 as the end date, you could specify +15 as the
end date. The program would then compute the proper end date.
Calendar Mate 3.0 User Reference Guide Page 20
The date you specify as the end date isn't included in the span
of the event. It's the first day after the event has completed.
For example, if you have to attend a conference from October 12th
to October 14th, specify October 15th as the ending date.
The default for the end date is 'Eternity'. The program will keep
this event repeating until you delete it manually.
Special Processing
If you have defined an event as a 'special repeater' you'll have
to specify what to do if the event falls on a weekend. Your
options are
P to reschedule event to the previous workday
N to reschedule event to the next workday
D to delete this occurrence of the event
Option 4: Add a Record Page 21
Option 5. System Parameters
There are a number of user definable system parameters available.
When you select option 5, you will be presented with this menu.
1) Set Printer Parms
2) Set Program Parms
3) Set Various Colours
The following three sections will discuss each of those
selections in detail.
5.1 Set Printer Parameters
When it comes to setting up your printer, you may be able to use
a print driver that comes with Calendar Mate or you may have to
create your own. Read on to see what's involved!
5.1.1 Choose from a list of Printer Codes
Calendar Mate prints using special characters for the borders of
the calendars and if your printer isn't set up properly, the
borders will appear as italicized C's and D's instead of the box
characters. The following illustration uses all the special
characters. If it looks like italic characters, you're going to
need a print driver.
┌──┬──┐
├──┼──┤
└──┴──┘
There are several print drivers shipped with Calendar Mate which
will send control codes to your printer. Of course, there are
many kinds of printers out there but most of them will emulate
one of a couple of main types. I have found that there are 4 main
ones -
Epson LQ series
Epson FX, LX, RX series
IBM Proprinter
Hewlett Packard Laserjet
Calendar Mate 3.0 User Reference Guide Page 22
If you know that your printer emulates one of the above printers,
select the one that's appropriate. Simply put a non-blank
character (such as an X) beside the print driver you require and
press Enter. Then try to print a calendar. If it looks nice,
you've got the right one. If not, you may have to read the next
section.
5.1.2 Prepare or edit your own
Monthly calendar prints use three fonts -- normal, double width
and compressed. If monthly calendars print nicely on your printer
you won't have to go through the arduous process of looking up
printer codes.
If you do have to set up the printer codes, please note that the
program expects normal print to be 10 characters per inch and
double width to be 5 characters per inch. Compressed print may be
either 16.67 or 17.1 characters per inch.
You should be able to obtain the printer codes from your printer
manual. To enter the codes into Calendar Mate, use the decimal
representation of the codes. If there is more than one code,
separate them with commas. For example, if your printer needs to
receive the code "Esc+w+49" to turn on double width, enter
27,119,49 27 is Esc code, 119 is 'w' code
or
27,w,49 Probably easier
If the printer code contains non-numeric characters (letters or
other characters like $%&^) you may enter them as characters.
Numbers must be entered as their ASCII value (as illustrated
above).
If you have to sort out the printer codes and are successful, I
would be most grateful if you would communicate your findings to
me so that others will benefit from your research. As an
incentive, if you're the first person to send me the codes for
your printer I will refund your registration fee.
Appendix C contains a list of ASCII characters and their decimal
representation. You may use this to help you set up your printer
codes if necessary.
Option 5: System Parameters Page 23
Saving your printer codes.
If you need to save your printer codes in a separate print driver
you may do it in the following manner.
1) Create your printer codes using 5.1.2
2) Exit Calendar Mate
3) Type in COPY CALPARM.DAT MYDRIVE.PRD
This will create a print driver called MYDRIVE. The next time you
go into option 5.1.1 MYDRIVE.PRD will be listed as an available
print driver. Please note that the second part of the dataset
name MUST be 'PRD'. The first part of the dataset name can be
called anything that DOS allows.
5.2 Set Program Parameters
When you select option 5.2 you will be presented with a menu that
looks like this:
Date Format : [dmy ] Date format on displays
Auto Sort Data : yes Sort Database when updated?
Immediate Purge : yes Auto purge obsolete events
Julian Date : yes Put Julian date on monthly calendar
Sort by time also : no Sort file by date and time
Current Century : 1900 Century assumed with 2 digit years
Start of workday : 8a Start hour of daily calendar
End of Workday : 5p End hour of daily calendar
Slots per hour : 2 Number of intervals on daily cal
Print 80 or 132 : 80 Number of columns for print output
Disk 80 or 132 : 132 Number of columns for disk output
Auto Save Number : 2 # of changes before saving
Lunar Cycle : N Print full/new moon? (G/L/N)
Compressed Print : Yes Compressed Event Printing? (Y/N)
Date Format
This field will tell the program how to interpret a date that
looks like 12/11/89. Your options are ...
dmy day/month/year 12/11/89 is Nov. 12, 1989
mdy month/day/year 12/11/89 is Dec. 11, 1989
ymd year/month/day 89/12/11 is Dec. 11, 1989
A date set in a format like 12may89 will override the format set
up here.
Calendar Mate 3.0 User Reference Guide Page 24
Auto Sort Data
This option tells the program whether or not to sort the data
before it is written to disk. The default is 'Yes' and is highly
recommended.
Immediate purge
This option tells the program whether or not to purge obsolete
records automatically. An obsolete record is defined as a non
repeating event whose date has passed.
Julian Date
This option tells the program whether or not to display the
Julian date on the monthly calendar. The Julian date is the
number of the day relative to the start of the year. For example,
the julian date for February 1st is 32, for December 31st is 365
(or 366 in a leap year).
Sort by time also
This option tells the program whether you want to sort the data
file by time as well as by date. This will cause the sort to take
longer but unless you have a very large data file (over 500
events), the time factor will not be important.
Current Century
This option tells the program what century a two digit year
represents. I.E. if you enter 10/15/89, the program needs to know
if you are talking about 1989, 2089, 1889 etc.
Start of Workday
This option sets the starting time for the daily calendar.
End of Workday
This option sets the ending time for the daily calendar.
Slots per Hour
This option tells the program whether you want the daily calendar
to have a time slot every 15 or 30 minutes. For 15 minute time
slots, enter 4 and for 30 minute time slots, enter 2.
Option 5: System Parameters Page 25
Print Width
This option specifies whether you want a calendar directed to
your printer to be 80, 99, 113 or 132 characters wide. Specify
one of those values.
Disk Width
This option is similar to the previous one except that it is for
output directed to disk. This option might differ from the
previous one if you have some software that will take a disk file
and print it sideways on your 80 column printer.
Auto save number
This option specifies the number of changes to the database that
must be done before the program saves the file to disk. Set this
to any integer value that your nerve will allow.
Lunar Cycle
Calendar Mate will compute when the full moon and new moon occur
each month. If you would like this printed out on your monthly
calendar, specify it here.
If your printer can print the 'happy face' characters - hex
codes 01 and 02 - you should specify 'G' (graphics character)
here. Laser printers tend to print these characters nicely. A
full moon will be represented by the character 01 (a white happy
face) and a new moon by the character 02 (a black happy face).
If your printer (like mine) cannot print those characters, you
can specify L (for letter). If you select this option, a new moon
will be represented by the letter 'N' and a full moon by the
letter 'F'.
If you do not care when the new moon and full moon happen,
specify 'N'.
Compressed Print
Normally, monthly calendars can show two events in each box. When
compressed print is used, the calendar can show three events in
each box. If you want the events to print using a condensed font,
specify Yes, otherwise, specify No.
Calendar Mate 3.0 User Reference Guide Page 26
Compressed print brings some restrictions with it. You cannot
browse a calendar that has been created with compressed print and
sent to disk. Also, compressed print is supported only for
calendars that are 80 or 99 characters wide. If this restriction
poses a problem, contact Hawk Software and more support will be
added.
On the author's printer, an EPSON FX compatible, the calendars
look cleaner if friction feed is used, as opposed to tractor
feed. If tractor feed is used, there are tiny gaps between the
characters that make up the vertical lines.
5.3 Set Various Colours
This option allows you to change several window colours. There is
another technique, described in the last paragraph of this
section, which will allow you to change the colour of an
individual window.
When you select this option you will be presented with a menu.
The choices are:
Main Screen Colour: This is the background on the main screen
where the options window and convenience calendar are located.
General Info Line: This is the line at the top of the main screen
which has the date, time, Julian date and Calendar Mate version.
Options Window: This window is on the main screen and displays
the functions available to you.
General Info Windows: These windows are displayed periodically in
order to let you know that some work is in progress - the
database is being sorted, a calendar being generated etc.
Warning Windows: These windows are similar to the General Info
windows except that they warn you of a possible error. A
yellow/amber background may be appropriate here.
Error Windows: These windows indicate a problem that must be
resolved before the program can continue, such as a printer not
being ready when you asked the program to print a calendar.
Option 5: System Parameters Page 27
Another technique to change window colours is to simultaneously
press the CNTL and E keys. A little prompting window will appear
telling you what to do next. Press the left and right arrows to
change the background colour and the up and down arrow keys to
change the foreground colour. When you are satisfied, press F5
and the window colour you selected will be saved for future use.
Calendar Mate 3.0 User Reference Guide Page 28
Option 6. DOS Shell
This command will temporarily suspend execution of Calendar Mate
and put you into DOS. To get back to the program, type EXIT and
press <ENTER>.
The way this works is simple. Calendar Mate calls a program
called COMMAND.COM which is a DOS program. For this to work, the
program has to be able to find COMMAND.COM so either have it on
the floppy disk from which you are running Calendar Mate or have
it available in the DOS PATH search chain.
Option 6: Dos Shell Page 29
Option 7. Print a Calendar
This option allows you to generate a monthly calendar that you
may either print or load to disk and then browse using option 8.
When you select option 7, you will be prompted to enter the month
and year of the calendar you want to print; whether you want to
print it, browse it on the screen or file it to disk. If you
decide to print it on your printer, you will be asked whether you
want the small calendars or not. If you reply 'Y', small
calendars will print after the main calendar, two months before
and two months after.
These small calendars will only print if there is room on the
page. If there are six weeks in the month, the small calendars
will not be generated.
Printing a Range of Months
If you want to generate more than one month, enter a date in the
format
aa-bb/cc
Where aa represents the starting month, bb represents the ending
month and cc represents the year. For example to print September
- December 1990, specify 9-12/90.
Please note that the program must find a dash (-) and a slash (/)
to realize that you want to print a range of months. Also, note
that you may only specify a range of months in the same year. For
example you cannot print October 1900 - February 1991 at the same
time.
Printing a Yearly Calendar
As well as printing monthly calendars, you may print a whole year
on one page. To do this, specify the month as an asterisk. For
example, to print the 1991 calendar, specify
*91
as the month and year.
Calendar Mate 3.0 User Reference Guide Page 30
Interrupting Calendar Generation
If you want to interrupt the program while it's generating a
calendar, simply hit any key. A window will be displayed asking
you if you really want to interrupt the process. If you do, hit
the ESC key. If the program is sending a file to disk it will
stop and erase the partially created file. If sending a calendar
to the printer it will stop executing immediately and the printer
will keep printing until its buffer empties. This could take a
while depending on the size of the print buffer.
The program expects a printer to be in the 1st parallel port. If
you do not have a printer there or if it is not ready to print,
an error window will be displayed asking you to ready the printer
and to press any key to proceed or to press the ESC key to cancel
the task.
Option 7: Print a Calendar Page 31
Option 8. Browse Calendar
This option will allow you to look at a calendar that you have
stored on disk. This will allow you to preview the calendar prior
to printing it.
The browse routine is not complicated. To move around the
calendar, use the arrow keys. The up and down keys will advance
the calendar one week. The right and left arrow keys will advance
the calendar one weekday at a time (if the calendar greater than
80 columns wide).
If you are looking at the last week of the month and press the
down arrow key, the display will move back to the first week
(wrap around). Similarly, if you are looking at the first week of
the month and press the up arrow key, the display will wrap
around to the last week of the month.
You may notice some odd characters flanking the name of the
month. These are printer control characters. When you send your
file to the printer, they will disappear.
If you generated several months and sent the file to disk you can
browse one month at a time. To view the next month, press the
plus (+) key. To view the previous month, press the minus (-)
key. The display will wrap around if you pressed the minus key
while viewing the first month or if you pressed the plus key
while viewing the last month you generated.
Calendar Mate 3.0 User Reference Guide Page 32
Option 9. Quit
This option closes down the program normally. It is highly
recommended that you end the program normally so that the data
file can be saved. There is an auto-save feature in the program
that will save your data periodically but if you have not reached
the autosave threshold, your data may be lost during an abnormal
termination of the program.
Option 9: Quit Page 33
Appendix A. Date/Time Formats
The author has attempted to make it as convenient as possible to
enter dates and times in a format that is convenient for you.
Here is a list of supported formats:
Date Formats
* Today's date.
dd/mm/yy Eg. 15/10/89 Oct 15, 1989 see note 1
mm/dd/yy Eg. 10/15/89 Oct 15, 1989 see note 2
yy/mm/dd Eg. 89/10/15 Oct 15, 1989 see note 3
ddmmmyy Eg. 15Oct89 Oct 15, 1989
ddmmyy Eg. 151089 Oct 15, 1989 see note 1
mmddyy Eg. 101589 Oct 15, 1989 see note 2
yymmdd Eg. 891015 Oct 15, 1989 see note 3
Time Formats
730 7:30 a.m.
7:30 7:30 a.m.
730a 7:30 a.m.
1930 7:30 p.m.
19:30 7:30 p.m.
730p 7:30 p.m.
Note 1: You have to specify dmy in the system parameters (opt
5.2)
Note 2: You have to specify mdy in the system parameters (opt
5.2)
Note 3: You have to specify ymd in the system parameters (opt
5.2)
Calendar Mate 3.0 User Reference Guide Page 34
Appendix B. Data Record Formats
The format of the Calendar Mate data records are as follows.
Column(s) Description
1 Indicator Byte
x'01' for non-repeating event
x'03' for repeating event
x'06' for deleted event
2-9 date 8 bytes
10-13 time 4 bytes
14-33 descr 20 bytes
34 repeat type 1 byte
(daily, weekly, monthly etc)
35 repeat type b 1 byte
(like previous byte)
36-38 nn days 3 bytes
(like every 3 weeks)
39-41 nth day 3 bytes
(like 3rd Sunday of the month)
42-49 end repeat 8 bytes
50-51 early warning 2 bytes
(Advance notice in days)
52 cal indicator 1 byte
(m, d or b)
Appendix B: Data Record Formats Page 35
Appendix C. ASCII Character Set
This is a list of ASCII characters from 32 to 126. It is
being provided to possibly help you if you have to define printer
control characters. The characters less than 32 and greater than
127 are of no use to this discussion.
032 <sp> 033 ! 034 " 035 # 036 $
037 % 038 & 039 ' 040 ( 041 )
042 * 043 + 044 , 045 - 046 .
047 / 048 0 049 1 050 2 051 3
052 4 053 5 054 6 055 7 056 8
057 9 058 : 059 ; 060 < 061 =
062 > 063 ? 064 @ 065 A 066 B
067 C 068 D 069 E 070 F 071 G
072 H 073 I 074 J 075 K 076 L
077 M 078 N 079 O 080 P 081 Q
082 R 083 S 084 T 085 U 086 V
087 W 088 X 089 Y 090 Z 091 [
092 \ 093 ] 094 ^ 095 _ 096 `
097 a 098 b 099 c 100 d 101 e
102 f 103 g 104 h 105 i 106 j
107 k 108 l 109 m 110 n 111 o
112 p 113 q 114 r 115 s 116 t
117 u 118 v 119 w 120 x 121 y
122 z 123 { 124 | 125 } 126 ~
127 <del>
Calendar Mate 3.0 User Reference Guide Page 36
Appendix D. Repeating Adjectives
This is a complete list of keywords accepted by the program
for describing repeating events. You rarely have to enter the
complete word -- the program understands certain abbreviations.
The minimum number of characters required to identify the word is
supplied as well.
Keyword Minimum Example Keyword Minimum Example _______ _______ _______
Daily 2 da
Weekly 3 wee
Monthly 4 mont
Yearly 4 year
Annually 3 ann
Fortnightly 4 fort
Day 2 da
Workday 4 work
Last 4 last
First 5 1st
Second 6 2nd
Third 5 3rd
Fourth 6 4th
Monday 4 mond
Tuesday 3 tue
Wednesday 3 wed
Thursday 3 thu
Friday 3 fri
Saturday 3 sat
Sunday 3 sun
January 3 jan
February 3 feb
March 3 mar
April 3 apr
May 3 may
June 3 jun
July 3 jul
August 3 aug
September 3 sep
October 3 oct
November 3 nov
December 3 dec
Easter 3 eas
Appendix D: Repeating Adjectives Page 37
Prefixes:
Keyword Example Meaning
bi biweekly every 2 weeks
tri triweekly every 3 weeks
Cosmetic Words:
the, of, in, every
Calendar Mate 3.0 User Reference Guide Page 38
Appendix E. Some commonly asked questions
Q: Why isn't the calendar printing the proper month? I'm
getting December 1900!
A: You probably specified a date in a format that Calendar Mate
misunderstood. The most common error is putting a space
between the month and year (eg. Dec 90 instead of Dec90).
Have a look in appendix A for a list of acceptable formats.
Q: When I print a calendar I get italic Cs and Ds instead of
lines around the borders. Does Calendar Mate support my
printer?
A: Calendars printed with Calendar Mate should look like you
would expect a calendar to look -- with nice clean lines. If
your printer isn't printing properly, try using a different
print driver, selectable in option 5.1.1. Alternatively, run
the INSTALL program on the Calendar Mate distribution disk.
Q: What settings should I use to print a calendar in landscape
mode on my LaserJet printer?
A: Set printer width to 99 (in option 5.2) and load the print
driver called HPLJIIPL (using option 5.1.1)
Q: When I start up Calendar Mate, there is no help information
and it cannot find my events file!
A: All of Calendar Mate's files have to reside in the same
subdirectory as the program and you have to be in that
subdirectory when you start Calendar Mate. For example, if
Calendar Mate resides in C:\CALENDAR and you're in C:\QEDIT
when you start up calendar, it won't be able to find the
help file, parm file and events file.
Appendix E: Common Questions Page 39
Appendix F. Order Form
Order Form For
Calendar Mate Version 3.0
Name: __________________________________________
Address: __________________________________________
City: __________________________________________
Province/State:__________________________________________
Postal Code/Zip:_________________________________________
Country: __________________________________________
Registration Fee: $22.00
Shipping & Handling $ 3.00
Ontario Residents Add: $ 2.00 (8% Sales Tax)
Saskatchewan Residents Add: $ 1.75 (7% Sales Tax)
======
Total: ______
Diskette Size ____ 5.25" ____ 3.5"
Please return this form to:
Hawk Software
PO Box 3961
Regina, Saskatchewan
S4P 3R9
Canada
How did you find out about Calendar Mate?
[ ] Friend [ ] Compuserve
[ ] Bulletin Board ______________________ (which one?)
[ ] Shareware Library _______________ (which one?)
Does your PC have a Hard Drive? [ ]Yes [ ]No
Calendar Mate 3.0 User Reference Guide Page 40
What kind of printer do you use? ___________________________
Which Calendar Mate print driver works?_____________________
Is mouse support useful? [ ]Yes [ ]No
[ ] I don't have a mouse
Please feel free to add your comments and suggestions on how
Calendar Mate can be improved to better meet your needs...
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
Order Form Page 41
Appointment Extend 11
Calendar
browsing printed 32
convenience 7
daily 19, 25
improper date printed 39
monthly,printing 23, 30
printer requirements 5
printing tiny 30
Colour 27, 28
changing 22
changing - ^E key 28
changing - option 5.3 27
Compressed print
restrictions 27
Convenience Calendar 7
Data
missing files 39
Date 7
changing 10
changing event's 15
event's end 20
formats 18, 24
Julian 7, 25, 27
setting DOS 7
specifying 39
Date/Time Formats 34
Event 10, 13
changing 15
database 14
deleting 13, 25
description 18
early warning 19
end date 20
entering 11
file 35
printing 19
repeating 19
special repeater 19
Events
special repeaters 19
Files
missing 39
Graphics characters 26
Help Info 5
Options Menu 9
Order Form 40
Primary Menu 7
Calendar Mate 3.0 User Reference Guide Page 42
Printer
problems 39
Printer Parameters 22
Program Parameters 24
Auto save number 26
Auto Sort Data 25
Compressed Print 26
Current Century 25
Date Format 24
Disk Width 26
End of Workday 25
Immediate purge 25
Julian Date 25
Lunar Cycle 26
Print Width 26
Slots per Hour 25
Sort by time 25
Start of Workday 25
Repeating events
adding 18, 19
describing 20
end date 20
viewing 14
Shareware 3, 40
System Requirements 5
Time
appointment extend 11
changing event's 15
current 7, 27
entering event's 18
formats 34
setting DOS 7
slots 10, 11, 25
slots per hour 25
sorting records 14
Yearly Calendar
Printing 30
Order Form Page 43
