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Text File | 1993-09-05 | 30KB | 659 lines

an OBJECTS::NEXUS(tm) filer ╔════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ ║ ║ { StampsNexus: philatelic collection records }(tm) ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ (C) Copyright MCMXCIII RCCO Research Associates. ║ ║ All Rights Reserved under International Conventions. ║ ║ ║ ╚════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ { StampsNexus: philatelic collection records } Documentation ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ To read this documentation on-line most anywhere in the program, press │ │ the <Alt-M> key combination. │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ { StampsNexus: philatelic collection records } is a simple-to-use, efficient recordkeeping system for individual, professional or institutional stamp collection records; the materials are presented and maintained in an attractive visually-oriented environment. Stamps are normally maintained in catalog number order, with sort command options to arrange the collection in order of country, description, year, category, date acquired, or location. The user may view entries in either of Form View or Table View formats -- editing, deleting or replacing records in the user's own collection. Additional records may be appended in any number required (theoretical limit: 1 billion records). Edits or corrections are easy and quick to make in either Form or Table View. The information is presented to the user initially in Table View format, very similar in appearance to that of a speadsheet; data items may be added or edited in Form View format, via "hot-keys." Mouse support is provided for scrolling through the data table; however, a mouse is not necessary to utilize the program. StampsNx.DOC { StampsNexus } Documentation Page 2 On-line documentation is available at the touch of a hot-key selection. A pop-up calculator is also provided, via a hot-key choice. An automatic report facility provides attractive on-screen and printed reports and labels. A printer selection utility provides for a wide choice of available printers. The program is simple to use and offers intuitive features commonly found in RCCO Research OBJECTS::NEXUS(tm) filer applications. The unregistered copy is not in any way limited as to the usefulness, capacity, or reporting facilities of the program. Registration will remove the unregistered reminder notices and provide legal authorization for con- tinued use of the program after a thirty-day trial period. Introduction ───────────── After you have had some practice dealing with the data table concept in { StampsNexus }, you will find entry and maintenance of this table quite familiar and simple. Simply view the initial sample entry to start, add your own, and delete or edit/overwrite the sample. The entries in this table are sorted in any of seven ways; they are then maintained in sort order no matter how you choose to enter them. The cell for Catalog Number entry is of the type that will accept either numerical or alphabetic data. A numerical type entry will be maintained in sort order as long as there are leading zero placeholders (ie, 001, 002, 003, etc.). The alphanumeric format allows one to use any combination of letters within the Catalog Number entry, up to and including ten alphanumeric characters. Further delineation within an area or library may be made with the Category cell. The Comments field is of the type that will allow passages of up to 65 characters of comment text to be entered for any record. The other cells in both Form and Table Views are limited in capacity to that which is shown on the screen. Their function and content should be intuitive and easy to use. The View/Print Reports window offers the opportunity to preview on-screen the appearance of the printed report. Again records may be sorted in any of four ways, resulting in an attractive ASCII text report. Print output, when selected, is sent to the default printer. The report output includes the Cost and Value column fields as the far right entries on the Preview and Printed report; at the end of the report the totals of the Cost and Value columns are summarized to give a picture of total investment in the collection. Only records that have the DATE_SOLD cell blank (ie, " / / ") will appear in the reports, providing current reports while maintaining archival records within the collection. StampsNx.DOC { StampsNexus } Documentation Page 3 A Packet Labels printing utility is included for the creation of personal- ized 1 x 3.5" labels showing informational detail and, with program registration, the user's name. Easy batch file idea ───────────────────── You may wish to create a batch file for your batch directory: ┌────────────┐ │ STAMPS.BAT │ └────────────┘ @ECHO OFF C: (or whatever drive you use) CD \STAMPSNX STAMPSNX Please consult your DOS manual if you are unfamiliar with creating batch files. The above batch file will make operation of { StampsNexus: philatelic collection records } easier for you. If you have not yet created your batch file and simply want to get right in- to the program, change to the \STAMPSNX directory and type: StampsNx<enter> to begin the { StampsNexus } program. Moving around ────────────── In general, the <Esc> key or <RightMouse> will either advance the program to the next screen or back up to the previous level; exceptions are noted on certain screens, but in general <Esc> or <RightMouse> are the exit keys. <LeftMouse> is the same as the <Enter> key. Scroll with the mouse or arrow keys up/down the table, menus, on-screen reports, and when reading this reference material on-line. When accessing data in 'Table View' (similar to a spreadsheet image), there are some special key combinations called QuickJumps. QuickJumps allow you to move around to the four corners of a table instantly, avoiding lengthy scrolling with arrow keys or the mouse. The QuickJump keys are: <Ctrl-PgDn> <Ctrl-PgUp> <Ctrl-End> and <Ctrl-Home>. (Also, <Ctrl-RightArrow> and <Crtl-LeftArrow> may be used for panning to the right and left.) Once you observe their function, you will most likely always use them. Pressing <Esc> or <RightMouse> while in Table View saves any changes that may have been made and advances you to the next screen. StampsNx.DOC { StampsNexus } Documentation Page 4 In Table View, a blinking cursor inside of a cell indicates that you are in edit mode. To end edit mode of a cell and retain any changes, press <Enter>. To discard current cell edits, press <Esc> while still in edit mode. Although you may add and/or edit records (entries) in the Table View format, two special hot-keys provide Form View editing and appending. <Alt-N> will bring up a blank "form" containing entry cells for all the information in a single new record, in easy-to-fill-out format. Similarly, the <Alt-E> key combination will bring up a form view to Edit the item, or record, that you have positioned the cursor on. Make your new entries or editing changes in Form View, then press <F10> to Save or <Esc> to reject the changes. (You may note that <Esc> reacts differently in Form View than it does in Table View; in Table View, pressing <Esc> automatically saves any changes as it exits.) Pressing the hot-key combination <Alt-K> in most areas of the program will bring up the OBJECTS::NEXUS(tm) Pocket Calculator for quick math chores. Press <Alt-M> (for "manual") to instantly access this help document. To enter the cents character ( ¢ ) (not ordinarily found on computer key- boards) anywhere within a cell, simply press <F4> at that point where the character is needed. This feature is available in either Table or Form View. For other currency symbols, press and hold <Alt> key, then type the numbers below on the numerical key pad (not the top row of the keyboard), then release <Alt>: Pounds £ <Alt-156>; Yen ¥ <Alt-157>; Francs ƒ <Alt-159>. The current date may entered in the "Date Acquired" or "Date Sold" fields simply by pressing a hot-key. In Table View, move to the cell requiring the date, press <Enter>, release it, and then press <F5>. In Form View, move the highlight to the date cell and simply press <F5>. From Table View, pressing the hot-key <F6> calls up the special utility called "Lockr." With this facility, you may "freeze" or lock a field of your choice into place in the leftmost column. Then, as you pan to the right and back, the Lockr field remains in constant view. Several edit facilities normally available in Table View are accessible in Lockr. Also available in Table View is the "Searchr" facility, called by pressing the <F2> key. With Searchr, you may search character-type fields (Catalog Number, Country, Description, Category, Location, etc.) for a word or combinations of text. For example, if you choose to search the Description field for "washington" (or "WASHINGTON" or "Washington") you will find any result yielding finds displayed in a special pop-up table showing the record containing the search text. After the final match is found, you are returned to the main Table View with the record highlight on the last match found. If there are no matches to your text search, the main Table View reappears. Record deletions in Table View ─────────────────────────────── Please be aware that when you delete (with the <Del> key) a record (or "row," if you are used to spreadsheet terms), it is first "marked" for deletion (you will see a caption, <Deleted> at the top of the screen). The actual deletion does NOT OCCUR until you EXIT the table view screen. Also note that the <Del> key is a "toggle;" that is, if you press <Del> a second time on a record already marked for deletion you will "undelete" the record. StampsNx.DOC { StampsNexus } Documentation Page 5 Any undeletes must be performed prior to exiting the table view screen. As you exit, any records marked for deletion are permanently removed from the table. Simply exercise caution when performing record deletes on the table, which is, in essence, a permanent history table of collection records and any deleted records are irretrievably lost. Pressing <Esc> or <RightMouse> saves any changes that may have been made and exits the current screen. When you next again view the table, the records you "marked" for deletion are gone. Viewing/Reporting Selection ──────────────────────────── After viewing, adding or editing data records in the { StampsNexus } table, you press <Esc> to exit the screen. You are then presented a mini- menu offering options to View/Print reports/labels, change printers, or exit the program. Only records that have the DATE_SOLD cell blank (ie, " / / ") will appear in the reports, providing current reports while maintaining archival records within the collection. The report/listing is first shown on the screen in wide-access format; that is, the report is wider than 80 characters and may be scrolled out to the right in order to view all contained information. Simply use the arrow keys or mouse. After viewing your data on the screen, you will be presented with an option to print the report; wide reports are printed in compressed mode on the default printer on printer port LPT1. The report shown on the screen will have a resulting text file left in the current directory; this text file, in standard ASCII format, has the ex- tension .RPT as report identifier. The prefix part of the file name will refer briefly to the report selection you had made; this file is overwrit- ten each time you specify a new version of the report. The main use of the resulting .RPT files is for users who have desktop publishing programs and/or Microsoft Windows(tm) who would like to print out their reports from { StampsNexus } with the unique font and formatting capabilities contained in those programs. Simply read or import the .RPT files as standard ASCII text files. For example, in Microsoft Windows(tm) Notepad, you may simply open the file by specifying the file name (ie, "StampsNx.RPT") and view/prepare your report as desired. In Ventura Publisher(tm), Windows(tm) Write, or Microsoft Word for Windows(tm), you would import the file as standard ASCII text and make your printed presen- tations from within those programs. Refer to those programs' documentation for information on formatting columnar text or tables. If you have no use whatsover for the resulting .RPT file left in your cur- rent directory, you may safely delete it or leave it there, as desired. It will recur each time you use the Viewing/Reporting facility, and an existing .RPT file will be overwritten by any new update. You may also retain a .RPT file by renaming the prefix part of the file name and storing it in the directory or on diskette. StampsNx.DOC { StampsNexus } Documentation Page 6 Label Writer ───────────── On the utilities menu is a selection for creating informational/ownership Packet Labels for the collection. The Label Writer module is a simple utility allowing you to print up to six- teen labels at one time based upon information you have entered into the main records table. The labels print with the following layout and information: 3.5" ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ <Catalog_No> <Date_Acq> <Cost> │ │ <Country> │ │ <Description> │ 1" │ From the Collection of: │ │ <Registered user's name> │ │ │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────┘ If the copy of the program is not yet registered, the line containing the registered user's name will be blank with sufficient space remaining on the label to write in by hand the owner's name. Upon registration, the name entered as the registered user will appear on the last line of the labels. Labels are printed in compressed print mode. You may wish to manually select letter-quality mode on your printer before printing labels. The Label Writer is set up for standard 1" x 3.5" labels, such as the widely available Avery #4145 adhesive pin-feed printer labels. (Laser and ink jet printer owners may have to improvise a label carrier to hold a vertical strip of such labels.) Labels may also be "printed to" (displayed on) the screen. In the Label Writer module itself, you are presented with empty CATALOG_NO cells, one at a time up to sixteen in number. You may type directly into the cell the ID number desired, or better yet, press <Enter> in the empty cell and choose entries from the pop-up PickList. After you have chosen and then confirmed with the <Enter> key one or more entries (16 maximum) for labels you wish to print, simply press <Esc> in the next empty cell to move on to the actual printing prompt screen. You will then have an election to print to the <P>rinter, send to the <S>creen, or <Q>uit. Make your selection by pressing the appropriate letter key ("P" "S" or "Q"). If you choose <P>rinter, you will see a prompt asking if the printer is ready and loaded with 1 x 3.5" labels. Pressing "Y" begins the printing of your labels. There will be up to five printed lines on each label, provided you properly entered the information for each entry in the main records table. The left print margin is 7 characters in compressed mode. If you choose to "print" to the Screen, you will see the selections shown in label format on the screen. Choosing the <Q>uit option will leave the Label Writer utility. StampsNx.DOC { StampsNexus } Documentation Page 7 Printer Support ──────────────── There is printer support for a variety of printers; select a compatible printer from the "Select a Different Printer" item on the Utilities Menu to replace the default printer. If your exact brand and model of printer is not listed, there should be at least one selection that is a compatible emulation for your printer; check your own printer's manual for emulation guidelines. You may wish to manually select letter-quality print style on the printer itself. If you elect to use the selection for "Generic Printer", please note that print size codes will not be sent to your printer. You should then select manually on the printer itself the compressed mode option for the printing of reports and labels. Technical Matters ────────────────── { StampsNexus: philatelic collection records }(tm) will run on IBM- compatible computers with 512k of memory. All display modes are supported; although the video was designed on and primarily intended for VGA display, the program was simultaneously tested on, and modified as needed for, monochrome displays as well as laptop B/W displays in order that contrasts and prompts be present and visible to all possible users. Special features that are VGA-only are compensated for in the other displays, with no adverse effect on program execution. { StampsNexus } must be installed on a hard drive. Do not attempt to install to, or run the program on, a floppy drive. DOS 3.1 or higher is required. Mouse support is provided, but a mouse is not required for use of the program. A disk cache utility used on your system will provide great benefit to running { StampsNexus }, resulting in marked improvement in speed and efficiency throughout the program. { StampsNexus } will use expanded memory if it is available on the system, even if it is only present in a small amount. The presence of expanded memory, particularly on a 386 or greater computer, significantly enhances the performance and efficiency of this software, especially as the collection grows in size. A variety of printers is supported via a selection on the Utilities Menu. Popular printers and emulations are provided to the best of our knowledge; if there is difficulty with any of the printer choice settings, kindly send us a note regarding this and any possible corrections/additions you may have found, if any. Laser printer support is included. The printer must be connected to LPT1 or you must use a DOS utility (we suggest something like PC Magazine's LPTPORT.COM) that will direct LPT1 calls to an alternate address. StampsNx.DOC { StampsNexus } Documentation Page 8 It is possible (but unlikely) that index files (*.IX) can, at some point, become corrupted and you see an error message referring to index files. This would likely only occur if you had been working in the program and those files were being updated when there was a power outage (or an equivalent occurrence). Simply change to the directory where this occurred, and at the DOS prompt, type: DEL *.IX to delete all the index files; the next time you run the program, the index files will be rebuilt. Do not take the backup .IX files you may have stored on your daily backup diskettes; they may or may not match the data tables if the program was performing updating when the corruption occurred. If you have data tables (*.DB) that become unusable for any reason, copy them from your daily backup diskettes. Delete any .IX index files as detailed above and allow the program to rebuild them (the process is very fast and usually imperceptible to the user). Also, please be aware that data tables (.DB) can appear to be corrupted to some users, but usually the problem is with indexes (.IX) that no longer match or are not current with the assoc- iated .DB table. Try deleting the .IX files as described above before deciding the .DB tables are bad. Registration Information ───────────────────────── { StampsNexus } is licensed and supplied as is, without any warranty. To the extent permitted under applicable law, RCCO Research Associates disclaims all warranties, either expressed or implied, with respect to this software program, its quality, performance, merchantability, or fitness for any particular purpose. In particular, this software program is not guaranteed to prevent or detect damage to your data or programs. In no event shall RCCO Research Associates be liable for any claims for lost profits or any damage, including, but not limited to, special, incidental, consequential or other damage (including, without limitation, damages for loss of business profits, business interrup- tion, loss of business information, or other pecuniary loss) arising out of the use of or inability to use this RCCO Research Associates product, even if RCCO Research Associates has been advised of the possibility of such damages. Some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental or conse- quential damages, so the above limitation or exclusion may not apply to you. In no case shall RCCO Research Associates's liability exceed the license fees paid for the right to use the licensed version of the software. The license agreement and warranty shall be construed, interpreted and governed by the laws of the state of Tennessee. This software program, { StampsNexus: philatelic collection records }(tm), is protected under the Copyright Laws of the United States of America and all applicable International Copyright Conventions. Makers and/or users of illegal or unauthorized copies of the registered version are subject to prosecution under these laws. StampsNx.DOC { StampsNexus } Documentation Page 9 The names { StampsNexus: philatelic collection records }(tm) and OBJECTS::NEXUS(tm) are trademarks of RCCO Research Associates. The registration fee will license one copy for use on any one computer at any one time. You are granted a limited trial period of 30 days to determine whether or not you wish to register your copy of this software. Registration will eliminate the unregistered reminder notices and grant the user authorized continued use of the program. After the trial period, if you wish to continue using this program you may mail a registration fee of U.S. $15.00 + $1.00 handling ($2.00 handling non-U.S.) to RCCO Research and receive authorized registration codes for validating your software to registered status. (After receiving your registration codes, simply use the Register.exe program which should be found with the copy you now have). Check or money order only, please. Tennessee clients please include 8.5% sales tax on the total amount. Please indicate program name and version number on your order; you may use the Order.frm file provided in this package or simply send a note or letter with your name, address and remittance. Your comments on our programs are welcomed. Please consider how unusally low the registration price is for a full, legal, registered copy of software you may use for many years. If one uses the pro- gram beyond the liberal trial period, or attempts to continue using it with- out purchasing a registered copy, it must be considered unauthorized use of proprietary authorship and material. ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ *Please* indicate the program name *and* version number on your order; we │ │ *must* have this information in order to send the proper validation codes │ │ for the copy of the software you now have. │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Register.exe ───────────── The separate executable file called Register.exe supplied with this package is usable only when you have obtained a valid serial number for this program directly from RCCO Research. This particular version of Register.exe works *only* with the current version of *this* software program. The Register.exe supplied herewith will not work with other RCCO Research programs; other RCCO Research programs will have their own proprietary versions of Register.exe. When you receive your serial number information with your registration, simply change to the directory in which this software is installed and type: REGISTER<enter> Carefully follow the prompts and enter the supplied information, as well as your name (and optional company name) exactly as shown on your registration invoice received from RCCO Research. If you enter erroneous numerical infor- mation into Register.exe, there will be no harm done; simply allow the StampsNx.DOC { StampsNexus } Documentation Page 10 Register.exe program to reset itself to the default parameters and run it again. Please note, for the benefit of our registered users, that the registration codes purchased will work with all *minor* update versions of this program. For example, if your current copy of this program is v1.0, your registration codes will work with any update containing the *major* version number "1" (the number before the decimal point); ie, 1.2, 1.5, 1.75, etc. In this manner, your updates, if any, are at no further cost to you other than the purchase of an update disk you see in a shareware disk catalog or the down- load from your favorite BBS. Simply use a backup copy of your own main records table (.DB; delete the index (.IX) file(s) first) with the update release and use your 1.x codes to initialize the updated version of the program with Register.exe. Any *major* version (the number before the decimal point; ie, 2.x etc.) change, if any, will be offered to registered users directly by RCCO Research at significant discount (usually about 50%) from the then current cost of registration. Please note that we do not plan or foresee frequent major version changes for this particular program. Additional Information ─────────────────────── If, after registration, you have any comments regarding the program { StampsNexus }, please send them in writing to: RCCO Research Associates P. O. Box 196 Gatlinburg, TN 37738 Please include your phone (day & evening) and fax (if any) numbers as well as your mailing address on ALL written communications. Please indicate the serial number from your copy of the program as well as your CustID number. Q. I see the file Order.frm [order form] in my \STAMPSNX directory. How may I print it out on my printer? A. To print the registration order form, make sure your printer is on and ready with at least 2 sheets of paper, change to the \STAMPSNX directory and at the DOS prompt, type exactly the following: COPY ORDER.FRM PRN<enter> StampsNx.DOC { StampsNexus } Documentation Page 11 Q. Sometimes I add an entry to the main records table by QuickJumping to the bottom of the table and pressing <DownArrow> to provide a new, blank row. After filling in the information for the different cells, I think the new record should appear in its proper place in normal sort order. Why does it stay at the bottom? (It is in the correct place after leav- ing the table and then returning at a later time.) A. Although we suggest using <Alt-N> (Form View) to add a new item, you may add one in Table View as the question describes. However, in Table View, additions in this manner will require a screen "refresh" to show the new entry in its proper position. To refresh a Table View screen after you finish your new entry, try pressing <PgUp> once or twice to rewrite the screen; the new record should appear in its proper relative position. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── { StampsNexus: philatelic collection records }(tm) (for DOS) an OBJECTS::NEXUS(tm) filer (C) Copyright MCMXCIII RCCO Research Associates. All Rights Reserved under International Conventions. Product of U.S.A. RCCO Research Associates Post Office Box 196 Gatlinburg, Tennessee 37738 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Please consult your favorite shareware source for the availability of current DOS and Windows versions of programs in the RCCO Research OBJECTS::NEXUS(tm) series, as well as that of our bestselling flagship program: { MONEY & BANKS }(tm), Personal Banking Manager (for DOS).