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Text File | 1992-01-21 | 31KB | 661 lines

┌───────────────────────────────┐ │ C A T A L O G P R O tm │ └───────────────────────────────┘ T U T O R I A L Version 3.0 1992 ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │Definition: The Catalog Pro allows shareware vendors and users to create │ │ their own diskette sales catalog to sell and promote their │ │ products. This program can be utilized by anyone who has a │ │ product to sell. It is customized and offers you a marketing │ │ vehicle to reach potentially thousands of computer users. │ │ There are currently over 30 Million computer owners in the U.S. │ │ who are getting more and more used to viewing products in the │ │ privacy of their home, on their PC's. │ │ This is a Shareware Version which you can try before you buy. │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Table of Contents │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Purpose Of Document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 About CATALOG PRO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Legal Terms and Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Installing the Kit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Starting the Kit Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Getting Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Creating A Catalog File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Catalog Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Invoice Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Master Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Creating Copies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 NOTE TO SHAREWARE VENDORS . . . . . . . . . . 12 1 ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Purpose Of Document │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ This document is a tutorial on creating your own electronic catalog using CATALOG PRO catalog construction kit. If you are a first time user of the Kit, this document will help you to install the kit on your computer. It will take you through the steps in creating and testing your own electronic catalog. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ About Catalog Pro tm │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Electronic catalogs are a novel way to market your products. This concept makes use of the personal computer as a marketing tool. Just as you freely distribute your paper catalogs to clients and customers so you can freely distribute the electronic catalogs that are generated by the kit. The CATALOG PRO allows a vendor to construct an interactive catalog which can be distributed on diskette, CD Rom, or via electronic bulletin board. The catalogs generated by the kits are computer programs which allows a customer to view a selection of items classified by category. The selections are displayed in a spreadsheet fashion. The customer can enter the quantities he/she desires and the extended price is displayed. At the touch of a key the customer can get a detailed description of the item. At the touch of another key he/she can get a complete invoice including tax and shipping charges based upon the state he/she resides. Version 3.0 was released in October of 1991. This kit contains innovation such as context sensitive help, a catalog file management system, and tax and shipping script language. Electronic Catalogs produced with this kit can produce invoices which can compute shipping and tax charges based upon customer's state of residence. These innovations were added as a result of user feedback. 2 Among the innovations which will be seen in upcoming electronic catalogs are : ┌─────────────────┐ │ Modem Support │ At the press of a button, the customer's └─────────────────┘ order is sent via modem to the vendors order logging system. ┌────────────────────┐ │ Graphics Support │ The ability to display pictures of products └────────────────────┘ in the Microsoft Window's (TM) operating system and the IBM OS/2 Presentation Manager (TM) operating system. SCO UNIX versions of CATALOG PRO will also be available. Custom versions of the kit are also available. For more information regarding custom versions contact MG Marketing. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Legal Terms And Conditions │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ CATALOG PRO electronic catalog construction kit version 3.0 is a ShareWare product. Users may take no more than 60 days to evaluate the product. If you decide to use the package then MG Marketing trusts that you will pay for it. Please support the honest use of this package by honoring these restrictions : 1) You may copy PRO.ZIP and give it to anyone who accepts these terms. The copies you distribute must be complete and unmodified. You do not have to be registered to distribute this package. 2) This package may not be sold to anyone. If the package is distributed on a diskette, any fees collected must be specified as materials/handling, and may not exceed $10 for the diskette. 3) Electronic catalogs created with this kit may be freely distributed during the evaluation period provided: a) No modification is made to ECCK.PRG b) No modification is made to EXE file generated by the kit. c) No more than $4 is charged to recipients of electronic catalogs. d) The banner page of the electronic catalog which advertises Cerebral Software and the kit is not removed or modified. 3 4) The user is completely responsible for determining the fitness or usability of this package. MG Marketing or its associates are not liable for any damages, of any kind, arising from any failure of this kit or the programs it generates to perform as expected. If you decide that CATALOG PRO electronic catalog kit is useful and you wish to use it past the evaluation period, then you are required to send a $45 registration fee. In return you will receive the registered version of the program. The registered version of the kit generates catalogs in which the banner page advertising CATALOG PRO is removed; however there is a small copyright sign on the right hand bottom part of the catalog screen. Users receive a license to use the kit on one computer; the catalogs generated by the kit may be copied and run on many machines provided that these restrictions are observed: a) No modification is made to ECCK.PGM. b) No modification is made to EXE file generated by the kit. c) No more than $4.00 is levied to recipients of the electronic catalogs. d) Users may not use the kit in a business which charges others a fee for constructing electronic catalogs. If you wish to use the kit on more than one computer or on a network or you wish to use the kit in a business which charges others a fee for constructing electronic catalogs then contact MG Marketing for other licensing arrangements. ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Installing the Kit │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ To install the shareware version of the CATALOG PRO you need to do the following : 1) At the C:> you must first create a directory i.e., MKDIR \PRO 2) Copy ECCK.ZIP to C:\ECCK i .e., COPY A:PRO.ZIP C:\PRO 3) Make certain that C:\PRO is the default directory i.e., CHDIR \PRO 4) Un archive the file using PKUNZIP (TM) i.e., PKUNZIP PRO 4 ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Starting the Kit Program │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Make certain that the electronic catalog construction kit program is specified in the path statement of your computer. This is a statement found in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file in the root directory of your computer. If you installed the program on drive C: of your computer this would be a statement like : PATH C:\PRO At the DOS prompt type PRO to start the program. You should see a banner page and a horizontal menu at the top of the screen. From this horizontal menu you can access several pulldown menus. Use the left and right cursor keys to move the menu bar or press the highlighted character to see one of the pulldown menu. Try pressing "Y" on the keyboard to view the sYstem menu. This menu allows you to change the colors of the screen of the keyboard configuration of the built-in editor. Try changing the screen colors to your preference. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Getting Help │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ CATALOG PRO electronic catalog construction kit contains context sensitive help. If you want help on particular menu items then press F1. Try moving the menu bar and press F1 again to see what new information you can find. If you want to get more help information then hold down the shift key and press F1. You then see a menu on one side of the screen. You can then move the menu bar and then press the enter key to get information on items listed in the menu. ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Creating A Catalog File │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The kit allows you to create and maintain several different catalogs. Go to the File pull down menu and select Create. You may enter the file name of a catalog. Be certain that the name is limited to eight letters. You are now ready to build your catalog. If you don't create your catalog at one sitting you can come back later and open the file using the oPen selection from the menu. You may also Delete, oPen or cOpy a catalog file. 5 ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Catalog Information │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Go to the Catalog pulldown menu and select Title. A pop up Catalog Title editor appears and you are now ready to enter the title of your catalog. Be certain to center the lettering as you wish it to appear on your catalog. A typical example of a catalog title : _______________________________________________________________ Old World Schmate Shoppe Inexpensive Fashions for the Frugal Minded Fall Catalog Garment District Phone 977-RAGS New York, NY _______________________________________________________________ When you are finished with your title then press Esc to Esc return to the pop up menu. Now choose Categories from the Catalog pulldown menu. You Categories Catalog may now enter the categories of your catalog. For a computer dealer the typical categories could be as shown follows : ____________________________________________________________ Complete Systems Cables Floppy Disk Drives Hard Disks Keyboards Monitors Motherboards Software Supplies Video Boards ____________________________________________________________ You may enter any number of categories into your catalog. Make certain that you have the spelling of your categories correct. Categories may be deleted by simply erasing a category from within the pop up editor. Additional categories may be added at any time. Once you have entered your categories you may enter a listing of your products, prices, and descriptions. 6 Now choose Product Entry from the Catalog pulldown menu. Each product field consists of a less than sign, >, followed by a > short description followed by a dollar sign, $, followed by the $ price. A optional long description may be entered. You may enter several items. Every once in a while you should press F10 to check the format of your entries and to place the information on disk. If everything is acceptable then the screen is cleared and you are ready to enter more information. A typical product entry screen could look as follows: ___________________________________________________________ >CATALOG PRO Catalog Construction Kit (DOS) $45 The kit allows you to create your own interactive electronic catalog for transfer to floppy disk, CD Rom, or electronic bulletin board. >CATALOG PRO Catalog Construction Kit (Windows) $80 Same as above except catalogs are generated for Windows and you can incorporate pictures of products in the catalog. >CATALOG PRO Catalog Construction Kit (OS/2) $100 Same as above except catalogs can be generated for OS/2 Presentation Manager or Windows. ____________________________________________________________ If you want to enter an item number then you should enter the number on the same line as the short descriptions e.g. ____________________________________________________________ >00003 CATALOG PRO Catalog Construction Kit (OS/2) $100 Same as the kit for DOS but designed to run under OS/2 ____________________________________________________________ If you wish to revise an entry then select Revise\Organize. Revise\Organize You are then given a selection of categories to edit. You may also mark items for deletion by pressing the Delete key. Delete Finally, you can enter a company newsletter from the News News menu selection of your electronic catalog. Here you can put information about your company such as employee biographies, upcoming products or any information of general interest. 7 ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Invoice Information │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Each electronic catalog program can print an invoice with tax and shipping charges included. Just as you entered a catalog title you must enter the letter head that is to be printed on each invoice. From the Invoice pulldown menu select Letter Head. Using the pop up Invoice Letter Head editor you can enter your letter head just like the one shown as follows: ____________________________________________________________ Old World Schmate Shoppe Inexpensive Fashions for the Frugal Minded Garmet District 977-RAGS New York, NY Invoice for products purchased ____________________________________________________________ When you construct the letter head for your own invoice, be certain that you center the lettering exactly as you want it to appear on your invoice. For each invoice you may define an optional footer to be printed at the bottom of each page. Each electronic catalog program can compute the tax charges based upon residence of the customer. A typical tax script could be as follows : __________________________________________________________ SALES : 3% ON PRODUCT IN GA, AL, SC, TN ; __________________________________________________________ When the customer prints his invoice using the electronic catalog, 3% of the subtotal is added to the subtotal for customers living in Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, or Tennessee. If the customer does not live in any of the states, no sales tax is added. When you've entered your tax script you should press F10 to find any errors. If you want more information on the tax scripts you should consult Tax from the online index or press F1:Help when the cursor bar is on the Tax pop up menu selection. You should now choose Tax from the Invoice pulldown menu and Tax Invoice enter the tax script for the states where you must charge a sales tax. If you wish to charge everyone a tax then you could enter a script as follows : ____________________________________________________________ SALES : 3% ON PRODUCT ; ____________________________________________________________ 8 Once you've entered your tax script be certain to press F10 to check for errors. If there are errors in your tax script then you can't make a master copy of your electronic catalog. Each electronic catalog can compute the shipping charges based upon customer residence and carrier. A typical shipping script could be as follows : ____________________________________________________________ UPS GROUND : 3% ON PRODUCT TO GA, AL, TN, SC ; 4% ON PRODUCT ; UPS 2ND DAY AIR: 5% ON PRODUCT TO GA, AL, TN, SC ; 6% ON PRODUCT ; UPS NEXT DAY AIR: 7% ON PRODUCT TO GA, AL, TN, SC ; 8% ON PRODUCT __________________________________________________ If a customer in Alabama chooses to have his product shipped via UPS NEXT DAY AIR then 7% of the subtotal will be added to the subtotal of his invoice. If you ship small items and you charge a flat price for a particular carrier then the shipping script could be something like the following : __________________________________________________ UPS GROUND : $3.00 ; UPS 2ND DAY AIR : $4.00 ; UPS NEXT DAY : $5.00 ; __________________________________________________ You should now select Shipping from the Invoice pulldown Shipping Invoice menu and enter a shipping script based upon the above example. Once you've entered your shipping script, press F10 to check for errors. Again, you can't make a master copy of your electronic catalog if there are any errors in your shipping script. Each electronic catalog contains a menu of payment methods. You may specify how the customer will pay for the product. An example of payment methods could be as follows: __________________________________________________ VISA Master Card American Express Discover Check __________________________________________________ 9 The above items would appear in a menu in your electronic catalog. The catalog will request a card number or check number when the payment method is selected. You should now select Payment from the Invoice pulldown menu Payment Invoice and enter the payment methods that you will accept. ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Master Catalog │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Once you've entered all the information for the Catalog, Catalog and Invoice you are then ready to create a master copy of your Invoice electronic catalog. From the Master pulldown menu select Master Directory. You are then queried for a directory name. To create Directory a directory in the root directory you should enter a name such as \MYMASTER. Your master copy of the electronic catalog will be deposited in the directory MYMASTER. Once you have created your master you should select Quit Quit from the main menu. You are now ready to test you electronic catalog. You must first go to the directory where you deposited your electronic catalog. If that directory was \MYMASTER then you will find two files in that directory each with the extensions ".DAT" and ".EXE". If your catalog file was MYCAT then those files in your directory \MYMASTER should be MYCAT.DAT and MYCAT.EXE. To run the program just type MYCAT at the prompt. Exercise all the pulldown menu choices to make sure that the proper information has been entered. You can create masters of your electronic catalog on a floppy disk using the selections drive A: or drive B:. Most drive A: drive B: electronic catalogs require 360 kilobytes or more. If your catalog is very large then you should create your catalog in a directory on your hard disk and use some compression utility such as PKZIP (TM) before distributing copies of your catalog. When you have created the master copy of your electronic catalog then you can create copies to distribute to your customers. 10 ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Creating Copies │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ If you wish to distribute only a few copies of your catalog then you can use the COPY command. For quantities up to one or two hundred you should consider using some disk duplication software. You should examine some of the shareware programs on the market. To find these packages you should look under "Utilities\Disk Duplication" from one of the many shareware catalogs that are available. If you need to make several thousand copies or more then you might consider farming the duplication work to companies that specialize in disk duplication. One place to find these companies is in your local yellow pages under Computer/Disk Duplication. You can also find disk duplication firms advertising in the classified section of many national computer magazines such as Byte or PC World. With every copy of your catalog you should send instructions on how install the catalog on hard disk and how to run it. For novice users these instructions should be printed on paper; for more experienced users you may put this information in a READ.ME file. ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┬ │ Registration │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ To register your copy of CATALOG PRO, you should select Prepare form from the Registration pulldown menu. Enter the information in the appropriate boxes. When you have entered the information press ESC to return to the pulldown menu and then select Print form to print a copy of the registration form. Please answer any questions which appear on the form and add any other comments. THIS IS NOT FREEWARE OR PUBLIC DOMAIN! Send Comments and Registration Fee to: ┌────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ MG MARKETING INTERNATIONAL │ │ 2077 EAST ROYAL FARMS, STE. 20 │ │ SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH 84121 USA │ └────────────────────────────────────────┘ BBS (801) 943-4616 24 Hours Voice: (801) 468-7795 NOTE: SHIPPING AND HANDLING: AS OF JAN 1, 1992: PLEASE ADD $5.00 TO COVER S & H. Allow 2-4 Weeks for Registered Version Delivery. CHECK OR MONEY ORDERS ONLY. C.O.D. ---> CASH ONLY. 11 Catalog Pro: Inexpensive, Practical, Cost-Effective! Register It Today! SPECIAL NOTE TO VENDORS 12 ATTENTION SHAREWARE VENDORS: If you would like to make Catalog Pro available on your catalog(s), please write to the address above for written consent. You may not charge more than $4.00 for the product with the exception of Shipping and Handling Charges.