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MANUAL.DOC
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1994-01-11
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USER'S MANUAL
DISCLAIMER - AGREEMENT
----------------------
Users of Comic Notebook must accept this disclaimer of warranty:
"Comic Notebook 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 Comic Notebook."
Comic Notebook 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 Comic Notebook after a 30 day
trial period, you must make a registration payment of $13 (U.S.
funds) to the author. The $13 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. An example is that this software
may be used by any number of people and may be freely moved from
one computer location to another, so long as there is no
possibility of it being used at one location while it's being
used at another, just as a book cannot be read by two different
persons at the same time.
This software and manual are copyrighted and all rights remain
with the author.
You are encouraged to pass a copy of Comic Notebook 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 Comic Notebook.
The author reserves the right to revise this publication without
obligation to notify any person of such changes.
USER'S MANUAL
Introduction
------------
Welcome to the first version of Comic Notebook (CN). Comic
Notebook is a basic inventory program to help comic book
collectors keep track of their comics. Users can enter
information such as the title, condition, cost, writer, artist,
etc. of a comic and later search or printout those records. In
this way, the program helps to keep users' collections more
organized. The software is completely menu driven and every
command can be invoked from the pulldown menus.
Requirements
------------
To run this software, you will need an IBM PC XT, AT, or higher
with a minimum of 256K of RAM running an appropriate operating
system (usually MSDOS). A hard disk is recommended but not
necessary if your collection is small (about 1000 records). A
printer that is compatible with Epson or IBM Proprinter emulation
is needed for printing hardcopies.
Getting Started
---------------
To start CN, just type CN at the DOS prompt. You will be greeted
with an opening screen and after, pulldown menus where you select
what to do. To select any options, highlight an option with the
cursor keys and press <enter>. The first thing you might want to
do when you begin CN for the first time is change the default
settings for the toggle switches (see default menu option for
details).
Menus
-----
COMIC MENU
Add - This option is used to add a new comic to your collection.
You will be given a screen where you can key in the information
about the comic.
Once you have entered the last value, you can either press
<enter> one more time or press the <F10> key to save. If you
press <F10>, the program retains the current values just typed in
so that if you want to enter several comics of the same title but
only change data on just a few fields, use the <F10> key. If you
press <enter> on the last field, however, it clears the fields.
Change - This option is used to edit information about a
previously entered comic.
Delete - If you wish to permanently remove a record from your
collection. Make sure you key in the right one as CN will not
ask you to confirm your deletion.
SEARCH/LIST MENU
Title - Search by a title.
Title + Issue No. - Search by a specific title and issue number.
Writer - Search by writer.
Artist - Search by artist.
All searches behave in the same manner, key in the search key and
CN will list the records that match. Note: CN is case sensitive
on searches, meaning for instance, if you wish to search on say a
particular title:
"Amazing Spiderman" IS NOT THE SAME AS "amazing spiderman"
I would recommend you adopt a system, say capitalize all words or
just the first letter of each word so that there is no confusion
later on.
Menus
-----
REPORTS MENU
Full Listing - Prints your full collection of comics.
One Title Only - Prints only a certain title.
For both suboptions, CN will prompt you if you wish to send the
output to a file. If you answer yes, the printout will be sent
to a file otherwise CN will send it to the printer (make sure
your printer is online and has paper). CN names output files in
this form "cn######.spl" where the '#' indicate numbers, for
example, "cn001050.spl". The next time you send a printout to a
file, it will say "cn001051.spl" and so on. When you no longer
need these files, just delete them.
DEFAULTS MENU
To save time in retyping frequently used words for certain
fields, CN allows you to keep 10 default values that can be
invoked by a toggle key and these values can be placed in these
fields with a few keystrokes.
Defaults can be added for title, writer, artist, publisher. The
default for the type field is the same but the last default value
(default number 10) is used as the value that is used upon
startup to any screen which uses this type field.
Notes On Above:
On certain screens where input is required, you will see
asterisks beside certain words. The asterisks indicate that if
you press <F5> (toggle key), a box will appear where default
values for that input field can be quickly chosen with a few
keystrokes. This saves the user time so that he/she doesn't have
to rekey values they often use. To select a value, use the up or
down cursor keys and press <enter>. The value you select will
automatically be entered into the appropriate field and the
cursor will go to the next input field. If you decide not to use
one of the default values, hit the <ESC> key to abort.
When you add or change a comic, CN only saves a record when you
save it through <F10> or if you press <enter> on the last field
on the screen. If you key in a record and forget to press
<enter> on the last field or <F10> and then press <ESC>, CN will
not warn you to save the record before exiting. Please make sure
your record is saved before exiting.
General Notes On Comic Notebook
-------------------------------
1. CN can hold information on these categories:
Category Description Example
Title Title of comic Adventures of Razor Man
Issue No. Issue of comic 1
Condition Condition of comic NM, F++
Cover Date Date comic came out, September 1993 cover date ->
in month/year 0993 or 993 when keyed in
Price Cost of comic $2.25
Copies Number of comic(s) 1
purchased of the above
Writer Writer of comic Marv Wolfman
Artist Artist of comic George Perez
Publisher Publisher of comic DC
Comments Anything additional 1st appearance of Razor Man
you wish to note about
the comic
Type Type of comic Regular, Annual, Direct
Sale, Mini-Series, etc.
The title, issue number and copies are mandatory fields, meaning
there must be a value for it.
2. CN can hold records of roughly 4 million.
I M P O R T A N T ! !
---------------------
It is strongly recommended that you back up your data files
regularly to avoid unexpected data corruption from power
failures, accidental deletions, etc. This is important because
should your files become corrupt, you would always have a backup
to go back to. PC Tools or Norton Backup are good backup
programs.
Trademarks
----------
IBM PC, IBM Proprinter, Epson emulation, MSDOS, DOS, PC Tools,
Norton Backup, Amazing Spiderman and DC Comics are trademarks of
their respective companies.