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Text File | 1990-10-03 | 15KB | 479 lines

┌┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬───────────────────┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┐ ├┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┤ DataMania! v1C ├┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┤ └┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴───────────────────┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┘ October 03, 1990 __________________________________________________________________ Table of Contents Introduction ................................................. i Hardware requirements ........................................ ii Files in this archive ........................................ iii Pop up MENU .................................................. iv Control keys summary ......................................... v Data file name, and limitations .............................. vi Text Editor .................................................. vii Tagging a record ............................................. viii Sorting and Searching ........................................ ix Deleting records ............................................. x Printing records ............................................. xi Setting up the communications ................................ xii Dialing a number ............................................. xiii Error handler ................................................ xiv Revision History ............................................. xv The Shareware Concept ........................................ xvi Registration Form ............................................ xvii ┌┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬───────────────────┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┐ ├┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┤ DataMania! v1C ├┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┤ └┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴───────────────────┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┘ ___________________________________________________________________ i. Introduction DataMania! is for all practical purposes, an Electronic Address Book with the look and feel of a mini database, only not as power- ful. This program was designed for home or small business use, to reduce the ever-present desk clutter and place all of your most frequently used numbers, names, and addresses in one easily access- ible location for quick reference. I have designed most of the fields in this program a bit larger than others of this type, be- cause from personal experience, I find myself always having to abbreviate names and comments. File records take advantage of almost the entire screen, allowing more room for important data. A telephone dialing feature increas- es the utility of this program, and the elapsed timer reminds you at a glance just how big your next phone bill might turn out to be. In previous versions, the commands were located at the bottom of the screen for convenience, but this version uses a Pull-Down Menu System, which I feel is even better. The telephone and FAX number fields are accompanied with matching note fields, to jot down whose number it actually is, an extension to ask for, etc. All in all, DataMania! is an easy to use, semi- powerful utility that can help make life just a little bit simpler and convienient. ___________________________________________________________________ ii. Hardware requirements DataMania! requires approximately 146K RAM to operate with no rec- ords on file, and takes up to 19K more when sorting a full file. Hardware requirements - IBM PC, PC/XT, AT, or Compatible Computer Mono, CGA, and EGA (in CGA mode) 1 Floppy (5-1/4 or 3-1/2) or Hard disk drive 256K RAM minimum DOS 2.1 or higher IBM, Tandy, or compatibile Printer Hayes compatibile Modem For best (read quickest) results while doing data sorts and searches, a hard drive is recommended, although certainly not required. All files in this Archive, along with a completely full data file, will occupy approximately 324,000 bytes. ___________________________________________________________________ iii. Files in this archive You should have the following files in this Zipfile: 1) DM.EXE .......................................... Main program 2) SETUP.EXE ....................... Communications configure file 3) D-MANIA!.DOC .................................... This Document 4) DMENU.MNU ................................. Pull-Down Menu file 5) ERRDAT.EXE ............................. Error-handling program ___________________________________________________________________ iv. Pop up MENU A new feature in this version is a Pull Down Menu System. It is accessed by pressing ENTER, and exited by using the ESC key. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── v. Control keys summary The command keys for all DataMania! operations are pretty straight foreward. Pressing <ENTER> will pop up the pull-down menu for access to all program commands, or you may bypass the menu entirely by using the Function keys, F1 thru F8. The <ESC> key quits the program, prompting you first before doing so. HOME - displays record number 1. END - displays the LAST record in your file. RIGHT ARROW - displays the NEXT record. LEFT ARROW - displays the PREVIOUS record. F1 - will access the INPUT menu, where you create new records. F2 - puts you in the MODIFY mode, to make changes to a record. F3 - is the SEARCH mode, and will look for characters in one of 6 different fields. F4 - is for DELETING records, and prompts you before doing so. F5 - accesses the TELEPHONE DIALER, and allows a choice of 4 different numbers to dial. (The FAX number fields are for reference only). F6 - will TAG the record currently displayed. The number of records tagged is indicated, and any record you tag is flagged with the symbol . F7 - will SORT all records in the file alphabetically, by Last name. F8 - will SHELL to DOS. ___________________________________________________________________ vi. Data file name, and limitations DataMania! at this time can access only 1 main file for records, and it's called D-MANIA!.###. This file also has a maximum capacity of 220 records. ___________________________________________________________________ vii. Text Editor DataMania! incorporates a nifty little text editor, active in the INPUT and MODIFY modes. Granted, it's not Wordstar, or even QEdit, but it gets the job done rather nicely. The size of the field being edited is shown in red, and the usual features apply: The Home and End keys put you at the beginning and end of the current field. The Left and Right arrow keys move the cursor without erasing the current text, and the backspace key will delete one charac- ter at a time. There's also an INSERT function, activated by toggling the insert key. INSERT status is indicated by a change in cursor color, AND an 'INS' indicator in the lower right corner of the screen. ___________________________________________________________________ viii. Tagging a Record Press ENTER to access the MENU, highlight Tag a record, and press ENTER again. The MENU will disappear, and the current record will be tagged. To un-tag the record, repeat the above steps. Pressing F5 will tag/untag a record also, without having to access the MENU. The number of tagged records is displayed in the upper right portion of the screen, and records tagged are indicated with the flag. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ix. Sorting and Searching Sorting DataMania! does only one type of sort function - alphabeticaly, by the first name in the Last Name field. This function is performed ONLY whenever you choose, by selecting Sort Records via the MENU, or by pressing the F7 key. Searching The search function is accessed via the MENU, or by pressing F3. You may search any of the following 6 fields, using the arrow keys to position the cursor in the field you choose - Last Name, First name, Address, City, State, or Zip fields. If you type a single letter, then DataMania! will find the first name (or number) that starts with that character. If you type more than one letter, the search will locate the first match for that string, wherever it is. ___________________________________________________________________ x. Deleting records Press ENTER to access the MENU, highlight Delete a record, and press ENTER again. You will then be prompted as to what record(s) you want deleted (Current, or Tagged). You may also bypass the MENU by using the F4 key instead. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── xi. Printing records Pressing ENTER will bring up the MENU, and the printing format may be chosen (Current, Tagged, or All), and (Label or Page style). Also, pressing the PRINT key will bring you directly to the correct spot in the MENU. After selecting the printing format, highlight 'Print....', and press ENTER. When you have your printer ready, press ENTER again, and your selections will begin printing. If no specific format or number of records are chosen, then DataMania! will print the default, or Current Record, in Page style. ___________________________________________________________________ xii. Setting up the communications The file SETUP.EXE is meant to create a file on your disk called COMDATA.DAT, which DM.EXE looks for whenever you want to dial a telephone number. If you attempt to dial without first making this file, then DataMania! will prompt you to do so. COMDATA.DAT contains the BAUD rate of your choice (300, 1200, or 2400), the COM port you have your modem hooked to, and a choice of two DIALING PREFIXES. 1) ATDT is the prefix to use if you have TONE dialing, and 2) ATDP is the prefix to use if you have PULSE service. Of course, if you don't have a modem, or don't want to dial a telephone number with DataMania!, then you don't really need to bother with SETUP.EXE. SETUP.EXE may be accessed via either the DOS prompt, or while you are using DataMania!, from the MENU. ___________________________________________________________________ xiii. Dialing a number After you set the communications options with SETUP.EXE, you may access the dialer either through the MENU, or by pressing F5 at any record position. You have 4 selections to choose from, as the FAX fields are just for information only. Using the UP or DOWN arrow keys will move the highlight from one number to the next. Pressing ENTER will dial the highlighted number. Once the number has dialed, press ESC to disconnect the modem, and an elapsed timer will start timing your call. Pressing ESC again will remove the timer, and allow you to select another number in the CURRENT RECORD. If you want to dial a number in a different record, press ESC so you can bring up another record, and repeat the dialing process. ___________________________________________________________________ xiv. Error handler The file ERRDAT.EXE must be located in the current directory, or in DOS's PATH. If an error occurs, ERRDAT.EXE takes over, informs you of the error, and what you need to do to correct it. If DataMania! can't find this file, you will be immediately dropped out of the program in the event of an error. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── xv. Revision History v1A - Not widely released. (July, 1990) 100 records maximum file size. Control keys used ALT + (key) combinations. Searches limited to 1 field. v1B - Released to Beta Test Library (PC_LINK) (July, 1990) Record capacity increased to 215. The Name field was split into two, more useful types- Last Name, and First Name. The Search function expanded to include 6 different fields. Arrow keys used to move from field to field in the INPUT and MODIFY modes - previous version used TAB. Arrow key selection of telephone numbers, rather than inputing a numbered selection. A few un-named bugs were found, and squashed! v1C - Released in Applications Forum (PC_LINK) Oct., 1990 Record capacity increased to 220. Record TAG feature added. Expanded printing capability, allowing label style printing, and printing of Tagged records. Upgrade of ERROR handling routines. Addition of Pull-Down style Menu System. As always, bugs are caught and tortured! ┌┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬───────────────────┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┬┐ ├┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┤ DataMania! v1C ├┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┤ └┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴───────────────────┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┘ xvi. The Shareware Concept DataMania! is distributed as SHAREWARE. Shareware means that the author reserves all copyrights and requires a registration fee for continued use of the software. Shareware should not be confused with Public Domain (PD) or Freeware which require no payment or registration. These forms of software are used for programs given free use by the author. Shareware is not free software. In contrast, Shareware requires a registration fee after acceptance during the trial period. If, after a 30 day trial period, you decide to keep this software you need to register your usage and remit payment via the registration form. If you determine you do not wish to keep this software, you must erase all files from this package from any medium used for storage and you are under no further obligation. At this time, there is no manual available for DataMania! (other than this document) but registered users are entitled to 50% off any future updates of this program. Shareware registration and/or comments may be mailed to the following address: John Churchill 18 Juniper Pass Way Ocala, FL. 32671 If you prefer to comment only, EMAIL me on PC_LINK, to ROOT3. THANX!!! ___________________________________________________________________ xvii. Registration Form Name ______________________________________________________________ Address ___________________________________________________________ City ____________________________________________ State _________ Zip code _______________ DataMania! version number ______ Type of computer you are using ____________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ DOS version and number ____________________________________________ Disk drive type (3.5" x 720K, or 5.25" x 360K) ________________ Amount enclosed ($10.00 per copy)_______________ Date ____________