Monster Media 1993 #2

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SCOUTMATE LITE Version 3.2 by Kevin Coleman Copyrighted(c) by Kevin Coleman, 1993 All Rights Reserved Table of Contents General Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Main Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Add Scout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Add Adult Leader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Modify . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Delete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Query Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Print . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Advancement Progress Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Individual Progress Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Permission Slips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Envelope/Label Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Roster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Phone/Address List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Printing of Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Select Pages Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Printer Status Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Select Names Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Change Printer Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Mail Merge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Troop Inventory Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Merit Badge Book Inventory Module . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Merit Badge Counselor Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Financial Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Pack Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Undelete Record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Export/Import Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Backup Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Defaults/Updates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Delete Rank Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Appendices Appendix A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Appendix B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 General Information MEMORY REQUIREMENTS In order for all of the features of Scoutmate to work correctly, your computer must have 640k with at least 590k free. If you do not have that much memory, some of the features of Scoutmate may not work (i.e. note pad) or it may not work at all. If you have expanded memory available, Scoutmate will use it for the overlay file. Scoutmate is in no way associated with the Boy Scouts of America. _____________________________________________________________________ LICENSING AGREEMENT SHAREWARE Scoutmate Lite was created so that Scoutmate could enter the shareware market. It has many of the features that the full version has so that you can get a feel for what the program is like. Support SHAREWARE. Register this program today! LICENSING POLICY You are granted a license to use this program for a period of thirty (30) days from the time it is installed on your machine. After that period, you are required to send in the registration fee. With this fee, you shall receive the full version. The order form is on the disk this program came with under the name "order.frm". WARRANTY I specifically disclaim all other warranties, expressed or implied, including but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. In no event shall I be liable for any loss of profit or any other damage including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential or other damages. This agreement shall be construed, interpreted and governed by the laws of the state of New York. Use of this program indicates that you have accepted the terms of this agreement. _____________________________________________________________________ TECHNICAL SERVICE All correspondence should be mailed to: Kevin Coleman P.O. Box 210574 Bushwick Finance Station Brooklyn, N.Y. 11221-0010 For phone support, call (718) 919-2082 24 hours a day/7 days a week, Eastern Standard Time. If an answering machine picks up, leave a brief message with your name and number and I will get back to you as soon as possible. I can also be reached via Prodigy (ID #: HRTD86A) and Compuserve (ID #: 76270,1115). - 1 - Installation In order to use SCOUTMATE, you must first run the installation program. The installation program will copy and make the appropriate files on your disk as well as making a configuration file which contains the necessary information to run SCOUTMATE. SCOUTMATE can be run from both floppy and hard drives, however running from a hard drive (if you have one) is strongly recommended. To run installation, first put your SCOUTMATE disk in your floppy drive and type INSTALL (make sure the active drive is the floppy drive). This program will create your configuration and all files necessary to run SCOUTMATE. It is a seven step process. Step 1: Choose the drive that you are installing from (the drive the SCOUTMATE disk is in). SCOUTMATE will automatically pick the current default path. If the SCOUTMATE disk is in a different drive, erase the current line and type in the correct drive and path. Step 2: You will be asked to input the path where the SCOUTMATE master files should be copied to. This will be the program path. This will be where you will be running SCOUTMATE from (never use the original disk). Put the drive letter and the path (ex. c:\scoutmate or e:\troop\scout\files). Make sure that you do not leave out the drive letter and colon. If you leave these out, the directories may be improperly created. If these directories do not exist, they will automatically be created. Note that you cannot install SCOUTMATE to the same directory that the master files are in. Note that if you are using a floppy disk(s), the disk(s) MUST be formatted. Step 3: You will be asked if you wish Scoutmate to be installed on two separate floppy disks. This is for floppy disk drive users only. The default is No. Y and N (yes and no, respectively) are your - 2 - choices for this option. This will put the executable file (only needed in the beginning) on one disk, and the rest of the files on another. Step 4: You will be prompted for the printer port. The choices are LPT1:, LPT2:, COM1:, COM2: and No Printer. If you do not have a printer then select No Printer otherwise select the appropriate port. If you select No Printer, then you will only be able to print to a file. Step 5: The next question is how many lines per page your printer is. Enter a number from 1 to 99 lines. The default is 54. Step 6: You will now be asked whether you wish to keep a history of the Troop Inventory Module. The history will keep track of the item number, who the item was lent to, the date lent, date due and date returned and also any comments which were put in. The history can be viewed from the Troop Inventory menu. See page 35 for more information. Y and N (yes and no, respectively) are your choices for this option. Step 7: You will now be asked whether you wish to keep a history of the Merit Badge Inventory Module. The history will keep track of the item number, who the item was lent to, the date lent, date due and date returned and also any comments which were put in. The history can be viewed from the Merit Badge Inventory menu. See page 38 for more information. Y and N (yes and no, respectively) are your choices for this option. That's it. SCOUTMATE will now be installed. The necessary files will be created or copied from the main disk to your destination path (or floppy disk(s)). After this, a message confirming the success of the installation will - 3 - be shown and you will be returned to the dos prompt. If there were any errors, they will be shown. Refer to Appendix A for error messages/solutions. When the installation is complete, you will automatically be put in your SCOUTMATE directory. Type in SCOUTMATE. You will then be brought to the title screen. Hit return for the main menu. Changing installation information: To change the current installation settings or copy the program files to a different directory, run the installation program again. For program disk path, erase the information in that field and hit return. When asked for the destination where the SCOUTMATE files should be put, choose the directory that the SCOUTMATE files are currently residing in. For the next four items (Printer Port, lines per page, Troop Inventory History and Merit Badge Book History), choose the appropriate selections (you can change them if you desire (i.e. if your printer port changed from COM1: to LPT1:, choose LPT1: when asked for the printer port selection). After your selections are complete, SCOUTMATE will notify you that the configuration file exists and will bring up a menu. The menu options are as follows: [1] Move files to a different directory: this option allows you to move the SCOUTMATE files from the current directory to a new one. If you select this option, you will be prompted to enter the directory that files should be transferred to. After selecting the directory, all of the files will be copied from the old directory to the new one and the configuration file will be updated with the new information (including the new directory). After this is done, the new directory will be verified for any errors. If there are any errors, check - 4 - Appendix A. NOTES: The old directory will not be deleted. [2] Update configuration file: this option will update the configuration file with the new information you supplied. [3] Abort Installation: this option will exit the installation without updating any files. Index There is a purpose why the main data base file is indexed. The index is loaded into memory at the start of the program and manipulated in memory, and upon termination of the program, the index is rewritten to disk. If no index is found at the time the program is run a new one will be created. This will take only a few moments (depending on how large the database is). When a record is being searched for, the index is used. This results in much greater speed. Also, the index is the file that is sorted, not the actual record file. The main reason the index is used is to lessen the chance of the main data file being corrupted. The more the main data file is used, the more the chance it will be corrupted. This is unlikely though it can happen. Imagine reading, sorting, and re-writing a large number of records with large amounts of information many times during each session. This is asking for trouble. The index contains the record number and name of each record and is sorted by the name. Not only is this a convenience because of faster program performance, but also because it saves wear and tear on your hard drive from deleting and re-writing large files (info.dat) many times and also helps prevent file corruption. Overlays SCOUTMATE uses overlays in order to require the least amount of - 5 - system memory possible. The overlay file keeps portions of the program on disk until that part of the program is needed, and then it is loaded into memory. All of the printer routines (print and mail merge) and modules (troop inventory, merit badge book inventory, merit badge counselor, finance and calendar) are kept in the overlay. If you have enough EXPANDED memory (approximately 210K), then the entire overlay file (containing all of the overlays) will automatically be loaded into it and instead of loading an overlay from disk when it is needed, it will be retrieved from the expanded memory which results in faster performance. Start Up Anytime you wish to start using SCOUTMATE, first change to the SCOUTMATE directory and type SCOUTMAT. After a few seconds, you will be taken to the title screen. The title screen contains the software copyright information. To advance to the main menu, hit any key. If you are using two floppy disks, switch to your second disk and then hit a key. Main Menu The main menu contains the various things you can do within SCOUTMATE. A menu item can be chosen by pressing the letter next to the item or moving the cursor to the appropriate item using the Up and Down arrow keys and pressing the Enter key. [A] Add Scout The Add command allows you to enter the information for a scout. Each record consists of pages, and some pages have subsections. To go between the pages/sections, use the [Page Up] and [Page Down] keys; to save the record, press the [F10] key and to abort (not save) the record, press the [ESC] key. Each field is delimited by brackets - 6 - (< and >). You can move between fields using the Up and Down cursor keys and have full featured editing features. When entering/changing information you can use the left and right cursor keys, insert and delete keys, etc. to perform their appropriate functions. Also, for certain sections (Rank, Eagle Palms, Service Stars and Merit Badges), you can mark whether the badge has been awarded yet. This is useful for knowing how many badges to buy for the next honor court, etc. To do this, move the cursor to the appropriate item and hit [ALT-G]. This will put a NA (Not Awarded) mark next to the badge to signify that it hasn't been awarded yet. To remove the NA, simply hit [ALT-G] again. You can quickly jump to different pages within a scout record. Hit [ALT-P] and a list of pages will come up. Hit the appropriate letter to jump to that page, or hit [ESC] to remain on the same page. The first page deals with the scout's personal information. On this first page, there are two sections. The first section is the scout's personal information. This section records Name, Address (2 lines), City, State, Zip Code, Home Phone Number, Work Phone Number, School, Grade, Date of Birth, Alternate Emergency Contact and phone number and Comments (three lines available for Comments). The second section is the scout's Medical Information. This section tracks Physician's name and phone number, shot information, allergies and medical comments. NOTES: In the upper left hand corner, the record number will be shown. The second page records Parental/Guardian information (space for two - 7 - parents or guardians). The fields for these two parts include the Parent/Guardians' Name, Home Address, Phone Number, Work Phone Number and Comments (two lines). Note that when you are on the address/phone number fields for either of the parents, you can hit [CTRL-C] to copy the scout's address information into the parents' fields. NOTES: Whenever entering a date (i.e. birth date or later on, dates badges were earned, etc.) the format is MM/DD/YY (M for month, D for day and Y for year). You do not have to enter the slashes (i.e. if the birth date is September 5, 1972, you can enter 090572). Entering a date in an improper format will cause an error message to occur, the proper format of date entry will be shown on the screen and you will be asked to re-enter the date. The third page deals with advancement and consists of Positions held, Dates the ranks were earned, the requirements completed for all ranks, Eagle Palms and Service Stars. Positions held is the first section of this page. The positions held allows up to nine positions to be entered along with the date the position was started and the date the position was terminated. Enter the number of the Position held or hit [F2] to list all positions. Pressing [Page Down] will move the cursor to the rank subsection. When entering a rank, if incomplete, put the date the rank was last updated (a new requirement was earned) or if complete, put the date the rank was earned. After that, you are prompted to put in a C or I for Complete or Incomplete. The initial setting for each rank is Incomplete. If the rank is incomplete, a window will appear with the requirements of the badge. Move the cursor with the up and down - 8 - cursor keys. If the requirement is complete, type Y when the cursor is next to the completed requirement. A Y will appear to signify that the requirement was completed. If the requirement wasn't completed yet, a - will be next to the requirement. If you want to change a requirement marked complete to not complete move the cursor to the requirement and type N. If the requirements go beyond one screen, then a down cursor will appear in the right line of the box. Simply use the down cursor (and up cursor to go to the previous requirements - an up cursor will appear in the right line of the box signifying there are previous requirements) to go through the list of requirements. After selecting all of the completed requirements, hit [F10] to remove the window and update the rank information. Hit [ESC] to remove the window without updating the rank information. You can select any rank that you wish (i.e. even if a scout is a Tenderfoot, if he completes requirements for First Class, you can go to the First Class field and enter a date, leave the status as Incomplete and hit return. The rank requirements will appear for First Class). NOTES: When you are in the detailed rank requirement screen, you can cycle through the different rank requirements by using the [CTRL-Page Up] and [CTRL-Page Down] keys. You cannot view a detailed rank requirement screen for a rank that was already completed. When a badge is changed from incomplete to complete, SCOUTMATE checks to see if the time requirement was met. If not, an error message will occur and the status of the badge will automatically be changed to incomplete. For Star, Life and Eagle, SCOUTMATE will check to make sure the appropriate merit badges were earned. If not, an error message will occur and the status of the badge will automatically be - 9 - changed to incomplete. Also, you will be shown how many merit badges (required and non-required) are still needed for the scout to advance to the next rank. If the Eagle badge was earned, then when the Page Down key is pressed, a window will appear asking for the dates that palms were earned. There is one field for each palm (Bronze, Silver and Gold) available. There are also three more fields and they are labelled Palm #4, Palm #5 and Palm #6. The last subsection is the service star window. The service star window allows up to ten entries. For each service star, a comment and the date when it was earned can be entered. The fourth page consists of Patrol, Other Awards and Group/Projects. Use the up and down cursor keys to cycle through the fields. When on the patrol field, enter the number of the patrol the scout is currently in or hit [F2] to show a list of patrols for you to pick from. Enter 0 if the scout does not belong to any patrol. When on the Other Awards fields, you can enter up to ten awards. Enter the name and date of each award. The final part of this page is the Groups/Projects that this scout is involved in. Enter the code of the Group/Project and the position that the scout holds. To bring up a list of Group/Projects that you currently have defined, hit [F2]. The fifth and sixth pages are the merit badge pages. There is room for recording up to eighty merit badges. Each merit badge entry consists of the number of the merit badge, the status of the merit badge, a comment if the merit badge is incomplete and the date earned/last updated. To enter a merit badge, you have to enter the - 10 - appropriate number. The numbers are in Appendix B. Also, by pressing [F2], the merit badge list will be shown (and can be scanned using the Page Up, Page Down, Up and Down Cursor keys, or hitting the first letter of the merit badge). If you do not wish to choose a merit badge after selecting to look at the list, then go to the bottom of the list by pressing [END] and choose NONE. If you press escape when a merit badge is highlighted, it will still be chosen. If a merit badge is not on the list (i.e. it was just added by the BSA), you can add it in the Utilities section, subsection Defaults/Updates (see page 50). Note that you cannot enter a merit badge after the date that it was DELISTED. If the merit badge was earned before its delisted date, it can be entered. After entering the number and pressing ENTER, you will be prompted for the merit badge status. You can enter only an I (for incomplete) or a C (for Complete). If you attempt to enter another character, you will not be able to advance to the next field. If you enter C, you will be prompted for the Date Earned and after entry of the date, you will move to the next number. If you enter I, you will be allowed to enter a comment for that merit badge. This comment usually consists of the requirements which still need to be completed or vice-versa (the requirements which WERE completed). Of course, this is entirely up to you. After entering a comment, you will be prompted for a date and afterwards will proceed to the next number. If an attempt to enter the same merit badge twice is made, a buzzer will sound and an error message will appear. NOTES: To traverse the merit badge lists, [F5] and [F6] will move to the left and right fields respectively. This is done because the left and right cursor keys are already used to do the editing when - 11 - entering information. The Up and Down Cursor keys will traverse the numbers on that page. The Page Up and Page Down keys will move between merit badge page #1 (numbers 1 through 40) and merit badge page #2 (numbers 41 through 80). Also, when entering the date, you must end input with either [ESC] or [RETURN]. If you attempt to press a different key, a buzzer will sound. The seventh page records camping information. On this page, you can record the date, camp name, number of days and comments. There is room for 20 entries. You can sort this page by hitting [ALT-S]. Note that items before 1978 will be put after items after 1978 (i.e. if you have three events with the dates 05/09/83, 12/18/92 and 10/10/76 and you hit [ALT-S], it will be sorted as 05/09/83, 12/18/92 and 10/10/76). This eighth page is the dues screen. There can be up to 54 entries on this screen. Each entry allows a date and the amount paid to be entered. Near the top of the screen, the sum of all of the dues paid is shown. Again, the [F5] and [F6] keys will move the cursor to the left and right columns respectively. If you hit [F1] on this screen, you can delete a column. This is very useful when all of the 54 entry spaces are full. Instead of manually deleting each entry in a column, hitting [F1] will do it automatically. Simply hit [F1] and enter the column you wish to delete. Hit Y to confirm the deletion and the column will be deleted. If you do not wish to delete the column, hit N and the column deletion will be aborted. - 12 - The ninth (and last) page is the scout note pad. Each scout record will have it's own note pad. The text editor is loaded and then notes can be added, deleted, printed, etc. For information on how to use the text editor see page 45. To exit from the note pad, if you wish to save the note pad, hit [F7] and hit enter. If you do not wish to save the note pad changes, hit [F1] and type Y. After exiting the note pad, an option screen will appear. [ESC] will return you to the main menu without adding the record to the database, [Page Up] will take you back to the Dues Screen and [F10] will save the record. There is a maximum of 100 scout records. [B] Add Adult Leader This option allows you to enter information for adult leaders. The adult leader record consists of three pages of information. The following fields are on the first page: name, home address (2 lines), home city, home state, home zip code, home phone number, business address (2 lines), city (business), state (business), zip code and phone number (business), positions (up to four), and 2 lines for comments. When on the position fields, you can hit [F2] to list all adult positions. NOTES: In the upper left hand corner, the record number will be shown. The second page contains training information. You can enter the training date, name, and hours. There is room for 20 entries. The third page consists of Other Awards and Group/Projects. The first part of this page is the Other Awards fields. You can enter up to fifteen awards. Enter the name and date of each award. - 13 - The second part of this page is the Groups/Projects that this adult is involved in. Enter the code of the Group/Project and the position that the adult holds. To bring up a list of Group/Projects that you currently have defined, hit [F2]. After entering all of the information, hit [F10]. To get back to the main menu, hit [ESC]. There is a maximum of 75 adult/leader records. NOTES: When you hit [ESC] to abort to the main menu, you will be asked if you are sure that you wish to abort. Hit Y if you wish to go to the main menu or N to continue adding an adult. [C] View/Modify The View/Modify option allows you to change an existing record. Under the modify option, you can change actual record information, perform the Global Update or Erase Unawarded Badges Marks. When selecting this option, a menu will appear. Choose whether you wish to modify a scout or an adult leader's record. After choosing the appropriate selection, a second menu will appear. If you chose to modify a scout's record, five options will appear on the menu. The first three options allow you to choose the way in which you wish to select the record which is to be modified. You can either type in the name, type in the record number or see a list of the names in the database. If you choose to select a record by name, case does not matter. Also, you do not have to enter in the entire name. For example, if you wish to choose a record for scout Johnson, Kevin, you could enter in jo and SCOUTMATE will choose that name. SCOUTMATE will choose the first record matching the specification that you enter, so if you had two or more scouts with the last name Johnson, you would have to enter in more characters to ensure that the correct record is selected. If you enter an invalid name (a name not in the - 14 - database) or invalid record number, an error will occur and you will be returned to the menu. After choosing the record, the record will be retrieved and changes can be made. The keys for scrolling through the windows and fields are the same as the ADD option. To save the changes, hit [F10] and to abort the changes hit [ESC]. The ability to change to another record while in another record can by accomplished by hitting [ALT-R]; a menu will appear. You can switch to another record by: 1) Next Record, 2) Previous Record, 3) Select Name From List or 4) Record Number. To remain in the same record hit [ESC] (if you already chose 3, hit [END] which will bring you to the bottom the list, and then hit [ENTER]). NOTE: This can only be done from the first page of a MODIFIED record. It cannot be done from a record that is being added. NOTES: If a record is marked for deletion, a message will be shown on the last line of the first page. The Global Update allows you to do "batch" updates on the database. By choosing this option (#4), you can perform "batch" updates for Merit Badges, Camping Information and Dues. For Merit Badges, you will first be asked whether you wish to have the badge marked as unawarded. This is the same as pressing [ALT-G] when modifying a record. You will then be asked whether you wish to update all or selected scouts. After choosing your desired selection, you will be asked to choose the badge that you wish to be added to the selected records. Next, you will be asked to enter a comment for that badge. This comment will be added to the scout's record. Lastly, you will be asked to enter the date that should be entered in the scouts' records for the merit badge. If a scout being updated already has a comment for the badge, the record will be - 15 - brought up and you will have to enter a comment for the scout. If not, the merit badge will be added. If a scout already earned the merit badge, the record will not be affected. For the Camping Information, you will be asked to enter the camp name, date, number of days and a comment that will be inserted in each record. The information will be inserted in the first available spot. When the update is completed, if there were any scouts that didn't have any spaces available (all 20 were filled up), you will be shown their names. For the Global Dues Update, you will be asked to enter the date to be inserted in each record. If the date is invalid, you will be notified and asked to enter a valid date. Each record (starting with number one) will then be loaded into memory and you will be taken right to the Dues Screen. The new date will be inserted in the first available spot. If no spot is available, the first field will be highlighted, but the new date will NOT be inserted. If you wish to make an entry, enter the information and hit [F10]. If you do not want to make any changes, erase the inserted date and then hit [F10]. If you want to abort the Global Dues Update, hit the [ESC] key. If you choose Erase Unawarded Badges Marks (#5), all badges and awards marked as Unawarded will be marked as Awarded in ALL records, so make sure you print out a list before you select this option. If you chose to modify an adult leader's record, all of the options above, except the Global Updates and Erase Unawarded Badges Marks, will appear. After modifying the record, hit [F10] to update the record or [ESC] to abort to the main menu. [D] Delete This option allows you to delete a record in the database. If you - 16 - wish to erase a record then this is the option to select. A menu will appear allowing you to select whether you wish to delete a scout's record or an adult leader's record. Once you select your choice, a second menu will appear allowing you to choose how you wish to select the record you wish to delete. You can enter the desired record by name, record number or select from a list. If you choose to see the database list, you can select more than one scout. Mark each scout that you wish to delete with the space bar. Hit [ENTER] when you are finished marking scouts. If you choose to select a record by name, case does not matter. Also, you do not have to enter in the entire name. For example, if you wish to choose a record for scout Johnson, Kevin, you could enter in jo and SCOUTMATE will choose that name. SCOUTMATE will choose the first record matching the specification that you enter, so if you had two or more scouts with the last name Johnson, you would have to enter in more characters to ensure that the correct record is selected. If an invalid name or invalid record number is entered, an error message will appear and you will return to the menu. If the record is found, confirmation of the deletion is necessary. Enter Y to mark the record for deletion or N to abort to the main menu. Notice that the record is marked for deletion. In case you change your mind later, you can undelete the record. By choosing Y, you are marking the record for deletion so that when you pack the records, the record will be deleted permanently. Until you pack the records, however, the record will still be in the database and can be modified, printed, etc. After the deletion occurs, the program will return to the main menu. NOTES: Packing and undeleting are covered in the Utilities Section. - 17 - [E] Query Database Querying the Database allows you to see (on screen or printer) records which meet certain criteria. After choosing this option on the main menu, a new menu will appear. This menu is for choosing which field you wish to query. There are six fields which can be queried. They are the Merit Badge, Rank, Dues Date, Position Held, Patrol and Group/Project fields. Merit Badge: Enter the merit badge number that you wish to query for. If you wish to see the list of merit badges, hit [F2] and choose the merit badge from the list. Rank: Use the left/right cursor keys to choose which rank you wish to query for. Dues Date: Enter the dues date that you wish to query for. Position Held: Enter a Position Held (i.e. Senior Patrol Leader) to query for. Patrol: Enter number of patrol to query for. To list patrols, hit [F2]. Group/Project: Enter Group code to query for. To list Group/Project codes, hit [F2]. After choosing the query field, a menu will then appear allowing you to choose whether the query should be TRUE or FALSE. By choosing TRUE, a query will be made and all records meeting the specification will be printed. By choosing FALSE, a query will be made and all records not meeting the specification will be printed. This is what makes the query function so useful. An example would be to query the database for all scouts not having First Aid merit badge. Select the query function and choose merit badge. Enter the number for First Aid (or hit [F2] and choose First Aid) and choose FALSE. All scouts - 18 - not having first aid merit badge would be displayed. To see all scouts that did have First Aid merit badge, follow the above steps except you would choose TRUE. After choosing the truth value of the query, a "Output to Printer [Y/N]? " message will appear. Enter Y or N. After selecting that, the query search will be displayed (i.e. Query = NOT First Aid for a query for all scouts that didn't have First Aid) and to start the query, simply hit a key. After the query is done, a completion message will be displayed; hit a key to return to the main menu. NOTES: When querying for rank, you can choose to query for scout's that are currently that rank, or for ALL scouts that have earned that rank (i.e. that rank or higher). If you wish to query for a scout that is currently a rank, choose the appropriate rank, and then type Y for the next question. If you wish to query for all scouts that have earned that rank (and may hold higher ranks), choose N. The default is N. [F] Print Selection of this option allows you to print the records in the database, the Advancement Progress Report, Individual Progress Report, Permission Slips, all Unawarded Badges, Roster, Phone/Address List, the note pad and envelopes/labels. If there are no records in the data base, you will be notified and returned to the main menu. The first menu appearing will be whether you wish to print adult records, scout records or Change Printer Options. The adult leader's menu has four choices on it. You can print 1) Phone/Address Lists, 2) Envelopes/Labels, 3) All Records and 4) Selected Records. All Records will print all of the adult records in - 19 - the database, Selected Records will print records which you select to be printed (see page 27). The Phone/Address List will create a printout of leader's name, address and phone number. Choosing envelopes/labels will bring you to another menu. The envelope/label printing option for adult leaders is the same as printing for scouts except the Select Recipient option is replaced with the Select Home/Business option. This option (#3) lets you choose whether the label/envelope is to be addressed to the adult leader's home or business address. At the top of the screen, it will show you which address will be printed on the envelope/label. After you finish selecting what you wish to print, the printer status screen will appear. Hit a key to print the information. After the printing is complete, the main menu will reappear. The scout print menu has many more options to choose from. The choices (in order) are: 1) Advancement Progress Report, 2) Individual Progress Reports, 3) Permission Slips, 4) Unawarded Badges, 5) Envelopes/Labels, 6) Roster, 7) Phone/Address List, 8) Note Pad, the ninth and tenth deal with printing the actual records (All records or Selected Records). Advancement Progress Report The Advancement Progress Report will print out the detailed rank requirement screen of each scout. A menu will appear asking you to choose whether you want selected or all records. If you choose select records, the select names menu will appear (see page 27). After selecting the records you wish to have printed (or selecting all records), a menu will appear asking you to choose whether you wish to print just the rank that the scout - 20 - is currently working on or all ranks for which the scout has completed at least one requirement. After choosing the appropriate selection, the printer status screen will appear. Hit a key when your printer is online. Individual Progress Report The Individual Progress Report will print out a progress report comparable to the Individual Progress Report that you hand in to your district office. This report prints out a scout's name, patrol, current position, date effective, current rank and date it was earned. It also prints out ranks and the dates that they were earned and merit badges and dates they were earned. Permission Slips This option allows you to print out permission slips to scouts. First, select whether you want permission slips for all or select records. Next, the entry screen will appear. There are fields for the following: Activity, Dates, Destination, Departing From and Time, Returning To and Time, Adults Accompanying Scouts, Cost, What the money is for, Equipment Needed, Leader's Emergency Contact and Phone Number, Troop Number and Leader's Phone Number. When you are satisfied with the entries, hit [F10] to go to the printer status screen. Unawarded Badges Report The Unawarded Badges Report will print out all of the unawarded badges in the database. After choosing this option, the printer status screen will appear. - 21 - Envelope/Label Printing Printing : Labels Records : All Recipient : Scout at Home Address Feed : Continuous Labels/Envelope Print Menu (SCOUT) 1 Print Labels 2 Print Envelopes 3 Single/Continuous Envelopes 4 All Records 5 Select Records 6 Select Recipient 7 Done This option allows you to print envelopes and labels. In the upper left hand corner will be the status of your options. Next to Printing:, it will have the item which you are printing (Labels or Envelopes) and next to Records:, it will have either All or Selected (meaning All or Selected Records). Next to Recipient: shows who the recipient of the envelope/label is and which address it is going to. Choosing option one sets the printing status to Labels. Choosing option two sets the printing status to Envelopes. When printing envelopes, you can put up to five lines that will be printed in the upper left hand corner of the envelope (a header). If you would like, you can center or right justify the heading by putting in the appropriate number of spaces. Move between the lines with the up and down cursor keys. Hit [F10] when done typing in the header. Selection 3 allows you to toggle between continuous and single envelopes. Labels must be continuous. When you get to the printer status screen, if you selected single envelopes, it will ask you to put an envelope in your printer and hit a key. After an envelope is - 22 - printed, you will be prompted to load another envelope into your printer and hit a key. This process will continue until all of the envelopes have been printed. If you selected continuous envelopes, put the continuous envelopes in your printer and hit a key. Selection 4 will set the Records: option to ALL and selection 5 will allow you to select records that you wish to print. Selection 6 allows you to choose the recipient of the envelope/label. You can choose either the scout, parent/guardian #1 or parent/guardian #2. If you choose either of the parent/guardians, you will then have to choose which address to make the envelope/label out to. You can choose either the home address or the respective parent/guardian's business address. If, for example, you choose to send the envelope/label to Parent/Guardian #1 at the home address, next to Recipient: will be Parent/Guardian #1 at Home Address. When you are complete, select number 7 (Done) and the printer status screen will appear and after checking your printer, hit a key to start. NOTES: The default label size is 15x16" X 3 1/2". For labels, the optimum position should be to cut the last hole of the previous label in half with the printer bar. Also do the same with the continuous envelopes. However, some printers are different so experiment to find the appropriate starting position. You can also change the label size from the Change Printer Options Menu (see page 29). Roster The roster will print the names, positions, patrol and phone number of all or selected scouts. You can also choose whether you want the Roster to be printed in alphabetical or patrol order. The default is Alphabetical. If you choose by Patrol, then you can choose whether you want to print each patrol on a separate page (option #3). The - 23 - default is All Patrols on the Same Page. Your current choices are shown at the top of the screen. In order for the Roster Printout to print the current position of a scout, it goes backwards through the scout's positions held list, and after finding one taken, it is going to see if it has a Date From entered, but no Date To entered. For example, if a scout's positions held fields were filled up to eight (the scout has held eight positions), Scoutmate will look at number eight and see if the Date To field had a date. If it doesn't, then that is the scout's current position. If it does have a date entered, then the scout does not have a position at the present time, and nothing is printed for position. Phone/Address List The phone list will print the names and addresses of all or selected scouts and their parent/guardian's first names. You can also choose whether you want the Phone List to be printed in alphabetical or patrol order. The default is Alphabetical. If you choose by Patrol, then you can choose whether you want to print each patrol on a separate page (option #3). The default is All Patrols on the Same Page. Your current choices are shown at the top of the screen. Notes This will print the SCOUTMATE note pad. If the note pad doesn't exist, a message will be printed on the screen and the program will return to the main menu. If the file exists, the printer status screen will appear and the note pad will be printed. Printing of Records The last two selections on the main print menu deal with the actual printing of records in the database. All Records will print all - 24 - records. Select records will allow you to select which records are to be printed. After choosing the appropriate option the pages menu will appear and you will then choose whether all of the pages or some of the pages are to be printed. If you choose select pages, the select pages menu will appear. Select Pages Menu 1 Select Page 2 Unselect Page 3 Load Default Page Selections 4 Save Default Page Selections 5 Clear ALL Page Selections 6 Done Selection one and two will bring up a list of pages. Pages that are selected will have an * next to them. Select or Unselect them by hitting the number of the page. Selection three will load the default page selection. Selection four will save your page selections in the default page file. This is useful if you regularly print out certain pages, but not all. You will be asked to confirm that you wish save your page selections. Enter Y (yes) or N (no). Selection five will clear all page selections. You will be asked to confirm that you wish to clear all selections. Enter Y (yes) or N (no). After choosing the pages, select Done and the printer status screen will appear. Line up your paper and hit a key to start printing. NOTES: if no pages are chosen, a message will appear stating that you - 25 - chose no pages and you will be taken back to the main menu. Also note that when printing, the detailed rank requirement information for the scouts will not be printed. This is what the Advancement Progress Report is for. Lastly, badges that weren't awarded will contain a NA message next to them. Printer Status Screen The Printer Status Screen is the screen which appears whenever a report is being printed. This screens shows the current status of the printer. There are five codes that can be returned. Printing - The data is being printed. Out of Paper - The printer is out of paper. Printer Offline - The printer is either off or offline. Printer Busy - The printer is printing something else. The program will wait its turn to print. Unknown Problem - Something else is wrong with your printer. If an error occurs (with the exception of Printer Busy), the printer will reprint the ENTIRE current page. If you wish to abort printing, type A and hit return otherwise reset the printer paper to the top of the page and type C and then hit return to print. This screen also allows you to choose how many copies of a report you would like to print as well as whether the report is to be printed to a file. If you hit [ALT-F], you will be prompted for a file name. SCOUTMATE will then check to see if that file exists. If it does, you will be asked to confirm whether you want the file to be overwritten or not. Hit Y to overwrite the file or N to select another file name. If you hit [ALT-C], then you will prompted to enter the number of copies that you want printed. Enter a number from 1 to 99. The printer status screen shows the current copy that SCOUTMATE is printing as well as how many copies were requested. - 26 - If you selected NO PRINTER in the installation program, a message will appear on the top of the screen notifying you that you can only print to a file. Regardless of what key you hit (except for [ESC] or [ALT-C] for copies), you will be prompted for a file name. NOTES: There has been some problems with SCOUTMATE and printers when they run out of paper (or another problem occurs) and the printer status screen still says PRINTING. If this problem occurs, simply turn the printer off and back on. Leave the problem intact. For example, if you run out of paper and the program does not acknowledge this, turn off your printer and then back on with the PRINTER STILL OUT OF PAPER. SCOUTMATE will then recognize the problem and then you can correct it. Reload the paper to the top of the page and SCOUTMATE will continue printing starting with the entire page where the error occurred. Select Names Menu The Select Names Menu allows you to select certain names in the database to be printed. What the Select Names menu looks like: Select Names Menu 1 - Record Number 2 - Name 3 - List Names in Database 4 - List Selected Names 5 - Unselect Name 6 - Select Groups 7 - Select Patrols 8 - Done Names Selected: 0 Option 1 allows you to enter the record number of the record to be - 27 - added to the selected names list. If an invalid record number is entered, an error message will appear. Option 2 allows you to enter the name of the scout to be added to the selected names list. Note that you do not have to enter in the entire name. For example, if you wish to choose a record for scout Johnson, Kevin, you could enter in jo and SCOUTMATE will choose that name. SCOUTMATE will choose the first record matching the specification that you enter, so if you had two or more scouts with the last name Johnson, you would have to enter in more characters to ensure that the correct record is selected. If an invalid name (not in the database) is entered, an error message will appear. Option 3 will list all of the names in the database. To choose one name, go to the name and hit ENTER. To choose more than one name, use the space bar to mark each name that you want to select, and then hit ENTER. Choose NONE if no names are desired. Option 4 lists all of the names selected. Browse the list using the Up, Down, Page Down and Page Up keys. Choose DONE (at the bottom of the list) when finished browsing the list. Option 5 allows you to unselect a name which was selected. Choose NONE (at the bottom of the list) if no names are to be unselected. Option 6 allows you to select all of the scouts or adults in certain Group/Projects. When you select this option, all of the Group/Project codes will appear. Select the group you want to be included in the report. Option 7 allows you to select scouts/adults in certain patrols. When you select this option, all of the Patrol names will appear. Select the patrol you want to be included in the report, and option 8 (DONE) goes to the next menu. Next to Names Selected: will appear the number of names selected. - 28 - Change Printer Options The Change Printer Options allow you to change your printer port, lines per page and label setup. The first item is Change Printer Port. Choosing this option will bring up a list of printer ports and NP (which stands for no printer). Select your new printer port and hit [F10] to make the change permanent. The second item is Change Lines Per Page. Choosing this option will allow you to change the number of lines you want printed per page. Enter the new number of lines per page and hit [F10] to make the change permanent. The third item is Change Label Setup. You can configure: 1) Number of Spaces Across, 2) Number of Lines Down, 3) Number of Lines per Labels (size) and 4) Number of Labels Per Page. If you enter in a number other than 0 for labels per page, then after the specified number of labels have been printed, a form feed will occur. This will most likely be used for people with laser printers. Option #2 (number of lines down) will linefeed the specified number of lines down at the beginning of the printout and after each form feed. The fourth item is Change Envelope Setup. Choosing this option will allow you to configure the number of spaces across an envelope (where the name and address will be printed), the number of lines down (number of line feeds before printing an envelope), and the number of lines per envelope (the size of the envelope). The defaults are 28 spaces across, 0 lines down and 25 lines per envelope (for a regular business sized envelope). NOTES: On a Panasonic KX-P1180i, the default of 7 for label size works fine (for 15x16" X 3 1/2" labels). For some printers, however, - 29 - you may need to adjust the number (probably to 8) to print correctly on that label size. To abort changing any of the values, hit [ESC]. [G] Mail Merge The purpose of the Mail Merge option is to greatly simplify the task of mailings. Remember when you had to load a letter, type in a person's name and address, print it out, then the next person's name and address, print it out and so on. The Mail Merge fully automates printing letters for you. Whether you are mailing a letter to one or fifty scouts, mail merge is a handy convenience. What the mail merge menu looks like: Header: OFF Scout Records: ALL Adult Records: ALL Mail Merge Menu 1 Type Letter 2 Select Scout Records 3 All/No Scout Records 4 Select Adult Records 5 All/No Adult Records 6 Header ON/OFF 7 Print Letters 8 Exit Option number one will allow you to create (or edit) the letter that will be used in the mail merge. Select a name for the letter (maximum of eight characters). If the you wish to modify a letter, simply type the name of the letter and it will be retrieved. The text editor will be invoked and you can then make whatever changes need to be made. After typing the letter, hit [F7] and type Y to confirm that you wish to save the letter. The letter will be saved - 30 - and the program will return to the Mail Merge Menu. For information concerning the text editor, see the NOTE PAD section (see page 45). Option number two will allow you to select scout records. The select records menu will appear and you will be able to choose the scout records which you wish to have included in the mail merge. For information on the select records menu see page 27. Option number three is for including all or no scout records in the mail merge. This is useful if you wish to have letters printed to only the adult leaders. Choosing this option will switch between ALL and NONE or if you previously chose selected records, it will switch to ALL. The Scout Records: message on the top of the screen shows which scout records will be printed (ALL, SELECTED or NONE). Option number four allows you to select the adult records which you wish to include in the mail merge. The select records menu will appear and you will be able to choose the adult records which you wish to have included in the mail merge. For information on the select records menu see page 27. Option number five is for including all or no adult records in the mail merge. This is useful if you wish to have letters printed to only the scouts. Choosing this option will switch between ALL and NONE or if you previously chose selected records, it will switch to ALL. The Adult Records: on the top of the screen shows which adult records will be printed (ALL, SELECTED or NONE). Option number six allows you to choose whether you want a header or not. The header is the return address, date, etc. If a header is desired, select item #6 and type in the header. Five lines are available for the header. This option was included in case a header wasn't put in the actual letter. The header, if selected, will be - 31 - the first thing printed. When done with the header, hit [F10] to return to the mail merge menu. If the header is selected and you wish to deselect (or change) it, choose header again. Option number seven is to print the letters. Enter the name of the file containing the letter. If the file doesn't exist an error message will be shown. If the file exists the program will take you to the selection screen. On this screen, if you are sending letters to any scouts, you now select the recipient of the letter. Choose either Scout, Parent/Guardian #1 or Parent/Guardian #2. If you choose Parent/Guardian #1 or Parent/Guardian #2, a menu will appear allowing you to choose the address to send the letter. Select either the home address or the respective Parent/Guardian's business address. After selecting the appropriate choice the program will proceed to the printer status screen. After making sure the paper is in the printer and properly loaded, hit a key to start printing. If you didn't select any records, you will be informed and returned to the main menu. If you choose Select Scout Records (option #2) or Select Adult Records (option #4) on the mail merge menu and return to the mail merge menu without selecting any records, the appropriate category (either Scout or Adult Records) will be set to NONE. Option eight will return you to the main menu. NOTES: What mail merge does is make a letter for each chosen scout and/or adult. It will print a header if desired and then Dear [name of scout or adult]: and then print the body of the letter. - 32 - [H] Troop Inventory Module This option will bring you to the Troop Inventory Module menu. After choosing this option, if the file "TROOPINV.DAT" (the inventory file) is not in the directory, a message will appear and a new file will be created. Here is what each option does: Add Items This option allows you to add items to the Troop Inventory database. There are fields for the Item name, value, condition, the person to whom the item was lent to, the date lent, date due, date returned and two lines for comments. In the top of the box will be the item number. Hit [F10] to save or [ESC] to abort to the main menu. View Items This option allows you to view/modify/delete items in the Troop Inventory database. When choosing this item, the database will display record number one. You can browse through the fields with the up and down arrow keys. You can also change information such as the person to whom the item was lent to, condition, etc. To browse through the different items in the database, use the [PG/UP] and [PG/DN] keys. If an attempt is made to go beyond or before the database, an error beep will sound. There are also some other functions. To mark or unmark the item for deletion, hit [CTRL-D]. If an item is marked for deletion when the database is packed, the item will be permanently erased. To go to a specific item number, hit [CTRL-G]. A prompt will be made for the item number to go to. Enter the item number and hit return. If the item number is invalid, - 33 - an error beep will sound. After modifying an item, hit [F10] to save the updated information or [ESC] to return to the Troop Inventory menu. If you hit [F10], a message will be briefly printed on the screen confirming the update. If the item was lent out and the borrower returned the item, enter the date it was returned. After entering the date returned, hit [F10]. If a troop inventory history is being kept, the information will be saved in the troop history file, otherwise the item will return to the unborrowed state (the lent to, date lent, date due and returned fields will be erased). Overdue/Lent Out Items This option will show either which items were lent out or which items are overdue (depending on the selection). After selecting this option, another menu will appear. You will be prompted to choose either to view the items which are lent out or which items are overdue. After selecting the appropriate choice, you will be prompted if the output is to go to the printer. If you select no the screen will clear and will show which items meet the condition that was selected. If the list is more than one screen, when the screen is full, a message will appear prompting you to hit a key to go to the next screen. If you selected to output the information to the printer, the printer status screen will appear. Hit return to start printing. When checking for overdue items, SCOUTMATE will compare the "Date Due" field of the record with the system date. If the system date is incorrect, then the Overdue option will not produce accurate results. After all of the items meeting the condition are printed out, a message confirming this will be shown. Hit a key to return to the troop inventory menu. - 34 - View History If this option was selected in the installation, it will be available, otherwise a message stating that you chose not keep a troop history will appear and you will be returned to the troop inventory menu. After choosing to view the history, you will be asked whether the output should go to a printer. If you answer no, the output will be displayed on the screen. If the contents are more than one screen, after the screen is full a message will appear prompting you to hit a key to view the next screen. If you chose to print the information on a printer, the printer status screen will appear. Hit a key to print. About the Troop History File: After a borrower returns the item (data is entered for the "Date Returned" field of the specific item), the information will be stored in the troop history file. Here is a sample of an entry in the troop history file: Troop Inventory History ----------------------- Item: Four Man Tent Lent to: Joe Scout Date Lent: 12/12/90 Date Due: 12/20/90 Date Returned: 12/19/90 The tent was returned in great condition. The data file name is "TRHIS.HST" so if it gets too large or you wish to delete it, simply delete or move it somewhere else (if you wish to keep it) and SCOUTMATE will automatically create a new history file. Print Items This option will allow you to print your troop inventory file or a troop inventory checklist. When you select this option, another menu will appear. You will be prompted to choose either a Full Inventory Printout (#1) or Troop Inventory Checklist (#2). - 35 - The Full Inventory Printout will print out the entire contents in your Troop Inventory file. If the item is lent out, the person whom it was lent to, the date lent and date due will be printed underneath the item. If the item is not lent out, the item name, condition and value will be printed out. The Inventory Checklist consists of a short line and next to it the name of the item. The checklist is useful for doing inventory checks, while not taking up a lot of paper. If an item is lent out, there will be an & next to it (in the left margin). The printer status screen will appear. Hit a key to print. [I] Merit Badge Book Inventory Module This will bring you to the Merit Badge Book Inventory Module menu. After choosing this option, if the file "MBINV.DAT" (the merit badge book inventory data file) is not in the directory, a message will appear and a new file will be created. Here is what each option does: Add Books This option allows you to add books to the Merit Badge Book Inventory database. There are fields for the Merit Badge Book title, the person to whom the book was lent to, the date lent, date due, date returned and two lines for comments. In the top of the box will be the book number. Hit [F10] to save or [ESC] to abort to the main menu. View Books This option allows you to view/modify/delete books in the Merit Badge Book Inventory database. When choosing this option, the database will display record number one. You can browse through the fields with the up and down arrow keys. You can also change information - 36 - such as the person to whom the book was lent to, title, etc. To browse through the different books in the database, use the [PG/UP] and [PG/DN] keys. If an attempt is made to go beyond or before the database, an error beep will sound. There are also some other functions. To mark or unmark the book for deletion, hit [CTRL-D]. If a book is marked for deletion when the database is packed, the book will be permanently erased. To go to a specific book number, hit [CTRL-G]. A prompt will be made for the book number to go to. Enter the book number and hit return. If the book number is invalid, an error beep will sound. After modifying a book, hit [F10] to save the updated information or [ESC] to return to the Merit Badge Book Inventory menu. If you hit [F10], a message will be printed on the screen briefly confirming the update. If the book was lent out and the borrower returned the book, enter the date it was returned. After entering the date returned, hit [F10]. If a merit badge book inventory history is being kept, the information will be saved in the merit badge book history file, otherwise the book will return to the unborrowed state (the lent to, date lent, date due and returned fields will be erased). Overdue/Lent Out Books This option will show either which books were lent out or which books are overdue (depending on the selection). After selecting this option, another menu will appear. You will be prompted to choose either to view the books which are lent out or which books are overdue. After selecting the appropriate choice, you will be prompted if the output is to go to the printer. If you select no the screen will clear and will show which books meet the condition that was selected. If the list is more than one screen, - 37 - when the screen is full, a message will appear prompting you to hit a key to go to the next screen. If you selected to output the information to the printer, the printer status screen will appear. Hit return to start printing. When checking for overdue books, SCOUTMATE will compare the "Date Due" field of the record with the system date. If the system date is incorrect, then the Overdue option will not produce accurate results. After all of the books meeting the condition are printed out, a message confirming this will be shown. Hit a key to return to the merit badge book inventory menu. View History If this option was selected in the installation, it will be available, otherwise a message stating that you chose not keep a merit badge book history will appear and you will be returned to the merit badge book inventory menu. After choosing to view the history, you will be asked whether the output should go to a printer. If you answer no, the output will be displayed on the screen. If the contents are more than one screen, after the screen is full a message will appear prompting you to hit a key to view the next screen. If you chose to print the information on a printer, the printer status screen will appear. Hit a key to print. About the Merit Badge Book History File: After a borrower returns the book (data is entered for the "Date Returned" field of the specific book), the information will be stored in the merit badge book history file. Here is a sample of an entry in the merit badge book history file: - 38 - Merit Badge Book Inventory History ---------------------------------- Book: Basketry Merit Badge Book Lent to: Joe Scout Date Lent: 12/12/90 Date Due: 12/20/90 Date Returned: 12/19/90 The book was returned in great condition. The data file name is "MBHIS.HST" so if it gets too large or you wish to delete it, simply delete it or move it somewhere else (if you wish to keep it) and SCOUTMATE will automatically make a new file. Print Books This option will allow you to print your merit badge book inventory file or a merit badge book inventory checklist. When you select this option, another menu will appear. You will be prompted to choose either a Full Inventory Printout (#1) or Merit Badge Book Inventory Checklist (#2). The Full Inventory Printout will print out the entire contents in your Merit Badge Book Inventory file. If the book is lent out, the person whom it was lent to, the date lent and date due will be printed underneath the book. If the book is not lent out, the book name, condition and value will be printed out. The Inventory Checklist consists of a short line and next to it the name of the book. The checklist is useful for doing inventory checks, while not taking up a lot of paper. If a book is lent out, there will be an & next to it (in the left margin). [J] Merit Badge Counselor Module This invokes the Merit Badge Counselor Module. The menu consists of Adding, Modifying and Printing Merit Badge Counselors and Querying the Merit Badge Counselor database. Add This option brings up the entry page. It consists of name, address, city, state, zip code, phone number and two comment lines. It also - 39 - allows up to 6 merit badge certifications as well as days and times that the counselor is available. Use the up and down arrows to move between fields. When on the Merit Badge Certification fields, enter the number of the merit badge or hit [F2] to bring up the merit badge list. When on the Day fields, enter the number of the day (1-Sunday to 7-Saturday). When entering the times, you must use military time (i.e. 1900 is 7:00 PM) in order for the query feature to work. Also, you must enter the largest time in the right field. For example, you can put that a merit badge counselor is available from 1200 - 1800; however, you cannot put that the counselor is available from 1300 - 1000. If you do, then the query will not work correctly. Hit [F10] to save the record and [ESC] to abort to the menu. Modify This option allows you to modify a Merit Badge Counselor record. Choose the record you want by entering the name, the record number or choose option number three to bring up a list of merit badge counselors. After selecting the appropriate record, it will be brought up on the screen. Use [Alt-D] to mark or unmark the record for deletion. If a record is marked for deletion, a message will be shown on the screen. When the database is packed, all records marked for deletion will be permanently deleted. Otherwise, follow the same instructions as stated above under ADD. Query This option allows you to query the Merit Badge Counselor database. You will be prompted to enter the merit badge number to query for. Enter the number or hit [F2] to bring up the merit badge list. After you select the merit badge, you will be prompted to enter the date and time from and time to to query for. For example, if you would - 40 - like to list the Merit Badge Counselors available for First Aid Merit Badge between 10 AM and 3 PM on Saturday, you would choose Merit badge #7, number 6 (for Saturday), 10:00 (for 10 am (time from)) and 15:00 (for 3 pm (time to)). After entering the appropriate information, choose whether you would like the output to go to the screen or printer. Print Selecting this option will bring up the Print menu. You have the option of printing records or a raw data form. The raw data form will print a counselor's name and merit badge numbers. Choosing print records will print all of the counselor's information. If you choose to print selected records, the select names menu will come up. You will then be asked whether you want to print 1 or 2 merit badge counselors per page. If you hit [ENTER] or Y, then it will print 2 merit badge counselors per page; if you wish to print 1 merit badge counselor per page, hit N. After you choose the desired option, the printer status screen will appear. Hit a key to start printing. There is a maximum of 75 merit badge counselor records. [K] Financial Module The Financial Module tracks troop bank accounts. The menu consists of Adding, Modifying and Printing Financial transactions and Querying the Financial database. You can also do a Dues Report which totals the amount of dues collected between certain (or all) dates. You can track up to five different accounts. Add This option brings up the entry page. This consists of check number, date, payee, amount and memo. To enter a withdrawal OR a check, just enter a negative amount (such as -65.00). To enter a deposit, just - 41 - enter the amount (such as 65.00). You should use consistent memo categories, so that when you do a query, you can do a reliable search using memo categories. Hit [F10] to save the record or [ESC] to abort to the menu. Modify This option allows you to modify financial transactions. You will be placed at the first record. Use [Page Up] and [Page Down] to move between records. Use [Alt-G] to go to a specific record. Use [Alt-D] to mark or unmark the record for deletion. If a record is marked for deletion, a message will be shown on the screen. When the financial database is packed, all records marked for deletion will be permanently erased. Otherwise, follow the same instructions as stated above under ADD. Query This option allows you to query the financial transaction database by Check Number, Payee, Memo or Amount. You will first be asked whether all accounts are to be included in the query. After choosing the desired query field, you will then be asked to enter a string to search for. When querying for payee and memo, case doesn't matter. Also, you can enter partial information. Any transaction that contains that partial information will be printed out. You will then be asked if the output is to go to the printer or screen. The output will consist of record numbers which meet the query condition. Print Selecting this option will bring up the Print menu. You will first be asked whether all accounts are to be included in the printout. You have the option to print out Transaction or Dues Reports. The Transaction Report consists of records entered in the Financial - 42 - database. The Dues Report consists of dues paid by your scouts. After you choose the desired report, SCOUTMATE will ask whether to use all dates or records between certain dates. For example, if you would like to see the dues paid between 1/1/92 and 2/1/92 you would choose the Dues Report, choose selected dates and then enter 1/1/92 and 2/1/92. If you wanted to see the dues paid on a particular date, say 2/5/92, then you would choose selected dates and enter 2/5/92 for both Date from and Date to. After entering the desired information, the printer status screen will appear. Hit return to start printing. Select Account This option allows you to select, add and delete accounts. Select Account This option will bring up a list of all of your accounts. Highlight the account that you wish to activate and press [ENTER]. Add New Account This option allows you add new accounts. Enter the name of the account that you wish to add. The account name can be up to 8 characters long. If you enter an invalid file name (one that contains spaces or no characters), an error message will occur and you will be asked to reenter the file name. There is a maximum of 5 accounts. Delete Account This option allows you to delete accounts. Select the account that you wish to delete. Confirm whether you wish to delete the selected account (Y or N). If you choose Y, the account will be permanently deleted. - 43 - Pack Records This option will delete all financial records marked for deletion. NOTES: All of the actions you take will be performed on the active account only. The active account will be displayed on the top of each screen. [L] Calendar The calendar is capable of holding up to thirty entries. There will be fifteen entries displayed on the screen at any one time. To make an entry move the cursor to a blank spot. First enter the date. Hit RETURN and enter the time of the event. The next field allows you to enter either a P for PM or A for AM. After entering that, you will proceed to the data box. This box allows up to 4 lines of seventy-two characters each line. To save the event, hit [F10]. To move between entries, use the [PAGE UP] and [PAGE DOWN] keys. To abort the event (not save it as an entry), hit [ESC] or another one of the keys in the box except [F10]. If you wish to delete an entry, go to the entry and hit [CTRL-D]. When done using the calendar, hit the [ESC] key to return to the main menu. To print the calendar, hit [F5] and the printer status screen will appear. Make sure paper is in the printer and hit a key to print the calendar. When you abort to the main menu, the calendar is resorted and saved. While you are in calendar mode, you can sort the calendar if you wish by hitting [CTRL-S]. Entries that are on or before the current system date will be marked with an *. Each time you start SCOUTMATE, it checks to see if there is an event on or before today's date. If there is an event today or any day before today, an alarm will sound and a message will appear notifying you. Also, if you are using SCOUTMATE when the day changes, it will - 44 - recheck the calendar to see if there are any events occurring on the new date. The alarm for an event will only go off once, and then it will be disabled. NOTES: if the system date is incorrect, the calendar alarm function will be inaccurate. Make sure your system date is set correctly. [M] Notes The Note pad invokes the mini-word processor. The word processor was not built into this program but is a generic separate file. It is called TED and is copyrighted (c) by Ziff Communications. TED is a Bannerware program (free distribution, but still copyrighted by the author), but has many useful functions built into a very small program. If another text editor is desired, then the main file has to be renamed to TED and put in the SCOUTMATE directory. If it doesn't take up a large amount of memory it should work fine. Don't forget to rename it to TED. Briefly, here are the options available. F1 : Abort will return you to the main menu without saving any changed information. F2 : This will undo information just changed. F3 : Print will send marked text to the printer. F4 : Mark will highlight desired text. This option is used to Cut and Paste and for printing. F5 : Cut will cut (remove) marked text and store it in memory. F6 : Paste will take the text that was cut (now in memory) and put it where the cursor is located. F7 : Exit allows you to save the note pad. After hitting F7, simply hit return. The note pad will be saved and the program will return to the main menu. F8 : This option will delete everything to the right of the cursor. F9 : This option will delete the line the cursor is on. F10: This will undelete a line that was just deleted. - 45 - Don't forget that you can print the note pad from the Print option on the main menu. If you wish to send text to the printer while you are in the note pad, you must first mark the text that you wish to print, and then send it to the printer. The note pad will be stored as NOTES.TXT in the SCOUTMATE directory. [N] Utilities The utilities option will bring you to the utilities menu. Utilities Menu 1 - Pack Records 2 - Undelete Records 3 - Export/Import Records 4 - Backup/Restore Database 5 - Defaults/Updates 6 - Delete Rank Files 7 - Exit Pack Records - To Pack Records means to permanently erase the records marked for deletion and squeeze the remaining records together to take up the least amount of space. This includes permanently erasing any Troop and Merit Badge Book Inventory, as well as Merit Badge Counselor records marked for deletion. Invoking this option will back up the info.dat (calling it info.bak) and the adinfo.dat (calling it adinfo.bak) files. It will also update each record's Merit Badge comment file (#.dat). Afterwards, a new index will be generated and the program will return to the main menu. If there is not enough space on your disk to pack records, a message will be printed on the screen and you will be returned to the main menu. On the screen will be shown the current progress of the pack. When the pack is working on anything other than the scout database, a message will be shown that the pack is currently working on all miscellaneous - 46 - files. When the scout database begins to be packed, you will be shown how many records are to be packed and the progress of the pack (how many records were packed and how many were deleted). This information will be constantly updated throughout the packing process. When the packing is done, a message will appear on the screen and you will be returned to the main menu. Undelete Record - Undeleting a record will UNMARK a record which is marked for deletion. A menu will appear asking whether the record you wish to undelete is a scout or an adult record. After selecting your choice, a second menu will appear allowing you different ways to select the way of undeleting the record(s). Select the record you wish to undelete by entering the record number, the name of the scout or adult marked for deletion or by listing the records which are marked for deletion. If you choose to select a record by name, case does not matter. Also, you do not have to enter in the entire name. For example, if you wish to undelete a record for scout Johnson, Kevin, you could enter in jo and SCOUTMATE will choose that name. SCOUTMATE will choose the first record matching the specification that you enter, so if you had two or more scouts, that were marked for deletion, with the last name Johnson, you would have to enter in more characters to ensure that the correct record is selected. If an invalid record is entered (such as a record which is not marked for deletion or a record not in the database), an error message will be shown. If successfully undeleted, a message will be shown to inform you of the success. Export/Import Records - This option allows the export and importation of records from/to your SCOUTMATE database. After choosing this option, a menu will appear asking you whether you wish to import or - 47 - export a file from the database. Import - Choosing Import will import records to your database. First, you will be asked if duplicate records should be overwritten. If you enter Y, then all records in your database with the same (scout) name as the records being imported will be overwritten. Enter N if you do not want any records to be overwritten (duplicates will be created). You will then be prompted to enter the name of the import file. SCOUTMATE will then check to make sure that the import file is a valid import file (was exported from another SCOUTMATE database). If the import file is invalid, an error message will appear and you will be allowed to enter a different name. Hit [ESC] to abort to the Utilities menu. You will then be shown the number of records to be imported and the current progress. After the importation is complete, a message will appear and you will be returned to the Utilities menu. Export - Choosing Export will export records from your database. You will then be asked to choose which records you wish to export. You will first be asked whether you wish to export all or selected records. If you choose selected, the select names menu will appear. If you exit without choosing any names, you will be informed and returned to the Utilities menu. After choosing the records you wish to export, you will then be prompted to enter the name of the export file. Make sure that you do not enter an extension for the file. SCOUTMATE will then check to make sure that no file with that name exists and isn't restricted. If the file exists, you will be asked to confirm that the file should be overwritten. If you choose no, you will - 48 - be prompted for a different file name. Hit [ESC] to abort to the Utilities menu. If you choose yes, the file will be overwritten with the new information. The screen will display how many records were selected to be exported and the progress. After the exportation is done, you will be notified and returned to the Utilities Menu. NOTES: The file extension for the export file will be .dat. There will also be a file created with the extension .fil. This file will contain all of the exported records' data files (notepad, rank, and merit badge information). Backup Files - Backing up files is an essential part of using a computer. One power surge or mistake can ruin days or weeks of work. BACKING UP FILES REGULARLY IS STRONGLY RECOMMENDED. To do this is painless and can save days of work. Since DOS diskettes can only hold 122 (or 244 if you use high density disks) files per directory, the backup utility will only copy the info.dat, adinfo.dat and it will create backfile.dat. This backfile.dat file will contain all of the scout data files (note pad, rank, and merit badge information). Therefore, you must use the restore option to uncompress the backfile.dat file. The backup process can take quite a while. You will be updated as to how much of the backup has been completed throughout the process. Please note that you are responsible for making sure you have enough disk space for the backup. The amount of space needed is the total of the file sizes of adinfo.dat, info.dat and all scout data files. If this number is larger than your floppy disk size, you should do a backup to your hard drive and then save the individual backup files across floppy disks (i.e. do a backup to your hard drive and then save info.dat to one floppy disk and - 49 - adinfo.dat and backfile.dat to another floppy disk). NOTE: If you attempt to perform a backup to a directory (or disk) that already contains backup files, the previous backup files will automatically be overwritten. Also, if you attempt to perform a backup with not enough disk space on the backup drive, you will get a "backup unsuccessful" message. Defaults/Updates - this option allows you to change the defaults of SCOUTMATE. Troop Positions You can enter up to 30 troop positions. Adult Positions You can enter up to 30 adult positions. Return Address You can enter up to five lines of seventy eight characters each for a default return address. This return address will be the default for envelopes as well as mail merge. City, State, Zip Code and Area Code You can enter defaults for the above four items. Every time you enter a new adult, scout or merit badge counselor, the fields for which you have default values will be automatically inserted into the new record. Group/Project Names You can enter up to 9 Group/Project names. You must first enter a code by which to identify each Group/Project. This code will be used when entering group codes in individual scout and adult records. You will then enter the Group/Project name of up to 30 characters. Note that capital letters are treated differently than lowercase letters (i.e. P is treated differently than p). - 50 - Merit Badge Update This option allows you to easily modify the Merit Badge List. You can add a merit badge, delist or undelist merit badges and print the merit badge list. ADD You will be prompted for the merit badge name. After you enter the name, you will be asked to confirm the add. If you choose Y, then the merit badge will be added to the end of the list. DELIST This will DELIST a merit badge. Choose the merit badge number to delist or hit [F2] to bring up the merit badge list. You will then be asked for the date the merit badge was delisted. No scout will be able to earn this merit badge after the delist date. You will then be asked to confirm the DELIST, and if you choose Y, it will be delisted. UNDELISTED This will UNDELIST a merit badge. You will be prompted for the merit badge to undelist. You can hit [F2] to list all of the merit badges that are DELISTED. After you choose the appropriate merit badge, you will be asked to confirm the UNDELIST, and if you choose Y, it will be UNDELISTED. Print Merit Badge List You can choose to print either an Official Numbers list, which is the list in Official Number order, or an Alphabetical list, which will print the list in Alphabetical order. Colors You can choose the default colors for the background, foreground, highlighted message foreground and highlighted message background. - 51 - As you enter different numbers, the colors will change to show you what your selections would look like. For all of the above (except Merit Badge List), hit [F10] to save the defaults/updates or [ESC] to abort without saving. Delete Rank Files - this option is used when you manually change the rank requirements for a certain rank. Enter the rank you wish to have deleted (the rank you changed) and hit return. After confirming that the deletion is to occur, SCOUTMATE will delete all of the appropriate rank files. After the deletion is complete, you will be shown how many rank files were deleted and then returned to the menu. [O] Quit This will end the SCOUTMATE session. The index will be saved and the program will terminate returning to your operating system. - 52 - Appendix A Error Messages When backing up files, the following (error) messages can occur: Copy Successful - the backup was successfully performed. Source and Target are the Same - you entered the SCOUTMATE directory as the backup path. Change the backup path. Source file not found - for some reason, the program could not find the info.dat file. Did you erase it? If so, you have to run install again or copy it to the SCOUTMATE directory if it was previously backed up. Unable to create target file - the target file could not be created. This means that an invalid path was entered. Enter a correct path. If you need to create another subdirectory, simply go to DOS and use the md (make dir) command to make the desired subdirectory. Data Copy Failed - An undetermined error occurred. Maybe a bad floppy disk is the cause. Installation Errors When installing SCOUTMATE, errors can occur. If you get an Unable to Create Directory, you most likely forgot to put in a colon (:) after the drive letter. Make sure you put the destination path in this format: DRIVE:PATH. Here are two examples of directories: c:\scoutmate and e:\troop\scoutmat\files. Here are the specific list of errors that the installation verification procedure looks for: Error #1 - MB.DAT file is missing Error #2 - SCOUTMATE.EXE file is missing Error #3 - SCOUTMATE.OVR file is missing Error #4 - INFO.DAT file is missing Error #5 - INFO.IDX file is missing Error #6 - ADINFO.DAT file is missing Error #7 - ADINFO.IDX file is missing Error #8 - CAL.DAT file is missing Error #9 - TED.COM file is missing Error #10 - CONFIG.CFG file is missing Error #11 - RANKINFO.DAT is missing Error #12 - TROOPINV.DAT file is missing Error #13 - MBINV.DAT file is missing - 53 - Error #14 - MBC.DAT file is missing Error #15 - MMFIELD.DAT file is missing Error #16 - MMFIELD2.DAT file is missing Error #17 - TROOPPOS.DAT file is missing Error #18 - TRHIS.HST file is missing Error #19 - MBHIS.HST file is missing For errors #1-3, #9, #11, and #15 - #17, the files may have been improperly copied. To rectify the error, you can copy the appropriate file from the master disk to the destination path. After copying the appropriate file, run the installation again with the same destination path and it will verify the installation again without copying and creating all of the files again. For the other errors (except #18 and #19), it is necessary to run the installation again. If a general copying error occurs, make sure that you put in the correct path that the SCOUTMATE files reside in. The best thing to do if any error occurs is to erase any files which may have been created or copied to the destination path and reinstall SCOUTMATE. Overlay Errors SCOUTMATE.OVR is the overlay file used. After loading SCOUTMATE, the overlay file will be checked for errors (system or overlay). The following errors can occur: Overlay Error #1 - Overlay system error. Reboot the system and try again. If the error persists, copy SCOUTMATE.OVR from the master disk. Overlay Error #2 - Overlay not found. Copy SCOUTMATE.OVR from the master disk. Overlay Error #3 - Not enough memory. Your system must have at least 640K to run SCOUTMATE. See General Information Page for more information. Overlay Error #4 - I/O error reading overlay. The file may be corrupted. Copy SCOUTMATE.OVR from the master disk. - 54 - Other possible problems If your index ever becomes corrupted (you'll know when this happens - garbage begins appearing when you list names -- or you may even get an error when printing records), exit out of Scoutmate, type del *.idx and then rerun Scoutmate. This will fix the problem. This corruption should occur rarely, if at all. If SCOUTMATE ever aborts with an error or hangs the system for some reason, please note what steps you did prior to the hang and contact me via phone or mail. If there was any kind of error message (i.e. Runtime Error #######-###), write that down also. SCOUTMATE has been thoroughly tested, but there may be some obscure bugs which weren't caught. If SCOUTMATE does abort, none of your data files should have been corrupted (a routine was put in so that if it aborts during program execution the index will be recreated the next time SCOUTMATE is executed, therefore eluding all errors that may have occurred during the unexpected abort of the program), so just run SCOUTMATE again. Notepad Errors: If you ever try to use the Deluxe Notepad or Scout's notepad (the last page of their record), and a message flashes on the screen and the program automatically returns you to the last screen, then you must free up more memory in your computer in order to use them. Eliminate some TSR's (or other programs loaded at the time you're using Scoutmate) from memory. See the General Information page for memory requirements. - 55 - Appendix B Merit Badge List 1.Camping 44.Electronics 92.Rabbit Raising 2.Citizenship in 45.Energy 93.Radio the Community 46.Engineering 94.Railroading 3.Citizenship in 47.Farm and Ranch 95.Reading the Nation Management # 96.Reptile Study 4.Citizenship in 48.Farm Mechanics 97.Rifle and the World 49.Fingerprinting Shotgun 5.Communications 50.Firemanship Shooting # 6.Emergency 51.Fish and 98.Rowing Preparedness Wildlife 99.Salesmanship 7.Environmental Management 100.Scholarship Science 52.Fishing 101.Sculpture 8.First Aid 53.Food Systems # 102.Signaling * 9.Lifesaving 54.Forestry 103.Skating 10.Personal 55.Gardening 104.Skiing Fitness 56.Genealogy 105.Small-Boat 11.Personal 57.General Science Sailing Management 58.Geology 106.Soil and Water 12.Safety 59.Golf Conservation 13.Sports 60.Handicap 107.Space 14.Swimming Awareness Exploration 15.American 61.Hiking 108.Stamp Business 62.Home Repairs Collecting 16.American 63.Horsemanship 109.Surveying Cultures 64.Indian Lore 110.Textile 17.American 65.Insect Study 111.Theater Heritage 66.Journalism 112.Traffic Safety 18.Animal Science 67.Landscape 113.Truck 19.Archery Architecture Transportation 20.Architecture 68.Law 114.Veterinary 21.Art 69.Leatherwork Science 22.Astronomy 70.Machinery 115.Water Skiing 23.Athletics 71.Mammal Study 116.Weather 24.Atomic Energy 72.Masonry 117.Wilderness 25.Aviation 73.Metals Survival 26.Backpacking Engineering 118.Wood Carving 27.Basketry 74.Metalwork 119.Woodwork 28.Beekeeping 75.Model Design and 120.Agribusiness 29.Bird Study Building 121.American Labor 30.Bookbinding 76.Motorboating 122.Graphic Arts 31.Botany # 77.Music 123.Rifle Shooting 32.Bugling 78.Nature 124.Shotgun 33.Canoeing 79.Oceanography Shooting 34.Chemistry 80.Orienteering 125.Whitewater 35.Coin 81.Painting 126.Cinematography Collecting 82.Pets 127.Auto Mechanic 36.Computers 83.Photography 128.Collections 37.Consumer 84.Pioneering 129.Family Life Buying 85.Plant Science 130.Medicine 38.Cooking 86.Plumbing 39.Cycling 87.Pottery # - indicates merit 40.Dentistry 88.Printing and badge was delisted 41.Dog Care Communications # on 08/31/87 42.Drafting 89.Public Health * - indicates merit 43.Electricity 90.Public Speaking badge was delisted 91.Pulp and Paper on 01/01/92 - 56 -