Best of www.BestZips.com (Collector's Edition)

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ Best of www.BestZips.com (Collector's Edition) / Best of WWW.BESTZIPS.COM Collector's Edition (JCSM Shareware) (JCS Marketing).ISO / prdctvty / home7.zip / ORGANIZE.EXE / OYC.DOC < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1996-04-16 | 158KB | 3,705 lines

ORGANIZE! YOUR HOME A Complete Database For Organizing Your Home PSG-HomeCraft P.O. Box 974 Tualatin, OR 97062 USA To order call: 1-503-692-3732 Compuserve: 71450,254 AOL: Steve-PSG EMail: 71450.254@compuserve.com Visit our forum on Compuserve: GO HOMECRAFT This manual and accompanying software copyright 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996 by H.C.P. Services, Inc. - All Rights Reserved Portions Copyright 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988 Microsoft Corporation TRY-BEFORE-YOU-BUY SOFTWARE This software is distributed as shareware. This means you can try this software to find out whether it provides what you need before you pay for it. There are no limits in this software nor is it crippled in any way. It is true "try before you buy" software. You may have obtained this software from a shareware disk vendor, a bulletin board or a friend. I hope you feel free to share copies of it with your friends and upload it to your favorite bulletin board(s). If you find you like this software and you've been using it for more than 60 days, you must register as a user by purchasing a registered copy. This software may not be used for more than 60 days without purchasing a registered copy. Registration Information The cost to purchase a registered copy of this software is $39.95 (plus $6.00 S&H - $10.00 outside North America). Please note that even though you may have purchased this disk from a retail store or via mail order, you have not purchased a registered copy. What you've paid for this disk was a fee that compensates the vendor for their costs, time and effort in making this disk available. We accept company checks, personal checks, VISA and Master Card. All amounts shown are in U.S. dollars. All checks in U.S. dollars must be drawn on a U.S. bank. Users outside the U.S.: We accept cheques in your local currency from users in Canada, Mexico, Australia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Sweden, Norway, France, Germany, Denmark, The Netherlands, Japan and Switzerland. We will add other countries as our bank allows. You may also purchase a copy from any of our distributors listed on the closing screen of the software and in the ORDER.FRM file. You can register as a user via Compuserve using the ID number listed on the first (cover) page. You can also register on Compuserve by going to GO SWREG. For additional information about registering, please see the order form (also included on the disk as the ORDER.FRM file) When you register you will receive: [] The current version of this software, which includes additional utilities not included in the shareware version. Plus, of course, you'll get the very latest version of this this software. [] A copy of the illustrated, printed and bound manual with quick reference card. [] One year of free technical support via telephone, fax, mail, or electronic mail. [] A free subscription to our newsletter which includes user tips, help with using your computer, information about upgrades and new cataloging systems. [] More than 20 additional cataloging formats including specialized inventory formats for: stamps, coins, music, books, video tapes, art, wine, video games, sports cards, telecards, comic books, and more! [] Plus you can get this software in either the DOS version or in a Windows version--at the same great price! Just $39.95 (plus s&h) for the DOS version and $59.95 (+s&h) for the Windows version! MULTIPLE COMPUTERS AND NETWORKS If you wish to use this software on a network or simultaneously on more than one computer (eg. on a computer at home and another computer at work or in the office of a charity), you will need a site license. Please see appendix C for information on site licenses. DISTRIBUTION OF THE SHAREWARE VERSION OF THIS SOFTWARE (Please see the VENDOR.DOC file for complete distribution information). Please feel free to give away copies of the shareware version of this software to friends, relatives, acquaintances or even strangers. OUR GUARANTEE If you have any problems with this program or the disk it is on, without regard to where you obtained it, you may send it to H.C.P. Services, Inc. (HomeCraft Software) for a free update to the current version. SPECIALTY DATABASE U S E R L I C E N S E A G R E E M E N T NOTICE! - This manual and the enclosed software is provided to you on the express condition that you agree to this software license. By using this software you agree to the following provisions. <1> This manual, the enclosed software and the disks on which it is contained are licensed to you, for your own use only. This is copyrighted software. You are not obtaining title to the software or any copyright rights. You may not sublicense, rent, lease, modify, translate, convert to another programming language, decompile, or disassemble the software for any purpose. <2> You may make as many copies of this software as you need for backup purposes and copies may be given away provided no fee is charged. Private individuals may use this software on more than one computer, provided there is no chance it will be used simultaneously on more than one computer. This software may not be used on more than one computer, nor installed on more than one hard disk, nor installed on a network when used by a business, corporation, government agency or department, or institution of any kind. If you need to install this software on more than one computer or on a network, please contact us for information about a site license. WARRANTY - HCP SERVICES INC. DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES RELATING TO THIS SOFTWARE, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND ALL SUCH WARRANTIES ARE EXPRESSLY AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMED. NEITHER HCP SERVICES, INC. NOR ANYONE ELSE WHO HAS BEEN INVOLVED IN THE CREATION, PRODUCTION, OR DELIVERY OF THIS SOFTWARE SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE SUCH SOFTWARE EVEN IF HCP SERVICES, INC. HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES OR CLAIMS. IN NO EVENT SHALL HCP SERVICES, INC.'s LIABILITY FOR ANY DAMAGES EVER EXCEED THE PRICE PAID FOR THE LICENSE TO USE THE SOFTWARE, REGARDLESS OF THE FORM OF CLAIM. THE PERSON USING THE SOFTWARE BEARS ALL RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE SOFTWARE. Some states do not allow the exclusion of the limit of liability for consequential or incidental damages, so the above limitation may not apply to you. This agreement shall be governed by the laws of the State of Oregon and shall inure to the benefit of HCP Services, Inc. and any successors, administrators, heirs and assigns. Any action or proceeding brought by either party against the other arising out of or related to this agreement shall be brought only in a STATE or FEDERAL COURT of competent jurisdiction located in Multnomah County, Oregon. The parties hereby consent to in personam jurisdiction of said courts." Information in this manual is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of H.C.P. Services, Inc. or HomeCraft Software. This manual and accompanying software is copyrighted and protected under both Federal Law and the Berne Convention (international law). This manual is copyright 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995 by H.C.P. Services, Inc. All Rights Reserved IBM is a trademark of International Business Machines Microsoft and MS-DOS are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation dBase III is a trademark of Borland Organize! and Organize! Your.... are trademarks of H.C.P. Services, Inc. Part number: 002-305A PSG-HomeCraft P.O. Box 974 Tualatin, OR 97062 (503) 692-3732 (Voice) (503) 692-0382 (FAX) TABLE OF CONTENTS SECTION ONE - INTRODUCTION 1 Using This Manual 2 Technical Support 3 SECTION TWO - INSTALLATION 6 SECTION THREE - QUICK START 9 Starting The Software 9 Using The Menus 11 Make A New Entry 12 Editing 13 Searching And Printed Reports 14 Printed Reports 15 Utilities 16 SECTION FOUR - REFERENCE SECTION (USING ORGANIZE!) 20 The Main Screen 20 Memos 22 The Menus 23 Make Entries Menu 23 Edit Menu 25 Search Menu 27 List All Entries 27 Sequential Searches 28 Alphabetical Searches 29 Global Searches 31 Utilities Menu 33 Copy Entries 33 Import dBase File 36 Reindex 37 Sorting 38 Set Up New Format 41 Set Up Macro 45 Set Security Code 45 Delete Catalog 47 Select Catalog 47 Report Menu 48 Send (Report) To 48 Page Length 50 Set Up Report Format 51 Printing Reports 54 Exit Menu 55 Backing Up Your Catalog 55 Help Menu 56 Return (Menu Selection) 56 Calculator 56 Graphic Images 57 SECTION FIVE - Home Inventory 59 APPENDIX A - PROBLEM SOLVING 63 ______________________ORGANIZE Your Home - INTRODUCTION - 1 SECTION ONE - INTRODUCTION HomeCraft's ORGANIZE Your Home is an easy-to-use data- base/cataloging program designed specifically for organizing collections. This software was developed as a part of HomeCraft's collector's series of software. Since 1986 HomeCraft has been recognized internationally as a leading publisher of software for cataloging things such as records and CDs, business cards and books. Here's what the press has said about our software: "Helping the insatiable collector stay organized." - Business Week "The best are available from HomeCraft." - Jerry Osborn writing in his nationally syndicated newspaper column. "first class support is what separates HomeCraft's software from the rest of the pack." - review in Goldmine magazine in which our software was rated the best available for cataloging a record/CD collection. USING EXISTING DATA FILES If you have your collection cataloged using a database program such as dBase, this software will directly import your files if they are in a dBase III format. If you've been using any of HomeCraft's previous cataloging programs, the registered version of this software includes a conversion utility that will convert your existing files for use with this software. A standard we maintain at HomeCraft, above all else, is that we will never make a change in our software that results in your having to retype all of your entries. If we do need to change the data format, all registered users of the new version will be supplied with a free conversion utility. USING THIS MANUAL In this shareware version we are not able to fit the entire manual on the disk (and besides, many people have complained about printing out a manual that has over 90 pages). Thus ______________________ORGANIZE Your Home - INTRODUCTION - 2 this is a somewhat shortened version of the user's manual. It includes everything you need to know to use the software, but it does not include the illustrations and some of the more detailed information. No computer experience is required to use this software, however you will need to know which letter designates each disk drive on your computer. For example, a hard disk is usually drive C and floppy disks are drives A and B. Check your computer's manual for the letters used to designate the drives on your computer. NOTE: Please check the README.TXT file for information about changes to the software since the manual was printed. To get a printed copy of the README.TXT file do the following: 1) Get the DOS prompt for the disk containing the README.TXT file. 2) Type COPY README.TXT LPT1: and push enter. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: this software will only run on computers that are fully IBM compatible and have at least 380K of memory available. A color monitor is required for some of the features. A hard disk is recommended, but this software will run on floppy disks provided there is a minimum of 720K of disk space available. If you have a hard disk, please put this software on your hard disk and store your database files on the hard disk. TECHNICAL SUPPORT: If you have problems using this software, please read this manual first. Appendix A provides a trouble shooting guide that may be helpful in solving problems. If you are unable to solve the problem by reading the manual, feel free to give us a call. We do provide limited basic technical support for unregistered users (full support is available for registered users only). The number is (503) 692-3732. Technical support is available from 9am till 5pm pacific time monday through friday. You may also contact us by writing to us at: HomeCraft P.O. Box 974 Tualatin, OR 97062 ______________________ORGANIZE Your Home - INTRODUCTION - 3 MAKE BACK UP COPIES The most important suggestion I can pass on to you is to make back up copies of your data files (the ones that end with DAT). If you have a hard disk I recommend using software such as FastBack or PC Tools. You also could use the DOS back up utilities, but personally I don't use them. I've heard of too many problems with the DOS backup utilities. Problems such as only being able to restore lost files onto a similar computer using the same version of DOS. (That may not always be possible). For something as critical as making backup copies I prefer software that will backup and restore from and to any hard disk using any version of DOS on any computer. This version does include a backup utility. This utility will backup files that are approximately up to 1.3 megabytes big using a 360K floppy disk (larger files can be backed up using higher capacity floppy disks). This utility is provided in order to insure you have something you can use to backup up your data. However, this utility is not intended as a permanent solution. First, it is limited in that once your catalog exceeds the size that can be backed-up on a single floppy this utility will no longer be able to back it up. Second, it provides no tracking of the files that have been backed up. Unless you carefully label your backup disks you can lose track of what files are on which disks. --------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: Pages 4 and 5 are blank, and to save paper they are not included here. ______________________ORGANIZE Your Home - INSTALLATION - 6 SECTION TWO - INSTALLATION Installation of this software is straight forward. First make a backup copy of this disk. You'll need to check the manuals that came with your computer to see how to make copies of a disk. Generally you can use the DOS DISKCOPY utility to copy a floppy disk. The commands you need to type to use DISKCOPY vary depending on the version of DOS you have and the floppy disk configuration in your computer. If you should damage or lose your only copy of this software, you can get another shareware disk from HomeCraft by sending us a blank floppy disk plus 50 cents for the return postage. (Outside the U.S. please include $2.00 US, or the equivalent in your currency, for air mail postage). There are three disk configurations for which this software can be installed. Hard Disk Installation To install on a hard disk: + Put the backup copy of the floppy disk in a floppy drive. + Get the DOS prompt on the screen and change it so that it is set for the disk drive that contains the this software floppy disk. For example, if the floppy disk is in the "A" drive and your computer has a "C>" prompt on the screen, type A: and push ENTER. You can change the DOS prompt so it is set for a different drive by typing the letter representing the drive you want to use, a colon, and then pushing ENTER. + Type INSTALL and follow the instructions that appear on the screen. NOTE: The installation process will supply a default directory name. However, if you are using several different versions of this software to catalog different types of collections, be sure to install each version in a different directory. You might possibly want to name the directories so they reflect the type of collection being cataloged. ______________________ORGANIZE Your Home - INSTALLATION - 7 Single Drive Floppy Disk Installation If your computer only has a single floppy drive you will have to install the software manually. The easiest way might be to install the software on someone else's hard drive and then copy all of the files from the hard drive to your floppy disk. Please note that this software can not be used on a with single 360K floppy drive and no hard disk. If you have a single floppy drive it must have a capacity of at least a 720K. NOTE: This software may only be used on two computers if there is no chance that it can be used simultaneously on both computers. Please see the user license at the front of this manual. Once installed most of the files on the disk are data (DAT) or set (SET) files. These are the formats for the various organizing systems. The name of each file indicates what it is used for and corresponds to the catalog names given in section 5 of this manual. You can erase any DAT and SET files that are used for areas you are not interested in organizing. To install the software manually: Copy the BRUN30.EXE file to the disk drive and directory where you want this software installed. Then, with the DOS prompt set for the disk drive and directory where you want this software installed, and the floppy disk in the "A" drive, type: A:ORGANIZE and push ENTER. The software will then be installed. Dual Floppy Drive Installation If your computer has two floppy drives you can install this software just as if one of the floppy drives is a hard disk. First put the backup copy of the enclosed disk in the "A" drive. Put a blank formatted disk in the "B" drive. At the "A>" prompt type INSTALL and follow the directions that appear on the screen. In this case the drive you want to install the software on is the "B" drive so the required files will be copied to the blank disk. When the installation asks for the name of a directory, a default name of \OYH will be shown. Type a backslash "\" and then push the DEL key until only the backslash remains. This will install the software in the root directory on the floppy disk. ______________________ORGANIZE Your Home - INSTALLATION - 8 CONFIG.SYS File Your computer uses a CONFIG.SYS file to tell it how to configure itself when it is first turned on. The CONFIG.SYS file is an ASCII text file that contains a series of instructions used by your computer. For this software to run these instructions must tell your computer to set itself up so up to 20 files may be opened at the same time. This is done by including a FILES=20 (or any number greater than 20) statement in the CONFIG.SYS file. If you are running a Graphical User Interface such as Windows, your computer may need to be set to open as many as 50 or 60 files. The CONFIG.SYS file needs to be in the root directory on your hard disk. If you use a floppy disk to boot your computer, the CONFIG.SYS file must be on the floppy disk used to boot your computer. The CONFIG.SYS file is not part of the this software. You can look at the contents of a CONFIG.SYS file by going to the root directory on your hard disk and typing: TYPE CONFIG.SYS at the DOS prompt. Then push ENTER. You can change a CONFIG.SYS file by using your word processing software, editing it as you would any other document and then saving it as a DOS text file (ASCII file). If you do not have a CONFIG.SYS file, or if it does not include a FILES=20 line, you can create one during the installation process. When you run the INSTALL utility you will be given a chance to install a CONFIG.SYS file with a FILES=20 line. This will not change any of the other lines in your CONFIG.SYS file. _______________________ORGANIZE Your Home - QUICK START - 9 SECTION THREE - QUICK START STARTING THE SOFTWARE As you read through this section I recommend you have the software installed and running on your computer. When you first start OYH it will be set to use the default home inventory format. As I describe examples, I suggest you duplicate the steps I'm describing using your computer. This section will take you through all the main functions in the software. The Quick Start section does not describe all of the functions available, just those you need in order to use the basic capabilities of the software. For explanations of all of the functions and features in this software you will need to read the reference section of this manual. To start this software type OYH at the DOS prompt and push ENTER. If you are using this software on a hard disk, you will need to be in the directory or subdirectory in which the software was installed before you type OYH. If when your computer first starts it displays the DOS prompt, type CD \ and the name of the directory in which this software was installed. If you used the default directory name of OYH supplied by the installation software, you would type: CD \OYH The letters "CD" stand for Change Directory. Typing CD \OYH will put you in the OYH directory. Once in the OYH directory you can type OYH to start the software. COMMAND LINE - When starting the software you may enter the name of the catalog you want to use as a part of the command that starts the software. In normal circumstances the software will boot up and use the same catalog that was in use when you last exited the software. If you'd like to use a different catalog type OYH, then a space, then the name of the catalog you want to use. For example, if you want to use INVEN, you would type OYH INVEN at the DOS prompt. ______________________ORGANIZE Your Home - QUICK START - 10 THE MAIN SCREEN After typing OYH (and pushing ENTER) the software will start running and display the complete cataloging format for your collection. Throughout this manual I will refer to this initial screen as the "Main Screen." The key parts of the Main Screen are the top and bottom two lines. They provide status information and menu selections. The majority of the screen is used to display the information lines (fields) in use. When the software first starts the Main Screen is displayed. You can return to the Main Screen from any other function such as editing, searching or making new entries, by pushing F7. The F7 key is used to clear the screen and reset everything back to the default settings. With the Main Screen displayed you can immediately start typing and saving new entries. But, before getting started let's go over how to use the drop-down menus. OYH provides drop-down menus that show you, at a glance, all of your options. The names of the menus are displayed across the top of the screen. They are: Make entries, Edit, Search, Utilities, Reports, eXit and Help. Using The Menus To select a menu hold down the ALT key and push the capitalized letter included as a part of the name of the menu you want to display. To start let's look at the Make entries menu. Hold down the ALT key and push the letter M. You'll see the screen shown in figure three. Once any of the drop-down menus is displayed you can move from one menu to another by using the left and right cursor keys. Take a look at the other menus by pushing the right cursor key until the Make entries menu is displayed again. A scroll bar within each drop-down menu is used to select the function you want to use. The scroll bar is moved using the up and down cursor keys. When the scroll bar is at the top of the menu it can be directly moved to the bottom selection by pushing the up cursor key once. It can also be move from the bottom selection directly to the top by pushing the down cursor key. Some of the functions can be used directly without going through a menu. These have an "F key" designation next to them when the menu is displayed. Looking at the Make entries menu you'll see "<F5>" next to the word "Save". This means you can push F5 to save an entry without using the drop-down menu. ______________________ORGANIZE Your Home - QUICK START - 11 To select an item on a menu first highlight it with the scroll bar and then push the ENTER key. For example, to exit from the program push the right cursor key until the "eXit" drop-down menu appears, then highlight "Exit Program" and push ENTER. (If you just exited from the software type OYH and push ENTER to get started again). By the way, you should never turn your computer off while a program (any program, except for a shell or menu program) is running. Always exit from the software before turning your computer off. If you do not want to make a selection from a menu you can return to the main screen from the drop-down menus by pushing the ESC key. You can also select "Return" on the menu bar at the top of the screen. If a drop-down menu is displayed push ESC to return to the main screen. USING A MOUSE A mouse may be used to operate most of the functions in OYH. A rectangular mouse cursor will appear on the screen whenever the mouse is active. If you know the mouse is active, but you do not see the mouse cursor try moving the mouse slightly. The left button on the mouse serves as the "ENTER" key. To make a selection place the mouse cursor on the item you want to select and push the left mouse button. When making a selection from a menu you will need to "double" click the mouse. Double clicking means to push the left mouse button twice in rapid succession. Pushing the left mouse button once will move the highlight bar to the menu selection marked by the mouse cursor. Pushing it a second time selects that option. The right mouse button serves as an ESC key. In many cases when the software asks you to push the ESC key, you can also push the right mouse button. Please note that a series of prompts across the bottom of the Main Screen provides direct mouse access to the short cut keys. The numbers in these prompts refer to the "F" key numbers. The mouse can be used at nearly every prompt in OYH. With prompts that request a (Y/N) response, place the mouse cursor on either the "Y" or "N" and push the left mouse key once. Anytime a prompt asks you to push a letter to make a selection you can place the mouse cursor on that letter (in the prompt) and push the left mouse key. ______________________ORGANIZE Your Home - QUICK START - 12 MAKING NEW ENTRIES When you pushed ESC the drop-down menus should have disappeared and the cursor will be in the left hand space on the top line. The names of the lines are listed along the left side of the screen. To the right of each name is a shaded area that shows the space available for entering information related to the line name. The cursor can be moved around in the shaded area using the four cursor keys. Whenever the cursor is at the beginning or end of a line, and can go no further, your computer will beep. To enter the information you want to catalog, just type it on the appropriate line. NOTE: The inventory format as it appears on your screen may not be the format you want to use. You can eliminate unused lines, add other additional lines, and change the titles of most lines. We'll be discussing how to do that shortly. Then enter the rest of the information about this item, just fill in the rest of the lines (it's fill in the blanks). You may change anything you've typed by using the cursor keys to put the cursor at the spot where a correction is needed and just typing the new information. When the entry is complete and correct push ALT-M. The "Save" option will already be highlighted so all you need to do next is push ENTER and the entry will be saved. Pushing ENTER to select "Save" from the drop-down menu will clear the screen and leave it ready for the next entry to be typed. Notice that the entry number is displayed in the upper right hand corner. It should now say "Entry 2" as the next entry you type will be number 2. Now type in your second entry. To save this entry push F5. The F5 key is short cut key that saves entries. Push ALT-M and notice that the word "Save" has "<F5>" next to it. This means pushing F5 performs the same function as selecting "Save" on the drop-down menu. You can also use the mouse to save entries by clicking on the "5 Save" prompt at the bottom of the screen. Push ESC to clear the drop-down menu from the screen. EDITING Now let's see if the information you just typed is really stored in the database. The Editor lets you look at any entry and browse forward and backward through all of your ______________________ORGANIZE Your Home - QUICK START - 13 entries. To use the editor push ALT-E. The "Select Number" option will be highlighted as shown in figure five. Push the ENTER key and a window will appear asking you to type an entry number. Push number 1 and then push ENTER. The first entry will be displayed. You can now do any of several things. You can modify this entry by moving the cursor to the word(s) to be modified and typing the changes. When the changes are complete push ALT-E and move the scroll bar to "Save Changes." Then push the ENTER key to save the changes you just made. Also notice that you can push F5 to save the changes without using the drop-down menu. The editor also offers a browse capability. If the drop-down menu is on the screen, push ESC to return to the editing screen. To browse use the F1 and F2 keys to move backward and forward through your inventory. Push F2 now. Then push F1 to go back to the previous entry. That's about all you can do with just two entries. Once you have more entries this becomes an easy way to page through all of them. The drop-down menus always show all of the available options. Push ALT-E. Notice that Page Backward and Page Forward are identified as being operated by the F1 and F2 keys. You can browse by selecting Page Forward or Page Backward from this drop- down menu or by pushing F1 or F2. You can also use the mouse to browse forward and backward by clicking on either the "1 Back" or "2 Fwd" prompts at the bottom of the screen. When an entry is no longer needed it can be deleted using the Edit menu. Push the right cursor key and we'll look at the search capabilities of Organize Your Home (OYH). SEARCHING AND PRINTED REPORTS Two types of "searches" are provided by OYH. The first is a listing. There are two types of listings. They are: List Entries: allows you to enter a starting and ending entry number and have all of the entries between (and including) the two numbers listed in sequence. List Alphabetically: allows you to list entries in alphabetical or numerical order. To use this function you need to be using the indexes. ______________________ORGANIZE Your Home - QUICK START - 14 The second box down from the top on the Search menu lists the various types of searches you can do. Let's take a look at how these work. Push ESC to clear the drop-down menu from the screen then push F7 to clear the screen. (F7 is identified on the Make entries menu as the key that erases the screen). You can also use the mouse by clicking on the "7 Clr" prompt. Sequential Searches To search for something first enter the information you want to find on the appropriate line. For example, let's search for a a specifics type of item. Put the cursor on the TYPE line. Let's say you wanted to find all of your computer equipment. To start this search first type "Computer" on the TYPE line. Push ALT-S to drop-down the Search menu. Move the scroll bar to the "Sequential Search" selection and push the ENTER key. The first, and in this case the only, matching entry will be displayed. If you want to search for "Computer" again push ALT-S and move the scroll bar to "Search Again" and push ENTER. If you do this, you will see a "NO OTHER MATCHES FOUND" message at the bottom of the screenm, unless some of theother entries are identified as computer equipment. Sequential searches will find the specified search criteria without regard to where it is located on the line. The word (or phrase) you are searching for can even be within another word. There are short cut keys you can use for starting a sequential search. Push ALT-S to display the Search menu. Notice that sequential searches can be started by pushing F8. Also notice that you can find additional matches (Search Again) by pushing F2. When a match is found during a search it is displayed on the screen and the software automatically goes into the edit mode. You can make any changes or additions you want and then push F5 to save them. Other types of searches are shown on the Search menu (figure six). The "Alphabetical Search" will list entries alphabetically based on the search criteria and using indexes created by the software. The "Find Deleted" search will list all of the entries that have been deleted and the "Global Search" finds a word or phrase regardless of what field it is in. ______________________ORGANIZE Your Home - QUICK START - 15 Printed Reports NOTE: For more detailed information on how to print reports see the section on the Report Menu in Section Four of this manual. The search you just conducted displayed matching entries on the screen. You can also print reports or save them in disk files. If the Search menu is still on the screen push the right cursor key twice to display the Reports menu. The first selection on this menu is called "Send To" and it is currently set for MONITOR. To send the report to the printer or a disk file push the ENTER key. This will open a window in the middle of the screen as shown in figure seven. Within this window the "X" next to MONITOR tells you the results of a search or listing will be displayed on the screen. Push the TAB key to move the X through the available settings. When the option you want is marked by the "X" push ENTER. The other options are: PRINTER-Continuous Paper: will print the report on continuous feed paper such as used by dot matrix or laser printers. PRINTER-Single Sheet Feed: prints the report on printers that handle only one sheet of paper at a time ASCII File: saves the report as a text document in a disk file. You can specify the name of the file. dBase File: saves the report in a file on the disk using dBase III format. This report can be used for transferring information between various programs. Most other database software and spreadsheets can read dBase III files. QUICK VIEW: displays a list on the screen. LABELS: for use in printing labels. The other printed reports include form feeds that advance the paper to the next page. If the LABELS option is selected the form feeds are not included. OPTIONS: this sets the software so that it will ask you where you want a report or listing sent (any of the above options can be selected) each time you start a report or listing. Push the TAB key until the software is set for PRINTER-Continuous Paper. Then push the ENTER key to return to the Reports menu. Let's try the same search as before. Put "Computer" on the TYPE line and push F8. A prompt, asking for a title, will appear at the bottom of the screen. You can type a single line title that will be printed on the top of the first page of your ______________________ORGANIZE Your Home - QUICK START - 16 report. If you just push ENTER, without typing a title, the software will automatically print the search criteria on the top of the first page of the report. You can eliminate the title by pushing the space bar once and then pushing ENTER. For this example just push ENTER. The matching entries will be displayed on the screen as they are sent to the printer. When no other matches are found the "NO OTHER MATCHES FOUND" message will appear at the bottom of the screen. When you push any key you will be returned to the main screen. UTILITIES The Utilities menu provides a variety of functions that range from selecting the catalog you want to use to deleting catalog files. I'll discuss the two most important functions here. Catalogs You can create as many catalogs (database files) as you wish, giving each it's own name. Each catalog can have a different format. To change to a different catalog push ALT-U to display the Utilities menu. The last selection on this menu is "Select Catalog Name." Push the up cursor key to immediately move the scroll bar to this selection. Then push ENTER. A window will display the names of the catalogs in the current directory. You can use the cursor keys to highlight any one of them and then push ENTER to select that catalog. You can also create a new catalog (database) by pushing ESC and typing the name you wish to use for the new catalog. Please note that catalog names can not contain numbers and they must be eight characters or less in length. If you enter a new catalog name you will need to set up a format for that new catalog. How to set up a catalog format is discussed next. The names of the existing catalogs will be displayed on the screen you are now looking at. Highlight a catalog name and push ENTER. You are now ready to start entering information or to modify this format to meet your needs. Modifying An Existing Catalog Format To modify a catalog format push ALT-U to display the Utilities menu. Move the scroll bar to the "Set Up New Cat. Format" option and push ENTER. This will display a screen similar to the one shown in figure eight. This set-up screen replicates the way the ______________________ORGANIZE Your Home - QUICK START - 17 information entry area looks on the main screen. There are five things you can set on this screen: 1. The line (field) title. 2. Change the lengths of lines (fields). 3. Select the lines to be indexed (alphabetized). 4. Select the lines to be totaled. 5. Set lines to do calculations. On the Set Up Catalog Format screen the F2 key is used to select what you wish to set/modify. When working with a new catalog, in which no entries have been saved, the brackets next to the F2 prompt at the bottom of the screen will contain the word TITLES. This means you can type new titles or modify existing titles. Setting Line Titles OYH comes with eleven preset cataloging formats. These formats can be modified using the Set Up Catalog Format feature on the Utilities Menu. Using the cursor keys a scroll bar can be moved up and down through the list of line titles. Place the scroll bar on the line you wish to change and type the new title. Then push ENTER to move the scroll bar down to the next line. If you wish to have a blank title, push the space bar and then push ENTER. Line titles may be up to 14 characters long and can contain letters, numbers, spaces and any other keyboard characters. You do not have to put a title on every line. The next step is to select which lines you want to use and set their lengths. Push F2 once and the word "LENGTH" appears in the brackets next to the F2 prompt. Position the scroll bar on the line whose length is to be set and enter a number from 2 to 64. A highlight bar showing the length of the line will appear and a number showing length will be displayed. If a title is entered for a line that is turned off (set to zero length), that line will not appear on the main screen. Notice at the bottom of the screen that there is a bar containing the abbreviation "EST". The number shown here provides an estimate of the number of entries you'll be able to store in a megabyte of space. As lines are set up, there lengths adjusted, and lines to be indexed are added or deleted, this number will change. ______________________ORGANIZE Your Home - QUICK START - 18 Selecting Lines To Index Once you have set the line lengths push F2 again. You'll now be able to select the lines you want to have indexed. An index for a computer is the same thing as it is for a book. If you need to quickly find something in a book, you look in the index. It's the same for a computer. An index is an alpha- betical listing that allows the computer to find entries quickly. To select a line to be indexed put the scroll bar on that line and push ENTER. Please remember this will only work if the word "INDEXING" appears in the brackets next to the F2 prompt. Calculations To set a line to do calculations, push F2 until it says CALCULATE in the brackets and then push ENTER. Each line will now be identified with a letter. Move the highlight bar to the line where you want the results of a calculation to appear; then type in the formula to be used. Formulas may include only two lines and one arithmatic operation. The symbols + - / and * (for multiplation) are used. For example, if you have 15 wine glasses, each valued at five dollars, you can set up a line that is used to keep track of the quanity. Another line is used for the value. The software can then calculate the total value of your wine glasses. If you break one, just change the number on the quanity line and the total value is automatically recalculated. To multiple the value on a quanity line (let's say that it is line "G") times the amount on a value line (let's say the value line is line "E") and display the result on the TOTAL VALUE line you would put the highlight bar on the TOTAL VALUE line, type G*E, and then push ENTER. ______________________ORGANIZE Your Home - QUICK START - 19 Getting Total Values Push F2 one more time and the word in the brackets will change to "VALUE". You can now select lines you want to have totaled at the end of a report. Select the lines to be totaled in the same way you selected lines to be indexed. In this case three horizontal bars will appear to the right of the line to indicate that any values entered on the line will be totaled. This capability is used, for example, to get the total value of all items listed for insurance purposes. Push F2 again to return to the TITLE setting. Once you have set-up the format to be as you need it, push F5 to save it. You will be returned to the main screen. DISPLAYING TOTAL VALUES The total value of all items listed in a printed report will be shown at the end of all printed reports. However, you can get the total value of everything in a catalog without printing a report. When you are at the Main Screen hold down the CTRL key and push the ENTER key. The values will be totalled and displayed along the right side of the screen. This completes the quick start section. In this section I have provided the basic information needed to use the software. There is a lot more you can do with this software and there are many additional features that make using the software easier and faster. This Quick Start section is only provided as a brief summary of the major features so you can quickly start using the software. At this point I'd suggest trying out the software. Type in a few test entries. Try a few searches and maybe try running a printed report. Then read the next section which provides a detailed description of each feature - including such things as designing your own reports, multiple level alphabetical listings, and creating your own catalog formats. ________________ORGANIZE Your Home - REFERENCE SECTION - 20 SECTION FOUR - REFERENCE SECTION This section of the manual provides detailed descriptions of each function on the drop-down menus. We'll start with the Make entries menu and work from left to right through the menus and cover each item on each menu. But first let's go over the information and options presented on the main screen. THE MAIN SCREEN Most of the time you'll be using functions that are accessed from the main screen. This screen includes a listing of menus across the top of the screen. The top line also includes the current entry number in the upper right corner of the screen. When typing a new entry the number displayed in the upper right is the entry number that will be assigned to the new entry. When editing or displaying the results of a search, the number displayed is the entry number associated with the information currently on the screen. Some people have tried using the entry number as a catalog number. I understand we all have different requirements and need to use the software in different ways, but I do not recommend using the entry number as a catalog number. My reason is that the entry number associated with a specific item can change if you delete an item from your database. The entry number is only intended to help you see how many total items you have in the database and to help you navigate around your catalog. The second space from the top of the screen includes a horizontal double line. This is a status line. The current catalog name in use will be displayed in the middle of this line. The function currently being used (i.e. make entries, editing, searching, etc.) is identified on the right side of this line. The left side of this line also includes status information. For example, if you push the INS key to put the software into the character insert mode, the letters "INS" will be displayed at the left edge of this line. As long as INS is shown there, the software is in the character insert mode. The space at the bottom of the screen also contains a horizontal double line. This bottom line is a prompt/status line. At some times prompts for F-Key functions are shown. You can use the mouse to click on any of these prompts to quickly use the features they represent. The bottom line also displays status, such as telling you when a search is complete. ________________ORGANIZE Your Home - REFERENCE SECTION - 21 The second line from the bottom is a double line. The center of this line contains a word that shows where reports would be "sent to" should you start a search or listing. Clearing The Screen There is one key that is very handy, the F7 key. Pushing F7 will clear the screen of all catalog information and return you to the Main Screen. If you are in the search or edit mode, and want to go to the make entries mode, push F7. If you need to erase a screen full of information, push F7. If you are using a mouse, you can click on the "7 Clr" prompt at the bottom of the screen to accomplish the same thing as pushing F7. Typing Information Into A Catalog Whether you are making a new entry or entering search criteria typing information on the main screen is done in the same way. The cursor can be moved around using the up/down and right/left cursor keys. When using the up/down cursor keys the cursor will move directly up and down - it will not return to the beginning of a line when moved to a new line. You can move the cursor to a new line and return it to the beginning of that line by pushing the ENTER key. Each time you push the ENTER key the cursor will move down by one line. When the cursor is on the bottom line, pushing ENTER will move it to the top line. To quickly move the cursor to the right you can use the TAB key. Each time the TAB key is pushed the cursor will move five spaces to the right. Pushing the END key will move the cursor to the end of the line. The HOME key moves it to the beginning of the line. Holding the CTRL key and pushing either the left or right cursor key will move the cursor to the left or right by one word. Whenever the cursor reaches the beginning or end of a line your computer will beep to indicate it can go no further. If you do not want to hear this "beep", you can turn it off by push- ing CTRL-A. This will display the Screen Set-Up options. Push the F1 key to toggle the beep off. Then push ESC to return to the Main Screen. You can type information at any time. The character you type will be placed at the cursor location and the cursor will move one space to the right. The software will accept accented characters, characters used in some European languages as well as all English language characters. It will not accept most graphics characters. ________________ORGANIZE Your Home - REFERENCE SECTION - 22 Insert & Delete If you need to insert characters, place the cursor at the point where the characters are to be inserted. Push the INS key. The letters INS will appear on the upper left of the screen (second line). You can now type the characters or words you want to insert. As you type, any information to the right of the cursor will move to the right. If the existing information reaches the right edge of the line, it will disappear and be lost - one character will disappear for each character you insert. To get out of the insert mode either push the INS key again. Characters can be deleted by pushing the DEL key. When the DEL key is pushed the character at the cursor location will be erased and everything to the right of the cursor will move left by one space. The Backspace key will also delete characters. When the Backspace is pushed the character to the left of the cursor will be erased. Memos Each entry may include a memo. To display the memo screen push the PgDn key. A word processor-like memo screen with 20 lines will appear. You can type anything you want on the memo screen. However, information typed on the memo screen can not be included in searches nor is it included on the printed reports. This screen is just for keeping notes and miscellaneous information. When using the memo screen all normal word processing features will work. The INS and DEL keys work as they do in a word processor. The memo screen also includes word wrapping eliminating the need to push the ENTER key at the end of each line. When you have finished typing the memo push ESC to return to the main screen. The memo you just typed will be permanently attached to the entry you are making or editing. NOTE: A graphic image can be included as a part of each entry Graphic images are discussed at the end of this section. General Guidelines For New Entries When making entries be consistent. Anytime you use an abbreviation be sure it is typed the same way every time. Be consistent in how you capitalize words. For example, don't capitalize all of the words on a line one time and then use upper ________________ORGANIZE Your Home - REFERENCE SECTION - 23 and lower case on that same line with a later entry. If you use commas to separate items in a list, always use commas to separate items in a list. When entering numbers first determine what the largest number will be and then always use the same number of digits to the left of the decimal point for all numbers. For example, if you expect to have numbers as high as 10000 then number one should be entered as 00001. Entering numbers this way is necessary if you want the computer to sort them into numerical order. You can include decimals (eg. 001.52), but you do not need to include ".00" if there is nothing to the right of the decimal point. THE MENUS OYH uses drop-down menus. All of the capabilities of OYH are accessed through these menus. Some of the frequently used functions can be used directly by pushing the appropriate "F" key. The names of the menus are listed across the top of the screen as shown in figure nine. The name of each menu contains one capitalized word. To select a menu hold down the ALT key and press the capitalized letter in the menu's name. For example, to select the "Make entries" menu push the ALT key and the letter M. You can pull down a menu using a mouse by putting the mouse cursor on the menu's name at the top of the screen and clicking the left mouse button. Once any menu is displayed (dropped down) you can move from one menu to the next using the left/right cursor keys. When a menu is displayed the top selection on the menu will be highlighted by a scroll bar. The scroll bar can be moved up and down through the menu selections using the up/down cursor keys. To select an item on a menu first highlight it with the scroll bar and then push the ENTER key. If you are using a mouse, put the mouse cursor on the menu selection you wish to use and click the left mouse button twice (double click). Make entries Menu - Save <F5> The "Save" function is used after you have typed a new entry. Once you have typed all the information you want to enter select the "Save" option to save it in your catalog. You can also push F5 to directly save the entry without going through the menus. Or you can use the mouse to click on the "5 Save" prompt at the bottom of the screen. ________________ORGANIZE Your Home - REFERENCE SECTION - 24 Make entries Menu - Copy Any Previous The "Copy Any Previous" function allows you to copy any previous entry you've made. When you select this option you will be prompted for an entry number to copy. Make entries Menu - Copy Last <F3> The "Copy Last" feature allows you to quickly copy the last entry you made. This copy method does not prompt for an entry number to copy and thus it is faster than the "Copy Any Previous" feature. The quickest way to copy the previous entry is to push F3 or use the mouse to click on the "3 Copy" prompt at the bottom of the screen. The "Copy Last" feature is used when you have a series of similar entries to type. You can type the first one, push F5 to save it, then push F3 to repeat the information you just entered. You then only need to change a few lines or characters and save the modified entry as a new entry. Copy A Single Line You can also copy individual lines from the previous entry. To copy a single line put the cursor on the line you wish to fill with information copied from the same line in the previous entry. Then hold down the ALT key and push F3. Make entries Menu - Erase Screen <F7> The "Erase Screen" feature is used to completely clear all of the information from all lines. Selecting this option from the menu, or pushing F7, will immediately clear all of the lines. You can also use the mouse to clear the screen by clicking on the "7 Clr" prompt at the bottom of the screen. If you need to clear just one line or part of one line you can use the macro feature discussed later in this section. For example, pushing ALT-B will erase everything to the right of the cursor. Make entries - Make Entries The "Make Entries" selection provides a way for you to leave any of the other functions and go to the basic make new entries ________________ORGANIZE Your Home - REFERENCE SECTION - 25 screen. For example, if you are in the search mode and would like to make a new entry, select this option on the Make entries menu. THE EDIT MENU The edit function provides a way for you to display any entry on the screen and browse backward and forward through your catalog. Once an entry is displayed on the screen it can be modified or deleted. Edit Menu - Select Number The "Select Number" option is how you tell the software which entry number you want displayed on the screen. You may enter any valid entry number. Once an entry is displayed on the screen you may make changes using the same methods used to originally type the entry. The TAB, INS and DEL keys all will work as they do in word processing software. Once you've made changes push F5 to save the changes. If you want to edit a different entry you do not need to pull down the Edit Menu again. Just push F9 to open the window in which a new entry number to edit may be entered. Edit Menu - Page Backward <F1> When the "Page Backward" function is selected the software will display the entry that comes directly before the entry that is currently displayed. You can also press F1, without using the drop-down menu, to move backward by one entry. Edit Menu - Page Forward <F2> The "Page Forward" function displays the next entry in sequence. You can also press F2 to see the next entry without using the drop-down menus. There are prompts at the bottom of the screen - "1 Back" and "2 Fwd" - that you can click on with a mouse to move backward and forward through your catalog. The "Page Backward" and "Page Forward" functions provide an easy way for you to browse through all of your entries. Computers are nice, they can quickly search for and find any entry you need. However, sometimes it's nice to just look through your catalog to see what's there. You may discover items you forgot you ________________ORGANIZE Your Home - REFERENCE SECTION - 26 had. The Page Forward/Backward features give you a way to do some browsing. Edit Menu - Delete Entry <F4> If you need to eliminate an item from your catalog use the "Select Number" option to enter the entry number to be deleted. Once it is displayed on the screen push ALT-E and select the "Delete Entry" option. When an item is deleted it is not permanently removed from your catalog. The deleted entry will no longer be included in searches, but you can display it using the edit feature. All the information still exists and can be brought back. When a deleted entry is displayed on the screen the words "Deleted Entry" will be displayed on the second line from the top of the screen. Edit Menu - Undelete Entry Deleted entries can be returned to the catalog by first displaying the entry on the screen and then selecting the "Undelete Entry" option on the Edit Menu. Or you can just push F5 to undelete the entry by saving it. Edit Menu - Remove Memo Whenever you go to the memo screen (by pushing PgDn) a memo will be attached to the current entry. Even if nothing is typed in the memo, there will still be a memo attached to the current entry. That memo can be removed by going to the Edit Menu and selecting the Remove Memo option. If the current entry has a memo attached to it, that memo will be removed. Edit Menu - Save Changes <F5> The final selection on the Edit menu will save any changes you've made to an entry. You may make changes to an entry anytime it is displayed on the screen. First type the changes then select "Save Changes" on the Edit menu. You can also push F5 without using the drop-down menus. ________________ORGANIZE Your Home - REFERENCE SECTION - 27 THE SEARCH MENU Figure 11 shows the Search menu. This menu is used to start all of the listings and searches. The top box on the Search menu includes the two types of listings available. The second box down includes all of the searches. The third box includes controls for searches. Whenever a search has displayed an entry on the screen you may edit and resave the modified entry. Just type the changes and push F5 to save them. During a search or listing you can look at each entry on the screen and browse forward and backward using the F1 and F2 keys. Pushing F2 will display the next matching entry. Pushing F1 moves you backward to look at the previous entry. NOTE: for information on how to print a report go to the Reports Menu section of this chapter. The software is normally set to display the results of listings and searches on the screen. By changing the "Send To" option on the Reports Menu you can send your report to your printer or a disk file. Search Menu - List Entries Starting at the top of the Search Menu the first item is the "List Entries" feature. It will list entries in the order they were typed into your catalog. When you select "List Entries" on the Search Menu you will be prompted for the entry number to start the listing with. Then you will be prompted for the last entry number to be included in the listing. The software will list all of the entries between, and including, the entry numbers you specify. One of the key uses for this feature is proof reading. Some people find it easier to proof read a printed copy of their entries instead of reviewing them on the screen. After typing a series of new entries use this feature to print a listing of just the new entries. You can then look over the listing to find typos and errors. Be sure to use a report format that prints all of the information you've entered. Search Menu - List Alphabetically You can list the information on any of the lines in alphabetical order by selecting this option. However, the line must first be indexed. Lines that are indexed are marked by a starburst ________________ORGANIZE Your Home - REFERENCE SECTION - 28 symbol on the left end of the line. (Indexing is discussed in the Utility menu section). To get an alphabetical listing first put the cursor on the line to be listed alphabetically. Then push ALT-S to display the Search menu. Move the scroll bar to the "List Alphabetically" option and push ENTER. The entries will be listed in alphabetical order based on the line on which the cursor is located. Search Menu - Sequential Search There are two basic types of searches in OYH - sequential searches and alphabetical searches. A sequential search looks at each entry, one at a time in "sequence", examining each to see if it contains a match for the search criteria. This type of search has the advantage of being able to find matches even if the matching word or phrase is not the first word or phrase on the line. For example, if you use a sequential search to look for the word RED the following will be found as matches: RED FILING CABINET LITTLE RED WAGON SLEEPY AND TIRED (the RED is at the end of "TIRED") Notice that the search criteria, RED, is capitalized and all of the matches are capitalized. Searches will only find EXACT matches. If the letter, word or phrase you are searching for is capitalized, the search criteria must be capitalized. If you search for RED, you will not find "Red Cabinet" because the capitalization does not match. However, there is a way to find things when the capitalization does not match. It will be discussed when we talk about the "Case" option on the Search menu. With sequential searches you can search for any part of the information entered on a line. Notice in the above example that searching for "RED" found matches at the beginning, middle and end of the line. This is particularly useful if you can only remember a part of what you want to find. It's also useful for keyword searches where several keywords are listed on a line. For example, if you cataloged a photograph of a beach with the following keywords: BEACH, SUNSET, SAILBOATS & SEA GULLS and used a sequential search to search for "SUNSET", this photograph would be identified as matching the search criteria. ________________ORGANIZE Your Home - REFERENCE SECTION - 29 You can start a sequential search by entering the word or phrase you want to find on the appropriate line and then selecting the "Sequential Search" option on the Search Menu; or push F8; or use the mouse cursor to click on the "8 Srch" prompt at the bottom of the screen. Cross References Any of the information you've entered can be cross referenced with any or everything else. All you need to do is enter the information you want to find on the appropriate lines and the software will automatically take care of the cross referencing during the search. Let's assume you want to cross reference between owners and locations and find everything Bill owns that is located in your storage shed. Enter "Storage Shed" on the LOCATION line and "Bill" on the OWNER(s) line. Then start a sequential search. Everything Bill has stored in your shed will be listed. Search Menu - Alphabetical Search <F6> To use the alphabetical searches you must be using the indexing. A line must be indexed, and must have a starburst next to it in order to be used as the basis of an alphabetical search. Alphabetical searches provide several advantages. First, they are very fast. While sequential searches may take several minutes, if you have a large catalog, alphabetical searches can find matches almost immediately. The indexing quickly determines whether there is a match and where the match is located. Second, alphabetical searches list matches in alphabetical order. The disadvantage of alphabetical searches is that they will only find exact matches. For example, an alphabetical search can not find matching words or phrases if they are within a line. The match must be exact starting at the beginning, left edge of the line. For example, using an alphabetical search to find the word "RED" would find RED FILING CABINET, but it will not find LITTLE RED WAGON. There are several ways to conduct an alphabetical search. The first is a straight alphabetical search. Enter the information you want to find on one of the lines marked by a sunburst, leave ________________ORGANIZE Your Home - REFERENCE SECTION - 30 the cursor on that line, push ALT-S to drop-down the Search menu, highlight "Alphabetical Search" and push ENTER. You can also start an alphabetical search without going through the menus by pushing F6 or my clicking on "6 Alpha". Alphabetical searches can perform cross references. To do this, fill in the appropriate lines with the information you want to find, put the cursor on the line you wish alphabetized, and push F6 to start the search. NOTE: When starting an alphabetical search the cursor must be on a line that has been indexed. The alphabetical searches use the location of the cursor to determine the primary search criteria. The alphabetical searches can also be used to get partial alphabetical listings. For example, if you want an alphabetical listing of everything that starts with the letter "A", put an "A" on the line to be listed (that line must be indexed) and start the alphabetical search. Alphabetical searches will first find all exact matches based on the indexes. When no other matches can be found in the indexes a message will appear at the bottom of the screen that says: "NO MATCHES FOUND. ESC to end, F1 for new entry or ENTER to continue search." If you wish to end the search push the ESC key. If you did not find what you were looking for using the alphabetical search, you may wish to try a sequential search. Push the ENTER key at this point and the software will automatically go into a sequential search. What do you do if you are typing entries and want to be sure you are not duplicating entries already in your database. Type part of the entry, such as the description, and push F6 to perform an alphabetical search. If it is found push ESC. If the description is not found push F1 and them complete the entry. Anytime a search does not find a matches you can push F1. This switches OYH to the Make Entries screen and the information entered as the search criteria will be pre-entered on the appropriate lines. If OYH found a match pushing F1 will put the information from that matching entry on the Make Entries screen. Search Menu - Find Deleted Once an entry has been deleted it will no longer show up during searches. To recover that entry use the editor to display it and then undelete it. However, if you don't remember its entry number, you can't use the editor to display it. The "Find ________________ORGANIZE Your Home - REFERENCE SECTION - 31 Deleted" search provides another way to locate deleted entries. Select "Find Deleted" on the Search Menu and the software will automatically list all entries that have been deleted. Whenever a deleted entry is on the screen it may be undeleted by pushing ALT-E for the Edit Menu and then selecting "Undelete Entry". You can also push F5 or use the mouse to click on the "5 Save" prompt. If you are searching for deleted entries the software remains in the search mode and pushing F2 will find the next deleted entry. Search Menu - Global Search The term "Global Search" means that the software will search everything to find a match for the specified search criteria. In all of the other searches the search criteria must be on the same line as the information you want to find. With a Global Search you can find a word or phrase without regard to the line it is located on. To start a Global Search select "Global Search" from the Search Menu. A window will open in the middle of the screen and you will be prompted to enter the word or phrase you want to find. Type the search criteria and push the ENTER key. A sequential search will be conducted based on the search criteria you entered. Remember a Global Search will find the specified search criteria wherever it is located. There may be times when an entry is displayed as matching the search criteria, but it may not be obvious why it matches. However, the match may be taking place in the middle of a line or even in the middle of a word. Search Menu - Set Starting Point This option is used to start an alphabetical listing at any point in the alphabet. For example, let's assume you were printing an alphabetical list of everything in your catalog and the printer ran out of paper in the middle of the M's. You can start a second listing that picks up where the first ended. To set a starting point first position the cursor on the line you wish to list alphabetically. Then push ALT-S and select the "Set Starting Point" option on the Search Menu. You will be prompted to enter a letter or word to be used as the starting point. You can also enter a phrase. If you were printing a copy of your inventory alphabetically by LOCATION and the last location listed was LIVINGROOM, then enter "LIVING ROOM" as the starting point. When you push ENTER you'll be returned to the Search Menu. Highlight "List Alphabetically" option and the listing will start with the "LIVING ROOM". ________________ORGANIZE Your Home - REFERENCE SECTION - 32 This feature is very useful in producing reports for your insurance agent. For example, for each item in an office inventory you should enter a value. If you index the value line you can set a starting value, such as $500, and list every item with a value greater than that minimum value. Search Menu - Case [ Sensitive ] When I discussed sequential searches I said they will only find exact matches. The capitalization of the search criteria and the information you are searching for must match. For example, searching for "Red Cabinet" will not find "RED CABINET". The "Case" option on the Search Menu allows OYH to find matches in which the capitalization does not match. This option is a toggle. When the word "Sensitive" is in the brackets sequential searches will be case sensitive. This means the capitalization of the search criteria and the information you are looking for must match. Highlight the "Case" prompt and push ENTER to toggle it to "Insensitive". When set to insensitive sequential searches will not be case sensitive. This means you can search for "Red Cabinet" and "RED CABINET" will be found. When set this way sequential searches will also find "red cabinet" and "Red cabinet" as matches. Search Menu - Save Changes <F5> Anytime an entry is displayed on the screen you may make changes. If a search finds a matching entry, that entry can be modified. After you have typed the changes you want to make push ALT-S and then select "Save Changes" to save the modifications. You can also push F5 without using the drop-down menus or click on the "5 Save" prompt. Search Menu - Search Again <F2> If you are displaying the results of a search on the monitor, the software will display matching entries one at a time. To find and display the next matching entry select the "Search Again" option on the Search Menu. Please note that when the Search Menu drops down the "List Entries" option will be highlighted. You can move the scroll bar directly to the "Search Again" option by pushing the up cursor key. You can also use the F2 key, without going through the Search Menu, to go to the next entry. ________________ORGANIZE Your Home - REFERENCE SECTION - 33 Print Screen Feature Anytime an entry is displayed on the screen as a result of a search (or when it is called up using the editor) a copy of the entry can be printed by holding down the CTRL key and pushing P. The entry will be printed using the current report format. If a report format has not been set-up, then nothing will print. (Please see the section on the Report Menu for information about report formats and printing). Finding The Total Value Of Your Home Inventory You can quickly get a total value for your collection by holding down the CTRL key and pushing ENTER. The software will search your entire catalog and provide a total value, based on the line(s) you have set to be totalled. The amount of time this takes will depend on the number of entries. If you need to interrupt the totaling process, push ESC. (See the following section on the Utilities Menu for information on setting the lines to be totaled). THE UTILITIES MENU The Utilities Menu provides a variety of functions for copying entries, indexing and setting up your catalog. Press ALT-U to drop-down the Utilities Menu. Utilities - Copy Entries The "Copy Entries" feature is used to copy the entries in one catalog to another catalog. This feature allows you to copy a catalog to a new catalog that uses a different format. You can rearrange the information by sending it to different lines in the new catalog, if you wish. One circumstance in which you would use this feature would be if you should find that the catalog format you're using is not adequate for what you need to do. Since you can not modify the line lengths of an existing format you will need to set-up a new catalog with a lines lengths that are suitable. Then use the "Copy Entries" feature to copy the entries from the old catalog to the new catalog and format. To use the "Copy Entries" feature use the scroll bar to highlight "Copy Entries" on the Utilities Menu and push the ENTER key. This brings up a series of screens that let you select the catalog to copy from, the catalog to copy to and what infor- mation will be stored on which line in the new catalog. ________________ORGANIZE Your Home - REFERENCE SECTION - 34 Figure 14 shows the screen used to select the file you wish to copy from. The box in the on the left side of the screen shows the names of the catalogs in the current directory. Use the cursor keys to highlight the catalog you wish to copy from and push ENTER. You can select a catalog using the mouse by putting the mouse cursor on the catalog name you want to select and pushing the left mouse button twice. If you want to copy a catalog located in a different directory, push the ESC key and enter the drive and path to designate where the catalog is located. When entering the drive and path you must use standard DOS notation. The drive letter must be followed by a colon and each directory or subdirectory name proceeded by a backslash. If the drive and path you enter does not contain a OYH catalog, an error message will appear in the box. If data files exist they will be listed in the box and you can then highlight the one you wish to copy and select it by pushing ENTER. NOTE: If you do not keep your programs in separate directories the listing of catalogs may include the names of data files used by other programs. Normally you should keep all files used by the OYH in the same directory. That helps keep your hard disk organized and makes it easier for you to identify what files go with which program when you are cleaning up and organizing your hard disk. To exit at this point you need to push the ESC key twice. First push the ESC key to get the prompt asking for a new drive and path. Then press the ESC key again. Once you have selected a file to copy from a second similar screen will appear. (Note, the "copy from" menu will be on the left side of the screen. The "copy to" menu will be on the right side of the screen. The name of the catalog you are copying from will be shown at the top of the screen. Select the catalog you want to copy to by highlighting it and pushing the ENTER key. If you want to create a new file to copy to then push the ESC key when the "copy to" menu is displayed. You will be prompted to enter a new drive, path and catalog name. When you do this a new catalog will be created that has the same format as the catalog being copied. When entering a new catalog name do not enter a filename extension. You must enter a valid drive letter and directory path. The software will not create a new directory if the path you've entered is not correct. If you use a new catalog name ________________ORGANIZE Your Home - REFERENCE SECTION - 35 OYH will automatically create a file with a format that matches that of the catalog you are copying from. The next screen allows you to select which information is copied to which field. First let's go over the information provided on this screen. If you are not running the OYH software, I suggest that you boot it up and go into the entry copy feature so that the screen we are now discussing is displayed on your monitor. At the top left of the screen the drive, path and catalog you are copying from is shown. The same information for the catalog you are copying to is shown on the top right side of the screen. The format of the catalog you are copying from will be shown on the left side of the screen. Each line is identified by a letter and the title of each line. The line titles of the catalog you are copying to are shown on the right side of the screen. A set of dashed lines in the center of the screen are provided only to help you see how the two formats line-up. At the bottom of the screen the total number of entries in each catalog is shown. When the copy process is started the data from the catalog shown on the left will be ** added to ** the data in the catalog on the right. You can start copying entries from the catalog on the left to the one shown on the right by pushing F6. However, there is more information shown on this screen. Figure 15 shows a situation in which we want to change how information in a catalog is arranged. The format on the right puts the SERIAL NUMBER at the top of the format and adds a new line for a LOCATION. In addition, the ID MARK line is not included in the new format. (Below is a representation of figure 15). _______________________________________________________________ From: C:\HOME\NEW\INVTRY To: C:\HOME\NEW\INVEN A DESCRIPTION 15 ---------------- SERIAL NUMBER 12 < B MODEL # 15 MODEL # 25 C ID MARK 25 DESCRIPTION 15 < D SERIAL NUMBER 30 ---------------- OWNER(s) 30 E NOTE 30 NOTE 30 F VALUE 20 VALUE 20 G OWNER(s) 10 ---------------- 0 < H 0 LOCATION 20 I OTHER 14 OTHER 14 J 0 ---------------- 0 __________________________________________________________ figure 15 - shows part of the copy entries screen. ________________ORGANIZE Your Home - REFERENCE SECTION - 36 When the screen shown in figure 15 first appears it will be set to copy the information from each line on the left to the line directly opposite on the right. If there is no line on the right, the space on the right will be highlighted and a left pointing arrow head will be displayed. For example, in figure 15 the format is set so the OWNER(s) line will be copied to the a line that is shut off. This means this information will not be copied. A scroll bar is provided to move through the line descriptions on the left side of the screen. This scroll bar is used to re- position lines until they are set in the proper order for copying information to the new catalog. For example, the line at the "A" position on the left is currently set to be copied to a different titled line on the right. To change this use the scroll bar to highlight the location you wish to move another line to and then push the letter associated with the line you wish to move. The two lines will be swapped. Shareware users note: this is difficult to describe without the illustrations provided in the printed manual. To see how this works try highlighting various lines and push the letters associated with other lines. You'll see how the lines are moved around. You can leave this screen without saving any of the changes you made by pushing the ESC key. If you move a line so that its contents will be copied to a shorter line, that shorter line will be highlighted in red to indicate that some of the information on the original line may be cut off because it will not fit on the shorter line. You should now see a screen that looks like the one shown in figure 18. All of the lines have been positioned to be copied to the correct locations. We can now push F6 to start the copy process. If there are any entries in the catalog on the right side of the screen, the new entries copied from the catalog on the left will be added to those already in the file on the right. You can exit the copy process by pushing the ESC key. Utility Menu - Import dBase File You can import the information contained in most dBase III files. To do this select the "Import dBase File" option on the Utilities Menu. You will then go through a series of screens that are exactly like those in the "Copy Entries" feature. ________________ORGANIZE Your Home - REFERENCE SECTION - 37 The first screen that appears is used to select the dBase file you wish to copy from. Any dBase III files in the current directory will be listed in a box in the middle of the screen. If the file you want to copy from is on another drive or in another directory, push the ESC key and enter the drive and path you want to use. If there are dBase III files on the specified drive and path they will be listed in the box and you can select the one you want. Next the list of existing catalog files will be displayed. You can copy the dBase file to an existing catalog or create a new catalog. To create a new catalog push the ESC key and enter the drive, path and catalog name. If you enter a new catalog name the software will automatically create a format that matches that of the dBase file you are copying from. Next you will see a screen that allows you to set which information gets copied to which line (figure 19). This is the same screen as described in the section on Copy Entries and it works in exactly the same way. NOTE: this utility will only copy nonrelational dBase files. Relational dBase files can not be imported into OYH. Utilities Menu - Reindex First, what is an index and why does this software need to use indexes? A computer based index is just like an index in a book. When you need to find something in a book you look in the index. The index lists information alphabetically and allows you to quickly find what you need. A computer index works in the same way. It is an alphabetical listing that allows the computer to quickly find the information you are searching for. Just like in a book a computer has two ways to find information. If you are looking for specific information in a book you can start reading the book at page one and read until you find what you want. As you can imagine this could take a lot of time, especially if the information you are looking for is at the end of the book. Your other option is to look in the index and go directly to the page that has the information you want. This is exactly what a computer does. A sequential search is similar to starting at the front of a book and reading every page until the required information is found. To find information quickly the alphabetical search uses an index to look up the required information and then go directly to the entry that has that information. ________________ORGANIZE Your Home - REFERENCE SECTION - 38 Indexes are also required to list information in alphabetical order. The software uses the indexes, which are in alphabetical order, to generate the alphabetical listings. The lines to be indexed are selected when the format is set up. I'll discuss that in the section on "Set Up New Format". The software will normally keep all indexes up to date - adding new entries as you type them. However, there may be some circumstances in which you need to rebuild your indexes. If the software does not properly detect an index that should be there, an error message will appear. This message will tell you that the indexes need rebuilding. You can add additional lines to be indexed at any time. For example, you may originally start an inventory in which only the top line is indexed. If you later decide to index by other lines, you would use the "ReIndex" feature to put the existing entries into this new index. Indexes are separate files that maintain a fragile relation- ship among many separate words and phrases. If the files on your disk become fragmented or cross linked the indexes can be damaged. Although indexes do not effect your catalog files, if the results of a search do not seem to make sense, try making new indexes by using the "ReIndex" feature. The "ReIndex" feature is completely automatic. To reindex just use the scroll bar to highlight "ReIndex" on the Utilities Menu and push ENTER. Utilities Menu - Sort [ Off ] This software has the capability to do multiple level sorting. Sorting means to put entries into alphabetical order. The alphabetization provided by the indexing puts entries in alphabetical/numerical order one line at a time. Sorting, on the other hand, can include up to 10 lines in alphabetical order. If your catalog has not been sorted the word "OFF" will be in the brackets after the word SORT. If it is in a sorted condition, the word "ON" will be in the brackets. Now let's see how to sort. Start by selecting the "Sort" option on the Utilities Menu. The Sort Menu, shown in figure 21, will appear. The line titles used by the current database will be listed along the left side of the screen. There will be a series of F-key prompts along the bottom of the screen. ________________ORGANIZE Your Home - REFERENCE SECTION - 39 To set the order in which you want the catalog to be sorted push the letter associated with the line to be sorted. Do this in the order you wish the lines to be sorted. Once the sorting is complete you can get a printed copy of your inventory, in the correct sorted order, by doing an alphabetical listing based on the primary sort criteria (the one you selected first). NOTE: You can include any line you wish in doing a sort. However, to produce an alphabetical listing the line used as the basis of that listing must be indexed and must be marked by a "starburst" symbol. If you start selecting lines to sort and want to make a change, push F3. The F3 key will clear any sorted order that exists and clear the diagram from the screen. The F8 key is used to clear a sort. What does this mean? Sorting rearranges the entries so they are in the specified sorted order. Once sorted, for example, a sequential search will look through an inventory based on the sorted order instead of the order the entries where originally typed. The "F8 - Clear Sort" function instantly returns your catalog to its original unsorted order. The indexes will still be in the sorted order, but sequential searches will no longer follow the sorted order. If you also wish to return the indexes to an unsorted condition all you need to do is ReIndex. Indexes use space on your disk. The more entries you have the more space an index will use. If you have an index you no longer need you can delete that index by pushing F9. You will be prompted to enter the letter that is next to the line for which you want to erase the index. If you do not want to erase a index at this point, push ESC. Otherwise push the appropriate letter. The circumstances in which you might want to erase an index would be if you find you had originally set up a line to be indexed, but you are not using that index. You would first use the "Set Up New Format" feature to turn off that index, then go to the Sort screen to erase the index that was just turned off. ________________ORGANIZE Your Home - REFERENCE SECTION - 40 Utility Menu - Reserve Space Next on the Utility Menu is the "Reserve Space" feature. This feature will set aside space on a hard disk for future entries. When the "Reserve Space" option is selected a window will open, display the number of entries currently in your catalog and prompt you for the amount of space you want to reserve. Estimate the total number of entries you expect to have and enter a number that will reserve enough space to hold them, but generally you should not reserve space for more than 500 or so new entries. Reserving too much space can result in a lot of wasted disk space, if you later change your mind about how many entries you'll have. Reserving space does not set a limit on the number of entries you can have. For example, if you reserve space for 100 entries, you can still make as many entries as you wish. The software will fill the 100 reserved spaces and then continue on without any problems. Also, you do not need to reserve space in order to use this software. The purpose of reserving space is two-fold. First, if you expect to have a lot of entries in your catalog, and you are using other software on the same disk, the reserve space feature is used to set aside disk space for use by OYH. This will insure the disk space you want to use for your OYH catalog is not used up by files created by other software. The reserve space feature is also used to help prevent the catalog file from becoming fragmented. Fragmented files are a normal result of using a computer. When a computer stores information on a disk it puts it into the next available sector on the disk. The next available sector may not be physically located anywhere near the previous sectors the computer was using. As you add to a data file it tends to be broken into small pieces that are scattered in various sectors all over the disk. The problem with fragmented files is that they slow down your computer because it takes more time for the heads in your disk drive to move from piece to piece of a file that is scattered all over a disk. With serious file fragmentation the computer can actually lose track of pieces of a file or start to get cross linked files. As a result the computer can become "confused" and lock-up, you might start getting strange results for searches or be unable to access some entries. (I've had this happen with WordPerfect, Lotus 123 and Microsoft Works files). Reserving space helps prevent your this software files from getting fragmented. If you start by reserving space and then ________________ORGANIZE Your Home - REFERENCE SECTION - 41 defragment your hard disk, the OYH catalog file that will stay together in one piece regardless of any other activity that affects the disk. Notice that I said you will need to defragment your hard disk. How do you de-fragment a disk? You will need a utility that has been designed to do that. Take a look in Appendix A for a further discussion of fragmented files and descriptions of several utilities I recommend. Utilities Menu - Eliminate Deleted When an entry is deleted (using the Edit function) it is not erased. It still exists. What the software does is mark the entry as being deleted so it will not show up during searches or listings. If you want to permanently remove an entry from your catalog you need to use the "Eliminate Deleted" feature. When you select the "Eliminate Deleted" feature on the Utilities menu the software will go through your entire catalog and permanently remove all deleted entries. The disk space used by the deleted entries will be recovered and made available for new entries. This process is automatic and there is nothing you need to do. Once started you can not interrupt this process. If it should be interrupted your catalog might be left with an entry duplicated (entered twice). There is no risk of losing data however, so if this process is interrupted by a power failure for example, all of your entries will still be there. Eliminating deleted entries will change the entry numbers for many of the entries in your catalog. You should reindex after using this feature. If you want to eliminate deleted entries without having the entry numbers change you can use the editor to individually type a new entry that replaces the old, deleted entry. Utilities Menu - Set Up New Format This feature is used to both set up new catalog formats and to modify an existing format. The "Set Up New Format" feature is also used to select lines to be indexed and totaled. Push ALT-U to drop-down the Utility menu and use the scroll bar to highlight the "Set Up New Format" option. Then push ENTER to select it. Figure 23 shows the screen as it appears for a file that has not been set up previously. If you are modifying an existing format that format will be displayed on this screen. ________________ORGANIZE Your Home - REFERENCE SECTION - 42 Let's start by looking at the F-key prompts at the bottom of the screen. At the lower left of the screen is a prompt that says, "F2 - [ TITLES ]". This prompt indicates the current mode the software is set for. There are four possible modes. These are: TITLES - allows you to enter or change line titles. LENGTHS - used to set the lengths of lines. INDEXING - this mode used to mark the lines that are to be indexed. You may index up to 10 lines, however we suggest that no more than five or six lines be indexed. Keep in mind that indexes use disk space and the more lines you index, the more space each entry will use on the disk. VALUE - used to mark the lines you want to have totalled. For example, if you are using a line to keep track of the value of items, you can mark that line so all the values are totalled. Each time you conduct a search or listing the total value of all items listed will be displayed (or printed on the report). Starting A New Catalog There are two ways to start a new catalog. You can start from scratch or copy any existing catalog. To start from scratch push ALT-U for the Utilities Menu and highlight the bottom selection, "Select Catalog". Push ENTER and when the catalog selection menu appears push the ESC key. You can now enter the name you want to use for your new catalog. Once a new name is entered you'll be returned to the Main Screen where you should push ALT-U and select the "Set Up Cat. Format Option." To create a new catalog format go to the "Set Up Cat. Format" screen. Push F3 to activate the copy feature. You'll be prompted to enter the name for the new catalog you want to create. Enter a new catalog name and push ENTER. The set up screen will switch to the new name and will use the format copied from the catalog OYH was initially using. Setting Line Titles To start setting up a new format set the F2 toggle to TITLES. There is a scroll bar that can be moved up and down along the left side of the screen. If you just installed the software the default titles will be displayed. If you have started a new ________________ORGANIZE Your Home - REFERENCE SECTION - 43 catalog all of the line titles will display "NOT SET". Move the scroll bar to a line you want to use and type the title for that line. You may enter up to 14 characters including letters, numbers, spaces and punctuation. If you make a mistake in typing a title, just highlight it with the scroll bar again and type the corrected title. Titles do not have to be on consecutive lines. You can skip lines in order to create groups of lines. You can also have untitled lines. The LINE TGL determines whether that line will be a part of your catalog format. If you set a line to be on, that line will be part of the format regardless of whether it has a title. Setting Line Lengths Once you have put a title on each line you intend to use push F2 to switch to the LENGTHS mode. The software will now allow you to set or modify the lengths of each line. If you are starting a new format, you will need to set lengths for all of the lines. To set the length of a line move the highlight bar to that line, enter a number between 2 and 64 and push ENTER. Lines may be no shorter than 2 characters and no longer than 64 characters. Go through all of the lines using the scroll bar to highlight each line title and enter the desired length for each. When you enter a line length the software will display a bar that graphically shows the length of the line. The number of characters in each line will be shown in a highlighted section at the left side of each line (figure 23). NOTE: Line lengths can not be changed once an entry has been saved in a catalog. You can change the titles, indexing and totalling at any time. If you need to change your format, to add, delete or change the length of a line, after saving entries in a catalog, do the following: 1) Set up a new catalog format, using a different name, that has the lines lengths set the way you need them. There is a copy function (F3) on the Catalog Format Set Up screen that makes doing this quick and easy. 2) Then use the copy feature to copy your entries from the old format to the new format. Setting Lines To Be Indexed Push F2 again to switch to the Indexing mode. To mark a line to be indexed move the scroll bar to that line and push the ENTER key. A "starburst" symbol will appear next to that line to indicate it will be indexed. To remove a line from being indexed ________________ORGANIZE Your Home - REFERENCE SECTION - 44 move the scroll bar to that line and push the ENTER key. The "starburst" symbol will disappear. You may index as many lines as you wish, however I recommend you only index important lines. Each index uses additional space on your disk. If you create a lot of indexes that you don't use, then you've wasted a lot of disk space. Totaling Values Once you've selected all of the lines to be indexed push F2 again to put the software into the Value mode. You can now move the scroll bar to any line and push the ENTER key to mark it as a line to be totaled. This will result in the numerical values on the marked line being totaled during searches and listings. When entering information the value must be the only information on the line. If letters are included on the line being totaled they may cause the total to be incorrect. When you push F2 again the software will return to the Titles mode. You can then modify any of the titles or use the F2 toggle to change the mode and modify anything you've set up on this screen. When everything is set as you want it push F5 to save the format. This will return you to the Main Screen. You can modify a format anytime before you save the first entry. Just select the "Set Up Cat. Format" option on the Utilities menu and make any required modifications. Once the first entry has been saved you only can change the line titles, and the lines marked to be indexed or totaled. You can not change the line lengths. Take a look at figure 24. At the bottom of the screen is a status line that says "EST: 5,025 ENTRIES/MB". This is saying that, based on the current format, OYH can store approximately 5,025 entries per megabyte of space. As you change the lengths of lines and the number of lines indexed this number will change. It can be used to give you a good idea of the amount of space your format uses. Copying A Catalog Format (To Create A New Catalog) If you are creating a new catalog format that is similar to that of an existing catalog, you may find it easier to start by copying that existing format. Start at the Main Screen and set the software so it is using the catalog name you want to copy. The catalog name you want to copy should be displayed in the center of the second line down from the top of the screen. ________________ORGANIZE Your Home - REFERENCE SECTION - 45 Next select the Set Up Catalog Format option on the Utilities Menu. With the format set up screen displayed push F3 and then enter the name you want to use for the new format. The set up screen will change to the new name while retaining the old format. You may now modify the format or push F5 to save it. Utilities Menu - Set Up Macro A macro is a way to enter complete lines of information with just a single ALT key combination. Using a macro ALT-key combination you can enter preset information at the cursor location. First let's look at how to set up the information in the macros. Select the "Set Up Macro" option on the Utilities Menu. This will display a window in the middle of the screen. You can have up to 30 macros. The ALT-key combination that activates each macro is shown along the left side of the window. To set up a macro just type the information you want to automatically enter in your catalog next to one the ALT-key designations. After typing each macro line push ENTER. When you are done entering macros push the ESC key. Macros can be changed at any time by returning to the screen shown in figure 25 and making whatever changes you need. When you're done push the ESC key to return to the Main Screen. I recommend leaving one of the macro lines blank, possibly the ALT-B line. This gives you a way to erase (blank) a line or part of a line when entering or editing an entry. For example, if you leave ALT-B blank you can place the cursor on the DESCRIPTION line push ALT-B and that line will be blanked. You could also blank part of a line by putting the cursor anywhere on the line and pushing ALT-B. Everything from the cursor and to the right of the cursor will be erased. Utility Menu - Set Security Code This software provides a three level security system. Level 1 - provides access only to people who know the three digit access code. Level 2 - provides full access to anyone who knows the correct security code and read-only access to everyone else. With read- only access you can look up and read any of the entries, but you can not modify entries. With read-only access some selections on the drop-down menus, that would have allowed changes to be made, no longer appear on the menu. Figure 26 shows what the edit menu looks like when the software is set for read-only access. ________________ORGANIZE Your Home - REFERENCE SECTION - 46 Level 2 security might be used in a library where only the librarian has access to change entries while patrons of the library have read-only access for looking up books and magazines. Level 3 - allows full access to anyone. To set a security code select the "Set Security Code" option on the Utilities menu. You will then be prompted to enter a three digit security code. If you enter a number between 001 and 250 the software will run at level one security. You will need to enter the correct security code number before getting access to the software. Entering a number from 251 to 500 provides level 2 security. If you enter the correct code you have full access. Entering any other number provides read-only access. Setting the security code to any number greater than 500 allows full, level 3, access to everyone. If you've set a security code that is 500 or lower, when the software first boots a screen with just a plus (+) symbol will appear. The cursor will be next to the plus symbol. Type your security code at this point and push ENTER. The security code is stored in the HOMECRAF.SET file. If this file should be erased, you will not be able to use the software. You will need to either replace the HOMECRAF.SET file using a backup copy or from your original disk, or use the RESET.EXE utility (available only in the registered version). Another problem you might run into is forgetting your security code. Should this happen you can still get into the software, but you will need the registered version. With the registered version we have provided a file called RESET.EXE. This utility serves as a "skeleton" key that will reset the security code to allow full access. To use RESET copy it to the same disk and directory that has the this software program. Run RESET and the security code will automatically be reset. This utility also resets all of the other settings to their defaults. Thus the software will be returned to monochrome operation and the default filename of CATALOG. If you are using the security feature be sure to put any disks containing RESET.EXE away in a safe place. The RESET.EXE utility is not provided on the shareware disk in order to prevent people whom you do not want to have access to your files from getting a copy of the RESET.EXE file. So please be careful if you are using the security feature in the shareware version of this software. ________________ORGANIZE Your Home - REFERENCE SECTION - 47 Utilities Menu - Set Screen Colors OYH will initially start running in the black & white mode. To switch it to color select "Set Screen Colors" on the Utilities menu. You can also push CTRL-A to jump directly to this screen. Five possible color settings will be displayed. Push a number, from 0 to 4, that indicates the color combination you want to use. (Generally #1 provides the best setting). This set up screen also allows you to control the BEEP that sounds when the cursor reaches the end of a line Push F1 to toggle the BEEP on or off. Utilities Menu - Delete Catalog If you are no longer using a catalog, it can be deleted using the "Delete Catalog" option on the Utilities menu. Push ALT-U, select "Delete Catalog" and a listing of catalogs will be displayed. Use the scroll bar to highlight the catalog you want to delete and push ENTER. If there are entries in the file OYH will tell you how many entries it has (see figure 27) and ask you to confirm that this is the correct file to delete. Do not try to delete the catalog if OYH is set to use that catalog. If you do, the catalog will be deleted and then immediately recreated as OYH tries to use that catalog. Utilities Menu - Select Catalog The last selection on the Utilities menu allows you to select a catalog or create a new catalog file. You can have as many catalog files as you wish, limited only by the limitations of the version of DOS you are using. When deciding on names for your catalogs you can not use numbers as a part of the catalog name. Numbers are used to identify the index files. Using a number in a catalog name might cause some confusion in the index files. Also, catalog names can not be longer than eight characters. Although you can create as many catalogs as you wish I recommend using as few as possible. Using multiple catalogs can become very confusing. In many cases you can enter all of your information in one catalog and let the software sort it out. This makes it a lot easier to find specific entries because you do not first have to figure out which catalog it is in. To change catalog names select "Select Catalog Name" on the Utilities menu. The existing catalogs will be shown in a box in the center of the screen. You can use the cursor keys to ________________ORGANIZE Your Home - REFERENCE SECTION - 48 highlight a catalog or push ESC to enter a new catalog name. To use an existing catalog, use the scroll bar to highlight it and then push ENTER. The menu for selecting the catalog name is designed to make selecting the correct catalog quick and easy. For example, you can move the scroll bar directly to the catalog you want to highlight by pushing the first letter of the catalog name. If several catalogs start with the same letter, push that letter until the correct catalog is highlighted. A mouse can be used to select a catalog name by placing the mouse cursor on the catalog to be selected and pushing the left mouse button twice. You can move through the list of catalogs by using the diamond shaped slider along the right edge of the menu. Put the mouse cursor on the "slider", hold the left mouse button down and move the mouse cursor up or down. THE REPORT MENU The Report Menu allows you to select where a report will be sent (the printer, a disk file, the monitor, etc.). This menu is also used to design reports, set the report lengths and enter some of the final report design options. Report Menu - Send To [ Monitor ] There are seven places you can send a report. These are: MONITOR: Displays the results of a search or listing one entry at a time on the monitor. PRINTER - Continuous Paper: The results of a search or listing will be sent to your printer. This type of report is designed for printers with continuous feed paper such as dot matrix and laser printers. To send a report to the printer you first need to have designed a report format (which I'll discuss in a moment). The software comes with a standard format that will print everything in each entry. You can design your own report formats to look any way you want. PRINTER - Single Sheet Feed: This is the same type of report as the "PRINTER-Continuous Paper" report except that it is designed for printers that only handle one sheet of paper at a time. A daisy wheel printer would be an example of this type of printer. ________________ORGANIZE Your Home - REFERENCE SECTION - 49 ASCII (document) File: You can save the results of a search or listing in a file on your disk. It will be stored as an ASCII text file which means it can be imported into any word processor. This allows you to include, for example, wanted lists in letters you send to other collectors. dBase File: Selecting this option will save the results of a search or listing in a dBase III file. This file can be used by any software that can read dBase III files. QUICK VIEW: This option puts the results of a search or listing into a list, in which each entry is shown on one line, on the screen that shows 21 entries per screen. You can then move a scroll bar through the list and pick individual entries to display. (Note: this feature requires the additional video memory that is normally only available with color monitors The Quick View also uses your disk for temporary storage. Thus you must have space available on your disk). The Quick View listing contains all of the information in the entry. If the combined length of the lines in your catalog format exceeds 80 characters (the width of the screen), you can move the Quick View display to the right or left using the right or left cursor keys. Each time you push either cursor key the display will move by the amount of space used by one column of information. When the Quick View list is on the screen use the up/down keys to move the scroll bar up and down. The PgDn and PgUp keys change the display by a complete page. The Home and End keys will take you directly to the beginning or end of the list. To get more detail on any entry use the scroll bar to highlight that entry and then push the ENTER key. You can return to the Quick View screen by pushing F2. With the Quick View screen displayed pushing the ESC key will exit from the Quick View function. LABELS: The labels settings produces the same type of report as the "PRINTER-Continuous" report except that page feeds are not included. This setting should be used anytime you are printing continuous feed labels. Selecting Where You Want To Send Your Report (Send To) To select a report type use the scroll bar to highlight the "Send To" option on the Report Menu and push ENTER. This will open a window in the middle of the screen (see figure 29). All of the report types will be listed and there will be an "X" in the box ________________ORGANIZE Your Home - REFERENCE SECTION - 50 next to Monitor. This indicates that the results of a search or listing will be displayed on the monitor. Push the TAB key to change the setting. Each time you press the TAB key the "X" will move to the next box changing and changing the setting. Press TAB until the software is set for the type of report you want to use and then press the ENTER key. Report Menu - Page Length The "Page Length" option allows you to set the number of lines that can be printed on a sheet of paper by your printer. For example, most dot matrix printers will print 66 lines on an 11 inch page while laser printers print 60 lines per page. When you select this option a window appears in the middle of the screen. The current page length will be displayed. You can then enter a new page length, which can be up to 999 lines. Report Menu - Dashed Line If you wish, you can have the software print a dashed line between each entry listed on a report. In some cases this helps to separate entries making them easier to read. The dashed line will also contain the entry number providing a means of determining which entry numbers are being printed. The "Dashed Line" selection on the Reports menu is a toggle. Highlighting the "Dashed Line" option and pushing ENTER will change the setting between on and off. The setting will be stored on the disk. Once set it will not change until you use this toggle again. Report Menu - Column Headings You can have column headings printed at the top of the page. The line titles you've set-up will be used as the column headings. With the "Column Headings" option toggled "On" they will be printed using the same format as you've set up for the printed report. This option is a toggle. When you highlight the "Column Headings" menu selection and push ENTER the setting will be toggled between on and off. A typical use for column headings is with single line reports. You can set up a report format that prints all of the information on a single line (up to 250 characters wide - set your printer to use condensed print to get more characters per line). What ________________ORGANIZE Your Home - REFERENCE SECTION - 51 you'll get using this type of format are columns of information with an identifying title at the top of each column. Lock Top Line - this can be a very useful feature. When toggled ON the Lock Top Line will print the first line of the report only when it differs from the first line of the previous entry printed. For example, if you had a report (for an office inventory) that puts the office occupant's name on the first line and the contents on the second line, you would get a printed report looking like: DAVE JOHNSON Oak 60" Desk w/three drawers 012665 Oak 48" Bookcase 780099 IBM PS/2-30 Computer CO0087 4 Drawer file cabinet 780123 BILL SMITH Metal Desk w/four drawers 012077 Metal 36" Bookcase 780123 IBM PS/2-50 Computer CO0065 4 Drawer file cabinet 780060 With the LOCK TOP LINE option set to "OFF" the person's name would be printed for every item listed. To print a listing like the one shown above you will need to set up a two line report format. The person's name goes on the first line and all of the other information on the second line. Report Menu - Set Up Report Format OYH gives you a way to design your reports to look any way you want them to. You can include just the lines of information you want and design reports that print small labels or full sized reports. The "Set Up Report Format" option on the Reports menu brings up the screen used to design report formats. You may design and use as many different report formats as you wish, giving each format its own name. Figure 30 shows the screen used for designing a report. This is what the screen looks like before starting to design a report. Let's start by looking at the F-key prompts at the bottom of the screen. The first F-key prompt you'll need to use is "F6 - RPRT LENGTH" The F6 key is used to set the number of lines to be printed. Note this is different from the page length that is set on the Report menu. The report length is the number of lines used to print the information about one entry. A report can have up to 21 lines. ________________ORGANIZE Your Home - REFERENCE SECTION - 52 There are two bars that graphically show the report length. The top bar contains the screen title and cursor position indicator. The lower bar is a solid line. Push F6 and a blank space will appear in the brackets next to the RPRT LENGTH prompt. Enter the number of lines you want to use to print each entry. The lower bar will then drop down to show the size of the report. Figure 30 shows the lower bar set for the minimum report length, one line. Entering 21 as a length will place the lower bar at the bottom of the screen. We'll look at an example of a report set for six lines (figure 31). The F2 key is used to select the line you want to put on the report. Each time you push F2 the line name in the brackets will change. In addition to the title of the line the length of the line is also shown. In addition to the 21 line titles you can also place the entry number on your reports. The entry number will appear as the 22nd title when pushing F2 to change the title shown in the brackets. The F3 key is used to place a line on the report. Use the cursor keys to move the cursor to the location where you wish to place a line. Notice that a counter in the upper right corner gives the row and column where the cursor is located. When you push the F3 key the line shown in the brackets next to the F2 prompt will be placed on the report at the cursor location. If you try to put a line in a location that would result in two lines overlapping, your computer will beep and the placement of the line will not be accepted. You can relocate a line you've already placed by pushing the F2 key until the name of the line you want to replace is in the brackets next to the F2 prompt, positioning the cursor at the new location and then pushing F3. The screen can only show reports that are 80 characters wide, however you can set up and print reports that are up to 250 characters wide. As you place lines at locations that go beyond the 80 character width of your screen the display will scroll to the left in 40 character increments. You can move the cursor forty characters to the left or right by holding down the CTRL key and pushing the left or right cursor keys. (Watch the column numbers in the upper right corner). Figure 31 shows what the screen looks like after five lines have be placed. The asterisks after each line name show the amount of space the line will use when printed. To make things fit better you can shorten the length of the lines to be printed. For example, if you only wanted to include the ________________ORGANIZE Your Home - REFERENCE SECTION - 53 first 15 characters of the company name push F2 until the COMPANY line title is shown in the brackets. Then push F4. The F4 key is used to change the length of any line. When you push F4 the line length number within the F2 brackets will be replaced by a blank space. You can then enter a new line length. Line lengths can not be set to be longer than they are in the catalog format. Thus, if the length of a line in the catalog format is 4 characters, then you can not set that line to be longer than 4 characters on the report format. Since the name of the line is used to show how much space the lined uses when printed, if the line is only 4 characters long, then only the first four characters of the line name will be displayed on the report format setup screen. If you place a line on the report and then decide that you don't want to include it in the report, use the F2 key to put the line name in the brackets. Then push F9 to delete that line. You can have the titles of the lines printed on your reports. OYH will print the line title, a colon and the information on that line. Do not use this feature when printing in columns. The line titles are toggled on or off when by pushing CTRL-T ("T" for title). The status of the line title setting will be displayed as a part of the top line. When the line titles are toggled on an additional 16 spaces will be used to print each line. This will be shown on the "Set Report Format" screen by an increase in the displayed length of the lines. Please note that the name of the line will always be shown as a part of the line - without regard to whether the line titles are on or off. The amount of space that will be used to print the line, or the title plus the line, will be indicated by a combination of the name of the line plus a series of asterisks. Please note that, if you switch the titles between being toggled on and off it may appear that some of the lines have disappeared. This just means that the line locations can not be displayed on the screen as it is set up. Should this happen you should re- arrange the location of the affected items. Before saving a report format be sure you can see all the lines you want to printed and that none of them are overlapping. If you are going to include the titles on your printed reports you might want to use the "Set Up Catalog" function on the Utilities Menu to right justify the line titles. This will result in a cleaner looking report. Once you have a report designed the way you want it to be push F5 to save it. You can save as many different report formats as ________________ORGANIZE Your Home - REFERENCE SECTION - 54 you'd like, giving a different format name to each. The F7 key allows you to select the format name of an existing report or assign a name to a new report format. For example, in figure 33 I have changed the format name to bring up the STANDARD report format. (This format is supplied with the software). To return to the Main Screen push F10 (or the ESC key). Report Menu - Report Format You can also change report names using the "Report Format" option on the Report menu. The current setting for the report format will be shown in brackets next to this menu item. When you select this option a box will appear that shows all of the format names currently used. You can select one by highlighting it with the scroll bar and pushing ENTER. You may also push the ESC key to enter a new format name. Please note that if you have the software set to use a format name for which no format has been defined, your printed reports will be blank. Printing A Report Here are the steps you would follow to print a report: 1) Design and save the report format you want to use. This needs to be done only one time. Once a report format has been saved it is available whenever you needed it. 2a) If you are are doing a search, enter the search criteria on the appropriate line(s). 2b) If you wish to list your catalog in alphabetical order, move the cursor to the line you wish the alphabetical order to be based on. This line must be marked with a starburst symbol. 3) Push ALT-R for the Report Menu. The highlight bar will be on the "Send To" option. Push ENTER. A window displaying report options will open in the middle of the screen. Most people will want to use the CONTINUOUS PAPER setting, so push ENTER once to move the "X" to that setting. If you want to pause after each page is printed, put the "X" next to SINGLE SHT. FEED. 4) Push ESC to close the window and return to the Report Menu. 5) Check the Dashed Line, Column Headings and Lock Top Line settings to be sure they are set the way you want them to be. ________________ORGANIZE Your Home - REFERENCE SECTION - 55 6) Push the left cursor key until the Search Menu is displayed. Highlight the search option you want to use and push ENTER. A prompt will now appear, at the bottom of the screen, asking for a title for this report. You can enter anything you like as a title as long as the number of characters in the title does not exceed 80 characters or the width of your report format, whichever is greater. If you push ENTER at this point, without entering a title, the software will put a default title on your report. If you do not want any title at all, push the space bar and then push ENTER. Your report will now start printing. I have taken you through printing a report in a step-by-step detailed manner. Once you have become familiar with using this software you can skip some of these steps and use the short cut keys. For example, if you've already printed one report you can print a second simply by entering your search criteria and pushing F6 (or F8). EXIT MENU You can drop-down the eXit menu by either pushing ALT-X or by pushing the ESC key. The eXit menu provides three options. The first is "Exit Program" and selecting this returns you to the DOS prompt (or a DOS shell program, if you are using one). You should always use this option to exit from the software before turning off your computer. Turning off your computer while any program is still running can result in the partial loss of data should that data still be in your computer's internal buffers. Backing Up Your Catalog Entering the information about your home takes a lot of time and it's not something most people want to do twice. That's why maintaining current backup copies of all your inventory files is very important. The second selection on the Exit Menu provides a limited, but effective way to backup your inventory files. Please note, this utility is not intended to be a complete hard disk backup system. I strongly recommend that you purchase software such as PC Tools, Fastback, or any of the many other backup utilities available. We are only including this utility because a large number of users create catalogs having several thousand entries and then lose them when their computers ________________ORGANIZE Your Home - REFERENCE SECTION - 56 encounter a hard disk problem. This utility is only intended to provide something you can use while your catalog is small and until you can purchase a normal backup utility program. The backup utility will backup the current catalog in use. The name of this catalog is displayed as a part of the Main Screen in the middle of the status line (second line down from the top). Each backed up separately. To use the backup utility select "Backup" on the Exit Menu. Read the first screen that appears and then push ENTER. When the next screen appears you can push "E" to exit, "B" to start a backup, or "R" to recover backup copies from a floppy disk. On the next screen push the letter that identifies the disk drive containing the backup floppy disk. You should start your backup using a blank formatted disk and use a separate disk for each catalog. I suggest keeping a set of three backup disks for each catalog. Rotate through this set always using the oldest one for the current backup. That way, if your current backup should turn out to be a backup copy of files that have already been damaged (it happens a lot), you can go back to an older copy and still recover most of your catalog. Note: you do not need to erase or reformat backup floppies before using them a second, third, forth, etc. time for the same catalog. If the backup floppy is always used for the same catalog, the backup process will erase the previous backup copy. You only need to start with a blank floppy the first time that disk is used. You can recover a backup copy by following essentially the same sequence of steps. Just push "R" for recover instead of "B" for backup on the appropriate screen. NOTE: When files are being recovered the utility will not allow a file with an older date to overwrite a more recent file. If you have lost a catalog and in looking for it have created another catalog using the same name, the more recent catalog will have to be erased before the backup utility will copy the old files to your disk. There is a selection of the Utilities Menu that is used to delete catalogs. The backup utility uses an archiving utility called LHA. It is a separate program that OYH runs by shelling to DOS. This utility was written by Yoshi and is copyrighted 1991 by Yoshi. The documentation for this utility is included on the disk in a text file called LHA.DOC. You may use this utility for other things and I recommend you read the documentation. Please note that LHA may not be used with any software that uses copy protection. ________________ORGANIZE Your Home - REFERENCE SECTION - 57 The final option on the Exit Menu is "Shell To DOS." This option gets you to the DOS prompt without exiting the program OYH remains in your computer's memory and you can return to where you left off by typing the word EXIT at the DOS prompt. You might use the "Shell To DOS" option, for example, to use the DOS directory (DIR) command to check for files on your disk or to format a floppy disk. HELP MENU OYH includes a series of help screens that have key information about the main functions. Push ALT-H to drop-down the Help Menu. Then use the scroll bar to select the topic you want information on. RETURN The final selection only appears at the top of the screen when a drop-down menu is displayed. The Return selection removes the drop-down menus from the screen and returns you to the Main Screen. You can also return to the Main Screen by pushing the ESC key. CALCULATOR A pop-up calculator is included in OYH and can be accessed from the Main Screen, Edit Screen, or Make Entries Screen. To display the calculator push CTRL-C. The calculator displays a "tape" of the calculation. Use the numeric keypad just as you would a normal calculator. (The ENTER key functions as the = key). As you use the numeric keypad to enter calculations you will see them printed on the "tape" that appears on the screen. GRAPHIC IMAGES The OYH software can display PCX graphics images. There can be a separate graphics image for each entry in your catalog. The number of graphic images is only limited by the size of your hard disk. The software uses the 21st line of the catalog format to specify the filename for the graphics image. If you already have an existing OYH catalog in which the 21st line is not used, you will need to set up a new catalog (with the 21st line set for at least 8 characters) and then copy the entries from the old catalog to the catalog you just set up. You would use the same procedure as is used to change the length of a line and which is described earlier in this manual. When you set-up line 21 you do not need to limit it to 8 characters in length. However, only the first 8 characters will be used to identify graphics images. Provided you put a space after the PCX filename, you can use any additional space on this line for other information. This line still functions in the same way as all of the other lines. It can be indexed, searched, and cross referenced. Once you have a catalog with line 21 set-up all you need to do is enter the filename used by a PCX graphics image on that line. Just enter the filename, you do not need to enter the PCX filename extension. For example, if the name of the PCX file is SAMPLE.PCX, then just enter SAMPLE on line 21. Graphics images can only be displayed after an entry has been saved. Once an entry has been saved use either a search or the editor to display the catalog entry. You can also push F1, immediately after saving an entry, to directly go into the edit mode and display the entry you just saved. To display a graphics image push CTRL-PgDn. ________________ORGANIZE Your Home - REFERENCE SECTION - 58 If when you push CTRL-PgDn to see a graphics image you get a blank screen instead, then one of the following has happened: 1) The graphic image is in the wrong format. 2) Your computer can not display graphic images of the size and/or type stored in this file. 3) The image file does note exist. _________________PREDEFINED CATALOG FORMATS - HOME INVENTORY - 59 ORGANIZE! YOUR HOME The Organize Your Home software allows you to keep track of what you own, where items are located and how much it would cost to replace something that is lost. Unfortunately, most of us do not find out how much property insurance we need until after we suffer a major loss. We then may learn that our insurance coverage, although based on replacement value, is not sufficient to cover the complete loss. Or, worse yet, we are unable to document the true value of our possessions and thus the insurance will only pay to replace our lost possessions with lower quality items. This software helps provide you with protection in several ways. First, it provides a way for you to determine whether or not you have adequate property insurance.For example, insurance policies generally limit the coverage for some special items such as jewelry, collectibles (coins, stamps, plates, dolls, etc.), guns and furs. By categorizing items by type, this home inventory software can give you the total replacement value for each type of item you own.This allows you to compare what you actually have versus the limits given in your insurance policy. For those special items that need to be covered for more than a minimal amount, you generally will need to "schedule" them. What this means is that you give your insurance agent a list (or schedule) of the special items to be insured so that those items are specifically identified and the appropriate insurance supplied. Some of them may already be covered by your existing insurance. For others you may need to consider additional insurance. Your insurance agent will know the details of your policy, so once your inventory is complete, discuss it with your agent to determine if you need to schedule any items. Policies vary and it will take someone familiar with your policy, such as your agent, to provide you with specific recommendations. Of course, this software allows you to provide the list your agent will need. If you should suffer a loss, from theft, fire, vandalism - any type of loss, Home Insurance is your record of what you had. It will allow you to put together a list of what was lost, providing you with model numbers, serial numbers and descriptions.If the loss was due to theft, this provides the police with the information they'll need to identify and hopefully recover your things. It also provides the insurance company with the documentation they need to replace the lost items with items of the same or similar quality. _________________PREDEFINED CATALOG FORMATS - HOME INVENTORY - 60 Insurance companies generally try to protect themselves from people out to take advantage of them. Thus, if you have not documented the description, model number and serial number of the items you lost, you may not be able to recover the full replacement value. You should keep the receipts for every major purchase you make. This is the best documentation. But, what if your shoe boxes of receipts also go up in a fire? With your complete inventory on one floppy disk you can easily keep a copy at home and another at work or in a safe deposit box, so your records will be safe. Completing A Home Inventory Depending on the size of your home and how much you've packed into each closet, you can expect to spend several hours entering the list of everything you own into your inventory for the first time.I suggest setting aside one day to do a complete inventory. Start in one room and list the complete contents of that room (a clip board with a pad of paper will be helpful for this). Go from room to room until everything is listed. If you take a break, or have other people in your house (i.e. your kids), be careful not to move items from room to room as this can cause some confusion. If you haven't had an appraisal done recently, you might use your Sears, Penney's or other catalog to determine the current replacement value for some items. For others you may need to do a little window shopping to get a good idea of what it would cost to replace them. If you want to be accurate, don't guess. If you guess high, you will be paying for more insurance than you need. A low guess will result in inadequate coverage. Valuable items should be appraised by a professional appraiser to get a realistic estimate of their value. Talk with your insurance agent to get his recommendation concerning what items you should get appraised. With the home inventory template you can keep inventories for several insurance policies on one disk or you can keep each on a separate disk. Since you can specify virtually an unlimited number of locations and owners, each item can be pinpointed as to who owns it and where it is located. Thus you can include items that are in your office or at a summer home. With the home inventory template you can sort them out and provide a print-out for each location and owner. The catalog name for this format is: HI Let's look at the type of information that can be entered on each line: _________________PREDEFINED CATALOG FORMATS - HOME INVENTORY - 61 Description - You this line is used to enter and descriptive phrase that applies to this object. Depending on what the item is you could include information such as the brand name, color, the material it is made from, the style, or shape. Be consistent in the type of information you enter, however. If you use the NOTE -1 line to describe the color of an item, always use the NOTE -1 line for colors and nothing else. When making entries you should be consistent when using upper and lower case letters. During searches the software will differentiate between upper and lower case letters. Thus entering the work "Computer" is not the same as "COMPUTER." I usually enter the description using all upper case letters. Model # - Enter the model number of this item, if there is one. ID (Identifying) Mark - This line is for any identifying marks on the item. This could be a social security number engraved on the back of it; a specific pattern of scratches, dents, or other damage; or anything else that would uniquely identify this item. Serial Number - Enter the serial number, if there is one. Note - This line is provided for miscellaneous information. You can enter an abbreviation for the type of item; or describe the condition of the item; or any other information you feel is valuable. Value - Enter the current value of the item. This should be a realistic replacement value, which may be less than what you think the item is worth. If you over estimate the replacement value of an item, you could end up paying for more insurance than you are getting since your insurance will only pay the minimum amount need to replace an item. Always use the same number of digits when entering values. If the values of items in your collection ranges from $1 to $1000, then the $1 items should have their values entered as 0001 which uses the same number of digits as 1000. If you need to include cents some entries, such as in $1.50, but not on others, you do not need to type ".00". Digits to the right of the decimal point, while significant in determining the value of an item, do not effect how a computer sorts values. Owner(s) - Enter the name(s) of the people who own this item. Some of the Home Insurance functions use just the first three letters of the owner line to identify the owner. Be sure that the first three letters are different for each owner. For _________________PREDEFINED CATALOG FORMATS - HOME INVENTORY - 62 example, if two different owners have the same first name, start the owner line with their initials. For example, for Steven C. Hudgik and Stephen F. Zabrowski make the entries on the owner(s) line as follows: SCH - Steve Hudgik and SFZ - Steve Zabrowski NOTE: In the case of joint ownership, more than one name can be entered on this line. Location - Enter a description of the location of this item. The description can be a single word such as "Bedroom" or a complete address. Other - Like the NOTE line you can enter whatever information you feel is useful. You may enter more information about the owner(s) or location, or use this line to expand on the description of the type of item. Type - Use this line to classify items by type. The classifications you use will depend on your requirements. You can classify items by style, use or function, or any other way. Some examples of types would be: furniture, clothes, books, computer, stereo, auto parts, collectable, art, coins, furs, guns, and dishes. Entering a type classification is very important in that some items (guns, furs, collectibles, etc.) may require separate insurance. This is called scheduling and you should talk to your insurance agent about this once your inventory is complete. Purchase Date - The purchase can be important for establishing the value of an item.In most cases the specific day is not critical, so you can enter just the month and year. For things you've owned for awhile you may only be able to remember the year they were purchased - that's OK, enter just the year. However, for some items, such as stock certificates, you need to enter the exact date. Updated - Use this line to keep track of when you last checked/updated the information about this item, primarily the price. Typically you'll update your inventory once a year. I suggest setting up a macro with the current date. You then can enter the date on this line with a single ALT-key combination. Notes-1/2/3 - The next three lines provide space for you to enter additional information about each item. You can enter anything on these lines and this software can search to find any specific information you enter. I do urge you to be consistent in what is entered on each line. For example, if Note-1 is used to describe the color of an item, always use Note-1 for color and nothing else. _________________PREDEFINED CATALOG FORMATS - HOME INVENTORY - 63 The next set of six lines are intended to identify where you purchased (obtained) the item from. This could be a dealer, wholesaler, radio station contest, gift from a neighbor, etc.This information allows you to go back to the original dealer, if you need to replace the item. It may also help substantiate the value and quality of the item for an insurance claim. Purchased From - Enter the name of the dealer or person you got this item from. Address - Enter the street address for the above. City/State - Enter the city and state the above address is located in. Original Cost - Enter the amount you paid for this item. If it was a gift you can enter the value of the item at the time you received it. This is particularly important for items such as stocks or collectibles as you will need to be able to determine your gain or loss on the item should you sell it in the future. Note - This line provides additional space for information about the place your purchased the item from or it's original cost. I've made this line long enough so you can enter the dealer's phone number, if you wish to have an easy reference for that. Miscellaneous - Use this line to show any other additional information - for example you could enter an abbreviation for the type of dealer. _____________________ORGANIZE Your Home APPENDIX A - 64 APPENDIX A - PROBLEM SOLVING This section describes some of the errors and problems other users have encountered and recommends solutions. In most cases the software will detect problems, diagnose them and put a message on the screen. Permission Denied - this is a DOS error message. It means that you are using a disk that is write protected. Remove the write protection and the problem will be solved. This problem might also be caused by a directory that is full. You can have a full directory even if there is space available on your disk. Depending on the version of DOS you have there is a limit on the number of files you can have in a directory. In most cases this limit is 128 files. If you try to create more than 128 files you may get the "Permission Denied" error message. Unable To Change The Length Of A Line - If you want to change the length of a line in your catalog format, but the prompt for the line lengths does not appear on the Catalog Format Set Up screen, then the software is telling you that at least one entry has already been saved. Once an entry has been saved the length of the lines can not be changed. OYH uses what is called a fixed length random access data file. This allows entries to be found very quickly, but it means that if you change the lengths of any of the lines the software will no longer be able to read the data file. Thus, the software will not allow you to change the length of a line after an entry has been saved. If you need to change your catalog format after saving an entry you can do this by creating a new catalog format with the line lengths you want. Then use the copy feature to copy the entries from your old format to the new format. Once all of the entries have been copied (use the editor to see that they are correctly copied) the old catalog can be deleted. There is a Utility Menu option that is used to delete catalogs. The Software Won't Start - if when you type OYH the software does not start there are several possibilities: 1. If you get a message that says "Bad Command or Filename" then your computer can not find the OYH.EXE file. Be sure you are in the directory that contains the OYH.EXE file. To do this type DIR *.EXE and check to see that OYH.EXE is listed in the directory. If it is not listed you most likely will need to use the DOS CD command to change to the correct directory. _______________________ORGANIZE Your Home APPENDIX A - 65 2. If nothing happens or your computer locks up when you type OYH, you may have fragmented or cross linked files. Please see the section which discusses fragmented files. All Data Files Have Disappeared - I've had many people call me with this problem. Yesterday they were typing entry 4000 and today the software says they are on entry #1. What happened? Usually the cause of this problem is that the database filename has been changed. All 4000 entries still exist, they are just stored using a different filename than the current filename. In many cases the two filenames may be very similar such as PHOTO and PHOTOS. Its easy to get them mixed up, so be sure you are using the right filename. The Software Can't Find A Database Filename You Know Exists - in addition to the filename you can also set a PATH. This allows you to store data in other directories. If you are looking for a database file that is stored in a different directory, you will need to specify the PATH to that directory as a part of the filename. I generally recommend you keep all of your database files in the same directory as the OYH.EXE file. This makes it easier to keep track of what these files are used for and which program they go with. Fragmented Files - there is no error message that will tell you that your computer has fragmented files. Fragmented files are a normal result of using a computer. When a computer stores information on a disk it puts it into the next available sector on the disk. The next available sector may not be physically located anywhere near the previous sectors the computer was using. As you add to a data file it tends to be broken into small pieces that are scattered in various sectors all over the disk. The problem with fragmented files is that they slow down your computer because it takes more time for the heads in your disk drive to move from piece to piece of a file that is scattered all over a disk. With serious file fragmentation the computer can actually lose track of pieces of a file or start to get cross linked files. As a result the computer can become "confused" and lock-up, you might start getting strange results for searches or be unable to access some entries. _________________________ORGANIZE Your Home APPENDIX A - 66 If your computer was working fine yesterday and today seems to be giving you strange results and problems, the cause may be the result of fragmented files. I've seen all kinds of problems the range from software locking up to files becoming inaccessible. To solve and prevent this problem you'll need utility software such as PC Tools or the Norton Utilities. Both of these programs provide file de-fragmentation. You should defragment your hard disk on a regular basis. I've found my computer can get fragmented files after just one day of use (one day of use for me is probably a lot for someone else). In most cases you should perform preventive maintenance by defragmenting your hard disk after every 50 to 100 hours of use. An Asterisks Appears When The Software Is Started - If when you boot this software you get a blank screen with just an asterisks, then the security feature is activated. If you are unable to get past that screen, then you will need to use the RESET.EXE utility to regain access to this software. RESET.EXE is provided on the original this software disk. Because it serves as a generic key that will "open" the software, the install procedure leaves it on the original disk where other people can not use it. To use RESET.EXE you can copy it to the directory containing the this software (if you are not concerned about security). It may also be run from the original floppy disk. If you run it from a floppy disk, first set your computer so that the directory containing this software is the current directory on your hard drive. Get the DOS prompt for the disk drive where RESET.EXE is located. Type RESET. The utility will ask you to push the letter that identifies your hard disk. The utility will then reset the security function. I N D E X ASCII file, 15 Alphabetical searches, 14, 28, 29 Backing up, 5, 54 Browsing, 13, 25 CONFIG.SYS file, 8 Calculator, 56 Catalogs, Changing Names, 16 Catalogs, Setting Name, 16 Catalog format, Copying,44 Catalog Format, Indexing, 18 Catalog Format, Line Lengths, 43 Catalog Format, Line Titles, 17, 42 Catalog Format, Modifying, 17 Catalog Format, Setting Up, 17 Catalog Format, Totals, 18 Catalog line lengths, changing, 87 Clearing the screen, 21 Column headings, 50 Continuous Paper, 15 Copy previous entry, 23 Copy last entry, 24 Copy a single line, 24 Copy entries, 33 Cross referencing, 29 Dashed line, 50 Data files, existing, 2 Database, definition, 2 dBase file, importing, 36 Delete key, 21 Deleted entries, finding, 31 Deleted entries, eliminate, 41 Directory, definition, 3 Editing Entries, 12 Edit menu, 25 Edit menu, select number, 25 Edit menu, page backward, 25 Edit menu, page forward, 25 Edit menu, undelete entry, 26 Edit menu, remove memo, 26 Edit menu, save changes, 26 Entry number, 20 Erase screen, 24 Exit menu, 54 F1 key, 25 F2 Key, 25, 33 F3 key, 24 F6 key, 29 F7 key, 24 Filenames, 90 Find deleted entries, 31 Floppy disk, definition, 2 Fragmented files, 40, 54 Global search, 31 Graphic Images, 57 Hard disk, definition, 2 INSTALL.EXE, 6 Indexing, 18, 43 Insert key, 21 Installation, 6 Installation, floppy disk,7 Installation, hard disk, 6 LHA.EXE, 55 Line Titles, 17 Line Lengths, 43 List entries, 27 Macros, 45 Main Screen, 10, 20 Make new entries, saving, 23 mb, definition, 3 Memos, 22 Memo, removing (erasing), 26 Menus, Using the, 10 Music cataloging, 59 New Entries, Making, 11 New Entries, Saving, 12 New catalog format, set up, 42 OYH.EXE, 9 OYCOVL file, 58 Page backward, 25 Page forward, 25 Page length, 50 PgDn key, 22 Printed Reports, 15 Quick View, 15 Reindex, 37 Report menu, 48 Report menu, send to, 48 Report menu, dashed line, 50 Report menu, column headings, 50 Report menu, page length, 50 Report menu, set up format, 51 Report format, set up, 51 Reports, printing, 53 Reserve space, 40 Saving entries, 23 Screen print feature, 33 Screen colors, 47 Searching, 13 Search menu, 27 Search menu, list entries, 27 Search menu, alphabetically, 28 Search menu, sequential, 28 Search menu, global search, 31 Search menu, set starting point, 31 Search menu, case setting, 32 Search menu, save changes, 32 Search again, 33 Security code, 46 Sequential Searches, 14, 28 Sorting, 38 System requirements, 4 Technical support, 4 Total Values, 18, 33 Undelete entry, 26 Using this manual, 3 Utilities, 16 Utilities menu, 33 Utility menu, copy feature, 33 Utilities menu, reindex, 37 Utilities menu, sort, 38 Utilities menu, reserve space, 40 <end of documentation>