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Text File | 1995-12-19 | 26KB | 507 lines

┌────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ The Dallas Cowboy Fanatic's Companion v1.0 │ │ 16 Bit Windows 3.1/Windows 95 Version │ └────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ┌────────────────────────┐ │ What This Program Does │ └────────────────────────┘ This is a 16 bit Windows/Win95 program that makes it easy to view an enormous amount of information on the National Football League team, the Dallas Cowboys. It takes full advantage of Windows' easy-to-use features like drop down menus and dialog boxes. ┌─────────────────────────────────┐ │ The Information In This Program │ └─────────────────────────────────┘ This program includes the following information on the Dallas Cowboys which is current/up-to-date through the 1994 NFL Season (although, I put in several records that were set during the 1995 season & most head-to-head scores): * The NFL Standings (1960-1994) with the Cowboy's won/loss record highlighted * The Head-to-Head scores of every regular season & post season game played by the Cowboys, categorized by team/division/conference * Cowboy Team & NFL records in numerous categories, including Cowboy players in the all-time Top 20 lists for rushing, receiving & passing, playoff & Super Bowl records, 1000 yard rushers & receivers, and quite a few other Cowboy accomplishments * A detailed run-down of every Super Bowl that the Cowboys have played in * A list of Cowboy Hall of Fame player profiles * A list of Cowboy Ring of Honor player profiles * A list of important dates in Cowboy history * Cowboy team info (address/phone number/etc.) * A list of players drafted first by the Cowboys ┌─────────────────────────┐ │ How To Run This Program │ └─────────────────────────┘ There are several ways to run this program in Windows 3.1 (All of the following methods assume that you have already unarchived the .ZIP file into a directory somewhere on your hard drive): USING THE FANATIC'S COMPANION FROM THE WINDOWS FILE MANAGER: ------------------------------------------------------------ Run the Windows 3.1 File Manager. Click on the hard drive icon of the hard drive where the FanCompanion program executable currently resides. Click on the folder/directory where the .EXE program is located. Find the small icon that represents the .EXE and click on it. If you did everything correctly, a small introductory dialog box should appear on your screen. For more info on the operation of this program, read the "HOW TO USE THIS PROGRAM" section elsewhere in this file. USING THE FANATIC'S COMPANION FROM THE PROGRAM MANAGER RUN MENU: ---------------------------------------------------------------- Click on the FILE menu at the top of the screen in the Windows Program Manager. A drop down menu will appear with several options. Click on RUN (it should be the next-to-the-last item on this menu). A dialog box will appear on your screen with four buttons (OK, Cancel, Browse & Help). Use the BROWSE button to tell Windows where the FanCompanion .EXE file is located (You will get a BROWSE dialog box where you can click on the various directories and drives that you maintain on your computer - if you aren't sure how to use this dialog box, see the Windows documentation for more information). Once you have told Windows where to find the FanCompanion executable file, the RUN dialog box will have the path & filename in the COMMAND LINE text box. Click the OK button. If you did everything correctly, a small introductory dialog box should appear on your screen. For more info on the operation of this program, read the "HOW TO USE THIS PROGRAM" section elsewhere in this file. USING THE FANATIC'S COMPANION FROM A PROGRAM MANAGER PROGRAM GROUP: ------------------------------------------------------------------- This is how to add the FanCompanion to an already existing Program Group on your Windows desktop. This section assumes that you already have the Program Group where you want to place the new icon open on your desktop. If you'd rather put the new program icon in a new program group, see the Windows documentation for details on creating a new program group. Click on the FILE menu at the top of the screen in the Windows Program Manager. A drop down menu will appear with several options. Click on NEW (it should be the first item on this menu). A dialog box named NEW PROGRAM OBJECT will appear on your screen with three buttons (OK, Cancel & Help). The PROGRAM ITEM option is already selected. Click the OK button. A PROGRAM ITEM PROPERTIES dialog box will appear on your screen with five buttons (OK, Cancel, Browse, Change Icon & Help). It also has four empty text boxes (Description, Command Line, Working Directory and Shortcut Key). Use the BROWSE button to tell Windows where the Fanatic's Companion .EXE file is located (You will get a BROWSE dialog box where you can click on the various directories and drives that you maintain on your computer - if you aren't sure how to use this dialog box, see the Windows documentation for more information). The FanCompanion program's drive path and filename should now be in the Command Line text box. Two other options are available now, but they aren't required: (1) You can type in a detailed description in the Description text box (if you don't, Windows will use whatever characters are on the left of the period in the filename, CBYWIN## where ## is the version number of the program). (2) You can also change the default icon of the program at this time (or any other time in the future) by clicking on the Change Icon button. I've included five icons linked into the executable of the program. If these aren't to your liking, you can change them by using the Browse button on the Change Icon dialog box that is now on your screen. Once you have the path & filename in the Command Line text box, hit the OK button and the FanCompanion's icon should appear in the opened program group. If it didn't, go back to the beginning of this section and make sure you've followed all the steps correctly. You may now click on the FanCompanion's icon to start the program. Skip to the section entitled "HOW TO USE THIS PROGRAM" elsewhere in this file. USING THE FANATIC'S COMPANION FROM "MY COMPUTER" IN WINDOWS 95: --------------------------------------------------------------- Open the "My Computer" folder and click on the icon of the hard drive where the FanCompanion executable resides. Open the folder/directory where the .EXE resides. Click on it's icon. If you don't understand how to use folders, see the Windows 95 documentation for more information). Skip to the section entitled "HOW TO USE THIS PROGRAM" elsewhere in this file. USING THE FANATIC'S COMPANION FROM THE EXPLORER IN WINDOWS 95: -------------------------------------------------------------- Start the Explorer and click on the hard drive and then the folder/directory where the FanCompanion executable currently resides. Click on the icon that represents the .EXE. (If you don't understand how to use the Explorer see the Windows 95 documentation for more information). Skip to the section entitled "HOW TO USE THIS PROGRAM" elsewhere in this file. USING THE FANATIC'S COMPANION FROM A SHORTCUT UNDER WINDOWS 95: --------------------------------------------------------------- Right click on the location you want a "shortcut" for this program to reside (the desktop, or in a folder for example). A pop up menu will appear. Choose NEW from the menu and move to the Create New Shortcut option from the sub-menu. A dialog box will appear. Click the BROWSE button and specify the location of the FanCompanion executable on your hard drive. Give the new FanCompanion shortcut a suitable name and the icon will change and be ready for use. Double click on the icon to run. (If you don't understand how to create a shortcut, maneuver the BROWSE/File dialog box or any other operation under Windows 95, see the Windows 95 documentation). For details on how to use the program after it's running, keep reading... ┌───────────────────────────┐ │ How To Use This Program │ └───────────────────────────┘ When you first run the Fanatic's Companion, you will get an introductory dialog with a little information about the program. There will be two buttons on this dialog (OK and Cancel). If you click the Cancel button, the program will stop running and you will be returned to where you were at before you started the program. If you click the OK button, a large window will appear on your screen. It will have the title and version of the FanCompanion on the top border and six menu titles directly underneath. This window is the main viewing screen of the Fanatic's Companion. All of the information displayed from the program will appear within this window. You may now choose options from the six menus on the menu bar in order to display the various information contained in the Fanatic's Companion. The six menus are EXIT, STANDINGS, HEAD TO HEAD, ACCOMPLISHMENTS, MISCELLANEOUS and HELP. Each of these will contain at least one option underneath (but probably more than one). Here's a rundown of each of the six menu titles and the options that may appear beneath (I have paraphrased or abbreviated some menu options because they may be different depending on the specific version of the FanCompanion that you're currently using): ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Exit Standings Head to Head Accomp. Misc. Help ---------+-+----------+-+--------------+-+-----------+-+--------+-+-----------+ |Clear F8| | Decade 1>| | Team vs Div.>| | Records >| | Dates >| | Help F1| |Exit F9| | Decade 2>| | Team vs Div.>| | S.Bowls >| | Info | | About F2| +--------+ | Decade 3>| | Team vs Div.>| | H.of Fame>| | Draft | | Sharew. F3| | Decade 4>| | Team vs Div.>| +-----------+ +--------+ | Discl. F4| +----------+ +--------------+ | Info F5| | SBI Prg F6| +-----------+ You will notice a couple of things that I can't recreate here because this is a plain ASCII text file. First, each menu option has *ONE* character UNDERLINED. This is the KEYBOARD SHORTCUT for that given menu option (See the section that follows about Keyboard Shortcuts). Second, several of the menus have options with little triangluar arrows pointing to the RIGHT of that given option (I used the > character to represent them on the diagrams in this document). These arrows mean that the option has ANOTHER nested sub-menu. You can cascade these sub-menus by highlighting the menu option (it will automatically pop up to the right of the drop down menu that you are currently using). You can then move your mouse to the right in order to highlight the various options on THAT sub-menu. Be sure to hold down the left mouse button until you are on the sub-menu option that you want to choose! It takes a bit of dexterity on the longer sub-menus. If that's too hard, read the section that follows on "Keyboard Shortcuts". MENU OPTIONS: ------------- To choose things off any of the six drop down menus, you simply move your mouse down until the reversed/highlight is over the option that you want. Here is a list of the "general" options that will appear on most Fanatic's Companion program's drop down menus. ------------------- Exit ------------------- | Clear Screen F8| <--- This option will clear the viewing screen. | Exit F9| <--- This option quits & exits the FanCompanion +-----------------+ (Note: the F8 & F9 function keys will activate these two menu options at *ANY* time). ------------- Standings ------------- | Decade 1 >| <--- These menu options will pop up a sub-menu to the | Decade 2 >| <--- right of each option (notice the little arrow). | Decade 3 >| <--- On the pop up sub-menu will be a list of the various | Decade 4 >| <--- years of the given decade chosen. +-----------+ ------------------ Head to Head ------------------ | Team vs Div. 1>| <--- These menu options will pop up a sub-menu to the right | Team vs Div. 2>| <--- of each option (notice the little arrows). | Team vs Div. 3>| <--- On the pop up sub-menu will be a list of the various | Team vs Div. 4>| <--- teams in that given Division of the NFL. | Team vs Div. 5>| <--- | Post Season >| <--- This option lists the various divisions for Head to +----------------+ Head competition in the Playoffs/Super Bowls. ------------------ Accomplishments ------------------ | Team Records >| <--- Team & NFL records of the featured NFL Team. | Super Bowls >| <--- Super Bowls (if any) of the featured NFL Team. | Hall of Fame >| <--- Hall of Famers who played on the featured NFL Team. +---------------+ ------------------- Miscellaneous ------------------- | Historic Dates >| <--- Historic Dates in the featured NFL Team's past. | Team Info >| <--- Team info (address/phone number/misc. info). | Draft Picks >| <--- First draft picks of the featured NFL Team. +-----------------+ -------------------- Help -------------------- | Useless Help F1| <-- Pops up a reminder on how to use the FanCompanion. | About Program F2| <-- Displays background info on the FanCompanion. | Shareware F3| <-- An obnoxious shareware reminder. | Disclaimer F4| <-- A disclaimer about the info in the FanCompanion. | More Info F5| <-- Some further info on the FanCompanion's data. | Other SBI Prgs F6| <-- A list of other Snake-Byte programs. +------------------+ (Note: the Function keys F1 - F6 will activate these menu options at *ANY* time). KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS: ------------------- Each option on each menu (and the six menu titles on the menu bar) have *ONE* character UNDERLINED. This represents the keyboard shortcut for THAT given menu option. Most people prefer to use their mouse pointer to click on the option, but these keyboard shortcuts perform the same actions as the mouse. The way to "activate" the keyboard shortcut is to press the <ALT> key on your keyboard (it should be a small key on either side of your <SPACE BAR>). When you press the <ALT> key, you will notice that the first menu title on the menu bar is highlighted in reverse colors (the colors vary, depending on the color scheme that you run on your computer). This means that the option that is highlighted is now activated and can be chosen by pressing your <ENTER> key. For example, if you hit <ALT> and the EXIT menu title is highlighted on the menu bar, if you were to hit <ENTER> the menu beneath the EXIT title will drop down. You can use your cursor arrow keys to move the reversed/highlighted area back and forth on the menu bar (or up and down within a given drop down menu). Another example -- if you want to view the standings for 1962 on the 60s pop up sub-menu from the STANDINGS menu, the keyboard shortcut would be as follows (note: press each key listed once in this sequence, and don't hold any of the keys down): <ALT> s 6 2 The standings in the NFL for the year 1962 should appear in the main window. If they didn't go back to the start of the KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS section and make sure you did everything correctly. ACCELERATOR KEYS: ----------------- If you see a "key" listed on the right side of a menu option, that "key" will execute the given menu option AT *ALMOST* ANY TIME DURING the program's execution. For example, at any time after you get the main viewing window on your screen, you can hit the F1 function key to bring up the brief "Help" dialog box, or the F6 key to bring up a list of other programs available from Snake-Byte Incorporated. NOTE: If one of the dialog boxes is already on the screen (the Other S.B.I. Programs box, for example), the Accelerator Keys will not work until you click the OK button to cancel the dialog box. Also, if you have hit the <ALT> key to activate the Menu Bar, the Accelerator Keys will not work until you complete the Keyboard Shortcut sequence *OR* hit the <ESC> key to "de-activate" the Menu Bar, canceling the Keyboard Shortcut sequence. ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ The Harsh Reality of Trickle Down Economics │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────┘ This program took a lot of hard work to produce (Several weeks of honing the Windows code and several more weeks of entering the data, debugging and proof reading the program's output). This process resulted in over 11,400 lines of Windows C/C++ code! And, unfortunately, nothing in life is free. But this nifty little program almost is! That's right -- you can clear your conscience and assure that there'll be future updates to this program (as well as other neato-frito programs from Snake-Byte Inc.) for the ridiculously reasonable, almost-FREE sum of $10.00. How can we afford to let this rare jewel of a program go for the piddly little amount of $10.00?!?! Because, here at Snake-Byte Inc., we deal in VOLUME! VOLUME!! VOLUME!!! We'll eat a bug to make a sale! Come on down to our Midnight Madness sale and...Wait a minute. Wrong sales pitch. Sorry. Anyway, you get the picture. <Insert normal shareware begging/pleading/demanding here>. What do you get for your $10.00? That warm-tummy feeling of satisfaction knowing you did the RIGHT thing. This program is in no way "Crippled". I detest "CrippleWare" and decided early on that I wouldn't do that kind of thing. So, there's no "registered version". What you have now is the fully-functional program. It contains one little shareware notice option on the main menu (you don't even have to look at if you don't want to) and it shows that "nag" screen ONLY when you exit the program, so it doesn't inconvenience you before or during the program's execution. (And if that gets your shorts in a bunch, send me a 3.5 disk plus return postage and the registration fee and I'll compile you a special version sans nags!). Here's where to send the cash/check/money order: Will Morgan 2516 Wood St. Texarkana, Tx 75503 ┌────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ The History of This Windows Program │ └────────────────────────────────────────┘ Version 0.999 - Beta version. Honed the mechanics of the program. Version 1.0w - First release version of this 16 bit Windows program. ┌─────────────────────────┐ │ Known Bugs & Problems │ └─────────────────────────┘ There are no known bugs or problems. ┌──────────────────────────────┐ │ Swatting Any Pesky Insects │ └──────────────────────────────┘ If you encounter any problems with this program (either bugs in the actual mechanics of the program, or misspellings and/or incorrect info in the various data areas of the program) please drop me a line at one of e-mail addresses in the last section of this document. I will try and implement the fix in the next version of the program that I release. ┌────────────────────────────┐ │ Big Plans For The Future │ └────────────────────────────┘ I will try to update this program ANNUALLY, to reflect each completed NFL season, if possible. I'll may add some printing routines so you can print out stats, records standings and lists. A 32 bit OS/2 text version of this program is also available. Look for the file named CBYOS2##.ZIP where you grabbed this version (the ## is the two digit version number code). A 32 bit OS/2 Presentation Manager version of this program will be available by the time you read this. Look for the file named CBY_PM##.ZIP where you grabbed this version (the ## is the two digit version number code). A 32 bit Extended DOS version of this program is also available. Look for the file named CBYDOS##.ZIP where you grabbed this version. (the ## is the two digit version number code). A Win95 version? Not at the present time. I have Win95 installed on another partition of my hard drive, but I don't have a compiler that supports Win95 (yet) and I don't really know anything about programming for Win95 (yet). I have tested the 32 Bit DOS version and this 16 bit Windows version under Win95 and they both work like a charm, so at least Win95 users can check the programs out until I can come up with an "actual" Win32 version. MAC, Unix & Amiga versions? Very doubtful because I don't own a MAC and don't run Unix (although, I do own an Amiga 500 - but I don't have a hard drive or compiler or current version of AmigaDOS). A Pet, Vic20, C64, C128, Timex Sinclair, TI or CoCo version? Jeeeez! It's the 90s, people!!! Isn't it about time you upgraded your computer? FanCompanions for other NFL teams? Well, as loyal a Cowboy fan as I am, it may be tough for me to "do" another team, but if the demand is great enough, I may release other FanCompanions. Email me if you'd like to see an F.C. for your favorite team. ┌──────────────────────────────┐ │ Other Programs Available │ │ from SNAKE-BYTE INCORPORATED │ └──────────────────────────────┘ I've released a series of "Autmated Episode Guides" for various popular television programs. They are just as easy to use as THIS program and come in a variety of flavors for all major PC based operating systems (just like this program). Here is a list of the TV shows & the filenames for the various operating system that are currently available: 32 bit 32 bit 32 bit 16 bit TV Show Name DOS Filename OS/2 Text OS/2 P.M. Windows/Win95 ======================================================================== Mystery Science MSTDOS##.ZIP MSTOS2##.ZIP MST_PM##.ZIP MSTWIN##.ZIP Theater 3000 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The X-Files XFLDOS##.ZIP XFLOS2##.ZIP XFL_PM##.ZIP XFLWIN##.ZIP ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Quantum Leap QLPDOS##.ZIP QLPOS2##.ZIP QLP_PM##.ZIP QLPWIN##.ZIP ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Star Trek: TNGDOS##.ZIP TNGOS2##.ZIP TNG_PM##.ZIP TNGWIN##.ZIP Next Generation ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Star Trek: TOSDOS##.ZIP TOSOS2##.ZIP TOS_PM##.ZIP TOSWIN##.ZIP Original Series ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Deep Space 9 DS9DOS##.ZIP DS9OS2##.ZIP DS9_PM##.ZIP DS9WIN##.ZIP ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Simpsons SMPDOS##.ZIP SMPOS2##.ZIP SMP_PM##.ZIP SMPWIN##.ZIP ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Babylon 5 BA5DOS##.ZIP BA5OS2##.ZIP BA5_PM##.ZIP BA5WIN##.ZIP ======================================================================== All Snake-Byte Incorporated programs are available from the FTP site at clover.cleaf.com /pub/mst3k/snake-byte/NON-MST3K. Fidonet users can download or FREQ Snake-Byte Incorporated programs from the following BBS: Board Name Location Fido Address Phone Number ======================================================================= X-Capade BBS Texarkana, TX 1:3819/190 1-903-793-0166 ┌────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Contacting the Author of This Program │ └────────────────────────────────────────┘ Want to thank me for such a fantastic program? Bitch me out for wasting your download time & hard drive space? Suggest future additions to this program, corrections on the data/info or ideas for future programs? Lonely and just need a cyber-shoulder to cry on? Well, for all these reasons except that last one there, you can contact me by one of the following methods: Fidonet Netmail: 1:3819/128.103 Fidonet Echos I Hang Out On: MST3K, NFL & OS/2 Internet email: wmorgan@clover.cleaf.com will.morgan@p103.f128.n3819.z1.fidonet.org US Snail Mail: (See Address in the Shareware Nag)