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README.TXT
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1995-10-29
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This file contains general information about Datafit version 2.1 and Viewplot
version 2.1 by Engineered Software.
Table of Contents:
Section 1 - What is Datafit/Viewplot?
Section 2 - Machine Requirements
Section 3 - Distribution and License Information
Section 4 - Automatic Installation using SETUP.EXE
Section 5 - Manual Installation
Section 6 - Version 2.1 and previous Release Notes
Section 7 - Contacting us
Section 8 - Thank you
Section 1 - What is Datafit/Viewplot?
Datafit is an an Engineering tool which is useful for generating
functional equations and FFT calculations for tabular sampled
data. It allows the user to import the data from a file or enter
it through a built in editor. For curve fitting, Cubic Splines and
Least Squares techniques are used. The equation coefficients and
calculated vs. entered data can be displayed and printed in tabular
format. Statistics, such as correlation between entered and calculated
data, are also calculated. Once equation coefficients are determined,
the program can generate subroutine source code (Basic and C) which
can readily be compiled and used to interpolate the data in user written
programs. FFT calculations can be done on the entered data directly, or
can be first spline fitted to allow a faster sampling rate. The FFT
magnitude and phase calculations can also be displayed and printed in
tabular format. In addition, output from this program for both the curve
fitting functions and FFT calculations can be fed into Viewplot and the
results can be viewed and compared graphically.
Viewplot for is an Engineering tool which is useful for plotting functional
equations and FFT calculations generated by the program Datafit. It can be
used stand-alone, or launched from within Datafit once the programs have
been registered. It has the ability to plot multiple curves from one or
more datasets and display them in the same or separate windows
simultaneously. Plots can be customized by formatting legends, numerical
scaling, line colors, line styles and axis/title labels. The plots can be
saved, printed or copied to the Windows clipboard for pasting into other
applications.
Section 2 - Machine Requirements
Datafit/Viewplot for Windows requires Windows 3.1 or better. A minimum of
four megabytes of memory is recommended. The software has also been tested
under Windows NT version 3.5x and Windows 95. A minimum Screen resolution
of 800 x 600 is required. The software will run with resolutions less then
this, but some of the text or buttons may be clipped in the windows.
Section 3 - Distribution and License Information
Datafit and Viewplot are being distributed as Shareware. They are not FREE
software or Public Domain software. You may freely distribute copies of them
to others for evaluation purposes. You may use the software for 15 days free
of charge. After the 15 day evaluation you have two options:
1. Register and purchase them from the authors
2. Stop using them and remove the files from your hard disk.
You are required to register your copy of DataFit and Viewplot if you find
them useful. A lot of hard work went into making them, and a lot more will
go into making them better. You MUST register to obtain Technical support.
Payment of $30.00 (based on US currency) can be accepted in the following
forms:
1. Cash
2. Check/Money Order
3. Credit Card (Visa, Mastercard, American Express)
4. First Virtual
5. Invoice
This payment will cover the use of both programs. Once you are registered,
you can obtain technical support, provide input for future releases, get
rid of the nagging registration screens, receive upgrade information, and
generally feel better about yourself.
To register, select "Complete Registration Form" from the Registration
Information panel, or double click on the "Register" icon in the Engineered
Software program group. The Registration form will appear. Follow the
detailed instructions on the form. Depending on your payment option,
you will be given instructions on how to send the payment. You only
need to complete one registration form for both Datafit and Viewplot.
Once we receive the form, you will receive a confirmation letter which
will include your registration number and license agreement. Once you
have received a registration number, you may permanently enter it by
selecting "Enter Registration" from the registration information panel.
Be sure to enter your name EXACTLY how it is spelled on the confirmation
letter. If you have any problems entering your registration number, please
contact technical support. For more information about registering the
software, see "Obtaining a License for Datafit/Viewplot" in the online help.
Section 4 - Automatic Installation using SETUP.EXE
To automatically install Datafit/Viewplot for Windows on your hard drive:
1. If you have received the software from an archive in the form of a .ZIP
file, copy the contents of the archive to a temporary directory and unzip
the files. Copy the unzipped files to a floppy disk to keep as a backup.
If you have received the software on a floppy disk directly from
Engineered Software, the files will already be unzipped.
2. If you received the files from an archive, you will also need to download
the file "VBRUN300.DLL" and copy it to your Windows\System directory. If
you recieved the software directly from Engineered Software, this file
will be included and copied automatically during the installation.
3. Place the disk in a floppy drive of your computer.
4. Open the File menu of the Windows program manager and select Run.
5. In the Run dialog box, type A:SETUP or B:SETUP, depending on the floppy
drive used.
6. The Setup application will prompt you for additional information as
required.
Section 5 - Manual Installation
If for some reason the installation program SETUP.EXE fails, you can
manually install the software by following the instructions below. We won't
point any fingers, but typically installation failure is neither your fault
nor ours....
Before proceeding, please note the behavior you experienced and let us
know what happened. This includes error messages, ect. Problems are rare
with the automatic installation, however, we want to make sure the
installation goes as smoothly as possible.
1. If you have received the software from an archive in the form of a .ZIP
file, copy the contents of the archive to a temporary directory and unzip
the files. Copy the unzipped files to a floppy disk to keep as a backup.
If you have received the software on a floppy disk directly from
Engineered Software, the files will already be unzipped.
2. If you received the files from an archive, you will also need to download
the file "VBRUN300.DLL" and copy it to your Windows\System directory. If
you recieved the software directly from Engineered Software, this file
will be included and copied automatically during the installation.
3. Place the disk in a floppy drive of your computer.
4. Create a directory called "Engrsoft" on your hard disk. This will be the
directory where the software will reside. For example, at the c:\ prompt,
type the following:
mkdir engrsoft
5. Change to the directory you have just created and create another directory
called "projects". This is where the project and solution files will
reside. For example, type the following:
cd engrsoft
mkdir projects
6. Change to the floppy drive and type the following command:
c:\windows\expand datafit.ex_
If your windows installation is in a different directory, substitute the
correct path for <c:\windows> in the line above. Also note the underscore
character at the end of the file name.
7. Expand will ask you to "Enter the location for the expanded files." Enter
the complete path to the "engrsoft" directory you created in step 4 above.
8. Repeat steps 6 and 7 for each file in the following list:
datafit.ex_
viewplot.ex_
datafit.hl_
viewplot.hl_
register.ex_
register.hl_
9. Repeat steps 6 and 7 for the following list of files, except when
prompted for location of expanded files, specify the directory
"c:\windows\system". If your windows installation is in a different
directory, substitute the correct path for <c:\windows> in the line above.
You should check the dates on these files, and do not copy over them
(if they exist) if the dates on the files in the windows directory are
newer than the files on the floppy disk. You may want to back up these
files in your windows\system directory before proceeding. Re-read the
previous two sentences, and please do not continue until you complete
those two steps!
commdlg.dl_
gauge.vb_
grid.vb_
cmdialog.vb_
spin.vb_
threed.vb_
vbrun300.dl_
10. Copy the file readme.txt (this file) to the "engrsoft" directory you
created in step 4 above.
11. Create a program group called "Engineered Software". In that program
group, create the following program items:
"Datafit" - executable datafit.exe
"Viewplot" - executable viewplot.exe
"Datafit Help" - datafit.hlp help file
"Viewplot Help" - viewplot.hlp help file
"Register" - executable register.exe
This step is done a little differently, depending on whether you are
running Windows '95, or Windows 3.X, or Windows NT 3.5X. In Windows
help, you may want to look up "creating folders" or "program groups"
for Windows '95, or "program groups" in 3.x or NT 3.5x. The icons for
the executables are em-bedded in the executable file.
12. Create a file called "datafit.ini" in your windows directory. The file
should contain the following lines:
projectdir = C:\ENGRSOFT\PROJECTS
fontface = Courier
fontheight = 10
default_x = 0
default_y = 0
Make sure the file appears EXACTLY (upper/lower case) as shown above.
In the projectdir line, the path should be to the "projects" directory
you created in step 5 above. If your machine does not have the Courier
font installed, you may want to try Courier New, or another font resident
on your system. For more information, see the section "Customizing
Datafit" in the Datafit online help.
13. Create a file called "viewplot.ini" in your windows directory. The file
should contain the following lines:
screenwidth = 600
screenheight = 800
default_x = 0
default_y = 0
projectdir = C:\ENGRSOFT\PROJECTS
Make sure the file appears EXACTLY (upper/lower case) as shown above.
In the projectdir line, the path should be to the "projects" directory
you created in step 5 above. For more information, see the section
"Customizing Viewplot" in the Viewplot online help.
Section 6 - Version 2.1 and Previous Release Notes
Datafit and Viewplot Version 2.1 is a FREE upgrade for current Version 2.0
and 1.0 users. Not every upgrade will be free, but some interim releases
will be. If there is a charge for upgrades in the future, it will be
somewhat less than purchasing it for the first time. If you register the
software, you will be notified of new releases. Work is going on on a
daily basis, so register the software and submit your requests. We can't
guarantee that we will honor every feature request, but we will do our
best.
Changes/Bug Fixes in Datafit Version 2.1
1. Text note box was added. This allows the user to type notes in the
text box which are saved along with the projects. See the section
"Entering Notes" in the online help.
2. FFT capabilities added. See the section "FFT Calculations" in the
online help.
3. The calculated Y data for Cubic Splines was corrected in the View
Equations/Statistics Panel. Previously the calculated data was
displayed incorrectly because the solved coefficient data was
not read in as double precision.
4. The installation program previously overwrote the datafit.ini
and viewplot.ini files in the Windows directory if the software
had already been installed. If the files already exist, they will
no longer be overwritten.
5. Backward file compatility exists to previous versions.
6. If the default windows fonts Courier, Ms Sans Serif, or Arial
were not present on the users system, the user would get an error
which said "Invalid Property Value". A more descriptive error
message comes up, and the program continues with the windows system
standard font.
7. If the screen resolution is less than 800 x 600, a warning panel
tells the user to change his screen resolution to a minimum of
800 x 600. The software will continue, but there will not be enough
screen real estate to display the screens, hence buttons and text
may not show up.
8. We now accept payment of various forms. See section 2 above.
9. Adding printing status panels.
Changes/Bug Fixes in Viewplot Version 2.1
1. The ability to display FFT calculations was added.
2. The default axis limits initialize to more 'reasonable' values
instead of fitting to max and min values.
3. Input data is now displayed at the top of the equation list when
opening or importing a new file.
4. Added 3D check boxes in colors and line style panels.
5. The ability to view plot coordinates by clicking was added. See
the section "Show Coordinates" in the online help.
6. Backward file compatility exists to previous versions.
7. Adding printing status panels.
Changes/Bug Fixes in Datafit Version 2.0:
1. Added additional Least Squares functions. These are common functions
used in scientific and statistical analysis. See the section "Specifying
Equation Types" in the online help.
2. Added ability to export source code in C and Basic to readily include
the solved equations in other source code. See the section "Exporting
Program Subroutines" in the online help.
3. Revised the View menu to more easily view the solution parameters. See
the section "Viewing Output" in the online help.
4. You can now access Viewplot directly from Datafit. The software must
be registered before this feature can be accessed. See the section
"Viewing Output" in the online help.
Changes/Bug Fixes in Viewplot Version 2.0:
1. Viewplot can run in either standalone mode as before, or can be accessed
directly from Datafit. The software must be registered before this
feature can be accessed. See the section "Viewing Output" in the Datafit
online help.
Stay tuned. Some more neat stuff is on the way....
Section 7 - Contacting us
If you have any questions or problems installing or setting up the programs,
you may contact us via email at johng@kagi.com, or by US Mail at:
Engineered Software
C/O John A. Gilmore
1315 Varner Road
Pittsburgh, PA 15227
For more information, please see the section "Obtaining Technical Support"
in the online help.
Section 8 - Thank you
Thank you for taking the time to evaluate this software. We hope it does
what you need easily and efficiently. If you have any comments, good or bad,
PLEASE send them to the address in Section 7.