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1989-08-23
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ADDMAN V3.1
ADDress MANager
User Documentation
Prepared by:
M.B Jackson August 1989
INDEX
=====
1.0 ......... Shareware
1.1 ......... Disclaimer
2.0 ......... Introduction
2.1 ......... Getting started
2.2 ......... The Main Screen
2.3 ......... The Main Menu
2.4 ......... Help
2.5 ......... Exiting the program
3.0 ......... Creating a file
3.1 ......... Adding records
3.2 ......... The Address Record
3.3 ......... Saving data to disk
4.0 ......... Opening an existing file
4.1 ......... Moving around the file
4.2 ......... Editing a record
4.3 ......... Deleting a record
5.0 ......... Printing
5.1 ......... Printing Labels - Current record
5.2 ......... Printing Labels - Whole file
5.3 ......... Printing Phone List
5.4 ......... Printing a Report
5.5 ......... The Printer Settings
6.0 ......... Quick Reference
1.0 Shareware
ADDMAN is brought to you as SHAREWARE. Please feel free to try it, and
copy it for your friends. If you find it useful, you are asked to
register as a user, and send the author a contribution of $15. A
registration form is printed below. This will provide the author with
the encouragement and incentive to maintain and improve ADDMAN, and
develop more shareware programs.
1.1 DISCLAIMER
The author claims no responsibility for any damage caused by the use
of this program. The program is distributed 'as is' with no warranty
expressed or implied. The author will not be responsible for any
losses incurred by the use of this program.
___________________________________________________________________________
ADDMAN Registration Form
------------------------
Please enter your name and address below, and send $15 to:
Michael B Jackson
178 Little Marlow Rd,
Marlow
Bucks SL7 1HX
ENGLAND
Name _____________________________
Street _____________________________
City _____________________________
State __ Zip _____
EMAIL address ______________________________________
ADDMAN version V____
Where did you get ADDMAN from? ______________________
Comments ___________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
2.0 Introduction
ADDMAN is a program which makes it easy for you to manage databases of
names and addresses for either personal or business use. Records are
entered and updated through a very simple form-fill process, and once
entered they are stored on disk. Sorting is available by Name or
Company, and individual records can be easily be retrieved. Reports
can be produced containing full name and address details, or simply
names and phone numbers. Address labels or index cards can be printed
either for individual records, or for the whole file.
ADDMAN is designed to be easy to use, and experienced pc users may
wish to skip this documentation and run the program by simply typing
ADDMAN. Online help screens are available. For those who are not
comfortable with 'diving in' the following should provide the overview
needed.
2.1 Getting Started
For hard disk users, I suggest that you create a subdirectory called
ADDMAN and copy the ADDMAN.EXE program file into it. If you then run
the program from within this directory, any address data files that
you create will also be stored here.
For floppy disk users, you may choose to store data files on the same
disk that the program is stored on, or alternatively you may wish to
use separate disks for program and data files.
To start the program, type ADDMAN at the DOS prompt.
C:>ADDMAN
This will inititiate the program, and display the Shareware
information screen. Hit the ENTER key to clear this screen. The main
screen will then be displayed.
2.2 The Main Screen
The main screen comprises a menu selection area across the top of the
screen, and an address window in the centre. The current address
record is always displayed in this window. However, when you first
enter this screen, no address file is active, and so there is no
current record. Instead, a message reminds you to either open an
existing address data file, or create a new one.
2.3 The Main Menu
The main menu is displayed across the top of the screen and contains
the following options:
File Sort Record Print Help Quit
Menu selections are made by either:
a) highlighting the desired option by use of the left and right
cursor keys, and then hitting the ENTER key.
b) simply typing the first letter of the option required eg H for
Help, F for File etc.
Selecting any of these menu options (except for Help) causes a
sub-menu to 'pop up'. For example, if you select Quit, then a sub-menu
appears asking 'are you sure?' with menu options Yes or No.
Selection from the sub-menu is similar to the main menu - either
highlight the required option with the up/down cursor keys and hit
Enter, or simply key in the first letter of the option required.
When in a sub-menu, hitting the Escape key will always take you back
to the main screen.
2.4 Help
Help can be obtained either by selecting the Help menu option from the
main screen, or by hitting the F1 key at any stage. This will display
a series of screens which describe the address record structure, and
briefly what each menu option does.
2.5 Exiting the program
This is simply achieved by selecting the Quit option from the main
menu, and selecting Yes in the sub-menu which asks if you are sure you
wish to leave the program.
3.0 Creating a file
The first time you run ADDMAN you will want to create an address file.
This is achieved using the menu option File Create. (ie the main menu
option File, and sub-menu option Create)
This will bring up a window which asks you to enter a name for the
file. This is can be up to 8 characters long, and forms the Dos file
name. All files are automatically given the Dos file extension AD3.
Since you can use ADDMAN to manage any number of address files, try to
use the 8 characters available to make as descriptive a name as
possible.
Example: To create an address list for your club newsletter.
Select: File Create
Enter: CLUBNEWS
Result: A new address file called CLUBNEWS.AD3 will be
created. At this stage it will contain no address
records.
After creating a new file you are returned to the main menu screen,
and the address window now shows the name of the current file, the
number of records in the file and the current record number. Since the
file has no records yet, these numbers are zero. Thus in the above
example the address window will simply contain:
File: CLUBNEWS.AD3 Record 0 of 0
3.1 Adding records
The next step is to enter some address records into the empty file.
This is achieved by selecting the Record Add menu options. This will
cause a record entry window to appear. All you need to do is to enter
the relevant information against each item.
You will notice that as a convenience the first letter of most fields
is converted to upper case for you automatically as you type.
You can move around the record entry screen using cursor and tab keys.
A number of other keys are set up to assist you with editing, and
these can be displayed by simply hitting the F2 key. The most useful
key is probably Backspace, which deletes the previous character.
The record is entered by hitting the Enter key after entering the last
field (Notes), or by hiting Control Enter at any stage. Either of
these options will return you to the main screen.
If you wish to abort an entry, simply hit the Escape key.
3.2 The Address Record
The address record comprises the following fields:
Field Size/description Example
===== ================ =======
Title Max 8 characters Mr
Initials Max 6 characters J.
First Name Max 20 characters John
Last Name Max 20 characters Doe
Job Title Max 30 characters Manager
Company Max 30 characters ABC Inc
Street Max 30 characters 1 Main Street
City Max 20 characters Middletown
State 2 character code AB
Zip Code Max 10 characters 01234-9999
Country Max 15 characters USA
Phone 10 digits (123)456-7890
Extension 4 digits 4321
Print Number # labels to be printed 5
in a regular print run.
Notes Max 30 characters A short note.
Please note that you do not have to fill in all the fields in the
address record. For example, you will probably not wish to enter Job
Title or Company Name in an address list for home use. If you do use
them, they will appear on printed reports or labels.
Most of the fields are self explanatory. However, it is probably
worth a more detailed description of the last two.
Notes - this is simply a field for you to store a small comment as a
reminder to yourself. The field can optionally be printed at the
bottom of a label.
Print Number - This number can be pre-set to determine the number of
labels of this address to print. Print options which are described
later in this documentation allow for label printing of a) any number
of a single address, b) one of each address on file, c) the Print
Number of each address on file.
Why is this useful? Because it can become a chore continually changing
print stock between labels and regular paper just to print a single
label. If you know in advance that you will require a label of one
address weekly, and another monthly, you can set the Print Numbers to
4 and 1 respectively. Then if you perform a monthly label print run
using option c), you can produce a month's stock of pre-printed labels
in one go.
3.3 Saving data to disk
Address records are witten to disk as you enter them. Thus there is no
need to specifically save the data. However, you may have noticed that
there is a menu option File Save which allows you to do just this.
The reason for this is to allow you to save the data to file in the
current screen sort order. As you add records they are appended to the
end of the file. After entering a number of records you may wish to
Sort them (see the Sort options later in the documentation) and then
re-write the file to disk in this order. This means that when you
come to open the file again in the future it will already be in the
order you want.
4.0 Opening an existing file
You have the option from the main menu to open an existing file. If
you already have a file open, this will be closed prior to opening a
new file.
To open an existing file select the menu option File Open. This will
cause a window to appear which displays all the address files in the
current directory (the directory from which you started the program).
You select the file you wish to open by using the up/down cursor keys
to highlight your choice and hitting the Enter key. As usual, the
Escape key will return you to the main screen without opening a new
file.
After you hit enter, the program will read the file to create an
index, and then return you to the main screen with the first record
displayed in the address window.
4.1 Moving around the file
The Current address record is always displayed in the address window.
There are several ways of moving around the file to make a different
record Current.
The simplest uses the Page Up and Page Down keys. These respectively
make the next and previous record current. The same can be achieved by
using the menu options Record Next and Record Previous.
You can move forward or backwards 10 records at a time using Control
Page Up and Control Page Down.
You can move to the first record by either hitting the Home key, or
using the menu option Record First. Similarly, you can move to the
last record with the End key, or menu option Record Last.
The best way to find a particular record is by using the Record Search
menu option. This opens up a window which asks you to enter the Last
Name of the record you wish to find. You can enter just the first few
letters of the name if you wish, and the program will find the first
name which matches these. Assuming you have the file sorted in Name
order, you can then simply move forward a record at a time to find
the one you want.
4.2 Editing a record
You can edit the Current record by selecting the Record Edit menu
option. This will open up a window similar to that used to enter a
record. You can then use the editing keys to make the changes or
additions you wish. As when entering a record, you can enter the
modified record either by hitting the Enter key after editing the
last field, or by hitting Control Enter. Hitting Escape will return
you to the main screen without making any changes.
4.3 Deleting a record
Deleting a record is a two step process. First you must mark the
record as inactive, then you must purge inactive records from the
file.
To mark the Current record as inactive, select the menu option Record
Delete. This will cause a flashing note to be displayed with the
current record indicating that it is now inactive. If you wish to
restore the record, simply select the Record Delete option again, and
the flashing note will disappear.
To permanently remove the inactive records from the file, select the
File Purge option. This will re-write all active records to disk in
the current order.
5.0 Printing
ADDMAN has options for printing reports or labels. The label printing
option can also be used for creating index cards. All the options are
accessed through the main menu option Print.
Note that ADDMAN currently only supports label stationary with one
label across the page.
ADDMAN does not currently allow you to set the printer font style from
within the program, so if you wish to change the font you must do this
manually on the printer, or run you own printer setup program.
5.1 Printing Labels - Current record
To print a label of the Current record, select the Print Current menu
option. The program then checks to make sure your printer is online,
and if not gives you a warning message. You are then asked to enter
the number of labels you wish to print. Finally, you are presented
with a window asking you for the following print setting information:
The number of lines per label
The column position for the left margin
If you want to include the phone number in the label
If you want to include the notes in the label
The name style you wish to use
There are three name styles available. These are :
1) Title/ Initial/ Last Name eg Mr J Doe
2) Title/ First Name/ Last Name eg Mr John Doe
3) First Name/ Last Name eg John Doe
5.2 Printing Labels - Whole file
To print labels of all records on the file, select the Print All
records menu option.
You are then asked how many labels of each record to print. If you
enter the value zero at this point, then the program will determine
how many labels to print of a given record from the Print Number field
value (see section 2.2).
Finally you are asked for the print settings as in the single record
option above.
5.3 Printing Phone List
To print a report with one name per line showing the telephone number,
select the menu option Print Phone. The only additional information
you are asked for is the number of lines per page that can be printed
on your paper.
5.4 Printing a Report
You can print a report of all the address records on file to ordinary
print stock using the Print Report option. As above, the only
additional information you are asked for is the number of lines per
page.
5.5 The printer settings
ADDMAN maintains a small file called ADDMAN.SET which contains
details of the default print settings. These include the length of a
label, the left margin position, whether to print phone number or
comments, and the number of lines per page.
This process is transparent to you. It is useful because it means that
the next time you use ADDMAN the default values will be the ones
previously set up, and should should save time.
6.0 Quick Reference
The following is a quick reference guide to the menu options.
File Open Open and existing address file
File Create Create a new address file
File Save Re-Write the address file in the current order
File Purge Re-write the file purging any inactive records
Sort Name Sort the file by Last Name/First Name
Sort Company Sort the file by Company Name/Last Name/First Name
Record Search Find a particular record based on Last Name
Record Add Add a new address record
Record Delete Mark the current Inactive
Record Edit Edit the current record
Record Next Make the next record current
Record Last Make the previous record current
Record First Make the first record current
Record Last Make the last record current
Print Current Print label(s) of the current record
Print All Print labels of all records on file
Print Phone Print a report of phone numbers
Print Report Print a report of all address records
Help Display online help screens
Quit Yes Exit ADDMAN
Quit No Do not Exit ADDMAN, return to the main screen
9