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READ.ME
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1987-11-27
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Ample Notice V 1.05
(c) 1987 by Mark Harris
Granny's Old-Fashioned Software
Revised 11/27/87
The main programs on this disk are:
AN.EXE - the appointments calendar program,
ALARM.COM - the pop-up alarm clock,
OUTSIDE.COM - an evelope addresser which takes addresses from
screen or file.
To get started using AN and ALARM first make a backup copy of this
disk, then print the AN manual. The manual has about 22 pages and
can be printed in its entirety by entering
A> PRINTMAN
To skip the first 4 pages and print the rest of the manual, type
A> PRINTMAN 4
To view the manual on the screen use the command TYPEMAN in the
same way.
The documentation for OUTSIDE is in the file OUTSIDE.DOC. You can
view this file on the screen by typing PAGE OUTSIDE.DOC or obtain
a printout by entering COPY OUTSIDE.DOC PRN.
If your computer shows the wrong time on the alarm clock but the
correct time when you type TIME at the DOS prompt then you should
run the utility TIMER (a public domain program by David
Macchiarolo and Jim Seley) included on the Ample Notice disk. (In
particular, AT&T 6300 users are likely to experience this
problem.) We recommend that you include TIMER in your
AUTOEXEC.BAT file before ALARM.
Added to version 1.01: new features in ALARM.COM and AN.EXE.
An '-L' option has been added to ALARM to enable 'long' alarms.
Normally the alarm sounds only for a few seconds; use this new
option if you want the alarm to stay on until you explicitly turn
it off by pressing the same key combination (<Alt> <Left Shift> by
default) used to bring up the alarm window. Examples:
ALARM -L to enable long alarms,
ALARM -L -K 3 to enable long alarms and change the shift
combination to <Left Shift> <Right Shift>. (See page 6 of the
manual.)
ALARM keeps track of two kinds of alarms - those set from the
keyboard in the ALARM window, and those triggered by appointments
from the AN program. The ON/OFF status in the window indicates
only the first kind. In the new version of ALARM the number of
appointment alarms set (if any) will be shown on bottom edge of
the window; e.g. '# Appts = 3'.
Ample Notice has some new options for CONFIG.CAL (page 15 - 18 of
the manual). '%I n' sets the video attribute used any time you
would otherwise see an inverse bar (editing, searching, etc.); its
use is similar to the %H and %L options described on page 16. For
example, a
%I 20
line in CONFIG.CAL will set the editing attribute to red text on a
blue background.
Another addition is the '%R' option. The codes following %R are
used to reset the printer after printouts are obtained. For
example,
%R 27,64
will reset Epson-compatible printers to the power-up state. The
reset sequence is sent after a calendar or appointment list is
printed.
Two new utilities of interest to hard disk users have been added.
SPACE.COM and FREE.COM can improve your hard disk's performance;
see SPACE.DOC for details.
New in version 1.03:
You can use the wildcard character '?' instead of the month (name
or number) to indicate repetition each month. Examples:
?/10 Pay mortgage
will cause the appointment 'Pay mortgate' to come up on the tenth
of every month. Other formats are permissible:
10 ? Pay mortgage
? 10 Pay mortgage
will do the same thing.
?/10/87 Pay mortgage
will match only months in 1987.
In previous versions of Ample Notice you could indicate (for
example) the second Wednesday of a month as
!Oct2Wed meeting
but there was no way to code the last Wednesday in a month. In
1.03 you can indicate 'last' by using the number '5': e.g.
!Oct5Wed meeting
will set an appointment for the last Wednesday in October. You
can combine such codes with the month wildcard '?':
!?2Wed meeting
marks the second Wednesday of each month.
Another new feature lets you mark a range of successive days with
a single entry. Just enter the starting date followed by '+' and
the number of additional days you want to associate with the
appointment. For example
10/7/87+2 ASP convention
will assign the appointment 'ASP convention' to the dates 10/7,
10/8 and 10/9. Any date format can be used:
7 Oct 87 + 2 ASP convention
Oct 7, 1987+2 ASP convention
Oct 7+2 ASP convention
etc. The last entry will mark the range of dates every year.
Appointments can be viewed more flexibly in version 1.03. From
the main appointments display pressing 'V' brings up the 'View'
menu which lets you change the starting date for the listing and
lets you switch between short and long listings. In the short
listing repeating appointments such as birthdays, third Wednesdays
in August, etc. are suppressed; the short display is handy for
obtaining concise (wallet-sized) printouts of appointments.
Changing the starting date is useful for listing outdated
appointments or appointments far in the future; for example, you
can change the starting date to 1/1/89 and view your commitments
for the year of 1989.
The View menu looks like this:
Start date: 10/17/87
Dates listing: Long
The cursor starts in the date field, which you can modify or leave
as-is (by pressing <Enter>). The 'Dates listing' indicator is
then toggled between 'Long' and 'Short' with the space bar.
Pressing <Enter> accepts the View parameters displayed; <Esc>
exits without changing the old parameters.
New in version 1.04:
ALARM now shows the current day's appointments (up to 13 of them)
after being set by AN. Just load ALARM first (preferably in your
AUTOEXEC.BAT file), then run AN. If you have a '%B' in your
CONFIG.CAL file the appointments will be transferred to ALARM
automatically; otherwise you can move them by pressing 'A'.
When you pop up the alarm (by pressing both shift keys or other
installed combination) you will see just the alarm clock if there
are no appointments for today. If there are appointments, you
will see a listing of up to 13 of them in a separate window. The
alarm window will indicate the number of appointment alarms set
with a status line such as '# Appts = 4'. Since this value
reflects only those appointments which start with a time there
may be more appointments shown in the second window. The reverse
situation is also possible: if there are more than 13 appointment
times the status line will show the correct number but not all of
them will be listed in the appointments window. The listing shows
times in chronological order followed by appointments without
times.
New in version 1.05:
Previous versions had a major problem archiving outdated
appointments; the bug is now fixed.
A new option has been added for the CONFIG.CAL file.
%P n
will change the default interval for printing appointments from
three weeks to any desired duration. For example
%P 14
will change the interval to two weeks. You can still override the
default by entering preferred starting and ending dates.
ALARM.COM has been updated to version 1.3. Now when the -L option
is used the alarm slows to beeping once every 30 seconds after the
initial alert. As before, use the same shift combination which
brings up the alarm window to turn off this 'Long' alarm.
Also added is an option for changing the initial alarm interval.
The default is 5 seconds; to change it add
-B n
to your command line. For example, ALARM -B 10 sets the alarm
interval to 10 seconds.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Coming attractions.
Int the next revision if you choose the 'long' alarm bell (which
stays on until a key is pressed), after a given period the alarm
will make a modest beep every minute rather than staying on
continuously. If you're not in your office your co-workers should
not have to suffer.
There will be a 'quick' option for running AN from a batch file
(so that alarms can be set automatically without your having to
view appointments).
You will be able to mark selected entries as 'nag' appointments.
When the given date has passed these entries are changed to
'notes' which show up every day until deleted.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Ample Notice is Shareware - we rely on your registrations to keep
going. You can order the current Ample Notice disk from Granny's
Old-Fashioned Software for $10 or a registered package for $30.
Registration provides the following benefits:
1. A current version of the Ample Notice disk, including all
current programs in the package. (Several programs not related
to the appointments calendar are being added.)
2. A printed manual.
3. A mail-in card for a future version of Ample Notice.
4. Telephone support for your technical questions.
5. A reasonable likelihood that features you request will be added
to the package if such features are deemed practical and of
sufficiently general interest.
To register, phone (with MC or VISA) (704) 264-6906 or mail
payment to:
Granny's Old-Fashioned Software
Rt 4, Box 216
Boone, NC 28607