gdead.berkeley.edu/gdead.berkeley.edu.tar/gdead.berkeley.edu/pub/gdead/ibm/g_ted20.exe/G_TED.DOC

Text File | 1993-06-13 | 32KB | 607 lines

                 Grateful T.E.D.(tm) (Version 2.0) (Shareware)
                         a Taper's Electronic Database
                       is a China Cat Software Production
                   Copyright (c) 1990-1993 Michael E. Carver

                              All rights reserved



     Introduction

     I  hope you like this program and decide to register it.  I will  only
     be able provide support to registered owners.  Registration also  will
     allow you to update to any future DOS versions free.  (However, if you
     order updates by mail there will be a small shipping fee + the cost of
     a  blank disk.)  Registration of this software also will allow  me  to
     write further enhancements and possibly a Windows version.   Providing
     this  software as Shareware ain't gonna make me rich.  But,  hopefully
     it  will allow me make enhancements and keep me inspired while I  work
     on a possible Windows version.

     Registration

     This  version of the Grateful T.E.D. is released as Shareware.  It  is
     not  a crippled or stripped down version of the software.  It  is  not
     free and is not in the public domain.  Users are requested to register
     and support its continued development and customer support.  To regis-
     ter,  please send your name, address and phone number (include any  e-
     mail  addresses)  with the registration fee of U.S. $20.00  (check  or
     money order only) to:

          Michael E. Carver
          1416 N Jarrett
          Portland, OR 97217
          USA

     My e-mail address (InterNet) is [e-mail]

     Distribution

     You  may make copies of the program files for Grateful T.E.D.(tm)  and
     documentation files and distribute them to others, upload to  bulletin
     boards,  Internet  archives, etc..  The program  must  be  distributed
     complete,  including all documentation and supporting files.  None  of
     the  files should be modified in any way.  If you distribute  this  to
     anyone, you cannot charge a fee beyond disk duplicating and  handling.
     Treat this program, just as you would trading Grateful Dead tapes.  It
     is up to the receiver to honor the Shareware provisions of this  soft-
     ware and pay the author.

     Notice

     This  program and documentation are provided "as is" without  warranty
     of  any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited  to
     the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular
     purpose.   In no event will Michael E. Carver (the author)  be  liable
     for  any damages arising out of the use of inability to use this  pro-
     gram and/or its documents.

     Sorry about the above paragraph, but one does have to protect  oneself
     in this crazy world.


     Grateful T.E.D. Theory

     I  designed the record format of Grateful T.E.D. for data based on  an

     individual  audio  tape.  There is room for 22 songs in  each  record.
     Each  song  can contain up to 67 characters.  However, if  every  song
     entry  contains 67 characters the display will be very hard  to  read.
     The  program will not crash, just an "ugly" display for that  one  re-
     cord.  In normal practice this problem should not arise. In most cases
     (except for early shows & acoustic sets where songs are short) it  may
     be possible to fill in one record with the data for a complete show.




     INSTALLATION

     Hard Disk

     Place  the  distribution disk into your floppy drive.  Log  onto  your
     floppy  drive.  For example:  If you are using Drive A, type  A:   Now
     run the installation program, INSTALL, by typing INSTALL. The  Install
     program will prompt for the letter of the Hard Drive and for a  direc-
     tory Path where you wish to install Grateful T.E.D.   The following 11
     files should be transferred to your Hard Drive:
          G_TED.EXE                Main program file
          TED.DB                   Main database file
          TED.IDX                  Main index file for database
          MASTER.TRE               Master Song index
          SONG_INP.DB              Database containing song titles for
                                   automatic input
          SONG_INP.IDX             Index file for song titles database
          TEDPRN.FIG               Printer configuration file
          CON_TED.EXE              Program to edit Printer
                                   configuration (used by G_TED.EXE)
          G_TED.PCX                Introduction picture file
          G_TED.ICO                Icon for use in Windows3.1
          G_TED.PIF                For use in Windows3.1

     It  should be possible to install Grateful T.E.D. onto a high  density
     floppy  disk.  Since database programs are disk intensive (i.e.,  they
     do  a lot of reading and writing to disk), Grateful T.E.D.  will  work
     much faster and efficiently when installed on a Hard Disk.



     STARTING THE PROGRAM

     There  is no configuration or switch available for Grateful T.E.D.  to
     find its data files.  Therefore, it is necessary to log onto the drive
     and/or  directory  that contains the data.   It is  possible  to  have
     different data files stored in various directories (or drives) and run
     Grateful T.E.D. out of another drive or directory.

     If  your program and data files are on the same drive and in the  same
     directory, log onto that drive and directory.  If you installed Grate-
     ful T.E.D. in the directory TED on your Hard Disk issue the  following
     DOS commands to execute Grateful T.E.D.:
          C:             (or your Hard Disk's drive letter)
          CD\TED
          G_TED
     If  you wish access data in a different directory than  the  directory
     G_TED.EXE resides, log onto the directory containing the data.
          C:
          CD\TED\DATA1   (or the drive and directory containing the
                         data)
     Execute  TED by specifying the drive and directory that G_TED.EXE  re-
     sides.
          C:\TED\G_TED


     If  you are using two floppies for Grateful T.E.D., place the  program
     disk  in drive A and your data disk in Drive B.  To  execute  Grateful
     T.E.D.,  log  onto  Drive B and launch Grateful T.E.D.  by  using  the
     following DOS commands.
          B:             (log onto data drive)
          A:G_TED        (run the program)

     IMPORTANT:  Grateful T.E.D. needs to find the following files  in  the
     Data directory of on the Data disk:
          CON_TED.EXE
          MASTER.TRE
          SONG_INP.DB
          SONG_INP.IDX
          TED.DB
          TED.IDX
          TEDPRN.FIG


     USING Grateful T.E.D.

     Grateful T.E.D. features pull-down menus and simple one-key  commands.
     In almost all cases, one can return to the previous level by  pressing
     the ESC key.

     MENUS

     If you are using Grateful T.E.D. for the first time, or with an  empty
     database,  you  will be presented with a blank screen and a  menu  bar
     across the top border.
          Options         Goto       Locator       Toolbox
     To  access the pull-down menu associated with each command  listed  on
     the  menu  bar, simply press the highlighted key.  Pressing  ESC  will
     close  the  pull-down menu.  Selection of a command  from  within  the
     opened  menu box is accomplished by pressing the key corresponding  to
     the highlighted letter.  One also can scroll the cursor bar up or down
     with  the  arrow keys, or the Page Up and Page  Down  keys.   Pressing
     ENTER will execute the command within the cursor bar.

     OPTIONS -- Input   Update  Index  Print  Delete  Create   Quit

     Input / Update

     Select  Input  to enter a new record into the database and  Update  to
     edit  the record currently displayed.  If you are entering a  new  re-
     cord,  a 2-page template will appear on the screen.  When  editing  an
     existing  record  this  template will be filled with  data  from   the
     current record.

     Movement between fields is accomplished by the up and down arrow  keys
     or  by pressing enter.  To flip between the two pages of  the  editing
     template, use Page Up and Page Down.  To erase a field, press F7.   To
     accept all data as entered press F10.  If you wish to abort or abandon
     the data as typed press ESC.  If you were editing an existing  record,
     the  original  record  will be restored if you press  ESC.   F10  will
     replace the original data with the newly entered information.

     If  you chose F10 while Inputting a new record, a new  blank  template
     will  appear.   To quit entering new records press ESC.  If  you  were
     Updating  a  record,  F10 will automatically exit the  edit  mode  and
     display  the  current record (i.e., the record  just  edited).   After
     accepting  the data (F10), there may be a small delay before the  pro-
     gram  proceeds to the next entry screen or before displaying the  cur-
     rent  record.   All indexes are constantly being updated as  the  data
     changes, causing any delays.

     The  cursor can be controlled within an input field by the  right  and

     left  arrow  keys.  If the control key is held down while  pressing  a
     right  or left arrow key, the cursor will move to the next word  right
     or  left.  The Home and End key will move to the start or end  of  the
     text in the input field.  The insert and overwrite mode are toggled by
     the  Insert key.  In the overwrite mode the cursor will be a  flashing
     line at the bottom of the text.  A box will indicate insert mode.

     In  some fields only certain characters are permitted as  input.   For
     example,  the first character of the month can only be a space or  the
     numbers  0 or 1.  The second character can only be a number from  0-9.
     Similar restrictions apply to the day field.  The first character  can
     only  be a space or the numbers 1-3.  In order for the Date  index  to
     work properly, the date must be entered in MM-DD-YY order  (Month-Day-
     Year).  For recording and performance qualities only combinations from
     0 to 5.0 are allowed.  The number 4.5 is valid, but 6.2 is not.

     While  we are on the subject of Quality ratings...  When a  record  is
     entered into the database a calculation is made by adding the  ratings
     for recording and performance.  This rating is displayed as the  Over-
     all Quality and can range from 0 to 10.0.

     As the date index for Grateful T.E.D. is ordered by Year; Month;  Day;
     and then Comment, it is possible to use the input in the comment field
     to  place  1st Sets before 2nd Sets.  By being choosy  and  consistent
     with  the first few words in the comment field, an "Early  Show"  will
     appear  before a "Late Show".  "1st Set" will appear before "2nd  Set"
     and "Part I" will appear before "Part II".

     ...F2 -- Song Input

     For  the  song index to work efficiently, songs must be  entered  with
     consistent  titles.  To aid in this task a master song list is  avail-
     able.  Whenever the flashing cursor is in the input fields numbered  1
     through 22, a song prompt/input window can be accessed by pressing F2.
     One can select a song title for automatic input by scrolling or paging
     through the song list.  To automatically insert a title into the field
     with  the flashing cursor, position the cursor bar over the title  and
     press Enter.  Use the Up and Down arrow keys, or the Home and End keys
     to  move  the  cursor bar within the song window.   Depending  on  the
     position  within the song list there may be two pages of  song  titles
     available.   Page Up and Page Down will flip between these pages.   To
     select  a  different range of titles press F4.  A prompt  window  will
     appear  advising  you of your options.  For example to move  the  song
     title  list  to Terrapin Station, press F4 and then the "T"  key.   To
     advance the song list 20 titles, press F4 and Page Down.  If you  want
     to quit or close the song prompt/input window, press ESC.

     Grateful T.E.D. will alphabetize the songs character by character.   I
     have  chosen  the  option of leaving off the  leading  "The"  in  song
     titles.   This  avoids having 3 separate collections  of  alphabetized
     songs "A - Te...", "The A... - The Z.." and "Ti.. - ZZ".  If you  want
     your "The's" back, you should edit the songs in the master Song  Input
     database using Tailor from the Toolbox menu.

     One  method of entering song titles is to type only enough  characters
     in  each field to indicate a close match to the title.   For  example,
     "case"  for  Casey Jones or "bir" for Bird Song.  Fill  in  each  song
     field  with abbreviations for each song.  Then position the cursor  at
     the  first song input field and press F2.  The song input window  will
     open with the cursor bar positioned at the closest match to the  char-
     acters present in the field.  If the cursor bar in the song input menu
     is over the correct title, press Enter.  The complete song title  will
     be  filled  into  the field and the cursor will advance  to  the  next
     field.  Continue this process until all songs have been entered.

     You may wish to "tailor" the song title database.  Please refer to the

     section under Toolbox for instructions on customizing the song titles.

     Index

     Selecting this option from the pull-down menu will present a menu with
     the various indexes available.  To order the data by a different index
     choose  an  index from the new menu.  The index menu  works  like  all
     other menu boxes, "hot-key" (i.e., the highlighted letter), scroll and
     Enter, or ESC to quit the menu.

     The  index selected will stay active until another index is chosen  or
     searches  are  made  via the Locator menu.  The  current  record  (the
     record  displayed on the screen) is marked as current for the  current
     index.   In  other words, if you select a second index and move  to  a
     different  record (either by using Goto or Locator) you can return  to
     the  previously selected record by choosing the previous index.   This
     provides an easy way to flip between different records spread through-
     out  the database.  NOTE:  Inputting and editing also will change  the
     marked record in the indexes.

     Print

     This  portion of the program is rather primitive.  It is  possible  to
     direct the printing to either a printer or an ASCII file.  There are 4
     possible  print styles available; Short, Brief, Full, and Whole.   The
     Short  and  Brief styles are similar in output, as are  the  Full  and
     Whole.   Short will print out the Date, City, Day of the Week,  Venue,
     Comment,  Source, Time, and Quality.  Brief will print out  the  Date,
     City & Venue, and Comment.  Full and Whole will print out the complete
     record.  The only difference between the two is where the Date and Day
     of the Week are displayed.  Full places this information at the  upper
     right.  Whole will place this information at the upper left.

     When  Print is selected from the menu a window will open  showing  the
     present setting.  This includes, Style, Destination, Range, and Index.
     If  the Destination is a file and the Style is either Full  or  Whole,
     one  other  setting is displayed -- Format.  You will be  prompted  to
     accept  this  setting.   If you answer No, another  window  will  open
     allowing  the  settings to be changed.  Pressing ESC  will  abort  the
     Print process.

     ...Style

     While  the Style menu is displayed samples of each Style can  be  dis-
     played  by pressing F1.  Move the cursor bar with the arrow keys to  a
     style  and press F1 to see a sample output.  Pressing either the  Hot-
     Key or Enter will select the style.

     ...Destination

     The 2 options available are printer or a file.  If Printer is selected
     for  Destination an attempt is made to "talk" to the printer.  If  the
     program  is  unable to get a response from the printer,  you  will  be
     asked whether you really want the printer to be your destination.   If
     your  printer is turned on and is on-line when you receive  this  mes-
     sage, it is safe to accept the printer.  In its present version Grate-
     ful  T.E.D. only uses the printer connected to DOS's default  PRN  de-
     vice.   If you experience problems printing to you particular  printer
     use the file Destination.  This will produce an ASCII file that can be
     loaded  into  almost any wordprocessor or desktop  publisher  program.
     NOTE:  The Toolbox menu has a Configure selection that will allow  set
     up of the page format and printer set-up strings.


     If  you choose a File for your destination, the setting box will  dis-
     play a default filename including complete Drive and Directory  infor-

     mation.  The program will default to filename edit mode.  If you  wish
     to use a different file than the default, edit the filename.  Be  sure
     to  include any drive and/or directory information.  Choosing  a  file
     for  your print destination is an excellent way of sending a  list  of
     your tapes (or selected tapes) via e-mail or by disk.

     There  are 2 additional options available when printing if the  Styles
     are  either  Full or Whole.  This option is the Mode  of  the  output.
     This can either be Formatted (which is the same format as displayed by
     the F1 = Sample) or Raw.  The Raw format is designed to aid in  print-
     ing  up specially formatted text files via a wordprocessor and  should
     only  be used when the Destination is a file.  The difference  between
     Raw and Formatted is the form of the song list.  In the Raw format the
     songs  are  printed as on complete line.  In the  Formatted  mode  the
     songs  are formatted with margins that indent the list (both left  and
     right).

     ...Range

     There  are  Ranges available, All or Selected.  All will  print  every
     record  in  the database.  Selected will only print the  records  that
     have  been  flagged  as  selected.  These files  are  indicated  by  a
     "check-mark" in the upper-left of the screen.  Records can be  toggled
     from Selected to Not-Selected by pressing the Insert key.  The Toolbox
     also has an option that will set all Selected records to Un-Select.


     ...Index

     This  option  will  print the records in the order  of  the  indicated
     Index.


     Delete

     To  delete  the currently displayed record from the  database,  choose
     this  option.   You will be prompted to answer "Yes", do  delete  this
     record;  or "No", don't delete this record.  ESC also will abort  this
     command.

     Create

     This  option  will destroy the current database and indexes  and  make
     new  and empty database and index files.  Use this  option  carefully!
     The  only  data and index not destroyed by this command  is  the  Song
     Input database and it's accompanying index.  However, the program will
     ask  for  conformation before proceeding.  In fact, you will  have  to
     answer  "Yes"  two different times before the  program  will  actually
     carry out this command.  To change your mind just answer "No" or press
     ESC when prompted by the pop-up menu.

     Quit

     This command will close all open files and exit the program.  You will
     be prompted for conformation before the program quits.  F10 also  will
     Quit the program.


     GOTO --  First   Last   Next   Previous

     These commands can be used to page or flip through the database.   You
     can  page through the individual records in  order represented by  the
     last index chosen through the Option/Index command or through the last
     index  used by the Locator.  It is not necessary to use this  menu  to
     page through the database.  Anytime there is a record displayed on the
     screen  and  no  menu boxes open, the  following  hot-keys  will  flip

     through the database:  Page Up, Page Down, Home, End.

     NOTE:  There is one exception to the above.  It is impossible to  move
     to  the  End  (Last) of the Sequential Index.  You  also  cannot  page
     backwards  with Page Up (Previous) while the Sequential Index  is  the
     selected index.

     LOCATOR -- Songs   Date   City   Source   Recording   Performance
                Overall Quality    Selected

     Songs

     To  locate tapes that have a particular song, select this option  from
     the Locator menu.  A pop-up menu will appear containing only the  song
     titles that exist in your database.  The Song Locator menu works  just
     like the Song Input menu.  F4 will provide you with options to  select
     the starting range, move forward or backward 20 songs or Quit the Song
     Locator.

     After you have selected the title, a message window will open display-
     ing the number of "hits" found in your database.   Every song  entered
     into   the  database  is  indexed  by  a  separate  index  (the   file
     MASTER.TRE).  This index is constructed in a manner allowing duplicate
     song  entries  for an individual record, but only one  index  key  per
     record.   In  other  words,  if you entered "Playing In  the  Band"  3
     different times during the 2nd set, the song index will only count  it
     once for that record.  If you have been using stock databases for your
     tape collection, this feature may not have been available.

     If only one tape was found with the selected song title, pressing  any
     key will immediately display this record.  If more than one record was
     found, pressing any key will display the first occurrence.  Along  the
     bottom border of the screen are options available to page through  the
     records  containing this song.   The song title you selected  for  the
     search  is displayed along the top border of the screen.  F10  or  ESC
     will quit the Song Locator.

     Date / City / Source / Recording / Performance / Overall Quality

     Selecting  one of these options from the Locator menu will  present  a
     pop-up  menu to type in the data to locate.  The same valid  keys  are
     required as during data input.  If an exact match is found, the  first
     record appearing in the index related to the field being searched  for
     will  be displayed.  If an exact match isn't found, the  next  nearest
     record  will be displayed.  The exception to this rule is if the  next
     nearest  record doesn't exist.  In this case, the first record in  the
     index  will be displayed.  These options work like the "thumbed  index
     tabs"  in dictionaries.  They will get you to the point where a  match
     begins.   From  this point you can page or flip through  the  database
     using the regular Goto keys.

     TOOLBOX  --  Tailor   Rebuild    Unselect Configure    Stats

     Tailor  --  Add   Delete   Edit   Return

     This option is used to customize the Song Input database to suit  your
     needs  and tastes.  The options related to this tool are listed  along
     the top of the half window displayed.

     ...Add

     To  add  a new title to the Song Input database, select  this  option.
     You  are now on you own and must type in the song title you  wish  in-
     serted  into the Song Input list.  The same keys apply as  did  during
     the Input/Edit stage of main database.  Return or F10 will accept  the
     new song title.  Pressing the ESC key will abort adding a title to the

     song list.

     ...Delete

     Choosing  this option will display the Song Input pop-up menu.   Refer
     to  Input/Edit for use of the Song Input window.  Select the title  to
     be deleted from the list.  You will be prompted to confirm this  dele-
     tion before it is removed from the list.  Answer "No" or press ESC  if
     you do not want to delete the song title displayed in the edit box.

     ...Edit

     To  edit a song already in the Song Input database, choose  the  title
     from the pop-up Song List window.  The title will be displayed in  the
     edit  window.   The same keys apply to editing a song title as  do  to
     adding one.

     ...Return

     This option will exit the Tailor portion of the Toolbox and return you
     to the regular section of the database.

     Rebuild

     Rebuild  will  restructure or reorder the main database and  the  song
     index.   It is highly recommended to make a backup of your data  files
     before  Rebuilding  T.E.D.  The files that should  be  backed-up  are:
     TED.DB,  TED.IDX, SONG_INP.DB, SONG_INP.IDX, AND MASTER.TRE.  As  data
     is  removed or edited, holes may begin to appear in the  database  and
     the  data  will become fragmented.  Restructuring  the  database  will
     repack the data and allow placing the data in a selected index  order.
     This  should greatly enhance access of data by certain indexes,  espe-
     cially  with  large tape collections.  You will be  prompted  for  the
     order you wish to Rebuild the database.  These are the standard index-
     es available.

     UnSelect

     This option will toggle off any records that were flagged as Selected.

     Configure

     This option will configure printing parameters.  These include:  Port,
     Lines  Per  Page,  Top Margin, Bottom Margin,  Printer  Setup  String,
     Header,  Footer,  Lines After Header, Lines Before  Footer,  and  Song
     Separator  Symbol.  T.E.D.'s standard editing keys apply when  editing
     these options.

     This  version of Grateful T.E.D. will only print out to DOS's  default
     PRN  device.  The option of selecting a Port does not effect  anything
     in this version of TED.  Future versions of the program should  imple-
     ment port selection.

     All print formats print 79 characters across.  You can set up the page
     length  along with top and bottom margins.  The Header will  be  typed
     after  the  Top  Margin.  You can specify the number of  lines  to  be
     printed  after  the Header.  The Footer is printed before  the  Bottom
     Margin.   You  can  specify the number of blank lines  to  be  printed
     before  the Footer.  The data from your database will be  printed  be-
     tween the Lines After Header and the Lines Before Footer.

     The  printer string is a series of decimal numbers that correspond  to
     the special characters recognized by your particular printer.   Please
     refer to your printer manual for specific commands.  The Setup  String
     should  be entered as a series of decimal number separated  by  commas
     (i.e., 27,64).


     The Song Separator Symbol is entered as a decimal number.  Again refer
     to  your  printer manual for special characters that  can  be  printed
     beyond the standard ASCII characters.  When you press Enter or the  Up
     or Down Arrow, the IBM ASCII character will be displayed.  This may or
     may  not  correspond to the extended character set supported  by  your
     printer.

     If  you  change any of the options, you must Save them  to  make  them
     apply to any future printing.

     Stats

     This  option will read through your database and calculate  the  total
     amount of time as recorded in the Time field of each record.  It  also
     will display the average quality of your collection based on the  data
     entered the corresponding fields in each record.  When calculating the
     quality data entries of 0 are not included in the average.

     SELECT / UNSELECT

     This is a "hot-key" option and does not appear on any menu (except for
     the global UnSelect found within the Toolbox list).  It is possible to
     mark  individual records as Selected.  Selected files can be  accessed
     by  the Locator menu.  Also, Selected files can be used to  limit  the
     number of records printed to only those that are marked as Selected.

     The  insert key will Select/UnSelect the currently  displayed  record.
     If  the record is Selected and a check-mark will appear in the  upper-
     right  hand  corner  of the screen.  If there is no  check  mark,  the
     record is UnSelected.  You can make all records UnSelected by choosing
     the UnSelect option from the Toolbox menu.

     NOTES

     If  you  would like to share your data file with other  T.E.D.  users,
     they must receive copies of the following files:
          MASTER.TRE
      TED.DB
          TED.IDX
     Please  refer to the section on starting the program for  proper  file
     distribution.

     If  you  are  experiencing difficulty printing the  database  to  your
     printer, use the print to File option.  It is possible to use the  DOS
     COPY command to send files to a printer connected to your printer port
     or the serial port.  Use the following format:
          COPY FILENAME DEVICE /B
     The filename should be the name of the file made by T.E.D.  The device
     can be LPT1, LPT2, LPT3, LPT4, COM1, COM2, COM3, or COM4.  The /B sets
     the copy to binary mode.

     One last nag...  Remember, this program was provided as Shareware  and
     is  not  free.   If you find the program useful and plan  to  use  it,
     please  register  it with the author.  If you have  any  questions  or
     suggestions  feel free to contact me.  If you haven't  registered  the
     program,  be sure to include a S.A.S.E. if you wish a  reply.  Thanks,
     and enjoy!


     To register, please send your name, address and phone number  (include
     any e-mail addresses) with the registration fee of U.S. $20.00  (check
     or money order only) to:

          Michael E. Carver
          1416 N Jarrett
          Portland, OR 97217
          USA

     My e-mail address (InterNet) is [e-mail]