Help file for "ArgoBill" - the Voyager telephone Cost Display
Limited help is available via the Wimp help system. This explains the meaning
of most of the entries in the window.
This program depends upon finding the DialLog file in Voyager's directory. It
will complain if this can't be found. It should also have the correct header.
Any Voyager DialLog file can be dropped onto the ArgoBill window, when it will
be analysed. The current file is reloaded when the 'Update' button is pressed.
The different charges for the three time-bands can be changed in the 'Rates'
window, displayed via the menu. (Click 'menu' over the display or click on the
Rates icon.) The minimum time for the rate prevailing at the time the program
is run is displayed in the 'Min: time' slot, to remind you not to let BT get
away with too much... Remember to press <Return> after changing any figures.
VAT and any discount can also be set here, as can the threshold time below
which a call is deemed to have been a failure: press <Return> after each change.BT's "Summer Savers" discount, giving 25% off that part of any call over ten
minutes, is accounted for automatically.
The figures can be stored in the file 'Rates' in the ArgoBill directory. Care
is taken to charge correctly for calls which cross charge-band boundaries. The
time Voyager takes while logging on, before its clock starts is allowed for
as "Startup" in theRunImage file.
The "Over 40p" icon prints out any calls in the log costing over 40p (before
discounts and VAT), as included in your (default) telephone bill. These are
stored in a file "High" in the ArgoBill directory, for comparison with your
bill.
I have designed the templates (thank you Dick Alstein for TemplEd) for the
screen font I use on the Risc PC - Optima Medium, at a reduced size using
Set Wimp$FontSize 160 in PreDesktop on booting. This is just about OK with
standard size Homerton. However, the system font needs a different template
which I include as TempSystem. This should be selected (in the RunImage file)
for use instead, if the font in use doesn't fit my original template.
A limited amount of 'help' information is included. (I much recommend David Pilling's 'BubbleHelp' here.)
***Press <Return> after any change in the Rates window - before "Store".***
I hope this program proves useful. Please feel free to experiment with my
simple and somewhat chaotic code. I freely admit to considerable abandon in
my use of global variables...
I am grateful to various predecessors whose code I have included in the
WimpLibAG file - a collection of routines from various sources which simplifies
Wimp programming. Over the years I'm afraid I have lost track of the authors
concerned. If anyone recognises 'their' code, I can only say thank-you. Much of
it came from Darren Sillett in Archive, some from other programs, and some even
from my own effort... And I am always grateful to Dominic Symes for Zap.
As for me myself... I am a GP and very amateur programmer... (dating from the
days of the NASCOM 2...) amateur telescope maker and virginalist. (Work that
one out...) And G3XQU (DXCC=323c - meaning I have spoken to 323 of the world's
328 countries) still with an all home-made amateur radio station. It all helps
to keep at least one foot on the ground.
I hereby commit this program into the public domain. Feel free to adapt it for
your own use.
Cheers . . .
Dr A.G.Gray AlanGray@argonet.co.uk G3XQU
N 51 33' 58.2" E 00 17' 35.6" - near Brentwood, Essex
