To leave QuarterMaster and return to the program manager, choose File/Exit from the main form. If the current inventory file has changed since it was last saved, you will be asked if you want to save your changes. To save the file, choose Yes and specify an inventory file name. See below for more details.
*** The Main Form ***
The fields on the main form are Make, Model, Serial #, Value, Type, Colour, and Description. These fields describe each item in your inventory. A collection of items may be saved in an inventory file. Each field, with the exception of the Value field, may contain any combination of characters. The Value field is limited to numeric characters only.
The Type and Colour fields represent the item type and colour of the inventory item. Notice that each of these fields has a "drop down" box. Click on the down arrow beside the field and you will see a set of standardized values for item type and colour. To select a value from the drop down list, just click on the desired item type or colour. The chosen value will automatically be copied into the field box. If more type or colour values exist than can be contained in the drop down box, use the scroll bar on the right hand side of the box to move up and down amongst the standard values.
For the Type and Colour fields you may also type in a value if this is desired. Thus you are not limited to the standardized values in the drop down box.
The contents of each drop down box are controlled by the QMASTER.INI file. They may be customized for your personal preference. See "The QMASTER.INI File" below for more information.
With the exception of the Value and Description fields, up to twenty characters may be entered and stored in each field. The maximum value for the Value field is $99999.99, and item Descriptions may contain up to eighty characters.
Text can normally be entered into each of the fields on the main form in either upper or lower case. If you would like QuarterMaster to automatically convert entered text to upper case, select Use Upper Case from the Options menu. Text entered into a field will change to upper case automatically when the cursor leaves the field. To turn off upper case conversion, deselect Options/Use Upper Case.
The main form also contains four command buttons: Next, Previous, Add, and Delete. These buttons function as follows:
The Next command button displays the next inventory record in the current file. If you are currently at the last record, clicking the Next button does nothing. A message will appear indicating "At last record". If you wish to add a new record, use the Add button.
The Previous command button moves to the previous inventory record. Again, if you are currently at the first record in the file, clicking the Previous button has no effect. A message "At first record" will appear to tell you so.
The Add button adds a blank record to the end of the inventory file and moves to the new record. You can then enter a new item into your inventory. Use the Options/Statistics... menu to display information summarizing the contents of your file.
Lastly, the Delete command button deletes the current inventory record. You will be prompted to confirm the deletion unless you have disabled this confirmation using the Options/Confirm Deletion menu. Once deleted, an inventory record is irretrievably lost, so use this button with care.
Any of these command buttons may be selected without using the mouse by pressing the Tab key to move the focus to the desired button. Using the keyboard instead of the mouse while entering a lengthy inventory can speed your data entry.
*** File Functions ***
The File menu provides you with facilities necessary to store and retrieve inventory files. Use Open..., Save..., and Save As... to load and save your inventory files. Inventory files have the default filename extension of .INV. When specifying the name of an inventory file the .INV is optional. QuarterMaster will add it if it is not specified.
The Load Inventory form appears when you click Open... to open an existing inventory file.
Use the Drive, Directory, and File List boxes to select an inventory file to open in the usual Windows manner. If you know the name of the file you wish to open, you may elect instead to type the it into the File Name: box.
Double clicking on a file name in the file list box is the same as selecting the file and clicking OK. Shortcut keys are available for use of the form without a mouse. Use the Alt key to access the menus and the Tab key to move between boxes on the form.
Note that on the Load File form the only files reported available are .INV files. If you save your inventory under another filename extension, you must type the full file name into the File Name: box on the Load File form.
A sample inventory file, SAMPLE.INV, is included with QuarterMaster. Practice loading, modifying, and saving this file to get an idea of how the program works.
To save the current inventory file to disk, use the File/Save... or File/Save As... menus. Save... saves the current file under it's current name, while Save As... saves the current file under a new name. The first time an "Untitled" file is saved, QuarterMaster acts as if you selected Save As... and prompts you for the file name.
Saving an inventory file under a file name that already exists will overwrite the old file. The contents of the old file will be lost.
Use the New command on the File menu to clear out the current inventory file. If the file has changed since last being saved you will be prompted to save your changes first.
The File menu also provides you with options to Print your inventory, and Exit back to Windows. Print... displays a dialog box as described below. Exit will prompt you to save your inventory if it has changed since it was last saved.
*** Printing a Report ***
To print an inventory report, choose File/Print... from the main form. The report dialog box will be displayed. Next choose the fields from the current inventory file that you want included in the report. Use the mouse to place an 'X' in the desired fields. If you want to report on all fields, click on the All command button at the bottom of the form.
Once you have selected which fields you wish to print, click on the Print command button. The selected information will be queued to the print manager and printed. Once the report has been generated you will see a confirmation message. Click OK to return to the main form.
The printed report includes the current date and time as well as a summary of the inventory, including total value of all items.
Store your report with the diskette containing your inventory, or send a copy to your insurance company.
*** Searching for Records ***
QuarterMaster provides you with a number of ways to retrieve information that you have entered into an inventory file. You can search for Make, Model, Serial Number, item Type, or Description. There is also an option that allows you to move directly to a particular record if you know the record's location.
To begin a search of the current inventory file, select Search from the main form and click on the desired search type. A dialog box will appear asking you to enter the field contents that you wish to search for. Enter the desired value and click on the OK button or press ENTER. QuarterMaster will search the inventory for the entered information. If a matching record is found, an information box will appear to indicate that a match has been found, and the main form will display the located record. If no matches were found, a dialog box will appear telling you so. You may then start a new search.
If a matching record was found, additional matches can be found by clicking on Search/Next Match, or by pressing the F3 function key. Additional matches are displayed as above.
You may begin a new search at any time by selecting the new search type from the Search menu.
Searches normally are length and case insensitive. This means that a match will be detected if any part of the inventory field matches the search text. For example, if the search text is entered as 'art', then QuarterMaster will report a match on any inventory record containing 'art', but also on 'Art', 'article', 'Artisan', and 'Party', that is, any inventory record containg the string 'art' as part of the chosen field.
To limit your search to exact matches of the search text, check 'Exact Match' on the Search menu before starting your search.
To move to a record at a specific location in your inventory file, select Go To Record... from the Search menu. A dialog box will ask you which record you wish to display. Enter the desired record number and press ENTER. The specified record will be displayed. If the record number does not exist, a warning message will appear. Click OK to begin another search.
*** Sorting your Inventory File ***
QuarterMaster allows you to sort an inventory file into ascending or descending order. You can elect to sort by any of the following fields: Make, Model, Serial #, Value, or Type.
To sort an inventory file into ascending order by serial number, choose Order/Serial # from the main form. Note that ascending order is the default, as indicated by the Ascending/Descending check mark items on the bottom of the Order menu. To change to descending order, click on Order/Descending.
Once Serial # is selected, QuarterMaster will rearrange the inventory records into ascending order by serial number. The record position will be moved to the start of the file, and the first record will be displayed. Use the Next command button to verify that the records are now in ascending order by serial number.
To sort the inventory file on any of the other fields, choose that field from the Order menu. Use the SAMPLE.INV file and experiment with sorting on different fields and on ascending and descending order. Attempts to sort an empty inventory file will generate a warning message.
Be sure to use File/Save... to save the rearranged contents of the inventory file should this be desired.
*** View Options ***
The main form displays data from the current inventory file one item at a time. Sometimes it is convenient to view your inventory in the form of a table, with all items listed one per line. To switch from the main form to a list configuration, choose View/List from the main menu. A new form will be displayed which shows the entire contents of the inventory file one item per line.
Each item's Description field is listed beyond the right of the form and may be displayed by using the scroll bar at the bottom of the screen. Use the vertical scroll bar to scroll up and down in your inventory file.
At the end of the inventory records a summary line shows the total number of records and their total value.
To return to the main form select File/Return from the menu.
A useful feature of this display format is that of allowing the displayed inventory information to be copied to the Windows Clipboard. This allows the inventory to be accessed by other Windows applications. To copy the inventory to the clipboard choose Copy/Copy to Clipboard from the main menu.
It is not possible in this version of Quartermaster to paste existing clipboard contents into an inventory file.
*** File Statistics ***
The Options/Statistics... selection on the main form presents statistical information on the current inventory file. Current file name, number of records, file size, and total inventory value are included. This information may be useful before saving the current file onto a diskette.
Click OK to return to the main form.
*** The QMASTER.INI File ***
QuarterMaster has it's own initialization file, QMASTER.INI, which contains the choices available to the user for the item Type and Colour fields on the main form.
The contents of this file are in ASCII format and thus can easily be customized using any text editor, such as Edlin, MS-DOS Edit, or Windows Notepad. Although word processing packages such as WordPerfect may be used to edit the QMASTER.INI file, be careful to ensure that the edited file is saved in ASCII format, and not in your word processor's internal format. Files saved in a non-ASCII format will not be recognized properly by QuarterMaster.
QMASTER.INI is laid out in a format similar to the Windows initialization files WIN.INI and SYSTEM.INI. There are two sections, [type] and [colour]. The [type] section contains a list of available property types, which will be displayed by the Type drop-down box on the main form. The [colour] section contains the list of standard colours. These appear in the Colour drop-down box on the main form. The spellings [colour] and [color] are interchangeable, and either section may be omitted if desired. The two sections must be separated by a blank line, and entries within each section may be in any order. QuarterMaster automatically sorts the entries into alphabetical order before displaying them in their respective drop-down boxes.
A sample QMASTER.INI file is as follows:
[colour]
WHI
YEL
GRN
BLU
RED
BLK
[type]
Coin
Jewellery
Sporting Equipment
Tool
Appliance
Art
Gun
Electronic
Other
This file should be stored in the same directory as QMASTER.EXE.
*** In Case of Difficulty ***
Should you experience problems of a nature not covered in this manual, contact the author via CompuServe, mail, or amateur packet radio. Contact information is in the first section of this manual.
I will try to fix any reported problems and supply you with an updated version of QuarterMaster. I cannot, however, accept any responsibility for loss of data or any other loss that may result from use of the program. The best safeguard against loss of data is to perform regular backups.
