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TimeStax (TM)
The Personal Timecard Manager
User's Manual
Version 2.6
January 11, 1993
_______
____|__ | (tm)
--| | |-------------------
| ____|__ | Association of
| | |_| Shareware
|__| o | Professionals
-----| | |---------------------
|___|___| MEMBER
Copyright 1988-1993
All rights reserved.
Johnson Technologies
10564 N. Blaney Avenue
Cupertino, CA. 95014
Phone: (408) 255-4213
T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S
1 INTRODUCTION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2 INSTALLATION AND SETUP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2.1 Installation for Local Area Network. . . . . . . . . 2
2.2 Installation for Single PC with hard disk. . . . . . 2
3 GETTING STARTED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
4 SIGNING ON WITH PASSWORD SECURITY . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
5 TIMECARD VIEW WINDOW. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
5.1 View Window - Appearance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
5.2 View Window - Cursor movement keys . . . . . . . . . 5
5.3 View Window - Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
6 TIMECARD ADD WINDOW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
6.1 Add Window - Appearance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
6.2 Add Window - Commands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
6.3 Add Window - Data entry instructions . . . . . . . . 8
7 TIMECARD CHANGE WINDOW. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
8 GENERATING REPORTS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
8.1 Report Options Window - Appearance . . . . . . . . 10
8.2 Report Options Window - Cursor movement keys . . . 11
8.3 Report Options Window - Commands . . . . . . . . . 11
8.4 Report Options Window - Options. . . . . . . . . . 12
8.5 Report Selection Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
8.6 Displaying and printing your report. . . . . . . . 15
9 REPORT SAMPLES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
9.1 General Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
9.2 Sample Report 1 - Grand Total only . . . . . . . . 16
9.3 Sample Report 2 - One Subtotal Field . . . . . . . 17
9.4 Sample Report 3 - 2 Subtotal fields. . . . . . . . 18
9.5 Sample Report 4 - 2 Subtotal fields plus Notes . . 18
10 SYSTEM UTILITIES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
10.1 Utility Window - Appearance. . . . . . . . . . . . 19
10.2 INFO Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
DUMP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
FILES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
PEOPLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
QUIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
10.3 DISK Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
PACK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
10.4 SETUP Utility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
10.4.1 Assigning Activity SubLists. . . . . . . 21
10.4.2 Naming Activity Lists. . . . . . . . . . 21
10.4.3 Password Security ON/OFF . . . . . . . . 21
10.4.4 Sorting Activity Lists . . . . . . . . . 22
10.4.5 Updating Activity Lists. . . . . . . . . 22
11 PASSWORD SECURITY FEATURES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
11.1 Signing On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
11.2 Password Administration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
11.3 Timecard Viewing/Changing Security . . . . . . . . 24
11.4 Timecard Listing Security. . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
11.5 Timecard Reporting Security. . . . . . . . . . . . 24
12 HOW & WHEN TO EXPORT AND IMPORT . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
12.1 Overview of EXPORT and IMPORT. . . . . . . . . . . 25
12.2 How to EXPORT timecards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
12.3 How to IMPORT timecards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
13 HOW & WHEN TO ARCHIVE AND UN-ARCHIVE. . . . . . . . . . 29
13.1 Overview of ARCHIVE and UNARCHIVE. . . . . . . . . 29
13.2 How to ARCHIVE timecards . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
13.3 How to UNARCHIVE timecards . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
14 HOW & WHEN TO BACKUP AND RESTORE. . . . . . . . . . . . 31
14.1 Overview of BACKUP and RESTORE . . . . . . . . . . 31
14.2 How to BACKUP your database . . . . . . . . . . . 32
14.3 How to RESTORE your database . . . . . . . . . . . 32
APPENDIX A. LAN CONFIGURATION FOR THE LAN ADMINISTRATOR. . . 33
The TIMESTAX.INI Configuration File . . . . . . . . . . 33
The MASTER Timecard Database. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
APPENDIX B. TECHNICAL NOTES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
APPENDIX C. A Word About Shareware . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
PAGE 1
1 INTRODUCTION
Whether you are a private consultant with 100 clients, a manager
working with 3 other departments, or just a busy office worker who
works on several projects at once, you're probably concerned with
how efficiently you spend your work day.
TIMESTAX is a simple time management program for anyone who needs
to monitor his or her work habits. With a minimum of effort (10-20
minutes per week) you can capture important information about which
clients and projects you worked on and what specific activities you
performed. Then in about 5 seconds you can summarize the weeks or
months of work you put in and see just where the time went.
You say you work in a big company and don't need to account for
every minute of your time? But when you're overdue on that 3-
month project the boss is yelling about, wouldn't it be nice to
have the hard evidence that you spent exactly 34% of your time in
useless status meetings with him? Or 16% of your time on those
"one-time-only reports"? Or 11% playing telephone tag? Or 3%
actually getting some work done?
If you want more than the "feeling" you should have gotten more
done this month then start tracking your time now with TIMESTAX -
the Personal Timecard Manager.
TIMESTAX provides the following features:
o "Stacks" of timecards that record time spent in any
Activity, classified by Employee, Date, Client,
Project, and Task
o An optional 8-line Note for each timecard
o Summary reporting with up to 5 levels of subtotals
o Utilities to backup and archive the databases
o Utilities to export/import subsets of timecards
between Employee databases and a master database
o An automatic clock to time any activity
o Up to 999 employees per database
o Single-PC or LAN (not multi-user) configuration
o Password Security features
PAGE 2
The documentation which follows covers the topics of installation,
use, and administration of the databases used by individual
timekeepers. Appendices discuss the use of TimeStax on a Local
Area Network and cover some technical aspects of the system.
2 INSTALLATION AND SETUP
The installation method depends on whether the system is being
configured for use on a standalone PC or on a Local Area Network
(LAN). Use the installation disk which accompanies this manual.
2.1 Installation for Local Area Network
A designated LAN Administrator is responsible for setting up all
application programs on the LAN. Please refer to Appendix A for
details.
2.2 Installation for Single PC with hard disk
With the installation disk in drive A:, type
A:TSUNPACK C:\TIMESTAX
This will "unpack" all the TimeStax files into your C:\TIMESTAX
directory. TSUNPACK will automatically create the directory if it
does not already exist.
DOS NOTE: You must set "FILES=20" in the CONFIG.SYS file in the
root directory of your boot disk.
PAGE 3
3 GETTING STARTED
The best way to get familiar with TIMESTAX is to run the program as
you read along in this manual. There is not much you can do wrong,
and nothing you can't undo if you follow these instructions.
To run the program, change to your C:\TIMESTAX directory and type
"TIMESTAX". You may want to set up a batch file called "TS.BAT" on
your root directory which will place you in the C:\TIMESTAX
directory automatically and then start the program.
If you have not set up the Activity Code Tables, TIMESTAX will
prompt you to do so now. You may change these entries at any time
using the SETUP Utility described in Section 10.4. For now, use
the ADD function to add new Employees, Clients, Projects, and Tasks
to the empty lists. If you are running on a LAN your Administrator
is responsible for assigning the Employee ID codes for you. The
codes for the other 3 lists are automatically assigned by the
system.
If this is the first time you have ever run TIMESTAX you will next
be informed that there is no timecard database. Press "Y" for "Yes"
when asked if it is okay to create a new database.
The next window you will see is the TIMESTAX MAIN MENU (see Figure
1). This window shows the date, a running time clock at the top
right, and the five available options:
TIMECARDS - go to the timecard View window
REPORTS - go to the Report Options window
UTILITIES - go to the Utilities window
HELP - show a Help window for reference
QUIT - exit the timecard system completely
To select an option press the first letter of its name, for example
press "T" to invoke the TIMECARDS option.
4 SIGNING ON WITH PASSWORD SECURITY
If the Password Security feature is ON you must first sign on to
the TimeStax system. See Section 11 for details.
Note that for a new TimeStax installation, Password Security is
OFF. You may turn it on in the Utilities/Setup menu with the
Password option (see Section 10.4.3).
PAGE 4
5TIMECARD VIEW WINDOW
Each person is given one "stack" of timecards in the database. The
View window lets you look at one particular person's stack and move
forward and backward within that stack.
Press "T" from the main menu to get to the TimeCard View window.
5.1 View Window - Appearance
If this is the first time you have ever run TIMESTAX there will not
be any timecards on file. A message-box will indicate this in the
window.
If timecards do exist, the last 15 timecards on file will be
displayed in the window. A reverse-video "highlight bar" will
highlight the last timecard (red on a color monitor). See Figure
2.
There are several features of the View Window to notice right away:
o The date and time are shown at the top right
o The last 15 timecards on file are shown, 1 per line
o The message "CARD# nnn OF nnn" shows how many
timecards are on file for the current Employee,
and also indicates which one the highlight bar is
currently on.
o A list of COMMANDS is shown at the bottom of the
window, and the CHANGE command is highlighted.
o 'N' at the left of a timecard means a Note is attached
o '*' at the left of a timecard means it is "Erased" (marked
for deletion, as described below
PAGE 5
5.2 View Window - Cursor movement keys
Several keys are used to make your way around the View window.
Experiment with them to see what effect they have:
UP/DOWN ARROW KEYS: Scroll the highlight bar up or down
through the stack of timecards.
PAGE-UP/DOWN KEYS: Move one entire page up or down
through the stack of timecards.
HOME KEY: Move the highlight bar to the very
first timecard on file for this Employee.
END KEY: Move the highlight bar to the very
last timecard on file for this Employee.
LEFT/RIGHT ARROW Move the COMMAND highlight bar left
KEYS: and right at the bottom of the window
ESC KEY: Return to the main menu window.
ENTER KEY: Execute the currently highlighted COMMAND
5.3 View Window - Commands
The commands at the bottom of the VIEW window are executed by one
of two methods:
1. Use the LEFT/RIGHT arrow keys to highlight the desired
command, then press the ENTER key.
or 2. Press the bold-faced letter of the desired command.
Here is a brief description of each command:
ADD: Pop up a new Timecard window to add timecard(s)
CHANGE: Go to the EDIT data entry window to modify the
timecard that is currently highlighted on the VIEW
window
ERASE: Mark (or unmark) the currently highlighted timecard for
deletion (or un-deletion). This does not physically
remove the timecard from the database, it simply marks
it with an "*" in the window. You must perform a PACK
operation (see UTILITIES) to remove the timecards
marked for deletion.
PAGE 6
View Window - Commands (cont.)
HELP: Show a help window for reference.
JUMP: Jump to the first timecard with a specific date. This is
only allowed if the timecards are currently sorted by
Date (the default sequence).
NAME: Allow the user to switch to a different employee's stack
of timecards. Press ENTER to choose the highlighted Name
on the popup list. If Password Security is ON you will
also be prompted for a password. To change an existing
password press the F3 key on this popup window, but only
after the current password is entered.
REPORTS: Go to the Reports system. This is exactly the same as
selecting REPORTS from the main menu.
SORT: Allow the user to rearrange the timecards by sorting on
a specific category (Date, Tasks, Client, Project). The
currently selected Sort category is highlighted. The new
category is selected by either typing the bold-faced
letter, or by using the LEFT/RIGHT arrow keys and then
pressing the ENTER key. Note that for the 3 non-Date
categories, sorting is done based on an internal CODE
number, not the text shown in the window. This means the
text may not appear in "alphabetic" order in the window.
To re-sort the list alphabetically, use the
Utilities/Setup/Sort utility (see Section 10.4.4).
TIMER: Turn the built-in timer on or off for the currently
highlighted timecard. TIMESTAX will automatically keep
track of the time spent on this Activity until you turn
the timer off, even when you exit TIMESTAX. A running
clock time is shown at the right of the active timecard.
See Figure 3.
NOTE: Only 1 timecard at a time may have the timer on. No
Utility programs or Reports may be run until the timer is
turned off.
UTIL: Go to the Utilities system. This is exactly the same as
selecting UTILITIES from the main menu.
QUIT: Return to the main menu (same as pressing the ESC key).
PAGE 7
6 TIMECARD ADD WINDOW
The same Add window is used both for adding a new timecard and for
changing the timecard currently highlighted on the View window.
6.1 Add Window - Appearance
Press "A" from the TIMESTAX View window to invoke the ADD command.
As shown in Figure 4, a set of windows is displayed where the
information for a single timecard will be entered.
Notice these features of the Add Window:
o The date and time are shown at the top right
o The message "CARD# nnn OF nnn" is shown at the top right,
and is set to be 1 more than the last timecard
for the currently active Employee.
o The named boxes across the window are the same as on the
View window - for example, DATE, Client, Project, Task, and
TIME. This is where you enter the information for one
timecard.
o The center of the window shows a large area which
displays data-entry instructions. These instructions change
as you move from one entry field to the next.
o A list of FUNCTION-KEY COMMANDS is shown at the bottom of
the window.
6.2 Add Window - Commands
F1-HELP: Show a help window for reference
F2-SAVE: Save the timecard information just entered. If invalid
data was entered you will be prompted to correct it here. When you
save the timecard, another blank timecard is presented. The Date,
Client, and Project fields are held over from the last timecard for
convenience.
ESC-Cancel: Return to the VIEW Window without saving the timecard
information just entered.
PAGE 8
6.3 Add Window - Data entry instructions
The Add window lets you enter information about one timecard at a
time. You may use the LEFT/RIGHT, TAB and SHIFT-TAB keys to move
the highlight bar right and left through the 6 timecard fields.
DATE: Defaults to the date of the currently highlighted
timecard (or today's date if there are no timecards on
file). The date-field format is "MM/DD/YY". See the
instructions in the center window. You may enter just
the month and day (like "8/1" or "9/13") and the system
will append the current year. You may also type a "T" to
tell the system to use Today's date, or "Y" for
Yesterday's date. Finally, you can type in a day-of-week
code, like "MON" for Monday or "TUE" for Tuesday, to get
that day's date in the current week. "-MON" and "-TUE"
gives you Monday or Tuesday's date from last week.
Client,
Project,
and Tasks:
Note that the names of these fields are defined in the
Utilities/SETUP/NAME utility (see UTILITIES below). The
rules of data entry are the same for all 3 fields. The
center window contains a list of the allowed selections
and their code numbers. There are 2 ways to make a
selection:
1. Type the code number and press ENTER - the text is
automatically inserted in the field box.
2. Use the cursor movement keys to move the item's
highlight bar to the desired choice and press
ENTER. Valid keys are UP/DOWN arrows, PGUP, PGDN,
HOME, and END.
If a particular list has only 1 entry, that entry is
automatically selected and you are TABBED to the next
list.
Once a Client is selected you will be shown only those
Projects and Tasks for that Client. These can be
assigned using the method described in Section 10.4.1.
TIME: There are several formats you can use to enter the time
associated with this timecard, as shown in the center
window. Whichever format you choose, the system
redisplays the time you enter in terms of hours and
minutes (e.g., 90 becomes 1:30). The database stores all
times as minutes to simplify arithmetic operations
required for reports.
PAGE 9
NOTE:You may optionally enter up to 8 lines of free-format
Notes which will be associated with this timecard. In
addition to the standard cursor movement keys the
following functions are provided:
ALT-C - Clear the entire Note window to blanks
ALT-D - Delete the entire line with the cursor
ALT-E - Erase from the cursor to the end of the line
ALT-I - Insert a new line below the current line
7 TIMECARD CHANGE WINDOW
Press "C" from the TIMESTAX View window to invoke the CHANGE
command. As shown in Figure 5 this window looks just like the ADD
window, except that the cursor is initially placed in the TimeCard
Note area. The fields have been filled in with the timecard which
was highlighted on the View Window, so it can now be modified.
The operation of this window is almost identical to the operation
of the ADD window. The only difference is that once you press the
F2 function key to save the changes you are automatically returned
to the View Window.
PAGE 10
8 GENERATING REPORTS
TIMESTAX can generate a variety of summary reports to help you
understand where you spend your time. The Report Generator allows
you to:
o report on timecards between any 2 dates
o report on any or all Employees, Clients, Projects, and
Tasks
o show only a Grand total, or up to 5 levels of subtotals
o show the subtotals as a percentage of the Grand total
o include the text of every timecard Note in the report
8.1 Report Options Window - Appearance
The REPORT system may be invoked in one of 2 ways:
1. Press "R" from the Main Menu
or 2. Press "R" from the View Window
You will be presented with the window shown in Figure 6.
It again shows the date and time at the top right, a large window
in the center for data entry, and several FUNCTION-KEY COMMANDS at
the bottom of the window.
In general you will indicate the Reporting Options you want,
optionally use the F3 function to limit which Activities are to be
reported on, then press the F2 function key to start selecting and
sorting the timecards. You are then given the option of sending
the report to the Window, the Printer, or a Disk file on your PC.
Section 9 gives details on how to generate several sample reports.
PAGE 11
8.2 Report Options Window - Cursor movement keys
Use the following keys to make your way around the Report window:
UP/DOWN ARROW KEYS, Move up and down the data-entry fields.
TAB/SHIFT-TAB:
LEFT/RIGHT ARROW Select an item from the "SUBTOTAL ON" list
KEYS: for which you want subtotals.
PAGE-UP/DOWN KEYS, Jump to the top or bottom of the window.
HOME/END KEYS:
ENTER KEY: Accept the data for the current field, and
move to the next field in sequence.
8.3 Report Options Window - Commands
F1-HELP: Show a Help window for reference.
F2-PROCEED: Using the options you typed in so far, proceed to
the Select/Sort step. Once you proceed you may press
the ESC key to abort this step if you feel you made a
mistake.
F3-SELECT: Go to the Report Selection window (see Section 8.5).
ESC-Return: Return to the previous menu.
PAGE 12
8.4 Report Options Window - Options
The Report Selection window controls several options in 3 main
areas of the window. These options will tell the system how to
collect and arrange the information in your report.
FROM DATE, You can tell the system what date-range of
TO DATE: timecards you want to report on. If the FROM-DATE
is left blank the system starts with the 1st
timecard on file. If the TO-DATE is left blank the
system stops at the last timecard on file.
The date format is the standard MM/DD/YY. You may
enter just the month and day (like "8/1" or "9/13")
and the system will append the current year. You
may also type a "T" to tell the system to use
Today's date, or "Y" for Yesterday's date.
Finally, you can type in a day-of-week code, like
"MON" for Monday or "TUE" for Tuesday, to get that
day's date in the current week. "-MON" and "-TUE"
gives you Monday or Tuesday's date from last week.
SUBTOTALS: You may specify up to 5 subtotal fields (or none)
in any order. For example, choosing "EMPLOYEE and
CLIENT" means your timecards will be subtotaled
first by EMPLOYEE, then within a given EMPLOYEE by
CLIENT.
The 5 subtotal field choices are shown in a small
window to the right of the highlighted area. You
may select a field in one of 2 ways:
1. Press the bold-faced letter of the subtotal
field you want, for example press "D" to
select "DATE".
2. Use the LEFT/RIGHT arrow keys to move the
highlight bar to the correct field name, then
press the ENTER key.
Note that the system won't prevent you from
entering the same Subtotal field twice, for example
"CLIENT and CLIENT". It doesn't make much sense,
but it won't hurt anything.
PAGE 13
Report Options (cont.)
VIEW OPTIONS:
These options control the way the timecard report is
actually displayed. The various choices for these
options are shown to the right of each field. For
example, the VIEWING FORMAT can be hours & minutes
(hh:mm), hours & fractions-of-hours (hh.dd), or just
minutes (mins).
You may select a particular setting again in one of 2
ways:
1. Press the bold-faced letter of the setting you
want, for example press "M" for "Minutes" or
"Y" for "Yes".
2. Use the LEFT/RIGHT arrow keys to move the
highlight bar to the correct setting, then
press the ENTER key.
VIEWING FORMAT: [ HH:MM, HH.DD, or MINS ]
Controls the format in which all times are
displayed in the report
SHOW PERCENTS: [ Yes, No ]
Show the percent-of-total for each subtotal
SHOW NOTES: [ Yes, No ]
Show each timecard Note, if any.
PAGE 14
8.5 Report Selection Window
Press the F3 key from the Report Window. You will see a window
like the one shown in Figure 7, which presents you with
the lists of Employees, Clients, Projects, and Tasks currently
defined in your system. Initially, all the entries on each list
are marked as Selected. Only one list is "active" at a time, and
that is the one shown with a BLACK background. You may select
items on any of the 4 lists by using the cursor keys, the SPACEBAR,
and the Function keys as follows:
UP/DOWN ARROW KEYS, Move the highlight bar up and down within
PAGE UP/DOWN, the "active" list
HOME, END KEYS:
LEFT/RIGHT ARROW Move left and right between the lists, making
KEYS: each list "active" in turn
SPACEBAR: Select or Unselect the current entry. Selected
entries are marked with a ">" symbol.
F2: Proceed with the report, using the lists as
marked. Only timecards that refer to Selected
entries will be included in the report.
F3: Select ALL the entries in the active list
F4: Unselect ALL the entries in the active list
ESC: Cancel your selections, return to Report
Window
Note that if Password Security is ON, only the Administrator may
select and unselect Employees. All other users are restricted to
generating reports on their own timecards only.
PAGE 15
8.6 Displaying and printing your report
After the system selects and sorts the timecards you requested, you
will see the Output Destination window, shown in Figure 8. Simply
type the first letter of the destination of your report:
S - sends the report to the screen, pausing after each
screenful of data.
P - sends the report to the printer.
D - sends the report to a disk file for later printing or
enhancement with a word processor. The system will
prompt you to type in the name of the file.
After the system processes the report you will be returned to this
window. This allows you to review the report or change its
destination, without having to re-specify the reporting options and
re-sort the records. For example you may want to see the report in
the screen first before deciding to send it to the printer.
Press the ESC key to return to the Report Options window.
PAGE 16
9 REPORT SAMPLES
9.1 General Instructions
The best way to see the effects of the various options is just to
experiment. For example, choose a date range of a week or so to
limit the time it takes to select and sort. Then select one or
more subtotal fields in the SUBTOTALS section (if no subtotal
fields are selected you will just get a "Grand Total" report with
no subtotals). Limit your report to only one Project using the F3
key, or change some of the Viewing options. Finally, press the F2
key to start selecting and sorting.
Remember - reports do not change what's in the database so you
can't accidentally erase any timecards or do any other damage here.
You can interrupt the sort process by pressing the ESC key.
When the Output Destination window appears, press S to send the
report to the screen.
Note that the following sample reports show only the 1st page of
multi-page reports.
9.2 Sample Report 1 - Grand Total only
See Figure 9. For a grand total report only the From-Date and To-
Date were filled in. The user then pressed the F2 key to proceed.
The number of records being selected and sorted is displayed near
the bottom of the window, showing how many timecards were found
between the two dates.
Notice that the report heading indicates:
a. the date and time the report was run
b. the date range specified by the user
c. no subtotal fields were specified.
Also notice that the total time is displayed in the default format
of hours and minutes.
PAGE 17
9.3 Sample Report 2 - One Subtotal Field
See Figure 10. Here we specified a single sort field in the
SUBTOTALS section, namely Client. The report now shows that:
a. the subtotal field is displayed in the report heading.
b. the grand total is shown first
c. the timecard times are subtotaled by Client.
Notice that the grand total is shown first, then the subtotals.
This is a little different than a standard accountant's way of
showing a progression of subtotals, which usually appear as a
column of numbers that add up to the grand total:
A1
B1 25
B2 5
-----
30 Subtotal
A2
B1 30
B2 10
B3 10
-----
50 Subtotal
--------
80 Grand Total
The alternate idea here is that the user can "explode" a given
total into subtotals, or "collapse" it back just by specifying more
or fewer subtotal fields:
No subtotals 1 subtotal 2 subtotals
Grand Total 80 Grand Total 80 Grand Total 80
A1 30 A1 30
A2 50 B1 25
B2 5
A2 50
B1 30
B2 10
B3 10
This "nesting" can occur up to 5 levels deep. At each level the
total of that group is presented first, then the subtotal within
that group. One advantage of this approach is that you can see the
grand total right away, without having to page-down to the end of
the report. By making use of indentation the report lets you see
group subtotals more quickly even if all 5 levels are involved.
PAGE 18
9.4 Sample Report 3 - 2 Subtotal fields
See Figure 11. Here we specified a report subtotaled by Task
within Client, showing percentages. The report now shows the 2
levels of subtotals using the indentation described above.
Notice that the percentages of the Tasks reflect the percentage of
the Client it "belongs" to. In other words, a subgroup's percent-
ages are only in terms of the group directly above it, and do not
reflect a percentage of the Grand Total.
In turn, the Client percentages are in terms of the Grand Total
because Client was the primary Subtotal field specified.
9.5 Sample Report 4 - 2 Subtotal fields plus Notes
See Figure 12. Here we specified a report subtotaled by Task
within Client, showing Notes. We also changed the VIEWING FORMAT
to "hh.dd" (decimal time). The resulting report shows the time and
the Note text for every timecard, beneath the last subtotal field
(Tasks). You may want to see all cards as a double-check of your
data entry. For example, if you see a timecard was recorded with
a time of 16 hours you might want to go back to the View window and
correct it.
PAGE 19
10 SYSTEM UTILITIES
10.1 Utility Window - Appearance
The UTILITIES system may be invoked in one of 2 ways:
1. Press "U" from the Main Menu
or 2. Press "U" from the View Window
You will be presented with the window shown in Figure 13. It lists
the following 4 Utility Options:
INFO Display/print summary information about all
the TIMESTAX database files
DISK Perform any of the disk input/output
operations, (Import/Export, Archive/Unarchive,
etc.)
SETUP Update Activity Code Tables or change their
Names; Change Employee passwords
QUIT Return to the previous window.
To select an option press its first letter, for example press "D"
to invoke the Disk Utilities.
10.2 INFO Utility
Press "I" from the Utilities Main Menu to invoke the INFO utility.
See Figure 14. The options presented are:
DUMP: Display or print every timecard in the database for
debugging purposes. See Figure 15 for an example. The
ID# field is the Employee ID number; the EXP field
indicates whether the timecard was exported yet; the S
field indicates status, where a "*" means the timecard
has been marked for deletion.
FILES: Display summary information about all the disk files
relevant to the TIMESTAX System. See Figure 16 for an
example.
PEOPLE: Display summary information about all the timecards in
the database, grouped by Employee. See Figure 17 for an
example.
QUIT: Return to the Utility menu window.
PAGE 20
10.3 DISK Utility
Press "D" from the Utilities Main Menu to invoke the DISK utility.
See Figure 18. The options presented are:
PACK: This operation will perform a database "pack", which will
physically delete all timecards previously marked for
deletion (by using the ERASE command from the View
window). This operation may take several minutes, so be
prepared to wait. The window will show what record number
is currently being processed. See Figure 19.
THE FOLLOWING OPTIONS ARE EXPLAINED MORE FULLY IN A SEPARATE
SECTION BECAUSE THEY MUST BE DONE CAREFULLY!
BACKUP/RESTORE:
These operations will copy all relevant timecard files to
or from the disk drive you specify.
EXPORT/IMPORT:
These operations are used to COPY a subset of your
timecards (within a date range you specify) in one
of 2 directions:
EXPORT: FROM your timecard database TO another disk file
IMPORT: FROM another disk file INTO your timecard
database
You would typically do an EXPORT in order to create a copy of a
week or month's worth of your timecards on another disk, which is
then given to the System Administrator to incorporate into a Master
Timecard Database.
ARCHIVE/UNARCHIVE:
These operations are used to PERMANENTLY MOVE a subset of
your timecards (within a date range you specify) in one
of 2 directions:
ARCHIVE: FROM your timecard database TO another disk
file
UNARCHIVE: FROM another disk file INTO your timecard
database
You would typically do an ARCHIVE in order to erase old or unwanted
timecards which are taking up space in your database, yet save them
onto a diskette for future reference.
QUIT: Return to the Utility menu window.
PAGE 21
10.4 SETUP Utility
Press "S" from the Utilities Main Menu to invoke the SETUP utility.
See Figure 20. The information you fill in here is kept in the
TIMESTAX.TBL configuration file.
If the Password Security option is currently active, you will only
be allowed to view or change the Setup information if you've signed
on as the Administrator. All other users are prevented from making
changes.
The options you are presented with are described below:
10.4.1 Assigning Activity SubLists
Press "A" from the SETUP menu. See Figure 21. Here you may assign
to Activity list 1 specific subsets of items in Activity lists 2
and 3. For example, if you have defined Clients, Projects, and
Tasks then you can assign certain Projects and Tasks to each
individual Client. This can greatly simplify the job of entering
timecards in the Add window, because you are shown only those
Projects and Tasks which that Client is assigned.
The method of moving around this window and making your assignments
is the same method used on the Report Selection window (see Section
8.5).
10.4.2 Naming Activity Lists
Press "N" from the SETUP menu. See Figure 22. You may name the
Activity Categories anything you like by typing in the names in the
fields provided. Press the F2 key to save your changes and return
to the SETUP menu.
10.4.3 Password Security ON/OFF
Press "P" from the SETUP menu. This will toggle the Password
setting between ON and OFF. See Section 11 for a complete
description of the Password Security features.
PAGE 22
10.4.4 Sorting Activity Lists
Press "S" from the SETUP menu. The program will lead you through
the process of sorting and re-numbering all the items in the 3
Activity Lists (but not the Employee List, where you manually gave
each employee a separate ID number). This function must change
each and every timecard in the Timecard Database, because timecards
really only record the item number of an item in a list, not its
text name. When that number changes the timecard must be updated.
TimeStax normally adds new List items to the end of the list and
assigns the next available sequential number to it. You would use
this Sort function whenever you wanted to re-alphabetize the list
to make it easier to find the item you want when entering new
timecards.
10.4.5 Updating Activity Lists
Press "1", "2", or "3", or "4" from the SETUP menu. Each of these
options presents you with a popup list like the one shown in Figure
23. You may Add an item, Change the spelling of an item, or mark
an item as "* deleted *". When adding People, you are prompted to
enter an ID number from 1-999. When adding other Activity items
the system automatically assigns the next highest internal Code
number.
WARNING: The timecard database (TIMESTAX.DAT) stores only the Code
Numbers of the various Activities, not the actual text. The text
is stored only in the TIMESTAX.TBL configuration file. This has a
few important implications:
1) It is imperative that LAN users work from the same lists
of Activities to be able to exchange export/import files.
2) To prevent mixups you are not allowed to delete an
Activity entry while there are still timecards which
refer to it.
3) You may not re-assign the internal Code Numbers or
renumber them.
PAGE 23
11 PASSWORD SECURITY FEATURES
When the Password Security system is ON (see Section 10.4.3) the
following features are enabled:
11.1 Signing On
When TimeStax is first started up you are shown a list of Employees
in the TimeStax database, as in Figure 24. Select one from the
list and press ENTER. Then you will be prompted for a password, as
shown in Figure 25. You have 3 chances to get the password right
before TimeStax kicks you back to the DOS prompt. Note that the
characters you type are displayed as "********".
You can also change your password after you have typed in the
current password. Instead of pressing the ENTER key, press the F3
key, then enter and confirm a new password (see Figure 26).
Employee passwords are encrypted in the TimeStax database for
further protection against unauthorized access.
11.2 Password Administration
One Employee is designated as the Administrator. Only this
Employee can change the SETUP information and generate reports on
all Employees. Other Employees may view timecards and reports only
for themselves, and may not view or change the SETUP information.
The Administrator may view or change any Employee's password when
viewing the Employee list from the SETUP window, as shown in Figure
27. Move the highlight bar to the desired Employee name and press
"P". Then enter and confirm the new password.
The Administrator may also change which Employee is designated as
the Administrator. In a default configuration of TimeStax the
first Employee in the list is the Administrator. Move the
highlight bar to the desired Employee name and press "M". Note
that you will continue to have all Administrator privileges until
you back out of the SETUP menu. If you try to re-enter the SETUP
window you will be blocked, because you are no longer the
Administrator. Go to the Viewcard window and select the Name
function to sign back onto TimeStax as the new Administrator.
Remember what the new Administrator's password is before you leave
this window!
PAGE 24
11.3 Timecard Viewing/Changing Security
TimeStax allows you to view or change only one Employee's "stack"
of timecards at a time. To view another Employee's stack you
normally use the Name option from the ViewCard window. When
Password Security is ON you are also prompted for the password of
the selected Employee.
11.4 Timecard Listing Security
The Utilities/Info/Dump utility normally generates a dump listing
of all Employees' timecards in the database. When Password
Security is ON, only the Administrator can list all timecards.
Other users are limited to lists of their own timecards only.
11.5 Timecard Reporting Security
In the Report module you may normally press F3 to select a subset
of the Employees to include in a report. When Password Security is
ON, only the Administrator can use this feature. Other users can
still see the full list of Employees, but only his own name is
selected and he is not allowed to select any other entries. In
this way users cannot generate reports for anyone's timecards but
his own.
PAGE 25
12 HOW & WHEN TO EXPORT AND IMPORT
12.1 Overview of EXPORT and IMPORT
If you are using TIMESTAX in a LAN environment you may need to
periodically give subsets of your timecards to the System Adminis-
trator, who then loads them into a centrally maintained Master
Database of everyone's timecards. Or you may want to export some
timecards to an ASCII file for use in an accounting or database
package.
Please note that the current version of TIMESTAX system is not a
true "multi-user" system, where everyone enters data into a central
Master Database directly. Instead, everyone maintains his/her own
database of timecards, and a master database is periodically
updated with the latest timecards from each person.
For example, if there are 5 people using the system there will
really be 6 databases - the 5 personal databases kept by each
individual (which contains only his/her timecards), and a 6th
database kept by the Administrator (which contains everyone's
timecards). The Export/Import operations are intended to facili-
tate this transfer from your personal database to the Master
database. By definition:
a. EXPORT is a transfer from your database to some small
file on another diskette (or in a "common" area
on the LAN). YOU perform exports.
b. IMPORT is a transfer from that small file into the master
database. The SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR performs
imports.
You and your Administrator should agree on how often you will
export timecards - every week, every 2 weeks, every month. Try to
keep on schedule with your exports to ensure that the master
database has the latest information. That way the Administrator
can generate summary management reports which cover the entire
group's work.
PAGE 26
12.2 How to EXPORT timecards
Bring up the Utilities Menu by pressing "U" from either the
TIMESTAX Main Menu window or the TIMESTAX View window. From there
press "D" to invoke the Disk Utility menu. Now press "E" to
perform an export operation. You will see the window shown in
Figure 28.
You are now asked to specify the date-range of timecards you want
to export. If your group has agreed to do exports each week, you
may be trying this on Monday morning. In that case the From and
To-Dates would indicate the previous Monday through the previous
Sunday.
Next you are asked what disk file to write the export file to. The
system shows you the default filename (which it gets from the
TIMESTAX.INI file, described in Appendix A). If the default is
acceptable you can just press the ENTER key to proceed. You can
however change the filename here before pressing ENTER. For
example, if the TIMESTAX.INI file supplies only the pathname you
must fill in the filename yourself, as in:
TIMESTAX.INI says A:\
You fill it out as A:\BHP0715.DAT
One strategy for naming your export files might be to use your
initials plus the to-date. For example, file "BHP0715.DAT" would
contain Bob Programmer's timecards for the week ending 07/15. The
next week's export file would be called "BHP0722.DAT", etc.
Next the system indicates how many timecards it found between the
given dates and asks you if it's okay to proceed with the export
operation. Press the ESC key if you decide it's not okay. If
there were NO timecards found between the given dates the system
will tell you.
The system now copies the selected timecards to disk and the
operation is done.
PAGE 27
Cautions about EXPORTING timecards
1. The EXPORT operation does not delete timecards from your
database, it only makes a copy of them. This means you
can still generate reports using those timecards even
AFTER you have exported them to the master database.
For example, you might export weekly 4 times in a month
but you want to run your own end-of-month report. The
timecards for the whole month will still be around on
your personal system.
2. If you try to export some or all of the same timecards
a 2nd time you will get a warning message as shown in
Figure 29. The system has marked those timecards the
first time they were exported and warns you about it
now. The danger is that later the Administrator would
again merge your timecards into the master database and
end up with duplicates. You can choose to go ahead
with the export (for example if the Administrator has
told you the first export was lost before it was
processed), just be sure you are aware of the potential
problem.
3. You may get a warning that the export file you are
writing to already exists. This may mean that the
Administrator has not yet had a chance to merge it
into the master database (or, if you are re-using
the same floppy disk 2 weeks in a row, that the old
export file is still on it). You can choose to replace
the old file here.
PAGE 28
12.3 How to IMPORT timecards
Only the System Administrator will normally be concerned with an
Import operation.
Press "I" from the DISK UTILITY menu. You will see the window
shown in Figure 30 which asks you for the name of the file you want
to import. The default filename is taken from the TIMESTAX.INI
file, but you may override it before you press ENTER.
You cannot specify a date-range for an Import operation - the
entire import file will be merged into the master database.
Next you will be prompted to press the ESC to exit or any other key
to proceed.
Again, the system marks the import file's records so that you don't
accidentally import them a 2nd time. If you try to do so you will
see a warning as shown in Figure 31. You may ignore this warning
if you want, but be aware of the consequences.
PAGE 29
13 HOW & WHEN TO ARCHIVE AND UN-ARCHIVE
13.1 Overview of ARCHIVE and UNARCHIVE
The Archive/Unarchive operations are very similar to the Ex-
port/Import operations, with one important difference:
WHEN YOU PERFORM AN ARCHIVE, THE TIMECARDS YOU SELECT
ARE PHYSICALLY ERASED FROM THE DATABASE.
The whole point of archiving timecards is to do just that - get
them off your database, where they are cluttering up the file and
slowing down data entry and reporting.
By definition:
a. ARCHIVE is a transfer from your database to an archive
file.
b. UNARCHIVE is a transfer from an archive file to your
database.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
The archive file is a cumulative file - new archive records are
added to the end of it each time you perform an Archive operation.
One strategy might be to archive any timecards over 2 months old,
and to do this at the beginning of each month. That way you would
always have at least 2 months of old timecards available "online"
for running reports, but not so many that they slow down your
system. For example, on October 1st you could archive all the July
timecards to a file called "TIME_89.ARK"; then on November 1st you
could archive all the August timecards into that same file.
By the end of the year all your timecards for 1989 will be
collected in the single archive file.
You do not HAVE to archive at all. The system will still work but
will generally slow down as more and more timecards are accumulat-
ed.
The Unarchive facility allows you to retrieve archived timecards
and merge them back into your timecard database. You might want to
do this if you want to generate a summary report that spans many
months of timecards.
Note that both individual timekeepers and the Administrator will
probably want to periodically remove timecards to an archive file
to keep the system performing well.
PAGE 30
13.2 How to ARCHIVE timecards
Bring up the Utilities Menu by pressing "U" from either the
TIMESTAX Main Menu window or the TIMESTAX View window. From there
press "D" to invoke the Disk Utility menu. Now press "A" to
perform an archive operation. You will see the window shown in
Figure 32. You are now asked to specify the date-range of
timecards you want to archive. Type in the From-date and To-date.
Next you are asked what disk file to write the archive file to.
The system shows you the default filename (which it gets from the
TIMESTAX.INI file). Normally the default is acceptable and you
just press the ENTER key to proceed. You can however change the
filename here before pressing ENTER. As mentioned above, one
strategy for naming your archive files might be to use your
initials and the year, as in "BHP_88.ARK".
Next the system indicates how many timecards it found between the
given dates and asks you if it's okay to proceed with the archive
operation. Press the ESC key if you decide it's not okay. If
there were NO timecards found between the given dates the system
will tell you.
If you have not yet exported some or all of the selected timecards
you're trying to archive, you will see the warning shown in Figure
33. You should first export those timecards to the Administrator
before attempting to archive them.
The system now copies the selected timecards to the archive file
and automatically performs a "database pack" to physically remove
them from your database.
13.3 How to UNARCHIVE timecards
Press "U" from the Disk Utility menu to perform an Unarchive
operation. You will see the window shown in Figure 34. Enter the
From and To-dates to tell the system which timecards in the Archive
file you want to extract. Then enter the name of the Archive file
you want to process.
Next you will be prompted to press ESC to exit or any other key to
proceed.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
The system DOES NOT mark the archive file's records during an
Unarchive operation. This means that you CAN accidentally
unarchive them a 2nd time and the timecard system will not warn you
about it. If you do so you will be adding those records a 2nd time
to your database.
PAGE 31
14 HOW & WHEN TO BACKUP AND RESTORE
14.1 Overview of BACKUP and RESTORE
Computer disk technology is not perfect and it is possible for data
to be lost, written over, or otherwise corrupted. For this reason
you should FREQUENTLY back up all files on your hard disk. There
are many commercial programs available for disk backup but the
TIMESTAX system additionally provides a way to back up just those
files it deals with.
The safest way to perform a backup is to copy the files to a floppy
disk which you then put in a safe place, as often as once a week.
At the end of a month, when you have 4 or 5 backup disks, you can
re-use the 1st (oldest) disk as you start a new month. In this way
you're never more than a week out of synch with your backups. In
other words, if your hard disk is erased you only have to re-enter
1 week's worth of timecards after you Restore from your most recent
backup.
Backups are insurance policies. It's up to you how much risk your
willing to take and how safe you think your data is on your hard
disk.
Note that the Administrator must be much more concerned with doing
frequent backups because the master database is the accumulation of
everyone's timecards. In fact, individuals may be more lax about
backing up their own systems because they think the master database
has all their timecards anyway. DO IT ANYWAY!
A Restore operation is done when you want to completely replace all
existing timecard files with a backup copy. Note that a Restore
does not perform any checks of the data - it simply erases the
current files and copies the backup files in their place.
PAGE 32
14.2 How to BACKUP your database
Bring up the Utilities Menu by pressing "U" from either the
TIMESTAX Main Menu window or the TIMESTAX View window. From there
press "D" to invoke the Disk Utility menu. Now press "B" to
perform a backup operation. You will see the window shown in
Figure 35.
You are asked what drive and path to back up files to. The default
is taken from the TIMESTAX.INI file (typically A:\), but you may
override that here.
Next you will be asked to press the ESC key to abandon the backup
operation, or any other key to proceed. The system will backup all
related TIMESTAX files to the drive and path you have specified.
14.3 How to RESTORE your database
Press "R" from the Disk Utility menu to perform a Restore opera-
tion. You will see the window shown in Figure 36 which asks you
for the name of the disk drive where the backup files are to be
found. The default filename is taken from the TIMESTAX.INI file,
but you may override it before you press ENTER.
Next you will be prompted to press ESC to exit or any other key to
proceed. The system will erase the current set of TIMESTAX files
and replace them with the ones found on the backup drive.
PAGE 33
APPENDIX A. LAN CONFIGURATION FOR THE LAN ADMINISTRATOR
TIMESTAX version 2.5e is NOT a true multi-user database system. It
will not support several users at once reading and writing to the
Master TIMESTAX.DAT file or its index files. However it is
possible to make use of several key features of a LAN which make
controlling and maintaining the system easier.
The basic concept for LAN use is that each person maintains his
personal timecards on his own local PC, while a Master Timecard
Database is maintained in a secure location on the file server.
Periodically each person will export a subset of his timecards to
a directory on the LAN; and a designated Administrator will import
those files into the Master database. Strictly speaking, the
individual Employee files could also be on the file server in that
user's private directory.
The TIMESTAX.INI Configuration File
TIMESTAX.INI is an ASCII text file which tells TIMESTAX where to
look for the various files it needs. If there is no such file
TIMESTAX assumes all files are on the current working directory.
You may also specify the name and path of TIMESTAX.INI as the 1st
argument to TIMESTAX (as in "TIMESTAX c:\LOCAL\TS.INI"). For use
in a LAN environment you might set up TIMESTAX.INI to look like
this:
Text Line Comment
SYSTEM = F:\APPS System files are to be found in the
\APPS directory of the F: drive on
the LAN file server.
DATA = C:\TIMESTAX Personal timecards are to be found
in the \TIMESTAX directory on the
C: drive of the local PC.
BACKUP = A: Backup files to drive A:
EXPORT = F:\TS Export files to path F:\TS on the
LAN file server
ARCHIVE= C:\TIMESTAX\ARK Archive to file C:\TIMESTAX\ARK
Some of the files TIMESTAX requires are called System files. These
are files that should be maintained only by the Administrator in a
secure area of the LAN file server. These files are:
SYSTEM FILE NAME Description
TIMESTAX.EXE TIMESTAX executable program
TIMESTAX.TBL Activity Code tables
TIMESTAX.HLP Online Help Text
PAGE 34
LAN CONFIGURATION (continued):
Once TIMESTAX is run the following Data files will be automatically
created and maintained in the directory specified by the TIMESTAX.-
INI DATA parameter:
DATA FILE NAME Description
TIMESTAX.DAT Main database of timecards
TIMESTAX.NTS Timecard notes
TS_DATE.NDX Index of timecards by date
TS_CUST.NDX Index of timecards by Client
TS_PROJ.NDX Index of timecards by Project
TS_TASK.NDX Index of timecards by Task
The MASTER Timecard Database
The Master Database is the same as a normal TIMESTAX database,
except that it contains all timecards from all Employees. The
Master is updated periodically by the System Administrator by
importing users' export files. It must be protected from
unauthorized use. The simplest way to do this is to create a
special Master directory and grant access only to the
Administrator:
Directory F:\MASTER - contains master TIMESTAX.DAT,
TIMESTAX.NTS, plus master *.NDX files
Then the Administrator should have his/her own TIMESTAX.INI file as
set up to allow direct access to the Master Database as follows:
SYSTEM = F:\APPS
DATA = F:\MASTER
Finally, create a "staging area" where all Export and Import
operations can occur. For example, you may set up everyone's
TIMESTAX.INI file to specify:
EXPORT = F:\TS_STAGE\
This pathname will be presented to all users when they do either an
import or an export operation. In this way users can place multiple
export files in this one directory, where they stay until the
Administrator imports and deletes them.
PAGE 35
APPENDIX B. TECHNICAL NOTES
The TIMESTAX program is written in Microsoft C v7.0 (large code-
model) and uses the LATTICE (c) dBc-III database library which
allows for directly reading and writing dBase-III files. In this
way the system has the speed and performance of a compiled language
program, and the flexibility of allowing you to design custom
reports within the standard Dbase-III environment.
As it turns out, only the .DAT and .NTS files are Dbase-III
standard (corresponding to .DBF and .DBT files). The index files
were purposely not written in standard format to reduce the size of
the files. Specifically, the key fields are not standard ASCII
derived from the .DBF fields, instead they are concatenations of
binary internal fields of various lengths. This should not be a
problem for the Dbase user however, since he can create his own
indexes very quickly using built-in Dbase commands.
The Dbc-III package used is not the multi-user LAN version,
although such a version is commercially available. It was thought
that given the very large volume of timecards/records involved in
daily time-keeping, a single central multi-user file would quickly
grow too large and cumbersome to use effectively.
Instead, the approach we took was to provide each person with his
or her own personal timecard database with "private" timecards in
it. The disadvantage is that each person must periodically export
subsets of the database to an Administrator, who must import those
files into the master database. The larger master database exists
only for reporting purposes and not for the day-to-day access by
busy office workers. The advantage is that each person will have
a fast and efficient system to record his time.
PAGE 36
APPENDIX C. A Word About Shareware
Publicly-distributed software has evolved over the last 15 years
into a variety of forms. It differs from retail or "commercial"
software in two ways - its cost and its method of reaching the
users.
The original form was "Freeware", programs that were widely
distributed on public computer networks and bulletin boards and
could be used completely free of charge. Sometimes the author
requested voluntary donations and (more importantly) user feedback
on his work. "Public Domain" software is also free, but it's
usually distributed with the program source code to a large and
diverse community of programmers, so anyone who obtains it is free
to tinker with the way the program works without violating any kind
of copyright. Tinkering is in fact encouraged, with the idea that
many heads are better than one and the resulting program is better
than the original. A lot of the original bulletin-board PC
software was itself distributed in one of these two formats.
The term "shareware" has been used in different contexts over the
years, sometimes meaning freeware, sometimes public domain
software. The authors sometimes requested voluntary contributions,
sometimes not, and sometimes insisted on payment by making the
program do mean and nasty things after a certain number of times
you used it without sending in payment. The word itself has a nice
ring to it, and in the context of the original grass roots personal
computer network movement, not tied to any megalithic profit-
centered capitalist-pig enterprises, the "share" part made people
feel like they were part of a nice little community co-op.
These days "shareware" has a slightly more specific, if less
communal, meaning. We have a "try-before-you-buy" approach to
marketing and distribution. If you like it, pay for it. If you
don't, throw it away or pass it along. Shareware programmers seem
to have discovered that, as George Bush might have put it, "Profits
- good, capitalism - good! Working for nothing - bad!".
Shareware today is big business, but the emphasis is still on the
individual user. Many top-sellers compete head to head with and
sometimes surpass their "commercial" counterparts in quality, yet
you benefit from a reduced price and in many cases better support.
Very few shareware programmers make a living off their products, so
when you do use them, please pay for them. You're not only saying,
"Hey, this is good stuff and I'm glad to pay this measely fee".
But your honesty may mean the difference between a programmer
continuing to improve and develop "your" program, and throwing in
the towel after Version 1.0. It's that simple.