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BDAY.DOC
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1993-02-02
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9KB
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277 lines
********************************* SHAREWARE *********************************
Version 1.5A
This program was written in Quick Basic V4.5. I wrote it because I was tired
of forgetting birthdays and didn't want to use a large program like DBase.
Disclaimer:
-----------
The use of program BDAY and its accompanying files constitutes complete
acceptance and total agreement with the following disclaimer:
There are no guarantees that BDAY will function correctly under any specific
hardware configuration and the author will not be held liable for any direct
damage, indirect damage, or other loss caused by the use of BDAY.
This software is NOT Public Domain! Feel free to distribute this to everyone
you know BUT... You may not charge a fee for distributing AND you must include
ALL of the original files!
This program consists of 3 files
BDay.Exe
BDay.Fil
BDay.Doc (You're reading it)
BDay.Fil is the data file and contains all the information that YOU will enter
(Names, Birth date and how far to 'Look Ahead' for birthdays.)
BDay.Exe is the main program and is run one of 2 ways, either by entering
'Bday' or 'Bday /f'.
Executing 'Bday' runs the program INTERACTIVELY. It displays the names,
birth dates, age, a suppressed flag and a menu of options available. The
display is sorted by last name with a sub-sort for first name.
Running 'BDay /f' (usually from your Autoexec.Bat) checks your system's current
date, checks the BDay.Fil to see how far ahead to look for birthdays, then scans
through all the birthdays to see if one is coming up within that time period.
If birthdays are found a quick tune is played and the upcoming birthdays are
displayed (sorted by last name). If no birthdays are found the word 'NONE' is
displayed. If birthdays are found, but have been suppressed, a message is
displayed stating how many suppressed birthdays are within the selected time
period.
Running 'BDay /f' is NON-INTERACTIVE, as soon as the Birthday information has
been displayed you are returned to the DOS prompt.
Now a quick explanation of each option...
(A)dd name :
Used to add a new name and associated birthday, if you do not know what
year they were born enter 0 (More on this later). There is a limit of 18 chars
for the First name and 19 chars for the Last. You also get 1 char for a Middle
Initial but entry of this is optional.
(D)elete name :
Prompts you to enter the record# of somebody you wish to delete then
highlights that record & asks for confirmation.
(M)odify a record :
If you made a typo entering somebody's name or Birth Date here's your
chance to correct it. After selecting a record# to modify you are asked whether
to modify the (N)ame or (B)irth Date. This is also where you could correct the
year somebody was born if you had entered a 0 before.
(P)rint :
This will print your database giving you the option of having it sorted
by (N)ame or (B)irth Date. There is some error detection done to see if there
is a printer available. Selecting this option also causes ALL file changes to
be SAVED.
(Q)uit program :
Saves all changes and exits program.
(C)hange Forecast :
Allows you to select how many days to look ahead for an upcoming
birthday/event.
(S)uppress Notice :
This allows you to turn the Suppress flag ON (Y) or OFF (N). This option
is nice if you have the program looking ahead 30 days, have already been
notified of an upcoming birthday and don't want to be reminded of that
particular birthday again (you've already sent a card or present) - then you
would use this option to change Suppressed to 'Y'. The program will reset this
flag AFTER the birthday has passed so you will not miss it the next year. The
flag will also be removed if the Forecast period is shortened to a period that
no longer includes the suppressed birthday.
(O)ptions :
Allows you to select whether your data will be displayed sorted by name
or by date, also lets you select if the BDay tune will be played EVERY time you
turn on your computer or only the 1st time during the current day.
(+)Page Down :
This option is only available if you have MORE than 15 names and allows
you to see the next page of names.
(-)Page Up :
Same as Page Down but it displays the previous page (after using
Page Down.)
Other great information...
The program displays each person's age when you run 'Bday' based on the current
system date and the birth date entered into the program. If you don't know what
year they were born, enter a 0 for the year (example 4-28-0) and the program
will display their age as "Unknown."
Whenever you are prompted to enter a date you may use MM.DD.YY, MM/DD/YY or
MM-DD-YY. In addition, you do NOT need to use 2 digits, i.e., if a birth date is
on 4 Apr 59 you could enter it 4-4-59 or 04.04.59 or 4/04/1959.
Whenever you are entering a date you may enter the year as YY or YYYY
(i.e. 59 or 1959). Any year entered in the range of 1 to 99 is assumed to be
in the 1900s (1901 to 1999), if you are entering a birthdate for the year 1900
then you MUST enter it as 1900.
When you enter a date, a validity check is run on it to verify a valid Month/Day
entry. If an invalid date is entered the program will BEEP and return you to the
date entry prompt.
In order for Bday to run, you need to execute the program while in the directory
containing both the 'Bday.Exe' and 'Bday.Fil' files.
OR
Put 'SET BDAY=C:\Util\' in your Autoexec.Bat file (Assuming Bday.Fil is in a
DOS directory called 'Util' on your C: drive).
**** DO NOT USE ANY SPACES EXCEPT BETWEEN THE WORD 'SET' and 'BDAY=path'
By using this environment variable you may place the 'Bday.Fil' file anywhere,
on any drive and the 'Bday.Exe' program will find and use it. If you have used
'SET BDAY=path' then you may put 'BDay.Exe' in any directory contained in your
DOS Path.
Because this program uses colored text to display everything I don't think it
will work on an MDA system (Monochrome Display Adapter). It should work fine on
anything from Hercules Monochrome to VGA. (Hercules Monochrome will look a bit
strange but the program runs fine).
I'd appreciate any comments or suggestions you may have, you can send me
E-Mail on CompuServe. My user ID is 76056,1021.
Last but not least.....
If this is a program that you find helpful, a small token of gratitude will be
greatly appreciated....
Please send $5.00 to
James Bess
609 Wade Rd.
Longmont CO 80503
Program History.....
9-8-92 Original release and uploaded to Compuserve
10-1-92 Had Compuserve remove original release (Due to bugs)
10-5-92 V1.11 Several minor changes and bug fixes...
* Fixed problem with not printing the last record in the file.
* Corrected spelling error in the Main Menu.
* Added Version# to Main Menu screen. (V1.11)
* Moved the display around to make room for longer names.
* Changed number of chars from 12 to 18 for first name and from 16 to 19 for
last name.
* Added dots after name for easier reading.
* Program did not 'Forecast' a Birthday if current date IS the Birthday.
* Made a slight change to the look of the printout.
* Program did not print list sorted by birthday if the BDAY.FIL was located
using the 'SET BDAY=' option.
* Corrected a bug caused by running 'BDay/f' if the program was going to try
and display more than 1 full screen.
* Modified sort routine to speed it up.
* Changed the date handling to allow ANY year (Previous release only allowed
from 1901 to 1999.
* Changed the BDAY environment handling slightly so it is more user friendly.
11-22-92 V1.12A Minor Bug fix
* The program would incorrectly subtract 1 yr when forecasting birthdays if the
birthday was on the current date.
* Made a minor display change for Suppressed birthdays when in menu mode.
* Changed from "(E)xit" to "(Q)uit"
2-2-93 V1.5A Minor Enhancements
* Added '(O)ptions' to the menu selections. This allows you to select the sort
routine used (By Name or Date) and also select whether the BDay tune is played
always or only the first time your PC is booted on a given day.
* Made a change to save ALL data when you select PRINT. Previous versions only
saved the data when you selected QUIT or EXIT, this had caused some problems
when the program crashed while trying to print and new entries had not yet
been saved.
* Minor display change, the selectable options are now highlighted to make them
easier to see.
* The '+' and '-' keys still work the same but I changed the menu to read
differently ('+' is now Page Down and '-' is now Page Up) to conform to normal
usage.
**** NOTE: This version is not compatible with the BDAY.FIL from the original
release (No version number). I will E-Mail a conversion program to
anyone that registers and has their data in the original format.
Possible 'Wish List' for future version??????
* Add an enhancement to track Anniversaries and Holidays.
Enhancements/Updates will depend on user feedback.
Any other ideas or comments? Let me know!