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1992-03-19
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Roadways PC
Copyright 1990, 1991, 1992
By Doug Fitler
_______
____|__ | (R)
--| | |-------------------
| ____|__ | Association of
| | |_| Shareware
|__| o | Professionals
-----| | |---------------------
|___|___| MEMBER
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
DISTRIBUTED FILES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
INSTALLING ROADWAYS PC ON YOUR COMPUTER . . . . . . . . . . . 2
REGISTRATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
USING ROADWAYS PC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Controlling Roadways PC with the Keyboard . . . . . . . 6
Selecting a City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Hint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Menu Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
ROADWAYS PC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Quit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Shortest Distance (or Time) . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
UTILITIES MENU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Mileage Rate Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Default Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Set Home (Starting) City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Re-run Last Route . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Toggle Shortest Time/Dist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
ROUTE SCREEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Print . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Disk Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Mileage Calc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Quit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Space Bar to Continue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
CONTROLLING ROADWAYS PC WITH A MOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
[Yes/No] PROMPTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Using the Mouse on the Route Screen . . . . . . . . . . 15
QUITTING ROADWAYS PC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
COMMAND LINE SWITCHES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
ENVIRONMENT USE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
ADDING CITIES TO ROADWAYS PC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Different Kinds of Roads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Things to Keep in Mind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
The City Sorter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Common Pitfalls When Adding cities . . . . . . . . . . . 22
TROUBLESHOOTING PROBLEMS WITH ROADWAYS PC . . . . . . . . . . 22
A NOTE ABOUT THE WINDOWS IN ROADWAYS PC . . . . . . . . . . . 24
UPGRADING ROADWAYS PC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
BACKGROUND ON ROADWAYS PC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
ABOUT THE AUTHOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
ABOUT ROADWAYS PC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
DISCLAIMER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
ASSOCIATION OF SHAREWARE PROFESSIONALS OMBUDSMAN POLICY . . . 28
SUMMARY OF CHANGES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
INVOICE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
ROADWAYS PC
Release Version 3.1
By: Doug Fitler
Copyright 1992
Roadways PC is an easy to use program to help you find the
shortest route from one city to another. It fully supports
either a mouse or keyboard entry and will work on any IBM PC/PC-
XT, AT or compatible computer with MS-DOS 2.11 or newer.
Roadways is distributed as Shareware and as such is free to
be copied, passed on and uploaded to any computer service or
bulletin board. After a trial period, it is expected that the
user will register his or her copy if it is going to continue to
be used.
Registration has many advantages. You will not only be
assured of having the most up-to-date copy of Roadways PC, you
will also get free technical support and a subscription to the
Roadways Times, a newsletter produced just for the registered
users of Roadways PC. Also you will be able to by-pass the
opening copyright screen as well as having access to the Roadways
PC support conference on the Missing Link BBS.
If you have a modem, you may get the latest news and version
of Roadways PC as well as technical help by calling the Missing
Link bulletin board at (618)233-6982, 1200 to 9600 baud, 8 bits,
No parity and 1 stop bit (i.e. - 2400, N, 8, 1), and [J]oin the
Roadways conference, number 5. Whenever any new datafiles,
suggestions or hints come in from other registered users, they
too will be posted here for other Roadways PC users to use.
To register your copy, see the registration form at the end
of this documentation.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Here are the requirements for running Roadways PC on your
computer:
An IBM PC/XT/AT/286/386/486 or compatible computer
Minimum 384K of RAM
Any type display (Monochrome, CGA, EGA, VGA, etc.)
One Floppy Drive (any size or density) (Hard drive recommended)
Microsoft or Logitech Compatible Mouse or Trackball (Optional)
Printer (Optional)
DISTRIBUTED FILES
Your copy of Roadways PC should include the following files.
If it does not, please contact the author with information about
where your copy came from, so a good copy of Roadways can be sent
to both you and your source. This will ensure everyone will have
a complete copy of Roadways PC, with all of its features intact.
When you pass a copy of Roadways PC on to your friends or
upload it to a computer bulletin board, remember to NOT include
1
the file ROADWAYS.CFG. This is the configuration file that was
created on YOUR computer and may cause other folks problems if
they use it. When they run Roadways for the first time, a new
configuration file will be created.
ROADWAYS.EXE ----------- The main Roadways PC program file
ROADWAYS.DAT ----------- The text file containing the city data
ROADWAYS.DOC ----------- This documentation file
ROADWAYS.STA ----------- Data sorted by State
ROADWAYS.CTY ----------- Data sorted by City
ROADWAYS.TIM ----------- Data for the shortest time routes
PRINTDOC.BAT ----------- Documentation Printer File
INSTALL.EXE ----------- Roadways PC installation program
README.DOC ------------- Special information not in the manual
INSTALLING ROADWAYS PC ON YOUR COMPUTER
Installing Roadways PC is very simple. You may install
Roadways PC to either a floppy disk or to your hard disk if you
have one. If you are upgrading from an earlier version, please
go to page 15 and perform the procedures in the section entitled,
UPGRADING ROADWAYS PC.
If you try to run Roadways PC without first running the
INSTALL program, Roadways will remind you. You will see a screen
that informs you that Roadways PC has not been configured for
your system. At this point, Roadways will end and you can run
INSTALL to configure the program.
To install Roadways PC, all you need to do is follow these
instructions:
1. Insert the disk containing Roadways PC into your disk drive.
2. Type INSTALL and press <enter>.
3. You should now see a menu that gives you the option to do one
of four things:
1 - Install or change installation of Roadways PC
2 - Register your copy of Roadways PC
3 - Run Roadways PC
4 - Exit this program
Select option 1.
4. Next, you will be asked if you wish to make a backup of your
Roadways PC program disk. If you answer Y to this question, you
will be exited from INSTALL so you can use DISKCOPY to back up
your original disk. If you answer N to this question, you will
be allowed to continue with the installation procedure.
2
5. Next the question "Do you want to install Roadways now?" is
asked. This is just to make sure you really do want to install
Roadways, and is only to give you a chance to change your mind
(although you really should go ahead and install it!).
6. Now you will be asked if you wish to install Roadways PC onto
a Hard drive. If you answer Y to this question:
a. You will be asked if the subdirectory C:\ROADWAYS
is where you want Roadways installed. If you want
Roadways installed in a sudirectory on drive C: called
ROADWAYS, type Y.
b. You can enter a different drive and subdirectory if
you want. Just enter the letter of the drive you want
Roadways installed to, and when asked for the
subdirectory name, type in any legal DOS name.
c. The subdirectory will be created on the specified
drive and Roadways will install (or copy) itself into
that subdirectory.
7. The next question asks if you have a color monitor. If you
have any type of color monitor and card, type Y. If you have a
monochrome or Hercules display of any type, type N. If you typed
N, you will be asked if you have a Hercules video adapter or
display. Answer Y if you have a Hercules card, N if you don't.
If you answer N to the Hercules question, and get either an
error when you try to run Roadways or the screen stays blank, try
re-running INSTALL and selecting Y for Hercules.
8. The next question asks if you want Roadways PC to calculate a
mileage reimbursement cost per mile. This option is primarily
designed for folks that get reimbursed for their mileage on
business trips, although it has other uses as well, such as
calculations for IRS mileage deductions and so forth.
Please note, however, that the author of Roadways PC makes
no claims as to the accuracy of the mileages calculated.
Roadways PC is primarily a tool to help you plan your trip, and
as such should not be used when accuracy is important.
If you want Roadways PC to calculate a cost per mile, simply
type 'Y'. Next you will be asked for the mileage rate. This is
the amount per mile you want Roadways PC to use. You must enter
this number as a decimal. For example, if you want to use 24
cents per mile as the rate, type .24 and hit <enter>.
Don't worry if the amount you want to use changes later, as
you can easily update it from within Roadways PC.
9. Next, you will need to choose the type of printer you have.
Simply select your printer from the list. You will notice that
this list is very general. This is because the options differ
only in the characters that are printed from the trip route
screen. If you have a dot matrix or laser printer, it is
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probably IBM compatible. You can tell by looking at the printout
when you do a route.
If you selected the IBM, laser or EPSON selections from the
list, when you print out a route, you should see smooth,
uninterrupted lines between the headings and the list of cities
and routes. If you have a dot matrix printer and you get a bunch
of letters instead of smooth lines, you will need to change your
printer dip switches to the IBM character set if there is one on
your printer. Otherwise, you'll have to choose option 5 (Other).
The same applies to other printers, if you see a bunch of
letters across the page separating the headings and the list of
cities. This indicates that you will need to select either
option 4 or 5. This will use the '-' and the '=' instead of the
extended characters.
If you do not have a printer, it doesn't matter what you
select, but you must select something!
10. The next questions are to establish the average speed you
want used for calculating driving times. By default, Roadways
will use 55 mph for roads with a 65 mph speed limit and 45 for
all other roads.
With this release of Roadways PC, changes were made to
handle states with the lower 55 mph speed limit on interstates.
As a result, the times for the eastern seaboard states are much
more accurate.
Just by way of explanation, the 55 and 45 mph averages were
chosen as the defaults based on quite a few tests with several
different users. Although most people are absolutely certain
they average 70 mph in 65 mph areas, all but a VERY few actually
average much over 60. If you have a family, 55 may be a little
high on many trips, but most folks were surprised at how close
these numbers came to their actual driving times.
This option was added for those 'out-of-the-ordinary' folks
that drive either faster or slower than the average person. To
accept the default speeds of 55 and 45 mph, just hit <enter> to
both of the questions. To enter your own speeds, simply type the
numbers in. Decimals and letters are not allowed, only numbers,
and the range can be from 0 up to ludicrous speed!
11. Now you need to choose the name of the city datafile
Roadways PC will use. This is primarily for those folks that
plan on using or creating datafiles for other countries or to
cover, in detail, some particular area.
For the first time user, I suggest just hitting <enter>
since this will select the datafiles that came with your copy of
Roadways PC.
Please note that if you type in the name of a datafile that
does not exist, Roadways PC WILL NOT RUN! You will have to re-
run the INSTALL program to enter the name of an existing
datafile.
4
12. Now, Roadways PC will create a file called ROADWAYS.CFG
which will contain the configuration information for your
computer. This file will be put in the subdirectory where you
installed Roadways or on the floppy disk if you did not put it on
a hard disk.
<< Note >>
If you have configured Roadways PC for your computer,
and wish to pass Roadways along to someone else, please
do not copy the ROADWAYS.CFG file onto their disk.
Also, do not include it in an archive or zip file, as
it may cause problems for the next person who gets the
copy. The files that should be included are the ones
listed above in the section entitled "DISTRIBUTED
FILES".
13. Now the Installation program is complete. You will be
returned to the main menu, and if you are a registered user, you
will have the option to fully register your copy of Roadways PC.
REGISTRATION
If you are a registered user of Roadways, you may bypass the
copyright screen that appears on bootup. If you are already at
the INSTALL program main menu, skip to step 3.
To configure your system to by-pass the copyright screen,
follow these steps:
1. Insert your Roadways PC disk into your computer or go to the
subdirectory on your hard drive that contains the Roadways PC
program.
2. Type INSTALL <enter>.
3. Select option 2 from the menu, Register Roadways PC.
4. You will be asked for the code that was in the registration
letter that was sent to you by the author. Enter that code and
hit <enter>.
5. If all has gone well, you will see a short message about
registration. Press any key to return to the main menu, and you
should be able to select option 3 from the main INSTALL menu to
run Roadways PC. It should now start up without the Copyright
screen.
If at any time you should start seeing the registration
screen again, you will need to re-run this option. This can
happen if you ever accidentally (or intentionally) delete your
ROADWAYS.CFG file.
5
USING ROADWAYS PC
Roadways PC is designed to be simple to use. If you have a
mouse that is 100% Microsoft compatible (i.e. - Microsoft,
Logitech, Dexxa, etc.) and the driver is loaded, Roadways PC will
detect that it is present and display a Mouse cursor whenever
appropriate.
Once you have Roadways PC properly configured, the program
will load and run, presenting you with a copyright notice if you
are not a registered user. To exit this screen, simply press any
key or left mouse button or wait for about 5 seconds.
At this point, Roadways PC will check to make sure you have
all of the necessary data files and if not, it will attempt to
create them. The most important file of all is the file
ROADWAYS.DAT. Without this file, Roadways PC will not run. The
other three data files, ROADWAYS.CTY, ROADWAYS.STA and
ROADWAYS.TIM are created from the ROADWAYS.DAT file, so if they
are missing, Roadways PC can still run. However, before it will
work, it must create the missing files.
If for some reason, any of the sorted data files is missing,
Roadways PC will inform you of this and then it will proceed to
create the files, save them and then run Roadways PC. This
should be an almost automatic action requiring no input from you
other than pressing a key to go on.
During the creation of the datafiles, you will notice a
small box on the bottom of center of the screen with an arrow
inside that changes direction. This is just to let you know that
something is going on and that your computer hasn't locked up.
Once Roadways has loaded and made sure all of the required
files are present, it will begin loading the city data in. You
will see two lines in the lower portion of the screen that look
like this:
Counting to:
City Number:
The first line indicates the number of cities in the
database. The second line will count up until it matches the
first line. The purpose of this is just to let you know that
something is going on, and that your computer hasn't locked up.
When the two numbers match, you will be presented with a
choice of having the cities sorted either Alphabetically by city
or Alphabetically by state. Press either 'C' or 'S' or use the
mouse to click anywhere on the word 'City' or 'State'.
Controlling Roadways PC with the Keyboard
You should now be at the main program screen. Down the left
side there should be a list of cities, arranged either by state
or by city, depending on your choice earlier, with the top choice
highlighted.
At the bottom, you will see a block with two choices,
labeled NEXT PAGE and PREVIOUS PAGE. This block is for the Mouse
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user only. It can, however, help you remember the proper keys to
use. The first letter of each of the commands is highlighted.
Pressing any of these keys will do what the function says.
If you have a mouse, see the section on Controlling Roadways
PC with a Mouse for more information on their use.
Pressing any unassigned keys (say for instance the 'H' key)
will cause the Key Help block to appear just above this Mouse
block, and provides you with the functions of all of the keys
that can be used at this point in the program.
Toward the top, you will see a block with the prompt:
Select Starting City
You do this by using the following keys:
Up Arrow Key --------------------- Move up the list
Down Arrow Key ------------------- Move down the list
PgUp key (or P key) -------------- Go to Previous Page
PgDn key (or N key) -------------- Next Page
Home key ------------------------- Go to the First Page
End Key -------------------------- Go to the Last Page
Enter Key ------------------------ Select a city
ALT Key -------------------------- Activate the menu bar
Q key ---------------------------- Quit Roadways PC
R key ---------------------------- Re-run the last route
D key ---------------------------- Retrieve saved routes
M key ---------------------------- Change the Mileage Rate
Any other key -------------------- Key help window
If you have problems remembering what keys do what, just
press a key that is not on this list ('H' for example), and you
will be presented with a window that shows the primary key
commands for Roadways PC. To clear the window, just press
<enter>, space bar or ESC.
Selecting a City
To select a city, simply use the arrow keys to move the
highlighted area over the city you want, then press <enter>. If
you do not see the city you are looking for on the screen, press
the PgUp (or P) or PgDn (or N) keys to flip through the 'pages'
of cities until you locate the city you are looking for.
Once you have selected a Starting City, you will notice that
the block at the top right now says:
Select Ending City
Also, you will see a block just below that block which now
indicates what city you chose as the starting city, and is
waiting for you to choose the ending city.
Repeat the above procedure to select the ending or
destination city, and again press <enter>. Now you will notice
that the window that contains the starting city also displays the
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ending city along with a prompt for you to decide if these are
correct. If so, type either 'Y' or press the <enter> key. If
not, type 'N', and you will be able to re-select both the
starting and ending cities.
If the starting city and ending city are the same, Roadways
PC will clear the block and tell you to select the starting city
again.
Once you type 'Y', you will see a small square toward the
top of the screen that is labeled:
Miles:
You will see numbers count up, as Roadways PC calculates the
total mileage to the destination. As before, this is put on the
screen mostly to let you know something is happening, since on a
slower computer, the route can take longer to complete although
it is still more than 5 times faster than my closest competitor!
This is especially true of long, coast-to-coast routes.
Hint
The Re-Run button (or the 'R' key or the 'Re-run last route'
option on the Utilities Menu) can be used to quickly change the
starting city while not changing the ending city (sort of the
opposite of the default starting city option!).
After running a route, go select a new starting city, then
click on 'Re-Run' or press the 'R' key. The route will be run
with the new starting city, but with the same ending city you
used previously.
Menu Bar
Pressing and releasing the ALT key will toggle the menu bar
at the top of the screen. From these menus you can perform many
of the functions that are also available from the hot keys, such
as retrieving saved routes and exiting Roadways PC. The options
on the menu are as follows:
File
This option lets you retrieve saved routes from disk. You will
be asked for the drive and directory name of the directory
containing your Roadways PC route files. If you have saved the
route files in the same directory and drive that has Roadways PC,
all you have to do is press <enter> .
If there are no route files in the default directory or the
directory you specify, Roadways will tell you and give you the
option of entering a different drive and directory or you can
press 'R' to return to the main city selection screen.
If there are files with an .RDW extension in the directory,
you will see a directory of all these files on the screen, and a
prompt asking which file you want to retrieve. Just type in the
name of the route file (with or without the extender. It doesn't
matter.) and press <enter>.
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You should now see the route just as you saved it. At this
point you may elect to do one of the following:
PRINT - Print the route you just retrieved
MORE - Retrieve another route
RETURN TO ROADWAYS PC MAIN - Return to the City Selection screen
Simply press the first letter of the option you want and do
what Roadways PC tells you.
Utilities
Here you can change the mileage rate, default settings, choose a
default starting city, re-run the last route or toggle using
either the shortest time or shortest distance calculations.
Help
This brings up the same window as pressing an unassigned key
(i.e. - H or F1).
ROADWAYS PC
This will bring up the introductory Copyright screen that
registered users get to by-pass. This is just for your own
informational purposes.
Quit
Allows you to quit Roadways PC.
Shortest Distance (or Time)
This is just a status indicator and cannot be selected. This is
where you can tell if you have selected to have a route run in
the shortest distance or the quickest time.
For more information on the options in the Utilities section, see
the next chapter.
UTILITIES MENU
The Utilities Menu contains many different options to allow
you to customize your Roadways PC. Here are the functions of the
different items on the menu:
Mileage Rate Change
This option is used to change the mileage rate used to
calculate driving costs. Here you will have 4 options:
1) Calculate actual cost per mile based on price of gasoline
This option allows you to come up with a pretty accurate
assessment of the gasoline cost on a trip. You will be asked for
the price of a gallon of gasoline. Enter it like so: 1.089
9
would indicate a price of one dollar, eight point 9 cents per
gallon.
You will also be asked for the gas mileage of your vehicle.
This should be entered in miles per gallon.
For example, if gasoline was a dollar eight point 9 and your
car got 30 miles per gallon, you would enter the following to the
first question: 1.089 <enter> and the following to the second
question: 30 <enter>.
Roadways PC is accurate to 2 decimal places on cost per mile
to operate your vehicle. For the above example, you would find
that the cost to operate your vehicle for one mile would be 3.63
cents. This takes into account only the cost of the gasoline and
not wear and tear on you car.
2) Calculate cost per mile on a cents per mile rate
Use this option if you want to calculate a cost per mile
based on a set per mile rate. For example, if you get reimbursed
by your company at the rate of .24 cents per mile, you would
select this option.
You will be asked what rate per mile you want to use. You
must enter this amount as a decimal number. For example, if you
get 24 cents per mile, you would enter .24 and press <enter> .
If you forget the decimal, Roadways PC will remind you and give
you some instructions.
3) Don't do a mileage calculation
This will turn off the mileage rate calculations. If you
select this option, you will not have the mileage rates displayed
on the route screen or on your printout or disk save.
If you selected one of the first 3 options, you are asked if
you want to save this rate to disk for permanent use in Roadways
PC. If you do, press 'Y', if not, press 'N'.
If you pressed 'N', you will be asked if the amount
calculated is correct. If it is, press 'Y' and you will be
returned to Roadways PC and that rate will be used until you exit
Roadways PC, or change it.
If the rate calculated is not the one you want used for
routes, press 'N' and you will then be asked if you want a
mileage rate calculation done. If you answer 'N' to this
question, there will be no mileage rate calculations on your
routes, until the end of the current Roadways PC session or until
you change it again by pressing 'M' at the City Selection screen.
4) Return to Roadways with no changes
This option does just what it says. If you select this
option, you will be returned to the main city selection screen,
with the last selected mileage rate in use.
As with most of the other screens in Roadways PC, this
screen also supports a mouse. The mouse cursor will appear when
it can be used.
10
Default Settings
Next on the Utilities menu is the option to change the
default settings of Roadways PC. Once you select this item, you
can change any of the following items:
1 - Printer type - You can choose any of 5 options for the type
of printer you have.
2 - Display type - Choose color, monochrome or Hercules displays.
3 - City datafile name - Choose the datafile Roadways will use.
This is of special importance to folks that want to use datafiles
for other countries or specific files for a particular state or
region. These datafiles must be created by users and some have
already been made, and are available on the Roadways PC support
bulletin board. See the beginning of this document for more
information on the support BBS.
4 - Change default speed used to figure driving times - This
option lets you change the speeds used to figure the estimated
driving times on the final route. If you change anything here,
please note that upon exiting back to Roadways PC (by menu option
5) the driving time file will be re-created to reflect your
changes. However, in order for these changes to take effect, you
must re-start Roadways. For this reason, I recommend using
option 6 after changing things here.
5 - Go back to Roadways PC - Lets you return to Roadways PC
without using the changes you have selected. The changes will be
saved to the ROADWAYS.CFG file, but until Roadways is re-started,
they will not take effect.
6 - Re-start Roadways PC - This will reload and run Roadways PC
to enact any changes you have made to the defaults.
7 - Get help - This option will bring up a screen of helpful
information about each of the options.
The Set Defaults options work just like their counterparts
in the INSTALL program, so if you have questions or problems,
take a look back at the section of this manual called 'Installing
Roadways PC on your Computer'.
The Mouse is fully functional on these screens as in most of
Roadways PC.
When you select the option to return to Roadways, the
options you have changed will be saved to the ROADWAYS.CFG file,
providing you made changes.
Set Home (Starting) City
If you are going to run several routes all from the same
starting point, you can save quite a bit of time by setting that
city as the default starting city.
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When this option is selected, you will be taken to the main
city selection screen. You will notice that just below the menu
bar, will be a prompt telling you to select the default starting
city, or press zero to for no default starting city.
You can use the cursor keys or mouse to select the city you
wish to be the default starting city. Once you choose it, a
block will appear showing the starting city and you will only
need to choose the ending city. All routes run after selecting
this will ask for only the ending city.
This option will only be active until you leave Roadways PC
or go back into the 'Set Home (starting) City' selection and
press '0'. This will turn off the default selection and you will
be able to choose both the starting and ending cities as usual.
Re-run Last Route
This is a very handy feature if you are wanting to make
several comparisons using different re-imbursement figures for
mileage or want to see if there is a difference in fastest time
versus shortest distance. Selecting this option will re-use the
last selected starting and ending cities.
This is the same as pressing 'R' or clicking with your mouse
on the 'Re-Run' button on the main screen.
Toggle Shortest Time/Dist
This option allows you to decide whether you want the
fastest route or the shortest. In most cases, the two are the
same, but if there are a lot of county roads, state roads or
passage through a state with a 55 mile per hour speed limit, the
times could vary quite a bit.
You may find that a route is quicker when you take a
slightly longer (mileage wise) drive because of the speed limits.
Selecting this option will toggle the calculation to either
the shortest (quickest) time or the shortest distance (the
default). You can tell which is currently selected by looking at
the upper right hand corner of the screen, in the menu bar.
Due to routes being slightly different based on whether you
start in a 65 mph zone or 55 mph zone, when you select this
option, the route is actually run from both directions. The one
problem with this is that you could wind up with the route being
opposite in direction from the one you want in direction.
For example, run a route from Washington, D.C. to St. Louis,
Mo. with the shortest time option activated. You'll find that
the route displayed shows from St. Louis to Washington. This can
be somewhat confusing and I hope to be able to fix this soon.
ROUTE SCREEN
Once the route is complete, the screen will clear and the
route will be displayed. At the bottom of the screen, below the
block containing your options, is a line indicating the speeds
you selected for time calculations.
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If you chose the defaults of 55 and 45 Mph, the line will
look like this:
Interstates = 55 Mph and Non-Interstates = 45 Mph
Please note that in states with a maximum interstate speed
of 55 Mph, the lower number will be used. For example, in
Pennsylvania, the maximum interstate speed is 55 Mph, so the
speed used for all time measurements is going to be the lower
one, or in this case, 45 Mph.
Let's take a look at the five options in the block at the
bottom of the screen:
1. Press 'P' to print the route out to your printer.
2. Press 'O' to save the route to disk.
3. Press 'M' to see Mileage information if it is enabled.
4. Press 'Q' to Quit Roadways PC completely.
5. Press the Spacebar to do another route.
Print
You may print the route out as many times as you wish.
Simply press 'P' for each copy you want. When you are done
printing, you may either quit or run another route.
A help menu is available on this screen as well. To
activate it, press any key not highlighted on the screen in a
command box. I recommend either 'H' or 'F1' since these are the
normal help commands in other programs, but any unassigned key
will do. The right mouse button will also turn this screen on.
Once the help window is open, you can close it by pressing
either ESC, <enter> or the space bar, or by clicking in the upper
left hand corner or on the <CLOSE> spot with the mouse.
If you calculate a route that is longer than will fit on a
single screen, you will see two little boxes at the bottom of the
screen that say Scroll Up and Scroll Down. By using the arrow
keys or the U and D keys, you can scroll through the list of
cities at your leisure.
Disk Output
Saving routes to disk is very simple. From the Route sceen,
press 'O'. Roadways PC will ask you for a path and filename. If
you want to save the route in the same directory as Roadways, all
you need to do is enter the filename you want your route saved
under. Do not enter an extender, only a valid MS-DOS filename of
eight characters or less.
*** Note ***
You cannot save any routes under the filename
ROADWAYS. Roadways PC will not allow this, since it
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could be possible to overwrite one of the program files
by accident.
Also, if you at any time change the extender from
.RDW to another, Roadways PC will not be able to find
the file if you wish to retrieve the route in Roadways
PC.
All Roadways files are saved with the extender .RDW and are
simply text files. There are no special characters or funny
formatting. This was done to make it easy for you to read into
your favorite word processor for inclusion in a letter or
document you are preparing.
Mileage Calc.
Selecting this option will open a small window in the middle
of the screen that displays the mileage calculations if they have
been enabled. If you chose not to do mileage calculations, a
message will be displayed in the box informing you of this.
If you chose to do mileage calculations, the following
information will be displayed:
The mileage rate in cents per mile
The total mileage cost one way
The round trip mileage cost
As with other windows in Roadways PC, this one can be closed
by pressing the ESC, <enter> or spacebar keys or by clicking on
the <CLOSE> spot or upper left corner of the box.
Quit
This option will end your Roadways PC session.
Space Bar to Continue
Pressing this will take you back to the main city selection
screen. If you haven't printed out your route or saved it to
disk, it will be lost. However, if you suddenly realize this has
happened, before doing anything else, you can select 'Re-run Last
Route' from the Utilities menu or press 'R' or click on the Re-
Run button on the main screen to re-run the route with your last
selected options.
CONTROLLING ROADWAYS PC WITH A MOUSE
Roadways PC is a program that lends itself well to a mouse
or pointing device. Use of the mouse is almost intuitive, since
it makes sense to point at what you want. This is the philosophy
around which the mouse interface was designed.
When you first boot up, after the copyright screen, you are
presented with a choice of sorting the cities by either city or
state. Simply move the mouse cursor to the one you want, and
click with the left button. You can click on any part of the
word, not just the first letter.
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Once at the main menu, the following is the assignment of
the mouse buttons:
Left Button - Select button
Right Button - Activate the Keyboard help window
As this implies, to choose a city, select a menu item or do
something in a box that is on the screen, just position the mouse
cursor over what you want and press the left button.
To page through the cities, simply go to the boxes at the
bottom of the screen. Here is the function of the boxes:
NEXT PAGE - Selects the next page (screen) of cities
PREVIOUS PAGE - Selects the previous page (screen) of cities
By using the mouse cursor and clicking with the left mouse
button on your selection, you can page through the cities
effortlessly, and select your starting and ending cities.
The same thing goes for the other screens. When you see a
box with several selections in it, simply click on the word or
box you want.
[Yes/No] PROMPTS
When using a mouse, you can answer a yes or no prompt by
simply putting the mouse cursor over your choice. For example,
after selecting the ending city, you are asked:
Is this Correct <[Y]es/No>?
To answer yes, position the mouse cursor over the response
you wish to make and click the left mouse button. This is the
way to answer all Y/N prompts if you do not want to use the
keyboard. This includes the ones when exiting Roadways.
Using the Mouse on the Route Screen
The only active mouse areas on the route display screen are
in the box at the bottom of the screen. Here you have the
options of either Printing, Disk Output, Mileage display,
Quitting or Space bar to continue. By clicking with the left
mouse button on the word with the highlighted letter, you can
select that option.
Also, if you have a route longer than the screen will
display all at one time, you can click in either the Scroll Up or
Scroll Down box to scroll the city route display.
Again, you do not have to click on the highlighted letter,
just anywhere on the word that contains the highlighted letter.
QUITTING ROADWAYS PC
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To end your Roadways PC session, go to either the main
screen (the one that contains the city list) or the route display
screen. You may either press 'Q' or click on the appropriate
menu selection with the mouse.
COMMAND LINE SWITCHES
There are several command line switches available to make
loading and running Roadways PC easier and more customizable.
Here are the command line options:
/C - Load Roadways and sort the cities in City order for display
/S - Load Roadways and sort the cities in State order for display
/I - Run the city sorter program (creates ROADWAYS.CTY
ROADWAYS.STA, and ROADWAYS.TIM)
/? - Provides help on the Command Line switches
If at any time you cannot remember what the different
switches are, simply type:
ROADWAYS /?
This will display all the switches available and return you
to the DOS prompt.
The /C and /S switches speed entry into Roadways PC, by
selecting ahead of time, the way you want the cities displayed;
whether by city or by state.
You will find out more about using the /I switch in the
coming section.
ENVIRONMENT USE
If there is one particular setup you always want to use, you
can install it in an environment statement. You can have up to 3
separate environment switches to activate options in Roadways PC.
In reality, if you look at the list of possible command line
switches, you will notice that there is really only a need for
one switch.
The most obvious use for this is to add the capability to
have Roadways PC come up with the cities listed either by city or
by state. Here are the options available:
SET ROADWAYS =/C Makes Roadways PC come up sorted by City
SET ROADWAYS =/S Makes Roadways PC come up sorted by State
To use one of these, just add the appropriate statement
above to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Please note that the command
line will override whatever environment switches you choose.
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While you can use some of the other command line switches in
the environment, I don't recommend it, since Roadways PC will
come up with those options selected every time you run it.
ADDING CITIES TO ROADWAYS PC
Obviously, this program would be of only limited use if it
could not be expanded and customized. Since the initial database
is fairly limited, it would be good to be able to add new cities.
There are two options for adding cities: First, you can
order the City Editor from the author of Roadways PC for only
$10.00. This is not a shareware program, but it will greatly
speed the entry of cities and reduces the possibility of errors.
The second option is fairly easy, but does require some
planning. Manually! Here I will detail the manual method.
Before adding your first city, make sure you have the
following available:
A good road atlas
A calculator (to help add up the number of miles)
A printout of the datafile ROADWAYS.DAT
A backup copy of the datafile ROADWAYS.DAT (VERY IMPORTANT!!!)
While I can't help you with the first two, I can help you
get a good printout of the data file.
1. Set up your printer and make sure it is on-line.
2. At the DOS prompt, type COPY ROADWAYS.DAT PRN <enter>
The data file should now print out. Be forewarned. This is
a fairly long datafile (more than 5 pages) so make sure you have
enough paper!
Once you have all of the items at hand, sit down at a table
and lay the data file printout out in front of you. The first 4
lines should look something like this:
201,8
1,ALBANY,NY,5,156,90,146,151,90,85,105,87,88,23,-7,154,14,88,142
2,ALBERT LEA,MN,4,87,90,262,94,35,93,147,90,168,47,35,148
3,ALBUQUERQUE,NM,4,56,40,323,37,25,365,52,25,257,192,40,114
Let's look at what each piece of this data means:
The top line is very important. This line contains two
pieces of data indicating the number of cities in the datafile
and the maximum number of connections that any one city can have.
In this case, the first number tells us that there are 201 cities
in the datafile.
Your listing will have a larger number here more than
likely, as new cities are being constantly added and the datafile
is growing regularly.
The second number tells Roadways PC what the maximum number
of cities any one city is connected to. This will become more
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apparent as we move on, so don't worry too much if you don't
understand yet.
On the second line is the first piece of city data. Please
note that the cities are numbered from 1 to 201 (in this example.
Yours may be higher), consecutively.
YOU MUST NOT MOVE THE CITIES AROUND! You cannot change the
order of the existing cities or remove a city without
invalidating the entire listing. You can remove the last city or
put a new city on the end, but that is the extent of the
modification you can make to the city file.
The city data is set up like so:
CNUM,CITY,STATE,CONN,C1,R1,D1,C2,R2,D2,C3,R3,D3...
CNUM is the city number and applies to this line only! In our
example, CNUM for Albany is 1.
CITY is the city name.
STATE is the state name.
CONN is how many other cities this city connects to. In the case
of Albany, it connects to 5 other cities (in the example).
C1 is the city number of the first city that this city connects
to. In our example, the first connection from Albany is to city
number 156, which should be SYRACUSE,NY.
R1 is the number of the route by which this city connects to the
city indicated by C1. Albany is connected to city number 156 by
interstate 90.
D1 is the distance from this city to the city indicated by C1.
Albany is connected to city number 156, by interstate 90 at a
distance of 146 miles.
C2, R2, D2, C3, R3, D3, etc. are the other cities that connect to
this city, in exactly the same format as C1, R1, and D1.
The data for each connecting city is always entered in this
format: City number, route number, distance. Spaces are not
allowed anywhere but in the actual city name.
To make it easier to understand adding a new city, let's
take a look at how city number 201 was added to the data file.
If you haven't already, print out the city data file,
ROADWAYS.DAT.
Take a look at city number 201. We are going to pretend
that this city does not yet exist in the datafile. What we want
to do is add the city MARION, Illinois. By looking at my atlas,
I have decided that I want it to connect to three other cities
that are in the datafile already.
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The cities I want Marion, Illinois to connect to are:
Mt. Vernon, Il. (city number 99)
Paducah, Ky. (city number 112)
Sikeston, Mo. (city number 145)
From my atlas, I get the route information about the roads
like so:
Mt. Vernon, Il. is 53 miles away on interstate 57
Paducah, Ky. is 42 miles away on interstate 24
Sikeston, Mo. is 60 miles away on interstate 57
Now, I just have to build my new line entry. Here are the
steps for this example:
1. First is the new city number: 201
2. Next is the city name: MARION (all caps)
3. Next is the state name: IL (two letter abbreviation)
4. The number of cities we want to connect to: 3
5. City number of the first connecting city: 99 (Mt. Vernon)
6. Route number of the first connecting city: 57
7. Number of miles to the first connecting city: 53
8. City number of the second connecting city: 112 (Paducah)
9. Route number of the second connecting city: 24
10. Number of miles to the second connecting city: 42
11. City number of the third connecting city: 145 (Sikeston)
12. Route number of the third connecting city: 57
13. Number of miles to the third connecting city: 60
Our new line should look like this:
201,MARION,IL,3,99,57,53,112,24,42,145,57,60
The order of the cities in the line is not critical, however
the format of the data is. In other words, it's ok to put
Sikeston, Mo. as the first city in the line of connecting cities,
however it is not ok to put the number of miles before the route
number, since Roadways PC will think the route number is the
distance and vice-versa.
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Once you have developed the new line, you must now go and
make the connection at the other end. For instance, you have
added a connection to city number 99 (Mt. Vernon, Il), but Mt.
Vernon still does not have anything showing it's connection to
city number 201.
To complete the connection, go up to city number 99 and
increase the number of cities it connects to. Next add the
connecting city information. In this case you would add the
following to the end of the line:
201,57,53
This should look familiar. 201 is the number of the city
that was added at the end of the datafile. 57 is the route
number from Marion, Il. to Mt. Vernon, Il., and 53 is the number
of miles between the two cities.
Repeat this for each of the connections made to the new
city.
To simplify matters, I usually just use a pencil to write
the new information on the datafile printout. This way, I can
verify that I haven't left anything out.
Once you have finished adding cities and making the changes
to the printout, load up your favorite text editor. Please be
aware that you should avoid using a word processor if possible,
unless you are very familiar with using it to make a true ASCII
file.
You MUST save the datafile as an ASCII file with hard
carriage returns ONLY at the end of each line of data. If you
break any of the data lines anywhere other than at the end of the
last piece of data for that line, Roadways PC will not work.
I recommend using an editor such as MEDIT or even EDLIN, if
you are familiar with it's use.
Different Kinds of Roads
Roadways PC allows six kinds of roads to be used. They are
1) Interstates, 2) U.S. Highways, 3) State Roads or Highways, 4)
Turnpikes with a numeric designation (i.e- TP-9), 5) Rural Routes
and 6) Turnpikes without a numeric designation. To differentiate
between them, you use the following rules:
1) To specify an Interstate, Simply type the number of the
interstate (i.e. 64 would indicate interstate 64 or I-64).
2) To specify a U.S. Highway, simply type the number of the road
as a negative (i.e. -64 would indicate US-64).
3) To specify a State Road or highways, simply add 1000 to the
road number (i.e. 1052 would indicate SR-52).
4) To specify a turnpike (or toll road) that has a numeric
designator, simply add 2000 to the road number. For example, if
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you want to specify a Turnpike that also has a state designator
of 9, you would enter the number as 2009.
5) To specify a Rural Route, simply add 3000 to the road number
(i.e. 3013 would indicate RR-13).
6) To specify a Turnpike (or toll road) that has no numeric
designation (i.e. the New Jersey Turnpike), just enter a 0. This
will cause the word Turnpike to be printed out on the route
screen.
Things to Keep in Mind
Here are some important things to keep in mind when adding
cities:
1. NEVER insert a city into the datafile anywhere but at the
end!
2. NEVER delete a city from the datafile, unless you are
prepared to either delete all of the cities after the city you
want to delete or completely rebuild the file to renumber all the
cities after the deletion and change all references to the cities
to the new numbers.
3. After adding a new city or connection, make sure you go to
the cities connected to and make the connection back to the new
city or connection.
4. If you add a city to the listing that is on the path between
two cities that are already connected, it's best to remove the
connection between the two farthest cities and connect them
through the in-between city.
Once you have made all the changes to the datafile, go to
the top of the file to the very first two pieces of data. If you
remember, in our example these were the numbers 201 and 8
separated by a comma. You will need to change the first number
to reflect the total number of cities now in the data file. For
instance, if the last city is city number 205, you should change
the 201 to 205.
Also, if any of the cities connects to more than 8 other
cities, you will need to change the second number to the maximum
number of connections. For example, if the city with the largest
number of connections has 10 total connections, you will need to
change the number 8 to a 10.
The City Sorter
Now that all of your changes have been made, save the
datafile and exit your editor. If all has been done correctly,
you should now be ready to run Roadways PC with the city sorter
activated. To do this, type:
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ROADWAYS /I <enter>
This will run the city sorter, recreating the sorted city
files with your changes included. It will also create the time
datafile used to figure the fastest route. This file will be
created using the speeds that were saved in the configuration
file, either from running the INSTALL program or from changing
the default speeds in the Utilities menu from within Roadways PC.
After the new datafiles have been created, Roadways will
run, and you should see your added cities in the list. I
recommend you try some routes, in both directions, on your cities
to make sure that the information you put in is correct and that
you didn't make any errors.
Common Pitfalls When Adding cities
Probably the single biggest pitfall when adding cities is
the temptation to try to add new cities without a printout of the
data file. This is NOT a good idea, and can result in errors or
omissions.
A recommendation from one of Roadways PC's registered users
was, "don't try to add more than 3 cities at a time" (thanks for
the hint, George!). This will greatly reduce the probability for
error.
Another big problem area can crop up if you use a word
processor or editor that splits the data lines. When doing an
ASCII save, these programs will frequently put a hard carriage
return at the end of each screen line instead of at the end of
the physical line. This is why it is very important to keep a
backup of the datafile on hand, in the event the one you are
working with gets messed up.
If something goes wrong with your datafile, it will be
obvious, as the program will either not run at all or it will
give you an error and terminate operation. If this happens, you
know something is wrong with your datafile, and you will either
have to correct the problem with a word processor or re-copy your
original datafile back to the directory or disk you are running
Roadways PC from.
It really isn't hard to add cities. Just copy your datafile
to some other place and play with it. Just remember to run
Roadways PC with the /I switch to allow the city sorter to update
the lists of cities.
TROUBLESHOOTING PROBLEMS WITH ROADWAYS PC
1. You get an error message that the ROADWAYS.DAT file is
missing - This error indicates that for whatever reason, the file
ROADWAYS.DAT is not in the same place as the ROADWAYS.EXE file.
There are two ways to fix this: You can re-install Roadways PC
from your original disk, or you can just re-copy the file
ROADWAYS.DAT to your working disk or subdirectory.
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2. You get an error message that there is an error in the
ROADWAYS.DAT file at a particular city number - This error
usually occurs when you've added a city to Roadways and made an
entry incorrectly. I suggest that you print out the datafile and
look especially close at the area around the city number where
the error occurred, since this is where Roadways found the
problem.
Usually, the problem is just that either a piece of data was
left out or a period was put in where a comma should have been.
In some cases, the city number shown doesn't have a problem and
the error is non-displayable or in city number 0. Make sure that
the number of connections for each city matches the number of
cities. For example, check to make sure that if a city you added
has 3 connecting cities, that the number of connections shown is
3 as well.
If you just can't find the problem, drop your printout in
the mail to me along with a copy of your ROADWAYS PC disk and
I'll see if I can find the problem.
3. Roadways PC says that the sorted datafiles are corrupt - This
usually will occur either during or just after these files are
created using the /I command line parameter. Usually, this means
that something is ultimately wrong with your main ROADWAYS.DAT
file. Here is the best way to test this:
Try running Roadways PC without any command line switches
(i.e. - just type ROADWAYS and press <enter>). If the problem is
ultimately in your main datafile, the error listed in #2 above
will be displayed. If, however, you still get a message saying
the problem is in one of your sorted datafiles, try re-running
Roadways with the /I switch and see if it fixes the problem.
4. When I try to run ROADWAYS PC, after the copyright screen, I
get an error right away that says I have Roadways PC configured
for the wrong display and to select Hercules in the setup program
- This error is due to the inability of the Hercules display to
work in anything but 80 column text mode. Just re-run the
INSTALL program and answer N to whether you have a color monitor
and Y to whether you have a Hercules card and monitor, and re-run
Roadways PC. This should fix the problem.
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A NOTE ABOUT THE WINDOWS IN ROADWAYS PC
You will notice that the help windows and the mileage
calculation window are very similar. For the mouse user, these
windows can be either closed or moved at will. To move a window,
just click and hold the left mouse button down on the top bar of
the window, and draw it where you want it.
After the window is closed, it will revert to it's original
location if re-opened. You can close the windows by either
clicking in the top left corner, clicking on 'OK', hitting
<enter>, pressing the space bar or hitting ESC.
UPGRADING ROADWAYS PC
If you are upgrading from a previous release of Roadways PC,
here are the steps you need to take to avoid losing any changes
you have made to the city datafiles:
1. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A BACKUP OF YOUR ORIGINAL ROADWAYS PC DISK
AS WELL AS THE NEW ONE!!!!!!!!!!!
2. If you have added or modified your city datafiles, make a
backup copy of YOUR city datafiles that contain the changes
(ROADWAYS.DAT, ROADWAYS.CTY and ROADWAYS.STA). Put the backup
away so you don't accidentally erase or over-write it.
If you haven't changed the datafile, you may want to use the
newer datafile as it may contain new city data you don't
currently have. If this is so, copy everything from the new disk
to your ROADWAYS subdirectory, go to step 3 and skip step 6.
3. Copy all the files EXCEPT ROADWAYS.DAT, ROADWAYS.CTY and
ROADWAYS.STA from the newer version to your Roadways directory or
disk.
4. Delete the file ROADWAYS.CFG from your Roadways directory or
disk.
5. Type INSTALL at the MS-DOS prompt. INSTALL should load and
run. Follow the steps listed in the section INSTALLING ROADWAYS
PC to make the new ROADWAYS.CFG file.
6. Go through the configuration process. When it is done, you
should now have a completely upgraded Roadways PC!
A key thing to remember is that the new configuration file
(ROADWAYS.CFG) is incompatible with earlier releases.
BACKGROUND ON ROADWAYS PC
The idea for Roadways PC came from a similar program done on
the Apple many years ago. This program worked but was very slow
and not at all flexible. It seemed to me that a much better
24
implementation of the idea could be had by using the IBM PC with
it's far superior processing speed, memory capabilities and the
availability of better languages to work from.
Initially, Roadways PC was done in GW-BASIC, however it
became apparent very rapidly that this was unsuitable. Besides
being horrendously slow, it was also bulky, requiring the use of
the BASIC interpreter.
After discovering Microsoft QuickBASIC 4.0, the entire
program was re-written in modular form without line numbers.
Several bugs manifested themselves, some of which were in
Roadways PC and some which were part of QuickBASIC.
At this point, I discovered the Microsoft BASIC Compiler,
version 7.1. This is what this version of the program is written
in. Here, finally, was the support I needed without the
limitations and bugs in QuickBASIC.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Doug Fitler is in the U.S. Air Force and has been for the
last 15 years. In his spare time, he is the managing editor of
the magazine One Thousand, a magazine geared to the Tandy 1000
owner.
He has been programming since 1983 and is currently trying
to learn enough 'C' to be able to re-write Roadways PC in that
language to increase it's speed, reduce it's size and maybe
(don't hold your breath) provide a Windows 3.0 interface.
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ABOUT ROADWAYS PC
Roadways PC is distributed under the Shareware concept. If
you like it, please register it. This will help support the
further enhancement of the product, as well as compensate the
author for the work put into the program.
Registering Roadways will entitle you to free upgrades for a
year. Also, registered users will be able to disable the opening
copyright screen and will receive a free subscription to The
Roadways Times, a newsletter published quarterly for registered
Roadways PC users. Lifetime free upgrades are available as well.
See the registration form for more information on these options.
Basic registration costs only $10.00.
You are free to give this program to anyone, and put it on
any information services you wish, as long as all of the files
listed in the section DISTRIBUTED FILES are included.
Send registrations to the following address:
Doug Fitler
Box 25424
Scott AFB, Il. 62225
Please make all checks and money orders payable to Doug
Fitler.
If you have any questions or suggestions to improve Roadways
PC, please drop me a line. Thank you for supporting the
Shareware Concept!
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DISCLAIMER
The author hereby disclaims all warranties relating to this
software, whether express or implied, including without
limitation any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness
for a particular purpose. The author will not be liable for any
special, incidental, consequential, indirect or similar damages
due to loss of data or any other reason, even if the author or an
agent of the author has been advised of the possibility of such
damages. In no event shall the author's liability for any
software ever exceed the price paid for the license to use this
software, regardless of the form of the claim. The person using
the software bears all risk as to the quality and performance of
the software.
Please note that the author of Roadways PC makes no claims
as to the accuracy of the mileages calculated. Roadways PC is
primarily a tool to help you plan your trip, and as such should
not be used when accuracy is important. It is highly recommended
that if you wish to use Roadways PC to plan a trip, you double
check the route with a reputable atlas to make sure it meets your
requirements. Roadways will provide a route that is the shortest
based on the data it has to work with. Any errors, omissions,
oversights or problems with the data and the algorithm used to
calculate the mileages and display the data are the sole
responsibility of the user and not the author.
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ASSOCIATION OF SHAREWARE PROFESSIONALS OMBUDSMAN POLICY
"This program is produced by a member of the Association of
Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the
shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a
shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the
member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can
help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but
does not provide technical support for members' products. Please
write to the ASP Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI 49442
or send a CompuServe message via CompuServe Mail to ASP Ombudsman
70007,3536."
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SUMMARY OF CHANGES
Changes to version 2.0:
1. Added checking of Environment for defaults.
2. Added the ability to bypass the copyright screen for
registered users.
3. Added the option to save routes to disk.
4. Added Retrieval of routes from disk with optional printout.
Includes a directory listing of .RDW files (roadways saved
files).
5. Added 'R' to the help menu and to the Mouse selection blocks.
Also added Disk Output to the display screen. Added a mouse box
with Print, More and Return to Roadways PC Main to the Retrieval
screen.
6. Added the mileage rate input to the config screen.
7. Added mileage output to all output screens.
8. Added the option to change the mileage rate from within
Roadways with the 'M' key.
9. Updated the documentation to include all of the above
features.
10. Changed the Help box to a true window that is closeable and
moveable.
11. Put the mileage information on the route screen into a
moveable, closeable window.
Changes to version 2.5:
1. Pull down menus have been added to the main city selection
screen.
2. The route display is scrollable if it exceeds the room on the
screen.
3. Starting and ending cities in the route display have been
highlighted to make them more visible.
4. A help menu has been added to the route screen.
5. The configuration program has been removed from the main
program and revised to include installation to a hard drive.
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Changes to versions 2.51, 2.52 and 2.53:
1. Several minor bugs were fixed that caused problems with
calculated dollar amounts in the mileage calculation routines.
2. The Up and Down keys were switched to make the Up Arrow key
scroll the list up and the Down Arrow key scroll down. (oops!)
3. The colors were fixed for monochrome displays to make the
display screens readable and highlighting look correct.
4. A bug in the scroll screen was fixed that caused the scroll
up and scroll down block to appear if only 12 cities were in the
route. The minimum should have been 13.
Changes to version 2.54 and 2.54a:
1. Allowed Roadways PC to be used on a Hercules display and
adapter card.
2. Updated the INSTALL program to include selection of the
Hercules monochrome monitor.
3. Changed the INSTALL program to require <enter> to be pressed
after a selection was made. This was at the request of several
users.
4. Fixed a bug that prevented the EPSON printer selection on the
install menu from working properly. Now when EPSON is selected,
Roadways will send the code to the printer to put it into the
graphics character set (IBM printer codes instead of the EPSON
codes).
Changes to version 3.0:
1. Fixed a bug with the output mileage calculations that made
them incorrect until the screen was completely scrolled.
2. Added the capability to scroll continuously with the mouse by
holding the left mouse button down while in the scroll box.
3. Changed questions to positive answer to affirm (particularly
the exit prompt).
4. Added default answers to all Y/N prompts. Accessed by just
pressing <enter>.
5. Highlighted the complete city and state space.
6. Added a time out to the copyright screen (5 seconds) when
displayed during program startup.
30
7. Added Hercules graphic adapter support.
8. If the ROADWAYS.CFG file is not found or is incorrect, upon
startup of ROADWAYS, an option to run the INSTALL program is
displayed from the ROADWAYS program startup.
9. The INSTALL and REGISTER programs have been merged into one
program called INSTALL.
10. You can now start INSTALL with a drive specifier for
installation to a particular hard drive (range of C: to G:), by
typing INSTALL d:, where d: is the drive you want Roadways
installed onto.
11. Other minor bug fixes designed to make life easier and
faster for the user.
12. Put the documentation on disk with a left margin and at 10
cpi to make it more readable when printed out.
13. Added several new options on the drop down menus: Default
Settings, Set Home City, re-run last route, and Toggle Shortest
Time/Distance.
14. Did away with some of the boxes on the main screen, and
added a separate Quit function on the menu bar.
15. Added the option to use different data files with Roadways
by just entering the datafile name in the INSTALL program or from
within Roadways.
16. Added several features to the INSTALL file to fix some of
the problems some users were having installing to a hard disk, as
well as dressing the whole shebang up.
17. Added handling of states with 55 mile per hour maximums
different than states with 65 mile per hour.
18. Added an option to run routes by the shortest time as
opposed to the shortest distance.
19. Made the default speeds used for calculating driving times
user changeable and a part of the configuration file.
20. Improved the precision of the cost per mile of operation, by
going to 4 decimal places, versus 2.
21. Added the option to run Roadways PC from within the INSTALL
program.
22. Added the ROADWAYS.TIM file to allow running of routes by
shortest time.
Changes to version 3.01:
1. I discovered that somehow a semicolon got erased and when
using the arrow keys to scroll down the list of cities, when
31
reaching the bottom, the entire screen would move up a line.
This made a real mess of the display.
2. When calculating speed on a stretch of highway, the speed
assigned to the 65 mph areas was used for all roads in states
with 65 mph speed limits. This was fixed to make state roads
accept the speed assigned to the 55 mph areas.
3. Due to the above bug, I also found the same problem in the
portion of the program that generates the .TIM file. This was
fixed.
Changes to version 3.02:
1. Put a Re-Run last route button on the main screen to ease re-
running routes. Redefined the key 'R' to re-run the last route
and changed Retreive Routes to the 'F' key.
2. Fixed a bug that allowed the re-running of previous routes
without having run any routes.
3. Changed the Registration program so no changes were needed to
the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. A change is made to the ROADWAYS.EXE file
instead.
Changes to version 3.1 and 3.1a:
1. Added the capability to have 3 additional types of routes
(State roads, Rural routes, and Turnpikes with a numeric
designation).
2. Updated the ROADWAYS.DAT file to take advantage of the new
route types.
3. Added a line at the bottom of the Route Screen that shows the
selected speeds for time and driving speed calculations.
4. Added support for routes that exceed 100 hours in length
(Thanks Donald!).
Roadways PC - 3.1 has the following changed files:
ROADWAYS.EXE
INSTALL.EXE
ROADWAYS.DOC
README.DOC
Roadways PC - 3.1a has the following changed files:
ROADWAYS.EXE
ROADWAYS.DOC
README.DOC
32
INVOICE
Roadways PC version 3.1b
Remit to:
Doug Fitler
P.O. Box 25424
Scott AFB, Il. 62225
From:
Name: ________________________________________________________
Company: _____________________________________________________
Street Address: ______________________________________________
City: ____________________ State: __________________________
Zip Code: ________________
Quantity: ________
Pricing: Check the options you wish
Basic Registration : $10.00 [ ]
Lifetime Free upgrades: $15.00 [ ]
City Editor Program : $10.00 [ ]
Special offer:
All of the above : $30.00 [ ]
Total sent : $________
I use 5.25 360K _______ 5.25 1.2M _______ 3 1/2" _______
Home Phone (not required): (____)-____________________________
Work Phone (not required): (____)-____________________________
Where did you find Roadways PC?_______________________________
______________________________________________________________
Comments or Suggestions: _____________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
Note that Roadways PC has been delivered and accepted by the
customer. Upon receipt of this paid invoice, if an upgrade has
occurred, a current disk and any updated documentation will be
sent.
RW31b
33
