home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Software of the Month Club 1996 August
/
Software of the Month Club 1996 August.iso
/
pc
/
dos
/
biz
/
wvh
/
read.me
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1996-04-20
|
13KB
|
273 lines
╓─────────────────────────────╖
║ TOPICS COVERED IN THIS FILE ║
┌─────────────╨──────────────┬──────────────╨─────────────┐
│ I Overview/Shareware Info│ IV New Features History │
│ II Installation Notes │ V Upcoming Features │
│ III Printing Documentation │ VI Author Contact Info. │
└────────────────────────────┴────────────────────────────┘
Shareware vendors see VENDOR.DOC ── BBS sysops also see SYSOP.DOC
(To stop viewing this file press the ESC key.)
I. OVERVIEW & SHAREWARE INFORMATION
───────────────────────────────────
What Vehicle History? is designed for shops or companies which track
mechnical devices (cars, trucks, tractors, generators, etc). In-house
departments/divisions are accomodated as well as shops which service
other people's vehicles. WVH keeps track of each service event,
organizing the information by vehicle, type of service (e.g., brakes,
tune-up, etc.), and date. For each service entry WVH tracks the
mechanic or shop who did the work, the labour hours and cost, parts
used, and comments. There is a full parts inventory system which will
track your stock levels, profit, and 12-month income history.
For department/division billing or billing to a shop's customers,
WVH provides a billing "report" which prints a statement of work done
for each vehicle, itemizing the labour and parts costs. Once a service
item has been billed, WVH "flags" that item and it is not printed
again. In other words, WVH knows what you've billed for and what you
haven't. The Re-print Billing "report" will print bills which have
already been printed and flagged.
This Unregistered Shareware version of WVH is fully functional - it
is identical to the Registered Edition with the exception of the
shareware license display and the printing of someone else's name (the
author or the registered user who distributed your copy) on reports &
screens.
II. INSTALLATION NOTES
──────────────────────
If you received your copy of WVH on disk it should have INSTALL.EXE
on it. Using INSTALL is faster than installing or updating manually and
it will not touch your AUTOEXEC or CONFIG. Just put the floppy in a
drive and type "A:INSTALL" or "B:INSTALL" depending on your computer.
Manual installation (for example, if you have received WVH from a
bulletin board) is as follows:
1. Make a directory (e.g., "MD \WVH")
2. Go to that directory (e.g., "CD \WVH")
3. Extract the archive. If you downloaded an EXE file, it is a
self-extracting archive - just type the file name (e.g., WVH24W)
and it will extract itself. Otherwise, use the appropriate
de-compression software (e.g., PKUNZIP). If you are updating an
older installation, just overwrite old files with new files -
your data will remain intact.
Installing on Floppy Disk
─────────────────────────
The necessary programme files take up about 519k of disk space, so
it is possible to run WVH from a 720k (or greater) floppy disk. However,
it will run very slowly as its primary function is working with disk
files. Data files may be on a different disk than WVH.EXE and its
supporting files so you may use a two floppy system.
If you run WVH on a single 720k floppy disk there will initially be
about 180k of free space. A service entry will take around 1k bytes
(depending on number of parts entered), so you could probably track the
maintenance history of one to five vehicles in this space. Just the
same, a hard disk is best since it is so much faster and safer.
To make a "working" floppy disk:
1. Keep the original disk for making new back-up copies.
2. Use the DOS command "Diskcopy a: a:" (or "b: b:") to make a
"working" copy of the floppy disk.
3. Use the DEL command to erase files marked with [*] above -- this
will give you more room for data files. For example, you will
want to "DEL B:WVH.WP" and "DEL B:WVH.TXT" (change the "B:" to
an "A:" if necessary).
III. PRINTING DOCUMENTATION
───────────────────────────
If you have WordPerfect 5, just load WVH.WP. Instructions to
reformat and print are in a comment at the top of the file. If you
don't have WordPerfect or a way to convert the WVH.WP file to your word
processor, then enter "TYPE WVH.TXT > PRN" at the DOS prompt. WVH.TXT
is an ASCII file generated from WordPerfect for a "standard printer" and
this command will send it to the printer on port LPT1:. You can
substitute the "PRN" with "LPTx:" where the "x" is 1, 2, or 3.
IV. NEW FEATURES HISTORY
────────────────────────
04/20/96 2.6d What I thought was a good idea ended up causing problems
on the Maintenance Data Entry screen, so I took it
out. All mis-calculated figures and wrong window
titles are gone.
Added a Labour Sub-total line to Maintenance DE.
04/16/96 2.6c Corrected problems with Maintenance Data Entry that
caused WVH to halt.
04/12/96 2.6b Corrected minor printer problem: the first 2 fonts for
a printer were not being displayed in a font list.
Corrected a record counting problem which caused the
wrong number of records to be displayed on the
status line.
Corrected an error with printing all pages of a report
(printing just one page or one screen was working).
04/08/96 2.6a Corrected an error which prevented files from being
Packed (File/Pack).
Completed Employee Productivity Report.
Inventory Sales & G/L Posting reports are closer, but
not quite finished yet (you will not see any data
displayed on the report).
04/01/96 2.6 Corrected an error in the Maintenance History report
when only one vehicle was being shown (as opposed to
showing all vehicles).
03/26/96 2.5z Fixed bug in Cost-plus-Overhead method of pricing parts.
Updated the Maintenance Data Entry screen to reflect the
meter type for a vehicle (odometer/hourmeter).
Updated reports: Vehicle list, Customer list, Mechanic
list, Service Category list, Maintenance Schedule,
and Maintenance History.
03/19/96 2.5y Corrected error which occured when saving a maintenance
record: the Inventory Depletion module of the
programme (which takes items out of inventory) had
not been updated for the new 20-character inventory
code.
03/18/96 2.5x Corrected minor inventory indexing error which kept
inventory items from showing up properly on reports
and status lines.
03/18/96 2.5w Corrected error in Inventory Receipts & Depletions.
03/18/96 2.5v Corrected error in File Back-up procedure which
occurred with zero-length files.
Corrected minor problem with information windows which
caused them to "beep" upon closing.
Changed Maintenance History report to use new report
engine.
Changed the terms "Service types" and "Service codes" to
"Service categories."
Changed Maintenance data entry: Moved the entry of the
service category from the first screen to the second
screen (the one split into three windows). It's more
sensible this way.
02/15/96 2.5u Added 8 new serial number/ID number fields to vehicles.
Added 8 new serial number field titles in Preferences.
Corrected problem with setting alert tone in
Miscellaneous Preferences window.
Added new comment field for Service Codes and expanded
the size of the existing Description field.
Enhanced mouse support on several data entry windows.
You may now "click" on a field input area or
description and the cursor will move to that field.
Inventory item codes expanded to 15 characters.
Function to delete inventory items added.
Complete Inventory report now shows total value of each
item and of the total inventory.
Enhanced the new file viewer which is used for inventory
reports (and will soon be used for all reports).
02/02/96 2.5t Corrected a problem with new installations which caused
an error #52 to be displayed.
01/24/96 2.5s Corrected a problem which occured if all customers were
deleted.
Corrected phone number formatting in the Customers
window.
Improved the appearance & functioning of message windows.
01/16/96 2.5r Inventory Re-order report completed.
Corrected an error which did not allow anything but
letters (no numbers) to be entered for the mechanic
code, owner code, and vehicle code.
01/11/96 2.5p Complete Inventory report completed.
New report "engine" released. It's only working for the
one inventory report for now but by next month will
be used for all reports. Thus, all reports will
have a consistent method of operation.
11/29/95 2.5n Corrected problem with accessing inventory items while
entering service (maintenance) information.
11/23/95 2.5m Completed Inventory Receipts & Depletions window.
10/18/95 2.5k Improved help and information windows.
09/26/95 2.5j Unregistered Edition paused for user to press FKEY, but
due to a mix-up of positive and negative numbers there
was no way to get past the message and start the
programme (a "Shoot Self in Foot" error...)
09/25/95 2.5i Maintenance release; several minor fixes and enhancements
09/15/95 2.5h Corrected problem setting the default State/Province on
the Miscellaneous Preferences screen.
Several minor cosmetic improvements.
09/08/95 2.5g Maintenance release; several minor fixes and enhancements
08/02/95 2.5f Corrected minor display problem with Help Index.
* NOTE: For the rest of WVH's history see the file HISTORY.TXT
V. UPCOMING FEATURES
────────────────────
I have a large & growing list of planned enhancements for WVH. When
you register WVH you can get updates for free from BBSs or for $7
through the mail. Some of the more significant planned enhancements are:
■ Maintenance Scheduling: I will add the "smarts" to WVH so it can
figure out the average number of miles or hours a vehicle is used
every week, month, etc. so that it can predict when, for example, a
10,000 mile tune-up would be likely to occur. Once I get this working
I can have WVH do automatic scheduling such as, "Oil change every 5000
miles", etc. Expect this feature to appear in 1995.
■ For shops which maintain other people's vehicles I will be adding the
ability to print Repair Orders and Invoices. I hope to have this
completed during 1995.
■ Mileage and gasoline tracking, including a "Drivers" data base.
■ Parts vendors will be set-up with a link to my What Mailing List?
package so you can print labels and/or envelopes for your vendors
(when mailing payments, purchase orders, etc.).
■ The inventory system will become more full features. Eventually WVH
will be a complete point-of-sale system which will be able to print
sales & profit reports, purchase orders, invoices, etc. I expect that
it will take me until 1997 to complete all of this.
Remember that updates are only $4 through the mail or free from BBSs, so
you can register and begin using WVH _now_ and enjoy all the new
features as they come out. By registering WVH you are directly funding
its development and giving me a (much needed) show of appreciation.
VI. AUTHOR CONTACT INFORMATION
──────────────────────────────
Angel Babudro, Box 132, Paonia, CO 81428 USA
Internet: ababudro@omnionline.com
BBS: Expanding Horizons (970) 241-2847 2400 to 14,400 baud V.32
Enter "E Angelo Babudro" at the main menu to leave a message.
Registered users and those intending to register within 30 days may call
(970) 527-6756 Tuesday through Friday, 10am to 6pm Mountain Time. If
you get my answering machine please try back a little later or drop me
a note in the mail <197> I can only afford to return long distance
calls to registered users of the software.