Cream of the Crop 22/Cream of the Crop 22.iso/database/moviessh.zip/MOVIES.DOC

Text File | 1996-09-12 | 31KB | 503 lines

                        THE MOVIES AND STORYLINE DOCS

   INSTALLATION:

      You can install this program from a floppy disk containing all of the
      files, or you can have the file in any directory, on your hard drive,
      and install from their.  When installation is complete, you can remove
      the floppy disk, or delete the files from your original directory, as
      the installation program will create a C:\MOVIES directory, and install
      both the MOVIES and the STORYLINE programs, in this C:\MOVIES directory.
      If your program is shareware, register by phone and be running the
      registered version in minutes, by getting the code. Type REGISTER &
      press ENTER, when in the directory, for phone number and/or address.

   RUNNING THE PROGRAMS:

      To run the MOVIES program, or the STORYLINE progam, just go to the
      C:\MOVIES directory, type MOVIES or STORIES, and press ENTER.  The
      program you have requested will load, and you are off and running.


   FEATURES OF THE MOVIES PROGRAM:

      You can Enter a movie Category, Tape #, Rating, Title, and 3 actors.
      Once entered and saved to file, you can Retrieve, Browse, Delete a
      record you have browsed to, delete all records that will match your
      retrieval criteria (which are those that you can now browse to),
      Alter any browsed to record, selectively Print the record you have
      browsed to, print all records that match your retrieval criteria, and
      you can view the storyline for the movie title that you have browsed
      to. Note that when viewing a storyline, the program will retrieve all
      storylines for any titles that match the 1st 5 letters of the title
      that is being displayed, at that point in time.

   SELECTING YOUR TYPE OF PRINTER:

      When you print, the program allows you to indicate whether your printer
      is a DOT MATRIX, or a DESKJET/LASER type.  ie, most Dot Matrix have a
      66 line page, where most Deskjet or Laser printers use a 60 page line.
      If your Deskjet or Laser printer is setup for other than 60 lines, you
      should go to your printer setup directory and change it to a 60 line
      page.  This can be a permanent change, or if you like, you can change
      it back, once you are done printing from this program.  Note that the
      STORYLINE program also has this same printer selection option.

   HOW SELECTIVE PRINTING DIFFERS BETWEEN DOT MATRIX AND DESKJET PRINTERS.

      In the case of DESKJET or LASER printers, which automatically advance
      to the next page, when sufficient printing data has been fed to them,
      you know that you will always get fully printed pages, followed by
      the ejection of the printed page, and the starting of a fresh page.
      Therefore when you retrieve and selectively print, and then return to
      the Menu, select a different retrieval criteria ( or method of retrieval_
      and retrieve and selectively print again, you know that the preceding
      text holds true.  In addition, each time you select a NEW retrieval
      criteria, or a NEW retrieval method, a line will print on the page that
      tells you what criteria was used to retrieve the following printed data.
      The printed matter usually turns out fairly well, although part of a
      movies retrieval data may print on page 1 and the rest of it on page 2.

      However, when selectively printing with a DOT MATRIX printer, it is a
      different story.  When you initially start your SELECTIVE printing, you
      are asked to indicate the type of printer that you are using, and then
      the selected data prints.  You can then browse (if your retrieval criteria
      retrieved more than one movie), and selectivel print again. This time you
      will NOT be asked to indicate your printer type.  When your 1st data was
      printed, prior to the data printing, a line printed (which is called a
      header), wherein it indicated the criteria method and actual criteria
      letters or numbers, that were used to retrieve the following printed data.
      When the second, third etc., selected data prints, this HEADER LINE will
      not print, providing that it was retrieved with your original criteria.
      At this point in time, the program is well aware of exactly how many lines
      of data have been printed, including the header line.  If your original
      retrieval criteria has retrieved a sufficient number of movies to fill a
      page or many pages, and you print them, the page will advance accurately
      and properly each time it is necessary, place the SAME header at the top
      of each page, and there is no problem. Note that pages are not numbered.

      However, If your original retrieval DID NOT retrieve enough to fill a page,
      or if it DID, but you chose not to print them all, and you wish to continue
      to print movies out, by returning to the ENTRY screen and selecting either
      new CRITERIA, or a new METHOD of retrieving, things change.  When you do
      return to the ENTRY MENU, the program voids its memory of the number of
      lines that have been printed, and starts from ZERO again.  Reverting to ZERO
      means that a NEW HEADER LINE will also be printed, at your next selective
      printing.  Because of this `reverting to ZERO', any Auto-Advancing of the
      printed page WILL NOT be accurate.  You will note that, when you returned to
      the ENTRY MENU, selected different criteria, retrieved, and then printed,
      that the program once again asks you to indicate your printer type.  When
      ever this happens you know that a NEW HEADER LINE is going to be printed,
      and if you have printed previously, it also means that the line count has
      reverted to ZERO, and that any AUTO-ADVANCING will not be accurate.  In these
      cases, if you wish ACCURATE PAGE ADVANCING, you must remove the previously
      printed page from the printer, and position your paper in the printer at the
      beginning of the page manually.  If you do this, and your NEW retrieval has
      sufficient movies to fill a page or more, and you decide to print them, all
      AUTO-ADVANCES of the printed page will be accurate and correct.

      Please note that all SELECTIVE printing is done by pressing the P key, when
      observing the movie data that you wish to print.  You then browse with the
      left or right arrow keys, until you are observing movie data that you wish
      to print, and press the P key again.  This is in contrast with using the T
      key to print, as is explained in the following paragraphs.


   USING THE T KEY TO PRINT:

      When you have retrieved by some selected criteria, and wish to print ALL
      of the movies that match your criteria, all you have to do is press the
      T key.  All page advances, if needed, are done automatically.  If it does
      not print a complete page(s), then the printer stops where ever it ended
      up, and you can manually remove it from the printer, if it is a DOT MATRIX
      printer, or, in the case of a DESKJET or LASER, it will print any FULL
      pages, and wait to print the final partial page, until you press the button
      to tell it to do so.

      If, when you press the T key to print, you have previously printed using
      either the P key or the T key, (at this session), the program will alert
      you to this fact, and request that you clear your DESKJET or LASER printer
      of any FED DATA, before continuing, or that you remove any printed material
      from your DOT MATRIX printer, and position your NEW page at the beginning,
      before continuing.  This assures you that the Auto-Advance, should your
      new printing require more than one page, is accurate, and that your new
      printed material will begin at the start of a new page.

      If you have only a couple of movies etc., that you are printing and you
      do not care if they print along with the previously printed material, then
      you do not have to clear your DESKJET, or position your paper in the DOT
      MATRIX printer.  It is up to you.  But to have your new printing start at
      the top of the page, with accurate page advances, you must follow the
      instructions given on the screen, as stated above.


   ENTERING MOVIE DATA:

      When you first run the program, you will see the ENTRY MENU screen. It
      gives you the options of ENTERING DATA, RETRIEVING ALL MOVIES, or of
      RETRIEVING BY ONE OF 5 DIFFERENT METHODS. These methods are described in
      detail, in later text, within these DOCS.

      You press the E key to Enter data, and the data entry screen displays.
      ON SCREEN DOCS explain what to do, which is quite simple.  You have the
      cursor residing on the 1st line, and you simply type in the CATEGORY by
      referencing the suggested CATEGORY LIST, at the left of the screen.
      When you press ENTER the cursor moves to the next line, and you enter the
      TAPE # of that contains the movie title that you are entering.  You will
      continue through all lines, filling them in.  Note that you CAN NOT leave
      any line BLANK, as pressing ENTER with NO DATA entered, will ABORT your
      entry and return you to the ENTRY MENU, having accomplished nothing.  If,
      in the case of the 3 lines provided for actors, you do not know 3 names
      to enter, just enter 1 blank space with the spacebar, and press ENTER.

      You will see that each data line has a blinking light blue dot, at its
      righthand end.  This indicates the end of the space allowed, for that
      particular lines data.  If you exceed this line, you will hear BEEPS,
      and be forced to re-enter the data.

      I suggest, in the case of entering MOVIE TITLES that movies that begin
      with the words, THE, AN or A, that you enter them in the following manner.
      For THE WAR OF THE WORLDS, you should enter it WAR OF WORLDS (THE).
      The same holds true for the AN, and A.  If you don't do it this way, you
      will find that you will have a great many titles to browse through, in
      order to find the right one, if you were to have the retrieval criteria
      of THE , when retrieving by title name.  Do this consistently.

      Although there is no line on the record for you to enter the year, or
      the director, or whether or not it received any academy awards, etc.,
      you must remember that you have the STORYLINE program, that works in
      conjunction with this MOVIES program.  In the STORYLINE program, you
      have ample space to enter all of this additional data, if you so
      choose.  You can, in the STORYLINE program, also enter such things as
      ADULT SITUATIONS, ADULT LANGUAGE, NUDITY, etc, that you may want to
      have, so that you can better monitor those movies that you wish to
      allow children access to, etc.

      All lines, except for the TAPE # line, will accept either letters,
      numbers, or symbols.  The TAPE # line, however, will only accept the
      numbers.  If you accidentally enter a letter, you will recievea a
      `REDO FROM START' prompt, at the left center of the screen.  Simply
      re-enter your data (it will enter at the left center of the screen), and
      then press the ENTER key.  The data will revert to the TAPE # line, where
      it belongs, (as well as remaining at the left center of the screen), and
      the cursor will move to the next line, where you can continue.  No damage
      has been done, and when you eventually press the S key (to Save your record)
      the mess at the left center of the screen will vanish.

      When you have completed all lines, you will be prompted to press S to SAVE
      your record, R to REDO it, or A to ABORT entering.

      If you press S, it wil simply save to file, the screen will clear, and
      you can enter a new title,

      If you press R to REDO, it would only be if you noticed something that you
      had typed wrong, or if you felt that you wanted to change something.  If you
      press R then your cursor returns to the first line, and the entire screen
      goes blank, so you are starting over from scratch, with this record.

      If you press A to abort, then you return to the ENTRY MENU, and nothing that
      you have typed on the form will be retained.  It is as though you had never
      started the entry in the first place.

      Note that there is no way to backup, from one line to the previous line.
      This is because the form is so short, that re-typing it is really not a
      problem, if you have made an error.  Also, there is the ALTER mode that
      can be accessed, when you have retrieve a move title(s).  This ALTER mode
      is discussed further on, in these DOCS.

      Once you have entered movies, and saved them to file, it is the Retrieval
      mode that will allow you to view, browse, alter, print, or void a record.


   DIFFERENT METHODS OF RETRIEVAL:

      The retrieval portion of the MOVIES program allows you to retrieve in
      many different ways.  Regardless of which of the ways you use to retrieve
      you are always able to Browse (if your retrieval criteria will retrieve
      more than one movie), Alter any movie that you may browse to, Print only
      the move you have browsed to, or Print all movies that your retrieval
      criteria will retrieve.

      The methods of retrieval are:

      1 - Retrieve by the 1st 4 letters of the movie TITLE.
      2 - Retrieve by the movie CATEGORY. (enter 1st letter of category only)
      3 - Retrieve by the movie RATING.
      4 - Retrieve by the movie TAPE #. (enter numbers only, not letters)
      5 - Retrieve by the 1st 4 letters of an ACTORS NAME.
      6 - Retrieve ALL MOVIES, and browse through them in the order that they
          were originally entered.  This is a handy method of retrieval, and
          although it may possibly mean browsing through many records, (the
          browsing is very fast), it enables you to browse to ANY MOVIE
          RECORD, press the S key, and observe the STORYLINES for ANY and ALL
          movie titles that match the 1st five letters of the displayed one.

      In the case of 1 and 5 above, you must always enter a blank space, if
      it exists in the 1st 4 characters of the TITLE or ACTORS NAME. ie If you
      want to retrieve a move entitled AT NIGHT, your retrieval criteria would
      be AT N. (ignore the period). OR - If you were retrieving ONE WAY STREET,
      you would type ONE followed by a blank space, and then press ENTER.  The
      same idea holds true for the ACTORS NAMES.

      Each screen displayed give ON SCREEN instructions, regarding all of the
      features and functions of that particular screen.  It is really a simple
      program to use, and you could probably use it without reading the DOCS.


   BROWSING YOUR RETRIEVED RECORDS:

      As was indicated previously, there are a variety of ways in which you can
      retrieve your saved records.  Regardless of how you retrieve your records,
      once they are retrieved, all you have to do to browse through them is use
      the left and right arrow keys.  Initially, the first record that will be
      retrieved, will be the first one you have saved to file that matches your
      retrieval criteria.  When you press the righthand arrow key, you will then
      retrieve the second record that you have saved to file that matches your
      retrieval criteria, and so on.  This means that when the 1st record is
      displayed, if you pressed the lefthand arrow key, all you would get is a
      search and a BEEP, because there are no EARLIER entered records, than the
      1st one retrieved.  Once you have browsed to later records, using the
      righthand arrow key, THEN you can browse in the reverse direction, to
      backup to the previously displayed records.  Browsing with the righthand
      arrow key to the LAST saved record that matches your retrieval criteria
      will result in a BEEP also, and an on screen display that says LAST
      RECORD.  When browsing to the lefhand limit (earliest matching entry)
      the on screen display says FIRST RECORD.  Both of these displays only
      remain on the screen for a couple of seconds and then vanish.


   VIEWING A STORYLINE, IF AVAILABLE:

      Whenever you are viewing a retrieved movies data, and you press the S key,
      the program will retrieve the story lines for any titles that match the
      1st 5 letters of the title being displayed.  When you go to the STORYLINE
      screen, you can use the left and right arrow keys to browse through any
      of these storylines, until you find the one that you want.  You may browse
      forward, and then browse backwards, to previously viewed storlines, if you
      desire.  When you want to leave the screen, just press the R key to Return
      to the movies retrieval screen, where you can once again use the arrow
      keys to browse through any of the movie records that match your original
      retrieval criteria.

      If no storyline is found to match the 1st 5 letters of a particular title.
      the prompt NONE FOUND will display, and then vanish.  You'll return to the
      previous screen, with the same movies data being displayed.

      Many times there is more than 1 movie by a similar title.  If found, it
      will display.  If not then the words NO MORE MATCHES will display, and
      then vanish, and you will return to the movies retrieval screen again.

      After you have viewed some storylines, and then pressed the R key to
      return to the movies retrieval screen, you can continue to browse, and
      press the S key again, whenever you wish, with the identical routine
      taking place, as described above.


   ALTERING A RECORD:

      When a retrieved record is displayed, and you wish to ALTER it, just
      press the A key.  You will then be in the ALTER MODE, and you will see
      the blinking cursor at the beginning of the first line of the record.
      To retain the data INTACT on a line, just press the ENTER key, and the
      cursor will move to the next line.  To ALTER a line, simply get the
      cursor to that line, and then FROM THE BEGINNING TO ITS END, RETYPE THE
      ENTIRE LINE.  DO NOT simply move the cursor with the arrow keys, to the
      point that you wish to alter, and then alter JUST THAT PART.  If you do,
      you will find that the only thing that will appear on the line when you
      press then ENTER key, and the only thing that will therfore be saved to
      your file, will be ONLY WHAT YOU TYPED.

      When ALTERING, the S to SAVE and R to REDO features are identical to
      those of all other screens and modes of operation, except that the
      ALTER screen does not go completely blank, if you REDO.  It's text will
      stay on the screen, so you do not need to re-type it.  You can then just
      press the ENTER key, to retain a lines data as it is, or retype the
      entire line.

      When you press S to Save your altered record, you will return to the
      previous screen, and can print, browse, or alter other records.  The
      only diviation to this routine is if you have retrieved by a certain
      criteria, then altered the part of the record that contains that
      criteria, and there are no more records that will match your retrieval
      criteria.  In this case, you will be told that there are no more
      matching records, and returned the Entry Menu.

      NOTE: When every you Alter a record, and resave it, as was indicated
      above, you will return to the previous screen, but it is important to
      note that you will then be viewing the 1ST RECORD ENTERED that matches
      your retrieval criteria, which would not necessarily be the same record
      that you just Altered.  This is not true, if you originally retrieved
      by pressing the A key, to retrieve all records.  In this case you will
      ALWAYS return to the previous screen, and be viewing the SAME record
      that you just altered, even if you totally VOIDED the record.  You will
      then press the left or right arrow keys to browse again.  If you voided
      the altered record, that voided record will not show up again after you
      have browse off from it.

   VOIDING A RECORD COMPLETELY:

      To completely remove a record from file, simply use the above referred to
      ALTER mode, and type the word VOID on the first line.  When you press the
      ENTER key, all lines will fill with the word VOID, except the TAPE # line
      which will be a 0, and you can then press the S key to Save the VOIDED
      record back to your file.  The next time you create a new record, the
      program will 1st use any VOIDED records that are available, before it will
      use any new space on your hard drive.


      FEATURES OF THE STORYLINE PROGRAM:

      The features of the STORYLINE program are pretty cut and dried.  You
      enter from 1 to 8 lines of data, of 50 characters each, which is the
      storyline for a movie.  Then, on the 9th line, you enter the title
      of the movie.  Again, there is a 50 character max for the title, like
      the other lines.  Then, identical to the MOVIES program, you either
      press S to Save or R to Redo you entry.  When you Save, the program
      checks to see if you already have a title entered, under that identical
      name.  This is explained, 2 paragraphs below.

      Note that, although the STORYLINE is a separate program that creates
      the STORYLINE RECORDS, these very same records are retrievable, in the
      MOVIES program, as was described in earlier text within these DOCS.
      NO STORYLINES can be CREATED in the MOVIES program itself.  Being that
      the MOVIES program retrieves from the file created by the STORYLINE
      program, you can see that it is vital that the retrieval criteria that
      is used in the MOVIES program is accurate, and matches that for the
      same movie record created in the STORYLINE program.  The Movies program
      gets its retrieval criteria, (in the case of the pressing of the S key)
      from the first 5 letters of the movie title being displayed.  Therefore,
      if you have a spelling deviation, within the 1st 5 letters of a title in
      the MOVIES program, (when compared to that supposed same title in the
      STORYLINE program), a match WILL NOT be made, and a storyline will not
      retrieve.

      The STORYLINE program has an additional feature, however, that checks
      to see if there is already a saved record, under that TITLE NAME.  If
      there is, it alerts you, and you can either type OK, if you wish to
      continue to save with that title name, or you can type in a NEW TITLE
      for that record to be saved under.  It checks out the same routine
      for the NEWLY GIVEN TITLE, as well.  Once saved, the screen clears and
      you are ready to enter another STORYLINE. PLEASE NOTE - When this
      feature of the STORYLINE program checks to see if there is a duplicate
      title, it checks the ENTIRE TITLE, not just the 1st 5 letters.  So if
      it indicates that there exists a duplicate title, it indeed will be a
      duplicate, and not just a title where the 1st 5 letters are a match.

      While the STORYLINE program has its own retrieval, print, alter, and
      delete functions, the file made by this program is accessed by the
      MOVIES program, as was stated in the MOVIES section regarding STORYLINES.
      The STORYLINE program can PRINT, or ALTER the storyline files, but the
      MOVIES program can not affect the STORYLINE file, other than to VIEW them.

   ALTERING A STORYLINE RECORD:

      Once you have entered a STORYLINE record, and Saved it to file, it can be
      rerieved.  Once retrieved, it can be view (of course), Printed, or it can
      be Altered.  The ON SCREEN DOCS tell you how to do all of this, for each
      screen option.  You press the 1 key, to print the displayed record only,
      or the 2 key to print the TOTAL group that will retrieve via your input
      of retrieval criteria.  Note that when you retrieve a storyline by a
      movie title, you only have to type the 1st 5 letters of the title, and
      press ENTER.  This means that you include any BLANK SPACES as well. For
      instance, if you wish to retrieve the storyline for ON THE BEACH, you
      would type ON TH and press ENTER, etc.  All movies, with those same 1st
      5 characters, will re able to be browse to and viewed, using the left
      and right arrow (cursor) keys.  Once browsed to you can print with the
      1 key, use the arrow keys to browse to another desired title, press 1
      again, to print that one too.  OR you could press the 2 key and print all
      storylines that you can browse to.

      Once you browse to a record and press the A key (to acess ALTER mode), the
      cursor will blink on the first line.  To retain that line, just press the
      ENTER key.  To Alter it, re-type the ENTIRE line.  Do not just move to the
      part of the line that you wish to alter and alter ONLY that part.  You
      MUST RETYPE THE ENTIRE LINE, if you alter it at all.  Treat each line in
      this same fashion.  You will be prompted, in the normal manner, to either
      press S to Save or R to Redo your altered record.  This altering WILL NOT
      create a NEW record.  It just Saves the OLD RECORD, back to its original
      position in your file, only now it saves it containing your alterations.

      If you wish to delete a record that you have browsed to, you will press
      the 3 key.  If you wish to delete all of the storyline records that match
      your retrieval criteria, you will press the 4 key.  NOTE - Pressing the
      4 key will delete ALL OF THE RECORDS THAT YOU COULD BROWSE TO, with your
      present retrieval criteria.  You will be prompted, after pressing either
      the 3 or the 4 key, to verify that you wish to delete the indicated
      record or records, by pressing the Y key, or you can abort deleting by
      pressing the N key.

      When you press S to Save an altered record, you will be returned to the
      same screen, where you can continue to browse, print, alter, etc., UNLESS
      you have altered 1st 5 letters of the TITLE, and there is NO OTHER STORY
      LINE that is retrievable with your originally entered retrieval criteria.
      In the latter case, you will be returned to the Main Menu Screen, after
      being prompted that NO RECORD COULD BE FOUND for your original criteria.


   PRINTING THE STORYLINES:

      Printing the storylines was briefly outined earlier, but a couple of
      things must be added, to that explanation.

      After you have retrieved a record or records, you will have the option
      of printing SELECTIVELY (using the 1 key), or printing everything that
      matches your retrieval criteria (using the 2 key).  This was explained.

      However, if you wish to print a list of specific titles, that will not all
      retrieve with a single retrieval criteria, then you have to make multiple
      retrievals, by returning to the retrieval criteria screen, and typing in
      different criterias.  You can do this, and still print to the same page,
      and the page will advance automatically, as needed.

      If you print by the selective retrieval method (using the 1 key), and have
      made multiple retrievals, and therefore created a desired list of movie
      storylines, and then you wish to make a NEW list of Storylines, with a
      NEW HEADER printed at the top, and start at the beginning of the page
      again, you must return to the MAIN MENU, and press the 3 key, to reset
      the printer line totals to ZERO, again.  You would also, in the case of a
      DOT MATRIX printer, position your NEW PAGE at the beginning again, and in
      the case of a DESKJET or LASER printer, you would have to clear the
      printer of any data that has been fed to it, by printing it out, even tho
      it is not a complete page.  In this way you will always start these 2nd
      or 3rd printouts, at the beginning of a page.  Note that if you press the
      2 key (to print all), and you have already printed with the 1 key in a
      selective manner, the program will alert you to the fact that you have to
      RESET the printer line totals, if you wish to start at the beginning of
      a page with your TOTAL RETRIEVABLE printing, and have correct automatic
      page advancing.  Note that the printed pages are NOT numbered, so keep
      them in order via a staple etc., to stay organized.


   DO MY SAVED RECORDS ALWAYS STAY IN THE ORDER ENTERED?

      NO! - The reason for this is as follows, but with a little thought, &
      and entering dummy records, from time to time, you CAN MAKE IT stay in
      the order entered.

      If you NEVER delete a record, then the answer to the question would be
      YES!  However, when you delete a record, it is like erasing all of the
      data on a page of a notebook, and still leaving the page intact, in the
      same physical position.  Then, the next time you type in a NEW STORYLINE,
      the program 1st looks for any of these ERASED pages, and uses them for
      your NEW entries physical (chronological) position.  When all erased
      pages have been once again filled, then it will begin placing your NEW
      STORYLINE ENTRIES on the first blank page it finds, as it moves to the
      end of your actually used pages in the notebook.

      In other words, if you had 500 storylines, and you retrieved and erased
      the very first one that you had Saved to file, and then you entered a
      NEW STORYLINE, the NEW STORYLINE would fill that 1st page, and it would
      be the first one to retrieve, if your retrieval criteria matched its
      title.  In this case, considering that you entered and then erased 1
      title, the 501st title you entered, would end up being on page #1 of
      your notebook, and therefore be the 1st one found during a search, if
      the search criteria (retrieval criteria), matched that particular title.

      You could FILL THAT ERASED PAGE with a DUMMY record, if for some reason
      it is important to you to remain absolutely chronological, with your
      storyline entries.


      END OF DOCS: