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RealView (tm)
Version 1.1
User's Handbook
(c) Copyright Ward Mundy, 1992-1993. All rights reserved.
P.O. Box 1169, Atlanta, GA 30301
Phone: 404/237-9420 AT&T: 10288-0-700-WARD-MUNDY Fax: 404/237-1167
OVERVIEW
RealView (tm) is a full-color real estate display and retrieval
system. It permits a real estate agent and customer to quickly identify
properties of interest based upon customer-defined selection criteria
such as cost range, neighborhood, school district, number of bedrooms and
baths, square footage, and amenities such as a special view, garage,
basement, and fireplace. It uses the finest data base engine on the
market, FoxPro 2.
RealView is designed to showcase special real estate listings with
photographic quality color pictures and home descriptions, all of which
can be fully customized. While services such as MLS are intended
primarily for use by agents in identifying properties of interest,
RealView is designed as a portable, customer-friendly system which
literally can be taken to and used jointly with the customer. It
eliminates the need to drive to each property.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
PC-compatible with 80386SX or faster processor, 640K RAM, SuperVGA
display card and monitor capable of 256 simultaneous color display.
Color notebook computers such as the IBM ThinkPad and Toshiba 4400SXC
provide the ultimate in flexibility. Each home in the data base requires
approximately 60K of disk space. Stated differently, 3MB of disk space is
required for each 50 homes. Approximately 1.5MB of free disk space is
required for installation.
For additional information, please contact Ward Mundy Software, P.O.
Box 1169, Atlanta, GA 30301. Phone: 404/237-9420 Fax: 404/237-1167.
AT&T: 10288-0-700-WARD-MUNDY (just 15¢ a minute after 5 p.m.).
INSTALLING THE SOFTWARE
RealView is distributed through the shareware system worldwide. If
you received the software on a floppy disk:
(1) Insert the diskette in Drive A of your computer.
(2) Make certain your default drive is your hard disk.
(3) Type A:INSTALL and press <ENTER> to load the software.
If you received the software from a bulletin board system, it typically
will be saved in a PkZIP archive, REALVIEW.ZIP. To unzip the software:
2
(1) Format a high-density floppy disk in Drive A.
(2) Make certain the REALVIEW.ZIP file is in your default
directory on Drive C.
(3) Make Drive A your default drive by typing A: <ENTER>.
(4) Type PKUNZIP C:REALVIEW to unarchive the software onto the
blank floppy disk.
(5) Change to Drive C by typing C: <ENTER>.
(6) Type A:INSTALL and press <ENTER> to load the software.
RUNNING THE SOFTWARE
After installation, follow these simple steps to load the software.
(1) Position to \REALTY subdirectory on your hard drive by
typing: CD \REALTY then <ENTER>.
(2) Type REALTY and press <ENTER> to load.
After the logo displays, the software will tell you the type of
display card and amount of video RAM on your system. Make certain the
video chipset matches what is actually in your machine and make certain
that the amount of video RAM is at least 512K unless your display card
supports 640x400x256 video mode (mode 40. Generally, you will know if
you have a problem if the first home does not display properly. If it
looks gorgeous, you can skip the next section for now.
If you see a mess, press <ENTER> then Q to exit to DOS and read on.
CUSTOMIZING THE SOFTWARE
Typically there are several causes for problems with RealView.
(1) Your computer lacks a SuperVGA display card and/or
monitor.
(2) Your computer lacks sufficient video RAM to display 256
simultaneous colors in a supported SuperVGA mode.
(3) RealView has selected a default video display mode which
is not compatible with your SuperVGA card.
(4) RealView has improperly identified the video chipset on
your SuperVGA card.
3
Items (1) and (2) usually mean you will need to shell out some money
for new hardware. Items (3) and (4), RealView can usually handle with a
minimal amount of tweaking.
A word of explanation may assist those who are neophytes. Rather
than have a SuperVGA standard, we are blessed (?) with more than a dozen
standards from more than a hundred different manufacturers. RealView can
live with most SuperVGA cards although a new flavor will probably rear
its ugly head before the ink is dry on this paper.
Video modes refer to the resolution and number of colors a SuperVGA
card can display simultaneously. Most SuperVGA cards now support 640x480
resolution with 256 simultaneous colors. This is called MODE 41 and is
RealView's default display mode. It REQUIRES 512K of VideoRAM in the
display card. Although the problem has gone away somewhat during the
past year of price wars, it was not uncommon in 1990 and 1991 for a
vendor to ship a SuperVGA card with only 256K. You cannot get 256
simultaneous colors out of 256K in 640x480 mode.
Some manufacturers compromised on resolution but could support 256
colors with 256K by reducing the resolution to 640x400. This is MODE 40.
RealView supports it, but not all SuperVGA cards do. You must manually
set MODE 40 (and any other mode except 41).
Just lately, Compaq has introduced a new color notebook which boasts
256 simultaneous colors but uses only 6 bits rather than the standard 8.
We do not yet support the Compaq wrinkle.
If you cannot see the home pictures when RealView loads, first try
manually setting the video mode at DOS to MODE 40. If this doesn't do
the trick, you either need to acquire additional video RAM or
(preferably) go buy a new SuperVGA card. Really good ones can be had for
about $100 now.
To manually set the video mode:
(1) At the DOS prompt, type SET VM=40 and press <ENTER>.
(2) Restart RealView and see if the display has improved.
If the display is now satisfactory, add the SET VM=40 command to
your AUTOEXEC.BAT startup file to assure that your machine can always run
the RealView software. If you do not add this command to your startup
file, then you will have to reenter this command every time you reboot
your system.
If resetting the video mode did not solve the problem, it may be
that RealView is incorrectly identifying your SuperVGA card. You can
manually set it if you know what type card is in your machine. At the
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DOS prompt, you can manually set the video chipset by typing SET VC=nn
<ENTER> where nn is the number of your chipset from the listing which
follows.
RealView currently supports the following video chipsets:
00 - Video7 05 - Trident 10 - Ahead
01 - Paradise 06 - Hercules 11 - AheadB
02 - Tseng3000 07 - Tseng4000 12 - Oak
03 - ATI 08 - Everex 13 - Vision
04 - Genoa 09 - Chips & Tech 14 - VESA
After manually setting the chipset, rerun the software to see if the
display corrects itself. NOTE: You can delete an incorrect setting by
simply reissuing the command with the correct value, or you may type
either SET VC= <ENTER> or SET VM= <ENTER> to cancel the manual setting
entirely. It is important that you try different chipsets in both MODE
40 and MODE 41 to eliminate the possibility that your chipset may not
support one of the two modes. If you get error messages, no harm is
done. Press <ENTER> then type Q to exit from RealView, and try another
combination.
Some users may prefer higher resolutions than 640x480. RealView
also supports these if your VGA card and monitor do. Mode 42 is
800x600x256. And mode 43 is 1024x768x256. Issue the SET VM command as
outlined above.
USING THE SOFTWARE
When RealView is loaded, it immediately displays the first home in
the data base. Menu selections are made by typing the first letter of the
desired options appearing at the bottom of the display:
F - Find a Home By Key
S - Select a Subset of Homes
P - Move to Previous Record in File
N - Move to Next Record in File
T - Move to Top of Selected Records
B - Move to Bottom of Selected Records
Q - Quit RealView and Return to DOS
Find A Home By Key - Use this option to quickly move to any desired
home in the data base. You simply type the value to find and choose the
desired key: MLS Number, Street, Address, City, Zip Code. If you
previously have selected a group of homes to display using the "S"
option, you can also indicate whether the Find should be restricted to
just the selected records. If you wish to cancel the Find request, press
<ESC> to return to the homes display.
5
Search for Group of Homes - Choosing this option activates
RealView's "Home Picker." This is an easy-to-use query system to narrow
down the home display to a particular subset of homes matching
user-defined criteria. These criteria include price range, neighborhood,
number of bedrooms and baths, schools, and amenities such as fireplace,
garage, and basement.
For those with FoxPro2 or our own Zephyr menu-driven data base, the
entire RealView data base and display are customizable by simply altering
HOMES.DBF (where the actual data on your homes is stored) and
HOMEFLDS.DBF (where RealView's display template is stored). Do NOT alter
the existing indexes in HOMES.DBF since RealView assumes they exist.
Tampering with the indexes may destroy your ability to retrieve homes.
A mouse is supported with RealView in its non-graphics mode. This
mode is used whenever you Find or Select homes for viewing. Within these
options, you can use the mouse to point-and-click to your desired
selections. If you have no mouse, use the <TAB> key to move through the
choices and press <ENTER> or <SPACEBAR> to make a selection. With
the neighborhood, bedroom, bathroom, and school district selections,
pressing <ENTER> will display a pick list. Move through the pick list
with the <Up> and <Down> cursor keys. Then press <ENTER> to make a
selection. With the price range radio buttons, use <TAB> to choose the
upper and lower price ranges. Press <Space> or <ENTER> to mark your
selection.
Once you have made all desired selections, type S to SELECT the
desired group homes for display. RealView will tell you how many homes
it found and then display the first one.
If no homes match your specified criteria, then use the RESET option
to cancel your current selections and try again. You may wish to move
through the entire group of sample homes to get some idea of which
criteria are available. Choosing RESET then SELECT will select all homes
in the data base for display.
Moving Through the Data Base - Four options are available to assist
in moving through the data base: Previous, Next, Top, and Bottom. These
keys move you through the selected records in the data base only. To
reset the selected records to all HOMES, choose S, R then S from the Main
Display. When you have moved all the way to the end or the beginning of
the file, you will get a BEEP when you choose N or P, respectively.
Printing a Listing - If you have a LaserJet II or better
(compatible) laser printer, you can print any displayed listing by
pressing <ALT-P> while the home is displayed on your monitor. Make
certain that your printer is turned on before pressing <ALT-P>. If you
hear a BEEP, your printer is OFF-LINE.
Quitting RealView - To exit the program and return to DOS, type Q.
6
ABOUT YOUR SHAREWARE LICENSE
ShareWare is "try-before-you-buy" software. With the shareware
version, you are extended a 30-day license to kick the tires and see if
RealView meets your needs. If it does, then you need to register and
obtain an end-user license for each machine on which you wish to use the
software. If it doesn't, then simply pass it along to a friend or
computer users' group. Only the shareware version may be redistributed
and only if the recipient is clearly advised that the term of the license
for the shareware copy is 30 days. The RealView logo screen clearly
identifies which version you have and whether it can be redistributed.
Under no circumstances may RealView be used for a commercial purpose
without first obtaining a license from us.
After you have tried RealView, we obviously hope you will decide to
register. For what you receive, our license fees are the lowest in the
world, period! Payment of the current $50 per PC license fee entitles
you to the currently shipping version of the software at no charge, a
current copy of documentation on disk, and 90-days' free support.
We try not to promise versions which are not yet ready; however, as
this first version of RealView is released, Microsoft is poised to
release version 2.5 of FoxPro in both a DOS and Windows version. You may
rest assured that we will have a new version supporting both DOS and
Windows as soon as the new FoxPro engine can be tested and proven
reliable. See the appendix for information on RealView enhanced
versions.
For ShareWare distributors, this documentation serves as a license
to redistribute the ShareWare version of RealView for a copying fee not
to exceed $15 U.S. RealView must be obtained directly from us or from an
ASP distributor and must be redistributed in exactly the file format in
which it was received on no more than three disks. Any unauthorized use
of the software or alteration of the software or the documentation
terminates this shareware authorization.
GETTING PICTURES INTO REALVIEW
With the shareware version of RealView, you now have a good idea of
what is possible. How do you get your own home listings into the
picture? Well, here's how.
The first decision you need to make is what degree of involvement do
you or your company want to commit to such a project. For many in the
real estate business, the answer may be not much. You want to sell real
estate. You don't want to get into the photo digitizing or computer
business. Option 1 then is to have us do most of the work. Under this
plan, we provide you with a digital camera (looks and works like an
Instamatic except it stores pictures on a little floppy disk). You take
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the pictures, fill out a brief questionnaire on each home, and send us
the diskette and questionnaires by air mail. We send you back a data
base within three business days after receipt with a data base ready to
add to RealView. Pricing for this service varies depending upon number
of homes, number of computers and agents, etc. Call us for a quote.
Typical pricing is $995 for the first 100 homes including a half-price
coupon on the digital camera. Your share on the camera will be about
$250. After the first 100 homes, pricing varies but usually runs $10-$20
per home. Under this arrangement, we provide you with unlimited copies of
RealView for your company at $10 each. Considering the current commission
on a $100,000 home and the current price of gasoline to drive customers
all over the countryside looking at homes, the overall cost of this
arrangement is modest by anyone's standards.
Plan B is to do it yourself. Under this arrangement, you license
the RealView software for each of your agents and acquire all of the
necessary hardware to take the pictures, digitize them, and maintain the
RealView data base. The camera you will need is the Canon XapShot (about
$500). The recommended digitizing board is ComputerEyes which includes
the necessary software to translate the XapShot pictures into a .PCX
image. The cost of the ComputerEyes board and software is about $400.
Your own staff will do the data entry and handle importing of the images
into RealView. We are available on an hourly basis to provide technical
support to get you started in the hardware business. Usually 2-4 hours
is necessary. Call us for a quote. Our support of RealView does NOT
extend to hardware support. No exceptions!
To add homes to your data base, you first take the pictures. Then
you convert the Xapshot digitized images to .PCX files using the software
included with the ComputerEyes video capture board. The camera physically
connects to the board for this purpose. See the ComputerEyes User's
Guide for digitizing details. Once you have a .PCX image saved to your
hard disk, move it to the \REALTY directory. Run the RealView software
and choose the Find option. When the Find window appears, press <F10> to
Browse through the Homes data base. Pressing <Ctrl-N> will add a new
record to the data base. Add the necessary information in each field,
then press <F9> to import a .PCX file. Highlight the desired file when
the pick list appears. Press <ENTER>. A window will display asking for
the CHECKSUM value. The correct answer will display. Just press <ENTER>
to store it in your HOMES data base. Checksums are absolutely essential
with images to assure that they are not corrupted. HINT: Do not mess
with the HOUSE or HOUSECHK fields in the HOMES data base. If you do,
your pictures will go bye bye.
For the nay-sayers who think this must be done with smoke and
mirrors, we've included two .PCX images in your \REALTY directory called
HOME4U.PCX and HOME4U2.PCX. Make a backup of your \REALTY directory
before proceeding! Then run the RealView program. Choose Find option.
Press <F10> to activate Browse mode. Position on any record in the data
base using the <Up> and <Dn> cursor keys. Press <F9> to import a .PCX
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file. Choose either of the two .PCX files and press the <ENTER> key.
When the checksum value appears, press <ENTER> to store it. When you
<ESC> out of the Find screen, voila ... a new home will appear.
Plan C is for gurus and entrepreneurs who don't sell real estate but
would like to support RealView users around the country and earn a decent
living. The return on investment can be substantial. Your investment
will be a ComputerEyes digitizing board with software, about $400.
Contact us for details and a commission schedule. Under no circumstances
may you distribute images using the RealView shareware product! This is
a violation of the RealView license agreement and the copyright law. In
layman's terms, you can't go make a living off our software without
giving us a cut.
For additional information, simply send a request to Ward Mundy
Software at P.O. Box 1169, Atlanta, GA 30301 or fax your request to
404/237-1167. Indicate the role and level of involvement you wish to have
in using RealView for your business.
9
APPENDIX
RealView is also available in a network version. This allows
unlimited users on a network server to share a RealView data base. The
price is $350. Add $5 shipping in U.S. or $10 foreign. For those with
many, many users not on a network, PLEASE CALL US. We have very attrac-
tive site licenses.
We anticipate releasing a Windows-version of RealView shortly after
release of FoxPro 2.5. It will not be distributed as shareware primarily
because of the size of Windows-based applications and the difficulties of
installing and then removing them after an evaluation period. For anyone
licensing the DOS version of RealView during 1993, we will offer a copy
of the Windows update when available for only $25 per PC. Simply request
an upgrade certificate (no charge) when you register the DOS version.
There will be a $5 shipping fee in the U.S. and $10 foreign. After 1993,
call us for current pricing information. Whine and we usually will make
you a deal you can't refuse!
For those desiring to customize the display screen accompanying
RealView, you can, of course, do it manually by changing the settings in
the HOMEFLDS data base. In the alternative, we offer a product called
MenuMaker which permits you to draw the data entry screen as you want it
to appear. You simply point-and-shoot to attach fields from the HOMES
data base. Once finished, MenuMaker will create the HOMEFLDS data base
for you. The cost is a modest $20 + $5 shipping in U.S., $10 foreign.
If you wish to become a data base guru without having to learn a
programming language, you may wish to consider our FoxPro2-compatible
data base system for non-programmers, Zephyr. The cost is $50 per PC or
$250 per network. We also have attractive site licenses and attractive
pricing for educational institutions on Zephyr.
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RealView 1.1 ORDER & INVOICE
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| User Name | |
|----------------|--------------------------------------------------|
| Address1 | |
|----------------|--------------------------------------------------|
| Address2 | |
|----------------|--------------------------------------------------|
| City State ZIP | |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Quantity | Description |Item Cost| Total |
|----------|--------------------------------------|---------|-------|
| | RealView for Single-User (DOS) with | 50.00| |
| | documentation on disk/current version| | |
|----------|--------------------------------------|---------|-------|
| | RealView DOS Additional User License | 50.00| |
|----------|--------------------------------------|---------|-------|
| | RealView for Network License (DOS) | 250.00| |
|----------|--------------------------------------|---------|-------|
| | RealView 100-home Digitizing Contract| 995.00| |
|----------|--------------------------------------|---------|-------|
|1@1/2price| Canon XapShot w/ Digitizing Contract | 250.00| |
|----------|--------------------------------------|---------|-------|
| | Additional Home Digitizing Contract | CALL! | |
|----------|--------------------------------------|---------|-------|
| | Zephyr 4.0 Single-User License with | 65.00| |
| | soft-bound manual & current version | | |
|----------|--------------------------------------|---------|-------|
| | Zephyr 4.0 Network License | 350.00| |
|----------|--------------------------------------|---------|-------|
| | MenuMaker Screen Generator | 20.00| |
|----------|--------------------------------------|---------|-------|
| **** | Shipping and Handling per order | 5.00 U.S| |
| **** | $5 U.S. / $10 Canada & foreign |10.00 for| |
|==========|======================================|=========|=======|
| | GRAND TOTAL w/ SHIPPING |*********| |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
Include check or money order in US dollars payable to:
Ward Mundy, P.O. Box 1169, Atlanta, GA 30301 USA.
For credit card orders: ( ) VISA ( ) MasterCard Expire Date _____________
Signed: ______________________________ Card Number __________________________
*** For fastest service, FAX your credit card order to 404/237-1167. ***