Fritz: All Fritz/All Fritz.zip/All Fritz/FILES/WORDMISC/ACTCAL.LZH/ACTCLDR.DOC

Text File | 1991-01-07 | 10KB | 187 lines

                          S h a r e G a m e s
                          Christopher G. Gunn
                          3174 Hawthorn Street
                          San Diego, CA  92104
                             [phone]



ActCalendar is distributed as shareware on an "I trust you" basis and is not
in any form to be considered public domain or free.  Considerable effort went
into creating the program and I am retaining full protection under the
copyright laws.  However, I also want you to be able to share my programs with
your friends.  So, please feel free to hand on as many copies as you would
like, as long as you include all of the original files.

If you are going to use ActCalendar for your personal enjoyment, whether you
got it from a distributor or a friend, please mail a check or money order to
me at the above address.  The registration fee for ActCalendar is $15.  I
depend on your registering to continue devoting full time to making fun to use
programs that don't require you to adapt to the program.  I'd also like your
comments and suggestions. In exchange, I'll add your name to the list of those
eligible for updates, contests, and 24-hour technical support.  If you wish,
you may use the registration form by typing PRINT ACTCLDR.REG at the DOS
prompt or use the menu selection <P>rint registration form in ActMenu.

Like all of my programs, ActCalendar is designed for full color and should run
on most PC's and clones.  ActCalendar is compatible with Hercules, MDA, CGA,
EGA, and  VGA display adapters.  The built in support will work automatically
with any standard Mouse.


GENERAL DESCRIPTION:

The ActCalendar program can be used with ActMenu, or as a stand-alone program,
to keep track of your scheduled events.  Initially, ActCalendar displays six
months with the current month at the top center.  Holidays and scheduled event
days are highlighted.  Dates may then be selected with the cursor keys or a
mouse to display or edit the highlighted events.  A schedule of the week,
which allows display and edit of up to five events for each day, is available
for any week identified by the cursor location.  A schedule for the day can be
accessed with the <D>ate option from the Month or Week display.  The schedule
for the day handles up to ten calendar entries and will sort then into
alphabetical or time order.

ActCalendar provides a four year span.  Entries outside the active calendar
span are retained in the schedule file as notes.  This means ActCalendar does
take a few moments, when it first starts, to arrange your entire calendar in
memory.  The result is fast access to the reminders for any date during the
past year, the current year, or the next two years.  If each reminder uses
half of the full 78 character line, well over 1,000 entries are available.

The page keys or mouse hooks will let you step forward or backward by days,
weeks, months, or years through the calendar depending on the display.  Annual
events, such as holidays and birthdays only have to be entered once to appear
every year on the calendar.  The editor will allow you to use any of the 255
ASCII characters to fancy up your reminders.  The disk includes the file
"ACTCLDR.SKD" with holidays that occur on the same date and the "week-end"
holidays for 1990 and 1991.  The <F1> key will access various help windows.

When you receive ActCalendar, the disk should contain the following files:

        ACTCLDR.EXE   │   ActCalendar program
        ACTCLDR.REG   │   ShareGames Registration form
        ACTCLDR.SKD   │   Schedule and reminder file example
        CINSTALL.BAT  │   Auto installation batch file


INSTALLING ACTCLDR:

There are no lengthy steps required to use ActCalendar the first time.  Make a
working copy of the ActCalendar disk to use in your floppy drive or copy the
files to the directory you wish to use on your hard drive.   CINSTALL.BAT will
automatically install ActCalendar in the ACTMENU directory on the C drive.

The schedule file (ACTCLDR.SKD) will remain compatible with all versions of
ActCalendar.  If you are installing an updated version, instead of using
CINSTALL.BAT, just copy the ACTCLDR.EXE file to your working directory.

ActCalendar and ActMenu use the same schedule (.SKD) file for reminders and
both should be in the same directory.  If you decide to use ActCalendar
without ActMenu, put ACTCLDR.EXE  and the ACTCLDR.SKD file in the directory
you wish to use.  You can access the calendars from ActMenu, a BAT file, or by
changing to ActCalendar's directory and typing ACTCLDR.  Note:  ActCalendar
will not check for the ACTMENU.SKD file.  If you are using both programs, use
the ACTCLDR.SKD file.

The only real requirement is all of the files associated with ActCalendar,
except for its BAT file, must be in the same directory.  You can activate the
program directly, with a BAT file, or from ActMenu.  If you put ActCalendar on
your hard disk, you can adapt the original BAT file for your system.


CONFIGURATION:

Both ActMenu and ActCalendar use the same color configuration file.  When
executed, they check to see what monitor is available and automatically reset
the colors for CGA or monochrome.  If you want to change the display colors,
hold down a <Shift> key and press <Tab>.  The color window will appear.  Use
the menu keys or click with a mouse to get the effects you want.  Answer the
"Save Changes" prompt with <Y> to create the "COLOR.DAT" file.  Thereafter,
ActMenu and ActCalendar will use the new colors.  You can restore the default
colors by selecting <C>olor, <R>eset, or deleting the COLOR.DAT file.


SELECTING A CALENDAR SPAN:

When ActCalendar is executed, it will ask if you want a two, three, or four
year calendar span.  A two year span includes the current year and the year
following.  The three year span also provides the full previous year.  When a
four year span is selected, the past year, current year, and the next two
years are covered.  The two year span loads the fastest and is sufficient for
most daily applications using ActCalendar.

You can skip the prompt by including the desired calendar span in the command
line.  For example, ACTCLDR.EXE /2 will start ActCalendar, without having to
answer the prompt, for a two year span.  Putting /3 in the command line sets a
three year span and /4 sets a four year span.  The default setting in the
selection file provided with ActMenu is for a two year span.

There are no limitations on dates entered in the ACTCLDR.SKD file.  You can
start ActCalendar with any calendar span, and edit or add reminders for any
year in the past or future.


CUSTOMIZING THE ACTCLDR.SKD FILE:

The ActCalendar program will display all of the dated ACTCLDR.SKD entries on
its six-month calendar layout, or the week, and day schedules.  Deleting,
adding and editing the entries is a snap.  <F1> will display help windows that
describe the options.  You can use ActCalendar or any text editor to modify
the schedule file.

You can put any number of single line calendar reminder entries for the same
date in the file.  Up to ten are displayed on the schedule for the date.  If
too many lines match when ActCalendar loads the file, they will be left in the
notes section and a message will be displayed.  If ActCalendar can't find the
ACTCLDR.SKD file it will continue without it and you can create a new file.

There are four access points to the ACTCLDR.SKD file from ActCalendar.  The
notes and remarks portion of the file contains all of the entries that do not
start with a date, any extra dates, or dates outside the calendar span.  The
notes can be viewed and edited by selecting <N>otes.  You can add, delete, or
edit reminders as you move around the six-month display with <R>eminder.  When
you select <W>eek, for the schedule of the week at the cursor position, you
can edit or add up to five entries for each date.  <D>ate displays up to ten.

When you select <D>ate, ActCalendar will load up to ten entries for that day
from the ACTCLDR.SKD file and sort the entries into time and alphabetical
order before displaying them.  You do need to use 24-hour time to have the
afternoon's events sorted into the correct order.  Four O'Clock in the
afternoon should be entered as 16:00.  There are examples in the distribution
file for the 1st of June you can experiment with.

You can put any kind of notes you want in the file.  If they are formatted
with uppercase week-days, ActMenu will display them on those days of the
week.  ActCalendar requires the date at the beginning of the line to be
formatted as ddMMMyy (e.g, 05APR90).  The rest of the line is up to you.  When
you are adding an entry, ActCalendar will automatically provide the date.  If
you want to move an entry, just change the date to where you want the entry to
appear.  When you want a reminder to appear every year on the same date, leave
the year blank.  Examples you can use for guidance are provided in the file.



I've tried to cover what you need to know about using ActCalendar, with as
much detail as practical.  If you have questions or are having any problems
please include them when you register.  Your comments help me write programs
that work naturally for you instead of you having to adapt to the program.


Please register so I can send you updates.  There are some nice improvements
planned for ActMenu and ActCalendar in future revisions.  Let me know if
there is something you'd like added.

I hope you enjoy using ActCalendar.  Your support for my programs is sincerely
appreciated.

Thanks,
Chris



P.S.      Please retain the original BAT and ACTCLDR files if you are going
          to pass ActCalendar along.

               [ If you are using BROWSE, press <Esc> to exit ]