Loadstar 128 #20

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ Loadstar 128 #20 / q20.d81 / t.TotalRecall < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1990-01-01 | 13.9 KB | 370 lines

T o t a l R e c a l l by e. g. bell TotalRecall is a program you can use to create calendars the size of your refrigerator door. No more relying on your local bank to provide you with a big calendar every January. Once you have all events that occur on the same date every year (birthdays, anniversaries, holidays) you will only need to update the program each month for specific events that take place that month. The program supports 80, 96, and 132 column printers -- as long as they can emulate a Commodore 1525 7-pin printer. The wider paper you can use, the more spectacular the calendar you can create. You can use 2 or 3 block Print Shop (tm) graphics to liven your creations and your occasions can be printed in single or double width, and from 1 to 8 times the single- character height. Each calendar includes a small display of the previous and next months. TotalRecall does a LOT! Thus it takes a while to run. However, it need only be run once a month. Of course, you may find yourself running copies for your family. The output is simply that nice! There are two ways to use the TotalRecall package: (1) Read the following text, learn how Master and Normal batch files are formatted, create batch files with any word processor, then run TotalRecall to print the calendar. or (2) Read the following text, learn how Master and Normal batch files are formatted, run BatchMaker, which prompts you through making batch files, then run TotalRecall to print the calendar. Method #1 is recommended because it's really easy once you learn the batch file format. TotalRecall - The program ------------------------- There is very little required of you to run the program. Once you have the birthdays, anniversaries, etc. out of the way, it is clear sailing. That only needs to be done once, and updated only occasionally after that (when someone is born or married, for example). The first four prompts ask for source drive, destination drive, printer number and paper width. Throughout the program, defaults are supplied so you will probably be able to just press RETURN to get the proper settings. The defaults are drive 8 for both source and destination, printer device #4 and 80-column printer. Next you are asked if you want to Create a batch file or print the calendar. DO NOT choose Create. BatchMaker is a much better program for creating batch files. TotalRecall is only to be run AFTER you've created a batch file with BatchMaker or with a word processor. Remember, don't run TotalRecall until you've got a batch file, then ALWAYS choose "Print Calendar", not "Create Batch Files". Batch files can be Master Batch Files or Normal Batch Files. Master Batch Files contain words (which represent files) like "Birthdays", "Anniversaries", etc. -- events that occur on the same date every year. Normal Batch Files come in three kinds: Daily, Weekly and Info. DAILY BATCH FILES ----------------- First is the "DAILY" type files. These have the following format: daily First line is the word "daily" 1 Second line is the number of the month (1=Jan, etc.) Next 2 lines should be blank. start 1 line with the word "start" 0221 This is the description of the data to follow. The first 2 digits are how many lines are in the description. In this example, there are 2 lines of description to follow. The next digit is the height of the characters. The minimum is 1, the maximum is the height of the block. This height is determined by the columns your printer supports and the number of rows of the calendar. The last digit is the width of the characters, and may be either 1 or 2. Those are the only 2 values supported. So, in this example: 0221 = 2 lines of description, double height, single width. 30 Dr. Blinky Text for calendar block. The first 2 digits must be -at 11{SHIFT-+}00 am the date. After that comes the first line of text for that data. If more than one line is specified in the description line, the subsequent lines are preceded with a "-" character. The number of lines of text MUST match the number indicated by the first 2 digits in the description line described above. Note that you must use different codes for colons and commas. More on that later. end Last line for a block for a month. You may have more than 1 month in a file like this. Just add each subsequent month to the file following this format. *NOTE* You only need the "daily" word at the start of the file, not at the start of every month block. eof Last line in any batch file. I usually put several eof of these lines in. These tell TotalRecall that eof the file is complete. So, from this information, a sample file for January and February might look like this: daily 1 start 0322 01 New - Year's - Day end 2 start 0221 14 Valentine's -Day end eof eof eof GRAPHICS IN DAILY BATCH FILES ----------------------------- Now, let's expand on what we have learned so far. Here is how you would add 2 or 3 block Print Shop graphics to your calendar blocks. start This is the same "start" described above. Only one is required per month description block. graphic This is the first line of a graphic description block, and MUST be the word "graphic". sherlock This is the second line, and is the name of the graphic file EXACTLY as it appears on the disk you will be using as your source drive for your calendar batch files. (You may use ANY Print Shop graphic) 14 This line contains the date. It must be 2 digits, so days 1 through 9 would have a leading zero (01,02..) 0141 This is an optional text description. You may include - A & E text beside your graphic if you like. The description 0141 is similar to the method described under "daily" above - Monday with this exception. All lines in a "graphic" block start with "-" followed by the text. The date only appears in the line above. 3 block Print Shop graphics support up to 8 lines of text (or heights that add up to 8) and 2 block graphics support up to 7 lines. Text may be 9 characters wide for single width text and 4 characters wide for double width when using graphics. graphic end The last line in a graphic block MUST be the words "graphic end". You may have as many graphic blocks as you like, but remember only so many will fit in a date block. You can combine them with non-graphic block descriptions also if you like. end Same as "daily" description earlier. Only one "end" line is needed per month block. So, from this information, a sample file for January and a graphic for February might look like this: daily 1 start 0322 01 New - Year's - Day end 2 start graphic heart 14 0221 -Valentine Remember, 9 or fewer characters in a graphics -Day block. graphic end end eof eof eof eof eof INFO FILES ---------- TotalRecall recognizes that all blocks in a calendar may not be occupied by "dates". The calendars are printed out in grids of 7 columns by 4-6 rows, depending on which day the month starts and how many days are in the month. Thus, there may be up to 11 blocks in the month that have no "date" in them. Info files contain information you want printed in these "non- date" areas. info Very first line in the file. Next 2 lines are blank. **NOTE** There is NO month number 1-12. start The word "start". 0221 The data description. 32 Dollar Bank 244-8589 The first line of text starts with -Penn Hills Banking Hours a 2 character number that is not really relevant. You can use 00 if you like. As for the blocks described above, you can have as many lines as will fit in the calendar block. 0111 32 0112 32 Lobby 0311 32 Mon - Thu 9{SHIFT-+}30 am - 4{SHIFT-+}00 pm -Fri 9{SHIFT-+}30 am - 7{SHIFT-+}00 pm -Sat 9{SHIFT-+} 30 am - 1{SHIFT-+}30 pm 0111 32 0112 32 Drive-Thru 0211 32 Mon- Fri 9{SHIFT-+}30 am - 7{SHIFT-+}00 pm -Sat 9{SHIFT-+}30 am - 1{SHIFT-+}30 pm end eof eof eof Note that you must substitute "{SHIFT-+}" [chr$(219) or SHIFT +] for any colons, and "{SHIFT--}" [chr$(221) or SHIFT -] for any commas. BatchMaker takes care of this automatically. You will have to do it if you use a word processor. You can have graphics in an "info" file, following exactly the method outlined above in that section. If you want to have 2 graphics in your information blocks, the "graphic" format is the same with one exception: Follow the word "graphic" with a "+" sign on the second graphic. Here is an example of that based on all we have seen so far: info start graphic alarm clock 00 0122 - It's 0142 - That 0122 - Time graphic end graphic+ scale 00 0141 - Lose 0142 - Weight graphic end end eof eof eof eof eof Due to the way TotalRecall processes info blocks, each one is assigned a vacant block. When the blocks are all used, any info files you request in TotalRecall will be ignored. The recommended naming convention for informational files is "tr.xxxxxxx" where xxxxxxx is any name you choose. After TotalRecall asks you for the name of your master batch file (see below), it will ask if you want to include any informational files. If you decide you want to, it will then give a directory of files starting with "tr." and notify you of how many can be added via a number in brackets. Then it will prompt you for up to 12 of them. Any filename is acceptable, but only the ones that start with "tr." are displayed in the directory. WEEKLY INFO FILES ----------------- A weekly info file is EXACTLY the same as any other info file except that it has a day of the week for a filename. Capitalize the first letter of the day, as usual. So if you have some event (like garbage pickup) that occurs on the same day of the week, every week, create an info file called "Monday" or "Tuesday", etc. When TotalRecall processes that day, this file will be read in, including text and graphics. Any day that has room will have this information in that day's block for the whole month. These files have the lowest priority of all of the information, so anything in them will only get printed if there is actually room enough for the information when the specific day is printed. Thus, sometimes graphics in these files will be loaded and not used. MASTER BATCH FILES ------------------ Finally, you need some way to be able to use the various file types above. After all, you don't want to have one huge file for a whole year that you would have to process, update, etc. Better would be a way to keep your anniversaries, birthdays, holidays, bill reminders, appointments, etc. in their own separate files that would be easier to update, maintain and correct when necessary. More files, but smaller files. Thus, TotalRecall will, if you want, use a Master Batch file to read in the files you specify in the order you specify. This type of file takes the following format: all months Line 1 MUST have the words "all months" The next 2 lines are blank. **NOTE** There is NO month number 1-12. start Line 4 MUST be the word "start" file Follwing this, the file will have the word "file" Menu on a line followed by the name of the file as it file appears on the disk. You can have as many files Appointments and file categories as you like. You may NOT file use the Master Batch filename inside a batch file. Birthdays That would create an endless loop. file Anniversaries file Holidays.Date file Holidays.Day file Bills file PayDays file Reminders end eof eof eof These master batch files should be named "TR.xxxxxxx" where "xxxxxxx" is whatever name you choose to give the file. During TotalRecall, you will be asked for the name of your master batch file, and a directory will be given of all files that start with "TR.". You can have files that do not follow this naming convention, but they will not show up in this directory. NOTE: In this program when a directory is displayed and you are asked for a filename, the directory is to show you what names NOT to use. In addition to the "file" command, master batch files can contain any of the other block formats already described under "info" and "daily" files, including graphics. I don't recommend it, but it causes no problem and will work fine. Enjoy! Now you can have TotalRecall! egb **** R - Run RETURN - Menu ****