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What's Up v.1.20 (C) Copyright 1986-90 by Nassib Nassar, SoftBrush
What's Up
Version 1.20A
Copyright (C) 1986-1989 by Nassib Nassar,
SoftBrush
All Rights Reserved
"What's Up" (TM) is copyright-protected shareware. The author
retains all rights to the program. It is distributed on a
try-before-you-buy basis. You may try the program and may give
only complete, unmodified copies of the program and
documentation files to others for their evaluation. The one-
time registration fee entitles you to use the program on a
single computer. To register your copy, please send $20 to
Nassib Nassar, 4035 Livingstone Pl., Durham, NC 27707 (NC
residents please add 5% sales tax.) Registration will entitle
you to one year of support by mail, notice of updates, and
updates at a nominal cost. Your comments and suggestions (and
registration) are appreciated. (Fees are subject to change
without notice.)
Note: the above message will be displayed for the first few times
you run "What's Up" in order to remind you to register your
copy. After that, the message will be displayed less frequently
and finally it will no longer appear except in response to WHATSUP
S and WHATSUP ? or WHATSUP H (see below).
DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY
THIS SOFTWARE AND DOCUMENTATION ARE SOLD "AS IS"
AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES AS TO PERFORMANCE OR
MERCHANTABILITY. THIS PROGRAM IS SOLD WITHOUT ANY
EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES WHATSOEVER. THE USER
IS ADVISED TO TEST THE PROGRAM THOROUGHLY BEFORE
RELYING ON IT. THE USER MUST ASSUME THE ENTIRE RISK
OF USING THE PROGRAM. ANY LIABILITY OF SELLER OR
MANUFACTURER WILL BE LIMITED EXCLUSIVELY TO PRODUCT
REPLACEMENT OR REFUND OF THE PURCHASE PRICE.
"What's Up" will display, on an IBM PC* or compatible computer,
reminder messages, appointments, etc. that you have previously
entered into a message file. The program displays each message on
the appropriate day. You can have a message displayed on December
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What's Up v.1.20 (C) Copyright 1986-90 by Nassib Nassar, SoftBrush
20, 1987, every Thursday, or every Monday in October. You can
edit, delete, or add messages. By default, calendars for the
current, previous,and next month appear above the message display,
with the current date highlighted. The default message file is
normally called WHATSUP.MSG (see SET-UP, below). "What's Up" is
not memory-resident.
When "What's Up" is run, messages in the default message file
that have a date matching the "system date" will be displayed (the
system date is the date returned by the operating system when you
enter DATE; this should normally be the current date, if not, the
correct messages will not be displayed). "What's Up" can access
several message files (in addition to the default file), for
example one for each of several people. The message files may,
for example be called SMITH, BLACK, and JMD. Typing WHATSUP will
display any messages for the current date that are in the default
message file (WHATSUP.MSG, unless renamed in the set-up routine,
see below). Typing WHATSUP/mfile, where mfile is the name of the
non-default message file, will display the messages in the
specified mfile. For example WHATSUP/BLACK will display messages
in the message file called BLACK. If you don't run the program on
a given day, the messages that should have appeared on that day
will be displayed as "missed" messages next time you run the
program. You may also display messages for any date by entering
WHATSUP D (the program will prompt you for the date).
If you include WHATSUP in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file it will auto-
matically display the appropriate reminder messages when you boot
up your computer. Option switches to make the program display
messages several day in advance, beep, pause if a message is dis-
played, not display the calendar or missed messages, etc. (see
OPTION SWITCHES below) are available; some of these are especially
useful if the program is run from your AUTOEXEC.BAT. The program
may be configured to display the weekdays and months in several
languages, month-day-year or day-month-year format can be selec-
ted, the calendar display can be shown with either Sunday or Mon-
day as the beginning of the week, etc. (see PROGRAM SET-UP below).
THE PROGRAM CAN WORK PROPERLY ONLY IF THE OPERATING SYSTEM HAS
BOTH THE CORRECT DATE AND THE CORRECT TIME (see your Operating
System manual). IF YOU LEAVE YOUR COMPUTER OPERATING CONTINUOUS-
LY, DOS MAY NOT HAVE THE CORRECT DATE UNLESS YOU RUN WHATSUP EVERY
DAY, OR UNLESS YOU TYPE "DATE" FROM THE DOS PROMPT, REBOOT YOUR
COMPUTER, OR OTHERWISE FORCE DOS TO INCREMENT THE DATE (this is
not an error in "What's Up", but rather a quirk of the way DOS
keeps track of the date). THIS VERSION OF THE PROGRAM WORKS FOR
THE YEARS 1901 - 1999 ONLY. MAKE SURE THE LANGUAGE FOR THE WEEK-
DAY AND THE FORMAT FOR THE DATE ENTRY IN YOUR MESSAGE FILE MATCH
THOSE FOR WHICH THE PROGRAM IS SET-UP.
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What's Up v.1.20 (C) Copyright 1986-90 by Nassib Nassar, SoftBrush
HARD DISK SUPPORT:
"What's Up" looks for the message file in the drive and
directory specified in the set-up file (see below, and PROGRAM
SET-UP).
"What's Up" looks for its set-up file (WHATSUP.DEF) in the
currently logged drive and directory unless an environment
variable is specified that tells it what drive and directory to
use for the set-up file (please see below).
In order to access the program from any drive or directory, you
must add the drive/directory in which WHATSUP.EXE resides to your
DOS path.
Set environment variable:
To let "What's Up" (version 1.20) to find its ancillary files
(WHATSUP.DEF and WHATSUP.PRG) in a directory other than your
current directory, use the DOS SET command (SET WHATSUP= ) in your
AUTOEXEC.BAT file. For example, if you would like the program to
write and read its ancillary files in the C:\UTIL directory, edit
your AUTOEXEC.BAT file to include the line: SET WHATSUP=C:\UTIL
The program does not use the environment variable to find the
message file-- this lets you to specify the location of the
message file independetly of the program ancillary files.
If you run out of environment space (DOS will display an error
message to that effect when you run your AUTOEXEC.BAT, and your
DOS prompt may no longer show directory information) then you will
need to increase the amount of memory allocated to the environ-
ment. DOS, by default, allots 160 bytes to the environment; this
may be increased if you are using DOS 3.0 or higher: see your DOS
manual, or you may try the following: If you are using DOS 3.0 or
3.1, then enter in your CONFIG.SYS file:
SHELL C:\COMMAND.COM /E:12 /P
For DOS 3.2 and higher, you may try:
SHELL C:\COMMAND.COM /E:192 /P
If you already have such a line in CONFIG.SYS, then try increasing
the number following the /E: by 2 (DOS 3.0, 3.1) or by 32 (DOS 3.2
& up.); increase it more if your path name in exceptionally long.
Specify message file path and name:
"What's Up" can access and display message files in any drive
or directory as follows: In the case of the default message file,
path specification should be entered as part of the file name by
running the set-up routine. The set-up file should reside in
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What's Up v.1.20 (C) Copyright 1986-90 by Nassib Nassar, SoftBrush
the current (logged) drive and directory, or the desired drive and
directory should be specified in the DOS environment (see below,
in which case the program will write its set-up file to, and will
read the set-up information from, the directory specified in the
environment). Alternatively, the message file path could be
specified explicitly (e.g. WHATSUP /D:\MSG\WHATSUP.MSG). If
"What's Up" does not find the message file, it will display an
error message. If you have WHATSUP.DEF and no message file name
is shown when you run WHATSUP S and select 2 from the set-up menu,
then the program will not read your message file unless you
specify one on the command line.
If you do not have a set-up file where the program can find
it, then "What's Up" will try to load a message file called
WHATSUP.MSG in your current directory. If you specify a message
file on the command line, this will take precedence over that
specified in the set-up. "What's Up" does not look in the en-
vironment for its message file(s).
Set DOS path for program file:
You must, in addition, have WHATSUP.EXE in your DOS PATH unless
you run it from the current directory. To do so, edit your
AUTOEXEC.BAT file as follows, assuming that you have WHATSUP.EXE
in your C:\UTIL subdirectory (if not substitute the name of the
actual subdirectory): If you see a line in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file
that starts with PATH then check to see if that line contains the
name of the subdirectory (in this example, C:\UTIL). If it does,
then you do not need to modify the file, otherwise add C:\UTIL to
the end of the line, separating it from the previous item with a
semicolon. If you do not have a line that starts with PATH in
your AUTOEXEC.BAT, then add the following line to it: PATH C:\UTIL
(or whatever the name of your actual directory is).
MESSAGE FILES:
Use a text editor or ASCII word processor (for example PC-
Write*, SideKick* notepad, non-document mode of WordStar*,
"unformatted" save mode of Microsoft Word*) to edit or create a
message file. If it is the default message file which is
accessed by typing WHATSUP without a /mfile, it should be called
WHATSUP.MSG (unless another name is chosen during program set-up,
see below). If additional message files are needed, then any
filename allowed by the Operating System may be used; it may be
desirable to use descriptive names, such as the name or initials
of the person for whom the messages are intended or the type of
messages in the file (e.g., APPOINT(ments), LECTURES, BILLS).
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What's Up v.1.20 (C) Copyright 1986-90 by Nassib Nassar, SoftBrush
The message file format is as follows:
wd mm/dd/yy Reminder message...
This is the default format (see below). If you prefer, you may
configure the program for the format:
wd dd/mm/yy Reminder message...
(run WHATSUP S to set-up the program for this format).
CAUTION: Please make sure that the date format of your message
file and the date format for which the program is set up are the
same, otherwise the program cannot display the messages as you
might expect. If you get a copy of "What's Up" and a configur-
ation file (WHATSUP.DEF) is included, please check which format is
specified and reconfigure it as necessary.
The following assumes that the default mm/dd/yy date format is
used but applies equally to the dd/mm/yy format except that the
positions of the month and day are exchanged.
wd is a two-letter abbreviation for the week-day (Su, Mo, Tu, We,
Th, Fr, Sa, ?? or *). ?? and * stand for any week-day; their
usage is similar to that of DOS. SU, mO, tu, We, etc. are
acceptable. It is important to start at the left margin and to
reserve two spaces for the week-day even when * is used. If
you set-up the program for a different language, then the first
two letters of the week-day in that language should be used (if
you set it up for Spanish, the first "a" in "sabado" need not
have an accent.
mm/dd/yy are two-character designations of the month, day-of-the-
month and year. The slash ( / ) may be replaced by a space or
a dash (or other symbol): 03-05-80 or 03 05 90 are valid
entries. * may be used to represent any date, but the spaces
for the date should be preserved as in the examples below. ??
may be used to represent any month, day-of-the-month, or year.
A single ? used in conjunction with another digit is also
valid: 08/?5/8? will be interpreted as the 5th, 15th, and 25th
days of August, 1980 through 1989.
A single space should separate the week-day from the date. A
single space should also separate the date from the message. In
other words, the week-day should start at the extreme left
margin (column 1), the date should start at column 4, and the
message should start at (or after, if an indent is desired) column
13. When * is used for the date, it should be placed in column 4.
If two or more lines are required for a given message, then every
line should be preceded by the (same) date. A line not preceded
by a valid date is not meaningful to the program.
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What's Up v.1.20 (C) Copyright 1986-90 by Nassib Nassar, SoftBrush
A date not conforming to the correct format will be ignored or
will not be displayed on the expected date. It is possible that
under certain circumstances, an incorrect format can cause the
program to abort and an error message to be displayed. If this
happens, or if you discover an error in the operation of the
program, I will be very grateful if you would give me the
circumstances, the contents of the message file, and the error
number that was displayed, in order that I may try to correct
the problem.
The following is an example of a message file:
* 01/06/88 This message will be displayed on January 6th, 1988
Mo 02/29/88 This will appear on Monday, February 29th, 1988, takes
Mo 02/29/88 four lines. Monday, specified here is superfluous,
Mo 02/29/88 ?? or * would be preferred: if 02/29/88 did not fall
Mo 02/29/88 on a Monday, the message would never be displayed!
We ??/15/?? Appears whenever the 15th of a month is on a Wednesday.
Th * This message will appear every Thursday.
sa 02 ?? ?? Appears every Saturday during February of every year.
FR 02 ?? 87 This will appear every Friday during February in 1987.
* ??-0?-88 This will appear the first 9 days of every month in 88.
?? ??-2?-?? This will appear daily from 20th to end of each month.
Tu 1?-??-88 This will appear every Tuesday in October, November,
Tu 1?-??-88 and December, 1988.
* ??/??/?? This will appear every day.
* * This will appear every day (only Today's date display)
Examples of invalid messages:
Sa 02/29/88 This message will never appear (02/29/88 is a Monday).
* 02/30/88 This will never appear (invalid date).
?? 2/12/88 Wrong format (should be 02/12/88).
* 02/12/1988 Wrong format (year should be a two-digit number).
Tu Wrong format -- date may not be left blank.
* Wrong format -- week-day may not be left blank.
?? * This message in invalid: * should be in column 4, not 10.
We**/**/** Only one * may be used, and it should be in column 4.
di * Weekday specification not valid in English but valid
di * in German (Tuesday) or French (Sunday).
The messages in the message file need not be entered or
arranged in chronological order. Also, messages for one date
need not be grouped together: "What's Up" will display them in
the order in which they appear in the file on the appropriate
days.
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What's Up v.1.20 (C) Copyright 1986-90 by Nassib Nassar, SoftBrush
If you want the computer to beep when a certain message is
displayed, you should place a ^G (Control-G or ASCII 7) character
at the end of the message if your text editor allows this.
Different editors or word processors have different methods of
entering such codes: in PC-Write*, Microsoft Word* and some other
word processors, you should hold the Alt key down while you press
7 on the numeric keypad; if you use SideKick*, you should hold the
Ctrl key down, while you press P then G (if you use other editors,
consult your owner's manual to find out if and how you can
accomplish this). If you would like the beep to occur whenever
"What's Up" displays any messages, then simply include the B
switch when you run "What's Up" (see OPTION SWITCHES, below).
Since the message files are entered using a separate word
processor or text editor, the validity of the dates entered is not
checked. If a date is not valid, the program will not report the
error, and will simply not display the message. It is, therefore,
not desirable to enter both the week-day and the full date, since
this is superfluous and can lead to errors.
ADDITIONAL FEATURES.
Messages for a particular date:
"What's Up" will display messages for another date: enter
WHATSUP D (see OPTION SWITCHES, below) and you will be asked to
enter a date using the format mm-dd-yy, for example, 01-29-90 or
01 29 90 or 01/29/90 (or dd-mm-yy, e.g. 29-01-90 if the program
is configured for that format, see PROGRAM SET-UP). The program
will then display the messages for that date.
Advance message display:
You may configure "What's Up" to display messages for several
days in advance of today's date (or of a date specified with the
D command line switch). To specify the desired number of days in
advance, run WHATSUP S and choose 7 from the menu (see PROGRAM
SET-UP: Look-ahead, below) or specify the number of advance days
on the command line (e.g., WHATSUP 7, see OPTION SWITCHES).
Messages that have * wildcards for BOTH day of the week and
date (i.e. * * , but not * ??/??/?? ) will be displayed only
for the current date (may be used to display file-name or other
information). * * or * ??/??/?? may be used to enter an empty
line by entering spaces for formatting (make sure your editor
actually puts space characters-- some, e.g. SideKick*, leave the
line literally empty). This is especially useful when using the
look-ahead feature, since this will make the program open a window
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What's Up v.1.20 (C) Copyright 1986-90 by Nassib Nassar, SoftBrush
for the current date even though there are no messages, making one
less likely to mistake a future date for to-day's date, or if you
want to use the P parameter and want the program to pause even
when there are no messages.
Missed messages:
If you do not run the program on a day on which a message is
due to be displayed, the "missed" message will be displayed the
next time the program is run. "Missed" messages will be
displayed in the same color as, but with a different intensity
from, regular messages, and the date on which the missed message
was due to appear will be shown in brackets after the message.
It is best to configure the program (see PROGRAM SET-UP, below)
to display current messages in high intensity. Missed messages
would then be displayed in low intensity of the same color.
Note that messages that are to be displayed on constantly
recurring dates (e.g., every Wednesday, or every first-of-the-
month) will not be shown as "missed" messages, since they would
not have a defined "cut-off" date.
"What's Up" will not show "missed" messages if you use the M
command line switch (see OPTIONS SWITCHES, below).
In order to keep track of which messages have been displayed
and which have been missed, the program marks entries for messages
that have been displayed with a check (square-root) sign in the
message file. This may appear on your screen as a "{", depending
on the editor you are using. You should not write-protect your
diskette since the program will have to mark displayed messages.
Please remember, when editing the message file(s), that the
check mark added by the program merely indicates (to the program
and to you) that that message had been displayed at least once.
It does not indicate that the message will not be displayed
further (e.g., a message that has the date ??/??/88 will be
displayed throughout 1988, but will be marked when first shown.
Calendar display:
The calendar will be displayed in the language selected (see
below). You can set-up the calendar for one of two formats: week
starting on Sunday or on Monday. If you run "What's Up" with the
N option switch, the calendar will not be displayed. The colors
used in displaying the calendar are those chosen for the message
display (no separate color selection is available). The current
date is highlighted. If the D option switch is used, the entered
date will be highlighted instead of the current date.
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What's Up v.1.20 (C) Copyright 1986-90 by Nassib Nassar, SoftBrush
Languages:
The program may be set-up to display week-days and months only
in the following languages in addition to English: French,
German, Italian, and Spanish. All other text displayed by the
program during its normal operation and all error messages are
displayed only in English. (If users express sufficient interest
in the language aspects of the program, I will try to improve
them make them more extensive in future versions.)
Type-ahead:
If you run "What's Up" from your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, and if you
habitually start typing your next DOS command or filename while
your AUTOEXEC.BAT file is still executing, your keystrokes will
be remembered by "What's Up" and then put back into the keyboard
buffer to allow their execution after "What's Up" terminates. If
you use this feature, make sure you use the G option switch (run
WHATSUP G) and do not use the P switch, otherwise (some of) your
type-ahead keystrokes will be "used up" by "What's Up" as a signal
to "continue" and display the next screen, and only what remains
will be available to DOS.
Message files for "Don't Forget", version 1.50:
Your message files from "Don't Forget: version 1.50 are
identical in format to those of "What's Up", but ONLY if you use
the default mm/dd/yy (month/day/year) date format, and if you have
the program set-up for English (if you have any weekdays
specified). All you need to do is rename your default message
file from DF.MSG to WHATSUP.MSG, or alternatively configure
"What's Up" to use your previous message file as a default (run
WHATSUP S, see PROGRAM SET-UP; see also HARD DISK SUPPORT, above).
APPLICATIONS:
Applications of "What's Up" include such obvious tasks as
reminding the user of appointments, meetings, dates bills are due,
deadlines, etc. Other application may come to mind. The program
is versatile: it can access multiple message files, and uses a
flexible system to specify the days and dates.
One such application is the following: If your computer has a
"real-time" clock that automatically gives the operating system
the correct date and time, it can be very inconvenient if the
clock suddenly stops working due, for example, to a dead battery,
and you do not notice this (all files that you create or change
will then have the date 01/01/80 or 01/01/81 or whatever your
operating system defaults to).
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What's Up v.1.20 (C) Copyright 1986-90 by Nassib Nassar, SoftBrush
You can include WHATSUP.EXE in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file (it
should be run after the program that sets the system clock) to
warn you that your system date is set to some date in the 1980's,
for example, by entering the following line in your message file:
* ??-??-8? * * * System date not set correctly * * *
Of course, this will not warn you should your system date be set,
due to some error, to 01/03/96, etc. (You could, alternatively,
create a special file called BADDATE which contains your warning
statement and run WHATSUP/BADDATE P N from your AUTOEXEC.BAT
file after any software that sets your system clock.)
OPTION SWITCHES:
WHATSUP accepts the following option switches on the command
line:
/mfile - where mfile is the name of the message file (not used
for the default message file). Example: WHATSUP MSG1
will display messages from message file MSG1. Default:
uses WHATSUP.MSG, unless configured to use a different
default message file (see PROGRAM SET-UP, below.)
B - Beep if any messages are displayed (will not beep if
there are no messages unless you have a line that has
the wild card * for both weekday and date, and spaces
for the message, see under ADDITIONAL FEATURES: Advance
message display, above).
C - Clear the screen before running "What's Up".
D - Display messages for a specific date (see below). User
is prompted for the date. Using D and specifying a
future date will not affect "missed" date operation of
the program.
G - By default the program displays one screenful at a time
and asks the user to press a key to display next screen
(in case the message list is too long for one screen).
WHATSUP G allows the display to keep Going. (If you
normally like to start typing commands to DOS while
your AUTOEXEC.BAT is executing, and if you run "What's
Up" from your AUTOEXEC.BAT, see above under ADDITIONAL
FEATURES, Type-ahead.)
H or ? Display help screen showing these command-line option
switches (the same as ? ).
M - Suppresses messages for "missed dates" (see below).
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What's Up v.1.20 (C) Copyright 1986-90 by Nassib Nassar, SoftBrush
N - No calendar display. Default is to display the
calendar.
P - Pause only if message is displayed: useful if you run
the program from a batch file which executes other
commands after calling WHATSUP.
S - Setup routine for configuring "What's Up". See PROGRAM
SET-UP, below.
0 to 366 Overrides the look-ahead setting in the set-up file
(see PROGRAM SET-UP, below) and will display the
messages for the specified number of days in advance.
The syntax is as follows:
WHATSUP[/mfile] [B] [C] [D] [G] [M] [N] [P] [S] [H] [?] [0..366]
where [ ] indicates optional switch. For example:
WHATSUP B C
will cause the computer to Beep and to display the message in the
default message file (WHATSUP.MSG) when the program is run if,
and only if, there is a message for the current date. It will
also Clear the screen before displaying the message. Another
example:
WHATSUP/SMITH B P
will make the computer Beep if a message is displayed from the
message file called SMITH, and it will Pause, requesting a key to
be pressed before control is returned to the Operating System.
This is particularly useful when WHATSUP is used in an
AUTOEXEC.BAT file, where it is desired to force batch processing
to pause until a key is pressed if a message has been displayed
in order to allow the user to read the message, but to continue
automatically with batch file execution if no message is to be
displayed.
WHATSUP D
lets you to enter a Date, and the messages for that date will be
displayed. The calendar (spanning a three-month period around the
entered date) will also be displayed unless you also used the N
switch, and the date entered will be highlighted in the calendar.
Thus if you want to check on what day October 7, 1983 fell, enter
10-07-83 at the date prompt and the calendar for that date will be
displayed. D may be used with other switches (e.g. WHATSUP D 6 ).
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What's Up v.1.20 (C) Copyright 1986-90 by Nassib Nassar, SoftBrush
The /mfile switch, if used, should follow immediately after
WHATSUP. The switches B, C, P etc., may be used in any desired
combination or order and should be separated by single spaces.
For example,
WHATSUP/c:\msg\mesgfile.msg n
will display messages from message file C:\MSG\MESGFILE.MSG and
the calendar will not be displayed.
To be reminded of the option switches described above, type
WHATSUP ? or WHATSUP H
PROGRAM SET-UP:
The set-up routine allows you to configure the program to suit
your needs. To do so, please enter WHATSUP S and the following
menu will appear on the screen:
Enter set-up option:
1. Screen colors 6. Change date format, current setting: [mm-dd-yy]
2. Message file 7. Look-ahead, current setting: [0] days.
3. Spacing 8. Language, current setting: [English]
4. Indentation 9. Calendar display format
5. Video Q. Quit set-up
1. Screen colors
To choose screen colors, select 1 from the menu and then press
L, D, or M to cycle through the colors of the border Line, Date,
or Message. Ctrl-L, Ctrl-D, and Ctrl-M allows you to cycle
backwards. If you use a monochrome monitor, you can choose the
brightness (also "underline"); if you use high intensity for the
messages, "missed" messages will be displayed in normal (low)
intensity.
Press Q or q to quit the color selection routine.
2. Message file
Use this option to enter the name of your default message file
(including the drive and directory). WHATSUP.EXE will not search
the PATH nor will it use the environment variable to find the
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What's Up v.1.20 (C) Copyright 1986-90 by Nassib Nassar, SoftBrush
message file (see HARD DISK SUPPORT, above). By default, the name
of the message file will be WHATSUP.MSG; the program assumes it to
be in your current directory. If you have no file name specified
in the set-up, the program will be unable to load a default
message file (but will load one specified on the command line).
If you enter, for example, MF1.MSG for the message file name,
the program will search for MF1.MSG in the current directory. If
you enter C:\MSG\MF1.MSG, it will search for it in the C:\MSG
directory, and so on. If you specify a message file on the
command line, e.g., WHATSUP /d:\abc\msgfile then this will take
precedence over the default message file.
3. Spacing
4. Indentation
These specify the way the message is displayed on the screen.
Choose the format that you find more pleasing or convenient.
5. Video
If your computer display is fully IBM-compatible, choose direct
video access. This is faster than accessing the video through
BIOS. "What's Up" defaults to BIOS video access in order to
provide the widest compatibility.
6. Change date format
This lets you to specify the date format as mm-dd-yy (month-
day-year, the default setting) or as dd-mm-yy (day-month-year).
Please make sure that the date format selected is the one used in
your message file(s).
7. Look-ahead
You may configure the program to display messages for several
days in advance. The default is zero, i.e. only messages for the
current date (and "missed" dates, but see above) are displayed.
When you run the program (from a batch file or from the DOS
prompt) you may override the number of look-ahead days for which
the program is configured by simply supplying a number from 0 to
366 as a command line option switch (see OPTION SWITCHES, above).
For example, if you enter WHATSUP 4 it will show messages for
today's date and for the next four days, regardless of what the
program was configured for. The message window for the current
date will be labeled with "Today" (in the selected language).
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What's Up v.1.20 (C) Copyright 1986-90 by Nassib Nassar, SoftBrush
8. Language
This allows you to select, for the display of week-days and
months, one of the following languages: English (the default),
German, French, Spanish, and Italian. The program will expect
week-days entered in the message file(s) to be in the language for
which the program is set-up. The program may not display the
messages you expect on the days specified if this is not the case.
9. Calendar display format
You may specify whether you want the first column in the
calendar to be Sunday (the default) or Monday.
Q. Quit set-up
Press Q or q to quit the set-up menu. You may then save
your set-up options or exit without saving.
The configuration file specifying the default settings you
selected will be saved as WHATSUP.DEF and will reside in the
directory specified in your environment (SET WHATSUP=<path>, see
HARD DISK SUPPORT above), otherwise it will be in your current
directory.
* * * > Important reminders < * * *
Please remember that if your system has the correct date but
not the correct time, then there will be a time when the date
will also be incorrect, as the actual date and the computer
system date will change at different times. "What's Up" can
only display the messages correctly if the DOS date is correct at
the time the program is run.
Also, if your computer stays on continuously through two conse-
cutive midnights (BBS operators, please take note), a peculiarity
of the way DOS updates the date may result in DOS not having the
correct date, and since "What's Up" gets its date from DOS, it
will not display the correct messages. This problem will not
arise if you run "What's Up" every day, or if you type Time or
Date from the DOS prompt every day (both of those actions will set
the DOS date).
Please make sure that your program is set-up for the date
format (mm-dd-yy or dd-mm-yy) and the language that are used in
your message files.
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What's Up v.1.20 (C) Copyright 1986-90 by Nassib Nassar, SoftBrush
A note from the author:
I would like to offer my sincere thanks to all the kind people
who offered very constructive suggestions for "Don't Forget", the
precursor to "What's Up". I am especially grateful to those who
took the trouble to write with detailed suggestions even though
the program did not, then, meet their needs, and consequently
they did not use it. I've attempted to incorporate many of their
suggestions in this program. I hope that they will become regular
users of "What's Up".
Nassib Nassar
FILES ON THE DISTRIBUTION DISKETTE:
WHATSUP.EXE The "What's Up" program.
WHATSUP.PRG A file used internally by "What's Up" to
control the display of the opening screen. It
is created by "What's Up" and may or may not be
on your diskette.
WHATSUP.DEF A file that contains the set-up parameters which
are chosen by typing WHATSUP S (see above). It
is created by "What's Up" and may or may not be
on your diskette.
WHATSUP.MSG The default message file. It contains one line
to serve as a model for the date format required.
This file may be edited by adding your own
reminder messages.
EXAMPLE.MSG This is a message file that contains examples of
the various ways the dates may be specified. Use
your word processor, text editor, or file viewer
to look at this file.
WHATSUP.DOC The manual (documentation file).
REGFORM.DC Registration/Order form.
README.DOC Information to the user.
PRINTMAN.BAT Batch file to send WHATSUP.DOC to the printer.
Make sure your printer is on and is selected
on-line, then, from the DOS prompt, enter:
PRINTMAN
README.EXE File to display README.DOC (Enter README).
VENDOR.DOC Information to disk vendors.
_________________________________________________________________
* IBM PC is a registered trademark of of the IBM Corporation.
* PC-Write is a trademark of Quicksoft.
* SideKick and Turbo Pascal are registered trademarks of Borland
International Inc.
* Word is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
* WordStar is a registered trademark of WordStar International
Corporation.
- 15 -
What's Up v.1.20 (C) Copyright 1986-90 by Nassib Nassar, SoftBrush
REGISTRATION / ORDER FORM for What's Up (tm) software.
Please send order form with check or money order to:
Nassib Nassar
4035 Livingstone Pl.
Durham, NC 27707
Name: ______________________________________
Company:______________________________________
Shipping
Address:______________________________________
______________________________________
City: ___________________ State:___________ Zip:____________
"What's Up" v. 1.20A
==================================================================
|Quantity Description Unit Extended |
|---------|----------------------------------|--------|----------|
| | What's Up (current version) | $20.00 | |
|---------|----------------------------------|--------|----------|
| | |
| Subtotal $| |
| NC residents please add Sales Tax $| |
| (Foreign postage: please add US $4.00) $| |
| |==========|
| Total $| |
|-----------------------------------------------------|----------|
"What's Up" (TM) program diskette and printed manual will be
shipped post free within the continental U.S.A. For shipping to
other countries, please add US $4.00 for postage and packaging.
Prices subject to change without notice.
Diskette size: ___ 5.25" ___ 3.5"
- Thank you for your support of shareware.