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World of Shareware - Software Farm 2
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GENERAL
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README
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1989-01-08
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Family History System
Basic Programs
September 1988 Update
The Family History System was written to provide a simple means for
creating files of personal information including family relationships,
and for producing standard types of genealogical reports from
information in those files. Information for up to 3500 individuals
may be stored on a single DS/DD floppy diskette (or up to 9999 on a
hard disk). There are no limits on the numbers of relationships
(parent, child or spouse) that an individual may be involved in.
Reports produced by the basic set of programs include:
ancestor report, descendant reports (in list or "chart" format),
relative reports, complete sets of ancestor charts, and family
group reports.
The basic documentation (a 64 page manual) and the system's file
update program and report producing programs are found in ARC files
FAMDOC.ARC and FAMILY2.ARC respectively. Requirements for running these
programs are:
an IBM PC, XT, AT, PCjr or compatible computer
at least 256k RAM
PC or MS DOS version 2.0 or later
at least 1 DS/DD floppy drive
and an 80 character monitor (monochrome or color, no graphics
required)
(a printer is recommended for making full use of the system but
is not required for creating the files or displaying
information on the monitor).
You may create as many copies of these programs as you need for your
own use. Further you may share the system with others, provided you
only give them a complete DISKCOPY of the distribution diskette as you
received it and you ask no fee beyond that required to cover the cost
of media, postage and handling.
You are free to use these programs without any feeling of obligation
for payment to the author, however if you are interested in receiving
an extended version of the system supporting additional options you
may consider becoming a registered user of the programs by sending a
$35.00 registration fee to:
Phillip E. Brown
834 Bahama Drive
Tallahassee, Fla. 32301
Registered users receive the most recent update of all programs and
documentation in the system and are notified of the availability of
additional enhancements (a $12.00 fee is required for subsequent updates
to the system). Currently the extended system provides the following
additional options:
a program for creating index files based upon combinations of
Surname, Given name, birthdate (YMD or MDY), Deathdate (YMD), most
recent marriage date (MDY), sex, & ID#; this program can also
produce indexes which place related individuals in the order they
would appear in an ancestor, descendant or relative report;
a program for producing printed indexes for ancestor, descendant,
relative and family group reports and sets of ancestor charts;
a program for searching the files and producing listings of
information for selected individuals (including comments, latest
residence address and relationship); this program also produces a
Surname Summary Report which can be used to evaluate the completeness
of certain types of information for groups of records;
another program for exporting information for selected individuals
into a GEDCOM format ASCII (standard character) file; the same program
will import information from a GEDCOM format file into another
family file, allowing you to create "subset" family files for
others. All family relationships between transferred individuals
are maintained across the export/import process;
an option for producing a Mailmerge format file of latest residence
addresses and phone numbers; this can be used with database
managers (such as the publicly distributed PC-FILE III) to print
mailing labels, and can be used with many word processors to print
form letters;
All programs are (C) Copyright 1985,1986,1987,1988 by Phillip E. Brown
TRYING OUT THE PROGRAMS:
All programs in the publicly distributed portion of the Family History
System are contained in the two files: FAMILY.ARC and FAMILY2.ARC
You should format two diskettes to hold the programs: a STARTUP
diskette and a REPORT diskette. The STARTUP diskette will have the
system INITialization program on it as well as the system's utility
programs. The REPORT diskette will have the file update program and
system report programs on it. All options are selectable from the
Main Menu panel and you will be prompted to switch program diskettes
when necessary.
The FAMILY.ARC file should be unARCed to the STARTUP diskette and the
FAMILY2.ARC file should be unARCed to the REPORT program diskette.
You may try out these programs by placing the STARTUP diskette in the
"A" drive of your PC and entering: A>faminit
(If you want to run the programs from a hard disk, you should create
a \FAMILY sub-directory and then copy the contents of both the STARTUP
and REPORT diskettes to that sub-directory. You can then start the
programs by entering: C>cd \family
C>faminit )
You should be greeted by the system's "Title Screen" which should
soon be followed by a display of the system's "MAIN MENU" of
program options.
(NOTE: even though all programs in the system are .EXE files, the
system should be entered through program FAMINIT. All other programs
are selected from the MainMenu of system options.)
Once you get to the "MAIN MENU" you may want to try one of the
utility options:
F3-A Change File Name Table
F3-B Change Colors & Error Tone
or F3-C Change Printer Control Table
Or you may consider trying to print out blank family group
worksheets (using F2-C, F5) or printing blank ancestor charts
(using F2-D, F5).
While it is best to look over a copy of the system documentation
to find out how the system is intended to operate (the manual is
found in a separate ARC file as described previously), you may be
able to figure out how it all works by investing a little time
(and patience) while taking note of the following:
1. Options are usually single-key selectable from a "menu" that
appears on the screen.
2. Errors and "illegal" key-strokes are usually greeted by a
soft tone and occasionally by an error message on the bottom
line of the screen. If an error message has a trailing "..."
then the program is waiting for you to press any key before
continuing.
3. The ESCape key is (almost) always used to terminate an
operation that you do not wish to continue. Some operations
such as the creation of some workfiles are not interruptible,
and at other times you are given another means (usually pressing
a function key) for ending an operation.
4. When updating a multi-field formatted display, use the TAB
and SHIFT+TAB keys to move forward (or backward) to the next
(previous) updatable field. (The HOME key moves you to the
First updatable field and the END key to the Last updatable
field on the screen.)
5. If you are updating a formatted display and there is not
shown an option for letting the program know that you are
through, then you should press the ENTER or RETURN key to
tell the program that you wish to continue.
6. Reports may be paused by pressing any key. A message such as
"Waiting..." should appear at the bottom of the screen. You
may then terminate the report by pressing the ESCape key, or
continue it by pressing any other key.
7. There is a DATECALC utility which performs a number of useful
date manipulations. If you boot the system from the diskette
created by the INSTALL procedure (described below) then the
utility has been made RAM resident and may be called up at
just about any time by pressing the ALT and CTRL keys at the
same time. If you are using DOS 3.0 or later and have enough
free memory, you can also call it up from the MainMenu by
pressing the F7 key. The calculator "window" may be moved
around using the cursor control keys. When a calendar is
displayed, it may be scrolled backward and forward by months
and years by using the cursor control keys also.
NOTE: When running from floppy diskettes, the program diskette only has
to be in the default drive when starting the system, when selecting an
option from the MainMenu, or when returning to the MainMenu from one of
the option processing programs. At all other times you may remove the
program diskette and replace it with a data diskette. The system will let
you know when it is necessary to put the program diskette back on that
drive. When you are using the file update program, MainMenu option F1,
you should be careful never to remove a data diskette from either drive
until you have closed the files, or returned to the MainMenu program, or
have been told by the system to put the program diskette in the default
drive.
I hope you enjoy using the programs. Please let me know if you have any
problems or if you have suggestions for improvement.