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1992-05-14
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26KB
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495 lines
(1) The contents of this file:
Portions Copyright 1992 Bryan E. Taylor
All Rights Reserved General Technical Data Restricted
Mailing Address: 4212 Greenlawn
Flint MI 48504 USA
Installation Instructions:
Single and dual floppy disk drive systems:
1. Get a COMPLETELY blank formatted floppy disk
{360K MS-DOS(R) format minimum} that is not
write-protected. Consult your DOS documentation
for instructions on formatting floppy disks if
necessary.
2. Start up {"boot"} your IBM PC or compatible computer
from a separate DOS disk or a "bootable" hard disk
{if any}.
3. Put the disk containing DSKMLR11.EXE in the computer's
emptied "A" drive.
4. Put the blank formatted disk in the computer's
emptied "B" drive {if any}.
5. Type "copy a:dskmlr11.exe b:dskmlr11.exe" at the "A>"
DOS prompt and press the enter key. Do not type in
the " 's that enclose the command you give to DOS to
copy DSKMLR11.EXE to the floppy disk in the "B"
drive. Single drive users will have to switch disks
when instructed to do so by DOS {DO NOT INSERT THE
WRONG DISK AT THE WRONG TIME! (put a write protect
tab on the original disk containing DSKMLR11.EXE to
avoid this problem)}.
6. Type "a:" and press the enter key.
7. Put disk with the one file DSKMLR11.EXE in the
emptied "A" drive.
Hard disk drive systems:
1. Start up {"boot"} your IBM PC or compatible computer
from a separate DOS disk or a "bootable" hard disk
{if any}.
2. Put the disk containing DSKMLR11.EXE in the computer's
emptied "A" drive.
3. Type "c:" and press the enter key at the DOS prompt
to change to the hard disk drive {hard disk drive C
assumed, substitute the letter assigned to your hard
disk drive if needed}.
4. Type "cd\" and press the enter key.
5. Type "md dskmlr" and press the enter key. I assume
this subdirectory doesn't allready exist on your
hard disk. If it does, skip this step.
6. Type "copy a:dskmlr11.exe c:\dskmlr\dskmlr11.exe"
and press the enter key.
7. Type "cd dskmlr" and press the enter key.
Startup Instructions:
Type "dskmlr11" and press the enter key to see program
instructions, quick-start instructions, disclaimer, and
licensing and distribution information (see below {it
has been reformatted}).
(2) usage is:
DSKMLR11
DSKMLR11 /MENU[C]
DSKMLR11 MLR ADR|SRT OUT
where:
/MENU[C] - enter interactive mode
[with CGA "snow" checking]
MLR - disk filename of diskette mailer template
ADR|SRT - disk filename of (sorted) mailing address data
OUT - filename of output file for the diskette mailers
{CON=screen | PRN=printer | NUL=no output |
valid disk filename}
{all three filenames must be different}
DISKMAILER 1.1 will not overwrite an existing file on
disk when making mailers
DISKMAILER with no command line parameters prints this
text
If a (disk) eror occurs while processing, DISKMAILER 1.1
will print a helpful eror message and continue or exit
if in command line mode.
Quick-start instructions for those who want to use this
program right away: To use this program: 1)Copy this
program onto an empty formatted disk or into an empty
subdirectory of a hard disk (e.g.
A>copy A:DSKMLR11.EXE B:DSKMLR11.EXE{enter}
OR
C>md DSKMLR{enter}
C>copy A:DSKMLR11.EXE C:\DSKMLR\DSKMLR11.EXE{enter}).
2)At the DOS prompt, "unpack" the "files" in DSKMLR11.EXE
(e.g. A>B:{enter} B>DSKMLR11 /MENU{enter}
OR
C>cd DSKMLR{enter}
C>DSKMLR11 /MENU{enter}
then press the U key). 3)Press E to edit or use a
separate text editor or word processor program that can
save files in "straight" ASCII format to modify the
files DSKMLR11.TEM and DSKMLR11.ADR to your liking for
the software program distribution diskettes you intend
to distribute (see DSKMLR11.TEM and DSKMLR11.ADR for
information you can use when editing {and later saving}
these files). 4)Print out the diskette mailers on the
printer {first make sure there is enough paper and the
printer is ready or your system may "freeze" up!} with
DISKMAILER's "print" cmd (e.g.
B>DSKMLR11 DSKMLR11.tem DSKMLR11.adr prn{enter}
OR
C>DSKMLR11 DSKMLR11.tem DSKMLR11.adr prn{enter})
or press Ctrl-QG in the built-in editor to access this
feature. 5)Put the diskette mailers together using:
scissors or HUNT's X-ACTO(R) knife (use with care),
glue stick {such as FaberCastell(R)'s UHU stic color
Glue Stick}, transparent adhesive tape {such as 3M's
SCOTCH(R) brand MAGIC(TM) Tape}, and your formatted
software program distribution disks according to the
assembly instructions contained in the DSKMLR11.TEM
file. Apply postage and...
YOUR SOFTWARE PROGRAM DISTRIBUTION DISKS ARE NOW READY
TO BE MAILED!
(3) DISCLAIMER
BRYAN E. TAYLOR ("THE AUTHOR") MAKES NO WARRANTIES
WHATSOEVER ON THIS SOFTWARE AND THE "FILES" CONTAINED
THEREIN ("THIS PROGRAM"). ALTHOUGH EVERY EFFORT HAS
BEEN MADE BY THE AUTHOR TO MAKE THIS PROGRAM AS ERROR
FREE AS POSSIBLE, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WHATSOEVER
SHALL THE AUTHOR BE HELD LIABLE FOR ANY AND ALL DAMAGES
INCURRED BY YOU RESULTING FROM THE USE OR INABILITY TO
USE THIS PROGRAM
SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT
The author retains any and all copyright rights to this
program. You are allowed to use this program as long as
needed to determine if this program is a valuable
addition to your software library. You may make as many
copies of this program as you need for your personal
use. You may use this program on more than one computer
provided there is no way it will be used on more than
one computer at the same time. If you need to use this
program on more than one computer at the same time,
please refer to the site license agreement "file" that
can be "unpacked" from this program.
If you find this program a valuable addition to your
software library, may I encourage you to register your
copy? Your registration will entitle you to receive one
free copy of the next version on DISKMAILER when it is
ready that is "preregistered" for the number of users/
computers previously registered. Thank you for
your consideration, Bryan E. Taylor
4212 Greenlawn
Flint MI 48504 USA
(4) SOFTWARE DISTRIBUTION AGREEMENT
Bryan E. Taylor ("the author") grants permission for
this program to be copied and made available for
distribution to others. If any fee is charged, it must
be no more than 20.00(U.S. FUNDS) and must be specified
as "materials,shipping, and handling". This program
must be clearly identified as shareware in any media
this program is distributed or cataloged in and that an
additional fee must be paid for continued use of this
program. Any foreign/domestic software distributor,
including but not limited to electronic bulletin board
services, computer clubs, and software disk
distributors, must distribute this program according to
the following rules: 1)The distributor must stop
distributing this program upon written notification from
the author. 2)This program must not be modified in any
way although additional files may be added to the
distribution disks this program is distributed on.
3)This program may be compressed for space using any
data compression utility program provided that said
program and its instructions for its operation and use
is available for distribution to those who receive this
program. 4)The distributor must correctly use and
identify any trademarks that may be contained in this
program. 5)Provide the author with written notification
and a software catalog, if available, containing a
listing of this program as shareware and that it is
available for distribution to others. 6)The distributor
must forward any correspondence they receive concerning
this program to the author. 7)Any foreign/domestic
software distributor, please contact author about any
program where registered copies of this program can be
offered for sale to others.
How to use DISKMAILER 1.1:
1. Create your working, error-free, software program
distribution disk and duplicate it as often as
necessary by using the DOS commands COPY or DISKCOPY
(use with care). Consult your DOS documentation for
instructions for using these commands.
2. Type "DSKMLR11 /MENU" or "DSKMLR11 /MENUC" at the
DOS prompt and press the enter key.
3. Press the letter of the menu choice you want to make.
(5) E - Enter the built-in editor.
Use the buit-in editor to modify the .TEM and/or
.ADR and/or .SRT file(s) to your liking for the
software program distribution disks you intend to
distribute.
Feel free to use the built-in editor (in overwrite
mode) to "fill out" the DSKMLR11.REG and/or
DSKMLR11.LIC file(s) if you are registering this
program with the author.
The following editor commands are available and
based on those found in MICROPRO INTERNATIONAL's
WORDSTAR(R) word processing program:
{e.g. ^QB means hold down the Ctrl key and type Q
then B and release the Ctrl key}
^E-cursor up a line
^X-cursor down a line
^S-cursor left one character
^D-cursor right one character
^A-cursor left one word {series of nonblank chars}
^F-cursor right one word {series of nonblank chars}
^W-cursor to begining of line
^Z-cursor to end of line
^R-cursor up 14 lines
^C-cursor down 14 lines
^T-cursor up to first line of file
^V-cursor down to last line of file
^Y-shell to operating system
^P-enter ASCII character to left of cursor
{or use the hold Alt-type keypad ASCII code-release Alt
method}
the character may be ignored by the program for good
reason
^B-toggle insert/overwrite modes
^G-deleting character at cursor and linebreaks
backspace key-deleting characters and linebreaks
enter key-goto next line and inserting linebreaks
any other key presses will appear on the screen
as characters to the left of the cursor or be
ignored by the program for good reason
Esc-leave the editor and return to the menu
{confirmation is requested}
^QB-goto block begin ^QP-goto line
^QK-goto block end ^QG-print items from .TEM file
^QD-line delete ^QR-show .ADR/.SRT record
line as an address
for the .TEM items
^QI-line insert in output window
^QA-find(/replace) ^I-display editor commands
in output window
^U-display editor commands
in output window
(6) ^KB-set block begin ^KK-set block end
A marked block has its starting and ending
lines displayed on the status line
^KC-copy block ^KR-read block
^KV-move block ^KW-write block
^KY-delete block ^KL-load file
^KU-unmark block ^KS-save file
U - Unpack built-in files to the current disk
directory. If an error occurs, the program will
print an error message and return to DOS.
C - Convert an ASCII formatted $M$ file into
ASCII .ADR formatted file(s) (see this command
for more information and instructions for use).
D - Convert a {ASHTON-TATE DBASE(R)} .DBF formatted
$M$ file into ASCII .ADR formatted file(s) (see
this command for more information and
instructions for use).
S - Sort .ADR formatted file(s) by zip/postal code
into .SRT file(s) in the .ADR format (see this
command for more information and instructions
for use). This option must be selected AFTER
a C or D command and BEFORE the .ADR files are
modified so the S command can sort the contents
of the .ADR formatted file(s) properly into the
.SRT file(s).
Q - leave the menu and return to DOS
{confirmation is requested}
When a keypress is requested, type one of the keys
enclosed in parenthesis or the enter key as a
default keypress for the first choice:
Confirm block delete (Y)es/(N)o?
{press Y for yes or N for no}
Is this string correct [cr]|(Y)es/(N)o?
{press enter key or Y for yes or N for no}
4. Make sure that your printer:
1. Is connected to your computer.
2. Is turned on.
3. Is "on line" (ready to print information it
receives from the computer).
4. Has enough paper available to it to print the
number of items "tagged" for printing in the
DSKMLR11.ADR file. Otherwise, your system may
"freeze" up if the printer runs out of paper while
printing the items!
(7) 5. Type "DSKMLR11 DSKMLR11.tem DSKMLR11.adr prn" and
press the enter key at the DOS prompt (or use the
^QG command in the built-in editor) to print the
desired items on the printer. Make sure that the
paper in the printer does not jam while printing or
your system may "freeze" up if the paper jams in the
printer while printing the items!
6. When you see the DOS system prompt (or the program
gives you an "OPERATION SUCCESSFUL" message) and the
printer stops printing, put the printed items together
using the printed output, scissors/HUNT's
X-ACTO(R) knife, glue, adhesive tape, software program
distribution disks, and postage {if needed} according
to the assembly instructions originally contained in
the DSKMLR11.TEM file.
7. Your software program distribution disks are now
ready to be mailed! Take your completed disk
mailers to the post office and go inside during
normal business hours. Give your completed disk
mailers to a postal clerk at the customer service
counter for mailing.
Note: Repeat steps 1 to 7 as needed for the different
kinds of software program distribution disks you
intend to distribute using DISKMAILER 1.1 And your
postal service.
Other useful information for DISKMAILER 1.1 Users:
- IMPORTANT! DISKMAILER must use bonafide .TEM and .ADR
files when generating disk mailers or the output will
be unpredictable! Print the disk mailers to the
screen (DISKMAILER output "file" of "con") to be sure
the expected output that appears on the screen will
appear on the paper when printed by the printer (the
first line of certain pages will be "crooked" due to
the output printing status that is printed on the
screen as the mailers are printed). The status
information is updated on the screen for every line in
the .ADR/.SRT file that is read and for every item in
the mailer template file that is printed.
- For "unattended" operation, The program can be used in
batch files with 0 or 3 parameters and will return an
errorlevel of 1 if an error occured else 0.
- Feel free to print "dummy" disk mailers with their
assembly instructions intact to get practice putting
them together.
- Print out and put together the quick-reference disk
jacket in the DSKMLR11.REF file if you always want
to have the program instructions handy for the floppy
disk with the DSKMLR11.EXE program on it.
(8) - Rename DSKMLR11.TEM and DSKMLR11.ADR to any valid
filename of your liking or create new ones. Just be
sure that the names of the disk mailer template and
mailing address files are the first two of the three
filenames given on the command line of the program
(or the first two filenames specified for a ^QG
command in the built-in editor) when it is run to
create disk mailers.
- DSKMLR11.EXE will print address label lines up to 41
characters in width. If the label lines are longer
than this, the extra characters are not put into the
disk mailer template when the addresses are put into
the disk mailer template in the appropriate places.
To avoid any problems, use the ^QR command in
program's built-in editor to see how the address will
look when printed. Edit the .ADR/.SRT record lines
and use the ^QR command until the addresses appear the
way you want them to when they are printed or saved to
disk in an output file.
- "Shareware" retailers: kiss those small plastic bags
goodbye and print retail containers for your software
program distribution disks that are LOADED with
information to the potential customer. To do this,
create a dummy address data file that contain enough
copies of the following line for the number of
"retail" disk mailers that you intend to make:
{replace L1-L5 with desired character strings that
do not begin with a ~ character and use the _
character to represent a space in the field and
do not exceed 41 characters in length (use ASCII
characters 32-126 for no "surprises" when template
items are printed on the printer)}
* ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ L5 L4 L3 L1 L2 ~ ~
if DISKMAILER 1.1 uses these lines as "addresses", the
result is that the above strings are printed in the
rectangular areas where the $ character is in the disk
mailer template file. Therefore, you can edit a .ADR
and .TEM file to use these blanks areas when creating
your "retail" disk mailers. Be sure to confine the text
that you type into lines 1 through 116 of your "retail"
disk mailer template file between the innermost right
and left line of |'s on those lines. Edit lines 233
through 290 of the "retail" disk mailer template to
create the desired floppy disk jacket and label for
each of your "retail" software program distribution
disks. After putting your "retail" disk mailers
together, you can use a hole punch to punch a hole in
the middle of one of the glue margins so the "retail"
disk mailers can be hung on a pegboard.
(9) - COMDEX booth operators: you can use the technique
described above to create disk mailers you can send to
the contacts you make at the COMDEX from .TEM/.ADR files
edited as such. Pre-print a sufficient supply of disk
mailers that equal the supply of software program
distribution disks that you will take with you to the
COMDEX. As you make contacts who would be interested
in receiving your software, you can put a disk mailer
together to send to them when things are slow and no
one is at your booth. At the end of the day...
Your software program distribution disks are now
ready to be mailed! Take your completed disk
mailers to the post office and go inside during
normal business hours. Give your completed disk
mailers to a postal clerk at the customer service
counter for mailing.
- "Inter-office" ware: office employees can "mail" their
disks to others in the office by using the company's
inter-office mail system. Below is a sample line from
an .ADR file that is edited as such (it is printed
on more than one line below so it can be seen on the
page without causing "wraparound" if this file is
printed to the printer with a DOS command
[e.g. type "copy DSKMLR11.doc prn" and press the enter
key at the DOS prompt]):
* ~ ~ ~ {USEFUL_INFO} {USEFUL_INFO} {USEFUL_INFO}
ROOM_505 6TH_FLOOR ACCOUNTING_DEPT. EMUP AD
HEAD_ACCOUNTANT
- Are the possible uses for DISKMAILER "endless"? These
were the uses I could come up with. Please use the
DSKMLR11.RMK file to share with me any other ways you
use this program for possible inclusion in this area
of the documentation file for future versions of
DISKMAILER.
Acknowledgments
Thanks to:
Jim Hood for allowing me to use part of his $M$ shareware
software package in this program.
You the user for using DISKMAILER 1.1.
Please copy and share DSKMLR11.EXE with others.
(10) Version summary
1.0 - Initial pre-release evaluation version, command line only
version.
1.1 - Initial general release version. Made the
following improvements to the previous version:
- Added a simple menu system.
- Improved the data compression technique for the
"internal files".
- Added a built-in editor and "point and shoot"
file selecting system.
- Added 3 routines for data conversion and sorting
that are accessed from the program's menu.
- Can be run from the command line like
version 1.0