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________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 3: The Home Pad 55 ________________________________________________________________________ CHAPTER 3: THE HOME PAD At one level, the Home pad is the control center for all the work you do with HyperPAD. At another level, the Home pad is nothing more than a collection of buttons sitting beneath the question "What would you like to do?" The answers to that question are what this chapter is all about. To find the answers, we have to look more closely at those buttons and where they can take you. ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ **** The Printed Documentation has a picture or screen shot here **** │ │ │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ You will recall that many buttons are navigation devices that can transport you from where you are to where you want to go. What makes the Home pad so special--what makes it, in fact, your gateway to HyperPAD-- is that it brings together on a single page the buttons that can take you to all of HyperPAD's major functions. ________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 3: The Home Pad 56 ________________________________________________________________________ You answer the question "What would you like to do?" by selecting one of the Home pad's six main buttons and letting it take you to where you can perform the operation you're interested in, which could include any of the following: 0 Running a program that's outside the HyperPAD environment 0 Managing files that are on your disks 0 Running a DOS command 0 Going to a pad to perform an action 0 Customizing HyperPAD to suit your personal needs 0 Learning about HyperPAD In this chapter, we'll journey to each of these destinations and see what you can do once you get there. But before we depart, let's give a bit of thought to the return trip. After all, whenever you travel, it's comforting to know how to get Home again! So in the accompanying table, we've summarized the techniques you learned in Chapter 1 for reaching the Home pad from anywhere in HyperPAD. Action: Result: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Press the F5 key. Retraces your steps through the pages you just viewed, one by one--even if those pages are in several different pads. Press ALT+F5. Takes you to the Home pad. Select the Home button Takes you to the Home pad. Select the Home command Takes you to the Home pad. from the Go menu. ________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 3: The Home Pad 57 ________________________________________________________________________ CUSTOMIZING HYPERPAD Let's start by selecting the Customize HyperPAD button. Even though this isn't the first button on the Home pad, there are a couple of reasons why it's a good place to begin our journey. What you'll learn in this section not only could keep you from getting into trouble with HyperPAD but will also come in handy later on, when we discuss one of the functions you can perform with the Programs pad. ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ **** The Printed Documentation has a picture or screen shot here **** │ │ │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ In addition to a text box for your name, the Customize HyperPAD screen, shown here, displays three columns of buttons--the first for setting the user level, the second for activating or deactivating certain HyperPAD features, and the third for choosing which pad appears when you start HyperPAD. In the following subsections, we'll take a closer look at exactly what each of these controls allows you to do. SETTING THE USER LEVEL The user level refers to the range of capabilities presently available to you while working with HyperPAD. You can choose only one option from this group. As soon as you select an option, the previously selected option is automatically unselected. With the user level set to browsing, you can manage files, run DOS commands, and launch programs. You can also open up pads, operate their ________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 3: The Home Pad 58 ________________________________________________________________________ working parts, read the information in the pads, and use the information already entered there to print reports and labels. But you can't perform many of the more advanced HyperPAD features. When the user level is raised from browsing to typing, you retain all the capabilities you had at the browsing level and also gain the ability to add text to fields and manipulate text in fields. When you first start working with HyperPAD, the user level is set to typing. The remaining three user levels (painting, authoring, and scripting) enable you to perform increasingly sophisticated operations with HyperPAD, such as would be required to redesign existing pads or develop new pads. Since you'll hardly ever need the more advanced user levels just to operate the pads that come with HyperPAD, we suggest that you keep your user level set at typing for now. That way, you won't be able to make any drastic changes that could accidentally damage your pads. (If you think you might be interested in using some of HyperPAD's design features, Part 2 of the HyperPAD User's Guide, "Designing with HyperPAD," discusses the more advanced user levels and the capabilities that come with them.) When we describe how to perform those very few operations covered in Part 1 of the User's Guide for which you do need a higher user level, we'll remind you to reset the user level temporarily for that purpose. You should be aware that raising the user level causes additional menus to appear and makes some of the menus you're familiar with expand to include additional commands. These extra menus and commands are used almost exclusively for redesigning existing pads and developing new pads, so don't worry about them when they appear. As soon as you finish the operation that requires the higher user level and reset your user level to typing, they'll disappear. SELECTING OPTIONS The Options column contains three buttons used to control the display of the status bar and tool box, as well as determine how frequently HyperPAD saves your work during a session. THE STATUS BAR OPTION If you select the Status bar option, the status bar is displayed at the bottom of your HyperPAD screen instead of the message line. Even if you turn the status bar off during a particular HyperPAD session (either by ________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 3: The Home Pad 59 ________________________________________________________________________ selecting the Status Bar command from the Workspace menu or by pressing ALT+SPACE, which toggles both the status bar and the menu bar on and off), the status bar reappears once you restart your system or reenter HyperPAD after exiting and returning to DOS. THE TOOL BOX OPTION The tool box is a feature that can be operated with a mouse at the painting and authoring user levels. Since you won't need the tool box just to use the pads that come with HyperPAD (it's only for performing design functions), you should leave this option unselected. THE AUTO SAVE OPTION If you select the Auto save option, HyperPAD saves your work automatically every 30 seconds. If you don't select this option, HyperPAD still saves your work automatically but does not do so as frequently. Lengthening the interval between "saves" may cause HyperPAD to be a bit slower when it does save your work, simply because the longer interval gives you time to accumulate more changes for HyperPAD to save. SETTING STARTUP The options in the third column can be used to control which pad is displayed when you start HyperPAD. The selected pad then appears whenever you first enter HyperPAD from DOS and whenever you reenter HyperPAD after having exited and returned to DOS. The selected pad also appears whenever you first turn on your computer if you allowed Setup to modify your AUTOEXEC.BAT file so that HyperPAD runs automatically every time you start your system. By default, the Home pad is already selected as the startup option. Selecting the second option causes HyperPAD to start at the Programs pad, from which you can launch your other DOS and Microsoft Windows programs. Selecting the File manager option causes HyperPAD to start with the file manager, which, as you'll learn in Chapter 4, you can use to manage your files. For now, you'll probably want to leave the default setting unchanged so that HyperPAD continues to start with the Home pad, since this is the pad you'll be most familiar with after completing this chapter. Later in this chapter you'll learn about running programs, and in Chapter 4 you'll learn about managing files. After you understand those two ________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 3: The Home Pad 60 ________________________________________________________________________ HyperPAD functions better, you might want to come back and select a different startup option. RUNNING A PROGRAM Now that you know what the Customize HyperPAD button can do for you, let's press ESC to leave the Customize HyperPAD screen and return to the Home pad. Then select Run a program, the first button on the Home pad, which takes you to the following pad. ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ **** The Printed Documentation has a picture or screen shot here **** │ │ │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ In this section, you'll learn not only how to launch the programs on your hard disk but how to perform maintenance functions on the Programs list, such as editing program information, scanning your drives for additional programs not shown, adding programs, and creating buttons to launch programs on the list. RUNNING A PROGRAM FROM THE PROGRAMS LIST Do you remember running the Setup pad before you started to use HyperPAD? Well, one of the purposes of Setup was to let HyperPAD scan your hard disk for programs it recognizes--programs that you might later want to launch from HyperPAD. After Setup scans your disk, the Programs list box displays an alphabetized list of those programs. ________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 3: The Home Pad 61 ________________________________________________________________________ You can launch any of the programs on this list by highlighting the program name with the keyboard and pressing ENTER or by pointing to the program name with the mouse and double-clicking the left mouse button. If HyperPAD knows enough about the program you're launching to make a guess about the type of work file the program uses, it presents a dialog box that asks "Load a work file?," to which you can reply <<Yes>>, <No>, or <Cancel>. If you select <No> (or if the "Load a work file?" dialog box doesn't appear), HyperPAD runs your program alone, without a work file. If you select <Cancel>, HyperPAD returns you to the Programs page without launching the program. But if you answer the question "Load a work file?" by selecting <<Yes>>, HyperPAD asks you which work file you'd like to load by presenting the Work File dialog box, shown here. ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ **** The Printed Documentation has a picture or screen shot here **** │ │ │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ By entering the right information into this dialog box, you can use HyperPAD to save yourself the time and trouble of remembering how to load a work file for the program you've chosen. To use this dialog box, type the drive, directory, and filename of the work file you'd like to load in the Work filename text box. If you don't happen to remember all the vital statistics, you can also fill in this text box by selecting the filename from the Files list box. ________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 3: The Home Pad 62 ________________________________________________________________________ If the desired work file already appears in the Files list box, here's how to tell HyperPAD to load it. To load a work file that appears in the Files list box: 1. TAB to the Files list box. 2. Use the up and down arrow keys to highlight the work file that you want to load. 3. Press ENTER or select <<Ok>>. HyperPAD loads the selected work file and runs the program you want. You can also load a work file that appears in the Files list box by pointing to it with the mouse and double-clicking the left mouse button. If the desired work file is on another drive, use the following procedure to view the contents of a different drive. To change drives: 1. TAB to the Other drives & directories list box. 2. Use the up and down arrow keys to highlight the drive that you want to view. 3. Press ENTER or select <<Ok>>. You can also change drives by pointing to the desired drive with the mouse and double-clicking the left mouse button. If the work file you want is located on the drive whose contents you're currently viewing but is in a different directory, here's how to view the contents of the desired directory. To change directories: 1. TAB to the Other drives & directories list box. 2. Use the up and down arrow keys to highlight the desired directory. If you want to view the contents of the parent directory, select the ". ." choice in the Other drives & directories list box. This moves you up one level in the directory hierarchy. 3. When the directory you want is highlighted, press ENTER. ________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 3: The Home Pad 63 ________________________________________________________________________ You can also change directories by pointing to the desired directory (or to the ". ." choice) with the mouse and double-clicking the left mouse button. Once the desired filename appears in the Files list box, load the file as described above. Assuming you do run a program (either with or without a work file), HyperPAD gets out of your way by shrinking down to 3K of memory while the other program is running. When you exit from the selected program, HyperPAD reloads and returns you to the Programs pad. SCANNING YOUR DRIVES FOR ADDITIONAL PROGRAMS Suppose you go to the Programs pad with high hopes of launching a program that you know is on one of your drives, only to find that the program doesn't appear on the Programs list. Why not? When HyperPAD last scanned your hard disk, it didn't recognize your program, either because the program hadn't been installed on your hard disk yet, or because it was located on a remote drive on a network file server, or because HyperPAD simply doesn't have the information it needs to launch your program successfully. You'll have to give HyperPAD a chance to scan each drive where such changes have occurred and update its Programs list accordingly. To do this, select Misc. from the command line (ALT+4) and then select the Scan for programs button from the screen that appears. HyperPAD displays a list of drives, from which you can choose the drive you want scanned. You can select a network drive if you wish, but be aware that network drives can have enormous capacity, leading to a time-consuming scan. HyperPAD then scans the selected drive for programs it recognizes that don't already appear in the Programs list box. If it finds any, the new program names are added to your Programs list, and the list is automatically realphabetized. ________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 3: The Home Pad 64 ________________________________________________________________________ ADDING PROGRAMS AND EDITING PROGRAM INFORMATION Suppose you want to run a program that doesn't appear on your Programs list and you come up empty-handed after scanning for additional programs? Perhaps the program you're trying to run isn't one that HyperPAD recognizes. To add a program to your Programs list, select the Add command (ALT+2) from the Programs screen's command line. The Add New Program dialog box, shown here, appears. ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ **** The Printed Documentation has a picture or screen shot here **** │ │ │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ To fill out this dialog box, you can use the same procedures you learned above for filling out the Work File dialog box. After you select a program filename, HyperPAD presents a dialog box that asks "Would you like to edit the program description and run parameters?" If you answer <No>, HyperPAD simply adds the program to your Programs list and realphabetizes the list accordingly. If you answer <<Yes>>, HyperPAD presents the Edit Program dialog box, shown here. (This dialog box can also be accessed by highlighting a program name in the Programs list box and then selecting the Edit command [ALT+1] from the command line.) You may want to use this dialog box to give HyperPAD some important information about the program, such as where to find its work files and how to load them. ________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 3: The Home Pad 65 ________________________________________________________________________ ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ **** The Printed Documentation has a picture or screen shot here **** │ │ │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The following subsections explain how to fill out the Edit Program dialog box. If you need further information about what should appear in any of the text boxes in this dialog box, refer to HyperPAD's Help system (which can be accessed by pressing F1). PROGRAM DESCRIPTION The default entry in this text box is the name of the program you selected. If you'd like the program name to read differently when HyperPAD adds it to the Programs list, you have to change it here. PROGRAM PATH This is the location of the program on your hard disk. You cannot edit this information. COMMAND LINE PARAMETERS This text box contains optional instructions that HyperPAD will pass on when it runs the program. For information on your program's command line options, refer to your program's documentation and to HyperPAD's Help system. WORK FILE DIRECTORY AND WORK FILE EXTENSION Earlier in this section, you learned that HyperPAD may ask whether you'd like to load a work file when you run a program. The information you enter in the Work file directory and Work file extension text boxes sets ________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 3: The Home Pad 66 ________________________________________________________________________ the defaults for the Work File dialog box, which appears when you run your program. The Work file directory text box specifies the location where work files associated with the program are stored, and the Work file extension text box shows the default extension for your program's work files. For example, if your Word Perfect documents are located in the C:\WPDOC directory and each uses a .DOC extension, you would enter C:\WPDOC into the Work file directory text box and .DOC into the Work file extension text box. KEYSTROKES In this text box you tell HyperPAD the exact sequence of keystrokes it must use to load a work file from a particular program. You won't ordinarily need to edit this text box. If you ever do, refer to the Help system (F1) for directions. RUN FROM PROGRAM DIRECTORY This option, which is selected by default, causes the program to be run from its own directory. In rare circumstances, you may want to unselect this option, causing the program to be run from the directory in which HyperPAD is located. When you're through editing program information, select Ok to implement your changes and return to the Programs screen, where the new program now appears on the Programs list. In the future, HyperPAD will automatically run the program according to the additions and changes you made. RUNNING A PROGRAM QUICKLY Here's a program-launching shortcut you can use when you want to launch a program that isn't on your Programs list and you don't want to take the time to add the program to the list by scanning your drives for additional programs or using the command line's Add command. To run a program quickly: 1. Select Run Program from the File menu (ALT+F, R). The Run Program dialog box appears. 2. Type the program name, including drive and directory, into the Program to run text box. ________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 3: The Home Pad 67 ________________________________________________________________________ 3. If necessary, select the Keep current directory option if you want the program to be run from the directory in which HyperPAD is located. 4. Select <<Ok>>. Your program runs immediately. You can also access the Run Program dialog box by selecting Misc. from the command line (ALT+4) and then selecting the Quickly run a program button. REMOVING PROGRAMS At some point you may find your Programs list getting a bit cluttered. Perhaps you'd like to tidy up the list by removing the names of seldom- used programs. There are two ways to take unwanted programs off the list. The first way is to use the keyboard or the mouse to highlight the name of a program you want to remove from the list and select Remove from the command line (ALT+ 3). The second way to weed out your Programs list is to "mark" programs for removal by highlighting the name of each unwanted program and either pressing SPACE or clicking the right mouse button. An arrow appears beside each program name as you mark it. Then select the Remove command to take the marked programs off the list. This method is especially handy if you're trying to remove more than one item at a time. The Remove command only takes program names off the Programs list. It does not remove these programs from your hard disk. After removing a name, you could restore it to the list by rescanning the drive on which the program appears or using the Add command (ALT+2). ________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 3: The Home Pad 68 ________________________________________________________________________ CREATING A PROGRAM BUTTON Once you become proficient in working with HyperPAD and begin to explore the other pads that came in your package, you may find yourself wishing you had a button you could use to launch one of the programs in the Programs list from a different pad. In fact, it's easy to create such a button. To create a program-launching button from the Programs pad: 1. Set your user level to Authoring. To do this, go to the Home pad (ALT+F5), select the Customize HyperPAD button, reset the User level control, press ESC to return to the Home pad, and then select the Run a program button to come back to the Programs pad. (If you need more information on resetting the user level, refer to the "Customizing HyperPAD" section earlier in this chapter.) 2. Highlight the program name in the Programs list box. 3. Select Misc. from the command line (ALT+4). 4. When the screen of miscellaneous commands appears, select Create button. HyperPAD presents a dialog box informing you that the button has been created. 5. Use the Open command from the File menu (ALT+F, O) to go to the pad where you want to put the button. 6. When you arrive at the target pad, select Paste Button from the Edit menu (ALT+E, P). 7. To move the button to the desired location, press the arrow keys or point to the button with the mouse and drag it while pressing the left mouse button. 8. To end the button-pasting operation and make the button operative, it's important that you press CTRL+B. This tells HyperPAD that you're through performing design functions, such as pasting buttons, and want to resume using the pads. If you forget this step, your pads will no longer work the way you expect! 9. Set your user level back to Typing. You can now use your new button to launch the program directly from the pad where the button appears. When you exit from the program, HyperPAD ________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 3: The Home Pad 69 ________________________________________________________________________ "remembers" which page that particular program-launching button is on and returns you there. If you ever want to delete a program button, refer to the directions in Chapter 14. GOING TO THE DOS PROMPT If you want to return to the DOS prompt from anywhere in HyperPAD, here's how. To go to the DOS prompt without exiting from HyperPAD: 1. Select Run Program from the File menu (ALT+F, R or ALT+F10). 2. When the Run Program dialog box appears, press ENTER. HyperPAD shrinks down to 3K of memory and sends you to the DOS prompt. When you want to come back to HyperPAD from DOS, type EXIT and press ENTER. HyperPAD reloads and returns you to the page you were from when you selected the Run Program command. You can also return to the DOS prompt by selecting Misc. on the Programs screen's command line (ALT+4) and then selecting the Go to DOS prompt button from the screen of miscellaneous command buttons that appears. When you exit from DOS, HyperPAD reloads and returns you to the Commands screen. ________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 3: The Home Pad 70 ________________________________________________________________________ MANAGING FILES Press ESC to leave the Programs pad and return to the Home pad's Main Menu, where you'll learn about the Manage files button next. This button takes you to HyperPAD's DOS Shell, shown here, which can be used to perform a wide variety of file-management chores. ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ **** The Printed Documentation has a picture or screen shot here **** │ │ │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ For instance, the DOS Shell is where you go if you'd like to view the files in each of your drives and directories; sort and find files; view your files in a tree list format; copy, move, and delete files; and browse the contents of files. But we're going to postpone our tour of the DOS Shell because this is such a powerful pad that we've devoted all of Chapter 4 to explaining the capabilities it gives you. RUNNING A DOS COMMAND To end your brief journey to the DOS Shell and return to the Home pad's Main Menu, press ESC. To proceed to the next stop on our tour, select the Home pad's Run a DOS command button, which is your ticket to the DOS Commands Index screen, shown here. ________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 3: The Home Pad 71 ________________________________________________________________________ ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ **** The Printed Documentation has a picture or screen shot here **** │ │ │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The buttons displayed on the DOS Commands Index screen let you perform some very common DOS operations within HyperPAD, merely by filling out simple dialog boxes. This saves you the trouble of having to exit to DOS, look up the long, complicated, and often nonintuitive syntax for a particular DOS command, and then type it in. But before we check out these buttons, let's take a look at the command line. The purpose of the DOS Prompt command is pretty straightforward. Select it (by pressing ALT+2) if you want to exit to DOS to run a DOS command not available from this page. When you're finished, type EXIT at the DOS prompt and press ENTER to return directly to this page. The Options command (ALT+1), however, requires a bit more explanation. ________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 3: The Home Pad 72 ________________________________________________________________________ In order to carry out a command listed on the DOS Commands Index screen, HyperPAD needs to find the program on your system that runs the command. So if you select a command whose program HyperPAD can't find for some reason, use Options (ALT+1) on the command line to call up the Options dialog box, shown here, which you can use to tell HyperPAD where to look for your DOS programs. ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ **** The Printed Documentation has a picture or screen shot here **** │ │ │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ If necessary, press F1 to access the on-line Help system, which provides instructions for using this dialog box. CHECKING A DISK When working with DOS, you sometimes need to check how much disk space or memory is free. To do this with HyperPAD, select the Check a disk button. This produces a very simple dialog box, in which you can specify the drive you want to check (the Pick button lets you indicate a drive other than the one already shown). Use the two option buttons to tell HyperPAD whether you want it to write corrections to the disk and display a list of the directories it checked. HyperPAD prints out the results in a scrollable field for your review. When you're done, press ESC to close the dialog box. ________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 3: The Home Pad 73 ________________________________________________________________________ FORMATTING A DISK HyperPAD makes it easy for you to prepare a disk for use. Just select HyperPAD's Format a disk button, which brings up a simple dialog box. Fill it out by picking which drive to format, specifying what type of disk you're formatting, and indicating whether you'd like to make the disk bootable and whether you want to assign a volume label to the newly formatted disk. Close the dialog box by pressing ESC when you're through. COPYING A DISK A really simple dialog box appears when you select the Copy a disk button. All you have to specify is which drive your source disk is in and which drive your target disk is in. When you're done, press ESC. BACKING UP FILES You can also use HyperPAD to run the DOS Backup command, a helpful DOS command that receives little use, perhaps because of its difficult syntax. HyperPAD merely asks you to fill out a simple dialog box and then creates the proper syntax and runs the Backup command for you. To run the DOS Backup command, select the Backup files button. A dialog box appears that lets you tell HyperPAD the location of the files you want to back up (use the Pick button if you prefer to select this information from a tree list rather than type it in) and the drive to which you want to back up the specified files (again, use the Pick button to choose a drive other than the one shown). With the option buttons in this dialog box, you can tell HyperPAD whether to include subdirectories, back up only changed files, overwrite duplicate files, or back up only those files created since a particular date or time. The default settings for this dialog box are for files to be backed up to the A drive and for the Include subdirectories and Overwrite duplicate files options to be selected, with the remaining options unselected. To instantly restore the default settings, select the Set Default button. Once you've finished backing up your files, press ESC to exit from the dialog box. ________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 3: The Home Pad 74 ________________________________________________________________________ RESTORING FILES The Restore files button takes you to a dialog box that you can fill out to tell HyperPAD the location of the files you want to restore and where you want them restored to. The two Pick buttons are used to change the source drive that's specified and to call up a tree list from which you can select the target drive and directory. With the option buttons, you can control whether subdirectories are included and whether HyperPAD prompts you before overwriting files. Press ESC to close this dialog box once you're done. SETTING THE DATE AND TIME Whenever you ask DOS to display a list of the files in your directories, it also shows the date and time when each file was created or when it was last modified. In order for this information to be accurate, your personal computer's clock and calendar must be set properly. The Set date and time button gives you an easy way to reset DOS's clock and calendar. After you've reset the date and/or time, exit from the dialog box by pressing ESC. GOING TO A PAD Once you're through exploring the DOS Commands pad, press ESC to get back to the Home pad's Main Menu, where we'll be selecting the Go to a pad button next. This button takes you from the Home pad to the screen shown here. ________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 3: The Home Pad 75 ________________________________________________________________________ ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ **** The Printed Documentation has a picture or screen shot here **** │ │ │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ As you can see, its buttons hint at a variety of intriguing capabilities. Just to whet your appetite, let's take a brief peek at the pads you can access by selecting these buttons. 0 Phone: Enables you to create a flexible, easily accessible database of names, addresses, and phone numbers. Selected information from this database can also be used to print labels. You can access the Phone Dialer pad and the Track Call pad from within the Phone pad (as well as from the Pads screen) to automatically dial phone numbers in your database and record histories of your calls to people listed there. 0 Phone Dialer: Dials calls for you if your computer is connected to a Hayes-compatible modem. This pad is accessible not only from the Pads screen but from within the Phone pad, the Take Message Pad, and the Track Call pad, too. Phone Dialer allows you to automatically dial a phone number recorded on the current page of those pads. 0 Take Message: Lets you quickly and easily record phone messages on-line and then print them out. If you later decide you want to call the individual who left the message, you can access the Phone Dialer pad from within the Take Message pad and place that call automatically. ________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 3: The Home Pad 76 ________________________________________________________________________ 0 Track Call: Enables you to create (and print out) an ongoing history of your calls, both to individuals listed in your Phone pad and to others. A timer feature is included, which records the starting time and elapsed time for each call you make. The Phone Dialer pad is linked to the Track Call pad and can be used to automatically place your calls and start the timer. 0 Project: Helps you coordinate and monitor the progress of team projects by keeping track of who's supposed to do what by when. 0 Notes: Enables you to create a database of notes, which can be searched for specified material, and also offers the capability of printing out the notes, importing text into the notes from files created in other programs, and exporting text from the notes to files in other programs. 0 Calculator: Offers, in addition to a regular calculator, specialized calculators for performing financial, scientific, programming, and time computations. 0 Expenses: Consists of a spreadsheet that business travelers can use to record--and automatically total--daily and weekly expenses, which can then be printed out. 0 Letter Writer: Gives you the capability of creating and printing form letters, which you can automatically address to selected recipients from your Phone pad's database. 0 Daily Planner: Offers vastly more capacity and flexibility than conventional printed planners. This on-line appointment book's navigation devices let you record and easily access appointments, reminders, and notes on pages that are dated months or even years from now. Used on a laptop, this planner can go wherever you go, keeping you on time and up to date. 0 Index Cards: Offers the on-line equivalent of a very large and flexible stack of index cards, with which you can create a database of information that can be searched, sorted, and printed. 0 Label Printer: Lets you create a database of labels and then print either the entire database or selected items from it onto a wide variety of standard Avery labels or onto custom-designed labels of your choice. 0 Network: Lets you send messages and modify print queues if you're running HyperPAD on a Novell network. ________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 3: The Home Pad 77 ________________________________________________________________________ 0 Computer Info: Automatically records important information about your system, such as its configuration, memory, and settings; allows you to enter general information about your computer; and lets you obtain a printout of this information. 0 Script Printer: Enables users who are working with PADtalk, HyperPAD's scripting language, to print out specified scripts created in HyperPAD. 0 F/X Show: Lets you view graphic slide shows and animation using the FXSHOW.EXE program. (This pad is geared toward users who want to operate HyperPAD in conjunction with Show Partner F/X, another Brightbill-Roberts program). 0 Puzzle: Provides a bit of diversion whenever you're in need of a break! 0 Ideas: Consists of a storehouse of navigational devices, musical and visual special effects, and working parts that you can copy and incorporate into the pads you create. (This pad is geared toward users who want to work with HyperPAD's design features.) One enjoyable way to familiarize yourself with what HyperPAD has to offer is to spend some time browsing through the pads that can be accessed via the Pads screen. And if you ever lose your way, just remember to press ALT+F5 to return to the Home pad. LEARNING ABOUT HYPERPAD The HyperPAD Tutorial is your destination when you select the Home pad's Learn about HyperPAD button. You could either select this button and go through the Tutorial right now or come back to it whenever you like. If you do decide to explore the Tutorial at this point, you may want to refer to Chapter 5, which explains in detail how to get the most out of this on-line, interactive tour of HyperPAD. ________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 3: The Home Pad 78 ________________________________________________________________________ CONCLUSION Having read this chapter, you should recognize the Home pad as your gateway to HyperPAD--the point of access for all of HyperPAD's major functions. More specifically, this means you should understand where the buttons on HyperPAD's Home pad can take you and what you can do once you get there. You should know quite a bit about the Customize HyperPAD button (which takes you to a dialog box that lets you control important aspects of how HyperPAD works), the Run a program button (which takes you to where you can launch programs and perform related chores), and the Run a DOS command button (which takes you to where you can carry out some common DOS commands in a hassle-free way). And although you probably won't have an in-depth understanding of everything that the Manage files button, the Learn about HyperPAD button, and the Go to a pad button enable you to do, you will know that file management and the Tutorial are discussed in detail in Chapters 4 and 5, respectively, and that the Go to a pad button takes you to the Pads screen, from which you can reach many of the pads that come with HyperPAD. Our journey through the Home pad has undoubtedly made you realize just how many other exciting HyperPAD features and capabilities remain to be explored. So now that you know how to use the Home pad to reach those destinations, you can begin taking side trips to additional points of interest!