Business Assistant/Business Assistant.iso/stock/ibmdisk5/smstart3.hlp

Text File | 1992-02-08 | 12KB | 240 lines

TUTORIAL GUIDE PART 1: GETTING STARTED        SM3.02        PAGE 1 OF 11

This tutorial assumes you have already installed the Stock Charting
System on your hard disk, or have made working copy diskettes to use.
It assumes you have already performed the "setup" procedure which tells
the program where to look for your data files.  (See Chapter 2, 3 or 4).
It will take you through a step-by-step familiarization procedure.

Before starting the program, you should make sure your computer's inter-
nal time-of-day clock is properly set.  Most IBM-compatible computers
have a built-in clock-calendar that does this automatically, but some
8088-based and older machines do not have this feature.  On those mach-
ines, you set the clock-calendar by using the DATE and TIME commands
from DOS (see Chapter 1 or refer to your DOS manual).

Proper setting of the date and time is important, not only for the Stock
Charting System, but also for other programs, for two reasons:  First,
the computer "stamps" with the date and time each file that it writes on
disk.  This is to aid in recognition of different versions of the same
data which may have been updated at different times.  Second, the Stock
Charting System uses the current date from DOS to calculate all dates
that appear in price history files (stock charts).

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The following steps tell you how to start the Stock Charting System,
depending on how it is installed.  If you have installed the batch file
SM3.BAT in the root directory of your C drive, go to step (1).  Other-
wise if you have a hard disk go to step (2).  If you are operating from
floppy disks, go to step (3).  NOTE: In this documentation, the notation
<Enter> means "press the Enter key".

1.  Make sure you are in the ROOT directory.  Start the program from the
    DOS prompt C:\> by typing the command SM3 <Enter>.  This should
    automatically load GRAPHICS first, so you will be able to print a
    graph.  You should see the introductory screen.  Press the Enter key
    once.  You should then see the Master Menu.  Go to step (4).









TUTORIAL GUIDE PART 1: GETTING STARTED                      PAGE 3 OF 11

2.  To start the Stock Charting System from DOS, you must first load the
    GRAPHICS program (if you want to print graphs).  You should be able
    to do this by typing GRAPHICS <Enter>.  If you get an error message
    like "command or file not found", you will need to know what direct-
    ory GRAPHICS is in.  In many cases this will be \DOS\ and you should
    type \DOS\GRAPHICS <Enter>.  If all is OK you should see the DOS
    prompt return, with no intervening error message.

2a. Now make the directory which contains the Stock Charting System's
    PROGRAMS the current directory.  If the name of this directory is
    \SM3PROG, type the command CD \SM3PROG <Enter> to do this.  You
    should see the prompt C:\SM3PROG\>.

2b. Type SM3 <Enter>.  You should see the Stock Charting System's intro-
    ductory screen.  Press the Enter key once.  You should then see the
    Master Menu.  Go to Step (4).





TUTORIAL GUIDE PART 1: GETTING STARTED                      PAGE 4 OF 11

3.  This assumes you are operating from floppy disk drive A.  If you are
    operating from B substitute that for A.  You should see the DOS
    prompt A>.  If you do NOT want to print graphs you can skip to (3b).

3a. Insert your DOS diskette in Drive A.  Type GRAPHICS <Enter>.  If you
    see an error message like "command or file not found", try a differ-
    ent DOS diskette (DOS sometimes comes on 2 or 3 diskettes).  Other-
    wise the DOS prompt A> should return with no intervening error mes-
    sage.

3b. Insert the Stock Charting System STARTUP (or only) diskette in Drive
    A.  The STARTUP diskette is the one with SM3.EXE and BRUN30.EXE on
    it.  Type SM3 <Enter>.  In a few seconds the introductory screen
    should appear.

3c. If you have a separate PROGRAM diskette, insert that now in Drive A.
    Press the Enter key. If a few seconds the Master Menu should appear.
    Go to Step 4.



TUTORIAL GUIDE PART 1: GETTING STARTED                      PAGE 5 OF 11

4.  At this point, you should see the Master Menu.

The Stock Charting System consists of several program sections which
perform major functions such as Stock Select or Graphics.  Each program
section has its own menus, which always appear at the bottom of the
screen (except for the Master Menu which occupies the whole screen).

Like its restaurant counterpart, a menu offers a choice of selections.
To make a choice, press the letter key corresponding to the desired
function, such as A for Add/Delete or G for Graphics.  As soon as that
key is pressed, the selection is activated.  The correct program section
is automatically loaded into memory as required, and menu choices permit
switching freely among the functions.  It makes no difference whether
you use uppercase (CAPITAL) letters or lowercase letters.

Each menu has a HELP function.  Just type H to get an explanation of all
the choices offered by that menu.  Each individual HELP function dis-
plays the appropriate user's manual chapter on your video display, one
screenfull at a time.  If you prefer, you can use the printed manual
instead.

TUTORIAL GUIDE PART 1: GETTING STARTED                      PAGE 6 OF 11

The Esc (Escape) key is always active.  You can almost always press the
Esc key to get out of any situation you don't want to be in.  The only
exception would be if that choice might cause you to lose critical data.
All menus have an EXIT function which can be invoked with the X or Esc
key.  From the Master Menu, press Q (for QUIT) or Esc to terminate the
program and go back to DOS.

Some menu functions will first ask you for confirmation of your choice,
in case you press the wrong key.  Type Y for a Yes response or N for a
No response as appropriate.  If you make an invalid response, an error
message will flash on the bottom line until a correct response is
entered.

The Scroll Lock and Caps Lock keys are not used.  The function keys on
the left-hand side or top of the keyboard are not used.

The Num Lock key is needed only once to put the cursor keypad in Numeric
mode.  Most keyboards have an indicator for the Num Lock key, which
lights in numeric mode.  When you press a cursor keypad key, the pro-
grams know by context whether you want "PgUp" or "9", for example.

TUTORIAL GUIDE PART 1: GETTING STARTED                      PAGE 7 OF 11

Let's look at some of the data the program uses, step by step:

1.  Before you can get the Stock Charting System to work, you must tell
    it where your data is.  On the Master Menu below the PATH item, you
    will see inside a solid bar the name of the directory where your
    data should be.  If this name is incorrect, press P and type in the
    correct drive letter and/or sub-directory name, for example B: or
    \PADATA or F:\PERSONAL.  If you have done the "setup" procedure,
    this item should already be correct.  The program will "remember"
    it until you change it again.

2.  From the Master Menu, type S.  This will take you to the Stock
    Select screen.  Try using the up-arrow, down-arrow, PgUp, PgDn,
    Home or End keys to move the selector bar, and select an existing
    stock.  The purpose of this screen is to select a stock (or other
    security type) for making a correction, for entry or "import" of
    HISTORICAL volume and price data, or for graphical analysis.

    NOTE: The entry of CURRENT volume and prices is a different function
    and will be described later.

TUTORIAL GUIDE PART 1: GETTING STARTED                      PAGE 8 OF 11

    What you are looking at is the CATALOG (the file named CATALOG.POR
    on your disk); this is a list of all securities known to the system.
    Before you can enter volume and prices for a security, it must be on
    this list and the CHART CAPACITY (DAYS and/or WEEKS) must show a
    number g