The Business Master (3rd Edition)

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TAPETRAKer A VIDEO TAPE CATALOGING SYSTEM DESIGNED AND WRITTEN BY MOONLITE SOLUTIONS March 9, 1991 (c) Copyright Moonlite Solutions 1990, 1991 All Rights Reserved Worldwide This software and user documentation is protected by both United States copyright law and international treaty provisions. - 1 - TABLE OF CONTENTS ================= Operational Description...................... 3 Disclaimer of Warranty....................... 4 System Information........................... 5 Installation................................. 6 PROGRAM OPERATION ----------------- How to start TAPETRAKer from DOS............. 7 Create New Entries........................... 8 Modify an Entry.............................. 9 List all Entries............................. 10 Search by Title.............................. 11 Search by Category........................... 12 Print Video Tape Report...................... 13 End this Program............................. 14 APPENDIX -------- The Shareware Concept........................ 16 Restricted Permission to Copy................ 18 Glossary of Terms............................ 20 Error Codes and Their Meanings............... 21 Support Policy............................... 24 Order Form................................... 25 User Comment Form............................ 27 - 2 - OPERATIONAL DESCRIPTION ----------------------- This program was designed to provide the following items; 1. To have a list of tapes contents so a manual search of the tape would not have to be done. 2. To provide a listings of favorite weekly TV shows and movies. The basic design of this system is that each video tape in your library be numbered starting at one and going upwards from there. This number will be used to record the program information that is contained on each tape. The TAPETRAKer program and it's documentation are published by: Moonlite Solutions P.O. Box 164 El Paso, IL. 61738 (309) 527-8579 Monday - Friday 6 pm till 9 pm Saturday 1 pm till 9 pm C.S.T. High Quality, Not High Prices! - 3 - DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY ---------------------- MOONLITE SOLUTIONS hereby disclaims all warranties relating to this software (including instructions for its use), whether express or implied, including without limitation any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. MOONLITE SOLUTIONS will not be liable for any special, incidental, consequential, indirect or similar damages due to loss of data or any other reason, even if MOONLITE SOLUTIONS or an agent of MOONLITE SOLUTIONS has been advised of the possibility of such damages. In no event shall MOONLITE SOLUTION's liability for any damages ever exceed the price paid for the license to use the software, regardless of the form of the claim. The person using the software bears the entire risk as to the quality and performance of the software. If the software or written materials are defective, you, and not the author(s), MOONLITE SOLUTIONS or its dealers, distributors, agents or employees, assume the entire cost of all necessary servicing, repair or correction. Neither the authors(s) nor MOONLITE SOLUTIONS nor anyone else who has been involved in the creation, productions, or delivery of this software shall be liable of any direct, indirect, consequential, or incidental damages (including those damages from loss of business profits, business interruption, loss of business information, and the like) arising out of the use or inability to use such software even if MOONLITE SOLUTIONS has been advised of the possibility of such damages. This Disclaimer of Warranty and limitation of liability is governed by the laws of the State of Illinois. - 4 - SYSTEM INFORMATION ------------------ The following files are used during the installation of this program. File Name ------------- README INSTALL.EXE TAPETRAK.RUN TAPETRAK.DOC ORDER.DOC COMMENTS.DOC PRIMER.DOC The file TAPETRAK.RUN will become TAPETR_K.EXE which will be used by a batch file called TAPETRAK.BAT which is created during the installation. The ORDER.DOC is used only if you print the order form from inside of the TAPETRAKer program. All other files are created by using the program these are as follows: TAPETRAK.DAT <-- contains your video titles TAPETRAK.CFG <-- configuration information Each video tape requires 1024 bytes of storage, therefore the number of tapes that can be stored on single diskettes are as follows: --------------------------------------------------- | | 5 1/4" | 360 KB | 350 TAPES (Data only). | | 200 TAPES (if programs are | | included) | | -------+---------+--------------------------------- | | 5 1/4" | 1.2 MB | 999 TAPES (999 is the maximum) | | -------+---------+--------------------------------- | | 3 1/2" | 720 KB | 700 TAPES | | -------+---------+--------------------------------- | | 3 1/2" | 1.44 MB | 999 TAPES (this is that maximum) | | --------------------------------------------------- - 5 - INSTALLATION ------------ To install the TAPETRAKer programs you need to run the program INSTALL, to do this key the word INSTALL from the DOS prompt. We strongly recommend that you take a couple of minutes and read the PRIMER.DOC file. This file contains basic information that you will need to be able to operate this package. The following is the minimum requirements under which this program will operate. 1. DOS Version 2.10 and later. 2. Monochrome, but color is supported. 3. Any parallel printer attached as either LPT1, LPT2 or LPT3. 4. All diskette drives; 360kb, 720kb, 1.2mb and 1.44mb. 5. Hard disk and most network drives are supported. 6. Minimum RAM memory is 256 kb. 7. Free disk or diskette space must be at least 200 kb. - 6 - HOW TO START TAPETRAKer FROM DOS -------------------------------- DISKETTE USERS ============== Insert the diskette with TAPETRAKer installed into the diskette drive, then key TAPETRAK and press ENTER. If you wish to store the data files on a diskette other than the diskette where the programs are installed. Key TAPETRAK B: and press ENTER. B: represents the data diskette. However any valid drive letter could be used. HARD DISK USERS =============== If you allowed the installation program to create the TAPETRAK command into your computer then simply key TAPETRAK and press ENTER. Otherwise you must manually change the default directory to the name you used during the install. Then key TAPETRAK and press ENTER. - 7 - CREATE NEW ENTRIES ------------------ This option will add video tape records to your personal video tape library. If you reached this option in error press ALT & F9 to return to the menu without adding any tapes. Each video tape record consists of nine lines. Each line represents a individual tape segment such as a movie or television show. Each line has three pieces of information. The first is the counter which is a six digit field. Show Title is next and is 55 characters wide. This is followed by a 10 character field called category. Key the beginning counter value and press ENTER. Key the show title and press ENTER. Key any category coding and press ENTER. Continue to complete as many lines as needed for this video tape and press CTRL & ENTER when you are ready to place this information in your video tape database. The following prompt will appear "CREATE ANOTHER (Y/N)". The default is yes, press ENTER and the next tape number will be generated and an empty screen will appear. Otherwise key N and press ENTER, and the menu will be displayed. - 8 - MODIFY AN ENTRY --------------- This option will allow you to alter any of the previous information that you have recorded on a video tape entry. This prompt will appear on the screen "ENTER THE TAPE NUMBER". Key the tape number that you wish to modify and press ENTER. This number must be greater than one and less than or equal to the last tape number added to your database. A screen will be displayed that will allow you to change any of the nine lines of this entry. Press CTRL & ENTER to place the altered information back into the video tape database. If you do not wish save the changes to this record, press ALT & F9. The next prompt is "MODIFY ANOTHER (Y/N)". The default is yes, press ENTER and the you will be asked for the next tape number that you wish to modify. Otherwise key N and the menu will appear. - 9 - LIST ALL ENTRIES ---------------- This feature lists to the video monitor a complete listing of all the tapes in your library by tape number. Once all the information that can be placed on the screen has been displayed you will be asked to press ENTER to continue or press ESC to terminate the listing. Once the listing is complete or if you press ESC the menu will appear. - 10 - SEARCH BY TITLE --------------- This option allows you to search the Program Title fields of the video tape entries. The results of this search can be viewed on the screen or printed to the printer. A window as follows will appear: ENTER THE SEARCH VALUE MATCH ON EXACT CASE ONLY (Y/N) Key the value that you wish to search for and press ENTER. This might be a part of a word, a whole word or several words. As with any type of search the smaller the search value the more matching entries that are likely to be found. Longer search values will generally yield smaller numbers of matching entries. Next key Y to match on exact cases. This is to say that the following three words are all different "The, THE and the". The default is no thereby "The, THE and the" are all equal. Once you press ENTER the process of searching will begin. The time required will be dependent on two things. First the number of tapes in your library and the overall speed of your computer. The process of searching can be interrupted by pressing ESC. Once all the matching entries are found the shows are sorted alphabetically by Program Title and the following screen will be displayed. A TOTAL OF ? ENTRIES MATCHED YOUR SEARCH VALUE SEND THE RESULTS TO THE PRINTER (Y/N) The default is to view the results to the screen, Press ENTER to use this default, otherwise key Y and press ENTER. In either case the tape number, counter and program title will be shown. Once the results have been given the menu will appear. Please note that the sorting method used by this program ignores THE and A in the Program Titles, this is intentional. - 11 - SEARCH BY CATEGORY ------------------ This option allows you to search the Category fields of the video tape entries. The results of this search can be viewed on the screen or printed to the printer. A window as follows will appear: ENTER THE SEARCH VALUE MATCH ON EXACT CASE ONLY (Y/N) Key the value that you wish to search for and press ENTER. This might be a single category or a combination or several category codes. As with any type of search the smaller the search value the more matching entries that are likely to be found. Longer search values will generally yield smaller numbers of matching entries. Next key Y to match on exact cases. This is to say that the following three words are all different "The, THE and the". The default is no thereby "The, THE and the" are all equal. Once you press ENTER the process of searching will begin. The time required will be dependent on two things. First the number of tapes in your library and the overall speed of your computer. The process of searching can be interrupted by pressing ESC. Once all the matching entries are found the shows are sorted alphabetically by Program Title and the following screen will be displayed. A TOTAL OF ? ENTRIES MATCHED YOUR SEARCH VALUE SEND THE RESULTS TO THE PRINTER (Y/N) The default is to view the results to the screen, Press ENTER to use this default, otherwise key Y and press ENTER. In either case the tape number, counter and program title will be shown. Once the results have been given the menu will appear. Please note that the sorting method used by this program ignores THE and A in the Program Titles, this is intentional. - 12 - PRINT VIDEO TAPE REPORT ----------------------- This option allows you to maintain a listing of your video tape library. This listing is in numerical order and contains the Counter, Program Title and Category Codes for each tape. This listing provides a means for the viewer to scan the available titles without having to rummage thru your tapes. This window will be displayed. ENTER STARTING PAGE # ENTER ENDING PAGE # LINE SEPARATION CHARACTER Key the starting page number that you wish to print and press ENTER. This value is remembered from that last value you used. Key the ending page number and press ENTER. A value of 999 is the default and should be changed when you want to stop the printing short of the last page. These two values basically allows you to print any segment of this report any time you chose. Key the line separation character and press ENTER. The initial default value for this is a horizontal bar, ASCII 196. This value produces a nice solid line. However some printers don't respond this way. Which is why this value can be changed. Any change you make to this is remembered. If you press ESC while the report is printing, the report will be abandoned and the menu will appear. - 13 - END THIS PROGRAM ---------------- Take this option to exit the TAPETRAKer software and return to the DOS prompt. - 14 - APPENDIX -------- - 15 - THE SHAREWARE CONCEPT --------------------- User supported software is an method of marketing and distributing computer software based on the following: 1. That the value and utility of software is best assessed by the user on his/her own system. 2. That the creation of personal computer software can and should be supported by the computing community. 3. That copying of programs should be encouraged, rather than restricted. Anyone may legally obtain an evaluation copy of the program from a friend or computer club. After you have had a chance to use and evaluate the program in your own environment, you are trusted to either forward payment to Moonlite Solutions or to discontinue use of the program. Free distribution of software eliminates costs for advertising and copy protection schemes. Users obtain quality software at greatly reduced cost. They can try it out before buying, and do so at their own pace and in the comfort of their own home or office. The best programs will survive, based purely on their quality and usefulness. Shareware is great for companies like us who haven't got the resources to run expensive ad campaigns. Since the software is copied by one person to another there is very little cost of distribution. That's one of the major reasons why we can charge a lot less than the cost of "commercial" software. Shareware is also great for customers like you. You can try out the software before paying for it. We'll know if our software is successful, because only satisfied customers pay for it. The existence of shareware infuses healthy competition in the entire software market, for both price and quality. - 16 - THE SHAREWARE CONCEPT --------------------- Continued Finally, let's consider the distribution houses. They provide a legitimate service, for which they charge a reasonable price. The best houses act as librarians, evaluating and cataloging software. Their cut is far less than the distributor's cut for "commercial" software (they prosper because their volume is bigger). If it weren't for XYZ House, you might never have heard of TAPETRAKer. So we hope you'll be happy with shareware, and actively desire to support it. You'll feel good about promoting a healthy situation for everybody. And you'll encourage the best programmers in the world to keep writing for you, instead of for the big corporations. - 17 - RESTRICTED PERMISSION TO COPY ----------------------------- TAPETRAKer is NOT a public domain program. This software and User's Guide is protected by both United States Copyright Law and international treaty provisions. The software may be used or copied only in accordance with the terms outlined below. LICENSED USERS May treat this software just like a book with the following exception. Moonlite Solutions authorizes you to make archival copies of the software for the sole purpose of backing up your software and protecting yourself from loss. By saying, "just like a book", Moonlite Solutions means that this software may be used by any number of people and may be freely moved from one computer location to another, so long as there is no possibility of it being used at one location while it's being used at another. Just as a book which can't be read by two different people in two different places at the same time, neither can this software be used by two different people in two different places at the same time. UNLICENSED USERS Unlicensed users are granted a 30 day period in which to actively evaluate TAPETRAKer. If after 30 days of active evaluation, unlicensed users should either license TAPETRAKer or stop using it. Active evaluation consists of actually using the software, not just possessing a copy of it. Regardless of whether TAPETRAKer is licensed or not, it may be copied and shared as described below. INDIVIDUALS Individuals are granted permission to freely copy the TAPETRAKer disk for their own evaluation or for others to evaluate, so long as no price or other consideration is charged. - 18 - RESTRICTED PERMISSION TO COPY ----------------------------- Continued COMPUTER CLUBS Computer clubs and other nonprofit organizations are granted permission to freely copy the TAPETRAKer software and share it with their members for the purposes of evaluation, so long as: 1. No price or other consideration is charged. However, a distribution cost may be charged for the cost of the diskette on which this program is supplied, so long as it is not more than US $10 total. This includes shipping, handling, and all other charges. 2. Club members who receive the programs are informed in writing of the user supported concept and encouraged to support it with their payments. 3. The programs and documentation are not modified in any way and are distributed together. BUSINESS USE, PRODUCTIVE USE, INSTITUTIONAL USE Companies, schools, universities, government, and other organizations are granted permission to copy the TAPETRAKer programs for use on other computers and at other locations in the company, so long as either: 1. The registration fee been paid for each and every system on which the program will be used. 2. A Volume License or Educational License has been purchased. Volume Licenses and Educational Licenses are available upon request. - 19 - GLOSSARY OF TERMS ----------------- TAPE NUMBER... is a three digit number that is assigned by the computer each time a video tape is added to your database. Thus the available number range is 001 thru 999. COUNTER... is the counter value that indicate the starting location of the video segment. This field is six digits in length which allows for all types of VCR counter mechanisms. PROGRAM TITLE... is a 55 character value in which you record the video segment title. CATEGORY... is a 10 character field that you can use to categorize your video tapes. The following list contains some suggested category codes. FF - Feature Film WE - Weekly Episode AA - Action Adventure CO - Comedy DC - Documentary DR - Drama ED - Educational HO - Horror MY - Mystery RO - Romance SF - Science Fiction WE - Western NC - No Commercial Interruptions You can use what ever codes you would like since the software won't care. It should be noted that if you use FF as a category code on all major film titles. You can then use the search option to print a alphabetized listing of all the films in your library. - 20 - ERROR CODES AND THEIR MEANINGS ------------------------------ Error 0... UNEXPECTED SYSTEM FAILURE If this error should occur print the screen if possible and make note of what you where attempting to do when it happened. Then contact Technical Support at the enclosed number and report this situation. Error 1... NO MORE SPACE ON THIS DRIVE TO STORE ANY MORE TAPES This error occurs when the TAPETRAK.DAT file can no longer store tape records. The last entry you created was recorded, but no more can be accepted. a) Move the TAPETRAK.DAT to a diskette which has more free space. b) Install tapetrak to a hard disk and copy TAPETRAK.DAT to the hard disk. Error 2... NO MORE ENTRIES CAN BE MADE, 999 IS THE MAXIMUM NUMBER OF TAPES This version of TAPETRAKer has a factory set limit of 999 entries per TAPETRAK.DAT file. Error 3... INTERNAL MEMORY HAS NO MORE SPACE LEFT TO STORE THE MATCHES. Store space is reserved for the tape entries that match you search parameters at program start up. The number of matches that can be stored is primary a factor of the free available memory. a) Try being less general in the search parameters so that fewer entries will match. b) Make more memory available to TAPETRAKer. Remove any un need TSR programs. - 21 - ERROR CODES AND THEIR MEANINGS ------------------------------ Continued Error 4... DEVICE TIMEOUT (LIKELY THE PRINTER IS OFF LINE) The printer is no longer accepting information from the computer. a) Make sure the on line is selected Error 5... DEVICE FAULT (LIKELY THE PRINTER PAPER IS JAMMED) This could also occur when attempting to save information to diskette. a) If printer paper jammed, correct the forms and then press ENTER. b) If a disk drive is the cause reinsert the diskette. Error 6... OUT OF PAPER Insert new paper into the printer and press ENTER to continue printing. Error 7... DISKETTE DRIVE NOT READY, INSERT A DISK. Insert your data diskette back into the diskette drive and press ENTER to retry the operation. Error 8... DEVICE I/O ERROR, IF ITS A DISKETTE USE A NEW ONE. If the device is a diskette replace it with a new diskette. Error 9... DISK MEDIA ERROR, IS ITS A DISKETTE USE A NEW ONE. If the device is a diskette replace it with a new diskette. - 22 - ERROR CODES AND THEIR MEANINGS ------------------------------ Continued Error 92.. NOT ENOUGH FREE SPACE ON THIS DISKETTE. The diskette onto which you wanted to install has less that 150,000 bytes left. Error 93.. NOT ENOUGH FREE SPACE ON THIS DRIVE. The hard disk drive on to which you wanted to install has less that 150,000 bytes left. Error 94.. CURRENT DOS VERSION IS TO LOW. You DOS version is previous to version 2.10. Error 98.. NOT ENOUGH FREE RAM MEMORY. You must have at least 256,000 bytes of free memory available to run this program. - 23 - SUPPORT POLICY -------------- Moonlite Solutions supports TAPETRAKer by either mail or phone. If you are having a problem installing or using this program, please call us we would like to help. Our policy is to provide support regardless of registration status. It is our hope that in not restricting the support you will find us to be professional and pleasant to work with. Moonlite Solutions will return phone calls only if you invite use to call you collect. We reserve the right to amend this policy at any time without any written or prior notice. Contact us at: Moonlite Solutions P.O. Box 164 El Paso, IL. 61738 (309) 527-8579 Monday - Friday 6 pm till 9 pm Saturday 1 pm till 9 pm C.S.T. - 24 - ORDER FORM ---------- Your Name _________________________________________ Address _________________________________________ _________________________________________ City ___________________ State_____ Zip _____ Telephone (______) _____ - ________ In case we have a question about your order. SECTION ONE +--------------------------------------------------+ | Basic TAPETRAKer Registration includes the | | following items: | | | | 1. Priority Notice of Program Enhancements | | 2. Earn Bonus Points for a "FREE Upgrade" | | 3. Receive 5% off your next software purchase | | 4. Acknowledgement Letter with Serial Number | | +----------+ | Quantity of _____ times $10.00 equals | | +---------------------------------------+----------+ SECTION TWO +--------------------------------------------------+ | Personalized Version Option | | | | How do you want your TAPETRAKer personalized? | | The text may be anything up to thirty | | characters long. This includes spaces and | | punctuation. | | | | _____________________________________________ | | Circle One: 5 1/4" Disk or 3 1/2" Disk | | | | +----------+ | Quantity of _____ times $5.00 equals | | +---------------------------------------+----------+ SECTION THREE +--------------------------------------------------+ | Printed Documentation | | | | Complete TAPETRAKer instructions printed and | | bound in a handsome three ring binder. | | +----------+ | Quantity of _____ times $5.00 equals | | +---------------------------------------+----------+ Continued on the next page. - 25 - ORDER FORM ---------- Page 2 ORDER SUBTOTAL +---------------------------------------+----------+ | Add together the totals from | | | Sections One, Two and Three. | | +---------------------------------------+----------+ 5% DISCOUNT +--------------------------------------------------+ | If you have previously registered a Moonlite | | Solutions product you are eligible for this | | discount. | +---------------------------------------+----------+ | Multiply the ORDER SUBTOTAL times 5% | | +---------------------------------------+----------+ MERCHANDISE TOTAL +---------------------------------------+----------+ | Subtract the DISCOUNT from the | | | ORDER SUBTOTAL and enter that | | | amount here. | | +---------------------------------------+----------+ SALES TAX +--------------------------------------------------+ | If you are a resident of either Illinois or | | Missouri we must collect sales tax. Please add | | your state's sales tax. +----------+ | | | +---------------------------------------+----------+ TOTAL ORDER +---------------------------------------+----------+ | Add together MERCHANDISE TOTAL and | | | SALES TAX then place this amount | | | here. | | +---------------------------------------+----------+ THANK YOU! Remit to: Moonlite Solutions (309) 527-8579 P.O. Box 164 Mon - Fri 6pm till 9pm CST El Paso, IL. 61738 Saturday 1pm till 9pm CST Prices are subject to change without notice. DO NOT SENT CASH! Foreign orders paid by check must be in US dollars and drawn through a US bank or through the US branch of a foreign bank. - 26 - USER COMMENTS ------------- I acquired TAPETRAKer from a [ ] Friend [ ] University/School [ ] Computer Club [ ] Computer Store [ ] Data Base Service [ ] Electronic BBS [ ] Other _______________________________________ We would also appreciate any input you would care to give concerning TAPETRAKer. If you have any ideas or comments that would make TAPETRAKer a better program, then please let us know. How would you rate the three following areas: Installation ------------ Easy Hard +---------------------+ How was the installation......| 1 2 3 4 5 | +---------------------+ How are the screens to read...| 1 2 3 4 5 | +---------------------+ TAPETRAKer Program ------------------ Good OK Bad +---------------------+ Performance...................| 1 2 3 4 5 | +---------------------+ Visual Appearance.............| 1 2 3 4 5 | +---------------------+ Lots OK Don't +---------------------+ How do you "like" the program.| 1 2 3 4 5 | +---------------------+ Documentation ------------- Good OK Bad +---------------------+ Organization..................| 1 2 3 4 5 | +---------------------+ Overall Appearance............| 1 2 3 4 5 | +---------------------+ Accuracy of Information.......| 1 2 3 4 5 | +---------------------+ Comments and/or suggestions: _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ Thank you for your time to send us your comments! - 27 -