The Business Master (3rd Edition)

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AUTOMOTIVE MAINTENANCE !!!! V1.0 WRITTEN BY: DAVE SCHOEFFEL dRs Engineering INTRODUCTION I wrote the Automotive Maintenance program because I could never remember when it was time for my vehicles to be serviced. I hate having the little stickers on my car that the service places insist on gluing all over the place. So I came up with this neat little Windows program to help remind you to take good care of your vehicle(s). You may store up to 1000 maintenance items in each data file. Another neat feature, described later in this document is the REMIND feature. This feature allows the data files created with the Auto Maintenance program to be checked at computer start up time or any other time that remind is run. This is a DOS program that could be placed in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. It will sound a beeper and display which vehicle is due and when. This program was written using Microsoft Visual Basic version 1.0 to run under Windows 3.0 and must have the VBRUN100.DLL file located in your path. Simply place VBRUN100.DLL in your Windows directory (or any convenient directory in your path) and forget about it. This file is available on most bulletin boards as well as other sources, and should be obtained and installed prior to using the Auto Maintenance program. Be sure to check out the other fine products offered by Dave Schoeffel of dRs Engineering. These products are available on many bulletin board systems, as well as Compuserve in the WINADV section. (Please note that these programs are all designed for Windows 3.0 and are written using Microsoft Visual Basic. Therefore, the above mentioned file VBRUN100.DLL is a must.) Product (file name) Description TODOV1_4.ZIP To Do List Daily Organizer (Rich in Features.) ABCV1_0.ZIP Alphabet Teaching for small children. 123V1_0.ZIP Number Teaching for small children. REGISTRATION This program is being released as Shareware. Please feel free to copy and distribute it freely amoung your friends and business associates. I would ask, however, that if you find the program useful (the definition of useful in this case meaning that you still have it installed after your evaluation, then it must be useful) please send the registration fee of $1 to: THAT'S RIGHT....JUST ONE MEASLY DOLLAR......IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK ????? Dave Schoeffel dRs Engineering 1313 Riverton Dr. Mukwonago, WI 53149 Your registration will encourage me to create other useful programs. You will also rest assured that you have done your good deed for the day. Registration has been made simple for the user. Simply run the program and choose the ABOUT - ABOUT AUTO MAINTENANCE option from the menu. This information screen has a registration form on it and can be filled in by the user and printed out to be mailed in. Please take a few short minutes to register your copy. FILES The following files should have been included in the ZIP file that you received (or all files included from whatever your source for this program): AUTOMAIN.DOC This file that you are reading. AUTOMAIN.EXE The executable code for the Auto Maintenance program. SAMPLE.AUT A sample Auto Maintenance File. REMIND.EXE DOS reminder program, documented later. INSTALLATION To install the program, simply copy all of the files listed above into a subdirectory. Remember that you need the VBRUN100.DLL file somewhere in your path to use the Auto Maintenance program. RUNNING You may run the Automotive Maintenance program several different ways. You could open File Manager and double click on the AUTOMAIN.EXE file name. It could also be installed via Program Manager into any convenient group. Another method of running the Automotive Maintenance program is to install it into your WIN.INI file. This will assure that whenever Windows is started, the Automotive Maintenance program will automatically load. To do this, simply edit your WIN.INI file with a text editor or from within Windows using the SYSEDIT.EXE function. In the WIN.INI file locate the line that says LOAD= and insert (Drive):(Path)\AUTOMAIN.EXE. This will load the Automotive Maintenance program every time that Windows is run. You may also wish to run the REMIND.EXE program every time you start Windows. In order to do this, please reference the discussion of the REMIND program later in this document. OPERATION Operating the Automotive Maintenance program is simple. Using the mouse, place the cursor in the VEHICLE DESCRIPTION box and type a description of the vehicle that you wish to keep track of. Then simply click on the UPDATE/ADD command button to begin entering information. ****IMPORTANT NOTE:**** This program sorts information by the date field. In order to use the feature NEXT DUE DATE, described below, be sure to use an 8 digit date code when entering the date. You could use either mm/dd/yy or mm-dd-yy, but do not mix the two formats. Doing so will fool the way the program sorts the data that you enter and will give unpredictable results. When this information has been entered, you choose FILE - SAVE AS to store this vehicle information to your disk. You may then print this information or use several of the advanced features of the program described elsewhere in this document. As more information is entered and the list grows, the user will see a scroll bar that is used to scroll up and down in the data file beyond the limits of data that is displayed on the screen. The following section of this document describes all of the features and how to use them. FILE - NEW The FILE - NEW option of the menu simply starts a new work space to enter information for a new vehicle, one that does not already exist on your disk. The vehicle description and service information fields are all cleared and the service interval variable is set to 0. FILE - OPEN The FILE - OPEN option of the menu gives the user the capability to load in a maintenance file that had previously been created and stored to disk. The user is presented with a menu of file choices. If no files are listed, then no files have been created and none are available to open. A sample auto maintenance file has been included with this program. FILE - SAVE The FILE - SAVE option of the menu stores the current contents of all program parameters (Vehicle Description, all service information and the current service interval value) to the current filename. The current filename can be found on the main menu following the AUTO MAINTENANCE - prompt. If no filename has previously been entered, using the FILE - SAVE AS option described below, the filename will be 'untitled'. To specify a valid vehicle filename, see the FILE - SAVE AS option below. FILE - SAVE AS The FILE - SAVE AS option of the menu stores the current contents of all program parameters (Vehicle Description, all service information and the current service interval value) to a valid filename specified by the user. This filename must follow all standard DOS file naming characteristics, i.e. an eight digit filename with a three digit extension. The filename extension used for Auto Maintenance files is .AUT. If the user does not enter this information, the program will automatically append it to the filename. FILE - PRINT HISTORY When all service information is entered and saved to a disk file, the user may choose to create a hard copy paper printout of the vehicle service history. The FILE - PRINT HISTORY option of the menu allows the user to print this vehicle service history to the standard Windows printer. FILE - EXIT The FILE - EXIT option of the menu allows the user to completly exit the Auto Maintenance program and terminate any further Auto Maintenance recording activity. OPTIONS - SERVICE INTERVAL The OPTIONS - SERVICE INTERVAL option of the menu allows the user to enter a suggested service interval to be used when clicking the NEXT DUE DATE command button. This interval is the number of days to be used when calculating when routine maintenance is due. Most new vehicle manufacturers recommend frequent oil changes at regular mileage or time intervals. If you drive a lot of miles, you may want to enter an approximate number of days that it will take for you to reach the recommended mileage service interval. If you drive a small amount of mileage, enter the number of days corresponding to the manufacturers recommended time between service intervals. This number is stored together with all of the other service information for the vehicle you are entering in the vehicle file. It is also used with the DOS program that you can enter in you AUTOEXEC.BAT file to remind you to service your vehicles when you first turn on your computer. This DOS program, REMIND is described elsewhere in this document. ABOUT - ABOUT AUTO MAINTENANCE The ABOUT - ABOUT AUTO MAINTENANCE option of the menu gives general information about the program and the programmer. This is also the option that should be used to register your copy of the Automotive Maintenance program. Simply choose ABOUT - ABOUT AUTO MAINTENANCE from the menu, fill in the registration form, print it out, and mail it complete with the registration fee to the programmer listed. ADD/UPDATE COMMAND BUTTON Clicking the ADD/UPDATE command button brings up a dialog box that allows the user to enter vehicle service information. The information entered is Date, Mileage, and Maintenance. This information is stored with the vehicle description and the service interval variable in the data file. DELETE ITEM COMMAND BUTTON In order to delete certain information from the Auto Maintenance form, simply highlight the item to be deleted and click the DELETE ITEM command button. In order to assure that the item has been deleted, be sure to save the file before exiting the program or loading a different data file. NEXT DUE DATE COMMAND BUTTON Pressing the NEXT DUE DATE command button will bring up a dialog box that shows when your next recommended vehicle service should be performed. Please refer to the OPTIONS - SERVICE INTERVAL description above for a dialog of the use of this program option and it's implications. This option is as a reminder only and should not be relied upon as the only means for assuring good vehicle routine maintenance. ****** REMIND.EXE ***** The REMIND program is a simple DOS program that can be used to check your .AUT files that were created using the Auto Maintenance program. A very simple and effective use for this program would be to place the commands in you AUTOEXEC.BAT file and allow the program to remind you of vehicle maintenance requirements at regular intervals. This program uses the data files and service interval information entered previously. The last date of vehicle service is checked and and compared using the service interval and current date to determine whether to remind you to have your vehicle serviced. The correct syntax for using the program is as follows: (Drive):(Path)\REMIND (Drive):(Path)\name.AUT days where "name" is replaced with the name of the .AUT file that you wish to be checked and days is the number of days ahead of time that you wish to be notified. The number of days ahead can be up to 30 days. If you do not specify a number, 0 days is used and you will not be notified of maintenance due until the actual day that it is due. NOTE: If you enter more than just routine maintenance into your vehicle service database, then the service reminder could happen multiple times between regular service intervals. This could be avoided by creating separate routine maintenance and major service data files. You would then simply use the remind program on just the routine maintenance file. The user is presented with a reminder at program run time to have their vehicle serviced. This message will come up when the vehicle is within the number of days ahead specified within the required maintenance interval. The message will continue to appear whenever REMIND is run (in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file as well) until the new service information is entered into the database using the Auto Maintenance program described above. This message will stay on the screen for 30 seconds or until the user presses any key on the keyboard. This will allow the computer to continue to boot, if you have placed REMIND in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file after 30 seconds has expired. In order to have this program run every time that you start Windows, create a batch file that contains the commands that you wish to execute. For example you could create a batch file called REMINDER.BAT. The commands in this .BAT file could be as follows: REMIND ACCORD.AUT 5 REMIND CIVIC.AUT 10 Then, you could place this file in you WIN.INI file under the RUN= section. Simply add the text (Drive):(Path)\REMINDER.BAT after the RUN= statement in your WIN.INI file. This will assure that you are reminded of vehicle maintenance every time that you start Windows. (Plese note that you could use this same type of batch file in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file as well). VERSION INFORMATION AUTO MAINTENANCE Version 1.0 Initial Release. 10-31-91 REMIND Version 1.0 Initial Release 10-31-91 Version 1.01 Boy these computers are dumb. The worst part about that is 11-01-91 the fact that the programmers of these dumb computers must be even worse. That's right, this program worked fine on 10/31, but I got to 11/01, and you guessed it, the program stopped working. To make a long story short, 11/01/91 is greater than 11/ 9/91. Note the difference in the date formats. Now the program is fixed so that 11/01/91 is really less than 11/09/91. Oh well, if we learn from our mistakes, I should be getting real smart any day now......... Version 1.02 O.K., so I didn't get it right, even the second time. This 11-19-91 program has a real hard time doing date math. The standard method of displaying dates is in the mm/dd/yy format. When using this format, however, the values of the date format in the program is evaluated as a string. Therefore, 11/19/91 is greater than 01/13/92, because the months and days is checked even before the years. I have now fixed the program to check the years first, then the months, then then days. I hope that I have now solved this issue permanently. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Auto Maintenance is a copyright product of David A. Schoeffel and dRs Engineering of Mukwonago, WI. Visual Basic version 1.0, Windows 3.0 and VBRUN100.DLL are all trade marked and copyrighted products of the Microsoft Corp. of Redmond, Washington. No warranties, expressed or implied, are extended for the use of this product or any side effects of the use or misuse of this product.