Double click on the icon in the filer window to start Event. When it installs itself it checks for data files, if only one is found then that will be loaded, if more than one then you will be asked to select a file (access via the icon bar menu). Clicking on the icon bar icon will open the Calendar window.
To view a days events, click on the date in the calendar window. Clicking on a month gives the calendar for the month, clicking on an arrow on the small calendar or on one of the outer years in the large calendar changes the year. The style of presentation of the events can be changed by using one of the three buttons down the left of the screen, the default method is to show all events with one day to a window. You can also choose to see a weeks appointments using the middle of the three icons, or both styles at once with the bottom icon.
Altering information about an event, or adding new events, is done via the daily page. To add a new event bring up the daily page for the day of the event, and follow the menu to select the sort of event you want to add. Items can be repeated at various intervals, birthdays and anniversaries repeat every year automatically, the others are more flexible. With the exception of specific reminders and Day Notes, the items can also have reminders attached to them. To alter or delete an existing event, click on it to highlight it then follow the menu through "Selected" to find the relevant action. Multiple selections in a single window are possible.
To print out the diary, or extract the information to a file, follow the Print or Extract entries off the menu to their respective dialogue boxes. Set the range of dates to be dealt with (the dates are inclusive) by adjusting the day number (the date will update as you go) and the types of items you want included in the end result. For printing you also need to set the orientation for the printout and how many diary pages to include on a printed sheet. Eg to produce two A5 pages on A4, select landscape, 2 columns, one row and one day per page. The default settings of portrait, 2 columns and 2 rows will produce four A6 on A4. For extracting the data you need to select the file format for the end result. Default is Occasion format, also available are Schedule for transfer to the Pocketbook and CSV if you want to got to another program.
To search for items containing particular text, follow the menu through to the Search dialogue, enter the text to look for (max 32 characters, case is ignored) and set up the categories to be searched. After a pause (which may be a long one if you are in small mode!) you will get a new window with a list of dates. Click on one of them to bring up that days events in full. I intend to add a fuzzy search to this in the future, hence the large empty areas in the dialogue box.
On exiting the program will attempt to purge the events file of expired appointments and deleted items. This is currently hard-wired to 1st Jan 1992 but will be selectable to a date or period of time.
There are seven sorts of repeat event available, Yearly (repeat every year on the same date), Monthly (every month on the same date) Monthly from the start (eg first Tuesday), Monthly from end (Last Thursday), weekly, daily or pattern. Each repeat type with the exception of pattern can also have a multiplier, eg every 3 days, first tuesday of every other month etc... Pattern lets you enter a pattern for the repeat, in the extra writeable icon put a "." for a day to miss and a "*" to hit. The pattern starts on the day of entry, and repeats ad infinitum. It can be up to 31 days long, I added it as I used to work a fortnightly shift pattern and every other program assumes you work weekdays!
Technical bits.
The program can build either a fast index or a small index for its data. The fast version takes up about four times more memory than the small, although it does allow a search to be completed in less time than it takes to make and drink a cup of tea (or several). The small mode is OK most of the time, but beware searching! Which mode gets used is set up in the Messages file on the line "FastMode:Yes" or "No".
Alarms
A new button has been added to the "New Appointment" window. Clicking on this brings up a small dialogue box which lets you enter the "preroll" time for the alarm. Clicking on the arrows will change the time by a minute either way, holding the Shift key down will change it by 10 minutes, and holding Control will change it by an hour. The maximum preroll allowed is 24 hours.
Schedule on the Pocket Book will only allow an alarm to be set on the same day as the item it refers to, so the preroll gets clipped to this limit. Agenda on a Series 3 allows longer prerolls but anything greater than 24 hours will be unreliable when imported to Event.
Alarms will ring at the given time before the start of the appointment, and will continue to ring until cancelled (Click on OK in the dialogue box which appears). If you close the dialogue box without cancelling the alarm, it will continue to ring every minute until cancelled.
When Event starts up it will scan for new and recent alarms. If an alarm is found to refer to an appointment more than an hour before the current time it will not ring, but the alarms are re-read every time an appointment is added or edited so you may find that already cancelled alarms pop up again.
Moving between days
At the top right of each daily page of the diary, there are two arrow icons. These can be used to change the contents of the page forwards or backwards by one day. It is not possible to have two pages open for the same day, and it is not possible to step through a day already displayed on another page.
Options
The items from the "Options" sub-menu, together with the configurable items from the Messages file (manual p28-29), are now settable from a dialogue box.
This box can be opened by clicking on the "Options" item in the icon bar menu for Event. The configurable items in the Messages file can still be altered manually, but they will be overridden by any changes saved from this dialogue box.
