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1993-06-08
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463 lines
===============================================================================
Date Infominder v1.1 (Shareware Version)
(C) Copyright 1993 ARAD Software. All Rights Reserved.
Programmed by Brian Gugliemetti.
===============================================================================
* T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S *
I. Purpose of Date Infominder................................1
II. Setting Up Date Infominder and Requirements...............1
III. How Date Infominder Works.................................2
IV. Adding/Editing Events.....................................2
V. Deleting Events...........................................3
VI. Printing Events for a Month...............................3
VII. Saving Event Files........................................3
VIII. Exiting Date Infominder...................................3
IX. Inquiring for Events......................................3
X. Command Line Parameters...................................4
XI. Using Date Infominder with Windows........................5
XII. Special Notes about Date Infominder.......................5
XIII. Registering Date Infominder...............................6
XIV. Contacting the Author.....................................6
XV. Disclaimer................................................6
- i - Date Infominder v1.1
I. Purpose of Date Infominder
------------------------------
Date Infominder was created to help recall important dates, such as
birthdays and upcoming events. It's main purpose is to be used in the
AUTOEXEC.BAT or Windows' Startup so that each time you turn on your
computer, any events which you want to be notified of appear on screen.
II. Setting up Date Infominder and Requirements
------------------------------------------------
In order to run Date Infominder, you will need DOS 3.3 or higher, at least
192k of free memory, an IBM compatible (8086+ processor), around 100,000
bytes free disk space, and an EGA or better video card. Date Infominder
does not require the use of a hard drive, but it is strongly recommended for
speed. Date Infominder supports the use of a Microsoft compatible mouse.
When you first run Date Infominder, after the title screen appears,
a box will appear which says "EVENTS.DAT File not found. Create new
one (Y/n)?" Date Infominder defaults to the current directory for the
event file, so if that is not where you want to file to be created, change
to another directory and rerun the program. If you are in the desired
directory, answer yes or hit return. It is recommended that you keep both
the DATEINFO.EXE and event file in the same directory.
Select "Configure" from the main screen and answer yes. Specify the full
path where the event file is found, i.e. C:\DOS. Date Infominder defaults
to LPT1. If you wish to change to LPT2, in the configure screen, press
the TAB key to move to the printer port area, then press the space bar
to toggle the printer port. When you are satisfied with the configuration,
hit return to save.
Note: The Configure option is disabled when you override the event file.
If you see "Could not locate DATEINFO.EXE, configuration not saved", it
means that the program could not find DATEINFO.EXE in the default directory,
thus no changes were saved. Make sure you are in the same directory as
DATEINFO.EXE before configuring. Also, do not rename DATEINFO.EXE to any
other name. The program searches for it when it saves the new configuration.
If you see "Fatal error: Could not write to DATEINFO.EXE" it most likely
means that the write protect is on. Date Infominder will override the
read only attribute on itself when it saves the configuration, so under
normal circumstances you shouldn't see this message.
- 1 - Date Infominder v1.1
III. How Date Infominder Works
-------------------------------
Date Infominder uses a perennial system, which means it is not year
dependent for events. (i.e. You can't specify to be notified of an event
on March 6, 1996. You can only specify to be notified on March 6th.)
The user specifies the events for the year that he/she wants to be notified
of. For the events, the user selects a notification period which tells
how far in advance the user is notified of the event. When the program
is run in the inquiry mode, it reads the computers internal calendar,
checks for events which are within the notification range, displays those
events, and then exits. If no events are found, it displays "No
notifications."
When in the editing mode, Date Infominder again reads the internal calendar
and displays the edited month accordingly. If the selected month is the
current month or in the future, it displays the calendar as it appears for
that year. If the selected month has already passed, it displays the
calendar as it appears next year. Example: The current date is 5/6/93.
You select June to edit. The program displays the month of June formatted
to calendar year 1993. Afterwards, you select April to edit. The program
displays the month of April formatted to calendar year 1994. This allows
you to see which day of the week the event will fall upon the next time it
arrives. The calendar year for the month displayed is in the upper right
hand corner of the edit screen. This is just a point of reference for the
user and does not indicate that events are being defined for that year.
Date Infominder can hold up to 300 events with a maximum description length
of 400 characters. The totaled description lengths must be under 65,535
characters. If the totaled lengths go over 65,535, the program will not
allow any more events to be defined.
IV. Adding/Editing Events
--------------------------
You need to use the editing mode of the program, which means you do not
use the "/I" command line parameter. From the main selection screen, you
need to select edit (ALT-E). Choose a month using the mouse or keyboard.
The edit screen should come up and display the month selected. Use the
cursor keys or mouse to select the day to edit. If the day has a predefined
event, you will see the description in the event description box near the
bottom of the screen and the notification period in the box to the right of
the screen. If you wish to edit the day, simply hit return or click on the
left mouse button. The cursor will appear in the event description box.
Type in the description of the event. (The event editor has automatic
word-wrapping. It allows a maximum description length of 400 characters.)
When done with the description, hit the F5 key. Selector arrows should
appear in the notification box. Again, use the cursor keys or the mouse
to select the notification period. Either click the left mouse button or
hit return to complete the event definition. If you wish to go back and
change the description, hit the ESC key. Then hit the F5 key again to
select the period.
- 2 - Date Infominder v1.1
V. Deleting Events
-------------------
To delete events, select edit (ALT-E) from the main selection screen. Next
choose the month in which the event you wish to delete falls. Finally,
select the day the event in on and press the DELETE key. A box will appear
asking if you really want to delete