home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Boot Disc 8
/
boot-disc-1997-04.iso
/
PDA_Soft
/
Psion
/
misc
/
SnaColl
/
Snacoll0.doc
(
.txt
)
< prev
next >
Wrap
Word Document
|
1996-10-08
|
28KB
|
249 lines
SNA COLLECTION MANAGER V1.0
Copyright F A Richey 1996
INTRODUCTION
Installation
To install the program simply:
1. Put SNACOLL0.APP in your \APP\ directory
2. If you want to use the optional On-Line Help (Highly recommended) put
the file SNACOLLH.OVL into an \APP\SNACOLL\ directory.
3. If you want to use the optional Print option put the file SNACOLLP.OVL
into the \APP\SNACOLL\ directory and the file SNAPRINT.DYL into an \OPD\
directory (Note that this latter file is common to all my programs, so if
you have more than one of them you only need one copy of this file).
4. Install (PSION-I)
The program will create an \SNACOLL\ directory on the internal drive for
storage of data files. Configuration (and registration) files will be put
into the \OPD\ directory of your default drive under the program name.
The unregistered version of this shareware program will allow you just 10
Entries/Collection, and 3 Categories to see the capabilities of the
program. Following registration you will be allowed 300 Entries/Collection
and 25 for each of the 2 Categories.
Using the Program
Working through the <Menu> commands will show you the capabilities of the
program, but to get the best out of it, the following description takes you
through the basic functions and explains some of the finer details of
operation.
Tutorial:
There are 2 ways to run this tutorial. You can either work through it from
the start, to generate some data files, or you can skip Part 1 and use the
example files contained in DATA.ZIP. If you use these files, put them into
a data directory called \SNACOLL\. Then jump to Part 2 of the tutorial.
PART 1 - Generating data files.
To start the program, highlight 'Collect' under the Icon. Now press <PSION-
N> (New File) to start a new collection (Alternatively, you could just
press <Enter> and accept 'Collect' as the filename). For the purposes of
this tutorial, use 'Records'. When requested select a more descriptive
title such as 'Record Collection'. Next define the Titles you want for the
various fields. For the purposes of the tutorial, type in 'Title' and
'Artist' as the Names, 'Type' and 'Size' as the Categories and 'Cost' and
'Value' as the Values. Note that you can change these later using <PSION-
Q>, (Set Preferences) and select 'Define Titles'.
Once in the main screen, we now need to generate some Categories, so press
<PSION-SHIFT-J> (New Type) and add 'CD'. Then repeat for 'Vinyl' and
'Cassette'. Now press <PSION-SHIFT-I> (New Size) and enter 'Single' and
then again for 'Album'.
We are now ready to enter some real data. To do this, either use the
Menus, <PSION-E> or just press <Enter>. Just fill in an example record,
selecting an appropriate set of Names, Categories and Values. Then add a
few more, making sure you have a good mix of categories. Don't worry if
the fields overlap on the screen, we will sort that out later. Note that
you can select 'New' as a category and it will allow you to generate a new
category in the middle of entering the data.
Now use the same steps to generate a new collection using <PSION-N>, and
this time use 'Books' as a title, and 'Title' and 'Author' as names,
'Group' and 'Type' as Categories and, as before, 'Cost' and 'Value' as the
Value titles. For the 'Group' categories use 'Detective', 'Thriller' and
'Sci-Fi' and for 'Type', just use 'Hardback' and 'Paperback'. Finally
enter some representative books. Again, don't worry about any overlaps in
the screen display.
This completes the generation of the data files.
PART 2 - Screen Configuration.
Note: This Part demonstrates how to configure the default screen display
to your requirement. For those who used the example data files, these have
already been configured, but you may wish to follow through the tutorial
anyway.
First, select the 'Records' Group, from the System Screen. Now go to 'Set
Preferences' <PSION-Q> and 'Screen Display'.
For the purposes of the demo select 'No' to the Info window, 'Swiss' to the
font', and 'Large' for the size. For future reference, note the 'Reset to
Default' option if it all goes horribly wrong.
In the second screen, select Title and Artist to be displayed.
In the 'Title' dialog, select the Start Point as 10, and the Finish Point
as 115. Note the ruler at the top of the screen that can be used as a
guide. For the artist dialog use 120 as the start and 235 as the finish.
Note that after each selection the screen redraws to show you the effect of
your selection.
This sets up the screen as shown in the example data file. In your case,
you may still have overlaps, in which case you can adjust the settings
accordingly. Just remember that you cannot have anything less than 10
pixels from the left of the screen, so that there is room for the screen
arrows, and that the total width of the screen is 240 pixels (unless you
have an Info Window, in which case it is 204 pixels).
In this case, we are probably also interested in the total value of the
collection, so use the 'Set Preferences' <PSION-Q> option and 'Total
Window' to select 'Value'. Also, it might be useful to have the display
grouped by Artist, so use the 'Sort By' option <PSION-S> to sort by Artist.
Now select the 'Books' group, either from the System screen, the menu
option, <PSION-O>, or just the right cursor arrow.
Now repeat the operation, using <Psion-Q> and the 'Screen Display. Set
Info window off, small font, Title, Author and Group to be displayed as
follows:
Title from 10-100
Author from 100-180
Group from 185-235
and this sets up the 'Books' screen display.
PART 3 - Menu options:
To see the rest of the programs capabilities, just work through the MENUs.
FILE
New Collection
Open Collection
Save Collection As
Delete Collection
Rename Title
These functions are self-explanatory. However, it does bring up the
important note that you cannot change the filename of a collection from the
system screen, as there are a number of other files which need to be
renamed. The procedure to be used is to 'Save Collection As', using the
new name, and then 'Delete' the original Collection. Note as well, that
the left and right arrows will cycle between multiple collections.
EDIT
Enter Item
Update Item
Delete Item
Move Item Down
Sort Items By..
Edit memo
Again, these are self explanatory, although you should note that <ENTER>,
<TAB> and <Delete> have the same effect as the first 3 functions. Also,
the 'Move Item Down' option will only be there if the sort option is set to
'None'. Also, to preempt the next obvious question, I did not implement a
'Move Up' option, as all you need to do is select the entry above and use
'Move Down' ! The Edit memo function is the same as the one in Agenda.
SEARCH
Find Text
Find Next Text
Find Date
Find Next Date
These options simply do a text search on the 2 'Names' fields, or a date
search, to find an entry.
CATEGORIES
New...
Update...
Delete...
New...
Update...
Delete...
Set Filter
The first 6 options are self-explanatory. To see the filter in operation,
use <PSION-T> and set an appropriate set of categories. The screen will
then display just those entries matching the categories.
This also demonstrates the basic difference between the apparently similar
'Name' and 'Category' fields. The 'Name' fields are free text and are
searched via the 'Find' option. The 'Categories' are pre-defined and used
by the Filter. You need to decide how you are going to use the program
before you decide which parameters should be defined as 'Categories' and
which should be 'Names'.
SPECIAL
Set Preferences
Define Titles
Screen Display
Total Window
Entry/Update Dialogs
Printer Configuration (If Printer Module loaded)
Preference Repeat
Most of these have been used already. 'The Printer Configuration'
allows you to select Parallel, Serial or File,
the 'Entry/Update Dialogs' allow you to decide if you want all fields
presented, or just those on the display and
the 'Preference Repeat' option decides if you keep returning to the
'Set preferences' menu.
Register Program
Entry Information
Print Setup (If Printer Module loaded)
Print Preview
Print Details
About
Exit
All self explanatory, although the 'Print Setup' includes an extra dialog
to specify which fields are printed.
Hope all that makes sense. Any comments on the program (and this
tutorial), gratefully received.
Cheers
Al