Cream of the Crop 26/Cream of the Crop 26.iso/database/hmcook20.zip/HOMECOOK.TXT

Text File | 1997-06-23 | 43KB | 868 lines

Home Cookin - Recipe Database and Meal Management System
===============================================================================

Produced By:  Mountain Software
              6911 NE Livingston Road
              Camas, Washington  98607  USA

Email:        [e-mail]
Web Site:     http://www.pacifier.com/~awatson
BBS:          Bear Cavern BBS [phone]

Program and Documentation Copyright (C) 1997 by Anthony Watson

============================================================================
Registration Information:

  The demo version displays a registration notice upon startup and is limited
to 100 recipes (5 chapters of 20 recipes each). All other functions are fully
operational and the demo is otherwise identical to the registered version.

  The demo version of Home Cookin may be distributed freely as long as all
original files are included unchanged. If you try Home Cookin and decide to
keep it, a registration fee of $35.00 is required.

  By Mail:  Send Check/Money Order for $35.00 (US Funds) to:
            Mountain Software, 6911 NE Livingston Road, Camas, WA  98607

  Online:   Register online with your VISA/Mastercard from my web page at:
            http://www.pacifier.com/~awatson

  By Phone: Call Public Software Library at [phone], Extension 14789
            (8:00am - 6:00 pm, Monday-Friday)

            Ask for product number 14789 - Home Cookin

            (This number is for ORDERS ONLY! Mountain Software cannot be
            reached at this number. Please direct all questions and comments
            to [e-mail].)

  When you order Home Cookin you will receive the latest version on a HD
floppy disk, packaged in a CD-ROM style plastic "jewel" case. In addition,
you can upgrade to the latest maintenance versions for FREE by downloading
the latest demos when they become available.

  Once you receive your order, please fill out the enclosed product
registration card and mail it to Mountain Software. This will provide us with
vital information about you and your system and will allow us to inform you
of program updates, upcoming products, etc.

===============================================================================
                                 Home Cookin
                              By Anthony Watson


1 - Introduction

   Home Cookin is an easy to use recipe database and meal management system.
The recipe database uses a free-form format for the greatest flexibility and
ease of entry. And, with a capacity reaching into the billions you'll run out
of disk space before reaching the program limits. To help keep storage space
to a minimum, Home Cookin includes internal file compression for the recipe
data files.

   The internal text editor is easy to use and makes recipe entry a simple
task. You can enter recipes manually, or cut and paste text between Home
Cookin and other Windows applications. To further assist you in building your
recipe collection, Home Cookin can import recipes from a variety of formats
including Meal-Master, Computer Chef, and Mastercook II. A special
manual-import feature is also built-in for importing recipes which do not
adhere to standard formats. To aid importing, Home Cookin supports long
filenames when used with Windows 95.

   Once recipes are in Home Cookin, they are easily organized the way you
like and easily edited if needed. An enhanced spell checker is built-in to
ensure that recipes come out looking the way you want them to, and recipes
may be resized to any serving size. Recipes are easy to locate and view, or
you may use the search system to quickly locate a desired recipe. Once
located, it is easy to print, export to a file, or copy to the clipboard for
easy exchange with other applications. And, to ensure compatibility with
other applications, Home Cookin can export directly to the popular
Meal-Master format. A special batch menu is also available for printing or
exporting multiple recipes.

   In addition to the recipe database, Home Cookin features a flexible
grocery list manager that makes it easy to plan your shopping trips. Items
are easy to locate and select. And, the resulting list is organized by store
and location for a fast trip through the store once you arrive. Maintaining
the list as store prices change is easy, and you can even define a default
grocery list for items which you purchase frequently.

   The built-in calendar makes meal planning a snap. You can place any number
of meals on a single day, and plan as far ahead as you wish. Personal notes
may also be added to the calendar to mark special events, or to indicate
meals not stored in Home Cookins recipe database.

   Home Cookin features a number of user selectable options, including fonts
for printing, import/export paths, and complete control of the user interface.


1.1 - Installation

   Home Cookin should run on any 80486 or Pentium with Windows 3.1 or Windows
95. For best performance we recommend a minimum of 8 Meg of RAM, and standard
SVGA resolution (640x480x256 colors). You should also allow plenty of free
hard drive space for the recipes and data files this program creates (The
actual requirements depend on how many recipes you have, how many groceries,
etc.).

   Whether you are installing the demo or registered version, the
installation procedure is the same. Using File Manager in Win3.1 or Explorer
in Win95, create a folder labeled HOMECOOK in whatever path you wish. This
can be as simple as adding the folder to your root directory (C:\HOMECOOK).
Next, copy all the files from the demo archive, or from the master disk to
the new directory. If you need help with these operations, please refer to
Windows documentation. The program is now ready to run by double-clicking on
the HOMECOOK.EXE program file.

   Home Cookin is entirely self contained and will not "litter" your hard
drive with DLL or INI files. It also will not alter your system configuration
files in any way. Therefore, if Home Cookin does not meet your needs, you may
easily remove Home Cookin from your system by deleting the HOMECOOK directory
and its contents.


1.2 - Disclosures/Acknowledgements

   Home Cookin is Copyright 1997 by Anthony Watson, all rights reserved. Any
unauthorized duplication of the program(s) or documentation is a violation of
federal copyright laws!

   This product has been tested extensively and to the best of my knowledge
will not cause problems of any kind. However, neither Mountain Software nor
the author (Anthony Watson), will be held responsible for any damage
occurring to your system or other software. I also make no guarantee as to
compatibility with other software or hardware configurations.

  Home Cookin was written by Anthony Watson using GFA BASIC for Windows. All
documentation was written with Pen Pal, a shareware text editor from Mountain
Software.

  I would like to thank all of the dedicated users who purchased earlier
versions of Home Cookin (Also known as The Recipe Box on the Atari ST, Amiga,
and Macintosh). I appreciate your comments, suggestions, and complaints.

  I also owe a great deal of appreciation to my beta testers; those who
helped test earlier programs on the Atari ST, and Don Schmidt for his
assistance with the Windows version.

  I would like to thank my wife Peggy for being my lover, my best friend, and
the mother of my child. Without your support I would not be able to write
this software, and I appreciate you being there to boost me up when things
aren't going well. Thank you for believing in me!

  And to anyone reading this, I hope you enjoy this program and that it will
be beneficial to you. I pray that you and your family are healthy, happy, and
that you'll come to know Jesus Christ as your personal friend and Savior.
Take care, God bless, and thank you for your support!

  It is only by Gods grace that I have the ability and the opportunity to
write software such as this. I hope that in some small way that this work
will somehow glorify his name!


1.3 - The Help System

  Home Cookin features a built in documentation viewer to aid you in the
operation of this program. This makes it easier for you to obtain information
when you need it, reduces shipping and packaging costs, reduces environmental
impact from wasted paper, and allows the manual to be updated on a more
frequent basis than would be possible with a printed manual. The help system
is accessed by pressing function key "F1", by clicking the program icon in
the title bar of the program window, or by right clicking the title bar in
Windows 95.

  Text is scrolled using the cursor keys or mouse buttons. Clicking the left
mouse button over the text display will scroll UP through the manual.
Clicking the right mouse button over the text display will scroll DOWN
through the manual.

  Home Cookins help system features an easy to use search function that will
search for ANY word, not just those defined as topics. To locate a text
string, click the "Find" button and enter the text you are looking for.
Additional matches may be found by clicking the "Next" button.

  The complete manual, or just sections of it, may be printed directly from
the help system. If you only want to print a section of the manual, you must
first mark the block of text you want to print. While holding the CONTROL key
down, LEFT clicking will mark the first line of the block and RIGHT clicking
will mark the last line of the block. Once a block of text has been defined,
or if you want to print the entire manual, click on the "Print" button at the
top of the screen. If you have selected a block of text, you will need to
select whether to print the text block or the entire manual.

  Unlike a typical Windows Help file, Home Cookins documentation is just a
standard ASCII text file. Because of this, you can easily load the
documentation into any text editor and customize it to your needs. Or, you
can load the text into any Word Processor and print it in any format you
desire.


1.4 - Alternative Program Uses

  While Home Cookin is primarily designed as a recipe database, the program
is flexible enough to be used for a variety of tasks unrelated to cooking
(And the program HAS been used by other users for many of these tasks).

  For example, Home Cookin would be perfectly suited to those who collect
poetry or songs. Each record could contain the full text of the poem or song,
and could be arranged by type or category using the chapters. Specific song
collections could even be printed, using the batch menu.

  It would also be possible to maintain a very detailed inventory of your
home using Home Cookin. Rooms could be represented by each chapter, with
Records detailing the actual item in each room.

  You could use the program as a Personal Information Manager by storing the
names and addresses of individuals in separate records. Chapters could be
defined as friends, relatives, businesses, etc. to improve organization.
Combined with the built-in Calendar you end up with a very flexible PIM.

  Of course, any task requiring a compilation of many small text files would
be ideally served by Home Cookin!


2 - Chapter Functions

  Home Cookin organizes recipes in the same way a traditional cookbook does,
by separating recipes into a series of chapters. Unlike a traditional
cookbook, however, you may define as few, or as many, chapters as you wish,
and organize the recipes in a manner you prefer. To get the best performance
from Home Cookin, and to aid in locating recipes later, you should try to
keep the number of recipes in each chapter to a minimum. While Home Cookin
will support over 65,500 recipes in a chapter, larger chapters take longer to
load and process. If you get more than a few hundred recipes in a chapter,
you may want to consider breaking that chapter up into smaller, more defined,
chapters.

  The main Index menu of Home Cookin is divided into two sections. The
buttons and list on the left side of the screen are for chapter functions
only. The arrow keys on the left side of the screen allow you to scroll
through the list of chapters if you have more than what fits on the screen.


2.1 - Adding Chapters

  Before you can enter recipes into Home Cookin, you must first create a
chapter in which to store them.

  To add a chapter, click on the 'Add' button on the left side of the Index
menu, or press Control/A. A dialog box will appear allowing you to enter in
the name of your chapter. Once you enter the title, press the RETURN key and
you'll be returned to the index menu, and your new chapter will be displayed
in the chapter list.


2.2 - Editing Chapters

  Should you want to rename or delete a chapter, RIGHT click on the name of
the chapter in the chapter list. A dialog box will appear allowing you to
edit or delete the chapter you selected. You should also note that the dialog
box displays the number of recipes in that chapter. This is an easy way to
determine how large a chapter is getting (The TOTAL number of recipes stored
in Home Cookin can be determined from the Setup menu).

  If you delete a chapter that contains recipes, an additional dialog box
will appear for verification before deleting the chapter.


3 - Recipe Functions

  The main Index menu of Home Cookin is divided into two sections. The
buttons and list on the right side of the screen are for recipe functions
only. The arrow keys on the right side of the screen allow you to scroll
through your recipes if a chapter contains more than what will fit on the
screen.

  Home Cookin supports two different record types:

  The 'Recipe' record is a specialized record for storing recipes. It
contains fields for ingredients, directions, and servings. It also provides
for special functions such as resizing and exporting to other applications.

  The 'Information' record is a generic text record that may be used for
storing any text information. You can use this record type for storing
nutritional information, cooking tips, etc.

  While you can enter recipes in an information record, you will not be able
to resize or export the recipe properly. Therefore, you should always use the
recipe record type when adding a new recipe.


3.1 - Adding Recipes

  To add a recipe, you must first select the chapter you wish to place it in.

  Then click on the 'Add' button on the right side of the screen. A dialog
box will appear allowing you to enter a title for your new recipe. Then
select whether you are entering a recipe or informational text file, and the
appropriate editor will appear.

  The recipe editor divides the screen into two halves. The ingredients must
be entered on the left, and directions entered on the right side of the screen.

  The editor will start with the cursor placed at the start of the
ingredients. Enter in your list of ingredients and edit them as you wish.
When you want to enter the directions, click on the right side of the screen.
The cursor will be placed at the start of the directions, and you may then
enter your directions.

  You may switch between the ingredients and directions at any time, by
clicking on the left or right half of the screen.

  If you wish to change the name of the recipe, click on the title button at
the top of the screen.

  If you know the number of servings, you may enter it by clicking on the
'Serves xxx' button at the bottom of the screen. A dialog box will appear
allowing you to enter a new serving amount. The default amount is 4 servings.

  If you want to permanently resize the recipe, click the 'Resize' button at
the bottom of the screen. A dialog box will appear for you to enter the new
serving size. This is useful if you type in a recipe from a magazine or
newspaper and want to resize it before storing it in Home Cookin.

  To check the spelling of the recipe, click the 'Check Spelling' button at
the bottom of the screen. If an unknown or incorrectly spelled word is found,
a dialog box will appear allowing you to add the new word to the dictionary,
or to skip the word as is.

  When you are finished entering your recipe, click on the 'Save' button at
the bottom of the screen. Your recipe will be added to the current chapter,
and you will be returned to the Index Menu.

  If you do not wish to save the recipe, click on the 'Cancel' button at the
bottom of the screen. You will be returned to the Index Menu.

  The 'Information' record editor functions in much the same way as the
recipe editor with the exception that there is only one text field for
editing, and there are no functions related to serving size.


3.2 - Importing Recipes

  Recipes can be imported from virtually any external text file. The most
popular recipe formats are supported, and a special manual import feature is
available for recipes which do not adhere to a standard format.

  To import a file, you must first select the chapter you wish to import the
file into. Then click on the 'Load' button on the right side of the Index
Menu. The file selector will appear for you to locate the file you wish to
import. Click on 'OK' and Home Cookin will analyze the file in an attempt to
determine the file format. A dialog box will then appear for you to verify or
override the import format.

  The "Undefined Recipe" format is used when you are importing a recipe that
does not adhere to any of the supported formats. This will bring up the
manual importing menu where you can manually mark the various segments of
each recipe. You scroll up and down through the recipe using the LEFT and
RIGHT mouse keys or the keyboard cursor keys. When you are ready to mark a
block of text (such as the ingredients), press and hold the CONTROL key while
you click on the desired line of text. The LEFT mouse key marks the block
start, the RIGHT mouse key marks the block end. Then click on the appropriate
button at the bottom of the screen. When all segments have been marked, click
the 'Save' button to save the recipe. You must mark the recipe title,
ingredients, and directions before a recipe can be saved. The yield (number
of servings) is optional. You can mark and select the serving size if it is
listed in the recipe text, or you can mark a blank line and manually enter a
serving size. If you do not mark a serving size, it will default to 4
servings. You may repeat the process for as many recipes as are in the text
file. If you want to change import files, click on the 'New File' button at
the bottom of the screen, and then continue the manual import process with
the new text file.

  The "Information Text" format will import the file as an information
record. Most generic text will use this format. Recipes should not use this
format, as resizing and other recipe specific functions will not be
available. Note that only 500 lines of text are available for import (about 8
pages of text).

  The "Home Cookin" format is a custom format used exclusively by Home
Cookin. If you are exchanging recipes or text with other Home Cookin users,
then this is the format that should be used, as it preserves all formatting
of recipes and information text. However, this format requires 80 column
text, which may be reformatted or truncated if posted on a BBS or other
online service. Therefore, if you are posting recipes online, or if you are
exchanging recipes with users of other recipe programs, you should use the
"Meal-Master" format instead.

  The "Meal-Master" format is one of the most popular recipe formats
available. Home Cookin will import all versions between 5.0 and the current
8.05.

  "Computer Chef" (AKA Compu-Chef) is an older recipe format that was once
fairly popular. But, its use has declined in recent years.

  "Mastercook II" is a newer recipe format that is quickly gaining popularity.

  NOTE: Recipe importing is not always 100% effective. There are many things
that can occur to a text file to reduce the success of importing, including
reformatting by BBS's, appended text from quoted messages, missing lines of
text, inadvertant editing, etc. While Home Cookin can deal with many of these
situations, there will always be the odd recipe that refuses to import
properly. So, keep in mind that you may need to edit the recipes after you
import them!


3.3 - Editing Recipes

  Should you wish to rename, modify, or delete a recipe, RIGHT click on the
recipe title at the Index Menu. You may also edit a recipe by RIGHT clicking
on the title in the View Menu. The appropriate editor will appear allowing
you to edit your recipe.

  If you wish to delete the recipe, click on the 'Delete' button at the
bottom of the screen.

  If you wish to spell check the recipe, click the 'Check Spelling' button at
the bottom of the screen.

  When you are satisfied with the changes to your recipe, click the 'Save'
button at the bottom of the screen. You will be returned to the menu you
called the editor from.

  The recipe editor supports most commands common to Windows applications:

  Cursor Movements:

     Next Word              - Control/Right Cursor
     Previous Word          - Control/Left Cursor
     Beginning of Line      - Home
     End of Line            - End
     Start of recipe        - Control/Home
     End of recipe          - Control/End
     Page Up                - Page Up, or Control/Up Cursor
     Page Down              - Page Down, or Control/Down Cursor

  Text Block Operations:

     Mark Block             - Shift/Cursor Keys, or mark with mouse
     Delete Block           - Mark block, then Delete key or RIGHT click mouse
     Copy to Clipboard      - Mark block, then Control/C or RIGHT click mouse
     Cut to Clipboard       - Mark block, then Control/X or RIGHT click mouse
     Paste from Clipboard   - Control/V, or RIGHT click text

  Special Operations unique to Home Cookin:

     Convert to upper case  - Mark block, then Control/U
     Convert to lower case  - Mark block, then Control/L
     Center text on line    - Control/Space
     Strip carriage returns - Control/Return


3.4 - Deleting Recipes

  If you want to delete a recipe, highlight that recipe in the index menu, or
view it in the view menu. Then press the "Delete" key on the keyboard. You
will be asked to verify the delete operation.

  Alternatively, you may RIGHT click the recipe title in the index or view
menus and select the Delete option in the recipe editor.


3.5 - Moving Recipes

  Recipes may be moved from one chapter to another by "Dragging" them from
the old chapter to the new chapter. This can only be accomplished at the
index menu.

  Click and HOLD the left mouse key over your recipe title until the title
appears next to the mouse pointer. Then "Drag" the title to the new chapter
title and release the mouse key. Remember that the mouse pointer is still
your point of reference, not the title itself!


3.6 - Viewing Recipes

  Recipes are viewed in the View Menu. There are numerous ways to access the
View Menu, the simplest of which is to simply click twice on the recipe you
want to view in the Index Menu. You may also select the recipe you wish to
view, and then click the 'View' button at the bottom of the screen. It is
also possible to access the view menu by clicking on recipe names in the
Batch menu, the Calendar, and the Find menu.

  Scroll through long recipes by placing the mouse pointer over the recipe
text. Click the LEFT mouse key to scroll up through the recipe. Click the
RIGHT mouse key to scroll down through the recipe. You may also use the Up
and Down keyboard cursor keys to scroll through long recipes. To page through
a recipe press the Page Up or Page Down keys. Pressing the Home key will take
you to the top of the recipe, while the End key will take you to the bottom
of the recipe.

  The arrow keys at the top of the view menu allow you to move to the next or
previous recipe. Or, use the Left and Right keyboard cursor keys to change
recipes. When you reach the beginning or end of a chapter, the program will
automatically move to the previous or next chapter. You can scan the entire
database like this if you wish.


3.7 - Resizing Recipes

  If you want to resize a recipe temporarily, click on the 'Servings' display
at the top of the View Menu. A dialog box will appear allowing you to enter a
new serving size. Note that this method is only temporary, and does not
affect the saved version of the recipe. Still, it is useful if you want to do
a one time resizing for printing or exporting.

  To permanently resize a recipe, you will need to edit the recipe. This is
accomplished by RIGHT clicking the recipe title at the top of the view menu,
or RIGHT clicking the recipe title in the Index Menu. You may then click the
'Resize' button at the bottom of the editor to enter a new serving size.


3.8 - Printing Recipes

  You may print a single record by clicking the 'Print' button at the top of
the view menu. Select your printer, paper, orientation, etc., and click OK to
print.

  You may also print selected recipes from the batch menu by clicking the
'Print' button in the batch menu.


3.9 - Exporting Recipes

  To export a recipe, locate the recipe you want, and view it in the View
menu. Then, click the 'Export' button at the top of the view menu. A dialog
box will appear allowing you to select the "Home Cookin" or "Meal-Master"
export format.

  If you are exchanging recipes or text with other Home Cookin users, you
should use the Home Cookin format, as it preserves all formatting of recipes
and information text. However, this format requires 80 column text, which may
be reformatted or truncated if posted on a BBS or other online service.
Therefore, if you are posting recipes online, or if you are exchanging
recipes with users of other recipe programs, you should use the "Meal-Master"
format instead.

  Once you select the desired output format, click the 'Clipboard' button to
copy the recipe to Windows clipboard, or click 'File' to export the recipe to
an external file. If you click the 'File' button, a file selector will appear
for you to select a path and enter a filename. Click on OK, and the recipe
will be exported.

  Multiple recipes may be exported from the batch menu.


4 - Grocery Menu

  The Grocery Menu allows you to maintain a list of commonly used grocery
items and select them quickly for shopping. The grocery manager not only
sorts the items alphabetically, and by store and location, but will
automatically compute a running total as you prepare the list.

  The on-screen list of grocery items changes to reflect various operations
in the grocery menu. When you first enter the menu you will see a list of all
items in the database. You can toggle between the various views of the
grocery items by pressing the space bar, or you can simply click the button
at the top of the grocery menu that corresponds to the view you wish to see.

  You can scroll through the list of grocery items by clicking the on-screen
arrow buttons, or by pressing the Up or Down cursor keys. You may also use
the Page Up and Page Down keys to quickly page through the item list, or
press Home to jump to the top of the list, or End to jump to the bottom of
the list.


4.1 - Adding Items

  Add items to the item list by clicking on the 'Add' button. A dialog box
will appear allowing you to enter the name, store, location, and cost of an
item.

  A special default quantity field is also available. This is used for items
that you buy every time you go shopping, such as bread or milk.  When you
start a 'New' grocery list, the items with default quantities will be added
automatically. Leave this field blank for items you do not buy every time you
shop.

  When entering grocery items, remember that it is usually best to give
generalized locations rather than a specific isle number. This is because
stores often change their layouts, and locations vary from one store to the
next.

  Leave the store field blank unless you always buy that item at a specific
store. This will prevent you from having to duplicate the item for each store
you shop at.

  Prices should be rounded up to the next quarter or half dollar. This
provides a buffer when shopping, as store prices fluctuate often, and this
will prevent you from coming up short if you rely on the cost total produced
by Home Cookin.

  REMEMBER: The more generalized you make your prices and descriptions, the
less maintenance you will need to do to your list. While Home Cookin allows
you to get very specific about the store, location, and price of an item, it
also means you will need to check your pricing and locations after each
shopping trip!


4.2 - Editing Items

  To edit a grocery item, RIGHT click on the item you wish to edit. The
grocery item editor will appear and you can edit your item. The item may be
deleted by clicking the 'Delete' button in the item editor.

  Remember to review your item list periodically to ensure the most accuracy
when planning a grocery list. How frequently you need to do this will depend
on how stable food prices are, how specific you were on prices, etc.


4.3 - Locating Items

  To locate a grocery item, press the 'L' key or click on the 'Locate'
button. A dialog box will appear for you to enter a search string. Press
RETURN, and the item list will change to show only those items which match
your search string.


4.4 - The Grocery List

  Begin a new grocery list by clicking the 'New' button in the Grocery Menu.
If you have entered "Default Quantities" for any items in the grocery list,
those items will be entered automatically into your grocery list.

  Add items to your grocery list by clicking on the desired item in the item
list, or by highlighting the desired item and pressing the Right cursor key.
Repeated selection of the same item will increase the items quantity and not
duplicate the item in the grocery list.

  You can decrease the quantity of a selected item by RIGHT clicking on the
quantity (NOT the Item Title), or by highlighting that item and pressing the
Left cursor key. Reducing an item to a quantity of zero will remove that item
from your grocery list.

  The grocery list may be printed by clicking on the 'Print' button. The list
will be sorted so that items are grouped by area and separated by store.


5 - Calendar Menu

  The Calendar Menu allows you to attach recipes to any calendar date. In
addition, you can enter personal notes on any date for birthdays, holidays,
or other events. There is no limit on the number of events you may enter, and
any number of events can be placed on a single date.

  The Calendar Menu is divided into two sections, the calendar display on the
left, and the event list on the right. You may move from one month to the
next by clicking on the arrow buttons at the top of the calendar display. You
can move from one year to the next by clicking on the arrow buttons at the
bottom of the calendar display. Jump to todays date by clicking the "Today
is.." display at the top of the calendar display.

  To enter a note on a specific date, click twice on the desired date in the
calendar display. A dialog box will appear allowing you to enter your desired
note.

  To place a recipe on the calendar, first locate the recipe in the 'Index'
or 'View' menus. Then click and "Drag" the recipe title to the 'Calendar'
button at the bottom of the screen. This will place the recipe on todays
date. You can then go to calendar menu and drag the recipe to another date if
you wish.

  An alternative method of placing a recipe on the calendar is to first
locate the recipe you want in the 'Index' or 'View' menu. Then go to the
calendar menu and click twice on the desired date. When the dialog box
appears, click the 'Recipe' button to attach the currently selected recipe.

  Once an event is set on the Calendar, it can easily be moved to a new date
by "Dragging" the event from the event list, to the new date on the calendar
display.

  You can edit a note event by RIGHT clicking the desired note in the event
list, making your corrections, and pressing the Return key.

  To delete an event, RIGHT click the desired event in the event list. If the
event is a recipe, you will need to verify the delete operation. If the event
is a note, you will need to click the 'Delete' button when the edit dialog
appears.

  The 'Wipe' button allows you to completely clear the event list.

  To print the event list click on the 'Print' button in the Calendar Menu.
The list of events will be printed. Note that only the titles of attached
recipes will be printed in the list, and not the full recipe text.


6 - Batch Menu

  The batch menu is used when you want to print or export multiple recipes at
one time.

  To add a recipe to the batch menu, first locate the recipe in the Index or
View menu. Then click on the recipe title, and "Drag" the recipe title to the
'Batch' button at the bottom of the screen. You can also drag a chapter title
to the batch button from the Index menu, and have all recipes in that chapter
added to the batch list.

  Scroll through recipes in the batch list by clicking the on-screen arrow
buttons or by pressing the Up and Down cursor keys. You can page through the
list quickly by pressing the Page Up or Page Down keys. Jump to the top of
the list by pressing the Home key or to the end of the list by pressing the
End key.

  To view any recipe in the batch list click twice on the desired recipe, or
highlight the desired recipe with the cursor keys and then press the Return
key.

  To remove a recipe from the batch list, RIGHT click on the desired recipe,
and click OK to verify the delete operation. To clear all recipes from the
batch list, click on the 'Wipe' button, and click OK to verify the delete
operation.

  If you want to print the records in the batch list, click on the 'Print'
button in the batch menu. A dialog box will appear so that you may select
whether to print one recipe per page, or to fit as many recipes on each page
as possible (without wrapping from one page to the next).

  If you want to export the recipes in the batch list, click on the 'Export'
button in the batch menu. Then select whether you want the "Home Cookin",
"Meal-Master", or recipe index output. The recipe index is simply a list of
the recipes in the batch list. A file selector will appear for you to select
a path and enter a filename. Click on 'OK' to start the export process.


7 - Find Menu

  The Find Menu allows you to search the entire recipe database for any
string in any part of the recipes you have stored.

  To begin a search, click on the 'New Search' button in the Find Menu. A
dialog box will appear allowing you to enter your search string. You may also
enter an exclusion string if you desire (for instance, to find recipes
containing 'butter', but not those containing 'peanut butter'). Click on
'Search' to begin the search. Home Cookin will scan through the recipes and
build a list of all recipes matching your search criteria.

  Scroll through recipes in the find list by clicking the on-screen arrow
buttons or by pressing the Up and Down cursor keys. You can page through the
list quickly by pressing the Page Up or Page Down keys. Jump to the top of
the list by pressing the Home key or to the end of the list by pressing the
End key.

  To view any recipe in the find list click twice on the desired recipe, or
highlight the desired recipe with the cursor keys and then press the Return
key. The view menu will appear and all occurances of your search string will
be highlighted in the record text. You may switch between the Find Menu and
the View Menu as often as you wish. The find list will remain intact until
you perform a 'New Search'.


8 - Setup Menu

  The setup menu is where you configure various user options to your
individual preferences. It is also where you determine the number of recipes
in the database, and where you edit the spell check dictionary.

  The "Import Maximum" item is used to limit the number of recipes a chapter
can have when importing recipes. This affects importing ONLY, and is used to
prevent chapters from getting too large when importing large recipe files. If
a chapter reaches the import maximum, another new chapter is created with the
same name as the first and any further recipes are imported there. This field
may be set between 20 and 65000 recipes. The default of 500 recipes is
recommended to avoid sluggish operation that a large chapter would create.

  The "Title Font", "Text Font", and "Report Font" items allow you to select
the fonts you wish to use for printing. The Title and Text fonts are used for
printing recipes. The Report Font is used when printing the grocery list or
calendar events.

  The "Import Path" and "Export Path" allow you to define a default path for
importing and exporting. You are always free to import/export to any path,
but the paths specified here will always come up as the default.


8.1 - Color Settings

  Home Cookin defaults to the current color palette used by Windows. However,
you may define any colors you wish for Home Cookins interface. Click the 'Use
Internal Color Settings' option if you want to define your own colors. When
the option is checked, a control panel will appear listing the various
segments of the user interface. Next to the list is a simple RGB display
(Red/Green/Blue) of the selected interface item.

  To change the color of any interface component, highlight that item using
the mouse or the Up/Down cursor keys. Then, use the mouse to drag the R, G,
and B sliders to achieve the color you desire. Repeat this procedure for as
many items as you wish to change. Click OK to save your changes, or click
Cancel to return to the previous palette settings.

  To get you started, a number of preset color palettes have already been
defined and may be accessed by pressing the number keys (1-5) on the
keyboard. You may use these presets as-is, or use them as a starting point
for your own palettes. If this is the first time you checked the internal
colors option, the palette will default to preset number 1.


8.2 - Compressing Data Files

  Home Cookin uses compact data structures to minimize the storage space
needed for recipes. However, users with limited disk space, or large recipe
collections, may want to further reduce storage space. Because of this, Home
Cookin includes internal compression routines to reduce data file sizes.

  If you want to use file compression, click the 'Compress Data Files' option
in the setup menu. Home Cookin will spend a few minutes processing all
chapters in the database, compressing them to conserve space. Decompression
is automatic when you access a chapter or load a recipe. And, as long as the
'Compress Data Files' option is checked, chapters will be recompressed
transparently each time you add, edit, or move a recipe.

  NOTE: Data compression is always a tradeoff. You'll use less storage space
on the disk, but program response will be slower because of the time required
for compression and decompression. If disk space is more important than
speed, click the 'Compress Data Files' option. If speed is more important
leave the option unchecked.


8.3 - Spell Checking After Editing

  Normally, Home Cookin will only spell check a recipe when you ask it to do
so in the recipe editors. However, if you always want to perform a spell
check after adding or editing a recipe, check the 'Spell Check After Editing'
option in the setup menu.


8.4 - Spell Checking When Importing

  To minimize the time needed for importing, Home Cookin normally does not
perform a spell check when you import a recipe. If you import a file
containing many recipes, spell checking can be quite time consuming. And
because imported recipes often require later editing anyway, you may find it
an unnecessary step when importing.

  However, if you routinely import only one or two recipes at a time, you may
wish to have a spell check performed when the recipes are imported. If you
wish to do this, check the 'Spell Check When Importing' option in the setup
menu.


8.5 - Edit Dictionary

  Unlike a traditional spell checker, Home Cookin provides not only basic
spell checking, but automated search and replace as well. This allows
correction of transposed text, expansion of abbreviations, etc.

  As you use the spell checker in Home Cookin, you may find that some phrases
are added to the dictionary accidently. Or, you may wish to add words and
phrases manually to the dictionary without performing an actual spell check.
To access the dictionary phrase list, click the 'Edit Dictionary' button in
the Setup menu.

  Scroll through phrases in the dictionary by clicking the on-screen arrow
buttons or by pressing the Up and Down cursor keys. You can page through the
list quickly by pressing the Page Up or Page Down keys. Jump to the top of
the list by pressing the Home key or to the end of the list by pressing the
End key.

  To edit or delete any phrase in the dictionary, click twice on the desired
phrase, or highlight the phrase using the Up and Down cursor keys and press
the Return key.

  The spell checker uses two elements for each phrase in the dictionary. The
first element is the "Watch For" field. This is the text Home Cookin looks
for when scanning a recipe. The second element is the "Replace With" field.
This is the text the spell checker will use when the text in the first field
is located. If the second field is blank, the first field is assumed to be
the correct spelling of the word or phrase.