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----------------------- A P P T ----------------------- Appointment Minder Version 1.21 APPT Program Documentation 08/01/1993 James Corpening GymusWhere? 828 NW 79 Terrace Plantation, FL 33324-1466 Copyright 1992, 1993 by James Corpening All rights reserved C O N T E N T S Registration Form........................................................ 3 Preliminary Information.................................................. 4 Quick Set-up The Package Registration Legalities............................................................... 6 Copyright Information License Information Disclaimer Shareware................................................................ 7 Introduction............................................................. 8 System Requirements...................................................... 9 Understanding and Using APPT............................................. 9 Viewing Window Editing Window No-Data Window Additional Information...................................................12 DataFiles Configuration Errors APPT Appointment Minder Copyright 1992, 1993 by James Corpening All rights reserved - 2 - R E G I S T R A T I O N F O R M ----------------------- A P P T ----------------------- Appointment Minder Version 1.21 Name: _______________________________ Company: _______________________________ Address: _______________________________ _______________________________ City, State, Zip: _______________________________ Day Phone: (_____)________________________ CompuServe ID: _______________________________ Today's Date: ____/____/____ Where did you acquire APPT?________________________________________________ ____________________________ If BBS, Phone:(_____)__________________ Number of copies to register ______ x $10.00 per copy = $____________ For a site license or for quantities over 10, contact me for pricing. Please make payment to James Corpening. Send a check or money order (US Dollars, US Bank) to: James Corpening GymusWhere? 828 NW 79 Terrace Plantation, FL 33324-1466 Shortly after you register, you will receive instructions to eliminate the shareware notice on your copy of APPT. Thank you for your honesty. Please recycle and don't litter. Comments are very welcome: __________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ - 3 - P R E L I M I N A R Y I N F O R M A T I O N ----------Quick Set-up---------- This explains how to get APPT Appointment Minder up and running--quickly. If you have read the APPTREAD.ME file, you are already in-gear. Nevertheless, you should read the remainder of APPT.DOC to fully understand APPT. Put APPT.COM in your root directory, type APPT and press [Enter]. Assuming that you've not created the data file APPT.DAT, you will receive an error: ** ERROR ** Please refer to APPT.DOC for clarification of the following: Error Opening Data File--Cannot find appointments Press any key to exit... Press any key. Again, type APPT [Enter] and you will meet APPT Appointment Minder. APPT has created an empty data file entitled APPT.DAT. You have, however, no appointments. Press [F5] to start the APPTEDIT, the internal editor. Now enter today's date in MM-DD format. Be sure to place the date in the first five positions on the line--THIS IS ESSENTIAL. Go ahead and type a bit more after the date. If you wish to play, enter some text on the lines above today's date; this will show you how APPT works. Now save your data file by pressing [F9]. When the checkmark appears beside [F9], press [Esc] to exit APPTEDIT, then [F10] to exit APPT. Now you are ready to run APPT again and see APPT work. Have fun. ----------The Package---------- APPT Appointment Minder is an easy-to-use appointment reminder program that retrieves your appointments from a standard text-file, starting with the first occurrence of today's date. APPT is most useful when run from your AUTOEXEC.BAT file at system start-up, thereby offering you an almost hands-off method of maintaining your daily schedule. The APPT Appointment Minder package includes the following files: Filename: Size: Date: Description: APPTREAD.ME 1,380 08/01/93 Quick set-up guide APPT.COM 6,682 08/01/93 APPT Appointment Minder v1.21 APPT.DOC 36,494 08/01/93 APPT operation manual APPT.SMP 441 08/01/93 Sample data file APPT.REG 1,530 08/01/93 APPT Registration Form APPT-REG.BAT 34 08/01/93 Batch file to print APPT.REG APPT-DOC.BAT 34 08/01/93 Batch file to print APPT.DOC APPTHIST.TXT 863 08/01/93 Upgrade history CURSOR.COM 11 08/01/93 Replaces cursor after APPT abort FILE_ID.DIZ 249 08/01/93 Description file DESC.SDI 249 08/01/93 Description file - 4 - If your package lacks any of these files, you should try to obtain the complete package. If that is not possible, I hope that you have at least the following: APPT.COM, APPT.DOC, and APPT.SMP. Those three files will suffice in allowing you to productively use APPT. ----------Registration---------- Registration of APPT is very easy and inexpensive. As you receive it, APPT is completely functional. The only difference between unregistered and registered versions of APPT is the inclusion of shareware information in the unregistered version. After registration, you will receive instructions to disable the shareware labeling. Registration is only $10. Please complete the registration form on Page 3 of this manual (or print the registration form as you exit APPT) and send a money order or check (US funds, US bank), payable to James Corpening, to: James Corpening GymusWhere? 828 NW 79 Terrace Plantation, FL 33324-1466 - 5 - L E G A L I T I E S ----------Copyright Information---------- United States Copyright Law is intended to protect authors from unauthorized use of their work. APPT Appointment Minder is copyrighted by James Corpening and GymusWhere? That means that APPT.COM and APPT.DOC belong to James Corpening, and are protected under United States Copyright Law and the agreements of the Berne Convention. You may legally make NO modifications to APPT.COM nor to APPT.DOC. Furthermore, you may use APPT Appointment Minder only under the conditions of the following license. ----------License Information---------- As an end-user, you are granted a license to evaluate APPT Appointment Minder for 28 days. After 28 days, if you decide to continue using APPT, you must register your copy. If, however, you decide that APPT can not serve you well, you must discontinue use. Once registered, you gain the privilege of using APPT through version 2.99. The per-copy registration fee registers only one copy of APPT, meaning that you may place and use said copy of APPT on any computer as long as it does not simultaneously reside on another computer. You must register one copy of APPT for each computer on which APPT will reside. Registered or unregistered, you may distribute ONLY the complete, unmodified shareware package. This license also allows you to duplicate the APPT package, as described above, for archival or distribution purposes only. If you can not agree to the conditions set forth in this license, please do not use APPT. Unregistered use of APPT beyond 28 days violates this license and United States Copyright Law [17 USCA Section 102 et seq.], and subjects you (individual or company) to severe criminal liability. Registration fees and distribution fees are distinctly different. The APPT package may be sold only by GymusWhere? and James Corpening. If you paid someone other than James Corpening or GymusWhere? for APPT Appointment Minder, you paid for the distribution only--not registration. Sale of this software by any other individual or company is illegal. This software may, however, be distributed by parties other than GymusWhere? or James Corpening, in which case only the complete, unadulterated shareware package may be distributed. If distribution fees are charged for this package, the distributor must first procure written consent from James Corpening; thereafter, said fees may not exceed five dollars ($5.00), and are limited to charges for distribution and/or diskette only. APPT is a very helpful tool that may be best used in a business environment. If you wish to discuss registering many copies of APPT, or gaining a site license, please feel free to contact me at any one of the addresses below. ----------Disclaimer---------- APPT Appointment Minder and related files/programs are accompanied by no warranty, explicit or implicit. Neither GymusWhere? nor James Corpening - 6 - may be held responsible for missed appointments, lost data, lost profits, or any damages resulting from the use of APPT Appointment Minder and related files/programs. Careful effort has been made to produce a quality product. Nevertheless, hardware, software, and user variability cannot be totally accounted for. Every user should, therefore, thoroughly test this package with non-important data. SELLER LIABILITY IS LIMITED TO REFUND OR PRODUCT-REPLACEMENT. S H A R E W A R E The shareware approach to software marketing is a great concept that, if adhered to, benefits both endusers and programmers. Shareware products are programs of quality, no less than retail-marketed products. In fact, many retail-marketed software products were born as shareware. The success of shareware is dependent on the good nature of its users. The strategy is simple. Shareware packages are distributed to the public via distribution houses (which charge for the distribution only), by user groups, or by electronic routes (e.g., BBSs). As a user, you are encouraged to use these programs on an evaluation basis. After a period of a few weeks, you can have a good idea of the usefulness of a package. If you are satisfied with the package, and wish to continue using it, you are expected to purchase your copy. If you find that the software does not meet your needs, you are not expected to purchase it, but you are expected to cease using it. This approach to software evaluation is often referred to as "test-drive," and appropriately so. Evaluating software prior to purchase is tantamount to test-driving an automobile prior to purchase. If you like it, you buy it. If you decide that the automobile does not fit your needs, you return it. Another fantastic benefit to shareware packages is the price. Distributing shareware is less expensive than mass-producing and marketing a product in the conventional manner. The overhead is low, and the principle investment is time (not pretty packaging, advertising, nor paid vacations for the guys upstairs). This allows shareware authors to often offer their product at very attractive prices. But even if price were not an issue, it is very convenient to be able to test software prior to purchase. Regardless of the stage of your evaluation, you are encouraged to distribute the shareware package as you received it. This gives you an opportunity to offer your opinions of the software and, if fitting, fulfill any upload obligations you may have with your BBS. Quite frequently, lack of shareware registration is simply a matter of procrastination. A user puts the program(s) on her/his machine and finds it very useful. Because the program is installed, however, there is a tendency to overlook registration. To prevent this neglect, some shareware authors release versions that are crippled (not fully functional). APPT Appointment Minder is fully functional in its shareware package. I've decided to trust you as a user, and I hope that you appreciate such trust. - 7 - I N T R O D U C T I O N GREAT! Another appointment reminder program. OK, I admit, these things typically are more of a burden than they are worth. By the time I turn on my system and run the program, I have had plenty of time to plan my day from the Post-It Notes that litter my desk. What I really need is a (relatively) hands-off approach to planning my day. Well, here it is. APPT offers several benefits that make it a better appointment minder. -APPT is intended to be run automatically from your AUTOEXEC.BAT file (you may, of course, run APPT manually from command line). Unlike appointment reminders that need you to tell them what to do, APPT knows what to do. When you call APPT, you are shown today's appointments--effortlessly. There is no need to navigate through an outdated appointment list. The only preparation on your part, then, is to add appointments to your data file (sorry, but APPT can not log your appointments, but it can help--see below). -APPT doesn't bother you with yesterday's appointments; APPT searches your data file and retrieves only today's and future appointments. APPT then automatically updates your data file by removing past appointments. These appointments are moved to a back-up file where they may be accessed with any text-editor, or read with DOS' TYPE command. -Because APPT retrieves appointments from a separate data file, the data file may be updated on any remote terminal, and subsequently transferred to all linked terminals, including APPT's. This is ideal in situations in which somebody else logs your appointments, but you wish to view them with APPT on your own terminal. -APPT displays one window of appointments, and only one key-press advances your viewing window. Another key-press backs-up your viewing window to the previous data. This convenience allows you to move easily through your appointments. -With APPT, one key-press prints appointments from the current window. A special Formfeed option signals your printer to feed the remainder of your print job when appointments do not fill the entire page. -APPT's help screen is one key-press away from you at any time. Although APPT is easy enough that the help screen will be seldom used, it is there if you need it. -APPT has an internal editor, APPTEDIT, that allows you to easily edit your appointment file. Once saved, edits are immediately available in APPT's viewing window. -APPT is written entirely in assembly language--the next best thing to "machine talk." This allows APPT to use little memory, and to be very small and very fast. - 8 - -APPT is a very convenient and useful utility. APPT is also inexpensive, a bargain. Although registering your copy of APPT will entitle you to other benefits, it is quite satisfying to know that you play a major role in strengthening shareware as a marketing tool. Besides, paying for merchandise is truly conventional. S Y S T E M R E Q U I R E M E N T S APPT: -Requires DOS version 2.0 or higher. -Requires at least an 8086-based IBM-compatible computer. -Requires approximately 6K of conventional RAM for the program proper. APPT establishes buffers to store appointment data and editing data, so the total conventional memory requirement approximates 38K. -Requires a Color Graphics Adapter (CGA) or better. APPT will not work with a Monochrome Display Adapter (MDA). -Requires a text-mode display of 80 columns by 25 rows, in either color or b/w, to conform to program expectations. The present version of APPT does not check the number of rows/columns of your monitor. Other video modes may work, but the displays will be undefined. Preferred video modes are #2 (b/w) and #3 (color). U N D E R S T A N D I N G & U S I N G A P P T Although I find tutorials notoriously tedious, the following is a short run-through of APPT's operation, mixed with explanation. APPT is very easy to use; you can get very comfortable with APPT by just fumbling through it. Nevertheless, I am obligated to provide detailed explanation. I suggest that you at least skim this to get the basics, lest you have questions later. Throughout the text you will find references to several files. APPT refers to the main program APPT.COM, APPT.DAT is the data file to contain your appointments, and APPT.BAK is the backup data file format. APPTEDIT refers to APPT's internal editor, but it is not a separate file. APPT Appointment Minder does just that--minds your appointments. APPT is executed when you issue the command APPT. APPT displays a logo at the top of your screen, a menu bar at the bottom of your screen (assuming that your screen is 25 rows by 80 columns; I'm not convinced that enough people use 80x50 to make it worthwhile to adjust for such--maybe I'll learn different.), and appointments between the logo and menu bar. The logo includes APPT's name and version number, and today's date, as reported by your system, in MM-DD format. The menu bar displays the options available to you, and those options will change according to where you are in APPT. Upon start-up, APPT searches for appointments in the data file APPT.DAT; APPT.DAT should exist before running APPT. You may use any text-editor or word-processor to create APPT.DAT; you must, however, place dates on the - 9 - first five positions on a line, in MM-DD format. You must also save the data file in TEXT ONLY format, void of application-specific formatting (special characters, bold, italics, etc.). If APPT does not find the proper data file, APPT will notify you that it can not open the data file, but it will create an empty APPT.DAT for you to edit. It is then up to you to add your appointments to the data file. If you run APPT without first creating APPT.DAT, and APPT creates the empty data file, you may then run APPT again to modify the data file with APPTEDIT. When you run APPT for this second time, you will receive a No Appointments Today notice because the data file is empty. You will also see that the menu bar displays three (3) command options: [F1] Help [F5] Edit [F10] Quit. [F1] and [F10] really need no explanation. Choosing [F5], however, will open APPTEDIT. A note is in order here. Only in APPTEDIT will a cursor represent an insertion point. You should see no cursor if you are not in APPTEDIT. If you do see a cursor, that is just a quirk--it will not represent an insertion point. Once you open APPTEDIT, the menu bar will quickly change to display the editing options (also, it should turn red) and the cursor will appear. APPTEDIT opens in Insert Mode with an underscore cursor. By pressing the Insert key, you switch APPTEDIT to TypeOver Mode, in which APPTEDIT uses a block cursor. Because not all editors follow one convention for cursor format, the word "TypeOver" will appear in the upper right corner of the Logo bar to make it obvious that APPT is in TypeOver mode. This courtesy, however, is available only in registered versions of APPT. In the upper left corner of the Logo bar, the word Editing will blink. You may now enter appointments using generic text-editing commands (text keys, [Ins], [Tab], etc.). When you wish to save your edits, press [F9] and APPTEDIT will save APPT.DAT to disk. At this point a checkmark should appear in the menu bar to the left of [F9]. This signals that the save is completed (the checkmark will vanish at the next key pressed). When you start APPTEDIT, keep in mind that this editor is designed to work only from within APPT, and only on APPT.DAT; it is not a full word-processor and is included as a convenience for you, the user. In other words, don't expect it to work miracles. Now exit APPTEDIT by pressing [Esc]; you are now in the viewing window. Remember that if you [Esc] from APPTEDIT without pressing [F9], your edits will not be saved; APPTEDIT does not warn you of unsaved data. The menu bar will once again change to display the options available to you. You can see that your edits are immediately available. You will probably use APPT mostly from this viewing window. Although the Help Screen is available from any window by toggling [F1], the explanations are very succinct. Below are more thorough explanations of APPT's commands. - 10 - ----------Viewing-Window Keys---------- [PgUp] Displays the previous window in your data file, assuming that you advanced with the [PgDn] Command. [PgDn] Displays the next window in your data file if the data exceed 14 lines (14 lines is the size of the data window). APPT makes room for 10 totally full (14 rows x 80 columns) windows of data, but allows that amount of data to be displayed across (15) windows. [F1] Help Displays the Quick-Help Screen that briefly explains the commands available in the menu bar. Press [F1] again to exit Help. [F3] Print Sends the data in the display window to your printer. The window data, however, will not fill an entire sheet, and your printer will not feed the complete sheet until the sheet is full. This allows you to advance the data window with [PgDn] and include more than one window on each sheet. [F5] Edit Initiates APPT's internal text editor, in which you can edit APPT.DAT. This editor is not a full word-processor, so you are limited in what you can accomplish with it--it is included as a convenience for creating/modifying your appointment file. The text editor is explained more fully elsewhere in this manual. [F7] Formfeed Advances the paper in your printer by one sheet. When you have finished sending appointments to your printer, the sheet will most likely have yet to feed (a laser printer holds the sheet until it is completely full, a dot-matrix printer will feed only as much as has printed). You should then complete the print job by pressing the formfeed key, thereby advancing the paper. Because the window displays 14 lines of data, and because APPT uses two lines per sheet for a header, you probably can send 4 windows of appointments onto one sheet of paper (14 x 4 + 2 = 58 lines) before having to advance the sheet. [F10] Quit Exits APPT and returns you to DOS. [Alt][R] Refreshes the screen if corrupted. In the event that DOS invades the screen (e.g., the infamous Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail?), you may clean the display by holding the [Alt] key depressed and then pressing the [R] key (case is inconsequential). For example, APPT will not trap printer-related errors; that task is left to DOS. If you press [F3] or [F7] when your printer is not on-line or not powered on, DOS' print-error message will invade the APPT display (probably in the lower left corner). You may then correct the printer situation, press r (retry), and then [Alt][R] to refresh the screen. This service is purely for appearance; if DOS does send a message to the screen, APPT should continue to function correctly. - 11 - ----------Editing-Window Keys---------- [PgUp/Dn] Move the editing cursor up/down one window. [F1] Displays the Help Screen. [F9] Saves your edits to disk. A checkmark will appear to the left of the [F9] to signal the completed save. This checkmark will vanish at the next key-press. [Home],[End] Move the cursor to the start or end, respectively, of the present line. [Esc] Exits APPTEDIT and returns you to the viewing window. You must be sure to save your most recent edits--APPT will not warn you of unsaved changes to your data file. Edit Keys Standard editing keys include text characters, tab, backspace, enter, delete, insert, cursor arrows. ----------No-Data-Window Keys---------- These keys, [F1], [F5], [F10], are described above. A D D I T I O N A L I N F O R M A T I O N Some of the following information is redundant, but helps elucidate additional characteristics of APPT. As mentioned above, when APPT is working, you may see no cursor. The cursor will re-appear, however, when you exit APPT. APPT will not trap printer-related errors; that task is left to DOS. If DOS does trap such an error, and if you choose to abort rather than retry the print, APPT will not be able to return the cursor to screen. Rather than expect you to then recall APPT or re-boot your computer to retrieve your cursor, I have included a small file entitled CURSOR.COM to easily bring back your cursor. When the help screen is displayed, pressing any key other than [Esc] has no effect. Generally, the same applies to the appointment screen. There is, however, an exception. Pressing an unassigned function key (F1-12) or auxilliary keys (e.g., arrows) will return a beep. This may be quite annoying, but given the nature of the print option (specifically when used with laser printers), it may not be readily obvious that your data made it to the printer. The alerting beep informs you when you press an unassigned key. If you do not set APPT's environment variable (see the CONFIGURATION section of this manual), APPT.DAT must reside in the same subdirectory as APPT.COM. In such a case, if APPT creates the data file, you will find APPT.DAT within - 12 - the same subdirectory. If you DO set the APPT variable and APPT creates APPT.DAT, you will find APPT.DAT in the defined subdirectory. ----------Data Files---------- Although strict, there is some variability in the date format that APPT will correctly recognize. For example, each of the following formats will work: MM-DD(-YYYY) MM.DD(.YYYY) MM/DD(/YYYY) MM DD( YYYY) Essentially, you may separate MM and DD with any character. MM, however, must occupy the first and second positions on the line, and DD must occupy the fourth and fifth positions. MM must be FAR LEFT--no space between the left margin and the date! THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. Anything after DD is entirely optional; APPT evaluates only the first five characters on each line. The file APPT.SMP is included with this package as a sample data file for your reference. This strategy to text-searching may appear awkward. I considered just performing a string search that would allow the date to be anywhere on a line. This, however, would mean that _any_ dates logged in the text would be fair game to APPT. For example, consider the following entry: 11/23 Phone Baker regarding 11/26 lunch. That would work well on 11/23, but assuming that APPT was not used between the 23rd and the 26th, the first line to be displayed on 11/26 would be: 11/26 lunch. In this case, you may be happy with the brief reminder (if you could remember Baker). I felt, however, that the potential for confusion was too great, so I opted for the present strategy. If APPT finds today's date in your data file, it will display appointments starting with the first instance of today's date, including all appointments that follow. APPT will NOT display past appointments (unless they are listed after today's date). Also, it will NOT display ANY appointments if it does not find today's date in APPT.DAT (i.e., APPT.DAT may contain 100 appointments for tomorrow, but if it contains none for today you will receive a notice of no appointments). So, if you wish to be shown tomorrow's appointments today, include a line with today's date. APPT is a convenient utility, but is simple-minded. APPT searches your data file for today's date, discarding old data. Once APPT finds today's date, it does no more searching. Depending on how many appointments I have on a given day, I find that constructing my data file so that only one day's appointments occupy each window allows a less cluttered display and allows me to print only one date's appointments. Remember, however, that APPT only grants you access to 15 windows of data. Constructing a data file that - 13 - is smaller than 11,200 bytes, but that extends beyond 15 windows will mean that you have access to only the first 15 windows. I strongly suggest that you avoid files larger than 11,200 bytes. Every time that APPT finds today's date in APPT.DAT, the data file will be renamed APPT.BAK. A new APPT.DAT will then be created containing today's and future appointments. This avoids showing you old appointments, yet allows you opportunity to recall old appointments by viewing APPT.BAK with another text-editor or with DOS' TYPE command, but ONLY until you reexecute APPT. If there are no appointments for the day, the files will not be changed. Also, using APPTEDIT to save data will only update APPT.DAT, APPT.BAK will be unchanged. ----------Configuration---------- If you wish to run APPT at system start-up, you may include the command APPT.COM in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file (before interfacing utilities such as Microsoft Windows or menu programs). To keep APPT easy, you should follow one of three options: 1. Place the APPT files in your root directory. 2. Place the APPT files in a subdirectory and call APPT either from a batch file, the path and name of which you should add to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, or by using the change directory (cd\...) command in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. In the case of a batch file other than AUTOEXEC, please use the entire APPT.COM when calling APPT, or name your batch file something other than APPT.BAT. Consult your DOS manual for instructions on creating batch files. 3. Set the APPT environment variable and a path to APPT.DAT's subdirectory in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. The environment variable allows APPT to find the data files and the path allows DOS to find APPT. For example, the lines (without comments) in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file should be SET APPT=C:\subdir1 (to set the variable) PATH C:\subdir2; (to set the path) with NO BACKSLASH (\) at the end. The "subdir#" represents the path(s) of your choice(s) (e.g., C:\UTILITY\APPT). APPT's environment path is limited to 63 characters including backslashes. Character case is irrelevant. Note that you may house APPT in a different subdirectory than the data files. If your system does not keep time while power is off (i.e., you enter date/time at every start-up), the APPT command must be listed in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file after the TIME and DATE commands so that APPT will read the correct date from the system. Even if you do not run APPT at start-up, you are obligated to at least enter the correct date if you wish to use APPT. APPT.DAT may be assigned the System, Hidden, &/or Archive attributes, but not the Read-only attribute. If you alter APPT.DAT's attributes, however, the new attributes will be valid only until you execute APPT. When APPT modifies the data file (see above), it assigns read/write attributes. - 14 - ----------Errors---------- There are seven (7) possible program-trapped errors that you could encounter while running APPT. The generic error message reads: ** ERROR ** Please refer to APPT.DOC for clarification of the following: and is followed by one of the errors below. Incorrect DOS Version--APPT requires DOS 2.0 or higher. Some of APPT's interactions with DOS were not possible with earlier versions of DOS. Error Opening Data File--Cannot find appointments. This occurs if APPT does not find the data file APPT.DAT for any of the following reasons: -APPT.DAT does not exist on your disk. -APPT.DAT exists, but APPT's environment variable is not present and APPT.DAT resides in a directory other than the one in which APPT.COM resides. -The data file is named something other than APPT.DAT. Whichever the case, APPT will create the empty data file APPT.DAT, to which you should then add your appointments. This error will also occur if the data file has been assigned a READ-ONLY attribute. In this case, you must remove the READ-ONLY attribute with DOS' ATTRIB command (ATTRIB -R APPT.DAT). If APPT returns an error under this condition, it will not create an empty data file as explained above. Error Reading Data File--Check data file integrity. This error should occur rarely, if ever; probably only if either file is damaged. In such a case, your first approach should be to reconstruct your data file (first, try renaming APPT.BAK). Incompatible Video Adapter--APPT requires CGA or better. APPT will not run with a Monochrome Display Adapter (MDA). Acceptable adapters include CGA, EGA, MCGA, and VGA. Error Writing Data File--File may not be saved. This is an error that I've not seen occur, but decided to trap just the same. Again, this should only occur if either file is damaged. Error finding APPT.COM--Move to APPT's subdirectory. You will receive this error if you attempt to register APPT from outside the directory in which APPT resides. Registration must be done from within that subdirectory, regardless of an environment variable. - 15 - Registration Failed--Please confirm Registration Code, attending to case. This is the error message for unsuccessful registration attempts from within APPT's subdirectory. If you are confident that APPT is returning this message in error (i.e., you have accurately followed registration directions), PLEASE contact me. APPT has never met DesqView. If you wish to let them play together, I'd appreciate feedback. Otherwise, it may be best to keep them apart. I am interested in improving APPT Appointment Minder. The best way to do so is via user input. I encourage you to offer feedback on APPT and this document regardless of the stage of your evaluation or registered use. I very much look forward to such input. I hope that APPT serves you well. I am sorry, but phone support is presently unavailable for APPT. You may contact me at any of the addresses below. I expect to have a new USPS address by the end of 1993, so you may contact me via CompuServe for an update. I will, however, continue to receive mail for some time at the address below. CompuServe: 71172,266 InterNet: 71172.266@compuserve.com USPS: James Corpening GymusWhere? 828 NW 79 Terrace Plantation, FL 33324-1466 IBM is a trademark of International Business Machines DesqView is a trademark of Quarterdeck Office Systems Microsoft Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation - 16 -