Programmer 7500

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Text File | 1987-06-29 | 13.5 KB | 375 lines

TICKLE ----------------------------------------- Comprehensive Reninder Program for the PC ----------------------------------------- *************************************************************** *PLEASE UPLOAD TO YOUR LOCAL COMPUTER BULLETIN BOARD SYSTEMS! * *************************************************************** I. General A. Date This documentaion was prepared on 06-29-87. B. Version This documentation is updated to version 1.01 of the program. C. Purpose In my profession as a patent attorney for a large coporation, it is my duty to meet deadlines and to remember a large number of date sensitive tasks to be done. TICKLE was written to assist me in this effort. I hope it will be useful to you also. D. The Author The author is a registered patent attorney working with Rockwell International Corporation in Cedar Rapids, IA (the old Collins Radio Company). He can be contacted on Compuserve (ID No.: 71016,1355), or GEnie (Address: L.MURRAH), or by mail at the following address: 10 Cottage Grove Woods, S.E. Cedar Rapids, IA 52403 The home telephone number is (319) 365-6530. Please feel free to call about TICKLE during weekend and early evening hours. E. The Software The development of TICKLE began in June, 1987. New versions will be released as features are added and corrections are made to previously released versions. TICKLE is written in Turbo Pascal. The source code is included, but it may be used only in accordance with the license stated below. F. Latest Version The latest version of TICKLE can usually be found on GEnie. The latest version can also be obtained by sending a FORMATTED diskette and a stamped, self-addressed diskette mailer to the author at the above address. G. Conventions When example command lines are shown, the sequence "<CR>" means to press RETURN or ENTER. II. Equipment and Program Configuration A. Setup TICKLE can be run on the IBM-PC and compatibles having 192K of memory and one floppy disk drive. A hard disk is not required, although you will find that a hard disk will enhance operation of this and any other program. Your CONFIG.SYS file should authorize at least 20 files. This can be done with the following statement: FILES = 20 CONFIG.SYS may be edited using a word processor or program editor. B. The System Clock TICKLE depends upon the system calendar being set correctly. If you have a real time clock, you will have a program which automatically sets the clock and which is usually run in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. If not, you will need to set the date and time with the DATE and TIME DOS commands. III. Your Right to Use TICKLE A. License As you may have noticed I have retained the copyright in TICKLE, primarily in order to control its orderly development. However, I have granted the right to anyone to use the program for private, non-commercial use without further permission from me. That is, you can copy it, use it, and share it so long as you do not charge any money for it. You may use and change the source code so long as (1) you retain my name and copyright notices, and (2) you provide me with a copy of any modifi- cations along with your permission to include them in future versions of TICKLE. B. Contributions Several users have asked me whether I require payment of a "shareware" fee in order to use the program. The answer is "No"; but if you would like to support TICKLE with a small contribution (say $5), we certainly would not refuse your generosity. It would certainly help in continuing to improve the program. IV. Using TICKLE A. Conventions When a response from the user is called for, the default response, i.e., the response which is automatically entered if RETURN is pressed, is indicated in pointed brackets, e.g., '<N>'. B. Batch File Use One of the most convenient ways to use TICKLE is in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file which is run each time the the computer is turned on. Place it last in the batch file so that you are forced to look at the TICKLE notes each time you use the computer. Select the time period (and thus the command) that is most convenient for you. An example AUTOEXEC.BAT file, which can be created with a word processor (ASCII output mode only!) or a text editor is as follows: DATE TIME TICKLE W C. Command Line Modes TICKLE has three command line modes as follows: 1. No Argument Mode If command line is entered with only the program name, i.e., TICKLE <CR> the main title screen will be displayed along with a list of commands. 2. Entry Mode Notes may be entered into the TICKLE note file by using the following command line entry: TICKLE MM-DD-YY Text of note <CR> where "MM" is the month, "DD" is the day, and "YY" is the year of the note. Months, days, and years must be entered as two digits each, and the wild card character "?" may be used in place of any date. For example, if you wish for a date to be redisplayed every year without deletion and re-entry, you can enter a command line such as the following: TICKLE 01-01-?? New Year's Day If you wish monthly redisplay, you can enter a command line such as the following: TICKLE ??-01-87 Pay electric bill The text of the note following the date can be up to 80 characters in length. 3. Command Mode In addition to the entry of notes, you can ask TICKLE to perform several function on the stored file by using the following command line: TICKLE % <CR> where "%" is a one letter command as discussed below. D. Dates 1. Valid Range All date comparisons and calculations in TICKLE assume that dates are in the range January 1, 1901 and December 31, 1999. Dates outside this range will not work! 2. Date Format and Content Dates must be entered in the MM-DD-YY format using two digits for MM, DD, and YY. A date such as "2-7-87" will be rejected. The proper format is "02-07-87". Date content is not checked. Thus 13-56-87 will be accepted even though it is not a real date. Either "-" or "/" will be accepted to separate the month from the day from the year. Thus, "MM/DD/YY" is also an acceptable format. Invalid dates may be used for special purposes. For example, if you wish to specify that something is to be done during a month without specifying a particular date, you can use the day "00", e.g., "07-00-87". The same trick could be used for the entire year, e.g., "00-00-88". If you wish to enter non-date-specific notes, you can use an invalid date such as "00-00-00". However, this will make your non-dated notes appear at the beginning of the file. To make them appear at the end, you might use "99-99-99". The invalid date "50-50-50" may not be used for this purpose. 3. Wildcard Dates If a wildcard ("?") is used to replace any digit in a date, then both digits are assumed to be wildcards. Thus, if you enter 01-01-8?, it will be interpreted as 01-01-??. E. Examining the Notes File 1. Display Conventions When notes and their dates are displayed on the monitor screen, the notes may be accompanied by several symbols which convey important information about the note. A "-" before the date means that the note is overdue, i.e., it has a date earlier that the current date. A "*" before the date indicates notes having today's date. A "+" after the date indicates the the date contains wildcard characters. 1. Looking at All the Notes All the notes in the TICKLE file can be examined by entering the following command line: TICKLE A <CR> 2. Looking Ahead You can display notes in the TICKLE file for several selectable future periods as follows: TICKLE T <CR> - Today's notes TICKLE D <CR> - The next day TICKLE W <CR> - The next week TICKLE M <CR> - The next month TICKLE Q <CR> - The next quarter TICKLE Y <CR> - The next year F. Manipulating Note Dates 1. Calculating a Date If you do not know the date on which to enter a date and instead know only that it is a certain number of days ahead, you can calculate the date using the following command: TICKLE C <CR> You will be prompted for the start date (the default date is the current date in your system clock) and a number of days to be added to the start date. Currently months and years cannot be added to the start date--only days. 2. Resetting a Date If you would like to reset the date of a note without reentering it and erasing the old note, you can use the Reset command as follows: TICKLE R <CR> When this command is invoked, you will be asked to identify the date of the note to be reset. When the note is located, you will be asked to enter a new date in the MM-DD-YY format. G. Searching for a Note If you cannot remember the date of a note but do remember a word (or a fragment of a word) in the note, you can search for it using the following command: TICKLE S <CR> Enter the "search string" (i.e., word, part of a word, or character combination) when prompted. H. Removing Notes 1. Single Notes Notes can be removed one at a time using the following command: TICKLE X <CR> The user will be asked to enter the date of the note to be removed and will be asked whether to remove each note appearing on that date. 2. Overdue Notes The user can review all overdue notes (that is, notes having a date earlier than the current system clock date) regardless of date using the following command: TICKLE O <CR> The user is asked whether to remove each overdue note. I. The Log File Instead of simply erasing a note from the file, you may wish to move it to another file for later review. If you do a monthly report, this "log" file may be a handy reminder of what you did last month. 1. Logging Notes When you have finished with a note, you can move it to the log file with the Log command as follows: TICKLE L <CR> When this command is invoked, the user is asked for the date of the note to be logged. When the date is found, the user is asked whether to log the note. If several notes are listed on the same day, the user is given the opportunity to log each one individually. 2. Viewing the Log You can view the log by issuing the View command as follows: TICKLE V <CR> 3. Erasing the Log When you are finished with the log, you can erase it and start over using the Erase command as follows: TICKLE E <CR> J. Printing the Notes File The entire notes file can be printed in chronological order on a line printer using the following command: TICKLE P <CR> K. Backing Up Data Files You can back up the TICKLE.DTA and TICKLOG.DTA files to either drive A: or B: using the following command: TICKLE B <CR> Be sure to have a formatted diskette ready, and enter the desired backup drive when prompted. V. We Need Your Feedback! As I continue to improve TICKLE, it is helpful for me to have your feedback about what you like about TIKCLE, what you don't like about it, any bugs or cosmetic defects you have discovered, what you would like to see changed or added, etc. Please take the time to fill out and mail the form in the file FEEDBACK.FRM to me. It would be much appreciated. If you would like to have the latest version of TICKLE, please send a FORMATTED diskette and a self-addressed, stamped diskette mailer along with your feedback form. APPENDIX TICKLE Commands A - List all notes in TICKLE file Q - List TICKLE file for next quarter B - Backup TICKLE file R - Reset date of TICKLE note C - Calculate TICKLE date S - Search for TICKLE note D - List TICKLE notes for tomorrow T - List TICKLE file for today E - Erase TICKLE log V - View TICKLE log L - Save note to log file W - List TICKLE notes for next week M - List TICKLE notes for next month X - Delete TICKLE note O - Remove overdue TICKLE notes Y - List TICKLE notes for next year P - Print TICKLE notes file');