Shareware Super Platinum 8

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S O L I C I T Y O U R C O N S U M E R C O M P L A I N T WHAT IS SHAREWARE? Shareware distribution gives users a chance to try software before buying it. If you try a Shareware program and continue using it, you are expected to register. Individual programs differ on details -- some request registration while others require it, some specify a maximum trial period. With registration, you get anything from the simple right to continue using the software to an updated program, printed manual, and added features. Copyright laws apply to both Shareware and commercial software, and the copyright holder retains all rights. Shareware authors are accomplished programmers, just like commercial authors, and the programs are of comparable quality. In both cases, there are good programs and bad ones. The main difference is in the method of distribution. The author specifically grants the right to copy and distribute the software, either to anyone or to a specific group. For example, some authors require written permission before a commercial disk vendor may copy their Shareware. Shareware is a distribution method, not a type of software. You should find software that suits your needs and pocketbook, whether it's commercial or Shareware. The Shareware system makes fitting your needs easier because you can try it before you buy. And because the overhead is low, prices are low also. Shareware has the ultimate money-back guarantee -- if you don't use the product, you don't pay for it. TABLE OF CONTENTS License Agreement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Tutorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 View/Edit Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Print Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Miscellaneous Printing-Exporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Word Processor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Context Sensitive Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Undo Last Deletion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Restore Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Search For Pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Search And Replace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Search Again . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 New . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Quit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Save And Continue Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Read Block From File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Write Block To File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Block Begin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Block End . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Sart Of Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 End Of Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Block Copy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Block Move . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Block Delete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Toggle Insert Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Toggle Autoindent Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Set Right Margin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Format Paragraph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Toggle Word Wrap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Set Left Margin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Toggle Justify . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Toggle Page Breaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Center Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Save Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Print File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Printer Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Set Top Margin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Set Bottom Margin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Set Page Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Set Temporary Margin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Save As . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Which Font . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Select Bold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Select Doublestrike . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Select Underscore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Select Superscript . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Select Subscript . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Select Compressed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Select Italics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Margin Release . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Toggle Wrap Compression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Function Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Print Data Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Print Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Print Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Print Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Print #10 Envelopes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Export Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Run A DOS Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 About The Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 USERS LICENSE AGREEMENT T-LAN SYSTEMS The Solicit Your Consumer Complaint Product is NOT "Public Domain" and it is NOT "Freeware". Solicit Your Consumer Complaint is a copyrighted software product developed and owned by T-Lan Systems located in Mercer, Maine U. S. A. T-Lan Systems grants you without charge the right to reproduce, distribute and use copies of this version of our Solicit Your Consumer Complaint shareware software product, subject to the limitations specified below, and on the express condition that you do not receive any payment, commercial benefit, or other consideration for such reproduction or distribution, or change this license agreement or the following copyright notice which appears in the software, documentation, user interface, menus and magnetic media: (C) Copyright 1992 T-Lan Systems. All rights reserved worldwide. Limitations: You may make and keep one (1)back-up copy of the software for your personal use, provided that (i) you copy all the copyright, trademark, and other information indicated on the initial screen display (or on the diskette label, for the registered version disk) onto your backup diskette label, and (ii) you have registered. Also you may distribute copies to other persons, but solely for their evaluation (i.e., to decide whether to continue using the product and therefore register) and solely for evaluation by such other persons during that thirty (30) day period. Solicit Your Consumer Complaint must NOT be sold or otherwise provided as part of a larger system, or as a part of a more inclusive product or service, without express written consent and licensing from T-Lan Systems. The rights to receive any such financial or other benefit, and to modify the product or employ its components in any kind of derivative work, are reserved exclusively by T-Lan Systems. Support from users enables us to develop additional features and future versions of the Solicit Your Consumer Complaint product. Registered users benefit from technical support, notice of new products, and the ability to export. Contact us at: T-Lan Systems RR 2 Box 1290 Norridgewock, ME 04957 207-397-5511 Also, please feel free to contribute your ideas regarding desired additional product features and functionality. Page 1 THIS PRODUCT IS LICENSED "AS IS" WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, PERFORMANCE, OR OTHERWISE; ALL WARRANTIES ARE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMED. BY USING THE SOLICIT YOUR CONSUMER COMPLAINT PRODUCT, YOU AGREE THAT NEITHER T-LAN SYSTEMS NOR ANY OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, SHAREHOLDERS, AFFILIATES, OWNERS, OR OTHER RELATED PARTIES WILL BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANY THIRD PARTY FOR ANY USE OF (OR INABILITY TO USE) OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS PRODUCT, OR FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER WHETHER BASED ON CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE. EVEN IF WE ARE NOTIFIED OF SUCH POSSIBILITY IN ADVANCE. (SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE FOREGOING LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.) You may not reverse-engineer, disassemble, modify, decompile or create derivative works of the product. You acknowledge that the product includes certain trade secrets and confidential information, all of which is the copyrighted intellectual property of T-Lan Systems. Solicit Your Consumer Complaint is a registered trademark of T-Lan System. Page 2 TUTORIAL VIEW/EDIT DATA If you are not already in the Solicit Your Consumer Complaint directory, please change directories using the DOS command CD\SYCC. Once in the SYCC directory, type SYCC to start the program. After you have viewed the opening Solicit Your Consumer Complaint screens you will be presented with the main program menu. We will start by pressing the letter A and going to the View/Edit Data Menu. Once in the Data Files Menu, we will again type the letter A to enter the View/Edit Addresses area. In this menu we again select A to enter the Better Business Bureaus data area. You will notice that there are no records showing on the screen. We will need to tell Solicit Your Consumer Complaint what records we wish to view and/or edit. Notice the plus sign in front of some of the field names. The plus sign indicates that we may search for records using that field. When moving from field to field, use the up and down arrow keys. Take a minute to look at the last two lines on the screen. These two lines are your quick help reminders for the functions of Solicit Your Consumer Complaint. By pressing the F1 - Help function key you will have a more detailed explanation of these functions. Using the down arrow key, move the cursor down to the State field and press the function key F5. The F5 key is used to bring up the beginning or first record in the database indexed on the field you are in. You can now press the F8 function key to bring up the next record. Notice that the records are in alphabetical order. After pressing the F5 - Beginning function key, you cannot press the F7 - Previous key to view the previous record, because you are at the beginning of the database and there are no previous records. This holds true when you press the F6 - End function key to view the last record in the database. You cannot press the F8 - Next key because you are at the end and there are no next records. Lets clear the screen and do one last search. Press the function key F3 - Clear. Use the down arrow key to move the cursor to the State field and enter the letters ME. In fields that require capitals, Solicit Your Consumer Complaint changes small letters to capitals for you. Now, press the F9 - Search function key. We have brought up the first Better Business Bureau for the state of Maine. After using the F9 - Search key, you may continue your search by using the F7 - Previous or F8 - Next keys until you find the exact record you're looking for. If you change anything in the record, use the F10 - Save key to save the record. The F2 - Manual key is used to view the manual on screen. After you have added products to any of the company addresses in the Companies/Products area, you can search for a company by entering a products name in the Product Search field Page 3 and pressing Enter. If there are no companies with that product, you will be notified of this. When you have added an extended note to a record, the Extended Note? field will have a Y for yes in it, indicating that an extended note is attached to that record. You may add up to 630 characters in an extended note to each record. Extended notes are not part of note abbreviations and their notes, yet both are attached to each record when used. When you need to print only a few select records, use the View/Edit area to search for the records you wish to print, and when found, press the CTRL key and the letter T key together. The letter T does not have to be capitalized when used in this manner. This will place a Y for yes in the Tagged field. If the Tagged field has a Y already in it, pressing the CTRL and T keys will Untag (remove the letter Y) the record. You may tag as many records as needed. When you go to print or export records, the first question you will always be asked is ``Print only tagged records?". You will answer yes if you are printing only tagged records. When you are finished printing and you have many tagged records, rather then finding each one again and untagging them using the CTRL and T keys, use the mass Untag option from the Data Files Menu to untag all tagged records in the database. From this area of the program, we can also start a letter using the current record on the screen. Let's start a sample letter to the address that you've just searched for. Press the Ctrl and letter Y keys together. You are now being asked if you wish to save the information on the screen. If the information is incorrect, answer N for No. Otherwise, press Y for Yes. You will next be asked for the Return Address abbreviation to use in the letters' header. If you have not entered any return addresses in the Return Address database area, leave this blank. Next you will be asked to name the letter file you are about to create. DOS naming limits apply here. You may or may not use a file extension (such as .TXT). Your filename MUST NOT be longer then 8 characters long (excluding the 3 character extension). If you enter a file name that is already in use, you will be told so and asked if you would like to overwrite it. After pressing enter to accept the filename, you will be moved to the editor with a letter started with the return address you selected to use, current date and the address from the screen all on the left side. The letters are started in standard block format. Use the F-10 key to bring up the text editors' menu. While a menu item is highlighted, pressing the F-1 help key will give you help on that item. Pressing F-1 while editing will give you general help. Lets press F-10, move to Files and choose Quit to go back to the View/Edit Address area. We will now move on to printing records by pressing the Escape key three times to return to the Main Menu. Page 4 PRINT DATA From the Main Menu, select B - Print Data. From the Main Print Menu, we will choose option D - Print Address List. The majority of the record selection options presented in the print lists area are also presented for all print, browse and export functions. Envelopes and post cards will also have an option to include a return address. Label, envelope and post card printing will not have the option to select the fields to be printed. When printing labels, post cards and envelopes, you will be given the option of updating the date field of each record printed. Use the Browse option from the View/Edit Data menu when you only wish to view a selection of records. From the Data Files Menu, we will choose option B - Federal/State Agencies. This screen has a help screen that we can view by pressing the F1 function key. Press F1 now. This help screen is fairly generic through out all the printing functions. The first question in the opening selection screen is ``Print ONLY Tagged Records?''. Since we did not tag any records, we will press the N key indicating No we wish to further delimit our selection of records. We will need to press the Enter or Return key following each selection to move down to the next field. We are going to generate a telephone list of all Federal/State Agencies in the state of Maine. Our telephone list will not need addresses, so we are going to answer S for Select to the question ``Print All or Selected Fields?''. Since none of our records have any expanded notes attached, we will enter N for No to the question ``Print Expanded Notes." In the ``List Title'' field, we will type in a brief description of the list we are generating that will appear at the beginning of each page. So let's type ``California Republican Representatives'' into the Title field and press the Enter key to move to the next selection screen. Please note that in the Name field the DOS wildcard * can be used in your searches. The DOS wildcard * means all. We could search for all agencies that have the word "Maine" in their name. Using the wildcard in these fields will slow the search process to some degree. You may place the * before and/or after a letter, part of a word, whole words or a string of words. Generating lists, labels, etc., does not effect the database. So experiment. By leaving a search field blank, you are indicating that you want all the records chosen for that field. If you leave the name field blank, your report would not be delimited by name. If you left all the search fields blank, your report would have every record in the database printed. Place an X and press Enter in the State selection field. Leave the others blank. After pressing Enter in the last field, the selection areas that we have chosen will be displayed. Type "ME" in both the To and From state selection fields. The letters will be changed to capitals for you. We are now ready to select the fields that we want to print and by pressing the enter key in the last field on this screen, the field selection screen is brought into view. Each field on this screen needs either a Y for Yes or N for No entered. Page 5 Our telephone list should have the name, so enter Y in the name field. We do not need the address so enter N in the address field. We of course need the phone/FAX so enter a Y here. It would be nice to have the representatives name and the date we last contacted them, so we will enter a Y here. If we were doing a Browse for Companies, we would also have the option to list the products of each company. Our selection process is now complete. Please make sure your printer has been turned on before pressing Enter in the last field. Any time during the report generation we wish to end the search, we can do so by pressing the Escape key. The top of our list has the descriptive title that we entered along with the current day, date and time. Screen pages in the Browse program are only 24 lines long compared to a printed page that is 62 out of 66 lines long. Note that each record is numbered. MISCELLANEOUS PRINTING/EXPORTING When you are printing single envelopes or post cards, you will be prompted to place another card or envelope into the printer when the search has found another record to print. When all records are printed, you will be returned to the print menu. To export data into your word processor, you need to review in the word processors' manual on how to ``Import Data'' from another program. This should explain what form the exported data needs to be in when using Solicit Your Congress's export function. Again, experiment. Page 6 WORD PROCESSOR CONTEXT SENSITIVE HELP Keystroke sequence: F1 Editor provides help in several ways. This help section describes how to use the help system. Whenever the Editor help system is on screen, you can use the <PgUp> and <PgDn> keys to move from one screen to another. <Home> and <End> will take you to the first and last pages of the section. Press <Esc> when you are done using help. The Editor menu system is available at any time by pressing 191. Most of Editor's commands may be selected from the menus. Pressing <F1> while within the Editor menu system or within any prompt box will bring up a window containing more detailed help regarding the selected command. Pressing <F1> while you are entering text will bring up general and keystroke help. UNDO LAST DELETION The line of text most recently deleted will be inserted into the current text stream at the cursor position. Note that this applies only to complete lines of text, and not to character or word deletions. By default, 5 lines of deleted text are stored for possible undeletion. RESTORE LINE The current line of text will be restored to its appearance just before when the cursor was moved onto the line. The cursor position will also be restored to the value when it entered the line. SEARCH FOR PATTERN The current window will be searched to find a specified sequence of text. When the pattern is found, the cursor will be positioned at the beginning of the pattern, and the matched text highlighted until the next keystroke. A prompt box will allow entry of the text pattern and search options. Enter any text or control characters just as they would be typed in the body of the file. Page 7 Search options control the behavior of the search. The following options are available: U - ignore case (Upper-case) while searching B - search Backwards from the cursor position. W - search for Whole words only. G - search Globally, starting at the beginning of the file (or end, if searching backwards). L - search Locally (only within marked block). n - search for the nth occurrence of the string (n is an integer). Note that each pattern must be found within a single line. No match may span multiple lines. SEARCH AND REPLACE The current window will be searched for a specified sequence of text. When the pattern is found, it will be replaced with another specified text sequence. A prompt box will allow entry of the search text, replacement text, and search options. Enter any text or control characters just as they would be typed in the body of the file. Search options control the behavior of the search. The following options are available: U - ignore case (Upper-case) while searching B - search Backwards from the cursor position. W - search for Whole words only. G - search Globally, starting at the extreme end of the file. L - search Locally (only within marked block). N - do Not prompt for confirmation when the pattern is found. n - replace n occurrences of the string (n is an integer). Page 8 If the N option is not specified, a prompt will occur each time the search pattern is found. This prompt will provide the following options: Y - replace this text and continue searching. N - do Not replace, but continue searching. A - replace this text and replace All others without prompting. Q - do not replace, and Quit searching. SEARCH AGAIN The previous search operation will be repeated. This will repeat a plain search, a search and replace, or a search and apply macro command. @40 NEW The Editor window will be cleared, and a prompt box will ask for the name of another file to edit. If the current window already holds a file that has been modified, you will be given the opportunity to save it. When prompted for a file name, you may enter DOS wildcards or the name of another drive or subdirectory. In this case, another window will display the names of all matching files. You can select from this list by using the cursor keypad, or by pressing the first letter of the filename in which you are interested. By entering an empty line for the file name, you can edit a file without specifying a name for it. A name can be specified later when you want to write it out to disk. QUIT The editing session will end and you will return to DOS. If any windows have been modified, prompt boxes will appear and you will be given the opportunity to save each modified file. If you press <Esc> at any of the prompt boxes, the EXIT command will be interrupted and you will return to the text window. When prompted for a file name, you may enter DOS wildcards or the name of another drive or subdirectory. In this case, another window will display the names of all matching files. You can select from this list by using the cursor keypad, or by pressing the first letter of the filename in which you are interested. Page 9 SAVE AND CONTINUE EDIT Keystroke sequence: Alt/S The contents of the current window will be saved to disk, using a file name the same as when the file was first read. If the file has not been named, a prompt box will ask for a new name. The cursor will remain in place after the file is written to disk. READ BLOCK FROM FILE A prompt box will ask for the name of a file to read. This file will be read into the current window, starting at the current cursor position. The newly read text will be marked as a block. WRITE BLOCK TO FILE The currently marked block will be written to a file on disk. If no block is marked, an error message will be produced. If the file already exists, you will be given the choice of overwriting it or appending to it. BLOCK BEGIN The cursor position will become the start of a marked block. BLOCK END The cursor position will become the end of a marked block. START OF BLOCK The cursor will be moved to the start of the current block, whether it is visible or not. END OF BLOCK The cursor will be moved to the end of the marked block, whether it is visible or not. BLOCK COPY A copy of the marked block will be inserted at the current cursor position. Page 10 BLOCK MOVE The marked block will be removed from its current location and inserted at the current cursor position. BLOCK DELETE The marked block will be deleted from the text stream. If the block spans more than one line, the deleted lines may be recovered by way of the Undelete command. TOGGLE INSERT MODE Keystroke sequence: Ins When insert mode is active, newly typed text is inserted into the current text line, pushing characters to the right of the cursor aside to make room. When the insert mode is off, newly typed text overwrites existing text. Many commands, such as block copy and insert line, operate in insert mode independent of the setting of this toggle. TOGGLE AUTOINDENT MODE When autoindent mode is active and the <Enter> key is pressed, the new line of text will be indented the same number of spaces as the line immediately above it. The setting of this toggle also affects the operation of the paragraph reformatting command. SET RIGHT MARGIN A prompt box will ask for a new value for the right margin. Entering an empty prompt string will set the right margin to the current cursor column. The right margin is used only when Word Wrap mode is active. When that is so, text entered in a column beyond the right margin will automatically be wrapped to the next line. Paragraph formatting will move words so that lines are as full as possible within, but not exceeding, the right margin. FORMAT PARAGRAPH Format paragraph is available only when Word Wrap mode is active. Paragraph reformatting will move words so that lines are as full as possible within, but not exceeding, the current left and right margins. If Justify mode is active, the lines will also be evenly filled with spaces so that the rightmost word ends on the right margin. Page 11 The paragraph reformat is concluded when a blank line, or a line beginning with a format character (@), is reached. TOGGLE WORD WRAP When Word Wrap mode is active, paragraph reformatting and automatic word wrap are available. Otherwise, left and right margin settings are ignored, and text may be entered in any column up to the maximum line length. SET LEFT MARGIN A prompt box will ask for a new value for the left margin. Entering an empty prompt string will set the left margin to the current cursor column. When Word Wrap mode is active, the left margin controls the leftmost position where text may be entered. The left margin also controls the operation of the paragraph formatting command. Print formatting commands require that the format character (@) be located in column 1 even if the left margin is set to a number greater than one. To achieve this, enter the format command starting at the left margin, move the cursor to column 1 with the Left of Line command, and delete the intervening spaces by Delete Word. Alternatively, start the Margin Release command while the format command is entered. TOGGLE JUSTIFY When Justify is active, word wrap and paragraph reformat operations will cause each line to be filled in with spaces such that the rightmost non-blank character is exactly on the right margin. By toggling Justify off, and reformatting lines or paragraphs, the additional blanks will be automatically removed from the text. Note that blanks manually inserted (by the Tab) will also be removed, unless the Compress Wrap mode is turned off. TOGGLE PAGE BREAKS When pagination is activated, the left two columns of the text window will be devoted to showing page breaks. The characters ØØ in those columns indicate that the corresponding line is the first printing text line on its page. In addition, the status line for the window will indicate what page number the cursor is on. Page 12 Editor calculates page numbers while it is waiting for you to enter keystrokes. As a result, if you enter new text it may take a short time before the page break markers are redrawn at their new positions. Although the page breaks displayed on screen correspond to those in a printout of the document, Editor does not store any special characters in the disk file. Page breaks are recomputed each time the file is read into Editor. Pagination can be precisely controlled through the formatting commands. See the help section for File Print Formatting. CENTER LINE The current line will be centered between the left and right margins. This command is active only when Word Wrap mode is on. SAVE SETUP The toggles, settings, and options are stored as Editor defaults when this command is executed. PRINT FILE Keystroke sequence: Alt/P Any text file can be printed from within Editor. Files formatted with Editor's page layout commands and font controls will print with multiple fonts, and page breaks. Do not press <Enter> on the first menu selection, Print file now, until the other items in the box have been set to your satisfaction. Selecting the first item starts the print job. After you select the second menu item, Name of file, a prompt box will request entry of the name of the file to print. When prompted for a file name, you may enter DOS wildcards or the name of another drive or subdirectory. In this case, another window will display the names of all matching files. You can select from this list by using the cursor keypad, or by pressing the first letter of the filename in which you are interested. If you wish to print a file that is currently loaded in memory, be sure to save any recent changes to disk before trying to print it. If you attempt to print a file that has unsaved changes, Editor will produce an error message. Page 13 Set Auto formatting OFF if you wish to have Editor ignore formatting commands (@ commands) in your text. In this case, text will print continuously with no form feeds or page breaks. Control codes embedded in the text will be written to the output without interpretation. By default, Editor prints all pages of the document. You can set starting and stopping pages if desired. Select from any of the available printer file definitions (default extension .PFD) to find one that is appropriate for your printer. You can change to another file and use Options Save setup to regularly use that file. You can also choose between sending the printed output to LPT1, LPT2, or to a file. LPT1 and LPT2 refer to the computer port where your printer is attached. If the printer is attached to a serial port, you must use the DOS MODE command to assign the serial port to one of the print devices LPT1 or LPT2. Your choice between LPT1 and LPT2 will be saved with Editor when you Save Setup. When output is printed to a file, all control codes are written out just as when they are printed. In this case, you must also specify the name of the output file using the prompt window. Set Manual paper feed ON if you wish to have Editor prompt you to insert a new sheet of paper after each page. This choice is also stored as part of the printer definition file for your selected printer. Set Use formfeeds ON if your printer accepts ASCII character #12 to eject each page. Otherwise, Editor will fill out the end of each page with blank lines. After making all selections, move the menu bar to the Print file now item and press <Enter>. If you decide not to print, just press <Esc>. Printing occurs as a background task. You can continue editing with minimal loss of performance while the print job continues. To stop a print job at any time, execute the Print File command sequence. Editor will confirm whether you want to stop the print job. PRINTER DEFINITIONS You can edit and store printer definitions from within Editor, using the File Print menu. Select a printer definition file (default extension .PFD) using the Which printer menu item. Editor will load this printer file into memory. Any of the command sequences that control various printer fonts can be edited using the Edit printer codes menu selection. Each font is associated with two strings - one to turn the font ON, and another to turn it OFF. Page 14 When you choose a sequence to edit, it appears in another window. It can be edited using the cursor keys, and the <Del> or <Backspace> keys. Most characters you type will be inserted virtually into the string. <CtrlBksp> will delete the existing string. <Enter> will end the session in the string editor. In case you need to enter any of these special keys as part of the control string, press the <ScrollLock> key to enter Literal mode. In this mode, all keystrokes will be inserted into the string without further interpretation. The printer definition currently held in memory can be stored to a disk file using the Save printer setup menu item. Editor stores the printer command sequences for all fonts, as well as the default settings for manual paper feed and formfeeds, when you save the setup. Editor will prompt for a file name when you decide to store the current definition. The default extension for printer definitions is .PFD. SET TOP MARGIN This specifies the number of lines to leave blank at the top of each page during printing or pagination of the file in the current window. The top margin is a default value that will be overridden by Editor format (@) commands embedded in the text. The value you specify in the prompt box is not stored in the document file. It is a default value that exists only while the file is being edited. SET BOTTOM MARGIN This specifies the number of lines to leave blank at the bottom of each page during printing or pagination of the file in the current window. The bottom margin is a default value that will be overridden by Editor format (@) commands embedded in the text. The value you specify in the prompt box is not stored in the document file. It is a default value that exists only while the file is being edited. SET PAGE LENGTH This specifies the total number of lines on each page during printing or pagination of the file in the current window. The page length is a default value that will be overridden by Editor format (@) commands embedded in the text. The value you specify in the prompt box is not stored in the document file. It is a default value that exists only while the file is being edited. Page 15 SET TEMPORARY MARGIN The current left margin will be moved to the right by one tab stop. This is useful in making indented lists. The temporary margin will remain in force until you leave the current paragraph. The temporary margin is indicated by a right pointing arrow on the window tab display. FORMAT BLOCK Paragraph formatting will be applied to all lines of text in the currently marked block. The block must be highlighted, and the cursor must be somewhere within the block, or an error message will be produced. SET TEMPORARY MARGIN The current cursor column will be assigned as the temporary left margin. If the cursor is beyond the right margin, an error will occur. SAVE AS This command will store all text in the current window to any file that you name. When you are editing in a window that has not previously been named, you can use this command to assign a name to the window. Using it in an already-named window will cause the name of that window, and all other windows sharing the same text stream, to be updated to the new name. WHICH FONT Keystroke sequence: Alt/F The editor will display the font type of the character at the cursor position. If the character has more than one font applied to it, Editor will list all of them. SELECT BOLD Keystroke sequence: Alt/B If a block is marked and visible, Editor will convert the block to bold typeface. It does so by automatically placing the Toggle Bold control character (<Alt/B>) at the beginning and end of the block. If no block is marked, Editor will place a pair of print control characters at the current cursor position, and position the cursor between the two. Thus, while the cursor remains between the control characters, newly entered text will be in the selected typeface. Page 16 SELECT DOUBLESTRIKE Keystroke sequence: Alt/D If a block is marked and visible, Editor will convert the block to double-strike typeface. It does so by automatically placing the Toggle Double-strike control character (<Alt/D>) at the beginning and end of the block. If no block is marked, Editor will place a pair of print control characters at the current cursor position, and position the cursor between the two. Thus, while the cursor remains between the control characters, newly entered text will be in the selected typeface. SELECT UNDERSCORE Keystroke sequence: Alt/U If a block is marked and visible, Editor will convert the block to underscore typeface. It does so by automatically placing the Toggle Underscore control character (<Alt/U>) at the beginning and end of the block. If no block is marked, Editor will place a pair of print control characters at the current cursor position, and position the cursor between the two. Thus, while the cursor remains between the control characters, newly entered text will be in the selected typeface. SELECT SUPERSCRIPT Keystroke sequence: Alt/H If a block is marked and visible, Editor will convert the block to superscript typeface. It does so by automatically placing the Toggle Superscript control character (<Alt/H>) at the beginning and end of the block. If no block is marked, Editor will place a pair of print control characters at the current cursor position, and position the cursor between the two. Thus, while the cursor remains between the control characters, newly entered text will be in the selected typeface. SELECT SUBSCRIPT Keystroke sequence: Alt/L If a block is marked and visible, Editor will convert the block to subscript typeface. Page 17 It does so by automatically placing the Toggle Subscript control character (<Alt/L>) at the beginning and end of the block. If no block is marked, Editor will place a pair of print control characters at the current cursor position, and position the cursor between the two. Thus, while the cursor remains between the control characters, newly entered text will be in the selected typeface. SELECT COMPRESSED Keystroke sequence: Alt/C If a block is marked and visible, Editor will convert the block to compressed typeface. It does so by automatically placing the Toggle Alternate 1 control character (<Alt/C>) at the beginning and end of the block. For most printer definition files, the Alt 1 typeface is defined as compressed print. If no block is marked, Editor will place a pair of print control characters at the current cursor position, and position the cursor between the two. Thus, while the cursor remains between the control characters, newly entered text will be in the selected typeface. SELECT ITALICS Keystroke sequence: Alt/I If a block is marked and visible, Editor will convert the block to italic typeface. It does so by automatically placing the Toggle Alternate 2 control character (<Alt/I>) at the beginning and end of the block. For most printer definition files, the Alternate 2 typeface is defined as italic print. If no block is marked, Editor will place a pair of print control characters at the current cursor position, and position the cursor between the two. Thus, while the cursor remains between the control characters, newly entered text will be in the selected typeface. MARGIN RELEASE Setting Margin Release ON allows you to type beyond the left and right margins while Word Wrap mode is active. Margin release remains effective until the cursor is moved to another line. It can also be toggled off at any time. Page 18 TOGGLE WRAP COMPRESSION By default, Editor compresses extra spaces out of any line before it is wrapped. This feature is required to ``unjustify'' text that has previously been right justified. However, in some cases the compression will remove desired spaces, as in the case of aligned columns of figures. When this toggle is OFF, extra spaces will not be removed from lines being wrapped. Wrap compression is saved as an Editor default. FUNCTION KEYS F1 - This is the HELP function key. Some of the fields in the program have their own help screens. F2 - This is a FIND PRODUCT function key and may be used only in the Company/Product data base. F3 - This is the CLEAR SCREEN function key. It is used to clear the screen to enter a new record after a search or to clear the screen to remove a partially entered record. F4 - This is the DELETE function key. It is used to delete the record that is on the screen. Once deleted, it is permanently removed from the data file. If you answer N (NO) to the question of ``Delete Record Y/N?" you will be returned to the first data entry field without the record being deleted. The data on the screen will not be cleared. F5 - This is the BEGINNING function key. It is used to find the beginning of a file. If the cursor is placed in one of the fields designated as a key field before this key is pressed, the file will be indexed by that field and the first record will be found. Example: By placing the cursor into the Name field and pressing F5, the first record starting with the letter A will be found. F6 - This is the END function key. It is used to find the End of a file. If the cursor is placed in one of the fields designated as a key field before this key is pressed, the file will be indexed by that field, and the last record will be found. Example: By placing the cursor into the Name field and pressing F6, the last record starting with the letter Z will be found. F7 - This is the PREVIOUS function key. It is used to find the previous record in a file. If you are in the first record of a file when the F7 key is pressed, you will receive an error message at the bottom of the screen. Page 19 F8 - This is the NEXT function key. It is used to find the next record in a file. If you are in the last record of a file when the F8 key is pressed, you will receive an error message. F9 - This is the FIND function key. It is used to find or search the file for a general or specific record. A letter, name or number must be entered into the field you are going to search. THIS IS REQUIRED. Example: If you were going to search for an address by name in the View / Edit Address area, you would first enter the name into the name field and press F9. Or, you could just enter the first letter or two of the name (the more letters entered, the closer the search), press F9 to do a general search, and then use the F7 or F8 keys to find the exact record. F10 - This is the SAVE function key. It is used to save a record whenever you do not wish to continue entering data. Example: An address record has been retrieved using the F9 key and you only wish to change the person's name. After changing the name data and while still in the name field, you press F10 and are asked if you want to save the record. If you answer Y (YES) to the question of ``Save Record Y/N," the record will be saved with the new information. If you answer N (NO), you will be returned to the first data entry field without the record being saved. The data on the screen will not be cleared. PRINT DATA MENU After choosing from the Main Print Menu the type of printing you wish to do, a screen will be displayed where you will enter the specifications of the search for records you wish to print. All Print areas except Print List of Notes, will have these screens. Most of the print options allow you to print ONLY address records that have been tagged. If you answer ``N'' (No) to ``Print Only Tagged Records?" a second select screen will be displayed allowing a greater detailed selection of records to print. In the second selection screen, if you wish to include all the records for a particular selection, you may enter through the field of that selection without entering any search criterion. If ``Print All/Selected Fields?'' is an option on a select screen and you wish to select the fields to be printed, a third screen will be displayed listing the options of Name, Address, Phone/FAX, and Representative/Date that you may choose to print. The records of each file are not altered by experimenting with the different methods of printing them. Records will be searched for using these fields and will be sorted and printed by the information you enter. Enter all search criterion exactly as it has been entered into the View/Edit Data area. Page 20 PRINT ADDRESS LIST Here, you can print in list format, address data, products and notes that has been entered into the View/Edit Data area. Before starting each printing, place the top edge of the paper up to the top of the print head. PRINT LABELS The five sizes of labels offered are ``standard labels'' as shown in several office supply catalogs. When printing, line up the top edge of the first label to be printed with the top of the print head. If you are using a printer that automatically includes a right margin (Okidata), you will need to move the labels over by moving the tractor feed to have a right margin of zero. This is specially important with the smaller labels. The data for Return Labels is selected from the Return Address choice of the View/Edit Data area. PRINT CARDS When printing single post cards, you will be prompted to place and line up each card before printing. PRINT #10 ENVELOPES All envelopes printed for the current selection will have the same Return Address that was chosen during the select process. If the Return ID field is left blank, no return address will be printed. The brands of envelopes chosen have a length (from perforation to perforation) of 7 inches and a width of 10 inches. Other brands are available but most offer limited paper types, require a printer that will print more than 7 part forms, will not fit an 80 column printer or offer limited paper styles. We are always open to user suggestions of other brands that fit the required criteria. Page 21 EXPORT DATA (Registered version only) The only difference in the selection procedure for selecting records to print and selecting records to export is that during the export process you are given a choice in the type of file format to send the data to. All fields may be sent to the export file or only selected ones. Feel free to experiment with each option before deciding which one is best suited for what use. The program only reads the data from your database and in no way changes any of the data in it. The following ASCII formats are supported by Solicit Your Consumer Complaint ALL fields are alphanumeric. Fixed-Length: This format type generates a continuous record without line feed or carriage return codes. Each record in this format type is of equal length and the fields have fixed sizes and do not vary from record to record. If a field has been selected, the fixed number of spaces for that field will follow the previous field whether the field has anything in it or not. Comma Delimited: This type of file has variable length fields that are separated by commas and have quotation marks at the beginning and end of each field. Each record ends with a carriage return and line feed. Text: This type of file has been structured primarily for use with word processors and not for importing into other databases although may be used. Both address lines are on the same line. The city, state and ZIP are all on one line. If a field has no data in it, the field will not be printed. This means that there will not be any empty line. This type of file is specially useful for mail merging and generating telephone listings. RUN A DOS COMMAND Use this function to perform a DOS command without having to leave the Solicit Your Consumer Complaint environment. This may be used to check the files on a backup diskette, check the free space on your hard disk or format a diskette that needs a command string after the Format command. If you attempt to run a program that is larger then the memory available, you will get an error message stating so. Page 22 ERROR MESSAGES These messages are displayed at the bottom of the screen while running the program and are there to inform you of any error conditions encountered. To recover from these errors, and re-try your entry, simply press any key on the keyboard. The ``Line #'' listed after some messages refers to program code; please disregard it. No Records In File: An attempt has been made to read a record from a file that is empty. Not Key Field: An attempt was made to perform a SEARCH on a non-key field. Record Not Active: An attempt was made to DELETE a record when there was no record in the buffer. Issue a FIND command before trying to delete the record. Search Reached Beginning Of File: A PREVIOUS command was issued when the first record was already in the buffer. Use the NEXT command. Search Reached End Of File: An END command was issued when the last record was already in the buffer. Use the PREVIOUS command. There Are No Records Matching Your Choice In The File: A matching record was not found for the field value specified. Retry your entry. Page 23 ABOUT THE AUTHOR Terry Lanyi graduated Monmouth Regional High School (Tinton Falls, New Jersey) in 1967. Because of the four years spent in detention hall, he joined the Marine Corps after graduation. By October he was in Viet Nam. From October 1967 until February 1969 he was in mortors in the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division. By August of 1968 he had become a Sargent. From March 1969 until August 1969 he was assigned to the Americal Division, U.S. Intelligence in Chu Li. After leaving the Marine Corps in April of 1969, Terry lived in a tent, traveling around the United States for the next two years. Ending up in Maine, without a job, he joined a CETA program for vets and began work as an On The Job Trainee in Respiratory Therapy. Leaving Maine in 1974, he was accepted into the Respiratory Therapy program at Brookdale Community Collage in New Jersey and graduated in 1978. He became Registered in 1979 and is a Registered Respiratory Therapist. In 1978 he moved to Stuart, Florida, 1980 to San Francisco, 1982 to Tucson, Arizona and in 1984 back to Maine. While working in a hospital in Maine, Terry met his first computer, fell in love and quit Respiratory Therapy and started T-Lan Systems. By 1986, after living, eating, sleeping computers for two years, his first commercial program, The Charge Slip Version 1.6, was released. The Charge Slip is now being used in over 100 Respiratory Therapy departments through out the United States. Version 6.0 will be released by the middle of 1992. Page 24