Shareware Super Platinum 8

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ Shareware Super Platinum 8 / Shareware Super Platinum 8.iso / mac / DATABASE / VIDSHOP.ZIP;1 / AVIDEOST.ARJ / VIDEO.TXT < prev

Wrap

Text File | 1992-11-15 | 31.0 KB | 884 lines

VIDEOSOFT Users Manual Version 1.0 (C)Copyright 1990-1992 Harry Radford 56 Saybrook Ave, Etobicoke, Ontario. M8Z 2V7 WARRANTY AND OTHER INFORMATION The software described in this manual is protected by copyright laws. Information contained within is subject to change without notice and does not represent any commitment on the part of Harry Radford Harry Radford makes no warranty of any kind, express or implied, including without limitation, any warranties of merchantability and / or fitness for a particular purpose. Harry Radford shall not be liable for any damages, whether direct, indirect, special or consequential arising from a failure of this program to operate in the manner desired by the user. Harry Radford shall not be responsible for damage to data or property which may be caused directly or indirectly by use of the program. IN NO EVENT WILL Harry Radford BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY LOST PROFITS, LOST SAVINGS OR OTHER INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF YOUR USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM, OR FOR ANY CLAIM BY ANY OTHER PARTY. Harry Radford may at any time make improvements and/or changes in this manual. This product could include technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. Changes are periodically made to the information herein; these changes could be incorporated in new editions of the publication. dBase, dBaseIII, and dBaseIII PLUS are tradenames of Ashton-Tate Corporation. Clipper is a trade name of Nantucket Corporation. Phone Numbers (416) 231-9798 Harry Radford 56 Saybrook Ave, Etobicoke, Ontario 9.00 A.M. to 5.00 P.M. Eastern Time Monday through Friday NOTE : This manual was formatted with Wordperfect 5.0 from the Wordperfect Corp. Where possible we have included illustrations and other associated niceties. before you start --- INTRODUCTION GENERAL INFORMATION VIDEOSOFT is a specifically designed database manager for the application of video store daily operations. It contains all of the capabilities of dBase III PLUS and is written with ease of use in mind. Your database files are compatible with dBase III PLUS. This means that your databases can be viewed with dBase III PLUS commands. The index files are structured on the Clipper format. Any suggestions which you have for improving this program will be thoughtfully considered. At this time the program does not accept a Local Area Network (LAN) FEATURES Maintain Membership Data. Maintain Video data. Automatically Updates Video Rental Information. Rental rates for Weekend/ Weekday. Manual Overrides on Tax Calculation. Automatic Calculation for Provincial and G.S.T. Tax. Provides Rental reports from data. Allows for on screen editing of accounts and memo fields. Passwords for sensitive data entry and edit. Automatic calculation of sales totals for day, month and year. On screen reservation system. The price of Videosoft software is $199.99. It compares with commercial video vender packages of $1500.00. The original version of this product was built as an alternative to more sophisticated packages which are out of my price range. The software is currently installed in video stores thoughout Canada, USA and the UK. It has the ability to handle 10,000 customers and 100,000 videos. I feel that the price of the fully functional software covers only the time I have spent on development and coding. Please support the concept of Shareware distribution. This product can be only be copied in its complete form including documentation. Ordering Information Remit to : Mr. H. Radford 56 Saybrook Ave Etobicoke, ONTARIO Canada M8Z 2V7 Please send : _____ Videosoft Disk (Current version) ..... @ $129.99 $ ______.__ (includes registration, program and manual on disk) Specify type of disk 3 1/2 ____ 5 1/4 _____ Subtotal $ ______.__ Please add applicable taxes for Tax $ ______.__ the state or province you live in Total $ ______.__ Name ___________________________________________________________________ Company ________________________________________________________________ Address ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ Day phone ________________________ Evening _____________________________ INSTALLING VIDEOSOFT The VIDEOSOFT system requires a hard disk with at least one megabyte of available disk space. The program was originally designed on a Panasonic printer and uses IBM graphic mode printer controls To install VIDEOSOFT on your hard disk do the following : 1. Boot the computer in the normal fashion. You should see the DOS prompt before going any further 2. Ensure that there is at least 1 MB of available disk space on your hard disk. (Use the DOS DIR command to check.) 3. Make a subdirectory on your hard disk called VIDEO int the following manner. MD VIDEO (ENTER) 4. Place the VIDEOSOFT Program disk in the A drive. Make the A drive the default drive. 5. Install the program by typing COPY *.* C:\VIDEO and pressing (ENTER). 6. If you do not already have a CONFIG.SYS file on your hard disk, type in the following on the root directory of your hard disk : CD\ (Enter) COPY CON CONFIG.SYS (Enter) FILES=20 (Enter) After the last line press (F6) and a ^Z will appear. Now press (Enter) 7. Now reboot the computer so that the change to the configuration will take effect. BACKING UP YOUR VIDEOSOFT DISKS We recommend that you immediately make a copy of each of the original disks. Follow these steps : 1. Place DOS disk in drive A. Type A: and press (Enter). 2. Type DISKCOPY A: A: and press (Enter). 3. You will be told to place the SOURCE disk in drive A. Place the original VIDEOSOFT disk in drive A then press (Enter). 4. When told to insert the TARGET disk in drive A, remove the VIDEOSOFT original disk and replace it with a FORMATTED blank disk. 5. Repeat these steps with each original disk and then store the originals in a safe place. If you now need to replace any of the programs you can use the duplicates. USING THE VIDEOSOFT SYSTEM THIS PROGRAM IS DEPENDANT ON THE CORRECT DATE BEING ENTERED IN THE COMPUTER. Start the VIDEOSOFT program by typing VIDEO The program will identify the time and date that the program is using. If either the time or date is wrong, by pressing "N", the system will drop to DOS and ask for time and date entry before starting. The default password for full access to the private areas is "1957". After entering this area, do a complete printout for both the members and videos registered to test different areas of the program. Default data has been entered to start the program. You will notice that information has been entered into the databases and justified to the left. IT IS IMPORTANT THAT THE FORMAT OF INFORMATION IS AS FOLLOWS :- 1. ALL INFORMATION ENTERED IN CAPITAL LETTERS 2. TELEPHONE NUMBERS,NAMES,MEMBERSHIP NUMBERS,VIDEO NUMBERS AND VIDEO NAMES BE JUSTIFIED TO THE LEFT. 3. CODE NAMES SHOULD BE LEFT JUSTIFIED The Main Menu will have the following commands 1 - CHECK AVAILABILITY OF A MOVIE The command will ask for a Number or failing that a Title of a particular Movie that you wish to check. If the Movie has been taken out already, the program will display the return date. If no Number or Title is entered, the main menu will return. 2 - CHANGE TO WEEKEND RATES This will set the rates for rentals to the weekend rate set up in the Video database. The program will auto- matically set weekend rates on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, however, if the Monday is a holiday it will be necessary to change to weekend rates for the holiday. 3 - CHANGE TO WEEKDAY RATES This will have the reverse effect of command 2 4 - CHECK TAPE RENTERS This command will index the video database and then prompt the operator for a specific video number to produce a report for. 5 - WHO'S GOT WHAT This command will prompt the user for the following : 1 - FIND AN INDIVIDUAL MOVIE After entering a movie number, the program will display information about the status of the movie, and if rented, the member number and name. 2 - LIST ALL MOVIES THAT ARE OUT After being asked if a printout is required, The user will be given a complete list of those movies registered as being rented and not returned. 3 - RETURN TO MAIN MENU Self explanatory 6 - SALES This command will activate the sales invoice system. After entering a name, the system will prompt for sales ticket numbers. (maximum of six items on each invoice). As the item number is entered, the program will check to see that a valid item has been entered and display the title and price of the item. If the number field is returned blank, the program will prompt for the operator to check to see if the input is correct. If it is not correct, by pressing N the program will return to the main screen. If it is correct, by pressing Enter the program will print an Invoice on 1/2 sheet paper and update the sales item data in the database. 7 - RENTALS This command will initiate the rental invoice system. You will be prompted for a Telephone Number, of a Name, or lastly a Membership ID Number. If none of the fields are filled with any information, the program will return to the main menu. The program will then activate a search based on information provided and display information about the member. If the member cannot be found a message will be displayed to that effect and you will be asked if you wish to add the member. At the side of the screen you will see some other commands to deal with data displayed. A - Add/Zap This will blank out the memo field and allow the user to enter little pieces of information. The information will display flashing to attract attention. (I.E. Membership Cancelled Do not Rent) C - Continue (Default) This will continue to the next stage of rental E - Edit account This will allow the operator to add or delete money from the account balance. P - To view past rentals This command will bring up the members past rental information and whether the tape was returned late. Q - Quit This command will return you to the main screen S - Continue Search If the information presented does not match the member, it is possible that there are two members with the same search information. In this case, by pressing S the program will look for the next logical file and display that information. After verifying the information on the member, the program will then prompt for the numbers of the movies to be rented. (There will be a maximum limit of six movies per invoice.) As each number is entered, the program will verify that the title is in the database and display the title. If the title is not in the database, the program will advise the operator of this and reprompt for a valid number. If a blank field has been entered,the program will now ask for any extra charges (such as late payments etc.) These will be added on the invoice.The program will then ask for the number of days the movies are being rented for. (Defaults to 1 day) At this point, the program does automatic calculation for tax and totalling fields. It also update the number of times the title has been rented and also the last date of rental. Then the member data is updated with the last rental date field and the amount spent by the member being added to. Lastly, the program will print an invoice on 1/2 paper and return the operator to the main menu. 8 - CHECK ON A MEMBER You will be prompted for a Telephone Number, or a Name, or lastly a Membership ID Number. If none of the fields are filled with any information, the program will return to the main menu. Information on the member will then be displayed in a similar fashion to the rental screens. 9 - COMPANY DATA For this part of the program, you will be required to know a password to allow access to sensitive data. Please note however, that this will not protect you data from individuals bent on destroying information, and that you should always have a reliable backup of your data kept in some other location to protect yourself. After entering the correct password, the operator will be given another screen for manipulating the information. The default password for original startup is "1957 " A - RETURNS After entering this part of the program, the user will be requested for numbers of movies being returned to the store. The program will verify that the movie had indeed been registered out and if not, display a message to that effect. If the movie is found in the database, it will attach a return date to the file and prompt the operator for the next movie number. (There will be a maximum of 19 Movies returned at one time). If the number field is returned blank, the program will return to the main menu. B - CHECK OLD INFORMATION 1 - CHECK A MEMBER This program will prompt the user for a member number to check. If the member is not in the database, the operator will be informed. Then the program will ask if a printout is required. The program will list off the movies that the customer had previously rented. 2 - CHECK A MOVIE This program will prompt the operator for a movie number to check. If the number is not in the database, the operator will be informed. Then the program will ask if a printout is required. The program will list off the members that have previously rented the movie. C - LIST RETURNS TODAY After prompting for a printout, this program will list off the movies that have been returned today. D - WHAT'S DUE BACK TODAY This program will automatically print out a list of those movies that are due back in today or any previous date. E - WHAT WENT OUT TODAY This program will, after prompting for a printout, give the operator a list of the movies that were rented today and a total number of movies rented. F - RESERVATIONS 1 - MAKE A RESERVATION This part of the program will ask the user for a telephone number, name or membership number. After identifying the member, information about the member will be displayed as in rental or sales. You will be able to see if the member has any outstanding late charges before continuing. You will then be prompted for a movie number or movie title. The program will store this information to be called up later. 2 - LIST RESERVATIONS This part of the program will allow the operator to make out a list of reservations for a specific date. It can recall the information to the screen or print out the information. 3 - DELETE RESERVATIONS This program will allow the user to delete past reservation data. The operator will be given all of the reservation dates available for deletion. After entering a specific date, the program will delete all reservations for that date. Q - QUIT PROGRAM At the end of the day the program will automatically remove all returned movies from the active files and update the old returns database. The program will print out a sales recap for the day and zero out the totals. At the end of the month, total figures will also be printed if requested and similarly at the end of the year. If the program is being stopped in the middle of the day, the operator will be given the opportunity to quit without removing data or updating databases. COMPANY DATA SCREEN After entering the correct password, the operator will be given access to the company data. The screen will enable the user to edit and or enter data into both the member and title databases. There are four levels of security with each level having an increasing ability to change data. The following commands are available : 1 - ENTER/EDIT MOVIE DATA (All levels) 1 - ENTER MOVIE DATA Upon entering a number, the program will automatically verify that the number has not already been entered in the records. The operator will then be given a screen to enter data into the database. There are spaces for two different rates. At the end of the entry the program will ask the user to verify the data and then enter the information.(ON UNREGISTERED COPIES THIS FUNCTION IS NOT INSTALLED) 2 - EDIT MOVIE DATA After entering a number, the program will verify that the number exists. You will then be provided with all of the information on the number. You will be able to change any of the information and once again be prompted for verification. (ON UNREGISTERED COPIES THIS FUNCTION IS NOT INSTALLED) 3 - RETURN TO COMPANY DATA MENU After entry or edit sessions this will return you to the company data menu. 2 - MOVIE DATA REPORTS (No Employee Access) 1 - MOVIE LIST BY TITLE This will provide the operator with a complete list of movies in the database sorted by title. 2 - MOVIE LIST BY NUMBER 1 - COMPLETE LIST This will provide the operator with a complete list of movies in the database sorted by number. 2 - SELECTED LIST After proving starting and ending numbers, the program will print out a list for those movies. 3 - MOVIE LIST BY CATEGORY This will provide the operator with a complete list of movies by category. You will asked for a category to print and only those meeting that criteria will be printed. 4 - MOVIE RENTAL REPORT After being prompted for a starting movie number and an ending moving number, the operator will be provided with data on how well the movies have been renting. This is invaluable to keep track of which movies are good renters and those that should be removed from the store. 3 - CUSTOMER DATA REPORTS (No Employee Access) 1 - CUSTOMER LIST BY NAME This will provide a complete membership printout by name. It will take up to one hour to print depending on the speed of your printer. Make sure that you can do this without interruption. 2 - CUSTOMER LIST BY NUMBER 1 - COMPLETE LIST This will provide a complete list of members in numerical order. Once again, this could take some time to do without interruption. 2 - SELECTED LIST After entering a start and ending number, the program will provide a list of those members. 4 - ACCOUNTING MODULE (Owner Access Only) The program automatically saves information on the sales and rental totals for tax calculation purposes. You have the ability to view sales figures that have been saved by the following categories 1 - DAILY SALES TOTALS 2 - MONTHLY SALES TOTALS 3 - YEARLY SALES TOTALS 5 - DELETE MEMBERS/MOVIES RECORDS /RESERVS ( No Employee or Assistant Manager Access) This part of the program will enable the user to delete any of the members, movies or old data stored in the databases. It is advisable to delete old data that is automatically stored by the program at least once every six months and to go back six months before that. This way you always have at least six month information stored on disk. After the records have been deleted, the databases will be packed and reindexed. This may take up to ten minutes on an XT computer, so make sure there won't be any interruptions when you do it. 6 - PRINT LABELS This part of the program will print labels for member addresses and also for movie titles. 1 - MEMBER LABELS 1 - ADDRESS LABELS This will print address labels for blocks of members. The operator will be prompted for a starting member number and also a finishing member number. If only one member label is required, the operator can put in the next highest number and the program will stop after one label. 2 - MEMBERSHIP CARD LABEL This will print out membership card labels for blocks of members. Once again the operator will be prompted for a starting and finishing member number. Information will be formatted for making membership cards. 2 - MOVIE LABELS 1 - LABELS FOR TAGS This program will print information for tags. It will include the number, title, category of the movie. 2 - LABELS FOR CASSETTES This program will print information for the cassette. It will include the number, title and category of the movie. Both of these programs will again prompt the operator for a starting and an ending movie number to print. 7 - INFORMATION MODULE (Owner Access Only) This module will identify the store name and address that prints on the invoices. It also stores information on the messages that print on invoices, the passwords to gain access to the data menus, tax rates for federal and provincial or state tax and in cases where an invoice is not required for rentals, the invoice print option. It also controls the type of monitor display and security levels for employees. 8 - BACKUP MENU This program will allow the operator to backup the various databases to removable disks. The only valid drives are A or B. 9 - ENTER/EDIT MEMBERSHIP DATA 1 - ENTER MEMBERSHIP DATA After providing the system with a number, the number will be checked against the database to ensure that there is no other matching number existing already. Then the system will provide an entry screen for data to be placed in the database. At the end of an entry, the system will prompt the operator to ensure that the data is correct. If any of the information is incorrect, the operator can escape from the entry at this point. After this, the system will update the files and indexes for the new member.(ON UNREGISTERED COPIES THIS MODULE IS NOT INSTALLED) 2 - EDIT EXISTING MEMBERSHIP DATA After being given a number, the system will check for a match in the database. If there is no match to the number entered, the system will inform the operator. If the number exists, the edit screen will appear with all of the inform- ation on the member. The operator will be allowed to change everything entered except for the membership number. Once again the system will prompt for correctness and then replace all of the old information with new information (ON UNREGISTERED COPIES THIS MODULE IS NOT INSTALLED) 3 - RETURN TO PRIVATE MENU This command will return the operator to the private menu screen. A - REMOVE DELETED DATA This will enable the user to remove those records marked for deletion B - REINDEX DATABASE From time to time, it may be necessary to reindex the databases. dBase occasionally loses the index or in the event of a power failure while adding records may lose an index. This will rebuild all of the indexes. C - RETURN TO MAIN MENU