Communication Services Summary or CSS, is a program to help monitor connect charges with services like CompuServe, Delphi, GEnie, and The Source. It was originally written in November 1980 in Applesoft BASIC for use on my Apple II Plus. After purchasing a Macintosh in 1984, there were two versions of CSS in Microsoft BASIC. The first was just the same old Applesoft program ported to Microsoft BASIC 1.0 and the second, a total rewrite to add the Mac-like features offered in Microsoft BASIC 2.0. However, having to load an 80+K interpreter was a real pain so I learned the C programming language and using Consulair Mac C, developed my first real Macintosh application, CSS. In July 1987, I decided to convert future CSS development to THINK Technologies, Inc. Lightspeed Pascal.
What's new?
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Version 1.4:
1. The Summary Screen is now moveable. The update dialog and its corresponding update window are now in a single moveable window. If either or both windows are moved, the new location is saved and the window will appear in that location the next time it is displayed (similar to windows in the Finder). Support for multiple screen Macintoshes has been added. Note: if a window was moved while CSS 1.4 was used on a large screen and CSS is then run on a smaller screen, the window will reset to its original location if it would not be visible in the moved-to location. Windows can be manually restored to their original locations by holding down the Option key while doubling-clicking on CSS in the Finder. Keep the key down until the summary screen appears. (Why doesn't all software with moveable windows function this way?)
2. Double-clicking on a service name on the Summary Screen will bring up the update dialog box for that service.
3. Added scroll arrows to the date and time and duration edit fields. Each click on the date up or down arrow will respectively increase or decrease the date by one day. Each click on the time or duration up or down arrow will respectively increase or decrease the time by one minute. Holding the mouse down on the arrows will cause the date or time to scroll faster. Clicking on an edit field's arrow is the same as clicking the mouse in that edit field; the insertion pointer will be placed at the edit of the text in the field.
4. Added U.S. Labor Day and Thanksgiving to the automatic holiday checking.
5. Removed the 'Auto-Save' feature. It was confusing to some users.
6. Added a Save Entries? Alert Box if there are unsaved entries when the selected action would result in those entries being lost. If an error is detected in one of the edit field entries, the selected action will be aborted and you will be prompted to correct the error.
7. The Summary Screen now reflects totals for the "real" current month from the system clock. The update dialog box still reflects the information from the last used month and the month previous to that, however, the last used month is now shown by name. These changes were added to clarify just which services were used when and the resulting actual monthly total charges for all the services. Notice that there is no grand total for the "Prior" month on the Summary Screen as each service might have a different prior month in which it was used.
8. Added protection for some out-of-memory conditions. If the memory available for CSS becomes insufficient (due to open desk accessories, running under small Switcher or MultiFinder partitions, large RAM cache settings, etc.) an ALERT will appear and then CSS will quit. Depending on exactly when and under what conditions this occurs, the last CSS data entered may not be saved and you may need to restart the Macintosh. The suggested partition size for Switcher is 160K and for MultiFinder, 128K.
9. In the update dialog box, individual Baud radio buttons can appear dimmed to avoid inadvertently selecting one. Checkboxes have been added to the Add a Service and Modify a Service dialogs to enable (if checked) or disable (not checked) each Baud button. When the update dialog box appears, that Baud will be dimmed. This is useful for those users who don't have a 2400 Baud modem. All three Baud buttons can be dimmed for those users who never change the Baud used. The buttons that are dimmed are separately configurable for each service.
10. The 'Save' button on the update dialog box will not be enabled until an entry is made in the duration edit field. Just Tabbing or clicking a radio button will no longer enable the 'Save' button.
Version 1.3: Full desk accessory support added. Enabling and disabling session logging made a checkmarked item 'Session Logging' in the Configure menu. Added support for the Macintosh Plus keyboard and keypad. Up/down arrows move through the dialog box edit fields and Clear is the same as the 'Clear' button. Fixed an incompatibility with System 4.1. All windows, dialogs, and alerts centered horizontally on all size displays. Added a checkbox on the Configure service dialog box to specify whether or not CSS should ask if weekends and some holidays are Reduced Rate Days. If the box is checked and a logon time is entered in the update session dialog box that is during the day rate period, you will always be asked if the date is a reduced rate day. If the box is not checked and you enter a day rate logon time, you will only be asked whether the date is a reduced rate day if the date is a weekday but not one of the checked holidays.
Version 1.2: Expanded number of configurable services to ten (10). Added a session log TEXT type file named "CSS <date>". 'Launch' and 'Transfer' menu items were added to the File menu. Added keyboard equivalents for dialog box buttons: Command-S for 'Save', Cmd-K for 'Clear', and Cmd-D for 'Done'. Included Shift-Tab to move backwards to a previous edit field. Fixed insertion pointer blinking.
Version 1.1: Added a configure option to modify the program for rate changes or different services, removed the requirement for Monaco 12 point font, and fixed a rare bomb on startup.
How to use CSS
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IMPORTANT: the data file structure was changed with version 1.2. If you have been using CSS version 1.1 or earlier, start up the old CSS from its icon and write down the duration totals (in hours) in each rate period/Baud for each service. Multiply each by 60 to get the total number of minutes. Quit, delete the old data file, start CSS 1.4, make any required configuration changes to the services, select the services from the menu, enter the last month data first using a date/time from last month, and then enter current month data.
NOTE: CSS is provided without Switcher or MultiFinder memory size information. To use under Switcher the preferred memory setting is 160K but should be larger if you plan on using large desk accessories within the CSS partition. For MultiFinder use, set a memory size of 128K as a minimum. See the Switcher or MultiFinder manuals for information on configuring memory sizes.
A Summary Screen appears when the program is started. Totals reflect the usage for that service in the current month based on the "Last Entered:" date and a prior month. All zeroes will appear if the data file can not be found. CSS 1.4 uses the standard System fonts: Chicago 12, Geneva 12, and Monaco 9 point.
Selecting a service name from the Service menu displays the update dialog and shows detailed information for that service. Any enabled menu item, including Quit or switching to another service, can be selected while this display is showing. Use the Tab key to move from one edit field to the next or Shift-Tab to move backwards. The current time (24 hour clock) and date (MM-DD-YYYY) from the system clock are already entered but can be changed. When 'Save' is clicked on, the data entered is checked for proper format and value, and if correct the data file and the service information window are updated. If an error is found an ALERT box will appear and the edit field with the incorrect data will be selected. Should the time entered be during a day rate period, CSS will display a dialog box asking if the date entered is a reduced rate day. CSS assumes that Saturday, Sunday, New Year's Day, July 4th, U.S. Labor Day, Thanksgiving (U.S.), and Christmas are reduced rate days and will not present the dialog box unless CSS is configured to "Always Ask if Reduced Rate Day". 'Clear' removes any entered data and resets the dialog box to default values. 'Done' redisplays the Summary Screen after asking the user whether to save any entries not saved. The Baud will always default to the last saved rate for that service.
To remove an incorrect entry from the totals enter the same duration, time, and date, but enter the duration as negative (e.g., -60). This will subtract the incorrect entry and reset the totals to what they were before the error.
Do not attempt to make changes to the last month information. Doing so will cause the current month data to roll to the prior month, replacing what was there.
In addition to the CSS data file, a standard TEXT file can be used to log each session. The file is automatically named "CSS <date>" with the month and year appearing in the <date> space. This TEXT file can be opened by text editors and viewed or printed. Since the fields are separated by the Tab character the file can also be opened by spreadsheet programs and further manipulated (e.g., sorted). If desired, TEXT file logging can be turned off by using the 'Session Logging' menu item.
Configure
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BACKUP CSS AND ITS DATA FILE BEFORE MAKING MODIFICATIONS TO THE CONFIGURATION.
Service information (name, rates, start time of day/evening periods, and whether the service has reduced rate days) can be easily changed by using the options in the Configure menu. Selecting 'Modify a Service' will display a dialog box. Select a service from the Service menu to view and change its information. Use the Tab key (or Shift-Tab) to move from edit field to edit field. Any of the displayed information including the service name can be changed using normal Macintosh editing techniques. Enter rates as whole numbers without a decimal point or dollar sign ($12.75 = 1275) and time as 24-hour clock time (0000 to 2359). When 'Save' is clicked on, some error checking is done on the entries. If an error is found an ALERT box will appear and the field with the error will be selected. If no error is found the service information will be modified and the empty dialog box redisplayed. Each of the services can be selected without dismissing the 'Modify' dialog box making it easy to browse through the configuration. 'Clear' resets the dialog box to empty. 'Done' redisplays the Summary Screen after asking the user whether to save any entries not saved.
The session information (total durations vs. Baud and last on date, time, and Baud) is saved in the order of the Service menu and not identified by service name in the data file. In other words, moving a service name will not make the session information move with it. To avoid confusion, make changes to the Service names before adding session data and do not rearrange the services once session data has been added. Do not use "Service Name" as the name of a service; it is reserved for program use and results in that service data being ignored by CSS.
Changing the start of day and evening periods does not affect session data already entered but will affect any new sessions logged. This means that costs are not recalculated when the start of day/evening periods is changed; they are recalculated if changes are made to rates.
The program is distributed with the following configuration:
Service Baud Day Evening Always Ask if Reduced Rate Day
Adding a service is similar to modifying an existing one. The same dialog box is presented. The 'Always Ask If Reduced Rate Day' checkbox will be checked. Click on it to uncheck if the service has reduced rate days. Use 'Save' to add the new service to the Summary Screen and the Service menu. CSS 1.4 can have up to ten services. Once the tenth service is saved, the dialog box is removed and the 'Add a Service' menu item is disabled. Reducing the number of services to less than ten will enable the item again. Adding services does not affect the existing session data in the data file.
Deleting a service is simple. Select 'Delete a Service' and then select a service from the Service menu. Confirmation is required: click 'DELETE' to remove it or 'Cancel' to leave it alone. If there is only one service in the Service menu 'Delete a Service' is disabled.
With HFS, if the CSS application is locked the configuration will not be changeable. This provides a way to protect the configuration from inadvertent changes. There is no warning that the changes were not written so be certain CSS is not locked when changes are required. This only works with HFS; with MFS changes are always written.
Data Files
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Session data is saved in the files "CSS data" and "CSS <date>". CSS can be started by double-clicking "CSS data" in the Finder. With HFS, both CSS and the data files must be in the same folder (exception: "CSS data" and "CSS <date>" can reside in the System Folder). With MFS, the data files will be created in the top window but can then be placed in any folder on the same volume as CSS.
Launch/Transfer
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'Launch' brings up a dialog box with the current program name to run. The name can be changed and will be saved when the 'Launch' button is pressed. From then on, to launch the same program just select 'Launch' from the menu and press Return. This is useful to switch from CSS to a terminal program. NOTE: the program to be run must be in the same folder as CSS if using HFS or on the same volume if using MFS. Applications can be in other folders or on other disks/volumes by separating pathnames with colons. However, any temporary files the program creates will appear in the CSS folder or volume. 'Transfer' brings up the normal open dialog box showing applications and folders.
Comments
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The values displayed on the Summary Screen and the Update Window are limited to 999.99. If this number is exceeded the columns will not be lined up. But if the total monthly communications bill exceeds $1000.00, an accountant probably tracks your expenses!
I may do a full-featured version of CSS that will have full service and network configuring as well as report printing. Comments and suggestions are welcome and may be incorporated into a new version. However, updates to CSS are dependent on feedback. Without it I'll have to assume that no one is using CSS and version 1.4 will be the last one released. Please write me at:
CompuServe: 70307,243
Delphi: MWeasner
GEnie: MWeasner
Source: CL1312
Legal Info
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This manual and the software described in it (CSS) are Copyrighted (C) 1987 by Michael L. Weasner with all rights reserved. Additionally, the software is Copyrighted (C) 1986 THINK Technologies. Certain portions of this software are copyrighted by THINK Technologies.
CSS 1.4 is offered free and "as is". No warranties of any kind are made or implied by the distribution and use of CSS. The author assumes no responsibilities for any errors which may cause damage or loss of data. The information which CSS supplies to the user is strictly for guidance only and should not be construed to mean that service billing is necessarily incorrect.
The software may be used on any Macintosh computer owned or leased by the user, and copies of the software may be distributed (through electronic or other means) as long as the following requirements are adhered to:
o No payment for CSS or the manual is received.
o The software, manual, and/or copyright notices are not modified.
o The software and this manual are included.
Apple, the Apple logo, Apple II Plus, and Applesoft are registered
trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc.
Macintosh is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc.
Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
Mac C is a trademark of Consulair Corp.
Lightspeed Pascal is a trademark of THINK Technologies, Inc.
CompuServe is a registered trademark of CompuServe Incorporated.
Delphi is a trademark of General Videotex Corporation.
GEnie is a trademark of General Electric Company, U.S.A.
The Source is a servicemark of Source Telecomputing Corporation, a
subsidiary of The Reader's Digest Association, Inc.
