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B I O G R A F Version 1.1 U S E R 'S G U I D E Microsoft and MS-DOS are registered trademarks, and Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. TrueType is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. Adobe Type Manager is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems,Inc. Documentation written and produced by A.N.N International Copyright (c) 1992 John A. Napier. All rights reserved DISCLAIMER AND AGREEMENT Users of BioGraf must accept this disclaimer of warranty. If you do not accept this disclaimer, do not use BioGraf. "BIOGRAF IS SUPPLIED AS IS. THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND OF FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. "THE AUTHOR ASSUMES NO LIABILITY FOR DAMAGES, DIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL, WHICH MAY RESULT FROM THE USE OF BIOGRAF, EVEN IF THE AUTHOR HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. "THE LICENCE AGREEMENT AND WARRANTY SHALL BE CONSTRUED, INTERPRETED AND GOVERNED BY THE LAWS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. YOU MAY HAVE OTHER RIGHTS WHICH VARY FROM ONE STATE TO ANOTHER." BioGraf is a shareware program, and is provided at no charge to users for evaluation. Feel free to share it with your friends and colleagues, but please do not give it away altered or as part of another system. The essence of user-supported software is to provide personal computer users with quality software without high prices, and at the same time to provide incentive for programmers to continue to develop new products. If you find BioGraf useful and you are continuing to use it after a trial period of 30 days, you must make a registration payment of UK£12 or US$25 to John Napier, 1 Wayside Green, Woodcote, Reading, RG8 0PR, United Kingdom. The registration fee will license one copy for use on any one computer at any one time. You will also receive a fully registered copy of BioGraf, a printed copy of the User's Guide, a free upgrade (shipping and handling charges will apply) to the next major version when it becomes available, and 90 days' free support. Site Licence arrangements may be made by contacting John Napier. Anyone distributing BioGraf for profit must first contact John Napier at the address above for authorization. page 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 Introduction ...........................................5 What is BioGraf?.........................................5 BioGraf is shareware ....................................5 How to use this guide ...................................6 Conventions used in this guide ..........................7 2 Installation ............................................8 Contents of this release ................................8 Hardware and software environment .......................8 Installing BioGraf on your hard disk ....................8 Special instructions for novice users .................9 Running BioGraf .........................................9 Installing a BioGraf upgrade ...........................10 3 What are biorhythms? ...................................11 Introduction to biorhythms .............................11 How do biorhythms actually work? .......................11 What do active, passive and critical mean? ...........12 The four cycles ........................................13 Jung's four functions ................................14 Interpreting your biorhythms ...........................15 Opposites attract? ...................................16 4 Using BioGraf ..........................................17 Using the keyboard .....................................17 BioGraf help and information ...........................18 How to get on-line help ..............................18 Getting BioGraf's version number/registration info ...18 BioGraf's display ......................................18 Display highlight bar ................................19 Legend ...............................................19 Number of biorhythm cycles displayed .................19 Type of monitor ......................................19 Iconized display .....................................19 People command .........................................20 Adding a person's details to BioGraf .................20 Editing a person's details ...........................20 Displaying details for a different person ............21 Removing a person's details ..........................21 View command ...........................................21 Interpret command ......................................22 Print command ..........................................23 5 Troubleshooting ........................................26 Possible problems and their solutions ..................26 Getting support ........................................29 6 More about shareware ...................................31 page 4 C H A P T E R 1 I N T R O D U C T I O N ________________________________________________________________ WHAT IS BIOGRAF? BioGraf is the biorhythm program for Microsoft Windows. It is for anyone who is interested in getting the most out of their best days and avoiding trouble on their worst days. BioGraf contains much more than the average biorhythm program. It not only has interpretations of the biorhythms for any individual day, but also includes the fourth biorhythm -- intuitional -- of which so many people seem to be unaware. BioGraf is very flexible in its ability to display different views of a biorhythm chart, and offers a number of other useful features which are outlined below. The BioGraf program: -has the ability to vary the biorhythms view from 1 week to 3 months -maintains a list, compiled by you, of names and the associated dates of birth -- so you don't have to retype the name and date of birth every time you want to display a particular biorhythm chart -gives you optional interpretations of the charts -includes the fourth intuitional biorhythm -allows you to print out the charts and interpretations -- together, or separately -is fast and intuitive to use -has an iconized phase display ______________________________________________________________ BIOGRAF IS SHAREWARE Shareware means 'try before you buy'. You can evaluate a full, unrestricted copy of BioGraf on your own computer, in the comfort of your own home or office, for up to 30 days. Once you are sure that BioGraf will be useful to you, please register it. Simply page 5 print out the file BIOGRAF.REG, fill in the details, and send it with the registration fee (UK£12 or US$25) to the address shown. (If you cannot find the file, use the About command in the Control menu of BioGraf.) In return, you will receive the following: -an up-to-date, registered copy of BioGraf -a free (shipping and handling charges apply) registered copy of the next major version of BioGraf, when it becomes available -a saddle wired, printed copy of the BioGraf User's Guide -free support -- see Chapter 5, Troubleshooting for details Please remember that BioGraf is not free. It is copyrighted software written to professional standards. If you continue to use it after your evaluation period of 30 days, please register it. In doing so, you will be helping to support the shareware concept, which aims to supply high quality software at low prices. Please see Chapter 6, More about shareware for more information about shareware. If you are interested in a Site Licence for BioGraf, please contact the author directly. ________________________________________________________________ HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE This manual is organized on a 'task oriented' basis, so that information is presented in the order in which you will need it. Here is a summary of what the BioGraf User's Guide contains: Chapter 1, Introduction -- gives you some basic information about BioGraf, such as detailing some of its features, as well as telling you what benefits you will get when you register your copy of BioGraf. Chapter 2, Installation -- tells you how to install BioGraf on your computer. This is a straightforward procedure with no surprises. Chapter 3, What are biorhythms? -- explains some of the basics underlying BioGraf. Read this if you are new to the concept of biorhythms, or if you were previously unaware of the fourth biorhythm. Chapter 4, Using BioGraf -- takes you step-by-step through the various features and facilities offered by BioGraf. There is a full description of each command, with hints on how to get the best from BioGraf. page 6 Chapter 5, Troubleshooting -- will help in the unlikely event that you experience problems with BioGraf. Error messages are listed together with their explanations; as well as information about the most common sources of trouble and how to deal with them. If you still need help, this chapter includes information on how to obtain technical support. Chapter 6, More about shareware -- gives more information on shareware and its place on the software scene. ________________________________________________________________ CONVENTIONS USED IN THIS GUIDE The following conventions are used in this user's guide: BLOCK LETTERS are used for commands such as MS-DOS commands, as well as for special names. <names in brackets> indicate names of keys on the keyboard, such as <PageDn>. If there is more than one name, such as <Ctrl+F4>, it means that the <Ctrl> key should be held down while the <F4> key is pressed. NOTE gives you some extra information that you should pay particular attention to. page 7 C H A P T E R 2 I N S T A L L A T I O N ________________________________________________________________ CONTENTS OF THIS RELEASE BioGraf is distributed on one diskette, and consists of the following files: BIOGRAF.EXE--program BIOGRAF.DAT--interpretation data file BIOGRAF.HLP--help file BIOGRAF.TXT--User's Guide (plain ASCII) BIOGRAF.REG--registration form (plain ASCII) README.TXT--last-minute release information (plain ASCII) ________________________________________________________________ HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE ENVIRONMENT BioGraf requires Microsoft Windows V3.0 or later. It is generally accepted that Windows requires a minimum configuration of 80286 processor, 2 Megabytes of main memory, EGA display, and a hard disk. Although less powerful configurations do work, the performance levels may not be acceptable for all purposes. ________________________________________________________________ INSTALLING BIOGRAF ON YOUR HARD DISK It is a good idea to backup your BioGraf distribution diskette before you install BioGraf. You can use the MS-DOS DISKCOPY command, or something similar, to make the duplicate. Next, copy all the files from the distribution diskette into the directory on your hard disk from which you wish to run BioGraf. This directory should be on your execution path. Copy the files using the Windows File Manager or the MS-DOS COPY command. When you run BioGraf for the first time, a small file called BIOGRAF.INI will be placed in your Windows directory. This contains option settings and other information that BioGraf needs to save from one session to the next. Do not move this file from the directory where it has been created. NOTE It is important that BIOGRAF.EXE, BIOGRAF.DAT and BIOGRAF.HLP remain in the same directory, and that you do not rename these files. page 8 ________________________________________________________________ Special instructions for novice users 1. Backup BioGraf before starting the installation You can do this by using the MS-DOS DISKCOPY command if you received BioGraf on a diskette, or by using the MS-DOS COPY command if you received BioGraf in some other way-such as from a bulletin board or from a friend. For more information on using either of these commands, please refer to your MS-DOS User's Guide. 2. Copy all the files from your backup diskette on to your hard disk Copy the BioGraf files into a directory on your hard disk that is included in the PATH statement of your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Or, if your prefer to have the BioGraf files contained in a separate directory, make a directory on your hard disk called BioGraf using the MS-DOS MKDIR command. Then copy all of the BioGraf files into that directory. NOTE If you choose this option you must remember to alter the PATH statement of your AUTOEXEC.BAT file to include this new directory. For more information on either the PATH statement of your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, or on the MS-DOS MKDIR command, please refer to your MS-DOS User's Guide. ________________________________________________________________ RUNNING BIOGRAF Start BioGraf by using one of these methods: -place BioGraf in one of your Program Manager groups and then double-click on the BioGraf icon to run the program. NOTE If you place BioGraf in the StartUp group, it will start automatically when you start Windows. This is probably the best way to use the iconized phase display feature. -type PATHNAME\BIOGRAF.EXE in the Run... command of the File menu in Windows File Manager or Program Manager. -double-click on the BIOGRAF.EXE entry in a File Manager directory listing. page 9 Once BioGraf has started up, you should be able to use the People command to set up a personal biorhythm display. Press <F1> to bring up the BioGraf Help index, and confirm that the help file is installed correctly. If BioGraf fails to run properly, refer to the troubleshooting guide in Chapter 5. ________________________________________________________________ INSTALLING A BIOGRAF UPGRADE When installing an upgrade, follow the same procedure as for the first installation. You may choose whether to replace the old version in the same directory, or place the new version in a different directory. It is probably less trouble to replace the old one. The BIOGRAF.INI file does not require any attention when upgrading. It will continue to operate with any version of the program. page 10 C H A P T E R 3 W H A T A R E B I O R H Y T H M S ? The information contained in this chapter is intended for readers who are not familiar with the concept of biorhythms. If you feel you know enough about biorhythms already, by all means skip this chapter. NOTE This chapter includes information about the fourth biorhythm, the intuitional cycle, which may be new to you even if you are already conversant with the rest of the biorhythm cycles. ________________________________________________________________ INTRODUCTION TO BIORHYTHMS From the day we are born, until the day we die, our lives are influenced by our internal 'body clocks'. These regulate short cycles of only a few hours, such as when we will feel hungry, or when we need sleep, for example; as well as regulating our longer cycles of several weeks' duration. It is some of these longer body cycles that are known as biorhythms. Biorhythms can influence things such as: -why we feel high or low for no apparent reason -why we are better at learning new concepts on some days more than others -why we sometimes feel very tired even though we've had a good night's sleep -why it is that sometimes we 'know' that the phone is going to ring before it actually has They can also affect our judgement and our reactions to various situations. Studies have been done in a number of countries which show that charting your biorhythms can give a very real indication about your capabilities at a given time. For instance, your biorhythm chart might show that you are more likely to be accident prone today than tomorrow. If you had to make a long and tiring journey by car, but could choose whether to drive today or tomorrow, it would be prudent to put it off page 11 until tomorrow. If you weren't able to make that choice, and you simply had to drive today, then at least you would be forewarned, and could drive extra carefully and take more breaks than normal. That way, you'd be reducing your 'accident prone-ness' significantly. Because of these findings, some companies, in countries such as Japan and the States, actually keep charts of their employees' biorhythms. In this way, they can ascertain whether a person whose job normally involves risk of some kind, should be put on another job for the day, or simply be warned to be extra careful, and thereby reduce their accident rate. ________________________________________________________________ HOW DO BIORHYTHMS ACTUALLY WORK? The three most widely known biorhythm cycles are the 23 day physical cycle, the 28 day emotional cycle and the 33 day intellectual cycle. Less commonly known is the fourth biorhythm cycle -- that of the 38 day intuitional cycle. At the time of birth, each of these cycles starts from a point which I'll call the zero line. From this point, each of the cycles starts to rise up through its active, or positive, phase until it falls back to the level of the zero line. It then continues through the zero line to go on to a passive, or negative phase. When the passive phase is complete, the cycle once again crosses the zero line to begin all over again. Each time the cycle crosses the zero line and actually changes phase, it is said to be in a critical state. ________________________________________________________________ What do active, passive and critical mean? During an active phase, the abilities associated with that cycle are high, and 'dispense' themselves at a higher rate than when passive. When the cycle is in its passive phase, it means that abilities are diminished and being 'recharged' ready for the next active phase, and are therefore dispensed more slowly and with less force than when they are active. 'Critical' is actually not nearly as bad as it sounds! It simply means that the cycle is changing phase (from active to passive, or vice versa) and that the associated abilities are unstable at that time. page 12 In practice, it means that if your physical cycle were critical, for example, then you might expect your co-ordination to be less reliable than normal. It doesn't mean that your co-ordination will be totally off, but it might mean that you trip over the occasional chair that you just didn't see! However, it's not really as simple an explanation as that, because it's actually the interaction of the individual cycles with each other which really affects us (not forgetting external influences of course!). In fact, the actual combination of biorhythm cycles during your lifetime is unique on each day. Because each of the cycles is of a different duration it means that your biorhythms are normally a mixture of good, bad and indifferent, and it's very rare for them to all cross the zero line at the same time. The only occasion when they will, is at the age of 77 years 11 months, or day 28,462 of your life. Even then, although they will all be crossing the zero line on the same day, they will not all be 'in phase' -- some will be crossing from active to passive and the rest will be going in the opposite direction. Apart from the day you are born, the next time that all four cycles will be crossing the zero line 'in phase' and at the same time, will be on day 807,576 -- at 2,211 years and one month of age! However, as science hasn't quite got us that far yet, I guess we're not going to experience it! Although this means that your biorhythm chart on any one day will never be the same again in your lifetime, some of the interactions between the cycles are so subtle that you can still predict, fairly reliably, what the effects of your current biorhythm pattern might be. ________________________________________________________________ THE FOUR CYCLES Each of the four biorhythm cycles influences different functions or abilities. Let's just look at what each of them affects. CYCLE LENGTH AFFECTS... ----- ------ ---------- Physical 23 days stamina, co-ordination, basic body functions, immunity to disease, strength, speed Emotional 28 days moods, creativity, mental stability, sensitivity Intellectual 33 days judgement, mental alertness, logic, conceptual ability, decision making, page 13 memory recall, ability to learn, analytical functions Intuitional 38 days unconscious perception, hunches, instincts, sixth sense The fact that there are four biorhythm cycles may have a certain significance. In Plato's Republic he observed that we used four different aspects of ourselves which he referred to as the four facilities of the soul: -demonstration -opinion -intelligence -imagination These can be directly related to the four biorhythm cycles: physical, emotional, intellectual and intuitional. Carl Jung described the very same divisions of character as the 'four functions'. ________________________________________________________________ Jung's four functions Carl Jung described these four functions as: -sensation -thinking -feeling -intuition In Jung's Collected Works (Volume 6, Psychological Typology) he says: "The essential function of sensation is to establish that something exists, thinking tells us what it means, feeling what its value is, and intuition surmises whence it comes and whither it goes." Again, these four functions relate directly to the four biorhythm cycles of physical, intellectual, emotional and intuitional. He goes on to explain that sensation and intuition oppose each other, because they cannot be simultaneous. If you can physically touch something you would not need to use your intuition about it being there. Equally, thinking is opposed to feeling because it shouldn't be influenced by feelings; anymore than feelings themselves should be corrupted by too much thinking. page 14 ________________________________________________________________ INTERPRETING YOUR BIORHYTHMS In the last two sections we looked at descriptions of the four biorhythm cycles and how Jung's four functions fitted in with these. Interpreting your biorhythm chart is not just a matter of seeing that you have a 'physical high' and assuming that you'll feel as fit as a fiddle because of it. As already discussed, each of the biorhythm cycles interacts with the others causing various (sometimes subtle) effects. ________________________________________________________________ Opposites attract? Because the cycles work in pairs, you need to consider the position of each cycle's opposite on any given chart. For instance, in the section entitled Jung's four functions we read how the sensation and intuition functions 'oppose' each other, because you cannot feel something physically as well as 'feeling' it intuitively at the same time. In biorhythm terms, this means that the physical and intuitional cycles 'oppose' each other in the sense that they may compete for dominance if they are both at the same point in the cycle at the same time -- i.e. 'in phase'. In this case, you would probably experience some feelings of frustration, or even disorientation, were you to try to use either of these functions to any significant degree while their cycles were in phase. This, of course, is also true of the intellectual and emotional cycles as a pair. At any time, where you have two opposing biorhythm cycles running in phase, you are likely to feel frustrated in one way or another. However, this feeling would be more noticeable during a passive phase when your energies and resources are at a low point. If the opposing cycles were in an active phase you would have more energy and would be better equipped to deal with any frustrations that may arise. Another occasion to watch out for is when you have two opposing biorhythm cycles going 'critical' at the same time. For instance, let's say you are having a double critical of both physical and intuitional cycles, with your physical cycle going into its active phase, while the intuitional cycle is going into its passive phase. With your physical cycle crossing the zero line to go up, at the same time as your intuitional cycle is crossing the zero line to go down, you would almost certainly notice some effects -- such as feeling snappy, or to a lesser degree, mildly page 15 uncomfortable. This is because they were both crossing the zero line at the same time and therefore would have equal 'pull' on your energies, but in different directions. This will apply to a minor extent whenever two opposing cycles cross each other, but the effects may be so subtle that you may not even notice. Also, if the two pairs of biorhythm cycles precisely match Jung's four functions, then the physical/intuition pair necessarily also oppose the emotional/intellectual pair as well as each other. So there are additional effects regarding the position of these pairs of cycles in relation to each other. As with anything relating to human beings, the reactions and results may vary from one individual to another. Until you know how your body reacts to biorhythm patterns, it is often a good idea initially to keep a biorhythm 'diary' so that you can watch these reactions. And finally, be aware that other external events can influence your life and reactions in such a way as to completely override any effects your biorhythms might have. As an example, suppose your biorhythm chart indicates that you're in for a rough time today -- if you've just been promoted and won a million in a lottery, the chances are that you're actually going to enjoy the day after all! page 16 C H A P T E R 4 U S I N G B I O G R A F The topics in this chapter explore all the features of BioGraf in a step-by-step fashion. Throughout this User's Guide, it is assumed that you are familiar with Microsoft Windows and using a mouse. Whilst clicking on buttons is referred to throughout, a quick reference to shortcut keys is given here. ________________________________________________________________ USING THE KEYBOARD There are a number of shortcut keys which can be used in BioGraf, which may speed up navigation. KEY ACTION P People command V View command I Interpret command R Print command H Help command Right arrow Forward by one day Left arrow Back by one day Up arrow Back by one screenful. This varies according to the setting you have made in the Period visible field of the View command. Down arrow Forward by one screenful. This varies according to the setting you have made in the Period visible field of the View command. Page Up Back by one year Page Dn Forward by one year Home Go to today's date page 17 ________________________________________________________________ BIOGRAF HELP AND INFORMATION How to get on-line help BioGraf uses the Windows help system to provide on-line information as and when you need it. This information is a little more concise than the material presented in this User's Guide, and is ideal for jogging your memory on specific commands. Refer to your Windows User's Guide for more information about the help system. You can get help by clicking on the Help button, or by typing <H>. There is also a quicker way of getting help: press the <F1> key, or click the right mouse button (or the left button if you have reversed them). This will normally take you straight to the main index, but if you are in a dialog box or status window, it will give you help related to what you are doing. ________________________________________________________________ Getting BioGraf's version number and registration information You can get information about BioGraf's version number as well as information on registering your copy of BioGraf by: -clicking on BioGraf's control menu and selecting About or -using <Alt+Space> on the keyboard ________________________________________________________________ BIOGRAF'S DISPLAY When at least one name and date of birth have been entered in the People dialog (see Adding a person's details later in this chapter) a biorhythm chart will automatically be displayed. When BioGraf displays its first biorhythm chart, the defaults are: -31 days display -legend showing -all four cycles in view -appropriate type of display according to your monitor (colour or monochrome) You can change these defaults by clicking on View (see View command later in this chapter). BioGraf remembers whether the display is normal, maximized, or iconized, and will start up in the same mode next time. But first let's consider the defaults in more detail. page 18 ________________________________________________________________ Display highlight bar The default display starts up with today as the highlighted day. You can change the day highlighted by clicking on another day in the chart. To change the number of days displayed by BioGraf, see View command later in this chapter. ________________________________________________________________ Legend The legend is your key to the various different biorhythm curves that are shown in BioGraf. It first appears in the lower right hand corner of the display. You can move the legend around by dragging it either to another position on the BioGraf display, or off the BioGraf display altogether, to somewhere else on the desktop. You can also switch off the legend by double-clicking on it. To show it again, see View command later in this chapter. ________________________________________________________________ Number of biorhythm cycles displayed By default, BioGraf displays all four of the biorhythm cycles. However, if you've made use of biorhythm information in the past, it may be that you are so used to dealing with only three, that you prefer to turn off the display for the intuitional cycle. For details of how to do this, see Changing the view later in this chapter. ________________________________________________________________ Type of monitor If you have a monochrome monitor, the four cycles will be represented by differing types of sine curve on the display. If you have a colour monitor, you can choose whether to display your sine curves in either colour, or black and white. The legend automatically matches the display. ________________________________________________________________ Iconized display One other aspect of BioGraf's display abilities is its dynamic iconized display. The icon for BioGraf shows the current state of your biorhythms, and will change at midnight where appropriate. The letters on the icon represent the various cycles in this order: P=physical, E=emotional, I=intellectual and I=intuitional. page 19 ________________________________________________________________ PEOPLE COMMAND Adding a person's details to BioGraf The first thing you will probably want to do when you start the program, is to add some of your own details to it, such as names and dates of birth. You do this by accessing the People command, which is achieved by either pressing <P>, or by clicking on the People button with your mouse. (Yes, the eyes do light up when you click on the button, you're not imagining it!) BioGraf 'remembers' the details that you enter during this dialog, so you can have details available for up to fifty people if you like. There are only two fields which need to be completed in this dialog: one for names, and one for dates of birth. To add details to the list: -click on Add -replace NewName by typing a name of up to 32 characters into the Name field -use the mouse or the <Tab> key to move to the Date of birth field -type in the date of birth in the format DD/MM/YY NOTE YY assumes this century. Any other century should be entered in the form YYYY. -click on OK -- this saves the changes you have made You will now see the main screen displaying biorhythm cycles for the current date. If you click on Cancel instead of OK, you will lose all the additions you have made. ________________________________________________________________ Editing a person's details You may have occasion to edit a person's details, if, for example, you had misspelled their name, or got their date of birth wrong. In this instance, it is not necessary to remove the page 20 person's details and then re-add them. You can simply edit the information: -highlight their name and then alter whichever field is wrong; either the Name or Date of birth -click on OK when you have finished to save the change ________________________________________________________________ Displaying details for a different person To display details for a different person: -click on People -highlight the name of the person whose biorhythms you want to display -click on OK Or, when you are in the People dialog box, you can just double- click on their name to immediately display their biorhythms. ________________________________________________________________ Removing a person's details Go into the People dialog and: -highlight the name of the person that you want to remove from the list -click on Remove -click on OK -- this saves the changes you have made. Otherwise click on Cancel to discard the deletion. ________________________________________________________________ VIEW COMMAND You can change the view in a number of ways. When you click on the View button, or type <V>, you will see a dialog box with the following fields: Display lets you choose between a colour or a monochrome display. When first installed, the program will detect which sort you have, but if you wish to change it for some reason, simply click on the appropriate option button. page 21 Show Legend -- allows you to choose whether or not you have the legend displayed. Intuitional Biorhythm -- gives you the choice of turning off the intuitional biorhythm if you wish. Period visible gives you full control over the length of time that you see on your biorhythm chart -- from seven to ninety days. Although it is possible to display three months at once, you may not find that this view is a very clear one. Much of your choice will depend on the resolution of your display. Go to gives you the ability to immediately display biorhythm charts for a given date. Clicking on Today takes the display back to the present, while Day Month Year is self-explanatory. When you have completed this dialog, click on OK to save your changes, or Cancel to discard them. ________________________________________________________________ INTERPRET COMMAND You can get interpretations for your biorhythms either by: -clicking on the Interpret button, or typing <I>, which will give you an interpretation of the highlighted day, or -double clicking on any date shown on the chart Either of these methods will result in the display of the interpretation window which can be: -resized in the normal way -moved around -- off the BioGraf window and on to the desktop if you like -left open for as long as you are running BioGraf -closed by double-clicking on its control box In addition, if you are running BioGraf under version 3.1 of Windows, there is a scroll bar on the right hand side of the interpretation window to enable you to scroll up and down the text. NOTE Occasionally, there is too much interpretation text page 22 for the selected day to fit into the default size window. If this happens, you may resize the window to view all of it at once, or if you are running Windows 3.1, you can use the scroll bar. As long as the interpretation window is active, it will show the interpretation text for whatever day is highlighted in the main BioGraf window. ________________________________________________________________ PRINT COMMAND You have a wide number of options when it comes to printing out from BioGraf. First of all, you choose the period printed out by changing the setting (if necessary) in the Period visible field of the View command. Besides choosing when to print, you also have a choice about what to print: -the biorhythm chart only -the interpretations only -or both of these together You also have full control over how your printout will appear. When you click on Print, or type <R>, a display containing the following fields appears: Title displays a default title of BioGraf biorhythms for ... You can change this to whatever you like, up to a maximum of forty characters. This title appears at the top of each page of your printout. NOTE The maximum number of forty characters may not be suitable if you choose a very small chart printout. Print displays option buttons for: -Biorhythm chart only -Interpretation only -Chart and interpretation Chart format displays option buttons for: -Full page -Half page -Quarter page page 23 NOTE These formats refer to the size of the biorhythm chart itself, not to the interpretations, which will wrap around the chart if you have chosen to print out both. Paper size dimensions are taken from the default printer that you have set in Windows. Use Setup printer if you want to change the size of the paper that you print on. Margins allows you to stipulate precise positioning of your biorhythm chart (and/or interpretations), so that you can print it to a custom size, rather than to a size which fills the page. This means that you can print a chart to fit in your favourite personal organizer, or even one small enough to fit in your wallet (pocketbook) for handy reference! Default margins are given by Windows 3.x printer drivers, and refer to the minimum margin size for your default printer driver. The default printer driver is the one set in Windows Control Panel. Units lets you make the choice between inches or centimetres. Colour will be greyed out unless you are using a printer which has a colour option. In this instance, checking this box causes the biorhythm chart to print in colour. Print button starts the printing. It also causes your margins and units settings to be saved. NOTE The font used for your printout may vary according to your Windows setup. See the chapter on troubleshooting if you are having problems with fonts. If you want to print a version to fit into a personal organizer, you must choose larger margins to decrease the size of the actual printout. Experiment with a few different settings to see which suits you the best. If you change your mind about printing, you still have a chance to back out even after selecting the Print button. You can simply select the Cancel button to abort the print command while the Print status window page 24 is displayed. Setup Printer... takes you to the Windows Setup printer dialog for your default printer. This is the printer which is set as the default in Windows Control Panel. Note that any changes made in this dialog are not made permanent -- they remain in force only until you exit BioGraf. Cancel allows you to go back to BioGraf without printing anything. NOTE If you change settings in the Print dialog and then click on Cancel instead of Print, your new choices will be lost. You must click on Print for the new options to be saved. page 25 C H A P T E R 5 T R O U B L E S H O O T I N G ________________________________________________________________ POSSIBLE PROBLEMS AND THEIR SOLUTIONS An internal error has been detected whilst compiling the interpretation text. This error indicates that the file BIOGRAF.DAT may have been altered. Try re-installing it from your BioGraf distribution disk. If the problem persists, contact your support provider. Also see Getting support later in this chapter. Application error. Error code = XX This indicates a resource problem, possibly due to a shortage of free memory. If the problem is repeatable, please make a note of the value that appears in place of XX, and contact your support provider. Cannot find help file The Windows help system cannot find the help file, BIOGRAF.HLP. This must be in the same directory as BIOGRAF.EXE, and must not be renamed. If the file has vanished, re-install it from your original distribution diskette. Cannot identify default printer. Use Control Panel to set a default printer. BioGraf can print only to the default printer, that is, the printer identified in the Control Panel Printers dialog as the default. This is also the printer described in the 'device=...' parameter in the [windows] section of WIN.INI. If you do not already have a default printer, you must establish one using Control Panel before you can print from BioGraf. Fonts on the printout don't look right The fonts used by BioGraf to print your chart and/or interpretations will vary according to the way you have Windows set up. We suggest the following settings for ATM.INI if you're using ATM, or WIN.INI if you're using TrueType fonts in Windows 3.1: WIN.INI [Font substitutes] Times=Times Roman Helvetica=Arial page 26 ATM.INI [Aliases] Helvetica=Gill Sans Times=TimesNewRomanPS NOTE Gill Sans and TimesNewRomanPS apply to the versions of ATM that came with these fonts as standard substitutes for Helvetica and Times Roman. If your version of ATM came with fonts other than Gill Sans and TimesNewRomanPS as standard, please insert their names instead. Insufficient free disk space for temporary print files Windows needs a certain amount of free disk space (in the directory to which the 'TEMP' environment variable points) when printing. If the free space is insufficient, printing may slow down to the rate at which space is released by the current print job, or may be abandoned altogether. The solution is to make more space available by deleting or archiving files. Please check the date you have specified. Day should be between 1 and 31 (depends on month). Month should be between 1 and 12. Year should be between 1800 and 2800. You must enter dates as numbers, not words. Where the year is any century other than this one, enter all four digits of the year. Runtime error NNN at XXXX:YYYY This indicates an internal error in BioGraf. Please make a note of the values that appear in place of NNN, XXXX and YYYY, and contact your support provider. The combination of paper height, top margin and bottom margin has left no space for printing. Correct this using Setup printer... and/or margin adjustments. You have not left enough space between the top and bottom margins to be able to print anything. The combination of paper width, left margin and right margin has left no space for printing. Correct this using Setup printer... and/or margin adjustments. You have not left enough space between the left and right margins to be able to print anything. The left/right/top/bottom margin is smaller than the minimum printer margin set by the driver. You can correct this by choosing a larger margin. The printer margins are: Left: .... Top: .... Right: .... Bottom: .... This message will show you what the minimum margins are for your printer according to the Windows printer driver. You page 27 cannot stipulate margins of a lower value than the ones given by this message. The left/right/top/bottom margin setting is incorrect. It should be in the range 0 to 100. The value you have given is not numeric, or is not in the range 0-100. The names database is currently full. You must remove at least one name before you can add a new one. There is a limit of 50 people whose names and dates of birth can be retained in BioGraf at any time. The page size you have selected is too small to print the interpretation text. Correct this by reducing the margins and/or choosing a larger paper size. Try increasing the size of the page to print on. This copy of BioGraf has been corrupted This message usually means that the BIOGRAF.EXE file has been changed in some way, and cannot be relied upon to function properly. For this reason, the program will exit immediately. You must re-install BioGraf from your original distribution diskette. If you still get this problem, contact your support provider (see Getting support later in this chapter). This copy of BioGraf has expired Unregistered copies of BioGraf will display this message about 18 months after release. This alerts you to the possibility that you are not using the latest version containing the most recent improvements and new features. The program will continue to function normally, but you are advised to get a more up-to-date copy. Registered copies of BioGraf do not display this message. When you register your copy of BioGraf you will automatically receive details of all subsequent major releases. Unrecoverable Application Error General Protection Fault These messages can be indicative of many different types of problem, including free memory shortage, and program errors (not necessarily in the program that was active at the time). If the problem is repeatable, please make a note of the exact circumstances, and contact your support provider (see Getting support later in this chapter). Unable to load printer driver BioGraf cannot find the driver for the default printer. Try re-installing it in Windows Control Panel. page 28 Unable to open BioGraf interpretation message file: BIOGRAF.DAT BIOGRAF.DAT must reside in the same directory as BIOGRAF.EXE. If you cannot find the file, try re-installing it from your distribution disk. If you are still having problems, contact your support provider. Also see Getting support later in this chapter. Unable to read index from interpretation message file BIOGRAF.DAT This error indicates that the file BIOGRAF.DAT may have been altered. Try re-installing it from your BioGraf distribution disk. If the problem persists, contact your support provider. Also see Getting support later in this chapter. You have a specified a date before ...'s date of birth. Please choose a later date. You cannot display biorhythms for a person before they were born! ________________________________________________________________ GETTING SUPPORT If you have read the previous section on possible problems, and still have not found the answer, you may need to request support. Support is offered to registered users for a period of 90 days following registration. (Support beyond this period can be arranged at cost.) The following methods of getting support may be used: -telephone, by calling 0491 681478 within the UK, or +44 491 681478 from overseas. You are entitled to a cumulative maximum of one hour 'connect time' for telephone support. -electronic mail, to CompuServe Information Service user ID 100023,201 or via Internet address 100023.201@compuserve.com -post, by writing to: John Napier, 1 Wayside Green, Woodcote, Reading, RG8 0PR United Kingdom When requesting support, please supply the following information: -the product name, version number and release number. You can obtain these from the About command in BioGraf's control menu. -the serial number of your copy of BioGraf. This is an 8- character string appearing in the About box. page 29 -a precise description of the problem, and the circumstances that cause it to occur. You may also request support if you are an unregistered user, and you cannot get BioGraf to work at all. page 30 C H A P T E R 6 M O R E A B O U T S H A R E W A R E The following information is made available by ASP, the Association of Shareware Professionals: "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 with printed manual. "Copyright laws apply to both shareware and commercial software, and the copyright holder retains all rights, with a few specific exceptions as stated below. 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 all and sundry 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 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" page 31