ProfitPress Mega CDROM2 Shareware Freeware (MSDOS)(1992)(Eng)

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Text File | 1991-07-13 | 21.6 KB | 438 lines

M O V I E G U I D E D O C U M E N T A T I O N T A B L E of C O N T E N T S Title Section # Introduction - - - - - - - - - 1.0 Requirements 2.0 Recommended Hardware - - - - - - - 2.1 Installation 3.0 Backups - - - - - - - - - - - 3.1 Floppy Installation 3.2 Hard Drive Installation - - - - - - 3.3 Setting Up The Program 3.4 How To Use The Program - - - - - - 3.5 Operation 4.0 Info - - - - - - - - - - - - 4.1 Data Base 4.2 Reports - - - - - - - - - - - 4.3 Verify 4.4 Exit - - - - - - - - - - - 4.5 License 5.0 Getting the most - - - - - - - - 6.0 Quick-easy start-up 7.0 Movie 2.1 users - - - - - - - - 8.0 Acknowledgments 9.0 Share the word - - - - - - - - - 10.0 1.0 INTRODUCTION The History of "Movie" started in 1985 as a personal D-BASE (c) program with all the basics. Time and the advent of greater computer power contributed to today's program. The roots began as simply a better way to keep movies. Starting with a handmade cabinet and a fine understanding of how movies are stored the drawing board was set. The first version of Movie brought many suggestions for improvement and enhancement. User support was tremendous. A new drawing board was constructed and coding began. Version 2.1 added new data base power and the foundation for today's program. Today, version 3.0 steps into the multimedia arena. 2.0 REQUIRED HARDWARE * CPU: IBM PC/XT/AT/PS2/386/486 and true compatibles. * Memory: 512K * Operating system: MS-DOS (C) - PC-DOS Version. 3.0 or newer. * Text: Monochrome * Graphics: CGA/EGA/VGA * Disk: 2 360K disks or 1 720K Floppy * Printer: Any printer 2.1 RECOMMENDED HARDWARE * 80286 CPU or greater * 640K Memory * VGA display * Hard drive 3.1 INSTALLATION The following files comprise the movie system: . MOVIE.EXE - Main program . MOVIE.DAT - Main data file . MOVIE.IDX - Main index file . MOVIE.DOC - Documentation file . MOVIE.CFG - Set-up file . MOVIE.NUM - Second data index file . MOVIE.PIC - Picture file . ACTOR.DAT - Actor data file . ACT.IDX - Actor index file . POINTER.DAT - Actor relational file . PICTURES.DAT - Picture data file . PICKEY.IDX - Picture index file . PICTURE.XXX - Picture relational file . PICNAME.IDX - Second picture index file . MERGE21.EXE - Utility to merge 2 movie files into 1 . CON2DB.EXE - Utility to convert to DBASE III format . README.DOC - Read first documentation file . VENDOR.DOC - Vendor documentation file . REGISTER.DOC - Registration form . WARRANTY.DOC - Warranty information . README.DOC - Simple explanation of MOVIE GUIDE . DIGITIZE.DOC - Order form for pictures . SHR-WAR.DOC - Explanation of Shareware . SDROL.EXE - Program to play ROL files . SDPCX.EXE - Program to display PCX files . AAPLAY.EXE - Program to display FLI and GIF files . AAPLAY.DOC - Doc file for AAPLAY * NOTE * Movie Guide needs to open many files. Please be sure the following statements are in your CONFIG.SYS file. See your dos manual. FILES=15 BUFFERS=15 3.1 BACKUPS The original disks need to be backup up once. All files with an extension of .DAT should be backed up. Movie Guide can rebuild and restore your data files from these data files in the case of an emergency. Multimedia files need to be backed individually. 3.2 PROGRAM INSTALLATION Copy the program, all the Movie Guide files, from floppy to your hard disk. After the copy operation is complete the distribution disks may be put away. Take the time to mull over the setup option if this is the first time running the program. 3.4 SETTING UP THE PROGRAM Movie Guide requires very little setup to get up and going. Type 'MOVIE' to begin the program. Select 'Settings' from main menu. This is where you will select options such as video type, Sound On/Off, Autosave On/Off, Printer type and control codes. Settings are loaded each time the program starts. 3.5 HOW TO USE THE PROGRAM Movie Guide does not require you to remember special keys in order use the program. The main keys you will need to use are to <Enter>-Escape> and the arrow keys. Each screen has help information on the bottom of the screen. You should read this if you are unsure of what keys are used to execute an item. 4.0 OPERATION The main menu has 5 items across the top. From this menu each main area of the program can be accessed. These pull down menus select each area of the program. We will go over each menu in more detail. <Sample of the Main Menu> █▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀█ █ Info Data Base Reports Verify Exit █ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ 4.1 INFO ----------------- Getting Started Registration Info Registration Form Movie Guide Doc What Is Shareware Digitizing Service Program Warranty Getting Started - This explanation is usefull to new users. Registration Info - This explains the many benefits you receive when you register the program. This also explains how to order thru the mail and, how to order using a major credit card. Registration Form - This prints out an order form to your printer. Movie Guide Doc - Display this file. What Is Shareware - This file describes how Shareware works. Digitizing Service - Have your pictures in Movie Guide. Program Warranty - Your assurance of a quality product. 4.2 DATA BASE ---------------- Movie Catalog Actor Data Base Multimedia Files Modify Series Directory Viewer Movie Catalog - Add / Edit / Delete all the Movies from here. 15 movies at a time will be displayed. Move thru the file to find the title of the movie you wish to append. Press <Enter> to bring up the movie database screen. If you wish to Add any movies press <Enter> on any movie to begin. The database screen has menus across the top. Use the left and right arrow keys to move the menu into the center of the screen and press <Enter> to execute the item that is highlighted. Use the <PgUp> and <PgDn> keys to view the next or previous movie. Use the search function to find a movie. If the search key is active it will be displayed at the lower left of the screen and only movies that match the key will be found. To clear the search key highlight Search For Record and press <Enter> twice. If a picture is available the program will display "<F3> to view picture". There are two ways to key in information, typing and toggling. Type the information if you can see the cursor or use the <Spacebar> to change/toggle the current selection. Press <Esc> to return to the top menu, to quit press <Esc>. Actor Data Base - Browse thru the People and see the number of movies each occurs in. Highlight the star, using the up and down arrow keys. The left and right arrow keys move to the next or previous letter. The <PgUp> and <PgDn> keys move to the next or previous page. Press <ENTER> to view the movie. If there is a picture of the actor or director you can choose to view the data or the picture. Multimedia Files - Pictures are referenced by the name of the picture and the subjects starring in the film. Press <INSERT> to add a new picture. From the picture screen press <F4> to bring up a directory and select the picture file name. Next move down the screen to the movie criteria. Press the <F6> key to find the movie that the picture relates to. A window will show the movie titles. Pick the movie by pressing <Enter>. Actors starring in the film can be selected by placing a yes next to the actor. Press <Escape> to quit. Modify Series - The series may be changed to reflect your movie collection. Type in new categories or type over existing categories to change. The changes are saved automatically and will take effect throughout the data base including reports. If you change a series every movie in your database will now have the change you made. Directory Viewer - This allows you to browse around your drive and display multimedia events or list files. Press the <Spacebar> to show events (such as PCX/GIF/FLI) or list an Ascii file. Press <Enter> or <Esc> to exit. 4.3 REPORTS -------------- Create Reports Create Labels Full Reports Title Report Create Reports - This section will create reports (either to screen or printer) based on search criteria. You enter the search information similar to the way you edit movies. Any fields that you use will narrow the search to movies matching the data you entered. An example would be to select Adventure and 1988-1991 as the search criteria. This report would find all Adventure movies between 1988-1991. Create Labels - Labels are made by choosing the title or tape number of the label you wish to print. On the bottom of the screen is a sample of what the label will look like. This label can be changed or edited at any time. Full Reports - Full reports are made by starting the full report. If you wish you can re-print any page or pages. You may also print the table of contents or the index page once you have created a full report. Title Report - This report will print only the title, tape number and the year of the movie. Each movie in the data base will be printed. 4.4 UTILITIES ----------------- Select Data Files Verify Files Update Database Update Multimedia Multimedia Search Select Data Files - Movie Guide keeps separate sets of files for maintaining movies and multimedia events (PCX/GIF/FLI/ROL). Even though the program treats these files as being related, they are separate and you must have the proper directory selected for each set of files. Movie Guide will keep track of the last 10 files loaded for each set, allowing you to quickly select the files you are looking for. Sets of files seem to be all related. This is called a relational database. There are many advantages to this type of system. Verify Files - Why and when do I verify? In most cases the program will tell you to run Verify Files, but if you notice "Garbage" showing in the fields, Verify is recommended. If you loose some files or experience a power failure then Verify can be run to recover good data and remove any data errors. If you have Movie version 2.1 then run Verify the first time before you access any records. Update Database - Use this option after verify files or if the program asks. Due to the complexity of the actor data base, this option should be run periodically to ensure integrity. This section will update or rebuild the relational files. Update Multimedia - Update multimedia files after verifying the files and updating the database. An event file index is checked and fixed if there are any problems. This can also help after you add a number of events to speed search and sort routines. Multimedia Search - This allows you to search your drive(s) and create a record for each multimedia event found. The program will search for files with extension of PCX/GIF/FLI/ROL. When a match is found, Movie Guide adds an event record and also adds 2 actors for each event. The actors added are *Multimedia and *nam where nam is the extension of the event. ie nam=PCX type file. This is done to allow easy access to all you events from actor look up. The first entries in actor look up will start with a * (star), press enter of one of these and you will see all the multimedia files on you system sorted alphabetically. This should be run from time to time to catalog new files you have added to your system. 4.5 EXIT ------- Quit Program Settings Shell To DOS Quit Program - This exits the program and returns control back to DOS. Settings - This is the set-up part of the program. You can select things like sound, mouse support, Autosave, selecting a printer and more. Shell to DOS - This runs Command.com or your shell and leaves you at the Dos prompt. To return to Movie Guide type "exit". 5.0 LICENSE AND OTHER INFORMATION Users of MOVIE GUIDE must accept this disclaimer of warranty: "MOVIE GUIDE 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. Please read WARRANYT.DOC for more information. MOVIE GUIDE is a "Shareware program" and is provided at no charge to the user for evaluation. Feel free to share it with your friends, 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 yet to provide incentive for programmers to continue to develop new products. If you find this program useful and continue to use MOVIE GUIDE after a reasonable trial period, you must make a registration payment of $30.00 to SANDD SOFTWARE. The $30.00 registration fee will license one copy for use on any one computer at any one time. You must treat this software like a book. Just as a book cannot be read by two different persons at the same time, this software cannot be used at two separate computer locations at the same time. Just as a book, this software may be used by any number of people and may be freely moved from one computer location to another. Commercial users of MOVIE GUIDE must register and pay for their copies of MOVIE GUIDE within 30 days of first use or their license is withdrawn. Site-License arrangements may be made by contacting SANDD SOFTWARE. Anyone distributing MOVIE GUIDE for any kind of remuneration must first contact SANDD SOFTWARE at the address below for authorization. This authorization will be automatically granted to distributors recognized by the (ASP) as adhering to its guidelines for Shareware distributors, and such distributors may begin offering MOVIE GUIDE immediately (However SANDD SOFTWARE must still be advised so that the distributor can be kept up-to-date with the latest version of MOVIE GUIDE). You are encouraged to pass a copy of MOVIE GUIDE along to your friends for evaluation. Please encourage them to regis- ter their copy if they find that they can use it. All registered users until receive a copy of the latest version of the MOVIE GUIDE. SANDD will also send them an information packet that describes other software available from SANDD SOFTWARE. This program is produced by a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at: ASP Ombudsman 545 Grover Road Muskegon, MI 49442-9427 U.S.A. or send a CompuServe message via CompuServe MAIL to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536. 6.0 GETTING THE MOST FROM MOVIE Familiarity and practice leads to Tips, tricks and more. We hope you will love the different ways to access your data. Remember to look at the bottom of the screen for information about which keys do what. Nearly everywhere the <ENTER> and <ESC> keys start and stop operations. Arrow keys move the menu and select different fields. Page up and down will move to the next record. It is easy to Check for misspellings. When the titles or actors are displayed all at once a problem almost jumps out at you. Pictures take a bit more practice. When adding a picture remember to select the movie and actors. Browse your data base for any errors before printing. Check the Set-up options, and maybe add before and after report control codes to load a special font. To quit press <ALT>-X from the main menu. 7.0 QUICK AND EASY START-UP Movie is a very simple program to use. The arrow keys will move the menu anywhere in the program. The Escape key will always take you back to where you were previously. The Enter key will select or start any operation. Copy the program to your hard drive inside a sub directory. Run Movie and Modify the Set-up to let the program know the kind of hardware you own. Print the Movie Registration form and fill it out. Mundane ? Boring ? Repetitious ? Well that is the way data entry is. We call this chore "DE". No-one likes it except to brush up on there typing speed. "STAY THE COURSE" and enter those movies! The more data you put in the harder MOVIE will work. 8.0 MOVIE 2.1 USERS Movie 3.0 is fully compatible with version 2.1 Backup your data files before attempting conversion. Backups are always a good idea. Add the path where your movie files are from the Select Movie Files option. Next execute setup to select your computer type and printer type. Finally run verify files, Update Database and Update Multimedia before pulling up any movies. 9.0 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Borland Turbo Pascal / Turbo C / Turbo Assembler Turbo Data Base Toolbox Genus PCX Programmer's Toolkit AAPLAY Public Domain FLI/GIF viewer from Autodesk Animator SDROL Adlib programmers development kit (ROL Files) 11.0 SHARE THE WORD If you like MOVIE GUIDE tell your friends. If you have the opportunity to write an article in a newsletter or a trade magazine about MOVIE GUIDE spread the word! We appreciate all of the help we can get to bring quality software to everyone. Conclusion Thanks for registering Movie Guide. The money goes directly to development of SANDD Software. If you have any questions or comments call us or leave a message on Compuserve. Look for future versions to include more sound and picture type support and a more dynamic print engine. Once again thanks for your registration! SANDD SOFTWARE Movie Registration PO Box 3587 Reston, VA 22090 (703) 444-8655 Compuserve ID. 71160,3331