EzeDiary is a Diary program, covering the years 1150 to 2050, that can remind you of Events such as birthdays, anniversaries and appointments. Place the program in your Start Up Group to have the program pop up and quickly remind you of forthcoming Events.
Use it to store all Events that you would normally put in a Diary and check back on them in the future with the Find Event feature. EzeDiary can hold up to 50 different Diaries each of which can be secured with a PIN, thus allowing for use by more than one person.
Store anything in EzeDiary that needs linking to a date. Keep track of purchases, or hobbies, business or pleasure.
EzeDiary calculates the age of the Event, for example, useful for keeping track of people's ages when reminding of birthdays.
EzeDairy can also totalize numeric data, for example, track expenses for a given period.
EzeDiary calculates the week number according to the standard laid down by ISO 8601 which uses Monday as the first day of the week.
EzeDiary does not take account of the change from the Julian to Gregorian calendar: Please note the following extract from the 'Oxford Reference Shelf March 1994' published by Oxford University Press.
Calendars are usually based on the earthÆs orbital period around the sun (a year), although in some systems the moonÆs orbital period around the earth (a month) is used. Since the seasons recur after each tropical year (which contains 365.2422 days), the average length of the calendar year should be as close as possible to that of the tropical year. This is achieved by using leap years, which contain one more day than the usual calendar year.
In the Julian calendar, introduced by Julius Caesar, a period of three years, each of 365 days, was followed by a leap year of 366 days. The average length of the year was therefore 365.25 days. Since this was over 11 minutes longer than the tropical year, an extra day appeared about every 128 years. This was amended by the Gregorian calendar, introduced in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII; it was made law in Britain and its colonies in 1752, and is now in almost worldwide use. Leap years are restricted to century years divisible by 400 (e.g. 1600 and 2000) and any other year divisible by four. This reduces the average length of the calendar year to 365.2425 days.
# EZEDIARY MAIN SCREEN
The main screen of EzeDiary shows the Calendar on the left and the Events window on the right. On start up the Calendar defaults to the current date and displays any relevant Events for the day in the Events window. The date shown above the Calendar is set as in the system Long Date Style (see Windows Regional Settings).
To change the day click the number buttons, the button will be highlighted with a border. Underlined day numbers signify days containing Events.
To change the month click the month buttons running vertically down the right hand side of the Calendar.
To change the year use the scroll bar at the bottom of the Calendar or click the year button at the bottom and enter the year in the input box. To return to the current day click the Today button. To return to the current year click the This Year button.
# EZEDIARY EVENTS WINDOW
The Events Window is on the right of the Calendar on the main screen. In this window the Events that you enter appear. The Events appear in the following format:
TYPE OF EVENT + YEAR + EVENT + AGE + N
TYPE OF EVENT can either be highlighted by a choice of colour (Menu....Events....Configure) or if Highlighting is turned off, is null for Events that do not remind, is a # for Events that always remind (Anniversary) and is a $ for Events that remind up until the relevant date expires and then mark themselves for deletion, or conversion to non reminders.
YEAR - is the year the Event first occurred as entered by the user.
EVENT - this is the Event as entered by the user.
AGE - is the age of the Event i.e. the number of years since the year under which the Event was entered, to the year currently displayed.
N - is added to the end of an Event, only if it has a Note.
# REMINDERS SCREEN
The Reminders Screen is the screen on which Reminder Events appear any time up to 28 days in advance. The Events being reminded of, appear as in the Main Screen Events window, but preceded by the date on which the Event is due.
# SAVING
There is no Save command in EzeDiary. All saving is automatic, however do remember to back up your Diaries regularly using Backup under the file menu.
NOTE: adding, deleting or renaming diaries and adding or deleting PINs changes the configuration file. After making such alterations, it is advisable to make a back up.
# PRINTING
Print outs can be done for the day's Events list on the Calendar Screen, for the Reminders list on the Reminders screen and for the Finds list on the Find Event screen.
Ctrl + P from any screen prints the current list.
Before printing the Events list on the Calendar Screen a selection of options is offered regarding which Events to print and whether or not to print accompanying notes.
# ADDING EVENTS - NEVER REMIND
The Add Event form can be accessed by clicking on 'Add Event' on the Calendar form or by choosing it from the Events menu. Enter the Event in the Event text box (max. 60 characters). Enter the year it first occurred in the year box or enter its age in the age box. The day and month defaults to that currently on the Calendar.
Choose NEVER REMIND - the Event will appear in the Events window for the appropriate day and month, but will never appear as a Reminder. This is useful for storing important historical Events, such as old appointments and meetings that you may wish to refer back to, but do not want reminding of.
# ADDING EVENTS - REMIND ANNUALLY
The Add Event form can be accessed by clicking on 'Add Event' on the Calendar form or by choosing it from the Events menu. Enter the Event in the Event text box (max. 60 characters). Enter the year it first occurred in the year box or enter its age in the age box. The day and month defaults to that currently on the Calendar.
Choose REMIND ANNUALLY - the Event will appear on the Reminder screen annually. The obvious use for this is birthdays and anniversaries. Ensure you enter the year as the first year of occurrence of the Event in order that EzeDiary may calculate the correct age for subsequent years.
# ADDING EVENTS - REMIND ONCE
The Add Event form can be accessed by clicking on 'Add Event' on the Calendar form or by choosing it from the Events menu. Enter the Event in the Event text box (max. 60 characters). Enter the year it first occurred in the year box or enter its age in the age box. The day and month defaults to that currently on the Calendar.
Choose REMIND ONCE - the Event will appear on the Reminder screen for the date it was entered and then will be marked for deletion, or conversion to a non reminder. Before a Remind Once Event is deleted you are given the opportunity to convert the Event to a Never Remind Event.
# NOTES
A note can be added to each Event. Fill in the Notes text box when adding or editing an Event.
Notes can be up to 900 characters long and the number of characters typed is displayed next to the Notes text box to indicate how much of the capacity has been used.
When a Note is added to an Event, the letter N is placed at the end of the Event. The Note can then be viewed by highlighting the Event and choosing View Note from the Events menu, double clicking it, or clicking 'View Note' above the calendar.
# DELETING EVENTS
To delete Events highlight those required for deletion. From the Events menu choose Delete Event, or use the delete key or, click 'Delete' on the calendar form.
Deleted Events are put in the rubbish bin. When the bin icon turns to full, the Events can be restored by clicking the bin or by choosing Undo Delete from the Events menu. The Events are put back into the day currently on the Calendar which may be different from the day they came from, the year of origin is however retained whatever year is currently selected. Each new deletion overwrites what was in the bin thus erasing it.
Used with caution the rubbish bin can be used as another clipboard for multiple events.
When EzeDiary is exited the contents of the rubbish bin are lost.
# EDITING EVENTS
To edit an Event click on it in the Events window so that it is highlighted. Choose Edit Event from the Events menu or click on 'Edit Event' above the calendar.
# FINDING AN EVENT
Go to the Find screen from the Events menu or click 'Find Event' above the calendar.
MONTHS - specify which months to search. Current month is the month as on the Calendar screen.
YEAR (From To) - It is IMPORTANT to remember that EzeDiary stores an Event once only on the date it first occurred. Therefore the year range must cover the year the Event first occurred.
SEARCH STRING - enter what you wish to search for using an AND string, if required, to narrow the search. The search is not case sensitive. TIP: enter a space on its own to find everything.
FIND finds one occurrence of the search string at a time waiting for you to read it and allowing you to FIND NEXT, if not the end of file. FIND ALL finds all occurences of the search string and adds them to the Finds list for you to read when the end of the file has been reached, (click FINDS LIST SHOW).
GO TO shows the Calendar screen and goes to the Event that has been found.
SEARCH WHAT? enables you to search either Events, Notes or both. If the search string occurs in both an Event and its note, then only the Event appears in the list.
# CLIPBOARD - WINDOWS
Normal Windows Clipboard functions apply to inputting text, but do not work with lists.
That is.....
Ctrl + X to cut a block having highlighted it.
Ctrl + C to copy a block having highlighted it.
Ctrl + V to paste a block (View).
# CLIPBOARD - EZEDIARY
EzeDiary's Clipboard is used for rescheduling an Event and its note, for example, when an appointment has been postponed it can be CUT from the original day and pasted to the new date, or COPY the same Event to another date. You can also transfer data between Diaries. EzeDiary's Clipboard is represented by the page icon on the Calendar and is independent of the Windows Clipboard. With no writing on the page the clipboard is empty, when writing appears on the page there is something on the clipboard.
To CUT an Event to the Clipboard, highlight an Event and hold down the right mouse button while in the Events window. Keep the button pressed and drag the Event to the Clipboard and let go. To COPY an Event to the Clipboard, carry out the same procedure but hold down the Ctrl key while right clicking. To transfer from the Clipboard back to the Events list, use the same process.
To view the contents of the Clipboard, left click the Clipboard. Having viewed the contents of the Clipboard, you are given the choice of deleting it.
# CONFIGURATION
The Configuration form allows you to specify the number of days in advance to remind of forthcoming Events. The maximum number of days is 28. You can check the'Do not remind on start up' box which takes you straight in to the main screen on start up without reminding. If you then manually remind from the Remind menu, or click 'Reminders' above the calendar, the days in advance will default to 28.
A user defined character can be set to mark numeric data for Totalizing. A caret ^ is the default.
Upper case check box for card file: when checked the first word, when adding a card item, is forced into upper case. This is useful when adding addresses, for example: SMITH John . This setting can be temporarily overriden when adding a card.
Colour Highlighting of Events: these are the colours that can be set independently to highlight the three different types of Events.
View non reminders for current year only: sets whether or not Events for all years show at start up, or just the current year. Anniversaries always show. The red icon(0) indicates current year's Events only are being displayed, while the green icon (1), indicates Events for all years are displayed. Clicking this icon on the Calendar screen, toggles the option, but does not change the start up condition.
# SHOW REMINDERS
Show Reminders takes you to the Reminders screen and reminds you of forthcoming Events occurring in the next number of days as set under Events....Configuration.
If the DO NOT REMIND ON START UP is checked, then showing reminders will default to 28 days.
Reminders can also be shown by clicking 'Reminders' on the Calendar form.
# DIARIES
You can have up to 50 separate Diaries in EzeDiary. Choose Diaries from the File menu to take you to the Diaries form.
LOAD - to load and use a different Diary enter the name of the Diary in the text box at the top of the form, or choose it from the drop down list by clicking the down arrow on the right, or use the arrow keys. Diaries secured with a PIN, display a PIN icon when selected.
ADD - to add a new Diary enter the desired name in the text box at the top and click ADD.
EDIT NAME - to edit the name of an existing Diary choose the Diary from the list and click EDIT NAME. Edit the name in the edit box and press Enter.
DELETE - to delete a Diary choose it from the list and click DELETE. All data is erased and irretrievable. You are warned before this happens.
FINISHED - to go back to the current Diary.
ADD/REMOVE PIN (Personal Identification Number). A PIN can be set for each Diary. This can be up to 9 digits in length but can not contain leading zeroes. This encrypts your data. However there are some points to consider:
If you forget your PIN then your Diary is effectively lost.
Though a PIN offers a certain amount of security, most ciphers can be broken.
Removing a PIN decrypts files.
# TOTALIZING
Use this feature to totalize numeric data, for example, how many hours holiday you have taken in a given period, or total expenses, or mileage. The data is totalized from the Finds List in the Finds Screen.
To totalize numbers, they must be entered with a ^ (caret is the default) each side of the number. The number may be entered in either the Note or the Event, but not both, otherwise it may be added twice. Add numeric data for totalizing as per the following examples:
Holiday ^8.25^ hours.
Luncheon expense Joe's cafe ^11.75^.
Mileage round trip to London ^100^.
TOTALIZE on the Finds Screen will add numeric values enclosed in ^^ symbols.
As an example, to totalize an expense for a single month, enter as above, then to totalize, go to Find and:
Specify the month - specify the year - specify the expense to search for, for example, luncheon - click Find All - click Finds List Show - click Totalize. Your total expenses will appear in box A.
If you wish to change the default caret symbol then go to Events....Configure.
# COLOURS
Using the Colours menu, set preferred colours for the items listed. Highlight colours mark the different types of Event with a chosen colour, for quick visual identification. To use highlighted colours, ensure they are turned on under Configuration. Chosen colours apply to all Diaries.
# CARD FILE
Card file works in the same way as the diary with the obvious difference that the letters of the alphabet are used rather than day numbers.
This would typically be useful for storing addresses. For this purpose you can configure card file to force the first word of an entry into upper case (see Configuration). For example an entry for a person would be: SMITH John
The EzeDiary clipboard functions as normal and can transfer a record from Card to Diary (or vice versa). However when toggling between Card and Diary (F2 or click icon) the rubbish bin is emptied.
Note: you can not access the Diaries form or exit the program from within Card File. Return to Diary to do either of these.
# FUNCTION KEYS
F1 Help.
F2 Toggle between Card and Diary.
F3 Cut highlighted Event/Card item and place it on the EzeDiary clipboard.
Ctrl + F3 Copy highlighted Event/Card item and place it on the EzeDiary clipboard.
F4 Cut EzeDiary clipboard contents and place it on the current diary/card list.
Ctrl + F4 Copy EzeDiary clipboard contents and place it on the current diary/card list.
F5 Return to today (when in Card returns to diary).
# REGIONAL SETTINGS DATE
EzeDiary uses the date formats as specified in 'Regional Settings' in control panel. If the week day is specified as part of the short date format then the 'Go To' function under 'Find Event' will not function. Examples of the correct short date format are: 28/02/00 02/28/00 02/Feb/00 02-28-2000.
Wednesday/28/02/2000 would cause the 'Go To' not to work. In this case try adjusting the short date format.
# END OF HELP
# END OF HELPo work. In this case try adjusting the short date format.
