Softdisk G-S 100

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

/ Softdisk G-S 100 / SGDS 100.2mg / SDGS.100 / SDB100 / B / CAL.INST next >

Wrap

Text File | 1989-12-12 | 33.2 KB | 768 lines | [04] ASCII Text (0x0000)

CALENDAR WIZARD -- VERSION 1.0 By William C. Vergara CALENDAR WIZARD is a calendar/reminder system you can use to generate calendars highlighting many holidays commonly observed in the U.S. and Canada, as well as other Jewish, Muslim, and Christian religious holidays. You can also add to calendars important personal dates and events you want to remember. Weekly, bimonthly, or monthly calendars can be generated for any year from 1000 to 9999 A.D. CALENDAR WIZARD operates on most Apple II computers having at least 64K of memory, 1 or 2 disk drives, and 80-column and lower-case capabilities. A printer is optional, but useful. It probably won't work on any Apple II+. Files You Generate with CALENDAR WIZARD ======================================= CALENDAR WIZARD uses two kinds of files: a Future Events File and a Calendar File. Just think of the Future Events File as your personal, com- puterized "memo pad." It "remembers" data for all of the holidays and for any of your own personal appointments. If you enter any future appointments in this file, you can relax, knowing that Calendar Wizard will never forget them! You will usually keep a single Future Events File for a year or longer. In fact, if you delete old personal appointments as you add new ones, you may never need more than one such file. Calendar Wizard will let you know when the file is full so you can delete old appointments and make room for new ones. Each time you edit the Future Events File, remember to save it! Calendar Wizard searches its Future Events File "memo pad" each time you tell the program to create a calendar, looking for any holidays or personal appointments which need to show up on the new calendar. If any are found, the program transfers the holidays or appointments to the appropri- ate day boxes on the calendar. If no Future Events File is found in memory, you will be issued a "stern" warning, and no holidays or appointments will be transferred to the new calendar. The second type of file, the Calendar File, contains the actual calendar page for one week, two weeks, or a month. After you create or edit a Calendar File, you can save it to disk, or make a "hard copy" on your printer. Calendar Wizard adds the extensions ".F" to Future Events Filenames and ".C" to Calendar Filenames. Making Selections from Menus ============================ You can make a selection from any menu in Calendar Wizard in either of two ways. You can... 1. Press the number of the option you want. With the option highlighted, press [RETURN] to confirm your selection, or 2. Use the up- or down-arrow key to highlight the desired option, then press [RETURN]. Special Commands ================ All necessary Calendar Wizard commands are displayed on the various monitor screens, so you do not need to memorize them! However, four special commands do deserve comment: 1. ESC -- Pressing the [ESC]ape key terminates the current operation and returns you to the previous menu, usually the Main Menu or Other Activities Menu. Pressing [ESC] from the Main Menu also automati- cally selects option 9, "End This Session." To leave the program, confirm by pressing [RETURN]. 2. Control-Reset -- Pressing the [RESET] key while the [CONTROL] key is depressed terminates any activity and returns you to the Main Menu. If your computer "locks up" for any reason, e.g., your printer has run out of paper, use [CONTROL][RESET] to return to the Main Menu. 3. Open-Apple-Closed-Apple-1 -- Pressing these keys sends a copy of any Calendar Wizard display screen to your printer. 4. Tab -- Pressing the [TAB] key toggles you between the Main Menu and the Other Activities Menu without your having to press the [RETURN] key. Using Open-Apple Commands ========================= Calendar Wizard uses many commands consisting of the [OPEN-APPLE] key in combination with a letter or number key, such as [OPEN-APPLE][C], for example. To use such commands, hold down the [OPEN-APPLE] key while you press and quickly release the required letter or number key. Matching Calendar Wizard to Your System ======================================= Before using Calendar Wizard, it is important to ensure that the program conforms to the configuration of your computer system. To make sure it does: [] Press the [TAB] key, or select option 8 from the Main Menu to take you to the Other Activities Menu. [] Select option 1 on this menu to "Describe your computer system." [] Specify on the next screen the default location for saving or loading files, i.e., by slot and drive numbers or by subdirectory path. (The latter question is intended primarily for hard disk users; however, even if you have no hard disk, you may want to keep Calendar Wizard in one directory and your generated files in another.) Make your selection and answer the prompts. If you select "(sub)directory path," you will be prompted for its pathname. If you select "slot and drive," you will be asked for slot and drive numbers for your data disk. If the default number displayed is correct, press [RETURN] to accept it. If not, enter the correct number, then press [RETURN]. If you have two drives and want to use drive 2 for your data disk, enter 2 for the drive number. Just be sure to have a formatted ProDOS disk on hand before you begin Calendar Wizard! [] Enter the slot number for the printer, with 1 being the usual default slot. Press [RETURN] to accept the default, or type the desired slot number followed by [RETURN]. [] Decide if you want lines ending with carriage returns to terminate at those points when sent out to your printer. Making this decision requires some explanation: Text lines in Calendar Wizard are designed to "wrap around" auto- matically when the end of the line is reached. If your printer has a platen length of eight inches, and you are using a character size of 10 characters per inch, you will generally answer [N]o to the question, although [Y]es will also work for many printers. Calendar Wizard assumes that your printer has an eight-inch platen and that it adds a carriage return and line feed when text reaches the end of the platen. If your platen length is greater than the length of a line of 80 characters, you will usually answer [Y]es to the question, and Calendar Wizard will not wrap around properly at the end of each line. For example, if you are using elite type, 12 characters per inch, with an eight-inch platen, a line of type will measure: (80 characters)/(12 characters/inch) = 6.667 inches. Because 6.667 inches is less than 8, Calendar Wizard will not wrap properly, and it must insert carriage return codes at the end of each line. Therefore, under these conditions, the correct answer to the question would be [Y]es. If your calendar pages are not printing correctly, try changing the selection for carriage returns from "Y" to "N," or vice versa. Doing the same thing may also be required when you are printing a year of monthly calendars from the Review/Add/Edit screen. [] Return to the Other Activities Menu for the next step in configuring your system. [] Select option 2, "Enter special codes for your printer." The resulting screen lists the special print codes currently in memory which Calendar Wizard uses when printing calendars. [] Press [ESC]ape to accept the current codes, or [RETURN] to elimi- nate all codes. Calendar Wizard will accept up to 30 codes to invoke special char- acteristics of your printer. Depending on the capabilities of your printer, you can select draft or letter-quality printing, change type size, left margin setting, or any other printer settings you wish. Print codes must be in decimal form, not hexadecimal or character form. (For example, the code for "Escape" is "27," and the code for "1" is "49.") These terms are explained in your printer manual. Codes must be separated by a space, so to use the codes Escape and 1, you would type 27 49. After entering your codes, terminate by pressing [SHIFT][6], which is the caret character "^." When you first receive Calendar Wizard, no special print codes will be residing in memory, so the program will not change your printer's start-up characteristics. If you have been using your printer, though, be sure to turn it off and on again to clear its memory of any print codes remaining from a previous program. Once printer codes are entered, they will remain a part of Calen- dar Wizard and will be in force whenever you run the program, unless you change them. If you are using a GS, make sure your Printer port settings are: Echo: no Buffering: no DCD: yes DSR: yes [] Check the ProDOS prefix currently in use. Although you have configured your system, you can check to confirm the current ProDOS prefix by selecting option 6, "Get or Set the ProDOS Prefix," on the Other Activities Menu. To change the prefix, enter the ProDOS pathname of the desired directory or subdirectory. If you want to place all of your cal- endar files in their own subdirectory, you can create a new sub- directory by selecting option 5 on the Other Activities Menu. If you plan to install Calendar Wizard on a hard disk, the three program files must be placed in the same subdirectory. The files you generate yourself, however, can be in any subdirectory. Just be sure the active prefix (default subdirectory) tells the program where to find them. Future Events Files =================== You can get to the Main Menu from the Other Activities Menu by pressing the [ESC]ape key, the [TAB] key, or the [CONTROL][RESET] key combination. To start a new Future Events File, or computerized "memo pad:" [] Select option 1 from the Main Menu and press [RETURN]. [] Press [RETURN] again to confirm that you want a future events file. [] When asked to enter a name for the file, enter a legal ProDOS file- or pathname. Use only upper- or lower-case letters, numbers, or periods, and slashes, if a pathname. Calendar Wizard will not accept other characters, nor will it accept a "null" filename, i.e., if you happen to press [RETURN] for the first character. Calendar Wizard automatically adds the suffix ".F" to a filename to mark it as a Future Events File. Filenames can then have a maxi- mum length of 13 characters. [] After a file- or pathname is entered, a screen appears with the message: "There is provision for automatic insertion of U.S., Canadian, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim holidays." When you press [RETURN], the Future Events File appears on screen with the available commands defined below it. A total of 56 "automatic" holidays are built into Calendar Wizard, but only 13 of these can appear on the screen at one time. The cursor is located to the left of the first entry, "Abraham Lin- coln." Use the up- and down-arrows to move among the entries in the list. When you reach the top or bottom of the list, the screen will scroll up or down if there are more entries in that direction. In combination with the Open-Apple key, the arrow keys move the cursor up or down through all the entries, a full screen at a time, for more rapid movement through the list. As initially set up, each holiday appearing in the list will be placed automatically in the appropriate day box in any calendar you generate. This "accepted" status is indicated by an asterisk "*" in the left-most column. If you want to prevent the appearance of a specific holiday on your calendar, move the cursor to that holiday in the list, and press [R] to tell Calendar Wizard to "reject" or ignore it. The asterisk at the left end of the rejected holiday listing then dis- appears. To reverse your decision, move the cursor to the rejected holiday, press A to "accept" it, and the asterisk will reappear. If you want to permanently delete a specific holiday, be sure the cursor is on same line as the holiday, and use the [OPEN-APPLE][DELETE] command. The deleted holiday disappears from both the screen and the Future Events File. NOTE: The delete decision is not reversible! To retrieve the holi- day, you have to start a new Future Events File. To select or reject built-in holidays by groups, use the command [OPEN-APPLE][G]. Pressing this key combination displays the "Select Holiday Groups" screen, which lists five groups. Press the Spacebar to highlight any groups you want to activate, then press [RETURN]. All unmarked groups will be rejected. After marking a group, you can unmark it by pressing [U]. [OPEN- APPLE][G] can be used as often as you like to change the accepted and rejected holidays. [] You may also enter future personal dates or engagements which will also appear on your calendars on the appropriate days and dates. Calendar Wizard will allow a total of 169 future entries, including the holidays. If you try to insert or add a 170th entry, a warning message will appear to let you know you must delete an entry before you can add another one. To insert a personal entry at a specific place in the file, hold down the [OPEN-APPLE] key, and press [I] for "insert." To add an entry at the end of the file, use [OPEN-APPLE][A] for "add." In either case, you will be prompted for information by a series of requests. The first prompt asks for a long text message (17 characters maximum) which will appear on one- and two-week calendars, and the second for an abbreviated version (9 characters maximum) which will appear on monthly calendars. The program will not accept longer entries for either message. The third prompt asks if you have a specific date in mind for the current entry. If your entry is for a certain date, e.g., the 5th, the 16th, or the 30th, enter [Y]es. If you have in mind a specific day of the month, e.g., Monday, Thursday, or Saturday, enter [N]o. If you press [Y], you will be asked to enter a day of the month, i.e., a number from 1 to 31. If you answer [N], you will be asked for the day of the week, as well as for the occurrence of that day of the week in the month, e.g., the 1st Monday or the 2nd Friday. You can press [0] for all such occurrences, or [9] for the last occurrence. (NOTE: You need not memorize these prompts! They are identified on the screen.) After your entry of either the [Y] or [N] response, you will be asked to designate the month of the entry. To do so, type the first three letters of the name of the month, e.g., Jan, Feb, Mar, and so on, in upper- or lowercase. The final prompt asks for the year. Enter a four-digit year from 1000 to 9999 A.D. As you strike the key for the last digit, you will be returned to the Future Events File with the cursor on the new entry. Most of the religious holidays in the list are based on their own lunar calendars and hence require special mathematical calculation by Calendar Wizard. For this reason, these lunar holidays are cal- culated only for the years from 1980 to 2050 A.D. All other en- entries, including your own personal entries, are calculated for the full range of years from 1000 to 9999 A.D. With Calendar Wizard, you can also obtain the date of any event on the list by placing the cursor on that event and holding down the [OPEN-APPLE] key while pressing [D]. If necessary, you may be asked to enter the year or month you are interested in before the requested date appears on the screen. If you ask for the date of a lunar religious holiday for years before 1980 or after 2050 A.D., Calendar Wizard will reply by showing the date as "???." Finally, you can obtain a list of events for any date you specify by using the [OPEN-APPLE][L] command. You are then asked if you want the list sent to the screen display or the printer. Make your selection from the menu in the usual way. If you try to start a new Future Events File while another, unsaved Future Events File is in memory, Calendar Wizard will ask if you really want to lose the old file. You can return to a Future Events File which is in memory by selec- ting option 7 from the Main Menu. As always, use of the [ESC]ape key returns you to the previous menu from any step in the program. Calendar Files ============== Generating a calendar requires only a few simple steps: [] First, select option 1 from the Main Menu. You will be asked if you want to create a Future Events File or a Calendar File. [] Select "Calendar File," option 2. (If you select this option when no Future Events File is in memory, you will be given a warning outlining the disadvantages of continuing.) [] At the new screen prompt, enter the ProDOS filename or pathname of the new file. Calendar Wizard filenames can contain a maximum of 13 characters. [Remember that a filename may consist only of upper- or lowercase letters, numbers, periods, and slashes (for pathnames.)] [] Press [RETURN]. (The program will automatically add the extension ".C" to the end of your filename.) [] Indicate whether you want a one-week, two-week, or monthly calen- dar by pressing the number key [1], [2], or [3] followed by [RETURN], or by using the arrow keys to highlight your choice before pressing [RETURN]. [] Indicate the year of the calendar by entering a four-digit num- ber from 1000 to 9999. Calendar Wizard will accept only numbers as digits, and only four of them. [] Enter the first three letters of the month of your calendar in upper- or lowercase. If you misspell an entry, Calendar Wizard will give you another chance to correct it after three characters are entered. As you type the third letter of a correct entry, Calendar Wizard will proceed to the next screen. If you selected a monthly calendar, that calendar screen will appear. If you selected a one- or two-week calendar, Calendar Wizard will present a list of possible starting dates for each calendar period having days in the selected month. (The first date on the list will sometimes be near the end of the preceding month, if that period spans two months.) [] Select the desired starting date of your calendar in the usual way, i.e., by using a number key or the arrow keys and [RETURN], and the calendar's "Review/Add/Edit" screen appears almost instantly. On this screen, you can use the built-in word processor to make changes, deletions, or additions to any day box on the screen. On weekly calendars, you can also add comments in the special "Notes" box. Press [RETURN] to begin a new line. The Review/Add/Edit screen displays the name of the Calendar File in the lower-left area of the screen. The central part of the screen presents a row of days of the calendar. The cursor is located at the home position in the first day box of the calendar row of days. Beneath the row of days is a list of commands available for use on this screen. Pressing any of the four arrow keys moves the cursor one space in any direction within a day box. Pressing an arrow key with the [OPEN-APPLE] key depressed moves the cursor to a new day in the designated direction, if such a move is possible. For example, [OPEN-APPLE][DOWN-ARROW], moves the cursor down to a new row of days with the cursor in the day box just below its original location. On the bottom row appear miniature calendars for the previous and next month and, for one-week- and two-week calendars, the current month as well. To enter a message, just type characters in the normal way and your text will appear in the day box. Other key functions within a day box are: Arrow Keys -- move the cursor back and forth [DELETE] -- deletes the character to the left of the cursor [OPEN-APPLE][C] -- deletes text from the cursor location to the end of the line [OPEN-APPLE][X] -- deletes all text on the line on which the cursor is located [OPEN-APPLE][Y] -- prints 12 monthly calendar pages, beginning with the monthly calendar in memory. (If you have not previously created or loaded a monthly calendar, a warning message appears.) [ESC]ape -- stops printing NOTE: If your calendars are printing incorrectly or are too long to fit on a page, go back to option 1 on the Other Activities Menu and try changing the prompt for adding carriage returns at the ends of lines from [Y]es to [N]o. Or try turning the printer off for a few seconds. GS users, turn buffering and echo off. [OPEN-APPLE][S] -- saves a Calendar File to disk. (The file will be saved in the default drive or subdirectory.) [OPEN-APPLE][P] -- sends the file to your printer for printing If your Future Events File ever has more messages for a given day than there is space available for that day, the excess, or overflow, messages are presented to you before the Review/Add/Edit screen appears. You can always get another look at the overflow messages by holding down the [OPEN-APPLE] key while pressing [O]. They will also be printed when you send a file to the printer. However, keep in mind that overflow messages are not saved to disk when you save the Calendar File! If you try to create a new Calendar File while another, unsaved calendar is in computer memory, Calendar Wizard will print a warning to that effect and ask if you want to lose the old file. Answer [Y]es or [N]o and the program will proceed according to your wishes. To return to a cal- endar file in memory, select option 2 from the Main Menu. Saving Files to Disk ==================== To save a Calendar or Future Events File to a ProDOS-formatted disk, select option 4 from the Main Menu. When you so do, a second screen asks you which type of file you wish to save. Make your selection from the menu, and Calendar Wizard will save the file using the filename or pathname you specified when you started or loaded the file. If the name is a simple filename, the file will be saved in the default drive or subdirectory, depending upon how you have described your system. If the name is a pathname, it will be saved in that directory. You can also save files from the Review/Add/Edit screen with the [OPEN-APPLE][S] command. If you try to save a file when no file is in memory, Calendar Wizard will print a warning message. If Calendar Wizard in unable to save a file, it will print an error message on the screen describing the reason why. You will be given the choice of trying again (option 1 on the menu), or of going back to the previous menu (option 2 or [ESC]ape). Loading Files from Disk ======================= To retrieve a Calendar or Future Events File from disk and place it in computer memory... [] Select option 3 from the Main Menu. The program will ask whether you want to load a Calendar File or a Future Events ("memo pad") File. [] Make the appropriate selection from the menu. A screen will appear asking where Calendar Wizard should look for the file: in the default (sub)directory or in a specific slot and drive. [] Answer the prompt and press [RETURN]. Calendar Wizard will search the specified location on disk and present a screen displaying the filenames of all files matching your require- requirements. If you are looking for your Future Events File, for example, only Future Events File names will appear on the screen. [] Move the cursor to the file you want, and highlight its file- name by pressing the [SPACEBAR]. [] Press [U] to undo the marking or [RETURN] to get the file. If you try to mark two files, or if you press [RETURN] without marking a file, Calendar Wizard will give you a warning mes- sage. When you press [RETURN] after marking a file, Calendar Wizard will obtain the file and present it on screen. You can then proceed as described under Future Event Files or Calendar Files above. NOTE: Calendar Files loaded from disk do not have additional messages added to them from the Future Events File. If the program has difficulty finding your file, it will print an error message on screen describing the problem. Printing Calendars ================== Before attempting to print a calendar, be sure you have configured Calendar Wizard correctly as described above in the section, "Matching Calendar Wizard to Your System." If your computer and printer have been in use before running Calendar Wizard, it is a good idea to turn the printer off for a second or two, then on again to reset the printer to its normal operating condition to eliminate any printer codes which may still reside in the printer's memory from the previous program. To initiate printing... [] Select option 5 from the Main Menu, or [OPEN-APPLE][P] from the Review/Add/Edit screen. The screen will display the message "Printing... Press [ESC]ape to stop printing". If all is well, the printer will make a hard copy of the Calendar File in computer memory. To stop any printing job in progress, press the [ESC]ape key. If you try to print a calendar with no printer connected, or with no paper in the printer, the computer will "lock up" and wait for your to rectify the problem. If you cannot fix the problem, don't despair! Just press [CONTROL] [RESET] to unlock the computer and return to the Main Menu. You can print an entire year of monthly calendars by pressing [OPEN-APPLE][Y] from the calendar Review/Add/Edit screen. (See the "Calendar Files" section above.) Printing Calendar Wizard's Screens ================================== To make a printed copy of any Calendar Wizard display screen... [] Hold down the [OPEN-APPLE] and [CLOSED-APPLE] keys, and press the [1] key. [CLOSED-APPLE] is the same as the [OPTION] key. The program will obey your instructions regarding the addition of a carriage return at the end of each line, but it will not send special printer codes to the printer. These codes can be loaded into the printer's memory for the printing of a Calendar Wizard screen by first printing a calendar. Listing Files on a Disk ======================= Calendar Wizard allows you to list (or catalog) all of the files in a ProDOS (sub)directory on disk. To do so... [] Select option 3 from the Other Activities Menu. A menu appears asking whether you want to: 1) use the default (sub)directory, or 2) enter slot and drive. If you select slot and drive, you will be prompted for the slot and drive numbers, and the list of files will appear on screen. In any case, the desired listing appears showing the volume directory name, the appropriate list of file names, and the number of free blocks remaining on the disk. All files in the (sub)directory are listed whether they are Calendar Wizard data files, or not. If there are more files than can fit on the screen at one time, just press a key to see the next screenful. Calendar Wizard describes its own files as either Calendar or Future Events Files. Deleting Files ============== To delete a file from disk... [] Select option 4 from the Other Activities Menu. When the "Delete Files from Disk" screen appears, you will be asked whether Calendar Wizard should look for the files in: 1) the default (sub)directory, or 2) a specific slot and drive. [] Make a selection, and you will be presented with all of the file- names in the specified location, even non-Calendar-Wizard files. [] Highlight all of the files to be deleted by pressing the [SPACE- BAR]. You can undo selections by pressing [U]. If you press [RETURN] without marking any files, you will see a warning message. [] Press [RETURN] and all marked files will be deleted. As each file is deleted, the highlighted name of that file will change to normal video. If there are too many files (over 60) to fit on a screen, Calendar Wizard will present an additional screen of filenames with each press of the [S] key. If an error occurs, a message will appear on screen describing the problem encountered by the program, and you will be given the option of trying again. Use the [ESC]ape key to leave the delete mode and return to the Other Activities Menu. Creating a Subdirectory ======================= To create a ProDOS subdirectory... [] Select option 5 from the Other Activities Menu. Calendar Wizard prompts for the name of the subdirectory to be created. The subdirectory name must be a legal ProDOS file name or path- pathname consisting of upper- or lowercase letters, numbers, periods and slashes (for pathnames). [] Press [RETURN], and Calendar Wizard will create the subdirec- tory. If you enter a filename, i.e., a name not beginning with a slash, Calendar Wizard will append that name to the active (default) ProDOS prefix. If an error occurs, an error message will appear on screen. Setting the Active ProDOS Prefix ================================ A ProDOS prefix is the pathname leading to a directory or subdirectory. Maintaining a ProDOS prefix in Calendar Wizard is a timesaver because you can then enter simple filenames, instead of complete ProDOS pathnames, when naming files. To determine the active prefix... [] Select option 6 from the Other Activities Menu. The ProDOS Prefix screen gives the name of the current prefix and the prompt: "Press Escape to accept current prefix, or enter desired ProDOS prefix:". [] Press the [ESC]ape key to leave the prefix unchanged, or enter a legal ProDOS prefix. To enter a new ProDOS prefix... [] Start by typing a slash (/). [] Add the volume directory name, and any subdirectory names, each preceded by a slash. [] Press [RETURN] to complete the process. As with the creation of any pathname, use only letters, numbers, periods, and slashes. Changing Filenames ================== To change the name of a Calendar File in memory, select option 7 from the Other Activities Menu. To change a Future Events File name, use option 8. For either file type, you will be given the current filename and prompted for the new name. Enter a legal ProDOS file or pathname and press [RETURN]. Calendar Wizard will automatically add the suffix ".F" or ".C" to distinguish between Future Events Files and Calendar Files. A filename must have a length of 13 characters or less. Ending a Session with Calendar Wizard ===================================== It is advisable to always end work with Calendar Wizard by selecting option 9, "End This Session," from the Main Menu. If any files in memory have been changed since the last time you saved files to disk, Calendar Wizard will let you know and allow you an opportunity to return to the Main Menu. Printing Program Instructions ============================= The printed instructions will fill 15 pages. If you have entered special printer codes into program memory, Calendar Wizard will send them to the printer when printing the instructions. During printing, you can press the [ESC]ape key to abort printing. \