Copyright: Microcode Concepts


Contents
Desktop Assistant Contents

Introduction

Desktop Assistant is a personal information manager. It stores frequently accessed  information in one convenient location. Organizing your information will increase your productivity whether at work, school, or home. Included are a to-do list, address book, calendar, text editor, calculator, and alarm. Together, these tools will assist you in

managing all of the tasks in your schedule, regardless of how demanding it might be.

To receive a free upgrade and free technical support, please REGISTER your copy.

Version 2.0 will include many new features and enhancements, and be completely compatible with version 1.0.

Interface Overview

Tools Help                                                                              Additional Information

     To-Do List                                                                                 License Agreement

     Address Book                                                                          Technical Support

     Calendar                                                                                   Backing up Data

     Notes

     Calculator

     Alarm


To-Do Help

Adding Categories

The To-Do tool allows you to categorize activities such as appointments, meetings,

phone calls, shopping list, etc.  To create a category, click on the Add Category button. Type a name in the dialog box which pops-up, and click the Add button. The categories name will appear in the drop-down-list box at the upper left. Click in the text box and type whatever text you desire, then click the Save button when finished.

You can add a maximum of 20 categories. You can use words, phrases, numbers, or

dates for categories.

Deleting Categories

Click the Delete Category button to display the input dialog box. Click on the down arrow button on the right to display a list of categories to delete. When the list appears, click on the category to delete, and it's name will appear in the input box. Click the delete button, and it will be deleted.

Once deleted, categories can not be undeleted, so make certain you wish to perform this action.

Print Button

Click this button to print the contents of the category. The print dialog box will be displayed, allowing you to modify such printing parameters as the number of copies,

printer setup, etc. To continue, click the Ok button. The windows print manager will be invoked to accomplish the print job.

Time Button

To use this feature, you must first add a category as described above. After creating

the category, click on the Time button, and times are entered in the left side of the text box. There are 48 times in ½ hour increments, constituting one day. This is convenient for keeping track of multiple activities in the course of a single day such as meetings,

appointments, etc. You can modify these times to meet your schedule. After entering

your activities, click the save button. If you have several days for which you want to

keep track of, you could use dates for the categories and then add times to them.


Address Book Help

Adding Addresses

To add an address, click the Add button and a blank record will be displayed. The

new records number is displayed in the upper right corner of the dialog box. Use the Tab key to move to the next field (name, address, etc.). Press Shift-Tab to move backwards. You can also click in the field you want to edit. You do not have to fill in all of the fields, but a name is required.  After entering the address, click the save button.  New addresses are added to the "bottom" of the list. It will remain the last record until the Sort button is pressed, or you add another address.

Deleting Addresses

To delete an address, display the address to be deleted either by clicking the Next or

Previous buttons, or using the search feature. After the address you wish to delete is

displayed, click the delete key. You will be prompted for conformation before it is

deleted.

Searching

Click on the Search button to display the search dialog box. Type in any text or number

to search for. You can search for parts of text, or parts of a number. For example, if you had the following address:

                                                              Name: Mary Smith

                                                          Address: 123 Main St.

                                                                  City: Philadelphia

                                                               State: PA

                                                                  Zip: 19001

                                                            Phone:  (215) 123-4567

any of the following are valid search arguments, and would locate the above record:

                                                                        -Mary

                                                                        -Smith

                                                                        -123

                                                                        -Main

                                                                        -phila

                                                                        -19001

                                                                        -4567

The search is case insensitive, and will find the first occurrence of the search argument.

So, if you had a Mary Smith and a Mary Jones, and search for Mary, the Mary Jones

address would be displayed. (Assuming the records are sorted). To find Mary Smith,

you would need to enter additional characters, such as Mary S. If the search argument

is not found, a message will be displayed indicating this.

Sorting

Click the Sort button to sort all of the address. When a new address is added, it is

placed at the bottom of the list. Sorting will arrange all of the addresses in alphabetical order. Sorting begins with the Name: field, and continues for each subsequent field. Sorting is optional, to allow addresses to be entered in a non-alphabetized manner.

Printing

To print the currently displayed address, click on the Print button. This will not invoke

the print manager as the To-Do tool, but simply print the address. Consequently, you

cannot modify printing parameters such as the number of copies.

Dialing a Phone Number

In order to use this feature, you must have a modem connected to your computer. The dialing feature uses Window's default communications settings for communications port, baud rate, etc. You can click on the settings button to change from tone to pulse dialing.

To dial a number, goto the record containing the phone number you wish to dial. Click

on the Dial Phone button, and a dialog box will appear with the name and number. Pick up the receiver, and after the dialing tones have stopped, click the Ok button (Or press Enter on the key board).


Calendar Help

When the calendar is first displayed, the current month will be presented. The day of

the month will be shown as a "pushed-in" button. Click on the Prior button to view previous months, and Next to view subsequent months. To swiftly move forward or backward, use the tab key to highlight the Prior or Next buttons, and then press and hold the Enter key.


Notes Help

EasyEdit (TM) is a simple text editor. One of the most convenient features of EasyEdit

is the File / File Search command. This allows you to quickly locate a file anywhere on a disk drive. The following is an explanation of EasyEdit's menu commands:

File

New

Creates a new file. If a file is already loaded and has been altered and you select this command, you will be prompted to save the existing file.

Open

Loads an existing file. The file open dialog box is displayed, allowing you to modify parameters such as file name, file extension, etc.

Save

Saves any changes you make to a file.

File Search

Searches any drive for the specified file. You can use wild cards in the search argument. for example, entering *.txt for the file name, and then C for the Search Drive, would locate the first file on C drive with an extension of txt.

Print

Prints the file. The print dialog box is displayed, allowing you to modify printing parameters.

Printer Setup

Displays the printer setup dialog box to allow you to change parameters.

Form Feed

Sends a form feed command to the printer, feeding a page.

Exit

Exits EasyEdit. You can also press the hot-key combination Alt-X at any time to exit.

If you have made any changes to an open file, you will be prompted to save the file

before exiting.

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E d i t

Undo

Reverses the last action. For instance, if you delete a word and then select the Undo

command, the word will be placed back where it originally was.

Cut

Deletes selected text. You can select text by one of two methods. The first involves pressing and holding the Shift key, and then pressing one of the cursor keys. Using the second method, you place the hour glass shaped cursor at the beginning of the text you want to select and press the left mouse button. You then move the cursor to the end of the text you want to select. After selecting the text you want to cut, press the delete key.

Copy

Copies text to the clipboard, which can then be pasted.

Paste

Places text which has been copied or cut to the clipboard, at the current cursor location.

Del

Deletes currently highlighted text. Has the same effect as pressing the Del key.

Select All

Selects all text in currently open file for subsequent Edit commands.

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Search

Find

Performs a case sensitive search for text. If the search argument is found, the text will

be highlighted. If it is not found, a message will be displayed indicating this. The search begins from the current cursor location.

Find Next

Finds the next occurrence of the search argument, if any. You can also click on the Find

Next button in the search dialog box, or press the F3 key to accomplish this.

Replace

Replaces the text you specify with new text. The replacement of text occurs from the current cursor position. You can continue to replace text one step at a time by continuing to click the replace button. If you click the Replace All button, all text matching the argument will be replaced from the cursor to the end of the file.

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Character

Font

Allows you to change the appearance of text. When you make any changes to the font, they are not saved. The next time you open the file, it will revert to the default font.

This feature will be added to a later version of Desktop Assistant.

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Help

Help

Displays this help file. You can also obtain help by pressing the F1 key.

About

Displays the About dialog box, with copyright notice and version number.


Calculator Help

Overview

Numbers can be entered using either the standard numbered keyboard or clicking the calculator keys. Although more digits can be entered in the calculators display, output is limited to 12 significant digits. If you make a mistake, use the Backspace key to erase the digits, and then enter the correct digits. Press C to clear the calculator. Scientific calculations are limited to radians. Degrees and grads will be available in a later version. Also, you cannot enter exponents. This feature will also be added to a later version.

Number Range

The range of numbers allowed for all calculations is 1.7 x 10n-307 to 1.7 x 10n307. If a calculation results in a number outside of this range, an error message is displayed.

Scientific Calculations

To use the scientific features, a number must first be entered and then the scientific function key pressed. For example, to calculate the tangent of 1, click on 1 and then

TAN.


Alarm Help

Overview

There is one timer and two alarms which can be set individually, or together. You can click on the various buttons to set the day, hour, minute, AM or PM, or you can use the Tab key and Shift-Tab to move to each field. After entering the desired field, you can press the up and down cursor keys on the keyboard to change the settings. When the alarm goes off, it will beep and be displayed regardless of which Windows application

you are currently using. If you set one or both alarms, the settings will be maintained

even when you exit Windows. This however, does not apply to the timer.

Setting The Timer

Click on the Alarm button in the main window. The Alarms dialog box will then be displayed. Enter a number in the Minutes: field from 1 to 999. Enter a note in the Note:

field if desired, and then click the Set button. Click the Ok button, and the alarm dialog box will be minimized. When the number of minutes you have set the timer for has elapsed, the dialog box will be maximized, and a beep will sound. When this occurs, click the Cancel button to close the alarm dialog box. If you wish to set the timer

again (or alarms), click the Reset button. This will stop the beeping, but leave the alarm dialog box displayed allowing you to set it again.

Setting Alarms

There are two alarms that can be set individually, or together.  When the alarm dialog

box is first displayed, the current day the week is displayed in the Day: field. To set the day, click on the up and down arrow buttons, and the day will be incremented or decremented accordingly. Click on the up and down arrow buttons the change the hour and minutes to the desired setting. Then, click on the AM or PM radio button. This can be repeated for alarm 2 if you want the other alarm to go off at a different time. After

setting the times, click the Set button. Then, click the ok button and the dialog box will be minimized.

When the alarm goes off, the dialog box will be maximized and a beep will sound. Click

the Cancel button to close the dialog box, or click Reset to shut off the alarm and leave

it displayed.