Simtel MSDOS 1992 June

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

/ Simtel MSDOS 1992 June / SIMTEL_0692.cdr / msdos / deskaces / terra21.arc / TT.DOC < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1988-01-09 | 24KB | 498 lines

************************************************************ * * * * * T E R R A * T I M E * * * * Version 2.1 * * * * (C)opyright 1988 * * All Rights Reserved * * * *==========================================================* * * * GeoGraphics Software * * 126 Mountain View Road * * Glastonbury, CT 06033 * * * *----------------------------------------------------------* * * * Terra*Time is user-supported software provided to * * you at no charge on a trial basis. If you use this * * software and find it of value please register your * * copy for $15.00 and support the shareware concept. * * Registered users will be provided with information * * about program updates. Please make checks payable * * to G. K. Marek at the above address. * * * * You are encouraged to share this software with * * others provided that it is distributed complete * * with documentation and in unmodified form and * * that no fee or other consideration is charged or * * accepted. All commercial, business and government * * users must register each copy in use. * * * * We hope you enjoy using Terra*Time. Your comments and * * suggestions to improve this product are always welcome. * * * * * * * ************************************************************ PROGRAM DESCRIPTION Terra*Time is a program which tracks and displays the local time in as many as 44 cities all around the globe. Unlike other programs of this type, Terra*Time accounts not only for time zone effects but also for daylight savings time at each city. Information is provided on a full-screen color non- graphics display. Windows and menu-driven commands are used for program modifications. Program options provide users with the ability to tailor the display for their specific needs. As many or as few cities as desired can be displayed. Military or 12 hour clock can be selected and the layout of the world map can be varied to suit the user. Additional program features include time zone differences and great circle distances between cities and a special alarm feature which can be set for any world city time. HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS This program is designed for IBM Personal Computers and close compatibles. It will execute on the IBM-PC, PC-XT, and PC-jr. DOS Version 2.0 or later is required. Terra*Time does not require an internal clock and will accept the time set by you during DOS boot-up. Of course, the use of the internal clock will allow for automatic timekeeping. Since the program relies extensively on color, a color monitor is recommended. The program will run, however, unmodified, on the Compaq. Terra*Time requires about 64K of memory and does not require BASIC to operate. PROGRAM FILES The Terra*Time system comes in five files: TT.EXE executable program module TT.DAT default settings and cities information TT.DOC documentation file (ASCII); (this file) TTDAT.BAK a back-up duplicate copy of TT.DAT TTREAD.ME a short program description with latest changes The first two files must reside on the current directory or path for the program to be accessible. None of these files is copy-protected and it is suggested that a set of backup files be made and saved in a separate place with your other archive and backup files. Save all five files in their original state to preserve initial program default settings and cities information and to have a complete package to provide to other users. Or, save the original archive file TERRA.EXE and just run it again for a fresh copy of all the files (TERRA.EXE is a self-extracting archive file). Terra*Time is executed from the current directory or path with this command at the DOS prompt: TT There are no optional arguments. PROGRAM START-UP Upon execution, Terra*Time will load from the current directory and access the TT.DAT data file to load current settings and cities information. Once the program and data are loaded, the program no longer requires these files unless a new configuration is saved to disk for future use. The program is virtually self-explanatory and uses menus extensively. The program will load into [AutoTime] mode incorporating the default values and cities information in TT.DAT at time of execution. GENERAL PROGRAM FEATURES Terra*Time generates a stylized world map with cities indicated by three letter codes. The map is divided into 24 time zones each of which is further divided into three twenty-minute segments. One timezone, normally the one you are in, is specially designated as the "local" timezone. The local timezone (initially set by the program defaults to New York) is indicated on the top scale by a magenta symbol. Time and date details about the local time zone as indicated in the center of the black area below the world map. The local time indication is standard time if it is shown in yellow and daylight savings time if it is shown in brown. The black background on the map itself indicates the portion of the globe between 6PM and 6AM (that is, approximately "nighttime") and moves with the time in twenty minute intervals. A gray band will appear momentarily around the display border while the map is being updated. Cities are indicated on the map in bright yellow if they are presently on standard time and in brown if they are presently on daylight savings time. HOUR-DAY SCALE Across the bottom of the world map is an hour-day scale with some features in white and some in yellow. The white (upper) scale indicates the STANDARD time in that particular world zone. One point on this top scale is the yellow letter M which represents midnight; N indicates noon. The lower scale, in yellow, is in the form: << Sun | Sat >> and is used to determine the day of the week for any time zone. The symbol | represents the International Date Line in the central Pacific Ocean. From this symbol to the left (west), it is Sunday until the M (midnight) symbol is encountered on the scale above. It is Saturday toward the east until the M symbol. Of course, the scale wraps around at the left and right edges of the map. A WORD ABOUT TIME SYSTEMS Terra*Time displays time using the standard US AM/PM 12 Hour Clock and the International (or Military) 24 Hour Clock. However, for simplicity, all INPUTS to Terra*Time must be given using the 24 Hour Clock (the same as DOS). Some examples of the relationships between the two systems are shown below: US/12 Hr Intl/24 Hr Input Input HH:MM:SS HHMM MIDNIGHT 12:00 AM 00.00 00:00:00 0000 12:37 AM => 00.37 00:37:00 0037 1:24 AM 01.24 01:24:00 0124 11:08 AM 11.08 11:08:00 1108 NOON 12:00 PM 12.10 12:00:00 1200 12:15 PM => 12.15 12:15:00 1215 3:59 PM 15.59 15:59:00 1559 11:49 PM 23.49 23:49:00 2349 The ACTUAL local time (whether daylight or standard) should be input and Terra*Time will take care of the rest. If you have an internal computer clock, you must set it forward and back during switches between daylight and standard time just as you do with your other clocks. Some computers have clocks that lose the seconds when time is reset. For example, the time 10:15:53 would be set to 10:15:00 and 53 seconds would be lost. In these cases time adjustments should be made just after the minute has turned to minimize time loss effect. PROGRAM FEATURES Terra*Time incorporates a number of special features and options which are explained below. These features are accessed by selecting the letter [F] from the [AutoTime] mode. CITY CODES Some features require that a particular world city be identified. Each city has been assigned a three letter abbreviation. These abbreviations can be changed to suit the user. For example, the code NYC could be changed to JFK to represent Kennedy airport, or to HQ, for Corporate Headquarters (Three letters is a maximum for this code). It could even be altered to HFD, for Hartford, Connecticut, a nearby city with the same parameters as New York. ALARM The Terra*Time alarm can be set for a specific time in a specific world city. This could be the local time or the time in a foreign location. For example, assume that you are in New York. You can set the clock to ring when it is 7PM (1900) in Paris without having to compute time differences simply by indicating PAR and 1900 when the alarm is set. Terra*Time keeps track of the timezones and any savings time that might be in effect at either city. Activating the alarm will illuminate a note in the lower left corner of the screen. The alarm will ring at the appropriate time, chiming every five seconds for one minute or until any key is selected to stop it. The alarm will be turned off once it has rung and will have to be activated again even to ring again at the same time on the next day. The command [Activate] will engage the alarm with the current settings unchanged. The [LOC] city code can be used for local time alarm. Be sure to input the alarm time in HHMM format, two digits for the hours and two for the minutes using a 24 Hour clock. TIMEZONES The [TimeZones] feature allows you to check the number of hours (timezones) any city is ahead or behind any other. A base zone is initially set to the local city but can be moved to any other city, one zone at a time, with the [W]est or [E]ast keys. DISTANCES Terra*Time can also compute the distance between any of the cities in the program database (not just those shown on the map). A listing of cities can be selected. The distance shown is the "great circle distance," which is the shortest distance between the two points on a globe. This distance is provided in statute miles (ordinary measure) or in nautical miles, a system used extensively in navigation. One nautical mile is about 1.151 statute miles. TIMESET/DATESET Times and dates must be valid and follow the format specified. Dates cannot precede 1980 since DOS will not recognize any date before 1-Jan-1980. Since the Local Time display also computes the day-of-the-week, this feature will allow the determination of the day-of-the-week on which some future date will occur, such as a birthday or Christmas. MAPSHIFT The displayed map can be centered on the US, on Europe, or on the Far East with this option. There is no effect on the time. 12/24 HOUR SELECTION The times displayed with the cities on the map can be presented in either US 12/Hr format or Intl 24/Hr format using this option. LOCALZONE Any city in the Terra*Time city list can be designated the Local time city. The Local Time strip in the black area below the map will take on the attributes of this designated city and the LocalZone marker on the top scale will move. When a new LocalZone is selected the times in all cities remain unchanged. Only the alarm, local time strip and other features using the local time are affected. HELP COMMAND A Help Screen with a Brief description of these features is available in a window within the [Settings] option of the program. FILE COMMAND When you have chosen a configuration of features and cities that you prefer, they can be saved to the TT.DAT file and subsequently automatically loaded with the program. Any changes made in program features or options will be in effect only for the remainder of the current session unless they are saved with the [File] command. Once a new configuration is saved (in file TT.DAT) the previous configuration is lost. Be sure a backup copy of the original program and data files has been saved in case you want to start over or reinstate the original options. A file called TTDAT.BAK is provided as a backup duplicate of the original TT.DAT file. Ensure that the file containing the information to be displayed is called TT.DAT before the program is run. CITIES COMMAND The [Cities] settings command allows the user to see and change the attributes of the cities provided in the Terra*Time database. For example, any city can be excluded or included from the map display. The following information about each city is displayed and can be altered as indicated. CODE - The city code is a one to three letter designation. This code is used to identify the city on the map and to select and save city features. Any code except LOC can be selected. For example, NYC could be replaced by MAN (for Manhattan). INCLUDE/EXCLUDE - If this parameter is set to INCL, the city is included in the map display; if EXCL is selected, the city will not be displayed. The [List] command will provide a list of all of the cities in the Terra*Time database, indicating whether or not they are included in the display. Although the default settings do NOT include all of the cities, all cities are designed to fit on the display map without overlap (although leaving a somewhat cluttered appearance). ZONE - The zone parameter represents the number of timezones east (positive) or west (negative) of the Prime Meridian (Greenwich, England) that the subject city lies. For example New York Zone is -5.0 and Paris is 1.0. Some cities are in timezones which are not an exact integer number of hours from GMT (Greenwich Mean Time). Bombay, India, for example, is 5 and one-half hours ahead of GMT. Its zone is indicated as 5.30, with the 30 indicating 30 minutes more advance than five hours. The zone parameter is for information purposes and should not ordinarily be changed. DAYLIGHT This parameter is either 1 (if Daylight Savings Time is ever applicable to this city) or 0 (if is not). START This is a four digit value which indicates the month and day that is the first day of daylight savings time. It is specified in the form MMDD, so 0531 would mean May 31st is the first day of daylight savings time. DD can be specified as 00 to indicate that the day should be the last Sunday of that particular month; for example 0400 would mean that daylight savings time should start the last Sunday of April. END This value indicates the LAST day of daylight savings time. Otherwise, the comments indicated above for START apply. Note that it is possible for the END date to precede the START date when summer comes in the months of December, January and February as it does in the Southern hemisphere. DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME Daylight savings time is a convenience adopted by many localities during the summer months depending upon their particular needs and their geographic location. The information provided for the cities in Terra*Time was accurate for 1987-1988. But these rules are subject to change depending upon legislation in each country. For this reason Terra*Time allows the changing and saving of information relating to daylight savings time in the [Cities] menu. Data regarding country time zones and daylight savings time rules is available from the local library or in a reference called the Official Airline Guide (copyright Reuben Donnelly & Co.) which is published monthly and used by most travel agents in the United States. ADVANCED PROGRAMMING CONSIDERATIONS Terra*Time is compiled in Basic and reads all of the city information as well as the default settings from an ASCII file called TT.DAT. This file can be editted with any text editor. The first line of the data file contains a 30 character header which will appear centered on the top portion of the display. This line can be revised to display any heading the user desires. The next two lines of the file contain default settings, followed by 44 lines of city data and a terminating line. Only advanced users should revise this file since its formatting is critical to ensure proper reading of the data by the program. Always keep a backup copy just in case. There is little value to changing the second and third (default values) lines of this file, but it may be useful to edit the cities data on the next 44 lines if extensive revisions are desired. The format of some typical city data lines is presented here: COLUMN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901 FIELD A B C D E F G H I J K "CAPETOWN", 0, "CPT", 231, 18, 2.0, 0, 0, 0, -32.83, -17.88 "CARACAS", 1, "CAR", 50, 13, -4.0, 0, 0, 0, 11.00, 67.63 "CHICAGO", 0, "CHI", 71, 8, -6.0, 1, 405, 1000, 42.63, 88.50 A comma must delimit each field and the alpha characters must be in quotes as shown. The fields have the following meanings: A => The city name B => Code to include plotting on map for that city (1) or not (0) C => One to three letter city code for plotting on map D => A code for horizontal plotting location of that city (see below) E => A code for vertical plotting location of that city (see below) F => The time zone from Greenwich, England, with eastbound positive G => Code to indicate daylight savings time is applicable (1) or not (0) H => Code for start of daylight savings time (described in START above) I => Code for end of daylight savings time (described in END above) J => Latitude of city in Degrees and Minutes, with North positive K => Longitude of city in Degrees and Minutes, with West positive The 44 cities have been carefully selected and plotted so they remain true to their intended time zone but so that no two can overlap no matter how they are displayed. Thus any or all cities can be displayed at once. Changing Code D or E will cause different plotting locations and could result in overlaid data or program problems. Code E is a number between 6 and 19 which represents the vertical plotting location for the given city. The sixth row down is the highest (northernmost) plotting location. The 13th row represents cities that fall along the equator such as Dakar, in Africa. The 19th row is the southernmost plotting position and Auckland, New Zealand, is at this lower latitude. You will be able to tell where to plot a new city by looking at the value of Code E for the cities around it. All selections for this parameter must be integers from 6 to 19. The remainder of the screen is reserved and other values will produce unpredictable results. Code D is a value which determines the horizontal plotting location of a particular city. This code is more complicated than Code E and must be deciphered to be understood. The map grid is divided into 24 horizontal areas, each of which allow three plotting positions, for a total of 72 horizontal plotting locations. If the last digit of Code D is dropped, the remaining value is always between 1 and 24. This code represents one of the 24 plotting regions starting with London as 1 and moving westward with New York as 6, Hong Kong as 16, Bombay as 20, and finally Paris as 24 (since it is east of the Prime Meridian). Note that the last digit of the code is always a 0, 1, or 2. This digit represents the plotting position of the point within the main region with 0 westmost, 1 central and 2 eastmost plotted. Thus Chicago, with Code D of 71, is plotted in the central portion of the 7th zone west of zero degrees latitude (London). Note that from west to east the plotting codes would follow a sequence such as 70,71,72,60,61,62,50,51 etc. Again, unpredictable results will occur if these conventions are not followed. Remember that some of the cities in the program have been moved slightly from their true geographic positions so that they could all fit on the map at once if so desired. If you plan to use fewer cities they could probably be plotted more precisely without worry of overlap. Since there has been much interest in plotting other US cities, below is a list of more precise plotting codes for some of them. Turn off (or "EXCLude") the US cities you don't want that would overlap and replace one of them with the info for your home city. You can have no more than 44 cities in the data file (although you can have fewer). Never delete the last line of the data file since it is a signal for the program that all the city data has been read in. City Code D Code E -------------- ------- ------- Atlanta 60 11 Boston 62 10 Chicago 60 10 Dallas 82 11 Denver 80 10 Detroit 60 10 Los Angeles 92 11 Miami 60 11 Minneapolis 70 9 Montreal 62 9 New York 62 10 San Francisco 91 10 Seattle 91 9 Washington DC 62 10 Vancouver 91 9 This program uses special functions from the excellent Advanced Function Library for the Basic Compiler called ADVBAS.LIB v3.4, (C) Thomas Hanlin III, Alexandria, VA, available on many bulletin boards. Some copies of Terra*Time are distributed via an excellent self- extracting archive program called PKARC version 3.5, dated 27 April 1987, and available from PKWARE, Inc., 7032 Ardara Avenue, Glendale, WI 53209. I hope Terra*Time will prove to be of value to you. Please contact the author with any problems, useful comments or suggestions at the address at the top of this file.