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ILINIOS VERSION 3.0 The ultimate mini labelling system? Have you ever used a commercially available labelling system or a software package that tries to incorporate labelling features into it's main program e.g. a database or wordprocessor and discover many limitations such as: only being capable of printing in a specific style or printing only one copy of any label etc. Wouldn't it make a difference if those limitations were removed. ILINIOS is your answer! ILINIOS is a powerful, user friendly, versatile, labelling system, incorporating many advanced features only found on expensive software packages. A summary of the features it has can be seen below: * Search/Replace facilities. * List specific records to the Screen, Printer or File. * Easy to use function key style commands. * Print out on one, two or even three way size labels. * Advanced error trapping and help description capabilities. * Print up to 999 copies of any one label! * New Sort facility, faster than the original. * Uses a unique easy-to-use interface, dubbed the 'Toggle-System' * Will Multi-Task properly and uses its own screen. * Faster, improved label printing facilities. * New Report facility, you can now create your own reports. * Fully user configurable, now with configuration file. What should I have on my 'ILINIOS' disk? ILINIOS V.3.0 - Main Program ILINIOS.DOC - Document File COMPANIES.ADD - Data File CONFIG DRAWER - Program.Config Output.Config Report.Config PROGRAM INSTRUCTIONS -------------------- MAIN MENU The ILINIOS main menu allows access to the facilities that are available. They consist of the following: IMPORT CREATE VIEW/EDIT ABOUT OUTPUT CLEAR IMPORT The Import facility enables the user to load in an existing ILINIOS .ADD file. Simply enter the filename and press return to load it, or escape to exit to the main menu. CREATE The Create option actually has two modes of operation. You can append new data to an existing file, or create a new file by entering the new files name and then enter your data. The CREATE facility will now automatically search through your default ILINIOS directory for any filename specified when using this option. Therefore, if you want to append data to an existing file, which isn't already in memory. Instead of using the IMPORT facility and then the CREATE facility, you can simply use the CREATE option, and it will be loaded automatically. When you create a new file, an option will appear at the top of the create screen, asking if you wish to redefine the field names. Basically, if for example, you don't need an ATTENTION field, you could change it to a MESSAGE field etc. The fieldname option operates in exactly the same way as the edit record facility, see EDIT option, later in this document for information. ABOUT This option simply gives information about the program, e.g. who programmed it, date of completion etc. OUTPUT There is now a new completely re-written enhanced output option, where you can alter the spacing for labels, define the fields that you wish to print and even save changes to a configuration file for future use. The new output option screen, has the following options: SELECT ALL PRINT STYLE LABELS ACROSS SPACING - LABELS SPACING - LINES LEFT MARGIN LOAD CONFIG SAVE CONFIG PRINT LABELS 1-9 FIELD SELECT SELECT The select option enables you to enter specific record numbers to print. Simply enter a record number followed by return or press return with no input to exit. (See 'Output Option' notes). ALL On some occasions you may want to print every record number in your ILINIOS file, this option will allow you to do this. PRINT STYLE You can change the style of print for your labels, either 'Courier' the normal ILINIOS font or 'Italics'. (Most Epson compatible printers should be able to print in these styles). LABELS ACROSS This option allows you to select the amount of labels across a page, either: One Way, Two Way or Three Way. SPACING - LABELS This option will enable you to set the spacing between labels, thus if you are using smaller or larger size labels than the usual standard size, you will be able to print out on these labels correctly by selecting new spacing for the labels. LINES - LABELS This option is similar to the above, but is for the amount of line feeds sent to the printer to reach the next row of labels. As already mentioned above if you are using non-standard labels, you can send more or less line feeds to the printer, so that your labels will print correctly. LEFT MARGIN This option will enable you to set the size of the left margin, to suit the tractor feed position of your printer. LOAD CONFIG This option will load in a previously saved 'Output.Config' file and set-up the options as you customised them. SAVE CONFIG This is a very useful facility which will save all the output options to a file called 'Output.Config' this can be re-loaded when you next use the output option. (See 'Output Option' notes). PRINT LABELS This option will print labels to your printer using the options you have selected. CLEAR If you already have a file in memory, but you wish to create a new file, then you can use this option to erase the file that is presently stored in memory, so that you can create the new file. VIEW/EDIT The most powerful and complex option of ILINIOS, but because it uses a special and easy-to-use interface dubbed the 'Toggle-System' it is very simple to use. When the option is chosen the View/Edit screen will appear, displaying many options and the first record of your ILINIOS file. The available options consist of: MOVE UP RECORD MOVE DOWN RECORD EXIT/SAVE EXIT/NO SAVE FIRST RECORD LAST RECORD EDIT SORT GOTO SEARCH/REPLACE DELETE COLLECT LIST RECORDS REPORT EXIT/SAVE If you make any alterations to your file, e.g. editing, sorting records etc. then you can leave the view/edit option and save the file to disk by simply using this option. EXIT/NO SAVE This option is identical to the above, except it will not save any changes that you have made to your file. (See View/Edit notes). EDIT This option will enable you to edit fields in a specific record that is currently displayed on screen e.g. Company Name, Address 3 etc. When you select this option the heading titled 'VIEW MODE' at the top of the record display will change to 'EDIT MODE' indicating which mode you are presently using. You may of noticed and if so wondering what the numbers 1-9 indicated along side the field names are for. These are used in 'EDIT MODE' to select which field you wish to edit e.g. number 3 will remove any contents in the field 'ADDRESS 2' and allow you to enter new data. Simply press return to accept your new data. If you wish to return to 'VIEW MODE' then press 'E' to exit. The 'EDIT' function has two special keys while editing a field that will help you out on some occasions: ALT '1' - The 'POST-CODE', 'TELEPHONE NO' and 'ATTENTION' fields, are limited to 20 characters maximum. This useful option will exceed this amount and enable you to use the full width of the above fields, which is 53 characters. ALT '2' - When you edit a field, the contents are removed and you can then enter your new data. If you want to bring back the contents that were removed, then you can use this command to do so. These 'Special Keys' will most likely be enhanced and extended in a future version of ILINIOS. SORT This option will allow you to sort records using either the Company Name or Attention field names in descending (Z-A) or ascending (A-Z) order. To select your option, simply toggle the modes you require by using the appropriate function keys and then press F5 to sort the records. The sorting facility on this version of ILINIOS is faster than the original. GOTO This option is a simple facility for quickly jumping to a record, especially useful in a large file. You simply enter the record number followed by return and it will almost instantly appear. SEARCH/REPLACE This option will enable you to search for any data, anywhere, in any record and replace it with new data. Enter the data you wish to search for, e.g. 31 Park Lane or whatever, it doesn't make any difference if you enter the data in upper, lower or even mixed case, ILINIOS will be able to interpret it correctly. Then enter the data you wish it to be replaced with e.g. 31 Park Avenue. You will now have the option for a 'ASK REQUEST'. If you wish to check and make sure that the data found is going to be replaced correctly in certain fields then press 'Y' for yes, or 'N' for no, if you prefer for ILINIOS to search/replace any found data automatically without your consent. DELETE This option will temporarily delete any record that is presently on screen. This basically means the file has been marked for deletion. The heading 'TEMPORARILY DELETED' will appear underneath the displayed record. If you wish to undelete it, then simply press the 'DELETE' option again, it acts as a simple toggle switch to mark/un mark a record for deletion. COLLECT This option will permanently remove any records that have been marked for deletion from your file. As a safety measure an are you sure requester will appear to make sure that you really want to delete any files. (See BUGS FIXED information). LIST RECORDS This option is probably the best facility available on ILINIOS, it will enable you to list specific records to the Screen, Printer or File! The 'FIELDNAME' is where you would like specific data to be searched for, e.g. the Company Name, Attention fields etc. The 'SEARCH METHOD' is how you would like data to be searched for, either: EQUAL TO - Search for data that is identical to the search data that you have entered. NOT EQUAL TO - Search for any data that is not identical to the search data that you have entered. STRING SEARCH - Search for any data that has the search data that you have specified within it. LEFT SEARCH - Abbreviated for 'One Left Character Search'. This is an unusual type of search function, but can be extremely useful. It simply extracts the first character of a field and attempts to match it with the entered character in the search data option. For example: if you required an output of all records that had Company Names beginning with the letter 'C'. You can easily use the 'LEFT SEARCH' option to perform the task. The 'SEARCH DATA' option will enable you to enter the data that you wish to search for in the field name you have specified. The 'SEARCH OUTPUT' option will allow you to specify how you would like records to be outputed, to the Screen, Printer or File. When you have selected your options, press F5 to execute the 'LIST RECORD' facility, which will search for any records that agree with the conditions you have selected and output the results in the way you desired. REPORT This option has been completely rewritten, it now offers faster printing, and the ability to create your own reports. When this option is chosen the REPORT screen will appear, displaying the following options: FORM CREATE EXIT PRINT REPORT FORM This option will simply select any available report forms, which may be the standard report forms or some that you have created yourself. EXIT This option will simply close down the report option and return you to the View/Edit screen. PRINT REPORT When you have selected a report form to print, and have then selected this option, a report will be compiled using the field names specified in the report form and data from your ILINIOS file, then sent to your printer. CREATE This option will enable you to create your own reports. The following options will be displayed. FIELD SELECT EXIT HEADERS FIELD This option allows you to specify a field name to be included in your report form. This must also be accompanied by a width amount, which can be set by using the +/- keys. The width amount can be anything from 1-53 (53 being the maximum amount of characters possible in any field). Every time you select a field and width to be included in your report form, the width will be subtracted from the maximum report width, which is usually 80, for 80 column printers, but can easily be increased by altering the Program.Config file. (See CONFIG FILE information). SELECT This option will select the report field and width that you have chosen and include it in your report form, the result of this will be displayed in the FIELD SELECT box, under the options. On some occasions you may come across a 'Header Clash' error. This occurs if you have entered a report width, e.g. 6 which is smaller than the size of the report field header, which could be 'Company Name:', which is 13 characters. This error will also give you the suggested amount to use. EXIT This option will simply return you to the main report menu. HEADERS This option will allow you to give your created report form a name and title. The name is used when you select a report form on the main report menu and the title displays any message that you like, e.g. which fields will be printed by the report form etc. The title will appear in the comments box under the report form name, again on the main report menu. (See View/Edit notes). CONFIG FILE ----------- The config file allows the user to change some of the default options that ILINIOS uses. The config file can be edited by any ASCII editor, the ideal candidate being the CLI's 'ED' or a wordprocessor like Protext etc. You will find this file in the ILINIOS 'Config' drawer. The Program.Config file will look similar to this when being edited. ILINIOS Program Configuration Version 1.0 Report Width : 80 Date/Time : ON Extention 1 : ADD Extention 2 : LST Attention : For the attention of: Field Size : 500 Default Dir : DH2:Basic/ILINIOS/ A breakdown of what each option is and how to change it can be seen below. REPORT WIDTH When you create your own report forms using the View/Edit Report facility, you have to set a width amount, the highest being 53, and the lowest, obviously 1. Each time you select a field and width amount to be included in your report form, the report width number is decreased. So for an 80 column printer, the report width should be about 80 or less if you have a left margin set on your printer. DATE/TIME When ILINIOS is up and running the date and time from your computers battery backed clock will be displayed (if you have one installed), if not the date and time will most likely be incorrect. Therefore, you may wish to turn off this facility. To do this, simply change the ON option to OFF. EXTENTION 1 & 2 When you create/save an ILINIOS file, it is automatically appended with a special extention, which is ADD or LST if you have used the list records to file facility. You can change these extentions to any three character code that you like. ATTENTION When you print labels using the OUTPUT facility of ILINIOS, a prefix is automatically attached before any name to be printed in the attention field. This prefix can be changed to anything that you like. If you don't require a prefix at all, then simply leave this option blank. FIELD SIZE The amount of records that ILINIOS can store in memory at any one time, is 500. This number can be increased, but at your own risk! This option is primarily used during program development. DEFAULT DIR A problem with earlier versions of ILINIOS was the inability for it to default to a user specified directory. Which meant that if you created a directory for ILINIOS files, you would have to enter the directory and filename every time you used ILINIOS. You can now set the default directory for ILINIOS files to be saved and loaded from by using this option. Only the List Record file facility will not use the default directory, because you may want to send the file to the RAM DISK etc. NOTES (Record Numbers) * If you enter any record numbers incorrectly, when using a record number input option, then a simple screen flash will occur, informing you of an error in your input. NOTES (Output Option) * As yet any entered record numbers will not be saved by the 'Output. Config' file. This may change in a future version of ILINIOS. * If you have entered any record numbers to print using the Select facility, and exit the output option, your selected records will still be stored in memory. They can be erased by using the select option again. NOTES (View/Edit) * This version of ILINIOS will also allow you to use the up and down arrow keys to move up/down records, as well as the usual function key options. Also, the left arrow key will move to the last record and the right arrow key will move to the first record of your ILINIOS file. * If you make any changes to your ILINIOS file and you want to abandon them, and you use the Exit/No Save option, the changes you made, will not be abandoned, this isn't a bug, its supposed to happen. For example, on some occasions you may want to make certain changes to your file, but not to save them, therefore this option can be handy. If you do want to abandon any changes, then simply re-load your ILINIOS file. * When using the Report facility, if you try to save a form when using the header facility, and the screen flashes, this can be one of two reasons, which are: You have entered no report name. You have entered no report title. NOTES (Program Bugs) ILINIOS has been extensively tested before its final release, therefore, there should be very few bugs, if (any!). If ILINIOS ever suffers from a fatal error, which basically means the program is about to crash, because of bad program code etc. then a special error requester will appear, informing you that ILINIOS cannot continue because of such an error, and will also give you a zone no, which is whereabouts the program bug occurred. Take note of this number and use it when you fill out the bug report form. BUG FIXES --------- The Collect Facility, had a few bugs, and one was so bad that the whole routine has been completely rewritten and is now not only bug-free, but also faster. The bugs it suffered from were as follows: If you had only one record in your ILINIOS file and you had marked it for deletion and used the Collect Facility, ILINIOS would crash! This happened because their was no check to see if you had deleted all the records in your file, so when the collect facility had finished, and the view/edit screen tried to display a record number that didn't exist, it caused ILINIOS, too get somewhat confused, and crashed. The other bug, caused some records not too be deleted! This happened due to some bad programming code, which basically caused the collect routine to miss some deleted records occasionally... and too think that the whole point of a collect routine was to delete records...? WHATS COMING ------------ ILINIOS 4.0, will most likely be under development in future months, but due to another programming project, it may be a long way off. It will include the following extra features: * Mail-Merge facility * Rapid Print Spooler * Report Form Delete facility It can be obtained for the princely sum of £5.00, this includes the program, disk, documentation and postage, plus news on other programs that I have available, and the infamous Blood In The dust adventure game that is being programmed by myself and a friend, which should be available by early May next year. A registration form is at the end of this documentation. PROBLEMS/SUGGESTIONS -------------------- The following form should be filled in, if you have encountered any bugs when using the program. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- BUG REPORT FORM (REVISION 2) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- -- -- PROGRAM: ______________________________________ VERSION NO: ______ -- -- -- -- WHERE BUG OCCURRED: ________________________________________________ -- -- -- -- ________________________________________________ -- -- -- -- ________________________________________________ -- -- -- -- _______________________________ ZONE NO: ______ -- -- -- -- -- -- COMPUTER SYSTEM: _____________________________ DATE: ___________ -- -- -- -- -- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The following form should be filled in, if you have any suggestions to improve the program. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- PROGRAM IDEAS FORM (REVISION 1) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- -- -- PROGRAM: _______________________________________ VERSION NO ________ -- -- -- -- I THINK THE FOLLOWING IDEAS SHOULD BE IMPLEMENTED IN THE ABOVE PROGRAM -- -- -- -- ______________________________________________________________________ -- -- -- -- ______________________________________________________________________ -- -- -- -- ______________________________________________________________________ -- -- -- -- ______________________________________________________________________ -- -- -- -- ______________________________________________________________________ -- -- -- -- ______________________________________________________________________ -- -- -- -- ______________________________________________________________________ -- -- -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- REGISTRATION FORM (REVISION 1) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- -- -- ILINIOS Version 3.0 -- -- -- -- NAME: _____________________________ -- -- -- -- ADDRESS: _____________________________ -- -- -- -- _____________________________ -- -- -- -- _____________________________ -- -- -- -- _____________________________ -- -- -- -- POSTCODE: ______________ -- -- -- -- -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Send all forms or money!, to the following address: Paul Newport (ILINIOS!) 31 The Meadows, Whittucks Road, Hanham, Bristol, BS15 3PA. Credits: Programmed & Designed By Paul Newport. Thanks to Richard Bessant for the new, faster 'Collect Facility'. Complements to Hi-Soft for their excellent compiler.