Oakland CPM Archive/oakcpm.iso/cpm/database/handy21x.lbr/HANDY201.DZC/HANDY201.DOC

Text File | 1986-12-28 | 20KB | 488 lines

                              HANDY
                          Version 2.01
                       Copyright 1982 by,
                       Peter C. Hawxhurst

                          DOCUMENTATION

This documentation and the HANDY System programs may be freely
distributed for  noncommercial  purposes provided that the
copyright notice is retained.

The HANDY System includes the following files in their crunched
source (.BZS) and executable  (.COM and .OVL) forms:

HANDY201.DZC            this documentation
HANDYSYS.BZS (COM)      the main program
AGGENDAS.BZS (OVL)      the nine modules
DO-TODAY.BZS (OVL)      \
REMINDER.BZS (OVL)        \
PLANNING.BZS (OVL)          \
CALENDAR.BZS (OVL)            \
ACTIONPL.BZS (OVL)              \
NOTEBOOK.BZS (OVL)                \
FONEBOOK.BZS (OVL)                  \
DECISION.BZS (OVL)                    \
HANDYTRM.PRM            the terminal parameter file

The  HANDY System programs provided in  this version are
revisions  to  the original CBASIC code.   The system has been
modified to  run after compile and link by CB80 and LK80.  No
major logic changes have been made to these programs.   Minor
enhancements have  been introduced  to permit execution on  most
terminals (screen  control characters),  to clear the  screen
upon exit from each module, to situate both programs and data
files on the same disk, and to eliminate CR from single character
input responses.

This  version of the HANDY system is available in both source
and  object  in  separate   libraries.  Source code  and
documentation  is  available  in HANDY21S.LBR;  execution  code
and documentation  is available in HANDY21X.LBR.   The library
files  have been  separated to facilitate data transfer by those
interested in only source or object.

CBASIC is a trademark of Compiler Systems.

Osborne  is  a  trademark of  the  Osborne  Computer Corporation.

CP/M, CB80 and LK80 are trademarks of Digital Research
Corporation.


                           DESCRIPTION


HANDY is a personal time management system.  It  was written
around my particular business needs,  but no doubt will be of
significant value to a wide variety of  individuals.  The system
is menu  driven.  After initial  sign-on  a menu will be
displayed  and  the user   will  be  prompted  to  select a
particular application.  Upon exiting each application the menu
will  reappear for further application selection or return to the
CP/M operating system.

Each  application in the HANDY System has a  command selection
menu and command input prompt on the lower portion of the
application display. User input for a particular application is
queried and prompted below the command line.  Input provided by
the user is then posted  to the appropriate place on the
application display.

Applications  included  in the HANDY system  are  as follows:

     -    A  personal  appointment calendar for  the
          display  and maintenance in one half  hour
          increments of daily appointments.

     -    A personal TO DO LIST for the display  and
          maintenance  of nonscheduled activities on
          a daily basis.

     -    A reminder list of important  dates/events
          to remember on a monthly basis.

     -    A  planning calendar for blocking out  and
          displaying  large  portions  of  scheduled
          time.

     -    A calendar program for displaying  monthly
          calendars a quarter of a year at a time.

     -    An action planning notebook for displaying
          and maintaining future activity records by
          categories.

     -    A  notebook or log for the maintaining and
          displaying of miscellaneous notes, records
          or whatever by category.

     -    A quick reference phone number listing.

     -    A  decision support routine  for  rational
          decision making assistance.

A typical application's command line would appear as follows:

----------------------------------------------------
(A)dd (C)ontinue (D)elete (E)xit (R)estart (S)can >


Some will vary according to the application type.

HANDY  is  intended to be an on line desk  companion for the busy
professional.  It was designed  to  be extremely user  friendly
so I will not go to  great lengths to describe the use of each
application.  I would  rather spend  time  discussing  how  to
get started  and how  to recover from operation  errors, both of
which are very uncomplicated.


                           LIMITATIONS


The HANDY System was written and designed for use on an Osborne 1
computer in a 52 column, 24 row format.

The  originally  distributed version  of  the  HANDY system
required programs and data files to reside on separate disks.
This version assumes  both programs and data share the same disk.

Certain  entries  in HANDY must be short for  screen formatting
purposes. Error messages will appear when input is too long.

RETURN  or  ENTER (possibly CR or EXECUTE  on  other systems)
must  be  pressed  only  after   multiple character   input.
Single  character  input  will execute immediately without the
need for RETURN  or ENTER.

Dates  must be entered in the form MM/DD/YYYY.  This means that a
date such as January 1,  1983 must  be entered 01/01/1983.

Only two applications permit print out of data:  the Appointment
Calendar and the To Do List.

Data from dates prior to the date each time HANDY is started
executed  is eliminated from  certain  data files.  However there
is a programmed opportunity to print this data out.


                     INSTALLATION & STARTUP

HANDY installs itself by reading a file called HANDYTRM.PRM.
Three examples of such files are included in the distribution
library; Kaypro, Osborne and VT52.  Look at these files and if
you have a terminal different from these, create your own
HANDYTRM.PRM file with any editor.

Copy the .COM and .OVL files and your .PRM file to a single
diskette  and  enter HANDYSYS at the system prompt.   The system
assumes data and programs reside on the same diskette.   All
files  are created and maintained by the system,  so no data set
initialization is required.

At system startup the copyright notice will  appear, followed  by
a request to enter today's  date.   You will then be asked to
verify that today is the  day of  the week and the date
specified.  If you  answer yes (y) you will see your disk drive
light go on and the HANDY SYSTEM PROGRAM MENU will appear and
prompt you  to select an application.  That is all there is to
it.  HANDY will have already created two files on your data
diskette:  APPOINTS.DAT and DOTHINGS.DAT.  Other  files  are
created  as  you  use particular applications. The amount of
data that can be stored on  the data diskette is only limited by
the  amount of  data  your  diskette is capable  of  storing.  I
believe you will find this is quite a bit  for  the HANDY System
applications you use.

Keep in mind the following:

     -    Back-up your data diskettes periodically!

     -    Each time you execute the HANDY System you
          will be asked to enter today's date.  This
          date  is  stored  for use by  the  various
          HANDY applications. Data on file preceding
          this date is erased upon initialization of
          HANDY. The first time you enter HANDY each
          day you will be asked if you want to print
          out  prior dates' data  (for  appointments
          and To Do Lists only). Pay close attention
          to the date you enter at initialization!


                   RECOVERY FROM INPUT ERRORS


Generally,  HANDY will self-recover from most normal input errors
such as input lines that are too  long or  erroneous dates.
In  most cases  you  will be informed  in a nice way that an
error has  occurred and  in some instances particulars about the
error.  However  it  is not possible to preprogram  recovery for
every possible type of error.  For  example,  if you misspell a
word,  HANDY will not catch  it.  In case  of other not so
obvious situations observe the following:

     -    The  easiest (but not always best) way  to
          get  out of a sticky situation is to press
          CTRL  and C simultaneously or press  RESET
          to  restart  HANDY.   If  you  find   this
          necessary,  before you restart HANDY check
          your  data  diskette to see if there is  a
          file called TRANS. If so, delete this file
          before restarting.

     -    If  while  using a particular  application
          you  enter a command and then decide  that
          it is not the command you want to  execute
          (except  for (E)xit) try pressing ESC then
          RETURN.  I  have  preprogramed  this  into
          HANDY  in  some  areas for  just  such  an
          instance.

     -    If you find your back arrow does not  move
          back  and rubout bad data press CTRL and X
          simultaneously.  This is a function of how
          your disk is set up. You may want to reset
          your  disk for arrows to be in  CP/M  mode
          instead of another mode.

It  will not take much experience with HANDY to find there is a
minimum possibility for unnatural errors.  Every effort  has been
made to  protect  your  data files,  but no guarantees are made
in this  regard.  Every  effort  has been made as well to  keep
your application screens free from errors and scrolling.

I  always  like  to  recommend  that  users   become familiar
with their data file structures by looking at them  with  their
word  processor  in  the  NON DOCUMENT mode,  with the potential
of modifying them on their own for particular needs. A typical
line in a data file for HANDY might look as follows:

     "01/01/1982",26.2,"9:00","Peter/Meeting"

Items contained in quotation marks are  alphanumeric entries
(words generally).  Those that are not  are numeric (numbers).
Individual  data  items   are separated by commas.

Why would the date or the time in the above  example be
alphanumeric  when it contains so many  numbers, you  ask.
Because  it  contains  other  characters besides numbers. In
HANDY almost every file entry is alphanumeric  (enclosed in
quotation  marks),  even pure  numbers.  This  is a way of
controlling  input errors. Each number entered is checked to be
sure it is a number.  If you were otherwise asked to enter a
number  and instead entered a letter a system  error would  occur
and your application screen  would  be compromised. This and many
similar conditions should not occur in HANDY.

If  you  cannot determine HANDY file  structures  on your own
for your own applications  programming  I will  make this
information available  on  request.

Every  effort will be made to correct bugs found  in the HANDY
System and maintain it up to date in  the public domain.  Queries
should be addressed as noted at the end of this documentation.



                          PROGRAM NOTES


General:  Unlike some other time management systems, HANDY is
designed to handle the activities of  one individual, not several
unless the user uses it  in some other way.  It is not a task
force or team time management  system unless applied in that way
by the user.  It may be applied in one of these ways by the
maintenance   of   separate   data diskettes   for particular
individuals.

It is not necessary to use uppercase entries for any input,
including  yes (y) or no (n) entries  unless the  user  of the
HANDY System  has  a  particular preference (like capitalizing
the first letter of  a name) in their own input. Also, it is only
necessary to enter the first letter of a command which appears
within  parenthesis,   and  this too  need  not  be capitalized.



AGGENDAS

This  is the personal appointment calendar  program.  It  is
preformatted for appointments from 7:00  a.m.  until 6:30 p.m. at
half hour increments. This cannot be modified without changing
the source code.

Primary input is the time for an appointment and the name or
nature of the appointment. The length of the appointment is not
automatically displayed. Such can only  be done manually and is
left to the wants  and needs  of  the  user.  I in most cases do
not  show appointment lengths for reasons of flexibility. Also
entries  are not automatically wrapped to the  next line.
Formatting  of entries is totally left to the user.  An  error
message will appear if  any  single line entry is too long.

This  application also allows for deleting  entries, looking at
the  very next  day's  appointments  by pressing the N command,
looking well into the future using the F command and entering the
future date and even  searching  for a particular entry using a
key word. Note that searches for entries will not appear in
chronological order but will be displayed in  the order they
entered.

Time entries must be in the form 0:00 like 9:30.


The appointment calendar may be printed to a printer if  so
desired by the user.  The format for  printed output is pretty
much the same as the screen  format and  can  be  cut to size for
insertion in  a  small notebook for log purposes if desired.



DO-TODAY

This  is the To Do List application and allows entry of up to
nine (9) non-scheduled activities one must try  to perform in a
day like making  a  particular phone call or writing a report.
Future days may  be planned  in  advance and entries  may  be
deleted.  Entries  may also be sorted in order of  importance.
The  To  Do  List may be printed to the  printer  if desired.



REMINDER

This  is  a  simple application  to  quickly  remind oneself of
important dates and events coming up  in the current month like
birthdays and  anniversaries.  The  user  can scan ahead to
future months one at  a time and return to the current month if
necessary.



PLANNING

This  application  allows  blocking  out  of   large segments  of
time  over a month like  traveling  or vacation periods. Entries
may be as small as one day but the size of verbiage is limited by
the number of days selected and only one entry can be made for
any given day.

The format is that of a normal monthly calendar. The length of  a
particular entry is  queried  and  is displayed  on the calendar
according to  space  left from  the  entry's length in words or
letters.  The user  may move ahead month by month or far ahead
by specifying  a  particular month and year  using  the future
(F) command.

I  should  point  out that the  future  (F)  command appearing
in  many of the HANDY  applications  also allows going back in
time by specifying a  previous date.  Note though that in the
case of AGGENDAS  and DO-TODAY, no prior data is retained on file
from the current date at start up.

I  should  also  point out that the current  day  or month
depending  on the HANDY application  will  be displayed when each
application is selected and  its screen appears.  In the case of
PLANNING,  the month for  the  date entered at HANDY startup will
appear initially when it is invoked.

One  final note about PLANNING,  this  routine  does save prior
month's data. If it is necessary to purge the  data file for this
program simply go  to  some prior month and delete an entry using
the D command.  This  will  rebuild the complete file  deleting
all entries prior to the current month.



CALENDAR

This  is  another very simple routine that  displays months on a
quarterly basis.  Four monthly calendars are displayed on the
screen; three in half intensity and  one in full intensity.
Initially  the  current month  is  displayed in full intensity at
the  upper right corner of the screen.  In half intensity,  the
month prior to the current month is displayed in the upper  left
corner of the screen and the two  months following  the  current
month are displayed  at the bottom of the screen in order from
left to right.

When advancing (or going back in time) the specified month or
month beginning the next quarter takes  the place of the current
month.



ACTIONPL

If  you're  not  familiar with the concept  of  action planning I
suggest you take a seminar on it. It is a very power  tool but I
cannot go  into  a  complete tutorial  on it here.  However this
application  is fairly straight forward.

In ACTIONPL there are two applications screens.  One displays
action planning categories.  These can  be months, years,
personal  or other goals,  shopping lists, projects, virtually
whatever the user wants.  Twenty-four (24) categories may be
specified by  the user.  I  had a difficult time using all twenty-
four and for the last three used the coming three months.

At least one category must be entered before  action planning
may  commence.  In order to  begin  action planning  the user
enters the scan (S) command  then specifies  the category to be
scanned or planned.  A second screen  will appear  displaying
the  action plans  for the specified category and allow  further
action planning or deletion of completed activities.  To return
to the category screen the user enters the restart (R) command.

Action  plans  are simply something one wants to  do regarding a
particular thing.




NOTEBOOK

This application is very similar to ACTIONPL.  It is simply
intended  to be what  its  name  implies,  a notebook.  It has  a
category screen like  ACTIONPL that  allows  up  to twenty-four
categories  to  be entered  and notation screens for each
category.  I use  it as an important phone call log and a log  of
completed activities.



FONEBOOK

This  application  is intended as a quick  reference phone number
listing.  The format is a  series  of pages  with a double column
list of names and  phone numbers. Names are limited to eleven
(11) characters and numbers to twelve (12) such as 800-555-1212.
The user  may move ahead one page at a time or  all  the way back
to the beginning.  The number of entries is limited  only  by
disk space and  the  other HANDY files,  but  try  to fill it up.
I have only  three pages or about 2K of storage so far.




DECISION

Again another very simple application to help  users with
prioritizing  or  decision  making.  The  user enters  up to
nine (9) factors  or  considerations bearing on a situation and
then is asked to  compare each  one  against all the others in
terms  of  the greater in importance. Once this is done the
factors are displayed in highest to lowest order of priority for
the user's evaluation.





                             SUMMARY

At this point there is not much more I can think  of to tell you
about HANDY.  It has been very useful to me  and  I hope you will
find it to be the same  for you.  And  it is you who will help to
improve it  by letting me know your comments, suggestions,
problems and experience with bugs.

Please direct response to the HANDY System to:

                 Peter C. Hawxhurst
                 705  Bayside Court
                 Wheeling, Illinois
                       60090
                   [phone]

And...

Please enjoy the HANDY System.


P.C.H.
nois