version 0.9 October 27, 1989 a product of FORTHOUGHT copyright 1989 ---------------------------------------------------------------- Notes is a shareware program, this is NOT in the public domain or free. Use notes for a short period of time, if you find it useful fill out the registration form at the end of thisfile and return it to us with the registration fee of $15. For this fee you will be notified of all future software upgrades. ----------------------------------------------------------------To start using Notes, press alt I to go to the index for this file. Remember, help is just a Help key away at all times. In the index, the right arrow gets the next page left arrow getsprevious. Up/down moves cursor, return selects, undo cancels. subjects What is the Notes index? The index is a way of navagating through your notes file. It permits you to move quickly from note to note. When you call the index, the first line of up to 15 notes is displayed on the screen. You move the cursor to the line containing the line from the note you want to use and press the return key. The notes program will then retrieve that note display it, and wait for your further input. To move from index page to index page, press the right arrow or F4 increase and left or F3 to decrease the page number. If you wish to go back to the beginning, press Clr Home. When in doubt consult the help screen. F10, Undo, Esc, or alt-q will cancel the index mode. subjects popup What is the Notes system? Notes is a program intended to allow you to keep the equivalent of those little yellow stick on note papers within your computer. In it's current form Notes provides a means to create, maintain, and print files of related notes. This version is very preliminary, it does not have all of the features that I envision in the completed product, however it should be a usefull program. The notes system's capacity is limited only by the mass storage system that you use. It has been designed to be most effective on a system equiped with a hard disk drive. subjects What does Notes do? Notes provides a convienent way for you to store small notes on various subjects in a way that you can find them later with a minimum of difficulty. Notes presents you with a simulated card to type your information on and saves it for later. It will print a card if you need to. The note cards are stored in files on the disk.Notes provides the means to keep your individual memos in related files. This is a very preliminary version of notes, many features will be added as development continues. subjects What is the Notes.dat file? Notes.dat is a small text file used by the Notes programto remember where you were in the notes system when you quit theprogram last. It is generated by the program on a continuing basis, therefore, if you are using a floppy disk based system you must have a notes.dat file on the disk that is currently in the boot disk. The disk that holds the notes.dat file cannot bewrite protected. The notes.dat file contains the path by which Notes is to find it's data files, the current data file name, and the current note number. ie: e:\notes\ startup.not 4 How do I use the popup menu? To access the popup menu, depress and hold the right mouse button. This will cause the popup menu to appear. To make a selection, move the mouse pointer over the item to be selected. This will highlite the desired item. To complete the selection, depress the left mouse button, and then release the right button. The menu selections are exactly the same as the command keystrokes associated with the names. Press the Help key to access the command key help screen. This will show you what the various menu selections do. subjects popup Program or desk accessory? Yes. The Notes program can be used as either a program to be run from the GEM desktop, or it may be used as a desk accessory.This is accomplished by changing the file name extender from .PRG to .ACC. We feel that the notes system will be most usefulif used as an accessory. subjects tos How do I use this with floppy disks? The notes system is at it's best on a hard disk, but it may be used on a floppy based system. If you are using a floppy based system, note that it is important that you have the Notes diskette in the A drive whenever you consult the notes desk accessory. This is necessary because the notes program looks for the file notes.dat on the boot drive of the system. Unpredictable results will occur if you do not have this file on the boot disk. The notes.dat file is also accessed by the program when you quit. Therefore, you should have a notes.dat file on the floppy in drive A when you quit also. Can I use this with a hard disk? If you are using the notes system on a hard disk based system, you must place the notes.dat file in the root directory of the C drive. BEFORE you run notes, use an ascii text editor to modify the notes.dat file to contain the correct path iformation. This is needed so that the notes system can locate it's data files. If you wish to use Notes as an accessory, name the Notes program file Notes.acc and place it in the root directory of the C drive. Warrenty? As is usual in software, we are required to make the following statement regarding warrenty. "Notes is provided to the end user with NO WARRENTY either express or implied. FORTHOUGHT will not assume ANY liablity in regard to the merchantablility or usefulness of this product. ANY loss or damages resulting from the use of this program is the total responsiblity of the end user." Notes is a software system currently under development, we fully intend to provide updates as we create them. If you experience problems using notes, please advise us by mail, and we will attempt to rectify the problem. Your rights. As stated in the previous note, there is NO warrenty associated with Notes. Notes is a shareware product which is NOT in the public domain. You have the right to use the Notes for a period of 30 days to determine whether or not it will be useful to you. If after 30 days you have determined that you will be continuing to use Notes, we request that you fill out the registration form in note# 12 and print a copy and mail it to us with the $10 registration fee. For this fee you will be notified of all further updates to this product, and any other products that we make available. You will also recieve a licence to operate Notes on any microcomputer that you may own. This means that only one copy of notes should be in use under one licence at any given time. Our rights. FORTHOUGHT retains all rights related to the sale and distribution of the Notes system. As Notes is a shareware product, the user in encouraged to provide copies of the ARC file containing the related files, providing that the ARC file is distributed in unmodified form. Notes is NOT in the public domain, therefore distribution by public domain services and user groups is permitted only if there is either no fee or a modest copying fee of not to exceed $6. Sale by commercial enterprise or inclusion with other products is expressly forbidden without prior notification. A commercial licence is available, contact FORTHOUGHT for further information. Notes registration form: Name:___________________________________________________________Address:________________________________________________________City:___________________________________________________________State:__________________________________________________________Zip:__________ mail to: FORTHOUGHT 9936 107th Ave. N. Maple Grove, MN 55369 comments:_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ What is the Subjects file? The subjects file is a special note file used to hold a catalog of the various note files in your system. If you so desire, you may store the file name with some explanitory text. This will allow you to use the subject change key (F6) to move from subject to subject in a manner similar to the way that you can move from note to note using the note file index. How do I use the "subjects change" key? The F6 key is known as the subjects change key within notes. This function is used in the following manner: You move the cursor to the beginning of a word which is the 8 character part of a file name, and press the F6 key. This action will cause the current note file to be closed, and the file specified by the word at the current cursor location will become the new current note file. As always when changing filesyou will be on the zero record when the change is complete. How do I use the "list file" key? The F7 key is known as the "list file" key. If you place the cursor in front of a string of text that specifies an ascii text file, when the F7 key is pressed Notes will display this file on the screen. For example H:\notes\notes.txt can be displayed. One restriction on the "list file" key is that the text must start on the left margin. If the name passed by the file specifier string is non-ascii, unpredictable results will occur. A:NOTES.TXT What is IMPORT.PRG... Import.prg is a first cut at making an import program for the Notes system. As such it is a limited success. To make use of it you must format your information in an ascii text file with a maximum line length of 64 characters. You will have to do some cleanup editing after the import process.
