============ USING HOMETRAX - Property Inventory ============ Copyright Doug Scott 1993 I. GENERAL INFORMATION & SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: This program will run on any system, using DOS 2.0 or higher and having at least 640k FREE RAM. A hard drive and color monitor are recommended. Your system CONFIG.SYS file should have the FILES set at a minimum of 30 and BUFFERS set at a minimum of 20. Consult your DOS manual on making this change (if needed). After running the file "HOME.EXE", you should have the following files: HOMETRAX.man (The file you are reading now) HOMETRAX.exe (the program) and the following sample data files: ITEMFILE.DAT ITEMFILE.K04 ITEMCATS.DAT OWNERS.DAT ITEMFILE.K01 ITEMFILE.K05 ITEMCATS KO1 OWNERS.K01 ITEMFILE.K02 ITEMFILE.K06 LOCATION.DAT HOMETEMP.DAT ITEMFILE.K03 ITEMFILE.MEM LOCATION.K01 HOMETEMP.KO1 At most stages of the program, you will see "F-1 = HELP" in the upper left hand corner of the form or table on the screen. If this notice is present, you can press the F-1 key to access the on-line help for that function. To get out of any option, press the ESCAPE key until you get back to where you want to be. Pressing CONTROL and ESCAPE will immediately take you back to the last menu screen. All printouts are formatted for 8.5 x 11 fanfold (continous) paper. All printing routines were tested on a Panasonic 1124 printer in EPSON LQ2500 mode and should work on most compatible printers. Two printouts use 15 cpi, (condensed print) and may not be supported by all printers. When you select any print options and your printer is not ready, you will receive an error message. Correct the error and press R to Retry. The other keys will abort the print routine (& possibly the program, depending on which key you press). You won't lose any data should this occur, but you will have to reload the program. The Help screens are displayed for the menu, table or form currently on the screen. II. GETTING STARTED WITH HOMETRAX Log onto the drive which contains the program (disk), type "HOMETRAX" & press ENTER. On accessing the Main menu screen, you will find the following options: 1) Work on.... PROPERTY FILES 2) LOCATION FILES 3) CATEGORY FILES 4) OWNER FILES 5) REPORTS MENU 6) Print SHAREWARE REGISTRATION 7) Exit (by pressing ESCAPE) Option 7 is self explanatory. To select options 1 through 6, use the up and down arrow keys to highlight the option and press ENTER to select. (You may also use the "hot key" method to highlight an option by pressing the first letter of that option.) These methods of option selection are used on all HOMETRAX menus. III. WORKING WITH THE PROPERTY VIEWING TABLES A) Highlight the option to work on PROPERTY FILES on the Main menu and press ENTER to select. B) Another Menu appears with the following options: ADD NEW RECORDS/View by Name View by CATEGORY LOCATION or ROOM OWNER CATEGORY & OWNER CATEGORY & LOCATION OWNER & LOCATION CATEGORY, OWNER, & LOCATION 1) Use the up and down arrow keys to highlight the table you wish to view, then press ENTER to select. 2) When you select the ADD NEW RECORDS/View by Name table, a window will pop up which asks for starting and ending search dates. This date range function allows you to view records for any time period. You MUST enter a valid date in both fields. Only the records which have recorded purchase dates between the two dates you enter will be displayed in the viewing table. These records will be shown in alphabetical order by the item name entered in each record. The total record value of the displayed records will also be shown in the lower right hand corner of the table. Use the up and down arrow keys to scroll through the records one at a time, the Page-Up and Page-Down keys to move a page at a time, the Control-Page Up combination to go to the first record in the list, the Control-Page Down combination takes you to the last record in the list. You can also select records in this table by entering the item name in the locator field at the top of the table. HOMETRAX uses a dynamic search which means that it goes to the first record matching your entry with each key press. To select a record, move the highlight bar to that record and press ENTER. The Inventory Record Form for that property record will be displayed. To add a new record, press the INSert key and fill in the Inventory Record Form. If no records exist for the time period you designated, the ADD NEW RECORDS/View by Name table will automatically go to the Inventory Record Form. You can then enter a new record or press ESCape to exit. (See Section IV - A for adding new records.) You can also print a hardcopy list of the property records which are displayed in this viewing table. (See Section VII for printed lists.) -> * To view the sample inventory records, use 01/01/91 for the <- -> starting search date and 12/31/91 for the ending search date. <- 3) If you select any of the other seven viewing tables, you MUST also enter a Category, a Location, an Owner, or a combination of the three, along with valid beginning and ending search dates. (Lookup tables will popup displaying the choices available for Category, Location, or Owner prompts. Highlight the desired entry and press ENTER to select it.) Only records matching ALL the search criteria you enter will be displayed in the selected viewing table. If no records match, a NO RECORD FOUND message will be displayed. Press ESCape to clear the message and exit to the menu. You cannot add new records. You can edit and delete any existing entered property records. You can also print a hardcopy of the matching records. Use the same keys noted in paragraph 2 to navigate through the records displayed on each viewing table. IV WORKING WITH THE PROPERTY RECORDS A) To add a new record, highlight the ADD NEW RECORDS/View by Name option and press ENTER. Then enter the requested dates and press ENTER. This will bring up the master viewing table. While the Inventory Record Form is displayed on the screen, you can press the F-1 key for on-line help as to what is entered into each field. (A help menu will appear at the top of the screen. Use the up and down arrow keys to highlight the area you desire help on and press the ENTER key.) The fields below marked with an * are required entries. You cannot skip over them. All entries will automatically be in upper case. 1) * Enter the ITEM NAME: what ever name you feel is appropriate for the particular item. (eg: computer printer) 2) Enter the ITEM COLOR: the color or colors of the particular item. There may be sufficient room to also enter the what material the item is made of. (eg: beige) 3) Enter the ITEM MODEL NAME or NUMBER: If the item has a model designation, enter it here. (eg: panasonic kx-p1124) 4) Enter the SERIAL NUMBER: If the itme has a serial number, enter it here. 5) * Enter the CATEGORY: What category is the item in? This information must also be entered into the Category lookup table before it can be used in the Inventory form. Access the lookup table by leaving the field blank and pressing ENTER. 6) * Enter the OWNER: Who does the item actually belong to? There is an Owner lookup table for this field, and the information must be entered into that table first. The Owner lookup table is accessed in the same manner as the Category table 7) * Enter the LOCATION/ROOM: Where it the item? There is a lookup table for this field also. As with the other lookup tables, the location must be entered into the LOCATION table first. The table is accessed the same as the other two lookup tables. 8) * Enter the PURCHASE DATE: This is the date that the item was purchased. Enter in the MOnth/DAy/YEar format. 9) * Enter the ITEM COST: The amount paid for the item. Be sure to enter the decimal point in the proper location here. 10) Enter NOTES: Up to 120 characters of whatever additional information you wish to enter. 11) Press F-10 to save the completed record. Records are saved immediately. 12) If you make an error, you can normally use the backspace key to go back to the start of the field and then type over the error. To go back to a preceeding field, press either the ESCape key or the up arrow key. If you wish to cancel (or abort) the record you are working on, pressing the CONTROL/ESCAPE key combination will exit the record entry function without saving the current record. 13) The "RIN" field in the bottom portion of the entry form is for the computer assigned record number. As you enter a new record, this number will increase by a factor of one. (The program can hold up to 999,999 records.) The RIN field is used only to identify specific records in various internal workings of the program. 14) You can print a hard copy of the property record displayed on the Inventory Record Form by pressing the F-5 key. 15) To add additional property records, press the INSert key, and fill in the displayed blank Inventory Record Form. B) To EDIT a record, highlight the record (on the viewing table) and press ENTER. When the selected record appears on the screen, you can press the ENTER key or the down arrow key to cycle through the form to the field to be edited. Then type over the current entry and press ENTER. The same "rules" apply for editing as for adding new records. (The information to be entered into the Category, Location, and Owner fields must already exist in the respective tables. If you enter information into either of these fields which is not in the respective table, the table will pop up and you can select the correct information. (You CANNOT enter new information into any of the lookup tables from this record editing function.) If you change the amount in the cost field, don't forget to insert the decimal point where required. Press F-10 to save the completed record with the edited information. Pressing the CONTROL-ESCAPE combination will abort the edit (the original record will be kept). C) To DELETE a record, highlight the record and press DELETE. When the selected record appears on the screen, press ENTER to erase the record. Use caution,. once a record is deleted, it is gone. If you accidently delete a record, you must re-enter it as a new record. D) To PRINT a record, highlight the record on any of the tables and press ENTER to select it. When the Inventory Record Form is displayed on the screen, press F-5 to print the item record. V. WORKING WITH THE LOOK UP TABLES A) HOMETRAX uses look up or tables to assist you in maintaining continuity in entering certain information. These tables are provided for the item CATEGORIES, the item LOCATION, and the item OWNERS. The required information must be entered into each of these look up tables before it can be entered into the inventory record form. B) To ADD new information into the lookup tables, select the look up table from the main menu (highlight and press ENTER). Then press the INSert key to access the information entry form for that lookup table. Simply enter the information required. The record will be automatically saved when you press ENTER on completing the field. NOTE: new category, location, or owner information can also be entered from with in the HOMETRAX Inventory Record Form when you add a new expense record. (Look for the INS = ADD note in the bottom left hand corner of the look up table. If it's there, you can add new information.) 1) CATEGORY: Enter the NAME you wish to assign for the property category. You cannot duplicate names. (The samples provided are: COMPUTER, & ELECTRONICS.) 2) LOCATION/ROOM: Enter the name of each room or other location name. Again, no duplicates are accepted. (The samples provided are: FAMILY ROOM, & LIVING ROOM.) 3) OWNER: Enter the names of the individual who actually own the property that will be entered into your HOMETRAX file. (The sample provided is: FAMILY.) C) If "INS = ADD" and "DEL = DELETE" are shown on the bottom of the look up tables, you can add, edit, and/or delete the information shown. D) When you access the any look up table from any of the property file viewing tables other than the ADD NEW RECORDS/View by Name, you can only select entries from the look up table. You cannot ADD, EDIT, or DELETE entries. VI. REPORTS MENU (printed list) Select this option to print a listing of all the property records in your HOMETRAX file. All listings also show the total number of items on the list and their total recorded value. They are printed in regular (10 cpi) Pica pitch. The list by... A) NAME will be in alphabetical order by item name. You can choose either regular Pica pitch or condensed (15 characters per inch) for this listing. (NOTE: some printers may not support the condensed print option.) B) CATEGORY will print the records in alphabetical order by category. The list also shows the number of items listed per category and the total recorded value. C) LOCATION prints the records alphabetically by their location. It also shows the total number items and value per location. D) OWNER prints the records alphabetically by recorded owner, along with the number of items and total value per owner. You can also print a single sheet of paper containing two blank inventory worksheets. Each sheet is one half page and is laid out in the same order as the Inventory Record Form. VII. OTHER PRINTED LISTINGS You can also print a list of the records displayed in any of the property viewing tables, by pressing the F-5 key. Each of these list will print the same records that are displayed in the individual table. Each list will show the selected Category, Location, and/or OWNER along with the search dates, as well as the total number of items and total value. Each list is printed in the regular (10 cpi) Pica pitch. The master list accessed from the ADD NEW RECORDS\View by Name table can also be printed in the condensed pitch (15 cpi). VIII. PRINT SHAREWARE REGISTRATION This option prints the Shareware Registration form. Fill in the requested information & send with a check or money order in the required amount to the address shown on the opening Menu screen. Be sure to note the proper disk size for your system (double density 5 1/4 or 3 1/2). SHAREWARE Policy and User Registration: The concept of SHAREWARE is to try a program BEFORE you by it. If you like the program and continue to use it beyond a specified period of time, you are obligated to register it with the author. Since the registration fee involved is usually less than comparable commercial programs, you can receive quality programs at very reasonable costs. Your registration fee also supports the authors and encourages them to produce more quality products. HOMETRAX is distributed as SHAREWARE. You are allowed to use this program free of cost for a 21 day trial period. You must register (or license) the program if you continue to use it beyond this trial period. During the SHAREWARE trial period, you may freely copy and distribute this program; provided that the program is intact and in its original form (including all SHAREWARE notices), and that no fee is charged for this distribution. Approved SHAREWARE vendors may charge a nominal fee to cover their costs of distribution. SHAREWARE vendors may also include other documentation and/or files on the disk with this program, as long as no HOMETRAX program files are deleted or modified. This program is copyrighted. Neither the SHAREWARE version nor the REGISTERED version may be modified in any way without the author's prior written consent. On submitting the required $30 (US) registration fee, you will receive a REGISTERED version of this program. This REGISTERED version will contain the owner's name in the main menu screen. You are allowed to make a back up copy of this REGISTERED version, but MAY NOT distribute copies of it to others. With your registration, you will also receive HOMETRAX - Personal Address Book (a computerized "rolodex" to record names, addresses, phone numbers, and important dates for your family, friends, business contacts, and other VIP's. Also prints address labels.) THANK YOU ----------------------------------------------------------------------------