GBROUTE PLUS EDITOR Typed in by POACHER Why!! I don't know I have got better things to do with my time People can do what they want with this but remember who typed it TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction.................................................Page 2 Requirements.................................................Page 3 Installation.................................................Page 3 Quick Start Guide............................................Page 4 Project Menu.................................................Page 7 About......................................................Page 7 SaveData...................................................Page 7 AutoMove...................................................Page 7 Quit.......................................................Page 7 Map Menu.....................................................Page 7 Grid.......................................................Page 7 Road Names.................................................Page 8 Distances..................................................Page 8 ShowAll....................................................Page 8 Places Window................................................Page 8 Place:.....................................................Page 8 Xpos:......................................................Page 9 Ypos:......................................................Page 9 NG:........................................................Page9 Level......................................................Page 9 Routes Window................................................Page 10 Place1:....................................................Page 10 Place2:....................................................Page 10 Distance:..................................................Page 11 Road:......................................................Page 11 06 NOV. 91 -1- Poacher OK and Cancel Gadgets........................................Page 11 ADD..........................................................Page 11 Adding A Place.............................................Page 11 Adding A Route.............................................Page 12 MOD..........................................................Page 12 Modifying A Place..........................................Page 12 Modifying A Route..........................................Page 13 DEL..........................................................Page 13 Deleting A Place...........................................Page 13 Deleting A Route...........................................Page 13 Duplicate Places.............................................Page 13 Service Stations.............................................Page 14 Road Junctions...............................................Page 14 Navigating The Map...........................................Page 14 Appendix - Keyboard Options..................................Page 15 IMPORTANT: Please read this manual carefully before attempting to use GBRPlus Edit and ensure that any changes are made to a back-up copy of the program and not the original. Always take great care when deleting any places or roads from the data files. INTRODUCTION GBRoutePlusEdit/GBRPlusEdit (referred to henceforth as "the Editor" ) has been specifically written and designed as a powerful companion to GBRoutePlus. The Editor will allow the user to easily add or modify GBRoutePlus,enabling the user to build up the data files to a much higher degree. 06 NOV. 91 -2- Poacher The possibilities are almost limitless and there are many examples of how the editor can benefit the user,for example with the editor it is possible to incorporate the following:- The users home The users workplace Company branches Friends and relatives homes Additional roads and places Tourist landmarks Roadside hotels and public houses Holiday sites Future road changes With the assistance of the editor the user can expand and personalise the software and in doing so keep GBRoutePlus current and up to date. The editor gives the user full control to add, modify or delete places or routes within GBRoutePlus. Of course there has to be some limitations and the greatest one is that of available Amiga memory for example a 1 megabyte computer will allow many extra data inputs but will eventually run short of memory. Additional memory over the minimum requirement of 1 megabyte will allow extensive input into GBRoutePlus data files. REQUIREMENTS GBRoutePlus Edit requires GBRoutePlus and will run on all standard Amiga Computers A500, A1000,A1500, A2000 and A3000 with at least 1 megabyte of available memory. INSTALLATION To install the Editor on either disk or hard disk double click on the appropriate installation program on the main GBRoutePlus disk. 06 NOV. 91 -3- Poacher QUICK START GUIDE The following is a step by step guide to adding two new places and one new road that will connect both of the places together. After completing the new additions there are further changes that then need to be made, a guide will also be given as to what these changes are. Please note that this guide is meant as an introduction to the basic concept and uses the editor. Expanding on this procedure is the best form of tuition and is highly recommended. The two places that we are about to add to GBRoutePlus data file are 'Drumclog' and 'Dungavel'. The map location will be just south of glasgow between Strathaven and Muirkirk. After loading the editor, zoom down to the relevant map area by moving the mouse pointer south of glasgow and holding down the CTRL key,and then clicking the left mouse button. Eventually Strathaven should be visible and it is immediately south of that point that we will be concentrating on. a)Click the ADD gadget in the PLACES window, a text cursor will then appear in the Place: input window. b)Type in lower case the name 'Drumclog' and press return. c)The text cursor will now appear in the Xpos: input window, study the map display and notice the grid coordinates change with each zoom level. Type in '887' and press return. d)Next type in the Ypos: input window '1040'. See if you can see how these coordinates have been reached. After pressing the return key the NG: window or National Grid window will automatically fill out with the coordinates 'NS6340';more on these later. e)Type '6' in the Level: window, this is the level of magnification at which the place 'drumclog' will be displayed. f)Click the OK gadget in the Places window. After completing the above steps the new place 'Drumclog' should now be visible on the map. This process should now be repeated for the second new place. To clear the input windows from the last entry click on the CANCEL gadget in the Places window. 06 NOV. 91 -4- Poacher The name of the second new place is 'Dungavel'. and the input data should be typed as follows:- a)As before b)Place: Type 'Dungavel' c)Xpos: Type '892' d)Ypos: Type '1044' e)Level: Type '6' f)As before. Once both new places have been added it is now time to join them together by road as follows:- a)Click the ADD gadget in the Routes: window, a text cursor will then appear in the Place1: input window. b)Type in the name 'Drumclog' and press return. c)The cursor will now move to Place2: input window. Type in 'Dungavel' and press return. d)Type in the DIST: window the number '2' and press return. (Distance in miles) e)Now type in the name of the road in the Road: window 'B745' followed by return. f)Click on the OK gadget in the Routes: window. There should now be displayed in the map window the two places 'drumclog' and 'Dungavel' connected by the 'B745' road. At this stage it would be easy to assume that the work was finished, however,there are some modifications that need to be made to the existing roads that the new places have been incorporated onto. The changes are as follows:- a)Click the ADD gadget in the routes: window. b)Type in the new place 'Drumclog' and press return. 06 NOV. 91 -5- Poacher c)Then type in 'Strathaven' followed by return. d)Now the distance in miles can be typed as '5'. e)Type in the road name that connects the two places together which is the 'A71'. f)Finally click on the OK gadget in the Routes: window. The above procedure should be repeated for all connecting roads between the two places with their respective names and mileage details being changed as necessary. The data should be added as follows:- Place1:'Drumclog' Place2:'Dungavel' Place1:'Dungavel' Place2:'Darvel' Place2:'Strathaven' Place2:'Muirkirk' Dist: '6' Dist: '6' Dist: '7' Road: 'A71' Road: 'A273' Road 'A273' Because of these actions there will now be two new places, one new road and two seta of the older roads eg the 'A71' and 'A273'. The next stage is to delete the older roads that do not include the new places, this is achieved as follows:- a)Click the DEL gadget in the Routes: window. b)Type in the place 'Strathaven'. c)Type in the place 'Darvel'. d)Click the OK gadget in the Routes: window. Finally repeat the above process for 'Strathaven' to 'Muirkirk'. After checking through all the details carefully the data could now be saved to the GBRoutePlus data files by selecting SAVE DATA option from the project menu. NOTE: The user should always ensure that all new input is correct before saving to disk. Data can always be deleted from the data files at a later stage, however,it is much easier and less confusing to get things right in the first instance. 06 NOV. 91 -6- Poacher PROJECT MENU ABOUT Contains various program information and displays the amount of free chip memory,this is worth checking occasionally when inputting additional data so as to avoid using too much memory. The users personal registration number is also displayed here. SAVE DATA Saves to the GBROUTEPlus data files. It is possible to save data after clicking on the 'OK' gadget in either the Routes or Places window after adding, deleting or modifying. Ensure that any data is correct before using this option. AUTO MOVE when this option is selected every time an existing place or route is modified or when any new places and routes are entered, the map display will automatically re-position itself to the centre of the current selection. By de-selecting the Auto Move option the map display will remain at its current position. QUIT Exits the editor. Before exiting, the editor will check if any changes or modifications have been made, if there have been some changes and they have not already been saved,the editor will produce a prompt giving the user the chance to abort the exit allowing any work to then be saved. MAP MENU GRID Toggles the map grid in the map window on or off, generally this option should be on when inputting any form of data since this assists in the estimating the position of Xpos and Ypos. Also a dynamic Xpos and Ypos value is shown in the bottom line of the editor panel this value updates as the mouse is clicked within the map window. 06 NOV. 91 -7- Poacher ROAD NAMES When selected,road names will appear in the map window at magnifications of X64 and greater. DISTANCES When selected, road distances will appear in the map window at magnifications of X64 and greater. When the distances option is selected together with the Road Names option, both forms of data are displayed alongside each other. SHOW ALL Shows all of the roads on the map regardless of the level of magnification. PLACES WINDOW PLACE: The places input window is where places are entered into the program. The place MUST be a unique name , when the message 'Place already exists' appears it means:- a)The user is trying to re-enter a place that is already present. b)The user is entering a new place, but its name is not unique. To overcome problem (b) the solution is to modify the place being entered to include its county name or an abbreviation of the county name, any other suitable identifier may also be used. The place may then be re-entered with its unique name, the name used must be at least three characters long. The editor will automatically capitalize the first character of any name, this means that the preceding letters in places such as road junctions need to be manually capitalized, for example a) J a1234/b4321 b) J A1234/B4321 06 NOV. 91 -8- Poacher In (a) the 'J' is automatically capitalized whereas the 'a' and 'b' are left in lower case. It is not absolutely necessary to make use of capital letters but it does keep the data input in line with the rest of GBRoutePlus. There are two methods used for positional input: 1) An input can have an X and Y position which is used internally by the editor and represented by the grid in the map display. 2) An input can be entered in the form of a National Grid Reference. Either method may be used, however the X and Y coordinate system is more accurate than the National Grid Reference System method XPOS: A number between 1 and 2048 can be used. The Xpos is represented on the grid by the horizontal ruler at the bottom of the map display and is also shown in the bottom line of the editor panel. YPOS: A number between 1 and 2048 can be used. The Ypos is represented on the grid by the two vertical rulers either side of the map display and is also shown in the bottom line of the editor panel. NG: This is the input window for the National Grid Reference which consists of two letters followed by a four digit number. The NG: input window will automatically display the National Grid Coordinates if the equivalent X and Y positions are entered first. Entering a valid National Grid Reference will also give the equivalent X and Y position. LEVEL: A number between 0 and 8 inclusive. This number represents at what level of magnification a place will appear on the map. The choice of 'Level' also determines which identifier will proceed a place name. The current level of magnification is shown at the bottom of the screen in the form of a number together with the current Xpos, Ypos and National Grid Coordinates. The mouse pointer may be placed in the map 06 NOV. 91 -9- Poacher window to help identify the position of places to be entered using the Xpos and Ypos coordinates. The data from the pointer grid location will be updated as the pointer is moved within the map window. NOTE: An identifier is placed over the point on the map that is represented by the place name, the size of the identifier is also an indication as to the size of the place that it represents. If the identifier is large then the place is probably a city, and if the identifier is a small dot then the place it represents is probably a road junction or similar. The following is a guide to how the level numbers are used:- 0 - Major cities 1 - Large cities 2 - Other cities 3 - Major towns 4 - Towns 5 - Small towns 6 - Small towns,villages,motorway junctions and service stations 7 - Road junctions 8 - No data uses this as standard, but this is available to the user This is only a rough guide and it is entirely up to the user to make use of these options. For the most part the user will probably only be concerned with levels 5, 6, 7 and 8. ROUTES WINDOW The Routes window is in general the input device for all roads and motorways. PLACE1: and PLACE2: These are the input windows for the two places that are found at either end of a given road. The places must already be present in the data files. Each stretch of road must always be connected to a PLACE1: and PLACE2: for example, a direct route from London to Manchester is not viable due to the fact that there are many places in between 06 NOV. 91 -10- Poacher DISTANCE: The distance in miles between PLACE1: and PLACE2:. Any integer value between 1 and 255 is valid. ROAD: This is the name of the road between PLACE1: and PLACE2:. The road can be a Motorway, A road, B road or even a ferry route, a road name prefix of either 'M', 'A', 'B' or 'F' respectively should be used. There is one minor exception to this rule which is 'A' roads that are classed as Motorways are represented in GBROUTEPlus as 'M(A1)' and not A1(M). The reason for this is because GBROUTEPLUS uses the first character of the road name to determine the class of road. OK and CANCEL The OK gadgets confirm and validate the ADD DELete or MODify operation. The CANCEL gadgets clear all input windows either in the PLACES or ROUTES windows. ADD ADDING A PLACE Before adding a new place to the database a decision should be made as to whether the new place to be added is:- a)Somewhere on an existing road b)Isolated from existing roads In case (b), a place can simply be added followed by road(s) from a place(s) nearby. Case (a) will tend to be more likely and the following procedure should be adopted:- i) Zoom into the area where the new place is to be added. ii) Check the grid markings to determine the Xpos and Ypos position. iii) Select the ADD icon in the places window 06 Nov. 91 -11- Poacher iv) Type in the name of the new place, (if a message appears stating that the place already exists, see the section on duplicate places) v) Type in the XPos and Ypos coordinates. vi) Type in the magnification level vii) Click on the OK gadget. At this stage the new place should be visible at the centre of the display window. If the new place is incorrectly positioned, see the section on Modifying places. When adding a place to an existing road the mileage data should be re- calculated from all of the connecting places adjoining the new place. The older route that did not originally include the new place should then be erased. See the sections on adding and deleting routes. ADDING A ROUTE Adding a road to a place is very simple to do. First select the ADD gadget from the Routes window and type in the two places to be connected (these should already be present in the data files), then type in the distance in miles between the two places. Finally type the name of the connecting road remembering to use a road type prefix as described earlier. Once the input is complete click the OK gadget in the routes window. As new places are added to existing roads, the roads need to be modified so as to take into consideration the new place. This is achieved by adding or modifying the roads and mileage between the new places. MOD MODIFYING A PLACE To modify any data for a place, first click on the MOD gadget in the places window and then type in the name of the place to be modified, if the place exists within the data files the Xpos and Ypos and level input windows will show its current details. The user will also notice that the word 'locked' will appear above the MOD gadget. This means that the currently selected data is locked in place. It is now possible to change the place name to any other unique name. To cancel the 'locked' setting either click on the MOD gadget again or click on the CANCEL gadget which will then clear all the input windows. 06 NOV. 91 -12- Poacher When the necessary modifications have been made the user can then click on the OK gadget to validate any changes. MODIFYING A ROUTE Modifying a route allows the user to change the name of a road and its mileage between any two given places To modify an existing route select the MOD gadget in the routes window. Type in the two places that are at either end of the respective route, the distance and the road name will then appear in their appropriate windows. It is now possible to modify the data, however it is not possible to modify the place names. (See Modifying A place) Click on the OK gadget when the changes have been made. DEL DELETING A PLACE NOTE: If a place to be deleted has any roads attached to it, these roads will also be deleted. To delete a place select the DEL gadget in the places window and enter the name of the place to be deleted, and then click on the OK gadget. DUPLICATE PLACES GBRoutePlus requires that each place has a unique name,, however there are circumstances when there is more than one place with the same name. This problem is easily overcome(shit I think I've got blisters on my fingers) by including at the end of each duplicate name its county or an abbreviation of its county, which as a general rule should be enclosed in brackets for clarity For example:- If the user wished to include a new town called 'Bury in Norfolk' the procedure would be to select ADD from the places window and then type in 'Bury', however the editor would then produce a message stating that the place already exists. In this situation two steps should be taken to rectify the problem. Select MOD in the places window and then modify the existing 'Bury' to 'Bury' '(Gt.Mches.)' and click on the OK gadget, then select ADD in the places window and type in 'Bury'(Norfolk). 06 NOV. 91 -13- Poacher After completing the rest of the input data and then clicking on the OK gadget there should now be two 'Bury's' which are easily identified and unique. Of course it is possible to enter just 'Bury(Norfolk)' and leave the 'Bury' in Greater Manchester as 'Bury', however it is much more suitable in the case of name duplication to clearly distinguish between the two as this makes selection much simpler and less confusing. SERVICE STATIONS Service stations are a special case within GBRoutePlus. These are entered by preceding the service station name with the prefix of '!S', the editor will automatically capitalize the prefix if it is entered in lower case. ROAD JUNCTIONS Entering a road junction instead of a name is considered as a last resort, entering a place by its name is more appropriate due to the fact that during a trip the name of a place is much easier to remember and make use of than that of a road junction number. However some road junctions cannot be identified by a name. If this is the case the usual format for data input is in the form of:- 'J 1st road/2nd road' For example:- i) J A234/B5678 ii) J M(A1)/A54 Note: that road junctions are normally assigned to level 7 NAVIGATING THE MAP The editor handles zooming and moving around the screen in the same way as GBRoutePlus. To zoom in a level hold down the CTRL key and click on the part of the map that you wish to focus on, the Map display will then move to the next level of magnification and centre the display at the point where the mouse pointer was clicked. This system works in reverse by holding down the ALT key and clicking the mouse. 06 NOV. 91 -14- Poacher To centre the Map display without changing the magnification levels hold down the SHIFT key and click the mouse button. In addition to clicking on the various gadgets at the bottom right corner of the screen, it is also possible to both scroll buy using the cursor keys, and to zoom using the '+' and '-' keys on either the numeric pad or the main keyboard. APPENDIX - KEYBOARD OPTIONS The following list is a summary of short-cut keyboard options: Right Amiga + X Clears text from input window Right Amiga + ? About RIGHT AMIGA + S Save Data Right Amiga + A Auto Move Right Amiga + Q (Guess) Right Amiga + G Toggles Grid Right Amiga + R Toggles Road Names Right Amiga + D Toggles Distances Right Amiga + L Toggles Show All CTRL + LMB will zoom in a level and centre the map display at the mouse pointer ALT + LMB will zoom out a level and centre the map display at the mouse pointer SHIFT + LMB will centre the map at the mouse pointer THAT'S YOUR LOT APART FROM THE FRONT AND BACK COVER THIS DOCUMENT IS 100% CORRECT 06 NOV. 91 -15- Poacher