Find a Date Manual By J.S.Owen ------------------------------ First the usual stuff. This program is Shareware and should be spread with this document "FAD.Doc". I accept no responsibility for any damage caused, loss of data, nuclear wars, deaths, infestations of wasps, or any thing else which may be considered as destructive or generally bad. However I do accept any donations to the help Jim become a millionaire appeal the address is at the end of this document. @ When I Were A Lad ----------------- The inspiration for this program came when I copied out a date finder program out of a magazine on my Spectrum 48K in 1985. The program was bugged as usual and very simplistic, but it worked and I had lots of fun putting every one from my year at school in and then matching every one up. I had a few successes and made a bit of cash by charging them 30p to be put on the system. I hope you get as much enjoyment from this program as I did from that one. @ Main Menu --------- From the Main Menu you have the following options:- [1] File Maintenance [2] Records List [3] Print Questionnaires [4] Options Menu [5] Utilities Menu [6] Help - This document [0] System Close - USE this option to exit All you have to do is press the number of the option required. @ File Maintenance ---------------- You will be asked to enter a surname, if it's not on file you will be asked to select from, 1 - New Record or 2 - Re-enter. If new record is selected then all you have to do is enter the clients details. During in the input phase the cursor up & down keys may be used to go back and correct errors. When amending data escape quits. If you enter a surname which is on file the record will be displayed and you will be asked to select from, 1 - Accept, 2 - New Record (add a record of the same surname), 3 - Find Next (find next record of the same surname), 4 - Re-enter. If you accept the record then the following options will be offered, 1 - Amend, 2 - Match, 3 - Delete, 4 - Print, 5 - View Page 2, 6 - Re-enter. Matching a client may take a minute so a percentage complete indicator is displayed when finished the best four matches with a percentage of compatibility indicator is displayed. Deleting a client only flags a deletion so you may undelete a client from the utilities menu, but not if you have packed the file. @ Records List ------------ When selected you will be asked if the report is to go to the screen or to the printer, then the report will be produced. Records that have been flagged for deleteion will be displayed with the comment of "* Deleted *" by them. @ Print Questionnaires -------------------- You will be asked to enter the number of copies, then it will print them. @ Options Menu ------------ From the Options Menu you have the following options:- [1] Set Colours [2] Set Match Parameters [3] Set Directory Path [4] Printer Preferences [0] Main Menu All you have to do is press the number of the option required. @ Set Colours ----------- Simply click on the colour you wish to change then use the slider bars to adjust the colours. All the types of text are displayed so you will get an idea of what the different displays will look like with your new colours. If you wish to change back to the default colours press 'D'. To exit press escape at this point any changes made will be saved to the program directory. @ Set Match Parameters -------------------- This allows you to change the weightings for the different areas used to match clients. The areas are as follows:- Occupation Age Sex (0 = only preferred sex partners considered) Interest (the value given here will be per an interest) Height Weight Skin Colour Eye Colour Hair Colour In the input boxes any number between 0 and 9999 can be entered, the percentage of the total score will be displayed next to the boxes and recalculated after each entry. In this way you can personalise the weightings so if occupation is important to you, you could make the occupation worth 25% of the total marks. When you have entered all the weighting they are save to disk. @ Set Directory Path ------------------ You will be asked to enter new path for FAD files. The path for the files will be saved to disk. I'm not sure that this option is going to be of any real use, it was put in really for development purposes. @ Printer Preferences ------------------- You may set the following to your own preference:- Left Margin Top Margin Bottom Margin Page Length Paper Type Initialisation Characters in Decimal (999 = Not Used) The last option allows you to use your printer codes to turn on or off your printers NLQ option. Your printer codes will be in your printer manual. Note to use a printer with any Amiga program you need a SYS:Devs/Printers directory set up with your printers driver in this directory. You also need to set up the preferences to use the correct printer driver. For any other details on printers look in your Amiga manual. @ Utilities Menu -------------- From the Main Menu you have the following options:- [1] Undelete Client [2] Pack File [3] Merge 2 FAD Files [0] Main Menu All you have to do is press the number of the option required. @ Undelete Client --------------- Simply enter the surname of the client to be undeleted. The deleted clients are shown on the records list option. @ Pack File --------- This is used to get rid of any records flagged for deletion. Note that this option may take some time, and I advise that you ALWAYS BACKUP your files before using this procedure. @ Merge 2 FAD Files ----------------- If a friend also uses this program then you can merge your data bases together. To do this you need to know the file path to your friends FAD files if you don't know use the Set Directory Path option from the Options Menu on you friends copy and make a note of the directory path. Once you have entered the directory path you will be asked if you wish to vet the file, if you select this option you will be asked to accept/reject each record which is been merged. If you don't vet the file all records will be added to your database. Note this option may take some time and I advise that you ALWAYS BACKUP your files before using this procedure. @ System Close ------------ THIS IS THE PROPER WAY TO EXIT THE SYSTEM IF YOU DON'T USE IT YOU MAY LOOSE IT!! @ Oh No I've Corrupted My Files What Do I Do??? --------------------------------------------- Goto the utilities Menu and select Pack File this should recreate your file but obviously some data may be lost for good. @ Role Up, Role Up, Get Your Source Code Here!!! ---------------------------------------------- If you want the AMOS source code send a cheque for 10.00 Pay Mr. J.S.Owen. Include a note stating the program name and your address to:- Mr. J.S.Owen, 7, Burghley Walk, Brierley Hill, West Midlands, ENGLAND. DY5 3RN Any suggestions, bug reports are also welcomed. @ Technical Notes --------------- Find A Date was written on an Amiga A1200 with 80MB Hard Disk, a Blizzard board 1220/4TMB, 1 external floppy drive, and a Citizen Swift 24 colour printer in AMOS V1.35 with the following extensions:- Music Extension V1.62 Picture Compactor V1.2 Requester V1.41 Compiler extension V1.35 Serial Extension V1.2 Colour Text V1.32 AMOS Turbo Plus Extension V1.0 CRAFT Extension V1.0 MusiCRAFT Extension V1.0 @ Files useage list:- In program directory:- FAD - Executable file FAD.Doc - FAD documentation FADv1.Prf - FAD preferences In the user defined file path:- FADv1.Dat - FAD data file FADv1.Idx - FAD index file used to make searching quick Note FAD will initially create any missing files except for FAD.Doc. *************************** End Of FAD.Doc *********************************