Lottery Checker Manual By J.S.Owen ---------------------------------- First the usual stuff. This program is Shareware and should be spread with this document "Lottery.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. @ Why I Created This Program -------------------------- The inspiration for this program came when a friend of mine had 30 lottery numbers to check in his works lottery syndicate. On the first draw he thought he had won alot only to find he had miss read some of the numbers. So I wrote this program to check through the numbers for him. This shareware version of the program is limited to doing just that job. However I have now made some improvements to the program mainly on the statistical analysis side, such as finding out what are the most popular lottery numbers chosen by people, and the lottery draw machine. There are notes at the end of this document and on the system close screen of how to buy a copy of that program. You may have also noticed that much of the interface for this program looks similar to my find a date program, this is because I used most of the routines I created for that one in this program. Because of this the development time was only 2 days for this basic program! @ Main Menu --------- From the Main Menu you have the following options:- [1] File Maintenance [2] Records List [3] Check Numbers [4] Analysis Menu [5] Options Menu [6] Utilities Menu [7] 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 - Delete, 3 - Analise Data (only availble on the full version), 4 - Re-enter. To enter the numbers use the mouse to point and click on the appropriate number then click on OK to end. @ 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. Clicking on a name will allow you to edit their information. @ Check Numbers ------------- You will be asked to enter the lottery numbers, use the mouse pointer to select the numbers, then click on OK when you have entered the first 6. Now enter the bonus number. You will be asked if you want the numbers added to the history file if you accept this option then the lottery numbers will be stored for analysis in the file Lottery02.Dat. This is a text file and may be altered manually, read the technical notes at the end of this document for how this is done. The program will now check all the records on file and tell you if there are any winners. When you have finished checking the numbers press escape to quit. Full version owners have the added option of clicking on OK immediately to create a random lottery number, this may be used in office lottery draws. @ Analysis Menu ------------- This menu only works on the full version. From the Analysis Menu you have the following options:- [1] User Data Analysis [2] History Data Analysis [0] Main Menu All you have to do is press the number of the option required. @ User Data Analysis ------------------ This option is only availible on the full version. The computer will do some calculations and then present you with a graph with the Y axis representing the number of users, and on the X axis the lottery number. This will show which numbers are popular and unpopular. If you want to be the sole winner of jackpot I suggest you pick the unpopular numbers. @ History Data Analysis --------------------- This option is only availible on the full version. The computer will do some calculations and then present you with a graph with the Y axis representing the number of time the number has been picked, and on the X axis the lottery number. This will show which numbers are picked most often. There might be in time a number which is twice as likely to be picked than others, obviously this would be the one to go for. @ Options Menu ------------ From the Options Menu you have the following options:- [1] Set Colours [2] Set Directory Path [3] 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 Directory Path ------------------ You will be asked to enter new path for Lottery 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 Lottery Files [0] Main Menu All you have to do is press the number of the option required. @ Undelete Client --------------- Simply click on the surname of the client to be undeleted. @ 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 Lottery 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!! Also on this screen there is information on how to get a copy of the full program. @ 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 Payable to 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:- Lottery - Executable file Lottery.Doc - Lottery documentation Lottery01.Prf - Lottery preferences In the user defined file path:- Lottery01.Dat - Lottery numbers data file Lottery01.Idx - Lottery numbers index file used to make searching quick Lottery02.Dat - History file of past lottery numbers. Note: This is a text file which may be edited if needed but MUST be in the format of:- num1 num2 num3 num4 num5 num6 bonusNum Carrage return '11 22 33 44 55 66 77' Note Lottery Checker will initially create any missing files except for Lottery.Doc. *************************** End Of Lottery.Doc *****************************