• The Birthday Program V. 1.0
  • Documentation - 9/2000
  • Louis R. Andrews - 706-736-4884

    • Requirements

    1. 486 processor or better with at least 16 MB of memory.
    2. Windows95 or 98 operating system. The program should work with NT, but has not been tested with it.
    3. At least 2 MB of hard disk space or more depending on the size of your database.
      1. The program itself uses about 1.0 MB of disk space - the rest is needed for data files.
    4. A color monitor capable of 800 x 600 mode or greater is recommended, but the program will run in 640 x 480 mode.
    1. Installation
      1. Installation of the demo is done with The Wise Install Program. Just run the setup program (bpsetup.exe) and answer the prompts and the program will create its own subdirectory and install itself.
      2. After installation, we suggest that you add a shortcut to your Windows Desktop to run The Birthday Program. Right-click with your mouse anywhere on your Desktop and select New, then Shortcut. Left-click on Shortcut and click on the Browse Button. Select the drive on which you installed The Birthday Program, then select the The Birthday Program directory. Double left-click on the em.exe program file. Click Next and change the name to The Birthday Program. Now click Finish. The new Shortcut with a Mona Lisa icon will appear on your Desktop.

    Program Design, Structure and Purpose

    1. The Birthday Program uses a multi-threaded Browse/Form structure for its basic program design. All data is viewed on multiple Browses (scrollable, sortable, selectable, and searchable lists of data) and is added, edited, or deleted via Forms. Each Browse has a built in incremental locator, which will take you to the best matching record as you start typing the first few letters of the entry. Appropriate Forms are accessed via their particular Browse Window. Reports are run separately from a Report Menu. All reports are previewable before printing.
    2. The program is designed for radio and TV stations that announce birthdays on the air.

    Help Features

    1. The primary help for this program is in three forms.
      1. These instructions, which give an overall picture of the use and function of the program. A text copy is also included under the "Help" Menu of the program.
      2. Messages that appear on the lower left border of the Menu frame also provide additional assistance.
      3. "Tool Tips," which appear when you move the cursor over a part of the display provide much of the needed information.
      4. The program is designed to be used with little training or need of help. For anything not covered by these, please contact the developer by phone at 706-736-4884 0r via Email at software@lrainc.com.

    Navigation

    1. Birthday Program uses standard Windows95/98 navigation techniques, so if you are familiar with other Windows programs you should have no difficulty at all.
    2. Menu - The main Menu provides access to the various parts of the program and is described in detail in section 6, the Menu System.
    3. Taskbar - Notice the small blue icons on the area immediately under the Menu items, this is the Taskbar. The buttons are "flat" style buttons, so only the icons show unless they are active and you move the cursor over them with the mouse. When a Taskbar button is available for use it is undimmed and has a "tool tip" available telling you its purpose as you move the mouse over them. The first seven icons are for navigation on a Browse. Skipping the check mark button for now, the next three buttons (starting with the + (Plus) mark) are for Inserting, Changing, and Deleting individual records respectively. If left-clicked with the mouse, they will call a Form designed to do what you requested. The check mark button is used to call a secondary Browse from a Form to look up an existing entry (location, subject, or author's name) to fill a data field.
    4. All Browses use Scrollbars on the right and bottom where necessary. Of course, you can also use the up-arrow and down-arrow keys, page-up and page-down keys, and the incremental locator previously mentioned while in a Browse.
    5. While in a Form, the TAB key or the mouse can be used to move between fields, while the mouse is best used to access Menu and Toolbar items, Tabs, and to move from one part of a window to another.

    Data Entry

    1. Data entry is accomplished by accessing the Form in any of three ways from its browse.
      1. Use the appropriate buttons on the Taskbar, as described above.
      2. Keyboard - Instead of the Taskbar, you may use the Insert, Enter, and Delete keys on your keyboard to Insert, Change, or Delete records. A Select can be made by a double left mouse-click.
      3. Right Mouse-Click - The third method involves a right mouse-click. This will cause a popup Menu to appear with the options that are currently available
    2. Only one simple Form is used for data entry.
      1. The Form for data entry only needs to have the name and birthday information filled
      2. in. The balance of the information is optional.
      3. Dates are all entered as MMDDYYYY. The "/" marks will be entered automatically by the program. Phone numbers are the same, just enter the digits and the program will do the formatting.
      4. The Form has OK and Cancel buttons on the lower right. Clicking on the OK button (or pressing the Enter Key) will save the record, while clicking on the Cancel button will abort it.

    The Menu System

    1. The Menu system consists of seven entries, File, Edit, Browse, Reports, Maintenance, Window, and Help
    1. File
      1. Used to change the print setup and to exit the program in the 1.0 version of Birthday Program.
    2. Edit
      1. Used to cut, copy, and paste information from and into the text fields or data entry fields. Text from any Windows document can easily be imported using these selections.
    3. Browse
      1. Gives access to the main parts of the program, including all onscreen viewing, adding, editing, and deleting data.
      2. Browse Birthday records is the browse window and displays basic information about each person. The last three tabs, by Today, by Date Range & by Month, show birthdays for only today, for pre-set date range (usually today + the next two days) and for only this month. The global date TODAY can be set by clicking on the button on the bottom of the browse window. This will not effect the system date of the computer. The form for adding or editing individual's records can be accessed from this window. This window is resizable and can be minimized.
    4. Reports
      1. There are 5 reports available under the report menu.
        1. Print Birthdays for Today
        2. Print Birthdays for Date Range (Friday & Weekends)
        3. Print Birthdays for this Month
        4. Print (All Year) Birthdays by Month and Day - Jan - Dec
        5. Print Birthdays by Age
      2. Reports are generally best run on a standard office printer (laser or ink-jet). All are previewed on screen before printing.
    5. Maintenance
      1. Edit Default Record File - Allows the user to enter the station call letters and the primary city or town.
      2. Delete All Records Over 60 Days Old - This single entry will run a process to delete all records with birthdays over 60 days old. You will first get a warning screen that will allow you to change your mind.
    6. Help
      1. This Menu button, again, works as with the standard Windows95 Help button and provides a text version of this document.
      2. About - re-displays the Splash screen.

    Contacting the developer.

    1. Mail: L. R. Andrews, Inc.
    2. P. O. Box 3474
    3. Augusta, GA 30914
    4. Telephone: 706-736-4884
    5. Fax: 706-733-7652
    6. Email: software@lrainc.com
    7. Website:http://www.lrainc.com/software/
    8. Note: lrainc.com is LRAINC.com all in lower case.