 



                       
                               DECEMBER 2,1990                             
  
                              FLASHBACK VER 2.60 
                      
                         an appointment alert utility 
   
                            by Hugh M. McCall,Jr.

   Early versions of this program were uploaded to Bulletin Boards without 
   the proper credit given to the authors of the ShareWare Menu Routines. 
   I am sorry and apologize for this oversight, and hereby include them 
   below. 

   THE MENU BOX ROUTINES WERE GIVEN TO THE PUBLIC DOMAIN BY MR. MICHEAL 
   HIMOWITZ AND MR. FRANK NEAL.  THANKS TO THESE PEOPLE FOR MAKING LIFE 
   EASIER FOR THE REST OF US WHO USE MICRO-SOFT QUICKBASIC.  
   
   THE PROGRAM:::: 

   FB.EXE is the main program.  RDAPT.EXE is the read and display program. 
   FB.EXE is both the Appointment Entry program and the Read and Display 
   combined for those who elect not to have their appointments displayed 
   on boot up.  If you have the DOS path set to the directory containing 
   these programs, you can type RDAPT from anywhere on your hard drive and 
   read your appointments without having to run FB.EXE. 

   The path is set in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file and would look something like 
   this: 

   PATH = C:\;<\DIR>;<\DIR>;<\DIR> etc.   With the two programs FB.EXE 
   
   and RDAPT.EXE residing in a DOS path directory.   

   
   The entire program is menu driven and should require minimum effort to 
   use.  PAY PARTICULAR ATTENTION TO THE WAY YOU ENTER THE DATE AS THIS IS 
   VERY, VERY IMPORTANT.  FOLLOW THE EXAMPLE IN THE PROGRAM.  Some effort 
   has been made to trap potential errors on entry, however, anything is 
   possible.  You have a 40 character line for your message (appointment) 
   information. 

   RDAPT.EXE is a stand-alone utility and is a copy of the read and 
   display program.  When utilized per instructions below, appointments 
   may be viewed on each boot-up of your machine. 
   
   The read and display section of the programs will display your 
   appointments in two ways.  The first is a FLASHING CYAN (light blue) 
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   with an '*' in front.   This will alert you an appointment is due 
   TODAY.  The asterisk serves to allow users with monochrome monitors to 
   discern between appointments with ease.   An appointment counter 
   variable displays the number of appointments (per page) at the top of 
   the screen.  If you have more than one page of appointments, you will 
   see 'MORE' displayed at the bottom of your screen. 

** The BOLD YELLOW with a '+' in front of the date will alert you ONE DAY 
   BEFORE your appointment. 

   FLASHBACK has the ability to display end of month to beginning of month 
   transitions, and, will display new year transitions.  The monthly 
   transitions will be made normally (one day ahead). 

                  New Year transitions will Display in Pink.
   
           ****** THIS PROGRAM DOES NOT CONSIDER LEAP YEARS ******* 

   *** UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS:: ON THE LAST DAY OF THE MONTH, YOU WILL 
   NOT SEE FUTURE APPOINTMENTS DISPLAYED ... DO NOT WORRY... AT MIDNIGHT 
   OF THE LAST DAY OF THE MONTH, THE FUTURE APPOINTMENTS WILL BE DISPLAYED 
   NORMALLY.   THE PROGRAM CURRENTLY HAS PROGRAM LINES THAT MAKE IT CHECK 
   FOR CURRENT & (NEXT DAY) APPOINTMENTS ONLY, AT END OF MONTH.  YOU MAY 
   STILL VIEW ALL YOUR APPOINTMENTS FROM 'FLASHBACK' MENU SELECTION '2', 
   AND USE THE EDIT/DELETE FEATURE AND STEP THEM ONE AT A TIME. 

   PRINT APPOINTMENTS: 

   To print your appointments, simply press print screen on your keyboard 
   and 'image' the screen contents to the printer. 

   AUTO-DELETE::: 

   Will auto-delete all past due appointments on request.  I first had the 
   program auto-deleting appoints by itself, and then decided that might 
   be a bad idea. 


   This program will lock your system CAPITALS and NUMBERS when run.  As 
   you exit either utility, the program/s will undo them and return to 
   normal configuration. 


   SOME ENHANCEMENTS FOR THIS PROGRAM HAVE BEEN IMPLEMENTED SINCE FIRST 
   WRITTEN.  I HAVE TRIED TO MAKE THIS PROGRAM THE SMALLEST AND MOST 
   USABLE OFFICE UTILITY OF ITS KIND AVAILABLE. IT DOESN'T DIAL YOUR 
   PHONE, CALCULATE YOUR BILLS ETC....IT SIMPLY DISPLAYS APPOINTMENTS IN A 
   RATHER UNIQUE WAY. 

   This program contains error trapping and has been tested (a bunch). 
   However, I would like to hear from anyone who finds it useful and has 
   ANY problems with it. 

   INSTRUCTIONS for INSTALLATION FOR READ APPOINTS ON BOOT UP: 
   
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   1) make a backup copy of your autoexec.bat file. 

   2) use your favorite editor or word processor to make the following 
       changes in the original autoexec.bat. 

   3) anywhere in your autoexec.bat (preferably in the last section), put 
      \RDAPT.EXE on a line by itself.  This will make your computer show 
      your appointments on boot up.  BE SURE YOU HAVE BOTH FB.EXE AND 
      RDAPT.EXE IN A DIRECTORY WITH THE PATH SET AS MENTIONED ABOVE.  
      
   *** DECEMBER 2,1990 *** INSTALLED A LOOP TO ALLOW RESET OF TIME THRU
                           MIDNIGHT AND INCREMENT DATE AND TIME IN 
                           RELATION TO APPOINTMENTS.  SO IF YOU ARE USING
                           THE PROGRAM AT MIDNIGHT, IT WILL UPDATE AT
                           HOUR 00:00:00.  THE LOOP TIME IS NOT VARIABLE
                           BUT SHOULD NOT CAUSE DELAY EXCEPT ON AN XT
                           AT 4.77 MHZ. (IF EVEN THEN).

   *** DECEMBER 14,1990 *** FIXED A MESSAGE DISPLAY FOR THE 25 TH OF DEC.
       
   THE PROGRAM WILL NOW ALERT YOU TO PENDING APPOINTMENTS IN A COMING 
   MONTH EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE NOT DISPLAYED UNTIL THE MONTH GOES ACTIVE.
   IT DOES THIS BY DISPLAYING 'Appts. Pending!' AT THE BOTTOM OF YOUR
   SCREEN TO INDICATE PENDING APPOINTMENTS IN A MONTH NOT YET ACTIVE.

   Special note:  

       Since starting work on the little program, I have lost my color 
       monitor.  Because I am now in the 'blind', colorwise, there could 
       some bugs introduced that way.  If there is, please drop me a line 
       so I can fix it. **** 

   Another Special note:  

   Special thanks to the SYSOP of the PROGRAMMERS BBS  803-862-4616 for 
   his suggestions to improve this utility. 

   =======================================================================
   FlashBack ver 2.60 is user supported software.  A specific donation is
   not requested, but any 'donations' will be cheerfully accepted.  
   =======================================================================

   Bud McCall
   Rt 8 Box 748 
   Piedmont, S.C. 29673 

  
