S3A TASK MANAGER V1.2
---------------------

(c) F A Richey and A Waller 1996

Introduction
------------

The Psion 3a has a comprehensive Agenda with To-Do list functions, 
which is fully adequate for scheduling appointments and keeping lists 
of to-do items. However, although you can have several To-Do lists in 
Agenda, adding many odd items or related project tasks can make 
accessing and managing them in a structured manner quite difficult.

S3ATASK has been designed as an alternative method of recording 
and managing the tasks that have to be accomplished, whether at 
work, at home, for hobbies or for personal goals. It uses the principles 
of good time management, namely breaking down large projects into 
tasks of manageable size, categorising and setting priorities for tasks, 
sorting and ordering them, and being able to see progress, results and 
accomplishments.

It allows sub-prioritisation of tasks, and by categorising on three levels 
(Groups, Projects and Types), allows you to quickly see lists of 
outstanding items and organise tasks for optimum management.

The inspiration for this program came from a program called TODO, 
written in 1992 by John Whiting of Lexsoft, for the original Psion S3, 
to make up for the limitations of the built-in Agenda, and we 
acknowledge John's hard work in designing the original program.

Installation
------------
To install the program simply:

1.	put S3ATASK2.APP into any \APP\ directory,
2.	put S3ATASK2.OVL in an \APP\S3ATASK\ sub-directory,
3.  If you want to install the optional Help system, put the 
S3ATASKH.OVL file into the \APP\S3ATASK\ subdirectory.
4.   	If you want to use the optional printing system, put the 
S3ATASKP.OVL file into the \APP\S3ATASK\ subdirectory, 
and	the S3APRINT.DYL into an \OPD\ directory.  (Note 
that this          library file will be common to all my programs, 
so if you have more than one of my programs you will need 
only one copy on the system)
5.	install as usual using <Psion-I>.

The program will create an \S3ATASK\ directory on the internal drive 
for storage of data files. Configuration (and registration) files will be 
put into the \OPD\ directory of your default drive under the program 
name.

The unregistered version of this shareware program will allow you just 
20 Task Entries/Group, 3 Project and 3 Type categories to see the 
capabilities of the program. Following registration you will be allowed 
60 Tasks/Group and at least 25 for each of the 2 Categories.

Using the Program
-----------------
Working through the <Menu> commands will show you the 
capabilities of the program, but to get the best out of it, the following 
description takes you through the basic functions and explains some of 
the finer details of operation.

1.	Creating Task Groups, Categories and Tasks:

As the first major sub-division, any number of Task Group files can be 
created and used how you wish. Personally I run one for monitoring 
projects and general tasks at work, one for listing the jobs that need to 
be done around the home, another for personal goals I want to 
accomplish, and yet another for keeping track of S3A program testing 
and revisions. Separate Task Groups will be presented as a list of files 
under the icon on the system screen.

Go into the program at the installed Icon, ideally using <Psion-N> to 
name the first Task Group file, although the default filename TASK is 
used if you just press <Enter>. Work through the information on the 
'nag' screens by pressing <Enter>. If you want to skip these screens 
you will have to register !! You will then be asked for a title for the 
task group, which is presented bottom left of the main program screen. 
This title can be renamed at any time using <Psion-R>.

The File menu provides the usual options for creating New Task 
Groups, Saving them as different filenames, Opening other Task 
Groups, or for Deleting a Task Group if you've finished with it.

The first thing to do before trying to enter any tasks is to define a few 
Project categories using <Shift-Psion-J>, and Type categories using 
<Shift-Psion-I>. This is one of the first major differences from Agenda 
To-dos, the idea being that categorising tasks at two levels allows you 
greater visibility and flexibility in their management. Project 
categories can be anything you like - jobs, projects or clients at work, 
hobbies or maintenance at home, etc. Type sub-categories more 
specifically would be the activities involved, for example email, phone, 
letter, purchase, people's names etc. However, the system is flexible - 
tailor them to suit your needs.

Note that both Project and Type categories can be entered as location 
'Global', when they will apply to all Task Groups, or alternatively as 
'Group', when they only apply to this particular Task Group. The 
actual maximum number of entries you can have for each Project and 
Type set of categories is determined either by a 255 character total for 
all entries, or a maximum of 20 entries per Global or Group. In the 
unregistered version only 3 each for Project and Type are allowed. 
Categories can subsequently be renamed or completely removed using 
the appropriate Update and Delete options in the Category menu.

Now you are free to put in some Tasks, either from the menu, <Psion-
E> or just by pressing <Enter>. First enter a description for the task, 
which can be up to 30 characters in length. Then go through the rest 
of the dialog: enter the Due Date you wish to complete the task by (it 
defaults to today's date), select the required priority, and choose 
Project and Type categories from those you have defined. Leave the 
Alarm, Repeat and Extended Description options, we'll cover those later. 
Press <Enter> when the details are correct.

The task will appear in the screen listing with the fields duly 
completed. Now go on and enter some more tasks, giving them 
different Due Dates, priorities, and assigned to different combinations 
of categories. Up to 60 tasks can be entered per Group, although only 5 
entries can be made in the unregistered version. The task you are on 
and the total number of tasks in the Group is indicated by a counter on 
the top line of the screen.

For those tasks that you want to enter just as a reminder to do 
"sometime", you can make them undated/unprioritised by setting the 
priority to 'None' in the New Entry or Update dialogs. They will show 
in the list with dashes in the date and priority fields, and will sort as 
low order entries at the end of the task Group.

Task entries can be updated if you make a mistake or to change any of 
the set attributes, by moving the highlight to the description and using 
<Psion-U> from the Edit menu or just the <Tab> key. Note that the 
Task Update screen also has an additional field that has recorded the 
original date of entry of the task. If you have similar tasks to perform, 
existing entries can be copied using <Psion-C> which takes you to a 
dialog to specify the Task Group to copy to, and the Update dialog to 
make any necessary changes. Tasks can be completely removed if you 
don't want them using <Psion-D> or the just the <Delete> key. Note 
that all records of deleted tasks are lost.

2.	Alarms, Repeats and Linked Information:

Tasks can be set with further attributes to aid in their management. By 
entering Yes to 'Alarm' in the New Task or Update Task dialog you 
can specify the time and days previous for an alarm to sound as a 
reminder. The alarm itself will be handled by the standard S3a Time 
application. An important point to note here, is that if you delete an 
alarmed task or cancel an alarm before the task time is due, you will 
need to go to Time to cancel the actual alarm.

Yes to 'Repeat' enables you to make the task automatically re-install 
itself when you complete each occurrence. Repeats can be set either 
daily, weekly, monthly, annually or last day in the month, and with an 
appropriate interval, will allow the task to schedule for every 3rd day, 
biweekly, quarterly etc. Alarmed and repeated Tasks are identified in 
the main screen with symbols in the A and R columns respectively.

Extended descriptions can also be set for tasks. Entering Yes to 
'Extended Description' when entering a new task will take you to 
another dialog where you can make further notes about the task on 5 
lines of up to 60 characters each. Use the cursor arrows to move 
between lines and the <Enter> key to save the text. Alternatively, 
using the <Spacebar> or <Psion-+> on an existing task allows you to 
view or edit the extended description, or create a new one. Tasks 
with Extended Descriptions are identified with a symbol in the X column.

In addition, a link can be made to a specified default file in the Word, 
Data and Agenda applications by using the hotkey sequences <Shift-
Psion-W, D and G> respectively in the Links menu. This is designed 
as a shortcut to save you pressing the system button and selecting the 
files etc. The process will be rejected if the file is already in use, and 
therefore already accessible by a single press of the appropriate button 
on the Icon strip. The actual default files to use can be defined within 
the Set Preferences, Program menu.

3.	Viewing, Sorting and Scheduling Functions:

Moving around the Task Group to view or change Tasks is easily 
accomplished using the up/down cursor keys. In addition, <Psion-
PgUp> and <Psion-PgDn> will move you to the top or bottom record 
on screen respectively, while <Psion-Home> will move you to the top 
of the file and <Psion-End> to the bottom. Finally, <Psion-J> will 
jump to the next due task.

Find Entry <Psion-F> and Find Next <Psion-G> functions are 
available to search for text in the description fields of the Task Group.

There are five screen sorting modes available using <Psion-S>:

1.	Date sorting will order the tasks in descending chronological 
Due Date with the most current at the top of the screen. Multiple tasks 
with the same date will be sub-ordered by priority.
2.	Priority sorting will order tasks with the highest priority at 
the top. Multiple tasks with the same priority will be sub-ordered by 
Due Date.
3.	Manual sorting allows you to determine your own preferred 
order. Rearrange the tasks as you wish by moving individual tasks 
down one place in the list with <Psion-M>. This function only works 
under manual sorting.
4.	Project sorting lists all tasks with the same Project category 
together.
5.	Type sorting lists all tasks with the same Type category 
together.

The screen is re-sorted every time new tasks are entered, tasks 
updated, or their attributes changed, so that tasks are always presented 
in the required order. Also the sorting method applied can be different 
for each Task Group.

The complete Task list can be filtered using 'Set Filter' from the 
Categories menu or <Psion-T>, and selecting the required project and 
type categories, the priority and date range. These work individually or 
in combination to give you a display of only those entries matching 
that filter criteria. The filter(s) set are indicated at the bottom of the 
screen. Filters can be turned off by using <Psion-T> again and setting 
the fields back to 'All', or more simply by just pressing <Esc>.  

Note that as time progresses and tasks becomes due, the Due Date 
indicator will change from a date to 'Tomorrow' then 'Today'. It will 
then change to bold as a strong reminder when the Due Date has 
passed and the task has become overdue. In addition, if Auto Priority 
is used, the priority of tasks will automatically increase as the Due 
Date approaches.

A toggle is available by using <Psion-I> to display the task description 
in italics. This can be used how you wish but typically for identifying 
tasks "in progress", or assigned to someone else, or waiting for a reply. 
In addition there is a bar graph display available using <Psion-B> that 
shows the task progress graphically as the position of today relative to 
the task entry and due dates. 

To aid you in doing "what if" scheduling or to update tasks as events 
unfold, attributes can be easily changed without having to go through 
the full Task Update dialog screen. 'Single key switching' will allow 
the following:
+		increases the Due Date by 1 day
-		decreases the Due Date by 1 day
<Shift +>	increases the Due Date by 1 week
<Shift ->	decreases the Due Date by 1 week
Number 1-9	changes the priority (if numeric priorities are used)
Letter A-I	changes the priority (if alphabetic priorities are used)
H/M/L		changes the priority (if Hi-Med-Lo priorities are 
used)
0		makes the task undated and unprioritised
*		toggles the alarm setting on/off
R		toggles a repeat on/off
P		toggles "task in progress" on/off
<Spacebar>	view, edit or create Extended Description.

If you prefer not to use these various forms of 'single key switching', 
you can selectively turn them off within Set Preferences <Psion-Q> 
and then <Psion-S>.

4.	Task Completion and Archiving:

As you complete tasks in real life, they can be marked as completed in 
the Task list by striking them through with <Psion-->. You will be 
asked to confirm the completion date which defaults to the current 
date or can be changed if you actually completed the task yesterday for 
example. In addition, if the task had the repeat flag set, the dialog will 
ask if you want to enable the next scheduled repeat. Struckout tasks 
will be moved to the top of the screen and separated by a line. If you 
find that the task is not really completed it can be re-instated by using 
<Psion--> again, when you will be asked to confirm the new Due Date and priority.

When you are ready to remove struckout tasks from the Task Group 
use <Psion-V> to archive them as a permanent record of completed 
tasks. Note from the dialog that you actually have various options 
available, but for now use 'Archive Strike Out Entries'. Because this is 
the first time the option has been used, you will be prompted for an 
Archive file name. This will not occur in subsequent uses of this 
option. Now you will be asked to select which Archive to use, although 
at the moment you only have a choice of one, and whether to append 
or overwrite. Again, this is a personal decision. Some people are 
happy to run just one Archive, some people prefer a file for each Task 
Group. Some like to keep just the last set of records, others like to keep 
a complete record of everything. Extra Archive files can be created 
using <Psion-L> from the File menu.

As an alternative to this separate Strikeout and Archiving method for 
tasks, if you prefer to remove tasks directly to the archive file on 
completion without retaining them in the task group as struckout, 
there is a Preferences <Psion-Q> option for Completed Tasks <Psion-E> to 
allow you to move tasks directly to the archive file on completion.

We can now look at the Archive file using the menu, <Shift-Psion-A> 
or the diamond key. This simply displays previous task information 
with a header giving details of where and when the entries originated. 
In the Archive screen, you still have the Set Filter <Psion-T> available 
in the Special menu, and full search facilities are available under the 
Search menu (but only if the Filter is turned 'off'). The Tasks menu 
gives options to allow you to 'unarchive' tasks back to a Task Group if 
you want to re-use them again, as well as viewing the Extended 
Descriptions (Note that you can apparently make changes to the 
Extended Description.  In fact, these will not be saved when you quit). 
If you do run multiple Archive files, then the File menu gives you the 
appropriate options you will need. If the file gets too large, it can be 
truncated by using Reset Start Date or <Psion-R>.

Returning to the main Task Group screen is by the menu, <Shift-
Psion-T> or just <Esc>.

5.	Other Functions and Program Preferences:

If you have more than one Task Group or Archive file, there are 
various switching methods. In the case of Task Groups, use <Psion-O> 
to open other existing Groups. In the Archive use <Psion-S> to switch 
between archives. Also in both screens the L/R arrows will also cycle 
through Groups and Archives.

The program has been designed for extensive user configuration. 
Various options are available within the Set Preferences menu <Psion-
Q> as follows:

Program:
	Printer Configuration

Use this option to specify the type of printer you wish to use.  This is 
the same dialog as in the System screen. 

	Manual Priority System

This allows you to define your preferred system of priorities. Either 
numbers or letters can be used with anything up to 9 levels, or 
alternatively the basic Hi-Med-Lo. Note that 1, A and Hi are treated as 
highest priority.

	Auto Priority System

Allows you to set how many days previous to the due date, when a low 
priority task becomes medium priority, and when a medium priority 
task becomes high priority.

	Single Key Switching

You can individually enable 'single key switching' to use the +/- keys 
to change Due Dates, toggle alarms with *, change priorities with 
alphabetic or numeric keys (as appropriate to the priority system 
defined), enable task repeats with R, or toggle 'task in progress' with P.

	Terminology

If you don't like the default "Project" and "Type" category titles, you 
can set your own.

	Preference Repeat

If you want to stay in the 'Set Preferences' menu while setting up the 
program, use this switch.

Tasks
	Completed Tasks

Allows you to define your preferred action for completed tasks: 
whether to use the Strikeout method or to Archive them directly. An 
option also permits struckout tasks to be separated from other due 
tasks by a line.

	Overdue Tasks

Overdue tasks are normally presented with the due date in bold 
characters. You can change this to italics or turn it off completely. 
Also an underline can be turned on to separate them from other due 
tasks.

	Tasks in Progress

Optionally show the descriptions of tasks in progress in either bold, 
italic or normal text.

Archive:
	Default Archive

If you use multiple Archive files, the program will default to 
displaying the last used file. Using these options you can change that 
so it always defaults to a defined file name, or asks you which one you 
want every time.

	Add Header Line

If your preference is to archive tasks as they are struck-out (rather than 
on a periodic basis), the Archive file can become full of the default 
"Archived From....." lines of text. This option allows you to turn them 
off.

External:
	Default Database/Agenda/Word file

Define the filename and disk location for each of the hotkey linked 'Go 
to..' files in the Links menu.

Display:
	Font

Decide your preference for either a Roman or Swiss font for the screen 
displays.

	Date Format

As various different date formats are used throughout the world, you 
can choose your preferred option from a range.

	Configure Symbols

If you don't like the symbols we have chosen to identify alarms, repeats 
or extended descriptions against tasks, you can specify the ASCII code 
of any other character (see page 246/7 of the Psion User Guide). An 
option is also available to reset them to the program defaults.

	Display Entry Time

This toggles on/off a display of the actual system time when tasks were 
entered. Note that if this is used, the description field will be 
appropriately curtailed.


The Special menus provide two other functions for the program. 
<Psion-P> in the Task or Archive screens (with or without filters set) 
allows you to print off Task lists as displayed. <Psion-Z> toggles 
through two font sizes for the screen display. Finally, the usual <Ctrl-
Menu> cycle option is available to have a status window permanently 
on screen.

Registration
------------
If you find the program useful and wish to register it, please see the 
file REGISTER.TXT for up-to-date instructions on how to register. 
Apart from giving you a 'warm' feeling and encouraging development 
of other programs for the Series 3A, registering will get rid of the 'nag' 
screens, allow you the full 60 entries, and give you access to full 
support and notification (only by E-mail) of regular, free updates. If 
anyone has any useful suggestions for improvements, we will always 
try and include them in the next version.

We can be contacted at the addresses in REGISTER.TXT, or on 
Compuserve 100023,543 or by E-mail on alanrichey@msn.com  Also, 
the WWW Home Page at 
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/alanrichey 
has news of the program, any bugs found, any enhancements planned, 
and the latest BETA test version for downloading, so please pay a 
visit.

Cheers,

Al Richey and Andy Waller
