S3A COLLECTION MANAGER V1.2a
----------------------------

Copyright F A Richey 1996

INTRODUCTION

Installation

To install the program simply:

1.   Put S3ACOLL2.APP in your \APP\ directory

2.   If you want to use the optional On-Line Help (Highly 
recommended) put the file S3ACOLLH.OVL into an \APP\S3ACOLL\ 
directory.

3.   If you want to use the optional Print option put the file 
S3ACOLLP.OVL into the \APP\S3ACOLL\ directory and the file 
S3APRINT.DYL into an \OPD\ directory.  Note that this file is 
common to all my programs, so if you have more than one of them you 
only need one copy of this file.

4.   Install (PSION-I) 

The program will create an \S3ACOLL\ 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 
10 Entries/Collection, and 3 Categories to see the capabilities of the 
program.  Following registration you will be allowed 300 
Entries/Collection and 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.

Tutorial:
 
There are 2 ways to run this tutorial.  You can either work through it 
from the start, to generate some data files, or you can skip Part 1 and  
use the example files contained in DATA.ZIP.  If you use these files, 
put them into a data directory called \S3ACOLL\ on the Internal Drive 
or a RAM SSD.  Then jump to Part 2 of the tutorial.

PART 1 - Generating data files.

To start the program, highlight 'Collect' under the Icon.  Now press 
<PSION-N> (New File) to start a new collection (Alternatively, you 
could just press <Enter> and accept 'Collect' as the filename).  For the 
purposes of this tutorial, use 'Records' and if you don't use 'Collect', 
then use the Internal Drive or a RAM SSD as the drive.  The data files 
are saved very regularly, so you should not put them onto a Flash SSD. 
After working through the 'nag screens', select a more descriptive title 
such as 'Record Collection' and go into the main screen.  Next define 
the Titles you want for the various fields.  For the purposes of the 
tutorial, type in 'Title' and 'Artist' as the Names, 'Type' and 'Size' as the 
Categories and 'Cost' and 'Value' as the Values.    Note that you can 
change these later using <PSION-Q>, (Set Preferences) and select 
'Define Titles'.  

We now need to generate some Categories, so press <PSION-SHIFT-J> 
(New Type) and add 'CD'.  Then repeat for 'Vinyl' and 'Cassette'.  Now 
press <PSION-SHIFT-I> (New Size) and enter 'Single' and then again 
for 'Album'.

We are now ready to enter some real data.  To do this, either use the 
Menus, <PSION-E> or just press <Enter>.  Just fill in an example 
record, selecting an appropriate set of Names, Categories and Values.  
Then add a few more, making sure you have a good mix of categories.  
Don't worry if the fields overlap on the screen, we will sort that out 
later.  Note that in V1.1, you can select 'New' as a category and it will 
allow you to generate a new category in the middle of entering the data.

Now use the same steps to generate a new collection using <PSION-N>, 
and this time use 'Books' as a title, and 'Title' and 'Author' as names,  
'Group' and 'Type' as Categories and, as before, 'Cost' and 'Value' as the 
Value titles.  For the 'Group' categories use 'Detective', 'Thriller' and 
'Sci-Fi' and for 'Type', just use 'Hardback' and 'Paperback'.   Finally 
enter some representative books.  Again, don't worry about any overlaps 
in the screen display.

This completes the generation of the data files.

PART 2 - Screen Configuration.

Note:  This Part demonstrates how to configure the default screen 
display to your requirement. For those who used the example data files, 
these have already been configured, but you may wish to follow through 
the tutorial anyway.

First, select the 'Records' Group, from the System Screen.  Now go to 
'Set Preferences' <PSION-Q> and 'Screen Display'.  For the purposes of 
the demo select 'Yes' to all the fields except 'Value', and make sure the 
'Reset to Defaults' is set to <No>.  (Note the pixel scale at the top of the 
screen to show you what the numbers mean).  Now press <Enter>.  

In the second screen set the following:

	Date Position    	-  	  10
	Title Position   	-   	  90
	Title Length     	-   	  20
	Artist Position 	- 	230
	Artist Length   	-  	  20

In the third screen set the following:

	Type Position   	-  	320
	Type Length    	-    	  10
	Size Position   	-    	380
	Size Length     	-    	  10

and in the last screen set:

	Cost Position   	  -  	400
	Cost Title Position - 	440
	Decimal Places       -  	    2

This sets up the screen as shown in the example data file.  In your case, 
you may still have overlaps, in which case you can adjust the settings 
accordingly.  Just remember that you cannot have anything less than 10 
pixels from the left of the screen, so that there is room for the screen 
arrows, and that the total width of the screen is 480 pixels (unless you 
have a Status Window, in which case it is 416 or 448 pixels).

In this case, we are probably also interested in the total value of the 
collection, so use the 'Set Preferences' <PSION-Q> option and 'Total 
Window' to select 'Cost'.  Also, it might be useful to have the display 
grouped by Artist, so use the 'Sort By' option <PSION-S> to sort by 
Artist.

Now select the 'Books' group, either from the System screen, the menu 
option, <PSION-O>, or just the right cursor arrow.

Now repeat the operation, using <Psion-Q> and the 'Screen Display.  
Set:

	Date	<No>
	Title 	<Yes>
	Author	<Yes>
	Group	<Yes>
	Type	<Yes>
	Cost	<No>
	Value	<No>

In the second screen:

	Title Position           10
	Title Length             20
	Author Position      170
	Author Length         20

and in the third screen:

	Group Position     330
	Group Length         10
	Type Position       400
	Type Length           10

and this sets up the 'Books' screen display.

Other Options that can be configured are the Font Type (through 'Set 
Preferences'), the Font Size <PSION-Z>, the Status Window <CTRL-
MENU> and the 'Date Format' (again through 'Set Preferences').   Note 
that each of these settings are saved with the Group, so they are unique 
to that collection.

PART 3 - Menu options:

To see the rest of the programs capabilities, just work through the 
MENUs.

FILE

New Collection
Open Collection
Save Collection As
Delete Collection
Rename Title

These functions are self-explanatory.  However, it does bring up the 
important note that you cannot change the filename of a collection from 
the system screen, as there are a number of other files which need to be 
renamed.  The procedure to be used is to 'Save Collection As', using the 
new name, and then 'Delete' the original Group.  Note as well, that the 
left and right arrows will cycle between multiple collections.

EDIT

Enter Item
Update Item
Delete Item
Move Item Down
Sort Items By..
Edit Memo

Again, these are self explanatory, although you should note that 
<ENTER>, <TAB> and <Delete> have the same effect as the first 3 
functions.  Also, the 'Move Item Down' option will only be there if the 
sort option is set to 'None'.  Also, to preempt the next obvious question, 
I did not implement a 'Move Up' option, as all you need to do is select 
the entry above and use 'Move Down' !  The Edit Memo function is the 
same as the one in Agenda.

SEARCH

Find Text
Find Next Text
Find Date
Find Next Date

These options simply do a text search on the 2 'Names' fields, or a date 
search, to find an entry.

CATEGORIES

New...
Update...
Delete...
New...
Update...
Delete...
Set Filter

The first 6 options are self-explanatory.  To see the filter in operation, 
use <PSION-T> and set an appropriate set of categories.  The screen 
will then display just those entries matching the categories.

This also  demonstrates the basic difference between the apparently 
similar  'Name'  and  'Category' fields.   The 'Name' fields are free text 
and are searched via the 'Find' option.  The 'Categories' are pre-defined 
and used by the Filter.  You need to decide how you are going to use the 
program before you decide which parameters should be defined as 
'Categories' and which should be 'Names'.

SPECIAL

Set Preferences

	Define Titles
	Date Format
	Font
	Screen Display
	Total Window
	Entry/Update Dialogs
	Printer Configuration
	Preference Repeat

	Most of these have been used already.  'The Printer 
Configuration' allows you to select Parallel, Serial or File, 
the 'Entry/Update Dialogs' allow you to decide if you want all 
fields presented, or just those on the display and 
the 'Preference Repeat' option decides if you keep returning to 
the 'Set preferences' menu.

Register Program
Print Setup
Print Preview
Print Details
Zoom
Exit

All self explanatory, although the 'Print Setup' includes an extra dialog 
to specify which fields are printed.

HELP

About
Help

And these.

Hope all that makes sense.  Any comments on the program (and this 
tutorial), gratefully received.

Cheers

Al













