Copyright: Visual Help ® 1993-1994 Firas Bushnaq


Notepad II
Notepad II for Windows

Programmed by Chuck Wells, released April 19, 1996
E-Mail:  chuck@shore.net         Web:  http://www.shore.net/~chuck

Introduction

Hi, this is a FREEWARE (not public domain) application I wrote well over a year ago for my own uses.  For those who haven't noticed, the "Notepad" program that comes with Windows 3.x isn't very good or useful; it is cumbersome for trying to jot down notes with, and it is not much of a text editor either.

So, I wrote Notepad II so I can organize notes by topic.  There is no opening of files, saving files, or any other things that slow down what I really wanted to do -- just type in notes.  On my computer, I have topics for To Do List, Dates to Pay Bills, and other such things.  This application actually more resembles the Macintosh notepad than the Windows notepad, although it is much better than the Macintosh notepad too.

By the way, I also wrote another application called CFinger, which is a Windows finger client and daemon program.  It is available at my web site.

NOTE:  If you downloaded this in search of a good TEXT EDITOR, well this isn't it!  This is not intended to be used as a text editor.  There are many good text editors out there, such as Edit Master; I suggest you get one of them.

Installation

To install, move into the "\windows\system" all "*.dll" and "*.vbx" files.  If you happen to have newer versions of any of these files, then DON'T replace them with my versions!  Create an icon for "notepad2.exe" (your Windows manual will explain this).

That should do it.  If it doesn't, make sure that you don't have more than one of the same DLL file in your path.  Also, make sure you have VBRUN300.DLL; I do not include this because system administrators don't like to store this file 10,000 times on their computers.

Usage

Its use is extremely straightforward.  If you were able to follow the instructions on installation, I'm sure you'll figure out the interface without any help.

Just keep in mind that the "Save" menu items are for creating text files of your notes.  They are NOT for saving your notes, since Notepad II saves automatically so there is no saving you need to do.  If you really want to, you can use Microsoft Access (or other database) to open the "notepad2.mdb" database which stores the notes.

Bugs and To Do List

•	Notepad II should allow printing.  For now, copy text to another application and print from there.  Or, save to a text file, then open the text file from another application.

•	The size of the ZIP file is rather big.  This is because I used a Microsoft database DLL that is rather big.  Maybe someday I'll replace it with normal file I/O to save space.

Disclaimer and distribution notes

As usual, you can't sue me (well, I have no money anyway) no matter what you think this application has done to you or your property.  Besides, you got this cheap (free), so there.

This application is FREEWARE.  It is not to be sold.  Nor can you claim you wrote it.  Because you didn't.  Feel free to distribute it wherever you want and on any media you want, as long as the distribution package remains intact.  I'd appreciate E-Mail informing me if you are including my application on a CD-ROM or something.

I welcome comments and suggestions, and of course bug reports.  If you like it, please send me E-Mail saying so.  Angry hate mail will cheerfully be ignored.

My E-Mail address could change someday

As stated, my current E-Mail address is "chuck@shore.net".  It's quite possible you could be looking at this text years after I wrote it, in which case I may have a newer version of this software that answers your concerns.  Also, my E-Mail address (and web site) may have changed by then.  If you find I'm no longer at my E-Mail address (or someone else is there instead of me), try using a web search engine to search for phrases such as "Chuck Wells", "Notepad II", or "CFinger".  Then, go look at pages that match and see if any look appropriate.

I say all this because since I wrote the CFinger application, I changed my E-Mail address.  So, people keep trying to contact me at my old E-Mail address that is in a version of CFinger that may be a year old.  If my address changes, I really have no way of instantly telling everyone about it, so try various search sites.