Please print and read these instructions before running Setup... ___________________________________________________________________ OFFICE MESSAGE BOARD VER 1.01. This application is FreeWare. It is not for public or private sale. It can be used freely on a Local Area Network at user's risk. See under Source Coding for making changes to the application. SETUP 1. Preliminary & Features 2. File List 3. LAN Installation 4. Accessing the Administrator's Menu 5. Technical 6. Source Coding 7. Future Versions ___________________________________________________________________ 1. Preliminary Office Message Board is designed to run on a Local Area Network (LAN). Running it on a standalone PC will not work. See LAN Installation below for an explanation. The application lets staff post messages to specific Boards within the application which all staff can access. Other staff can add comment to messages which the author designates as InterActive. If an author does not wish comment to be added, then messages can be designated as Static. Files, such as documents and spreadsheets, can be attached to messages. Messages and attachments can be viewed, printed or saved to the user's home directory. The application allows a great deal of information to be centralised and accessed easily and quickly. FEATURES 1. Expiry Date - users must nominate an expiry date for every message they create, including messages put on HOLD in their Filing Cabinet. Once the expiry date is reached, there is no way to get a message back. Users can, however, extend the expiry date at any time by clicking on a message in their Filing Cabinet and then on the Expiry button. A new expiry date can then be selected. The default, or the maximum length of time a message can exist, is set at 90 days by SetUp. An Administrator can choose another default, from 1 to 365 days, through the Administrator's menu. 2. InterActive Messages - There are 3 types of messages, indicated in the application by their initials: S = STATIC - users cannot add comment to a message. I = INTERACTIVE - users can add comment to a message. G = GRAPHIC - BMP or WMF files. Interactive messages are indicated by the appearance of an ADD button when viewed. To add comment to the end of a message, click on ADD and then type in the comment. The Add Comment window is a floating window. If it disappears at any time, click on the Add button again to restore it. It should be maintained to users that they are responsible for any messages they put on. They own the message, and only they can edit or delete a message they have nominated as InterActive. Another user cannot edit comment he or she has added. The exception is Administrators, who can edit or delete any message through their menu. 3. Graphic Messages - 2 graphic formats are supported: BMP (Paintbrush) files and WMF (Window Metafile). WMF files can be created in Powerpoint. There are also many excellent freeware and shareware packages for creating WMF files. If Graphics are a problem on your LAN due to traffic, storage or low video memory, then an option exists within the Administrators Menu to set a ceiling on the total bytes allowable for all graphic messages; or to disable the graphics message option altogether by setting a ceiling of zero bytes. 4. Application Title - You can give the application any title you like e.g., ACME GRAPEVINE. The title should help users to relate to the Board as a medium for office communication. 5. News Flash! - If Administrators wish to bring some new feature to the attention of users, a new Board or important message, they can activate News Flash! through their menu. News Flash! will appear to users when they log in. Such things quickly lose their appeal if left on for too long. So an expiry date can be set for News Flash! to switch itself off. It is suggested that 2 to 3 days is sufficient. 6. Menu Help buttons - little grey help icons will bring up an explanation of what a menu choice is about. These are meant as initial guidance only, the Help files being available for detailed procedures. 7. Some sample messages have been included in SetUp. These messages have been included as belonging to one of the Administrators. They have been grouped under a new Board listing you will find, SAMPLE MESSAGES. Click on this Board to view them. 8. Files can be attached to a message, and saved to the user's directory or viewed within the application. The button ATTACH appears whenever a message has attachments. 9. There is an emphasis on the visual side, with pictures and picture buttons freely used. The Administrator's menu is a full MDI (multi-document interface), working like File Manager or Excel. This was found confusing for users with the User Menu, so the latter has been confined to one-step-at-a-time controls. The means to manipulate individual windows has been removed, but retained in the Administrator's menu. That, I am afraid, is the result of the prototype originally trialled. It seems that not all users are familiar with the windows mechanism of File Manager or Excel. On the other side of the equation, however, is that users will probably find the application simple to use, and training, if any, will be minimal. __________________________________________________________________ 2. FILE LIST APPLICATION FILES: These 15 files must be present in the application's directory before MB_SETUP.EXE is run. MB_SETUP.EXE MB_1.MB$ MB_2.MB$ MB_3.MB$ MB_4.MB$ MB_5.MB$ MB_6.MB$ MB_7.MB$ MB_8.MB$ MB_9.MB$ MB_10.MB$ MB_11.MB$ CMDIALOG.VBX THREED.VBX VBRUN300.DLL The 2 VBX files and DLL file are Microsoft products which are distributed gratis by Microsoft. Ideally, they should be put in a system directory in the user path, and not included in the directory of the application. If this is not possible, they can be left in the application's directory. (On a standalone PC, for example, you would put these 3 files in c:\windows\system.) VBRUN300.DLL is not included in the package. It can be downloaded from most Bulletin Boards or from the Microsoft forums on CompuServe. _________________________________________________________________ 3. LAN INSTALLATION The application requires two drives. The first drive is where the application resides. Its files MUST be in the ROOT DIRECTORY of the drive e.g., D: The second drive is where the users' home directories are located. To give an analogy with a PC: it is as if you had the application's files in H and C was your home directory on the LAN. This can be changed with alterations to the coding. However, most LANs use logical drives, and so this arrangement should not be a problem. Specifically, the application has been designed to run in a LAN environment using Microsoft's LANMAN. The latter's later versions permit modularisation, which suits the arrangement outlined above. There is no reason why other LAN platforms should not work with the application. It has been run on a LAN using Novell/Windows and no problems have been encountered. Recognition of Users and User Security is through the User's LAN ID. The application will not work unless your LAN is structured to recognise a user when they log on through a LAN User ID. If unsure of what any of the above means, consult your LAN administrative staff, and show them this text. They will be able to tell you if there could be a problem running the application on your LAN. The next best thing is to run the application on the LAN and judge the results. Procedure: 1. Create a directory for the application, e.g., OMB, on a server which has few users. 2. Put all 15 application files listed above into the new OMB directory (See note on the VBX and DLL files above). 3. The application is in reality a database. So its files must reside on one server. It cannot reside on several servers. 4. Out of File Manager, run MB_SETUP.EXE. SetUp creates the files which the application needs. It does not write to any file outside its own directory. 5. You will be prompted to provide details about the initial Administrator of the application. Have these details ready, and the initial Administrator's LAN ID. This ID must be entered correctly. If the initial Administrator's details are unknown, then enter your own details. You will be able to give the initial Administrator an Administrator's access once you get access to the Administrator's menu (See Accessing the Administrator's Menu below). 6. You will be prompted to provide a title for the application suitable for your company, e.g., ACME GRAPEVINE. The title nominated can be changed at any time by clicking on MISC/APPLICATION TITLE in the Administrator's menu. 5. You will then be prompted to choose the date format used in your country. Next, the LAN user ID format. Two types are offered: USER and USERID. If neither of these formats are used, type in the format used on your LAN and then click on Accept. 6. SetUp will then create some files. Once SetUp is done, it will automatically run the application as a test. If a problem occurs, then a file, as listed above, may be missing. Or your LAN does not have a DOS environment variable which holds LAN User IDs. 7. If the test is successful, then complete installing it on the LAN as you would any other windows application. The activating file is MB1.EXE. The setup file, MB_SETUP.EXE, should be deleted to prevent it from being activated accidentally at a later time. ___________________________________________________________________ 4. ACCESSING THE ADMINISTRATOR'S MENU Once SetUp has been run, and access gained to the application, the Administrator's Menu can also be accessed. The only way to access this menu is through MISC/ADMINISTRATORS in the User's Menu. In this menu choice, a button appears for Administrators which does not appear for users. It is labelled Admins, and its icon is a key. Administrators can click on this button to gain access to their menu. The duties of an Administrator are few, as the application virutally looks after itself: 1. Run the Maintenance choice once a month. This will delete the files of users who have not accessed the application for a certain period of time, and all messages which have expired. This is an important duty, as it frees up disk space. 2. Create/approve Board names under which messages are grouped for easy access. If users could create any Board name they wished, this could become chaotic. So this is included as a duty of an Administrator. 3. Change User Access Levels. There are three levels of access: 1. Administrator 2. User 3. Deny User Write Access; Read Only 4. Arranging with IT staff to have the application's files backed up on a regular basis. There is no limit on the number of Administrators. In some companies it may be useful to have an Administrator in each department. The initial Administrator should have a backup. This can be done, once the application is installed, by having a user access the application and inputting their details. The Administrator can then change the user's access level to Administrator through the choice USERS/EDIT USER DATA in the Administrator's menu. ___________________________________________________________________ 5. TECHNICAL 1. The approximate limits are: 1. Number of Users - 3000 2. Number of Boards - 1500 3. Number of Messages per Board - 1500 These limits can be changed to encompass indefinite numbers. However, it is unlikely you will need to exceed these numbers unless your organisation demands it. Changes can be made to the coding to allow it. 2. Minimum User Hardware Configuration 1. 386 2. 4MB of memory 3. Standard VGA video 4. Laserjet printer or similar type 3. User Desktop Configuration Windows 3 or similar interface 4. The application is a relational database. No files, other than messages, are ported across the LAN in their entirety. The application takes what information it needs, and no more. This results in efficient response times, and a minimum of LAN traffic. ___________________________________________________________________ 6. SOURCE CODING As LAN and corporate needs differ, it is recognised that changes to the coding may be desirable or necessary. The coding is available for $20, which covers the cost of getting it to you. You can make changes, or arrange with a Visual Basic programmer, to make changes to the coding. Any changes made are the user's responsibility. I regret that I am not available to make any coding changes. It should be noted that this is a LAN application, and it is not a minor application. Anyone making changes to the coding should be thoroughly proficient in Visual Basic and their LAN's programming requirements. The coding can be obtained by sending name and postal address to: Peter Glasson, P.O. Box 429, Burwood, Sydney, NSW 2134, Australia. US$20 cash (or your country's currency equivalent) should be enclosed to cover the cost of disk, packing and air-mail postage. Please do not send a personal or company check, or an overseas bank check, as bank and government charges will be more than $20 to lodge and convert it. If you want a paper trail, have the Post Office send your letter as registered air-mail. If you want an alternative to cash, then use an International Money Order from the Post Office. $5 should be added to cover Post Office charges. No responsibility will be accepted for the failure of any payment to arrive. The disk contains the following directories and contents: SOURCE - Forms, modules, coding HELP - Original Word documents, compilation files and Bitmaps. MANUALS - Original Word 2.00 documents with Bitmaps. While you are free to use any of the above material for the purposes of modifying the application to suit your organisation's needs, the application and coding are copyright. The coding cannot be used to sell the application under another name. _____________________________________________________________________ 7. FUTURE VERSIONS Future versions will be posted in the Winshare Forum of CompuServe. If you forward your InterNet address, I will inform you by E-Mail when a new version is available in the Winshare Forum. Happy messaging! Peter Glasson, Sydney, Australia. CompuServe: 100036,560 InterNet: 100036.560@compuserve.com #_____________________________________________________________________