What Vehicle History? _____________________ CONTENTS I. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 II. LICENSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 III. TECHNICAL SUPPORT (HOW TO REACH ME) . . . . . . . . . . 1 Official Distribution Bulletin Boards . . . . . . . . . 2 IV. INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 V. UPDATES, ORDERING METHODS, AND REGISTRATION FEES . . . 3 A. The Next Two Releases Are Free . . . . . . . . . . . 3 B. The Other Four Benefits of Registration . . . . . . 3 C. How To Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 D. Pricing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 VI. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 A. Using on a Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 VII. FILES WHICH MAKE UP THE PACKAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 VIII. HISTORY & NEW FEATURES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 IX. RUNNING What Vehicle History? FOR THE FIRST TIME . . 10 A. Using the Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 B. Quick Start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 X. MANAGING FILES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 A. Set-up - Sales Tax Rate and Labour Rate Entry . . 12 B. Making Back-up Copies of Your Files . . . . . . . 12 C. Restoring Files from a Back-up Copy . . . . . . . 12 D. Formatting Floppy Disks . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 XI. DATA ENTRY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 A. Entry of Service Information . . . . . . . . . . . 13 B. Entry of Departments, Mechanics, Service Codes, and Vehicles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 XII. REPORTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 XIII. HELP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 -i- What Vehicle History? _____________________ I. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY THIS SOFTWARE PROGRAM AND DOCUMENTATION ("WVH") IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THOSE CONCERNING MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. BY USING WVH, YOU ARE EXPRESSLY RELEASING ANGEL BABUDRO FROM ANY LIABILITY RESULTING FROM THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE AND DOCUMENTATION. YOU MUST ASSUME THE ENTIRE RISK OF USING WVH. YOU ARE ADVISED TO TEST AND SUPERVISE WVH THOROUGHLY BEFORE RELYING ON IT. II. LICENSE 1. WVH is being distributed as Shareware; it is not free. WVH is licensed for individual personal use and evaluation for an unlimited time. Use and evaluation by businesses, corporations or individuals in a commercial venture is limited to 60 days, after which time the REGISTERED Edition of WVH must be purchased or the use of Unregistered Edition of WVH must be discontinued. 2. You may keep as many backup copies of WVH as you wish. The Registered Edition is limited to simultaneous use on the number of computers indicated by your registration level. The Unregistered Edition may be used on any number of computers. You may share WVH with others in complete and unmodified form. REGISTERED USERS may NOT distribute the separate file CONFIG.WVH. 3. You MUST NOT charge any fee or receive any consideration for distributing the WVH files and you MUST NOT include WVH with another business transaction (e.g., a hardware sale) unless you have express written consent from the copyright holder, Angel Babudro. You MAY charge a fee of not more than US$6 (six dollars) for the disk and/or service of distribution. III. TECHNICAL SUPPORT (HOW TO REACH ME) If you have questions or need help, just drop a note to me through the mail or a BBS listed below. Registered users, vendors, and sysops may contact me via telephone as well. Sysops and shareware vendors please see VENDOR.DOC for distribution information. Mail Angel Babudro, "Organic Computer Wizardry", 28 Mulberry Street, Clinton, NY 13323-1506, (315) 853-6942 Mon-Fri 9am-5pm Eastern Time -1- What Vehicle History? _____________________ BBS Angelo Babudro (to avoid gender confusion) Official Distribution Bulletin Boards On bulletin boards I use the first name "Angelo" since it avoids gender confusion. East Coast Excalibur, Central NY (315) 736-3792 USR Dual This is my local distribution board where you can always find the latest updates to all of my software. I will get messages left here within a few days. My software can be FREQed from this board via RBBS Net address A:954/401, FIDO Net address 1:26501, or ICN Net 91:315/101. West Coast Researcher's BBS, So Cal (805) 949-8151 USR Dual This is my west coast distribution board which is updated every 2-3 weeks with the latest versions of all my software. Leave messages for me in conference #136 (Organic Software). My software can also be found on many of the nations larger bulletin boards, such as Exec-PC and Channel 1. IV. INTRODUCTION What Vehicle History? has been designed to help your _____________________ company track the maintenance history on its vehicles, whether they be a fleet of cars, construction equipment, or even support equipment like power generators. WVH employs the standard 2-dimensional pull-down menu system which is familiar to most PC and Macintosh users. All you need to do is highlight your choice and press ENTER or just press the highlighted letter of your choice. What could be simpler? I have designed WVH to be used without a manual as much as possible. I hope you will find the menus intuitive and the screens self-explanatory. Your input would be very helpful and welcome. Please feel free to contact me with comments, questions, etc. I am available as a consultant and programmer if you would like custom modifications to my software or if you don't have a local "computer person." I may be a good answer man to call before you pull your hair out. :) -2- What Vehicle History? _____________________ Thank you for your interest in What Vehicle History? _____________________ V. UPDATES, ORDERING METHODS, AND REGISTRATION FEES Although I hope that you are so happy with WVH that registering will be reward enough in itself, I'll do my best to exceed your expectations. I do so much programming that there are updates practically every day, so you will definitely get an updated version. One day I realized that if I'm always updating my software some people will want to wait for that day when it's "done." So I thought, "Hey, wouldn't it be nice if software publishers gave out free updates so you wouldn't have to wonder when the best time was to register?" So I decided to do just that... A. The Next Two Releases Are Free When you register you will receive the latest version of WVH. Then when the next two major updates are released they will be sent to you free of charge (this does not apply to complimentary copies). Following the two free releases you will receive notices of any other releases in the mail. The cost of an update is currently $5 plus shipping. If you send me a disk & return postage, I'll re-use the envelope and you can skip the shipping charges (just send $5). To upgrade from one level to another costs the difference between what you've got and what you want. If you receive a complimentary registration from me (see below) I can't afford these freebies, so, instead, if you will send me a disk with return postage inside, I'll re-use your envelope & send you back the latest version free of charge. I hope you will all understand if I need to revise my updates-by-mail policies (and others, I'm sure) as I learn more about this Shareware business from day to day... B. The Other Four Benefits of Registration 1. You may order the detailed manual, printed & bound or on-disk/ready to print for your laser printer. 2. The pause at start-up goes away. 3. My 9-month-old son handles all the tech support calls ;), but for everything else you will have a real person -3- What Vehicle History? _____________________ who is 100% knowledgeable about WVH whom you can contact with suggestions, comments, questions, problems, etc. 4. You'll have that warm feeling of having helped one of the "little guys" -- someone who isn't a huge corporation. C. How To Order U.S. customers please send cash, check, or money order. Canadian customers please send cash or Canadian International Money Order (CIMO). Customers in other countries please send U.S. funds drawn on a U.S. bank. If you send cash use a "security" no-see-through envelope and you may want to send it via Registered mail, too. D. Pricing When you register, please fill in the Invoice (below) completely, including the name you see at the top of your screen so I can reward the person who distributed your copy of WVH with a free update. Registration with Disk -- A single copy costs $69. You will receive the latest Registered Edition of What Vehicle ____________ History? with automated installation, the latest version of ________ this documentation on disk, two free updates, and notification of further updates. See below for detailed manuals on paper or disk. Multiple Copies / Wholesale -- If you would like to resell What ____ Vehicle History? or have multiple locations at which you ________________ would like to install WVH, you may receive a discount on the price of WVH as follows: - 2-4 copies on the same order 40% - 5 or more copies on the same order 50% Site License -- use WVH on as many computers or network stations as necessary at a single location of a single business. Pay for your registration & disk (see above) and add the appropriate site license fee below to accommodate as many computers as you need: Up to 4 computers/network stations $30.00 per site Up to 10 computers/network stations $70.00 per site Up to 20 computers/network stations $125.00 per site Any number of computers $400.00 per site -4- What Vehicle History? _____________________ Manuals -- printed on my laser printer and bound in a flexible 3- ring binder, these manuals contain pictures & detailed descriptions of each screen, some basic computer & data base lingo, and an index. I want people to have and use these manuals, but I am very concerned about deforestation. Experienced users will probably have no need for a manual. - One manual $8.00 - 2 or more on same order $6.00 each Complimentary Registered Editions - I would like to give you a complimentary registration if you will give me a bit of marketing assistance: 1. Write a review of one of my packages and post it on a bulletin board, send me a copy of it showing the BBS's header and the name and phone number of the BBS. Just give me your honest praise and criticism in a decent review. Your review will be most helpful to me if it mentions your best & worst-liked features and any ideas you have for improvement. If you have any experience with other mailing list managers, please include your opinion of how they compare to each other. This will help me decide the future of WML and for that help I will send you a complimentary registered disk. 2. Upload a package to at least five public ("open") BBSs, fill in the Complimentary Registration form below, and I'll send you a complimentary registered disk. It's nice if you upload to time-share systems, private ("closed") BBSs, or part-time BBS, but please do not use these to apply for a complimentary registered edition. 3. If you are a consultant or other type of computer professional and your recommendation leads to one or more of your clients purchasing WML, just send me a note with your client's registration or have them mention your name when they register. I will send a complimentary registered edition or an update for every registration you get for me. This is in lieu of a multiple copy discount; I intend it for consultants who choose not to deal with sales tax. One complimentary registration per person or company. A complimentary registration is just like a paid one - you can upgrade it with a site license, purchase manuals, etc. It helps when you send back disks to be re-used - even the envelopes can be re-used. When you order a complimentary registration please -5- What Vehicle History? _____________________ fill in the appropriate blanks below PLUS the Invoice so I know what size disk you need, and please send me a couple of dollar bills for shipping expenses. Thanks. I will promise these complimentary offers until at least 12/31/93 - after that date please check with me first. COMPLIMENTARY REGISTRATION APPLICATION Date____________________ Please also fill in the Invoice on the following page (put $0 for the disk). Include $2.00 for shipping within the U.S. or the amount indicated for addresses outside the U.S. Remember to order printed manual(s) if you so desire. (__) Review posted on (BBS name & number)________________________ Include a copy of the review, please. (__) I uploaded (archive name, like WVH22.ARJ)__________________ to these five 24-hour public ("open") BBSs: BBS Name Phone Number/Modem Type Sysop Name ________ _______________________ __________ 1_______________________ ________________________ _______________ 2_______________________ ________________________ _______________ 3_______________________ ________________________ _______________ 4_______________________ ________________________ _______________ 5_______________________ ________________________ _______________ These offers subject to withdrawal or change at any time without notice. All prices are subject to change without notice. Bulletin Board Sysops please see the file SYSOP.DOC for special pricing and information; vendors & sysops please see VENDOR.DOC. If this file is more than a year old please check with me for current pricing before ordering. Angel Babudro "Organic Computer Wizardry" 28 Mulberry Street Clinton, NY USA 13323-1506 (315) 853-6942 Mon-Fri 9-5 Eastern Time (home phone - east coast is 3 hours later than west) -6- What Vehicle History? _____________________ Please register the Shareware you keep. -7- What Vehicle History? _____________________ INVOICE & REGISTRATION FORM Your Name________________________________________________________ Company Name_____________________________________________________ Address__________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ City_________________________ State/Prov______ Zip_____________ Registration License & disk: Qty ____ x $69 $_______ Multiple/ 2-4 disks -- deduct 40% Wholesale 5 or more -- deduct 50% (_______) Site License Up to 4 CPUs add $30; Up to 10 add $70 (add to above) Up to 20 add $125; Unlimited add $400 _______ Printed One copy is $8, 2 or more are $6 ea. Manuals Qty ____ @ $______ = _______ Shipping & Canada, AK, HI, VI, PR add $3 _______ Expenses Other countries add $9 per copy _______ ** T O T A L ** _______ Disk size & quantity [__] 5¬" [__] 3«" Drive density [__] Low (DD) required [__] High (HD) okay FDFORMAT/FDREAD [__] FDFORMAT extended densities okay Printer make(s) & model(s)______________________________________ Which version are you using now?________________________________ Where did you get it (BBS name)?________________________________ For a Thank-You note, whose name is on your copy?______________________________________ WVH has been delivered to and accepted by customer. Upon receipt of this paid invoice the latest Registered Edition disk and any options chosen above will be sent. Send cash, cheque, money order in U.S. funds; Canadians send Cdn$ or CIMO. NYS residents add sales tax. Mail this page with your cash, cheque or money order to Angel Babudro, 28 Mulberry Street, Clinton, NY USA 13323-1506. Allow 1-3 weeks for the latest version to land on your doorstep. Thank you for your order! -8- What Vehicle History? _____________________ VI. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS In a nutshell, a 286 or better is recommended, a hard disk is highly recommended, MS/PC-DOS 3.3 or later, and at least 350k free RAM. WVH has been tested on MS-DOS 3.3 and 5.0. It should work properly under PC-DOS or MS-DOS version 3.1 or later. You will need about 400k of disk space for WVH and its necessary files plus disk space for the files you will create. Just about any dot matrix or PCL laser printer should work fine. Although the system is capable of handling 5.5 millions entries per file, you would need a supercomputer or a lot of time to manage it. On a PC/XT (8088 or 8086) computer you should be able to manage a few dozen vehicles with adequate speed. A 386 will handle larger companies better (50-100 vehicles or so, depending on its speed), and a 486 would be best if you've got hundreds of vehicles to track. That's just a recommendation, though. You can track a thousand vehicles on a 4MHz XT if you want to; it'll just make molasses look fast... A. Using on a Network With version 2.2 of WVH I have installed network file locks for networks that use the DOS SHARE.EXE file sharing method. I only have one computer so I am unable to test how WVH will work on a network, so I would sure appreciate any feedback you could provide. I will gladly send a free update for any help I can get in making WVH work well on a network. VII. FILES WHICH MAKE UP THE PACKAGE What Vehicle History? consists of the following files: _____________________ WVH.EXE The executable file WVH.HLP The help file WVH.TXT The ASCII text file of this document [*] WVH.WP The WordPerfect file of this document (so you can format it for your printer) [*] READ.ME A file containing late-breaking news [*] ORDER.FRM Order form for all of my software PRINTER.DAT Printer definitions These are the files which make up WVH. If you distribute evaluation copies to friends and bulletin boards please be sure to include all of these files. Additional files will be created in the same directory as you use the software. The files marked -9- What Vehicle History? _____________________ with [*] can be deleted if disk space is a premium, but I ask that you please keep ORDER.FRM on disk until you decide whether or not to register. Registered users -- please keep the file CONFIG.WVH only for yourself as it contains your registration stamp. Share only those files listed above. Thank you for your help! VIII. HISTORY & NEW FEATURES WVH was initially written in October, 1991 using the dBFast dBase compiler (the original dBFast which would make tiny EXE modules). This version was rather limited and not too awfully user-friendly, but I wrote it at the request of a friend of mine at Del Webb Corp. in Las Vegas who needed it in a hurry. I got such enthusiasm from Del Webb for the software that I decided to invest a major amount of time to make it commercial- quality. About four months later WVH Version 2.0 was born which somehow brings us to now, although it get's a little fuzzy in places... IX. RUNNING What Vehicle History? FOR THE FIRST TIME Before you can use WVH you will have to install it on your hard disk or create a working floppy disk. Since almost no business uses dual floppy disk systems anymore I won't bother to explain the procedure here. Contact me if would like my input on this. If you received your copy of WVH on floppy disk it should have come with an INSTALL programme. If INSTALL.EXE or any other of the files which make up the software are not on your disk please contact me so I can make sure the distributor you got it from is aware that their copies are missing files. Go to the DOS prompt (usually "C:\>" or some such variant), and type "d:INSTALL" where "d:" is the letter of the floppy disk drive with the WVH disk (e.g., "A:INSTALL" to install from floppy A:). You will be asked to supply the destination drive and directory. If you have an existing version of the software on disk you will be informed that it will be updated with the new disk. -10- What Vehicle History? _____________________ After INSTALL is finished you will see some helpful information for setting up your computer well, and directions on how to run WVH. A batch file called WVH.BAT is created in your root directory if you so permit, and your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files are not touched at all, not one little bit -- I wouldn't invade your system that way. While in the root directory you just type "WVH" to start the programme. WVH is a batch file which merely changes to the proper drive & directory then runs WVH. You can delete this file if you are using a menu or would rather type the commands yourself. A. Using the Menus I have used what I understand to be an SAA-compliant (Standard Industry Architecture, an IBM slogan) menu system. Most folks know it better as the Macintosh or Windows menu standard. Basically, there is a horizontal menu of choices -- File, Data Entry, etc. Under each of the horizontal choices is a menu of functions pertaining to that item -- it is a two- dimensional menu, in other words. There are two ways to select an item from the main menu: 1. Press the letter which is highlighted in the option description 2. Use the Up/Down/Right/Left arrows to highlight the option you want then press ENTER (a.k.a. RETURN or CR). Some menus do not have highlighted options. On these menus you must use the arrow keys to highlight your choice then press ENTER. If you want to cancel an operation you selected, just press the Esc ("Escape") key. B. Quick Start Okay, manual haters, here's your section. Type "WVH" from the DOS prompt, use the menus. Everything is pretty self- explanatory, really. There is a brief, on-line manual under Help/Index for quick reference. -11- What Vehicle History? _____________________ X. MANAGING FILES The choices under the File menu have to do with your system set-up, file management, and ending the programme. A. Set-up - Sales Tax Rate and Labour Rate Entry The set-up screen lets you set two important items: The sales tax rate for your area and whether or not you want to enter the labour hourly rate on the Maintenance Data Entry screen. If you do not need to track sales tax, just enter zero for this. Otherwise, enter your sales tax rate as a percentage (i.e., 7.50 for 7.5%). When you are entering service information for a vehicle you are asked to indicate the mechanic or place of service which, in turn, indicates the hourly rate for labour. If you wish you can enter the labour rate on the service data entry screen, which allows you to over-ride the rate set for the mechanic or place of service. This can be handy if you don't want to track mechanics, only the service done. In this case you could set up a single mechanic and enter the hourly rate as it pertains to each incident of service. B. Making Back-up Copies of Your Files File/Back-up protects your information by allowing you to copy it to another disk. Version 2.1 of WVH will have a Preferences menu, under which you will be able to choose how you want to perform a back-up -- using the DOS COPY command or ARJ, LHARC, or PKZIP compressors. After you select this option you will see a summary of the files to be backed-up. If you have more than one floppy disk drive you will be asked to select one. All WVH data files will then be backed-up to the floppy disk. C. Restoring Files from a Back-up Copy If you ever need to recover data files from a floppy disk you made using the Back-up command (above), just place the floppy disk in its drive and select File/Restore. If you have more than one floppy disk drive you will be asked to select one, then the data files will be copied from the floppy disk onto your hard disk. -12- What Vehicle History? _____________________ D. Formatting Floppy Disks This option is for those times when you have decided to make a back-up copy of your data but don't have a formatted disk handy. File/Format Floppies lets you format a floppy disk to your computer's standard density without exiting WVH. If you have a high density drive you can only format high density disks (in other words, WVH doesn't pass any parameters to DOS FORMAT). If you have What Floppy Format? (WFF.EXE) available somewhere in your search path WVH will automatically access it for formatting floppy disks (so you can do whatever you want). You will receive a complimentary copy of the latest version of WFF with your WVH registration. XI. DATA ENTRY This menu of What Vehicle History? lets you enter vehicles, _____________________ mechanics and other information into the data base. The Data Entry menu is split into three sections: 1. Regular data entry for vehicle service information 2. One-time data entry for vehicles, mechanics, departments, and service codes 3. Rarely needed data entry (schedule next maintenance) -- this function is run automatically after you enter service for a vehicle, so you would normally not need to access the function directly. NOTE: The Schedule Maintenance option is available only on the Registered Edition of WVH. A. Entry of Service Information You will be guided from item to item as you press ENTER after each line. You can use the arrow keys to move around within a window. The F6 key will cycle between the windows. B. Entry of Departments, Mechanics, Service Codes, and Vehicles Press Ins to insert a new item and Del to delete an item. -13- What Vehicle History? _____________________ Once you have information on file you can use the Up/Down arrow keys to scroll through the list. A "speed search" is also available -- just press a letter or number and the list will "jump" to the first entry beginning with that letter or number. XII. REPORTS Nothing tricky here. Just highlight the one you want, follow the instructions on the screen. S'all there is to it! XIII. HELP The Help menu has two options: About and Index. "About" gives some information about the programme and free memory. Index gives a menu from which you may choose a topic and press ENTER, whereupon a helpful window of information will appear. :) It's a handy (albeit brief) on-line manual, in other words. -14-