BirdData 3.1 Bird Breeders database/record-keeping program. Print this file for program instructions. ©1991-1996 All rights reserved _______ By Don Bradner ____|__ | (R) Arcata Pet --| | |------------------- 600 F Street | ____|__ | Association of Arcata, CA 95521 | | |_| Shareware |__| o | Professionals -----| | |--------------------- |___|___| MEMBER Compuserve address: 76130,1007 Internet: dbirdman@redshift.com Contents of this file: A. Note to users of BirdData 2.x I. Program Description II. Program Requirements III. Installation IV. Getting Started V. Files that make up BirdData VI. Troubleshooting VII. Getting future upgrades VIII. Registration and distribution IX. ASP Ombudsman Statement A. NOTE TO USERS OF BIRDDATA 2.X. This version of BirdData uses a completely different file structure from previous versions. It is possible to run BirdData 3.0 and a previous version simultaneously without harm. It is recommended that version 3.0 be installed to a completely different directory than 2.x, so that files don't get "jumbled." There is a conversion program included to convert 2.x files to 3.0 format. An option to run it will display during Setup if an older version is detected. The conversion program installs to your BDATA3 directory along with the rest of the files, so it may be run later. If the conversion is run after data has been entered in 3.0 format, THE NEW DATA WILL BE OVERWRITTEN. Consequently, the conversion should only be done once. Your version 2.x data will not be disturbed by the conversion process. If you are a registered user of a version prior to 3.0 there is no charge to upgrade. If, after installing version 3 you see the shareware "nag" screen, it means that the SETUP program did not find the version 2 registration key. You need to manually copy the key (BDATAREG.KEY) from your version 2 directory or the distribution diskette to the version 3 directory. In most cases SETUP will take care of this automatically. I. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION. BirdData is a custom database for the types of records useful to bird keepers. The program is oriented towards the needs of Parrot breeders, but may be useful to pet owners as well. Bird records include identification information, fields for 6 items of user-defined data, and weight/journal for up to 2000 lines. Weight information may be shown graphically for individual birds and various groupings of birds. Bird records are placed in user-defined groups. There is a search function for bird records that allows searching for a text string among any of the identification items or the six user-defined items. A handy daily-weigh function will locate all babies that are a specific age or less on a specific date, and allow weights and comments for that date to be entered. This is useful both for daily entering of data, or for entering groups of paper-written info maintained on a per day basis. Pair data includes identification information, information on bird origins, free-form date-stamped diary entries, and ongoing egglaying data. The program will calculate hatchdates, based on user input or prior data. Pet data was maintained separately in previous versions, but is integrated with the rest of the bird data in version 3.0. Most records and lists may be printed to provide permanent records. Full documentation is included in the form of a Windows Help file. When you desire help, press your F1 function key for context-sensitive help, or press the help key if you are in a dialog box. II. Program requirements. BirdData requires an IBM compatible 286 or better, running Windows 3.1, with at least 4 megs of RAM. A 386 with 8 megs or more is recommended. A mouse is required for some funtions. About 1 megs of hard-drive space is required to install, and each bird record will use about 2K of disk space initially and more as the data increases. III. Installation. If you obtained BirdData by downloading it from a computer Bulletin Board (BBS) or another online source, one necessary file may not have been included. You will need a file called VBRUN300.DLL, which is almost always available from any source that would have BirdData. On BBS systems the file will usually be called VBRUN300.ZIP or VBRUN3.ZIP. If you obtained the program on disk, the file should be included and may be called VBRUN300.DL_. If it is missing, contact the supplier of the program. Registered versions obtained from the author should always include VBRUN300. If the file is included with the program it should be installed by the setup procedure; if it is independently obtained it should be unzipped and placed in your Windows\System Directory. To install BirdData, insert the disk in your computer and choose File/Run from the Program Manager. Enter A:Setup or B:Setup as appropriate and follow the prompts. (If the program files are already in a directory on your hard disk, enter the appropriate path instead of A: or B:). NOTE: Setup will not run if any other program is using VBRUN300.DLL or any other library file used by the program. An error message will be generated, and you must end all such applications before retrying the installation. To be safe, it is best to have only Windows running before installing BirdData or any other program. You may restart any other VBRUN300-using programs after installation is complete. Multiple programs may use the module at once, with SETUP being an exception. IV. Getting Started. The SETUP will create a "Bird" program group, with icons for the program and the various text files. Double-click the BirdData icon to start the program. The best way to familiarize yourself with the program elements on screen is to click the help (question mark) icon, or choose "Help" "Overview" from the menus. In the helpfile's overview, you may graphically choose different program elements to see an explanation of their function. Now click the "New Bird" icon (the "chick-in-shell"). Select a category and input a bird's information. Don't worry about getting everything right; you can always edit it or delete the record later. Add a couple of additional records, then try out the other program elements as they relate to those records. When you are comfortable, you can convert any paper data you have to the BirdData format and begin to use the program on a daily basis. V. Files that make up BirdData. The files are compressed on the disk. They are listed here with their compressed and uncompressed names. If you remove BirdData from your system, be careful about deleting any file with a .DLL or .VBX extension, since it might be used by another program (save a copy just in case). The setup program only copies a file to your disk if it does not find the file already or if this file is newer. References to the BDATA3 directory mean the directory you chose during installation for the program files. Compressed File Name Type and where installed BDATA3.EX_ BDATA3.EXE Program, BDATA3 directory BDATA3.HL_ BDATA3.HLP Helpfile, BDATA3 directory BDATA3.IN_ BDATA3.INI Data file, BDATA3 directory SETUP.EXE Setup Program, not transferred SETUP.LST Used by Setup SETUPBDT.EX_ SETUPBDT.EXE BirdData Setup, Windows directory VBRUN300.DL_ VBRUN300.DLL Library File, Windows\System directory ***note: VBRUN300.DLL may not be included if the program was obtained from an online source. It will have to be obtained to run the program and the setup program. From on-line sources, it is usually VBRUN300.ZIP or VBRUN3.ZIP. If the program was obtained on disk then the file should be included; if not, contact the source of the disk. If the file is obtained separately, it must be installed in your Windows\System directory BEFORE you run setup. VER.DL_ VER.DLL Library File, Windows\System directory SETUPKIT.DL_ SETUPKIT.DLL Ditto CMDIALOG.VB_ CMDIALOG.VBX Ditto GRID.VB_ GRID.VBX Ditto BDTLIBR.VB_ BDTLIBR.VBX Ditto BDATAREG.KEY BDATAREG.KEY Registration key, BDATA3 directory ***Note: BDATAREG.KEY included only with registered versions. ICONWRKS.EX_ ICONWRKS.EXE Icon Editor, BDATA3 directory ICONWRKS.HL_ ICONWRKS.HLP Help File, BDATA3 Directory ***Note: ICONWORKS included only with registered versions. README.TXT This file, BDATA3 directory WHATSNEW.TXT Program history file, BDATA3 directory *.IC_ *.ICO Icon files, BIRDATA\ICONS subdirectory There are a number of custom icons included with BirdData; they were drawn by the author or by Sally Blanchard. Sally's all have a file name beginning with 'SB'. You may use these as you wish, to replace the bird group icons in the program defaults. There is also a blank icon included to use as a template for creating your own icons. You will need an icon editor; there are many free and shareware editors available; IconWorks is included with registered copies from the author and is directly accessible from the Tools menu. BirdData will make a one-line section addition to your WIN.INI file. This entry tells the program the directory path to the program files. BirdData will create a number of .REC files and .NDX files in your BDATA3 directory for the storage of data. If you follow good backup procedures, these are the most important to backup, along with BDATA3.INI. VI. Troubleshooting. Errors will frequently relate to a corrupted .INI file. You may load BDATA3.INI into Windows Notepad or a similar text-only editor and look for obviously bad entries. Always make a backup of the file before changing any entries, since it is easy to make problems worse. Some errors may be corrected by use of the Rebuild Indices menu item in the Category menu. If a specific record causes problems all of the time, either restore a backup copy or else delete the record and do an index Rebuild. In the latter case you would lose that record's data, which is a good reason to do frequent backups. VII. Getting future Upgrades. When you register BirdData with the author, you will receive a copy of the latest version and a registration key that removes the startup screen. That key file will work with future versions of the program, so no upgrade fee will be required. Current versions of BirdData can always be found at the author's internet FTP site: ftp://redshift.com/arcatpet/bdata/bdataxxx.zip where xxx is the version number. There is also a jump available from the author's web page at http://www.redshift.com/~arcatpet Registered users who do not have online access may get a disk copy from the author for a fee of $5 ($7 non-US). Send a short note indicating your registered status and requesting the latest copy. Please use the same name under which you are registered. VIII. Registration and Distribution. BirdData is shareware. Free use is extended to any user for a reasonable evaluation period; typical idea of "reasonable" is 30 days. If use is continued, the program should be registered with the author. Registration fee is $25. Registrants receive a disk copy of the latest version of BirdData. A convenient form for registration is included below and in the Help file (and may be printed from there). Until you register, there will be nag screens asking you to register, which you will have to respond to. When you register, this annoyance will go away. Otherwise, this version is complete and un-crippled in any way. As a registration incentive, the author will provide on request two free scanned images from your original prints or slides, when sent with the registration. Commercial use: BirdData may be used commercially, as long as there is a registered copy for each computer/terminal that is using it. You may freely distribute BirdData as long as no fees are charged for the program, and all necessary files are included. Shareware services may charge their normal fees for distribution of the disk, so long as it is clear to the purchaser that they are not buying the program itself. If you are a registered user, do not distribute the file BDATAREG.KEY, which identifies you as the user (This identification shows up in the startup logo and the About box). The author is very interested in feedback from users. Please feel free to make contact at the address shown at the beginning of this file with any comments/questions/problems. IX. ASP Ombudman Statement This program is produced by a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI 49442-9427 USA, FAX 616-788-2765 or send a CompuServe message via CompuServe Mail to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536