VisionDar 4.0

"The Real Calendar..."

Alotof Software Smt.

What Is VisionDar?

How Do I Use It?

Why And When Should I Register?

Startup

Controlling Main Calendar Areas

Looking At Other Months

Changing Fonts And Colors

Making VisionDar Stay

Making VisionDar Borderless

Using The Scheduler

Capture Images From Anywhere To VisionDar


What Is VisionDar?

If you are tired of double clicks.

If you want to sit back and relax.

If you want to look at your screen and enjoy it -

Then VisionDar 4.0 is for you. It brings exclusive artwork to your desktop, like the best wall calendars. And yet it combines all the benefits you know your computer can give you - self expression, creativity, and the usefullness of a computerized scheduler.

VisionDar is what you always wanted your computer calendar to be - it presents a beatiful new picture with every new month, and still let you to set its size, shape and colors.

Among many other things, it offers:

•	Beautiful images, specially designed for VisionDar by the European art designer - Matit.

•	A usefull scheduler, very easy to use, to serve as an appointment reminder and an alarm clock.

•	Capture your own images, as you surf the Net. See a new picture you like, press Capture... and its yours in VisionDar! Make VisionDar your Internet photo album!

•	Calendar size can be set to all sizes - from the size of an icon to a full-screen calendar. Because it can be so small, you can let it stay on your desktop, letting you see the current month with one glance. No more need for double (triple, quadruple etc...) clicks.

•	You can change the fonts and colors of all the "time entities" in VisionDar, adding your personal esthetic touch to your calendar.

•	VisionDar can show a clock, a month name, it can be set to "always on top" and can be auto-started with Windows in just one mouse click.

In addition,  several selections of 12-month classic pictures, in various subjects (Water, People etc.) are available free-of-charge to registered users. If you did not receive this additional set and you want to have it, please write us and well e-mail it to you immediately. You may also find this additonal set, under the name AddonDar.ZIP, in major shareware sites.


How Do I Use It?

In the ditribution kit you will find a utility named SETUP.EXE. Run it - and it will do the rest. It will install VisionDar, and then run it for the first time. You can now resize it, change its position (as you resize and position any regular window), and then click on "Install for Win startup" to make it start along with Windows.

If you dont want it to start with Windows, just run VisnDar.exe whenever you like. It will go up to the same size, to the same position and colors as you left it. It's as simple as that.

VisionDar starts with a default set of colors and fonts, and with the Matit's set of months pictures. You can always change VisionDars fonts, change its colors and even change its images. To learn how to do all these and more, please read the coming sections...


Why And When Should I Register?

You should register if you like our product and decided it should stay on your desktop. Our motivation is to create beautiful, artistic software, so life in front of the computer will be a little more (or even more...) enjoyable. Our method of distributing this software is by making it a shareware, reaching more people all over the globe. Using this method, we count on your cooperation, and we are sure you do not want any unregistered art hanging on your screen.

VisionDar 4.x costs $18. You should register it if you are using it more than 21 days.

There are several ways to register VisionDar.

•	The easiest way to register is via e-mail. All you need to do is to fill the attached file, ORDER.TXT, with your credit card details, and send it to:

Compuserve: 100274,2607 or

Internet: 100274.2607@compuserve.com

•	If you are a CompuServe member, you can register easily on-line by GO SWREG.

•	If you don't have a major credit card, you can always send a check, money order or cash for the amount indicated to:

    Alotof Software

    P.O. Box 23730

    TEL AVIV 61231

    ISRAEL

Within a few days you will receive back a user number, which will give you:

•	The ability to add to VisionDar several additional classic pictures series (Subject: "Water" and others) with no additional cost.

•	The introduction window will disappear. You probably know VisionDar by now, so it will appear a bit faster.

•	The "(Unregistered)" text on the months' pictures will disappear.

•	You will be entitled for technical support, reduced prices in our future products, and notices upon releases of new pictures selections.


Startup:

After you have double-clicked on the "SETUP.EXE" utility distributed with VisionDar, it has copied all necessary files to your selected directory and then loaded VisionDar. This was all so expected... When VisionDar run, you can see the introduction and logo window, displaying for 4 seconds, and then arrives VisionDar in all its glory. Note, that for registered users, the introduction window is not displayed, for your convenience.

There are 3 areas in VisionDar's window:

- The upper area is the image dedicated for this month.

- The main, middle area is where you can see the days of the month.

- In the bottom bar you can see a clock or the month name.

If you'll click on the system-menu box in the upper left corner (or press Alt-Space) a menu with several items will be displayed. Some of the items are new, some are the usual system-menu items.


Controlling Main Calendar Areas:

...Is very simple. If you don't want to see the picture any more, uncheck the item "Picture" in the system menu, and vice versa. If you want to change what you see in the bottom bar, click on the "Options..." menu item and then choose Clock, Month or No Bar from the the left set of radio buttons.


Looking at other months:

...Can't be easier. You may browse by using the arrow keys, or the PgUp/PgDn. Once started to browse, the bottom bar display will show the name of the month and the current year. Once you stop browsing, it will return to the original month in 30 seconds,.


Changing fonts and colors:

Click on the "Options..." item from the system menu. A dialog box will pop up, allowing you to change the following entities:

  - "Days" - all the days of the month, except from the current day.

  - "Current Day" - change the font and color of the current day.

  - "Title Days" - change the font and color of the "M T W T F S" title - the days except Sunday.

  - "Title Sunday" - change the the font and color of the "S" (for Sunday) in the title of the calendar.

  - "Background" - change the color of the background.


Making VisionDar stay:

In the Options dialog box, check the "Always On Top" check box . VisionDar will stay on top of the rest of your windows.

Making VisionDar Borderless:

In the Options dialog box, check the "No Border" check box. Or, you can just double click on any part of VisionDar's window. The thick frame, allowing you to size the window, will disappear. If you want to bring it back (for example, if you want to move the window), double click again.

This option is available for you, so you can make VisionDar even smaller than the minimal window size.


Using The Scheduler:

To get into the scheduler screen, go to the system menu (Alt-Space) and select the Scheduler item. This will pop up the scheduler dialog box. Or, you can short-cut to the specific day by right-clicking on the appropriate day at VisionDars calendar window.

While on the schedulers dialog box you can see several areas:

•	On the right you can see the current month, with two buttons, Next and Previous below it. The current day is selected.

•	On the left, you can see a list with the appointments of the selected day. Just above it, you can see an edit box where you can add new appoitments (Enter Time).

To add an appointment:

1. Use the Next and Previous buttons to view the desired month.

2. Then, select a day by clicking on it with the cursor.

3. Now, go to the Enter Time edit box, and type in the time. First type the hour, then a colon, then the minute, then either A(m) or P(m), or neither. For example: 7:34P, 8:33Am, 9:45pm etc. You can type it also in 24-hour format - 19:34, 6:22, etc.

4. Press the Add button. An appointment dialog box will pop up. Type in your appointment details.

5. If you want the scheduler to serve as a loud alarm reminder, check the Continous Alarm check box.

6. Press Ok in the appointment dialog box and in the scheduler to accept the new appointment.

When time comes, VisionDar will popup the box with your appointment, and will sound the alarm as you selected. If you did not check the Continous Alarm check box, it will produce four bell sounds.

To view, change or delete an appointment:

1. Use the Next and Previous buttons to view the desired month.

2. Then, select a day by clicking on it with the cursor.

3. In the left list box, double click on the appointment you want to change. Alternatively, you can select it and press on the Open... button.

4. The appointment dialog box will open, allowing you to change the text and the alarm setting of the appointment.

5. If you want to delete an appointment, select it and press the Delete button.


Capture Images From Anywhere To VisionDar

Considered to be one of the coolest features in VisionDar, you can now capture images from anywhere, to be displayed in your calendar. You can save pictures you like from pages on the Web, you can use this feature to scan your own work into VisionDar, and even make VisionDar your endless photo album.

There is not much to explain on how to do that: all you have to do is press the Capture... item on the main menu. VisionDar will be hidden, and you could select the area you want to capture, by clicking the right mouse button and dragging it over the rectangular area. Then, a dialog box will pop up, asking you when do you want to see this picture. Answer it - and that is it, the picture is among your calendars pictures.

Tips And Tricks:

•	If you want to are capture a color-intensive picture (like a GIF or a JPEG), make sure that the window in which that picture is displayed, is the active window. To make sure a certain window will become active when you want to capyture it, click on that window before you click on VisionDar. If this method does not work, make the capture while VisionDar is not displaying the picture; that is, uncheck the Picture option in the main menu.

•	Do not press Ctrl-Esc, Alt-Ctrl-Del, or Alt-Esc, while you are capturing. This will cause the capture process to stop.

•	The default height-to-width ratio of the picture in VisionDar is 0.6. Every picture is stretched to fit the picture area of VisionDar. Therefore, for best results in capturing, try to keep the height-to-width ratio of the rectangle you select around 0.6. However, if you select a rectangle whose where the ratio is greater than 0.75, the picture will not be stretched, and will be displayed in its original ratio. On any case, VisionDar works very well with all sizes and ratios of pictures.

•	To avoid overwriting of pictures, you can test a newly-captured picture by saving it as a picture in a different year. Then, browse to the appropriate month in that year. If the picture looks good, you can now copy it to the current year by using File Manager or Explorer: goto to the directory where VisionDar is installed; the pictures of each year reside in a directory with that years number; copy the appropriate *.bmp file to VisionDars root directory.

•	You can change the size of the image part in VisionDar (for example, to display narrower images), by adding the item Picture_Part to VISNDAR.INI, under the section [VisnDar]. You can now set Picture_Part in the range 0.1-0.6, and this reflect the percentage the image takes from the total window size of VisionDar.

For example:

[VisnDar]

...

Picture_Part = 0.55

•	Another option you may change is the height-to-width ratio of the image. The default is 0.6, but you can reset it by adding the entry Picture_H2W_Ratio to VISNDAR.INI.

For example:

[VisnDar]

...

Picture_H2W_Ratio = 0.55


Order.txt

(Select the Edit menu, Copy item, to copy this text into your e-mail system)

-----------------------------------------------------------

                        VisionDar

-----------------------------------------------------------

REGISTRATION FORM

Please e-mail this form with your credit card details to:

Internet: 100274.2607@compuserve.com

        -or-

Compuserve: 100274,2607

Or print and return this form with your payment by cash,

check or money order for the amount indicated below to:

    Alotof Software

    P.O. Box 23730

    TEL AVIV 61231

    ISRAEL

You will be registered and receive your own license number, by fax or e-mail or mail.

You will also be entitled to technical support for 2 years, by fax, e-mail or phone.

    Amount                      Registration Fee:

    ----------------------------------------------

    [   ] VisionDar4.0                 $18.00

    Total $_______

    Name ________________________________________________

    Company (if applicable) _____________________________

    [ ] Charge my credit card account $__________________

        [ ] MasterCard            [ ] Visa

        [ ] Eurocard              [ ] AMEX

        Account Number ___________________________________

        Expiration Date __________________________________

        Signature (if printed) ___________________________

    [ ] I enclose my check for $__________________________

        Address _____________________________________________

        City __________________________________ State _______

        Zip _________ Phone ______________ Fax ______________

    [ ] Yes, I want to receive notices about new

        selections of add-on pictures.

    E-Mail Address ______________________________________

    PC/CPU/Speed ________________________________________

    Display?  [ ]VGA  [ ]SVGA [ ] Other: ________________

    Where Obtained? _____________________________________

    Suggestions/Comments ________________________________

    _____________________________________________________