Contents

Overview	What is Someplace?

Installation	Files used by Someplace

Operations	Someplace operations

Customizing	Configuring Someplace to your taste

Tips	How to use Someplace more effectively

Someplace is shareware	This isn't free!  Here's how to register.

Reaching us	Contacting Granny's for technical support or sales information


Overview

Someplace is a personal database program for Windows 95.  It gives you a place to keep all the little (and sometimes not so little) odds and ends that don't fit neatly into a file cabinet or a traditional database program.  You can store in a single file all those important details that you need quick access to: phone numbers, web sites, access codes and passwords, health tips, financial reminders, etc.  You can also file less important paraphernalia: movie reviews, recreation ideas, clothing sizes of your relatives and so on.  Someplace can reflect your personal organization style: hierarchical categories or one big mess.  You can find what you need quickly regardless of your tidiness.

Someplace will recognize and dial phone numbers, and will connect to your favorite web sites if you have a web browser installed.  You can also use Someplace to launch programs to edit other files.

Flexible printouts let you access information away from the computer.

Someplace is Shareware and you are vigorously encouraged to register; the registration cost is only $15 and carries appreciable benefits.  Site licensing is also available.


Installation

There are only a couple of files required to install Someplace, so in the interest of keeping file clutter to a minimum, no auto-install program is included.  You will need the following files on your drive:

PLACE.EXE

PLACE.HLP

Someplace will create a new data file DEFAULT.PLC if no data file is found, but if you want to take the "quick tour" described in Section 3 of the documentation you'll also want to copy the file PRACTICE.PLC.

So to install Someplace, here's the recommended procedure:

Create a new subdirectory -- e.g., C:\PLACE.

Copy PLACE.EXE, PLACE.HLP, and PRACTICE.PLC (for the quick tour) to the new directory.  (If you've downloaded the "zipped" version of Someplace, just unzip the file in your new directory.)

Finally, you'll probably want to make a "shortcut" to place.exe on your desktop or in an appropriate folder.  Point the mouse to where you'd like to add a shortcut, then press the right mouse button and select "new", "shortcut".  Enter e.g. C:\PLACE\PLACE.EXE for the program and Someplace for the description, and you're set.

Someplace can be customized from the Configure menu; see Customizing for details.


Operations

We've tried to make mouse and keyboard use convenient and predictable in Someplace.  There are situations in which the same task can be accomplished in several different ways by using menus, accelerator keys, the button bar, or either of the mouse buttons, but hopefully your first instinct will suffice.  A good rule of thumb is: when in doubt, press the right mouse button.  This will list a menu of valid options depending on the current program state and the location of the mouse pointer.

The general categories of operations in Someplace are:  navigating, adding items, editing items, deleting items, using items, searching, file operations, printing and utilities.  We'll explore each of these in turn.

Navigating

As is generally true in Windows 95, pressing the right mouse button will list options appropriate to the current context.  This is always a good fall-back technique if you forget quicker ways of getting things done.

Clicking once on the left mouse button will move the cursor to the indicated position.  Double clicking the left button will generally do something active -- usually the task we think you're most likely to be interested in.  If you double click a simple note, you'll edit it.  Double clicking a program link launches the program or document.  Double clicking a subcategory (or the up-arrow symbol for "up a category") takes you there.

Pressing a key may be faster than using the mouse for many tasks.  Pressing <Enter> will generally have the same effect as double clicking the mouse.  There are keyboard shortcuts for a number of activities:

A	Add note

E	Edit note or subcategory

D (or <Del> or <Ctrl X>) Delete note

L	Link to first URL in note

<Ctrl C>	Copy note

<Ctrl V>	Paste note

Several menu options are also available from the button bar.  To identify the function of a button (if the button picture is too obscure), rest the cursor on the button until a text description is shown.

You can scroll through your notes by using the scroll bar or the up/down arrow keys.  If you press one of the Shift keys while pressing the arrow keys (or the other cursor keys), you'll scroll through the category window instead of the note window.

Adding items

Add note

You'll probably use the "Add note" function more than any other.  You can add a note through the Edit menu, or by pressing 'A', or by pressing the right mouse button.  You can also paste notes from the clipboard -- notes deleted from elsewhere in Someplace, or any text put on the clipboard by another program.  "Paste" is available from the Edit menu, via the right mouse button, or by pressing <Ctrl V>.

Notes are just (ASCII) text entries, and can be as long as you like.  It's especially handy to mark a block of text while web-browsing, copy the text to the clipboard, then paste a note into Someplace.  This can save you from reconnecting to an URL later if all you need is a portion of a web page.

You might want to keep a long or private note in your data file but keep it out of your printouts.  The dialog box used for adding or editing notes or categories has a checkbox titled "Suppress in printouts" which you can use for this function.  If it's a category instead of a note, printing will be suppressed for descendent notes and categories as well.

When editing a note, you can insert the time by pressing <Ctrl T>, the date by pressing <Ctrl D>, or both by pressing <Ctrl B>.  See Customizing for instructions on changing the date format.

When adding a note, you can complete your entry by pressing on the OK button or by pressing <Shift> <Enter>.

Add category

When you start a new Someplace file, the only category is "Default".  You can add more categories via the Edit menu or by pressing the right mouse button.  Such categories are added as siblings of the current category.

Add subcategory

Subcategories are like subdirectories on your hard drive: they provide a way of organizing your data in a hierarchy.  For example, you might have a category called "Financial" with subcategories "Bank accounts", "Mutual funds", "Taxes", etc.  Under "Bank accounts" you could store notes representing your various accounts (account numbers, minimum balance requirements, etc.).  You could even continue the hierarchy by having categories "Checking accounts" and "Saving accounts" under "Bank accounts".  In practice, you'll seldom go past a second-generation subcategory.

You can add subcategories via the Edit menu or by pressing the right mouse button.

Add program

Someplace is a natural for managing small to moderate-sized text entries, but what about your other data: spreadsheets, long documents, etc?  You can add program links alongside notes so that your data is only a mouse-click away.  Select the "Add program" option from the right mouse button menu.  You'll be prompted for three pieces of information:

•	The path to the program or document,

•	optional command line arguments, and

•	a description.

Suppose you have a spreadsheet called MYSTUFF.XLS in directory C:\EXCEL\DATA which you need to edit often.  You can enter C:\EXCEL|DATA\MYSTUFF.XLS in the first field; alternatively, you can press the browse button to find the document.  In this case, leave the argument field blank.  Finally, enter something like MyStuff for the description.  The result will be an entry which looks like a note, but is a different color.  (The default color for executable entries can be changed; see Customizing.)  You can launch the document by double-clicking on the entry, by selecting Run from the right mouse button menu, or by moving the cursor bar to the entry and pressing <Enter>.

Editing items

You can edit any entry, including category names and program links.  Use the right mouse button menu, the Edit menu, or press 'E'.

If you're editing or viewing a large document, you may want to make the edit window larger.  You can double click on the dialog window, click on the maximize button, or resize the borders to enlarge the edit area.

Deleting items

When you delete an item you may want to paste it elsewhere in Someplace, or into another program.  There is no separate "Move" option, so the Delete and Paste combination is used instead.

Delete note

You can delete a note via the Edit menu, through the right mouse button menu or by pressing 'D', <Del> or <Ctrl X>.  The deleted note is placed on the clipboard, from which it can be pasted in Someplace or in another program.

Deleting categories and subcategories

You can delete categories or subcategories using the Edit menu or the right mouse button menu.  You are offered the option of saving the deleted "subtree" for pasting later.  A subtree consists of the given category and all its descendent notes and subcategories.  Pasting a deleted tree elsewhere in Someplace lets you "graft" a tree to a more appropriate place.

Using items

Entries can be notes, categories or program links.  Notes can contain phone numbers which Someplace can dial, and web links which Someplace can follow.  You don't have to organize phone numbers and web links in any special format or order -- Someplace will make an educated guess and show the dialing/linking options on the right mouse button menu.  If Someplace errs in its interpretation, you can always explicitly mark a number or address and indicate that you want to dial or link to it.

Up to 6 phone numbers in a note will be listed when you press the right mouse button; choose the one you want, and Someplace will dial it for you.  By default, a phone number is recognized by from 7 to 20 digits in a row (after hyphens and parentheses are removed).  If the length is 10, then a '1' is prepended for dialing.  These assumptions can be changed; see Customizing for details.

You can always go to the detail window (where the highlighted note is shown in full) and use the mouse or keyboard to mark a number you want to dial.  When you press the right mouse button dialing this number will appear as an option.

Web address recognition is similar.  Any unbroken sequence of characters starting with "http" or "ftp" (case doesn't matter) is taken to be a web or ftp address which can be fed to a web browser. Only the first such link found is available through the right mouse button menu; if Someplace doesn't find the link you want, mark it in the detail window.  As a shortcut you can just press 'L' to link to the first web address found in a note.  Here's an example of how you can use this feature: create a 2-line note in which the first line describes a web site and the second line gives the address.  E.g.:

Motley Fool

http://fool.web.aol.com/fool_mn.htm

The first line will show in the note window.  Pressing 'L' will open the URL shown in the second line.

Searching

You'll find the "search" option one of the most useful tools in Someplace.  Press 'F' (for "Find") and you will be prompted for a search string.  The search is global (rather than limited to the current category).  The cursor will be advanced to the first match found, or Someplace will gently beep at you if there is no match.  (Case is not significant in searches.)  Press 'N' repeatedly to find the next matches.  When no more matches are found, Someplace beeps.  If you press 'N' an additional time, the search cycles back to the beginning.

You can also select "Find" and "Next" from the menu and from the button bar.

File operations

When you start Someplace, the file DEFAULT.PLC is loaded by default.  (This can be changed -- see Section 5.)  Typically, you'll make a few additions or changes, then use the Save option from the File menu to save the modified file.  You can save the file under a different name (or to another location) by selecting "Save as".  You can use New to start a new file, or Open to select an existing file.

If saving your work would overwrite a previous version, the old file is first renamed with the extension ".BAK".  For example, if you save DEFAULT.PLC and then realize that you have lost information in doing so, just copy DEFAULT.BAK to DEFAULT.PLC.  Of course, you should have a more global backup strategy as well -- periodically copy your important files to tape or other disks.  In testing Someplace we have not yet lost any data, but lightning will strike us if we assert that the program is incapable of misbehaving.

File operations may also be performed by using the button bar.

There is one other file operation which is available through the Utility menu: "Save as text".  This saves a listing of your entire file in a text format which can be used by other programs.

Printing

To print from Someplace you must decide what you want to print and how you want to print it.  Under the File menu there are four pertinent options: Print options, Print preview, Print, and Print setup.

The first of these lets you specify whether to print all categories (everything in the file) or the current category.  If you choose the latter, you can also specify whether you want to include descendent notes and categories as well.  You can change the font size and number of columns temporarily.  (You can make these changes persistent and also change the font from the Configure menu.)

"Print preview" lets you view your output on the screen before using up paper.  (Save a tree!)

"Print" sends the document to the printer.

"Print setup" lets you choose the printer to which output will be directed, and also lets you determine the paper orientation (portrait or landscape).

"Print" and "Print preview" are also available on the button bar.

There is one additional print option which is found under the Utility menu.  Occasionally you may store an entire document as a single note, and you may wish to print only this single item.  By choosing "Utility", "View note in Notepad" you can launch the Windows Notepad program with a copy of the note as the target file.  You can then use Notepad printing functionality to output the document.  It is important to understand that you are viewing a copy of the note and that any changes you make in this context will not be saved in your Someplace data file.  (The note is saved in the work file PLACE.TMP, which you can delete later if you like.)

The location of the Notepad program is assumed to be your Windows directory.  If it's not, or if you want to use a different editor for printing individual notes, change the NotePad variable described in Section 5.

You can also achieve the same effect by copying a selection to the clipboard, then pasting into your favorite editor.

Utilities

There are three options available under the Utility menu.  The first, "View note in Notepad" is described above in "Printing".  "Save as text" was previously covered under "File operations".  The last alternative, "Split entry", we'll describe here.

Suppose you have a file of names and phone numbers, with one name/phone number pair per line.  It would be nice to import this as a "Phone" category in Someplace.  Assuming that you've already set up a category in which to put the new records, put the file on the clipboard (e.g. using Notepad) and paste the clipboard into Someplace as a note.  Now you have a single entry with many phone numbers, most of which won't show on the screen.  By choosing "Split entry", the note will be separated into one entry per line.


Customizing

Many features in Someplace can be customized.  The most common alterations may be performed through the Configure menu, while many more obscure adjustments may be made by editing the System Registry directly.

The Configure menu

The main options available concern screen and printout characteristics, the default category and data file, and user of web linking.

Screen colors

Here you can change the colors used for various functions in Someplace:

Category -- the color used in the Category window and for subcategories in the Note window

Detail -- the color used in the Detail window for expanding the note at the cursor

Note -- the default color used in the Note window

Execute -- the color for program links

NoPrint -- the color for non-printing notes

Screen font

Let's you change the font used on the screen

Show past line break

Normally a note is truncated at the first line break in the Note window.  For example, if your note was:

Mary had a little lamb,

its fleece was white as snow

Then only "Mary had a little lamb," would show in the Note window (but the full text will always show in the detail window and in the dialog used for editing the note).  If you turn on the "Show past line break" option, you'll see:

Mary had a little lambits fleece was white as snow

Printing font

Lets you change the font used for printing your data

Printing columns

Lets you change the number of columns used in a printout

Printing margins

Lets you specify paper margins in inches

Install registration code

When you register Someplace, you'll be given a registration name and code to enter in this dialog.  Installing this information will show you as registered on the title bar, and the annoying monthly registration reminders will cease.

Default category

When you start Someplace the starting category will be "Default" (and this category is created if not found).  If you want to substitute a different name for this behavior such as "To do", choose this option.

Default file

You can run Someplace with an argument (e.g. using the "Run" system option) specifying the data file; for example: SOMEPLACE C:\MYDIR\MYDATA.PLC.  If you don't indicate a file, a default will be used; this is originally DEFAULT.PLC in your Someplace directory.  If you want the default to be a different file, use this option.

Enable web links

If you have a web browser and an internet connection, Someplace will follow web links if this option is enabled.  Turn the option off if you don't have a browser.

Other configuration options

We didn't want to clutter up the Someplace menu too much, so the more obscure configuration options will be left to be changed "by hand" in the System Registry.  For now, this pertains to just a few options.  To change or set Someplace configuration information, run REGEDIT from the system toolbar Run option, then click successively on the HKEY_CURRENT_USER, Software, and Place folders.  If the Someplace variable already exists, just double click it in the right-hand window and change its value.  If it's not listed, create it by choosing Edit, New, then String or DWORD value (as shown below), and enter the variable's name.  Once the variable exists, you can change its value by clicking on it.

HorizRatio and VertRatio (string)

By default the width of the Note window takes up 80% of the available space horizontally (leaving 20% for the category window).  The Someplace variable HorizRatio is .8 in this case.  If you add the variable using Regedit and change its value to .7, you'll have a wider Category window (30% of the total).  Similarly, the VertRatio variable defaults to .8, giving the Detail window just 20% of the total height.

EditFont (DWORD)

If you set this to 1, the screen font will be used in note edit dialogs as well as in the Note, Category and Detail windows.

PhoneLength1 (DWORD)

This is the number of digits in a phone number.  (Default=7)  You can use PhoneLength2 (Default=10) and PhoneLength3 to recognize other phone numbers.

PhonePrefix1 (string)

The sequence of digits to dial before a phone number of length PhoneLength1.  For example, the string might be "9" for an outside line.  Similarly you can set PhonePrefix2 and PhonePrefix3.  The defaults are nothing for 1 and "1" for 2.

ClickURL (DWORD)

If web linking is enabled and you double click on a note containing an URL, you'll link to that URL (rather than editing the note).  Set ClickURL to 0 to turn off this feature.

DateFormat (DWORD)

You can insert the date when entering a note by pressing <Ctrl D> or <Ctrl B>.  You can control the date format using the following values:

0 - Normal

1 - Terse

2 - Numbers

3 - EuropeanNumbers

4 - European

We're willing to make most default Someplace behaviors subject to user modification in this manner.  If there's something you'd like to change, let us know and we'll add new Regedit variables.


Tips for using Someplace
Tips

Someplace is good at storing and locating short (but possibly important!) notes that don't warrant the full database treatment in which there are formal field definitions.  While you can store long documents directly in Someplace, this will tend to slow down file operations and searches.  A better strategy is to keep your longer documents separate and include links to these documents in Someplace.  Links can be added with the "Add program" option from the right mouse button menu.

If you've previously put a long entry in Someplace that you would like to make a separate file, you can copy and paste the entry into Notepad, Word or your favorite application.  An alternative is to select Utility, View note in Notepad, then save the Notepad file to a new name (using Save As).  You can then delete the entry from Someplace and add a link to the new file.


Registration
Shareware

(This help screen will come up on the first of each month if you haven't registered -- just a friendly reminder!)

"Shareware" is a means of software distribution with several advantages to the consumer.  The complete package including documentation may be freely copied and distributed (subject to the constraints below).  Word of mouth provides a more accurate and less expensive way of making a product known than magazine advertisements, and the savings keep Someplace's cost down.

The registration cost for Someplace is $15 (MC/VISA or check drawn on US bank).  This licenses you to use the current version and one major upgrade (and probably several minor upgrades), and gives you telephone support for the licensed versions. You can download Someplace from our web page

http://cs.cs.appstate.edu/u/cs/mh/granny

or for an extra $3 we'll send you a disk with the current version.  Regardless of how you obtain the program, when you register we'll send or email you a code which will make your version "registered".  (See Install registration code.)

If you don't have Internet access and want to try out the shareware version of Someplace, send us a check for $3.

Shareware does not mean 'public domain'.  Distribution is permitted only if the package stays intact; all files should be passed on in unmodified form.  Commercial distributors may sell copies of the package subject to the conditions described in the VENDOR.TXT file.  Restrictions to use by an individual are described in LICENSE.TXT.  One of these restrictions is that unregistered use of Someplace past a trial period of 60 days is prohibited.

To register, phone (with MC or VISA) (704) 264-6906,  fax (704) 264-4634, or mail payment to:

Granny's Old-Fashioned Software

297 Camp Rock Road

Boone, NC 28607, USA

North Carolina residents please add 6%.  Please pay by MC/VISA, check in US funds drawn on US bank, or by cash.  Foreign orders may send cash in dollars or in local currency (no coins), but please allow a small margin for exchange rate fluctuations.

An order form is provided on disk under the name REGISTER.TXT.  Site licensing is also available; please call for current rates.


Reaching us

You can reach us in several ways.  Our post office address is:

Granny's Old-Fashioned Software

297 Camp Rock Road

Boone, NC 28607, USA

Our voice phone is (704) 264-6906 and our fax line is (704) 264-4634.  Our Internet email address is mh@cs.appstate.edu, and our web page is http://cs.cs.appstate.edu/u/cs/mh/granny.

Someplace which will change fairly often.  Check our web page for update announcements.  If you have registered a previous version, downloaded updates will be registered for one major and many minor updates.