Custom calc Contents
Custom Calc help ver 1.0

Contents

About Custom calc

Programming Custom calc

Menu options

Keyboard interface

Programming examples

Tricks, tips and traps

Shareware

Copyright


About Custom calc

Custom calc is a four function calculator with two memories and four or eleven programmable function keys.

The memory recall keys show the contents of the memories at all times, if they show Mem x recall they contain zero otherwise they show the value.

The keys can have a string of keys associated with them and can execute the keys as though they were pressed individually.


Programming Custom calc

To program Custom calc, first select Program to open the program a key dialog then select the function key you wish to program by clicking in the function name dialog with a mouse. You can either type the commands you wish associated with the key directly in the Function edit box or you can click on the calculator keys with the mouse. The key strokes appear in the Function window and special identifiers for the keys that cannot be repesented by a single character.The following are a list of special identifiers.

<M1R>	Recall the contents of memory one

<M1+>	Add the displayed value to memory one

<M1C>	Clear the contents of memor one to zero

<M2R>	Recall the contents of memory two

<M2+>	Add the displayed value to memory two

<M2C>	Clear the contents of memory two to zero

<+/->	Change the sign of the displayed value

<1/x>	Display the reciprocal of the number

<CLR>	Clear the display

<Fn1>	Execute the string associated with function 1

<Fn2>	Execute the string associated with function 2

<Fn3>	Execute the string associated with function 3

<Fn4>	Execute the string associated with function 4

<Fn5> - <Fn11>	Execute the string associated with function s 5 to 11

<x-y>	Exchange the last two numbers entered

While it is possible to include one function in another, it is no possible to call the function you are executing either directly or indirectly as this would cause it to execute indefinitely.


Menus

NOTE: At certain points in the operation of Custom Calc, menu items will be greyed out and will not respond. These are: the No of significant figures when you are in the process of calculating and Extra function keys when the program dialog is open.

Custom calc menus

 TheEdit Menu

Copy

You can copy numbers from the display to the clipboard, the numbers are in Standard "C" format.

Paste

You can copy numbers from other programs to the display and Cust calc will attempt to dispay them.

TheConfugure menu

No. of significant figures

The number of figures in the display can be altered between 8 and 15 digits as well as currency format that tries to display the result to 2 places of decimal although the result is always calculated to 15 significant figures internally.

Always on top

If this item is ticked, the calculator will stay above any other window on your screen and so will always be available for use. If the option is unticked it may well disappear under the top window. Selecting Always on top Toggles the selection.

User positions icon

When Cutom calc is turned into an icon you can either decide that the icon is placed where Windows wants to place it, somwhere along the bottom of the screen, or you can choose to move it to a place on the screen of your choosing. By making sure User positions icon is ticked the icon will always appear where you last placeded it on the screen.

Font

The font used on the keys can be changed from the default 8 point MS Sans Serif font. The font size can be changed between 8 point and 24 point although you will find not much of the calculator can be seen on-screen at this size. The fonts you can choose from will depend on the fonts resident on your system.

Text below 8 point is difficult to read but text much larger than 8 point means that the whole of Custom Calc is not visible at the same time but by using the keyboard, it is possible to have just the display visible at the larger text sizes so it can be viewed by a group or perhaps by someone with vision problems. It is also useful for sizing for different resolutions on a given monitor or for different size monitors.

Extra function key

If you need more than the standard four function keys you can insert a column of function keys next to the existing function keys to increase the number to eleven. These are programable in the same way as the other function keys if they are visible.

TheHelp menu

Contents

Invokes help and displays the contents page of this help file

Using help

The standard help on using help

About Custom calc...

a dialog box with information about Custom calc and Windows

Program a key menus

TheEdit menu

Cut

Cut any highlighted text from the edit box that has the focus to the clipboard

Copy

any highlighted text from the edit box that has the focus to the clipboard

Paste

Paste the contents of the clipboard into the edit box at the cursor

Delete

Delete any highlighted text in the edit box that has the focus


Keyboard interface

NOTE: At certain points during the operation of Custom Calc, certain functions may not work. see MenusIt is possible to use all of the functions of the calculator from the keyboard. the numbers and +, -, * and / are accessable either on the main section of the keyboard or on the keypad. Enter on both also acts as an = key. The funtion keys, F1 to F4 (F1 to F10 if the extra function keys are selected) on the keyboard act as calculator function keys.

Use R to get the reciprocal of the display,S to change the sign of the display, T to transpose x and y & % to get a percentage of the display.

To add a number to memory one, use O, R to recall the number and L to clear it.

To add a number to memory two, use Alt + O,Alt + R to recall the number and Alt + L to clear it

To access the program dialog, press P and to turn the calculator off use F.

Menu short-cuts

Cut and paste use the standard menu short -cuts of Ctrl and X to cut a value to the clipboard and Ctrl and V to paste the contents of the clipboard to the edit control. The menu items are greyed if the options are unavailable.

To toggle between the calculator being always visible on top of any other windows and sitting on the desktop, use Ctrl and T. To alter the number of significant figures between 8 and 15, use Ctrl and the left-most digit of the number e.g Ctrl and 5 to get 15 significant figures, Ctrl and Y sets the currency mode. To select a different font, use Ctrl and F. Use Ctrl and K to toggle between 4 and 11 function keys.

(Keys can be either upper or lower case)

A reminder that the short-cuts are shown on the menus


Programming examples

Here are some simple programming examples to show what is possible with Custom calc.

To program Fn 1 to add VAT @ 17.5 % to a number entered

select program to open the Program a key dialog, select Fn1. Fn1 will then appear in the Edit box. Delete Fn 1 either by high-lighting it and pressing Delete or by back-spacing then enter+ VAT @ 17.5 % to remind you what the key does, move to the Function edit box and type + 17.5 % = , press End programming to accept the changes and nowF1 displays + VAT @ 17.5% and pressing Fn1 will add 17.5 % to any number in thedisplay.

An alternative way to program Custom calc is to enter a number first, 100 will do before pressing Program, select Fn1, select Function and then press the+ key followed by17.5%= keys,this will calculate 100 + 17.5% (117.5 if you entered it correctly) and also program Fn1. It is necessary to enter a number before opening the program a key dialog to capture the part of the calculation you wish to assign to the function key.

It is advisable to make the function names as meaningful as possible so in the above example, the VAT rate was included on the key so that if the rate does alter in the future you will remember to change it. Also remember, if you type the formula directly into the Function box, you can add spaces to make the formula more readable

To calculate the amount of VAT included in a price, the formula is /117.5 * 17.5 = and to calculate the price minus VAT, the formula is / 117.5 * 100 =.

(VAT is assumed to be 17.5 % in all the above examples)

To convert from degrees Centigrade or Celcius to degrees Farenheit, the formula is * 9 / 5 + 32 = and - 32 * 5 /9 = to convert from degrees Farenheit to degrees Centigrade.

If you wish to enter characters that cannot normally be typed, you can use the clipboard to cut and paste between the Character Map program and Custom Calc.


Standard "C" format
Standard "C" format for numbers

Custom calc uses numbers of the format [-]xx.xx[[-]exx]. This is the same format used on the memory recall keys and the same format used by Windows calculator. If you wish to paste a number into the display, you can write a number with a similar format.


Copyright message
Custom Calc Copyright

This file and Custom Calc is copyright © 1994 Malcolm Whapshott

For more information contact:

Malcolm Whapshott

208 The Chantrys

Farnham

Surrey

GU9 7AU

England

TEL: (0252) 725677

International +44 252 725677

Cust calc was written in C++ using Microsoft Visual C++, certain information is from the Microsoft documentation.


Tricks, tips & traps
Tricks, tips and traps

Number limits

Floating point numbers are limited to a maximum size of1.7976931348623158 * 10 e 308

and a minimum size of 2.2250738585072014 * 10e-308 internally

This is limited by the display to an eight  to fifteen digit mantissa and 3 digit exponent.

Numbers outside this range generate an error

Pi

You may wish to program using Pi, there is no Pi key but it's value is 3.141592653589793 so you can enter it into one of the memories or into a function key

Custcalc.ini

Cistcalc.ini is the initialisation file for Custom Calc. Custom Calc creates and maintains this file automatically so there is no need to manually edit it at any time. Custom Calc will try to catch any alterations that it does not like and reset them to legal values.


Shareware

This program is shareware, that means that you are entitled to copy and distribute Custom Calc freely but if you decide you wish to use Custom Calc afer a period of evaluation not exceedind 30 days, then you have to pay for the program.

Send £5 per copy (£10 overseas) to

Malcolm Whapshott

208 The Chantrys

Farnham

Surrey

GU9 7AU

England

You will receive the latest version Custom Calc without the initial dialog box with my name and address on it.