Copyright: Visual Help ® 1993-1994 Firas Bushnaq


Topic1
Introduction to The Jalopy Journal

Thank you for using The Jalopy Journal, a silly name for a serious and valuable product. This program, by focusing on procedures, helps you answer such questions as "When was the last time I ..." or "Did I ever change my antifreeze last year in my wife's car ?", etc. This will not only help you to take better care of your car, it will save money.  The printed maintenance log is very impressive to people who may want to purchase your car. That translates into more money in your pocket.

You will find this program very easy to use compared to some you may have tried. Click on one of the subjects below to become acquainted with that part of the program.

 Vehicles

 Procedures

 Registration

 Pick Lists


Vehicles

The Jalopy Journal can handle any number of vehicles. It is a valuable tool for a person owing one car, a family owning several cars or trucks, or a business with an entire fleet of vehicles to keep track of. At the top of the screen is a grid listing the vehicles you own or care for. This information is duplicated along the left side of the screen where you actually enter the information.  Clicking on a vehicle in the grid displays information for the corresponding vehicle on the left side of the screen.

1 	To add a vehicle to your list, click the ADD button on the left side of the screen. You should enter some type of identifying code that uniquely identifies this particular vehicle. You can use up to 8 characters. You can use use Car-1, Car-2 or JJ-100, JJ-101 or whatever type of code you like so long as each vehicle has a unique code. Press the TAB key to advance to the next field, type in the year, make, model, etc and click SAVE to save the new vehicle.

2 	There are two ways to edit the basic information for a vehicle. First click on the vehicle you want to edit in the grid at the top of the screen. This will display information on the selected vehicle along the left side of the screen. To edit one of the data fields on the left side of the screen, simply click on the field or the label beside the field, type in your change, then click the SAVE button to save the changes or CANCEL to disregard any changes. The other way to edit information is to double click one of the fields in the grid at the top of the screen and make your changes directly in the grid. When you move to another entry in the grid, the changes are automatically saved.

3 	To delete a vehicle, click on the vehicle you want to delete in the grid at the top of the screen, then click the DELETE button. You will be asked to confirm your decision. Deleting a vehicle also deletes all procedures associated with that vehicle automatically.


Procedures

Procedures are events which you wish to record about a vehicle. The procedure can be as simple as "Checking Tire Pressure" which you may do  yourself or, more typically, oil changes, tuneups, etc.

1 	To add a procedure for a vehicle, first click on the vehicle in the grid at the top of the screen. Then click the ADD button on the right side of the screen. Notice the vechicle code for the procedure is the same as the highlighted vehicle at the top of the screen. You can change the code to another vehicle code or just press TAB to accept the value provided and move to the next field. The date is also provided and is assumed to be today's date. If this is incorrect, type over the date. Do not try to enter dashes or slashes. These are provided for you automatically. For instance, to get 12-31-95, just type 123195. If you know the mileage when the procedure was done, you can enter it but it is not required. The cost can be entered for the procedure but is also not required. If you have previously defined the procedure you want to use, you can click on the arrow on the right side of the procedure field and click on the procedure you are entering. Otherwise, just type in the procedure description yourself. Likewise, if you have pre-identified the dealer/mechanic name, you can click on the entry in the list. Otherwise just type in the name or leave it blank. Click the SAVE button on the right side of the screen to save the procedure.

2 	To edit a procedure, just click on the procedure in the procedure grid on the right side of the screen, then click on the field you want to change above the grid. Type in your changes and click the SAVE button to save your changes. You can also change information directly in the grid by double-clicking on the field you want to change, then moving to another record in the grid.

3 	To delete a procedure, just click on the procedure in the grid, then click the DELETE button on the right side of the screen. You will be asked to confirm your decision.

4 	To print a maintenance log for the selected vehicle, just click the PRINT button on the right side of the screen. The printed report will be in the same order as are the procedures in the procedure grid. In the options menu, you have the ability to change the date from descending to ascending and changing the primary sort of the procedures from date to alphabetic by procedure description. The report will always print in the order the procedure grid is displayed.


Registration

If you have downloaded this program from CompuServe, America Online or some other bulletin board service and you like it, you should register it with the author. In fact, you can only use the program about 7 times before your trial period expires.  This gives you time to see if you like the program or not. I certainly hope that you will agree with many people who have shared with me how much they enjoy and use the program.

1 	To register directly with the author, send your check or money order for $12.95 to McCook Software, 40 Emily Drive, Lilburn, Georgia 30247. You should mention the title "Jalopy Journal" on your check. We've made doing this easy in the program. Click on the registration menu item and go to the registration screen, enter your name and address and click the PRINT ORDER button. This will print a handy order form which you can mail in with your check.

2 	If you are a member of CompuServe, you can register this product directly with them. To do this, get into CompuServe, Click on the Traffic Light at the top of the screen (GO), then type SWREG (which stands for shareware registration). Find product # 6292 and register it. CompuServe will charge your account for the $12.95 and notifiy the author. Your registration # will be e-mailed back to you.

3 	Regardless of how you register, you will receive the latest, greatest edition of the program on 3.5 inch diskettes in the mail along with information on how you can obtain technical support if you need it. Also, you will be able to download any future versions of this program and use your existing registration #, protecting your one-time investment of $12.95.


Pick Lists

To make data entry easier for you, we've provided the ability to pick entries for certain fields from a list. There are two cases.

1 	Procedure Descriptions.  You can type in your procedure descriptions for each event as you enter them.  If there is an event that you repetitively use such as "Oil change", "Tune Up", etc. you can enter these in the pick list, then just click on them when you enter a new procedure. To do this, click on the FILE menu option, then click on the PROCEDURE DESCRIPTIONS entry. A screen will appear which lets you add, edit, delete these default procedure descriptions. These buttons work the same way as they do on the initial screen.  To close this screen, click EXIT.

2 	Dealers, Mechanics. You can also put dealers and mechanics in as entries that you can click instead of having to type them each time.  To do this, click the FILE menu option, click the DEALER, MCECHANIC option. A screen will appear which lets you add, edit, delete these default names. The command buttons work the same way as they do on the initital screen. To close this screen, click EXIT. Note that this screen also provides a  handy place to put the phone # for each dealer or mechanic.