Shopping List Manager, Version 2.0 ---------------------------------------------------- I. General Instructions Shopping List Manager (SLM) is an easy to use tool that allows you to maintain a Master List of items that you ever buy in your local food mart or super market. Then, each time you are about to go shopping, you can spend five minutes with the program to save you a tremendous amount of time in the supermarket. How? Your finished shopping list is printed out WITH THE AISLE NUMBERS, and IN PROPER AISLE ORDER! That means that in the store you don't have to go down aisles in which you have nothing, you won't leave an aisle that you need to be in without first getting everything you need, and you don't waste time running back and forth to find items you missed. Probably the best way to use the program is to take your regular shopping list (say, from the refrigerator) and sit down at the computer for a few minutes before you leave to go shopping. Have all your coupons handy so that you can mark the items on your list that you have coupons for - no forgetting to buy the right brand for all your coupons! It will take some effort to find all the aisle numbers for your list. The easiest way to do it - simply write down the aisle of each item you buy while you're shopping. Then at home you can add those items. Next time, you'll have a few regular items in already and for the rest, put them in the Additional Items List (see later). After a handful of times going shopping, your whole list will be done! If you can spend the effort in the first few weeks, you'll appreciate it immensely for years! Happy Shopping! II. Creating a new Store Before using SLM, you must create a new Store. (To let you practice with the program right away, a sample Store is included. Until you change the Default Store - see later - the sample Store will come up each time you start SLM). You can create a new store by choosing New Store from the File Menu. Give the store name - any name that you would like to use for the Store, such as Local Mart, or Food Town. You must also give the Store a file name that SLM will use to recognize it by. Here, you can use any combination of up to eight letters - no spaces or symbols. You will not need to remember this name later. After doing this, the Edit Store window appears. III. Editing a Store The Edit Store window is accessible from the Edit Store choice under the File Menu, or by entering a new Store. In this window you can Add, Delete or Edit the Master Shopping List for a Store. Use the appropriately labeled buttons for each of these actions. You cannot Edit or Delete an item before selecting it from the list, by clicking on it with the mouse. (Hint: Double-clicking an item lets you immediately Edit it.) The Item can be any length, and the aisle must be between 1 and 999 inclusive. For the aisle, you can also enter a * (say, if you don't yet know the aisle). That will leave a zero in the aisle column. The maximum number of items you can have is 5,300. Version 1.0 did not let you press ENTER between entering the item and aisle (you had to press TAB). This has been changed and now data-entry is easier and faster. Except on the fastest of computers, when you are working on a long list, there is a delay when adding each item since the list is continuously sorted. If you uncheck the Always Sorted box, this problem is avoided. When you are finished, select Save Changes. To leave the window and ignore all your changes, select Abandon Changes. Clicking on Sort by Item and Sort by aisle allows you to find items in your list in whichever way is easier for you. Your selection here does not affect the list's order elsewhere in the program. IV. Selecting a Different Store You may select a different store to Edit, or to go shopping with, from the Select Store menu choice under the File menu. Only Stores in the current directory are displayed, along with the number of items each master list contains. If necessary, change drives or directories to find where your Store files are located. To select a Store, click on its name and then select OK. (Hint: Double-clicking on a Store selects it.) If the Make Default box is checked, the Store you select will be the one loaded when starting the program next time and from then on. V. Change Configuration Under the File Menu, there is a option labeled Change Configuration. This allows you to change the font and the font size in the master list portion of the display. A smaller size shows more on the screen, but may be harder to read. Also experiment with different fonts to see which are the easiest for you to work with. When you press the OK button, your font choices are saved to disk and will be in effect in all future SLM sessions unless they are changed again. In addition, the position of the SLM main screen is saved so that it will come up next time the way you had it last time. Note: To save only a new screen position, choose Change Configuration and Press OK without changing fonts. VI. Printing a Master List You can print out a copy of your Master List for the currently selected store by choosing this option from the File Menu. You may never need this feature, but it is there if you ever want it! VII. Making Your Shopping List Click on any item in the Master List to add it to your current shopping list. Clicking with the right mouse button selects the item and notes that you have a coupon for it. Holding down the Control key on the keyboard while clicking an item allows you to enter a Comment for the item. A Comment is any note you wish to make to yourself on the list. (For instance, you could add a comment to 'paper towels' that says '4 rolls'.) Adding or Removing Comments can be done after the item has been chosen by selecting the item on your Shopping List and then clicking on the appropriate button below the list. You may remove an item from the Shopping List by selecting it and then clicking on the Remove Item Button.(Hint: Double-clicking on the item removes it too.) The Shopping List is maintained in alphabetical order to make it easy to find an item on it while making the list. In the Add Comment box (that appears when you wish to add a Comment), you may choose Coupon instead of OK to add the word Coupon to the item, with or without an additional Comment. The horizontal scroll-bar below the master list allows you to move sideways across your master list. Each time you move across, the selection boxes around the items become underlines. VIII. Completing the Shopping List When your list is completed, click on the DONE Button. You are then offered the option of adding any additional items not on your Master List. These items might include one-time-only shopping items, or items you have not yet added to your list. Also, you can put additional notes to yourself here. When instructed, ready the printer to print (i.e. make sure it is on and the paper is properly positioned if necessary). The Shopping List is then printed out for you and you're ready to go! IX. Help File The instructions that you are reading are stored in the same directory as the SLM program, under the file name 'SLM-HELP.TXT'. You can read them in any text editor. Be careful, however, not to change the file or SLM may not be able to properly display the instructions later. (End of Instructions) Additions and Changes to Version 2.0 Some of these changes have already been mentioned, but here they all are in one list. Almost all have been inspired by users (or would-be users) - I thank you all for your input. Major changes: 1. The limit for number of items has increased from 92 to 5,300. Consequently, the master list display can be scrolled horizontally with an on-screen scroll bar. 2. You can now choose the font and font size for on- screen usage. Choices are permanent until changed again by the user. 3. Faster and easier data entry of items/aisles has been accomplished by allowing use of the ENTER key and by allowing the continuous sort function to be disabled. 4. The help screen scrolls MUCH faster now and allows marking a line as a "bookmark." Bug Fixes: 1. Commas can no longer be used while entering items. 2. The incorrectly-spelled ISLE has been changed to AISLE. 3. The help file's extention has been changed to .TXT from .DOC since .TXT represents a text file (which the help file is) and .DOC is used by Microsoft Word. A Word About Shareware This program is placed into the public domain and may be used and distributed freely. There are no expressed or implied warrantees of any kind associated with the use or distribution of the program or related files. If you like this program and wish to continue using it, you are requested to register the program with the programmer and pay the nominal registration fee (in the case of SLM, $25). It is only fair to compensate the programmer for his time and effort spent on creating the program. Compared to retail prices of software, Shareware in general is a steal. Plus, you can try it out first with no obligation. It's a great deal! But it works both ways... so if you are using SLM, please register it. Registration entitles you to an original program disk, technical support from the author, and automatic notification when upgrades become available. If you have ideas for another type of home-use program to be run under Windows, let me know too! Thank you for using SLM and please keep the comments coming! Joel Rose 185 Shelley Ave. Elizabeth, NJ 07208 U.S.A. * End of File *