Copyright: Visual Help ® 1993-1994 Firas Bushnaq


Topic1

Introduction

Menu Options

Source File

Shopping List File

Registration


Intro
INTRODUCTION

Quick Shopping List is a program that helps you quickly prepare your periodic shopping lists more accurately and relieves you of the tedium of writing them out each time.

You will notice two frames on the main screen.

1 	The SOURCE FILE frame (on the left) is where you enter and store items that you frequently buy. Items stay in the source file until you delete them.

2 	The SHOPPING LIST frame (on the right) is where you put the items you plan to purchase on your next shopping trip. These items can be transferred from the SOURCE file, plus you can manually add any items not in your source file. Items here are temporary in nature. Each time you run the program this file is empty.


Menu1
MENU OPTIONS

Click on the topic you'd like to know more about.

File

Sound

Registration

Exit

Help


MenuFile
FILE

This option only has one purpose - to provide a way to exit the program. Of course, there is another menu option to exit so you don't really need this option to exit but - most windows programs provide this mechanism and it is provided in this program to conform to standards promulgated by Microsoft and so that users don't get confused when they click on FILE and don't see an EXIT option.

To exit the program this way :

1 	Click on FILE. A sub-menu item titled EXIT will appear.

2 	Click on EXIT to exit the program


MenuSound
SOUND

This program provides some interesting (some may say "annoying" sound effects. Actually you will notice that the sounds are positive affirmations of things which are operating as they should. Whenever you click an item in a list box, you hear a crunching sort of sound. And when you click SAVE or one of the other buttons, you hear some other combinations of sounds.  When you do something wrong however (like try to enter a duplicate entry), you don't hear any sounds. Doing something wrong should not necessarily be broadcast to the entire universe. You just need a little message to pop up and tell you what the problem is.

The SOUND menu has two options :

1 	SOUND ON  ---  Which means the sound effects are on.

2 	SOUND OFF ---  Which will turn the sound effects off in case you are playing with the program late at night after the baby is asleep.


MenuRegister
REGISTRATION

This menu option opens a window which explains how to register the program and provides a place to enter your registration # once you receive it.

To enter your registration number :

1 	Click in the box where the registration # goes.

2 	Enter the registration #

3 	Click the OK button to close the window and return to the main program.

Note:  Once you register, your registration # will also appear at the top of the main window.


MenuExit
EXIT

This is provided as a one-click approach to exiting the program. To exit the program this way, just click on EXIT, and a cloud will come and whisk you away.


MenuHelp
HELP

Everybody needs a little help now and then. That's what you're getting right now. If you didn't know what this menu option did, how could you be reading this now? Well, actually there is another way to access help for this program - you can press the F1 key.

One thing to note about this particular help file is that is not context-sensitive - which means wherever you are, you push F1, and get help about what you're doing at the time. This just doesn't seem necessary with a program like this. If you spend 5 or 10 minutes going over this help file, you'll know everything you need to know about it.


Source1
SOURCE FILE

The following topics discuss the various command buttons found on the SOURCE FILE frame. Click on the subject you want to know more about ...

Add

Edit

Save

Cancel

Delete

Print

Put


SourceAdd
ADD (Source File)

To add an item to the source file, click on the ADD button. The cursor will advance to the ITEM DESCRIPTION field.

1 	Enter the item description (up to 20 characters). The program will not let you duplicate an entry already on file. Press the TAB key to advance to the next field. An entry in this field is mandantory.

2 	If you want to designate a size, such as MEDIUM, LARGE, etc., enter this info in the SIZE field. An entry in this field is optional. Press the TAB key to advance to the next field.

3 	Enter the price in the PRICE field. If you don't know, guess. Tip: the idea here is not to be exact about unit prices. For instance, if one of your items is chocalate cookies and you always buy two boxes at $1.50 each, enter $3.00 in the price field since this is what you'll be spending. Press the TAB key to advance the cursor up the SAVE button.

To save your new item, click the SAVE button (or press <ENTER> if the button is highlighted. If you decide not to save the entry, click the CANCEL button.


SourceEdit
EDIT (Source File)

You must select an item before you can edit it. To select it, click on the item in the list box in the middle of the frame. Once you click on an item, the description, size, and price for the selected item will be visible in the text boxes below the list box.

To edit an item.

1 	Click on the item in the list box to select it.

2 	Click the EDIT button. The cursor will advance to the ITEM DESCRIPTION field.

3 	Move to the field you want to edit by using the TAB key, then type in your changes.

4 	To save the changes, click the SAVE button. To cancel your changes before saving, click the CANCEL button.


SourceSave
SAVE (Source File)

The SAVE button is normally disabled unless you are actively adding or editing a record in the source file. Clicking the SAVE button saves the entry you are adding or editing.


SourceCancel
CANCEL (Source File)

The CANCEL button is normally disabled unless you are adding or editing a record in the source file. Clicking the CANCEL button cancels whatever operation you are performing.

That is:  If you are adding a record and have not yet saved it, clicking the CANCEL button causes the record not be added.

If you are editing a record and have not saved the changes, clicking the CANCEL button causes the program to ignore any unsaved changes you have typed in.


SourceDelete
DELETE (Source File)

The DELETE button permanently deletes an item from your source file. This means the item will not appear in the SOURCE FILE frame each time you run the program.

To delete an item :

1 	Select the item by clicking on the description in the list box. This causes the description, size, and price info to be displayed in the text boxes below the list box.

2 	Click the DELETE button. The item will mysteriously vanish from the list box and will not reappear the next time you run the program.


SourcePrint
PRINT (Source File)

The PRINT button in the SOURCE FILE frame prints a list of items visible in the list box. Here are some tips to remember:

1 	If you have not clicked the PUT button to put items into the SHOPPING LIST list box, the print button will print the entire source file.

2 	If you have PUT some of the items from the SOURCE FILE to the SHOPPING LIST file, the item is no longer visible in the SOURCE list box and therefore will not be included in the list.

3 	If you want to prepare a comprehensive shopping list except for a few items, PUT the items you don't want printed over to the SHOPPING LIST frame, then click the PRINT button in the SOURCE FILE frame.


SourcePut
PUT (Source File)

The PUT button in the SOURCE FILE frame moves an entry from the SOURCE list box to the SHOPPING list box. It DOES NOT permanently remove the item from your source file. In fact, you can think of the SOURCE list box as follows: It contains every item in your permanent source file except any matching items in the SHOPPING list box.

To PUT an item from the SOURCE list box to the SHOPPING list box, first select the item in the list by clicking on it, then click the PUT button. Now the item appears in the SHOPPING list box but is no longer visible in the SOURCE list box.


Shop1
SHOPPING LIST

Click on the item you want to know more about.

Add

Edit

Save

Cancel

Remove

Print

Clear


ShopAdd
ADD (Shopping List)

The ADD button in the SHOPPING LIST frame is used to add an item to your current shopping list which you do not want to reappear each time you run the program. To add a temporary item to your list :

1 	Click the ADD button. The cursor advances to the DESCRIPTION field. Enter the description (20 characters). Press the TAB key to advance to the next field.

2 	Enter the size, if desired. Press TAB to advance to the price field.

3 	Enter the total price you expect to pay for the item(s).

4 	Click the SAVE button to save the entry or CANCEL if you decide you don't want to add it afterall.


ShopEdit
EDIT (Shopping List)

The EDIT button in the SHOPPING LIST frame is for editing items visible in the SHOPPING list box. These items consist of items that you have PUT over from the SOURCE FILE + any temporary items you have added to the list. Editing an item that came from the source file does not change the permanent data in the source file - it only makes a temporary change for this particular list.

To edit an item in the SHOPPING list box, you must first select it by clicking on the description in the list box.

1 	Use the TAB key to advance to the cursor to the field you want to edit.

2 	Type in your changes. Click SAVE to save or CANCEL if you decide you don't really want to edit the thing afterall.


ShopSave
SAVE (Shopping List)

The SAVE button in the SHOPPING LIST frame is used to save new temporary entries to the SHOPPING list box and to save any changes you made to an entry after clicking the EDIT button.


ShopCancel
CANCEL (Shopping List)

The CANCEL button in the SHOPPING LIST frame is normally disabled until you decide to ADD a temporary item to the list or EDIT an existing entry. CANCEL cancels the current operation. That is :

1 	If you are adding a temporary entry to the shopping list box, clicking this button causes the entry to not be added.

2 	If you are editing an existing entry, clicking this button causes the program to ignore any unsaved changes you've typed in.


ShopRemove
REMOVE (Shopping List)

The REMOVE button in the SHOPPING LIST frame causes the selected item to be removed from the SHOPPING list box. Before you can remoe an item, you must select it by clicking on the description in the list box. To remove an item :

1 	Click on the item you want to remove in the SHOPPING list box.

2 	Click the REMOVE button.

If the item you are removing was PUT over from the source file, you will see the item reappear in the SOURCE list box. If the item was a temporary item you put in that was not in the source file, it will just vanish from the face of the earth.


ShopPrint
PRINT (Shopping List)

Clicking this button causes the program to print a list of all items which are visible in the SHOPPING list box.


ShopClear
CLEAR (Shopping List)

The CLEAR button in the SHOPPING list frame causes nuclear war to break out and hordes of alien creatures to decend upon the earth to swallow up all humanity. No, just kidding. All it really does is clear all the entries in the SHOPPING list box. Any temporary items you added to the SHOPPING list box disappear and the SOURCE list box is restored to list all items in the source file.

It is NOT NECESSARY to clear the shopping list after using the program to put items back in the source file. Any items that you PUT over from the SOURCE FILE never really left the permanent source file - they are just not visible in the SOURCE list box.


Register
REGISTRATION

Quick Shopping List is not freeware. It was developed by the author at considerable expense to provide a convenient, easy-to-use program for those who like it and don't mind paying $10 for it. If you decide you like this program, please register it. To find out more information about how to do this, click the menu option  REGISTRATION on the main window.