GRAPHTIME-II Review ------------------- Graphtime-II is another newcomer to the growing range of PC software packages being offered at around $100. Is this part of a welcome price trend or does it mean a product with limited usefulness? I decided to have a close look and to my surprise, discovered some very interesting features. As the name suggests, Graphtime-II is a business graphics package. It is written for a standard 256K byte IBM PC fitted with the colour/graphics adaptor. The monitor can be colour or composite monochrome. The first interesting point is that Graphtime-II is probably the first PC business graphics package to be entirely developed in Australia. A look through the software catalogues indicates a number of similar programs which are virtually all from the United States and all at considerably higher prices. Graphtime-II appears to be targeted at users of Multiplan, dBASE II/III and LOTUS, who wish to quickly and easily produce a variety of graphs. Graphtime-II can also be used as a `stand-alone' package with data entered directly by keyboard and saved on disk. There is a built-in data editor. Set-up ------ The initial set-up looked formidable at first as my curiosity normally compels me to try a directory listing before starting the software. There were no less than 70 files of various flavours on two disks, but no obvious Install program. A check in the manual confirmed this. The only set-up required is to copy the disks to other floppies or to a hard disk. (The disks are not write-protected.) As I discovered later, all options can be selected as you require them and are automatically saved to disk when quitting. These include screen resolution, colour and input device used such as mouse or cursor keys. Entering "GT" calls up the Graphtime-II title page and a request for an Owner Code. This is an unusual feature for a relatively low cost package. My review copy of the disk had a personalised code. A nice touch, but unlikely to be available for off-the-shelf customers. The first menu choice is to call up Draw or Graph. Without reference to the manual it is not clear what each of these programs has to offer. Draw turns out to be a graphic editor and Graph is the main business graphics module. Menus ----- On screen at all times is a single line menu and a status line. The menu is tree-structured as each selection leads to another menu or a question. As with Multiplan and many other spreadsheets, selection is made with the first letter of each command. In order to cope with the large number of commands, somewhat off-beat use of the English language is occasionally required to avoid first-letter duplication. For all this choice, most functions are achieved with only a few keystrokes. For example to load data from disk to memory, use FL (File Load) followed by the name. To then display one of the many graph types, only two or three key strokes are needed. While menu-driven systems are ideal for beginners they often can be frustratingly slow while waiting for each menu to appear. Graphtime-II avoids this by confining most of the menus to only one or two lines, together with the use of a buffered keyboard. The result is that as the user becomes familiar with menu-choice letters, they are typed in as commands and the displayed menu lines can then be ignored. Another advantage of single line menus is that the current graph or diagram is always present on the screen. Status Line ----------- The status line for the Graph program indicates the current default drive and the contents of four of the data memories. For the Draw program, the status line shows the X and Y cursor position and increment, and colour selected. The status line can also be switched to the function key labels or left blank. Macros ------ If a particular set of commands is used often, it can be saved on disk as a macro. As one macro can call another macro, a command sequence can be of any length. A full-screen macro editor is included. UNDO ---- Graphtime-II is the kind of system that one can play with just to see what happens. Almost every corner can be backed out of with the Escape key. Pressing the Enter key uses built-in defaults, or it remembers the last parameter used. Behind all this is the "UNDO" key. No matter what mistakes are made, either with the displayed graph or some calculation, a single press of the UNDO key restores screen and data to the previous state. Help ---- Extensive on-line help information is available with the Help key. While not strictly an "in context" help system, individual command help files can be accessed directly with two keystrokes. The help files in fact look like a variation of the reference manual (in colour). Documentation ------------- On the subject of documentation, the Graphtime-II comes with a 100 page manual divided into four sections. A longish introduction describes the the main features, the function keys and how to run the built-in demonstration. The next section is a well illustrated and easy to follow tutorial which is used with a series of data files on the disk. The reference manual is organised in the same order as the tree-structured menus. The last section includes a number of appendices and an index. Separate items included with the manual are the function key template, a "getting started" sheet and the registration card. Flexibility ----------- Many of the graphics modules now included with integrated packages tend to have a limited range of graphs and are not particularly flexible. One of the reasons for the existence of separate packages is the additional graphics related features. Graphtime-II is no exception. I counted about fourteen different graph types, most of which can be combined. Data values can be positive or negative. All scales and labels are initially generated automatically and a graph displayed with the minimum of fuss. By then using any of the facilities under the Alter command, scales can be altered with Pan and Zoom, and patterns and colours selected for individual charts. Legends and titles can be placed on any row or column and when multiple graphs are required, subsequent titles find their way to the most appropriate location. Data files can hold up to 365 data points and can be edited and appended on screen. Scales are automatically recalculated and a new graph displayed after editing. Each graph can have have up to ten sets of data points displayed. The screen can be divided up into any number of windows. Subsequent graphs will automatically scale to suit the shape of the current window. Speed ----- In terms of speed, GRAPHTIME-II is fast, with single graphs being displayed on the screen within one or two seconds including the automatic generation of the scales, labels and titles. Most of the operational delays are associated with loading program modules on floppy disk systems (about four seconds). As most activity would be confined to either the Draw or the Graph program, these delays would probably not be encountered very often. Redisplaying a graph in a different form is easily achieved with a single key to clear the screen and two or three more to display the new graph. The same data can be used for any graph type. Separate scales can be displayed at the same time. Mathematics ----------- The main module integrated with the Graph program is a range of mathematical functions which are difficult if not impossible to achieve with Multiplan, LOTUS or dBASE. These include Trend line, Smooth curve, Rate of change and Moving averages. Data can be manipulated with Pan, Zoom, Reduce and Join commands, and calculations performed between files. Some simple statistics such as mean, standard deviation and correlation can also be displayed for each graph. The UNDO key is very useful for playing `what-if' with graphs such as trend lines and smoothed curves. Slide-Shows ----------- The macro facility can be used as a controller of slide shows with commands such as pause, delay and jump forward or backward. I'm not sure of the value of slide shows unless the PC is connected to a video projector. At present it would be a lot cheaper to produce colour slides and use a regular slide projector. If a macro was set in a permanent loop, the normal PC monitor could be used as a window or counter display similar to some in-house videotex systems. Animation --------- Though I did not have time to try the animation facilities, by using additional memory to hold images, a continuous sequence of slides can be displayed rapidly to give the impression of animation. Animated sequences can also be included in macros and displayed at various speeds. Graphic Screen Editor --------------------- The screen editor (Draw program) is intended for modifying or enhancing a graph produced by the Graph program. While not in the same league as PC-Paint, this screen editor includes most of the features needed to draw practically anything. Flow charts, system and wiring diagrams, and organisation charts are its forte. The Draw program has some of the trappings of other screen editors with pull-down menus and windows. Cursor Input ------------ Cursor movement can be controlled with either the arrow keys, a joystick or a Microsoft Mouse. It is possible to use all three while working on a single screen diagram. The rate of movement of the graphics cursor is controlled with the increment setting (1 to 9). This can be changed at any time. Graphics Commands ----------------- Most of the graphics primitives are available including line, frame (box), circle, dot, spray can and area fill with a choice of 26 patterns. The Line function for example has three line types and ten thicknesses. As a line is being drawn it can be elastic, continuous or temporarily switched off to move the cursor. In low resolution mode (320 x 200), all of the graphics can be in any of four colours from the two palettes. In high resolution mode (640 x 200) the screen foreground can be one of seven colours. The Block command provides for copying and moving any part of the screen. Blocks can be saved on disk and reused for later diagrams. This is effectively the cut and paste facility. Blocks can include graphics and text. Whole screens can be saved on disk and can be used in slide-shows or later printout. The UNDO key also works with the screen editor. A complete mess can be made of the screen without fear, as the UNDO key immediately restores the previous screen. While developing complex diagrams it is worth taking occasional disk backups (as with word processing). The separate Rubout facility can remove lines and blocks as well as providing a mobile eraser in ten sizes. Text ---- Text is available in seven fonts plus a user definable font. A full-screen font editor is included. Some of the fonts include a range of graphics symbols. Text can be placed anywhere on the screen either horizontally or vertically and in four sizes. (Some of the fonts can be displayed at any angle). Each letter can be in a different colour if required. A text editor is also included so that blocks of text used often can be entered once and saved on disk. This text can then be added to any graph at any location and in any of the provided fonts and colours. Any external ASCII format text can be input to the text editor. Output ------ This is the one area that Graphtime-II has a few deficiencies. The screen display is currently limited to using only the standard colour graphics adaptor. It does not as yet use higher resolution cards such as Hercules or EGA. (Hercules version is due for release late this year). While this is not particularly important for business graphics such as column charts, the resolution of text is limited to that of the screen. i.e 640 by 200 pixels. Printout is by screen dumps to a range of dot matrix printers including the Quadjet colour inkjet printer. Two sizes are possible (A5 and half A5). On the plus side, printouts are very fast, being limited only by the speed of the printer. One surprising inclusion is a batch printing system to enable up to 99 saved graphs to be printed in a single run. As standard PC graphics printers take several minutes per graph, this could be a useful feature. If you need to combine graphs with external text, Graphtime-II is compatible with Microsoft Windows Write and Multimate Advantage. If you happen to have an HPGL plotter then all resolution problems disappear as a plotter driver is included with the package. Graphs and diagrams are generated as vector data and can be appended, joined and saved onto disk. Colour slides are quickly and cheaply produced directly from the screen using self-developing cameras such as the Kodak Instagraphic system. The quality of these will depend on the monitor quality. Summary ------- The range of business graphics packages available covers the bare bones "convince yourself" graphics as found in some statistical packages through to the "convince others" presentation systems such as Mirage. Graphtime-II has elements of all of these. That is: business graphics, screen editor and data manipulation. It should be very useful for fast in-house generation of business graphs, maintaining systems diagrams and for generating overhead projector foils. Colour slides can also be produced very quickly. One advantage of locally produced software is that help is not far away. A note in the introduction of the manual indicates that development is continuing and updated versions will be available to registered users for $25. A demonstration disk is available for $15. For organisations with a number of personal computers, Graphtime-II is available with a site licence. All in all Graphtime-II is fast, flexible, easy to use and excellent value for money. Ratings: Setup and ease of use: **** Performance: *** Documentation: *** Value for money: **** Cost: $125 single licence (+$8 sales tax) $399 site licence (+$40 sales tax) Distributor: MULTISOFT Tony Watson, Computer Editor, West Australian Newspaper. 30 September 1986