AS-EASY-AS READ.ME File ------------------------- *** AS-EASY-AS Ver. 4.00 (C) Copyright 1985 - 90 *** ------------------------------------------------------ TRIUS, Inc., P.O. BOX 249, North Andover, MA 01845 Tel. (508) 794-9377 Fax. (508) 688-6312 BBS: (508) 794-0762 CIS: 72727,616 -------------------------------------------- Greetings, and thanks for trying AS-EASY-AS! -------------------------------------------- This file, READ.ME, contains a variety of recent changes, and other useful information. It also lists the files distributed with version 4.00, and explains how to upgrade from AS-EASY-AS version 3.01 to version 4.00. Please READ THIS FILE THOROUGHLY! It contains very important information, and reading it now will probably save you time and trouble later on! You can print this file by COPYing it to your printer with the following command: copy READ.ME prn If you want to look at the other On-Disk AS-EASY-AS documentation, see the file list below, which lists all of the documentation files. For more information on technical support for AS-EASY-AS, please see the user's manual. -------------------------------------------------------- Shareware and the Association of Shareware Professionals -------------------------------------------------------- _______ ____|__ | (tm) --| | |------------------- | ____|__ | Association of | | |_| Shareware |__| o | Professionals -----| | |--------------------- |___|___| MEMBER The shareware concept has made it possible for you to obtain extremely powerful software at a price you can afford, and it gives you the opportunity to try the software before you register. Shareware is kept alive by YOUR support. Evaluate the program for 30-days and give copies to your friends for evaluation. If, after the 30 days, you continue to use the program, then register it by sending us the registration form included in this help file or by calling 508-794-9377. You will receive the Latest version, Printed manual, 90-day free Technical Phone Support, BBS Technical Support, Quarterly Newsletter, and Reduced price Upgrades. Help support new developments in AS-EASY-AS, register your copy today! Thank you for your support, The people at TRIUS, Inc. AS-EASY-AS is produced by a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware- related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for member's products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at: ASP Ombudsman P.O. Box 5786 Bellevue, WA 98006 or send a Compuserve message via easyplex to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536. -------------------------- HIGHLIGHTS of Version 4.00 -------------------------- o 8192 rows by 256 Columns- Uses Sparse Memory Matrix for efficient storage. o POPUP or PANEL menus - You decide which is best for you! o Powerful Graphics- Can create BAR, STACKED BAR,LINE, XY ,PIE, HILO, CUMULATIVE, AREA, RADIAL SEMI-LOG and LOG-LOG graphs on your Epson compatible printer. o Intelligent Recalculation - Its blazing speed derives from the fact that it only calculates those cells it needs to calculate. o Over 100 {MACRO} programming commands.... o Over 80 @FUNCTIONS for Math, Statistics, Finance, Logic, Strings, Dates, and even USER DEFINABLE functions! o Spreadsheet Linking - You can now relate information in your current worksheet to worksheet(s) on disk. o NO INSTALLATION, On almost every IBM PC compatible it will run immediately without time-wasting hardware installation. ( Runs on CGA,MONO,MGA,EGA,AT&T .... video/graphics cards. ) The only installation options are default user settings, e.g., 43 Line EGA, colors, International punctuation, Add-in specifications, etc. o HELP screens , built right into the program , over 50 pages... o BUILT IN UTILITIES, text FIND/REPLACE, MACRO recording, AUDITING GOALSEEKING and more..... (Other spreadsheets sell these features as expensive ADD-INS) o Highly LOTUS/123 compatible (1-2-3 trademark of LOTUS Development Corp.) ---------------------------------- Printing the On-Disk Documentation ---------------------------------- The AS-EASY-AS help file can be printed in the form of a user's manual 40-45 pages long, using the PRINTDOC.EXE program provided on this diskette. PRINTDOC can be run with 3 command line switches: /D=Device This can be LPT1, LPT2, ...., or COM1, COM2,....., or any valid DOS file name. /L=Lines Number printed of lines per page. It includes headers and footers, automatically added by the program. (A value of 58 is recommended). /G=Graphics If this option is set to N (for No), all high bit ASCII characters (boxes, etc.) used in the help file are converted to a close normal ASCII equivalent character. This switch is useful for printers that do not support the full ASCII character set. The default PRINTDOC settings are: /D=LPT1 Printer Connected to Port-1 /L=58 58 Lines per page /G=Y Printer Supports high bit ASCII characters --------------- GETTING STARTED --------------- The information provided below is to help you start the program for your hardware configuration. For more details about the operation of the program press the F1 (function) key once you have started the program. The following files are absolutely essential to run AS-EASY-AS: ASEASY.EXE, ASEASY.MSG These two files need to reside in the same sub-directory. In addition to that, if the files ASEASY.HLP, ASEASY.PRT, ASEASY.CFG, HTREE.EXE, and any Addins, are going to be used, they HAVE to reside in the same (ASEASY) directory as well. AS-EASY-AS is started from DOS using the command: A> ASEASY /Option1/Option2/Option3/..... [ENTER] Some Available Command Line Options ----------------------------------- /H - Enables graphics for Hercules /H2 - Enables graphics for Hercules, Video Pg. 2 /E - Enables graphics for EGA /ATT - Enables ATT display graphics /Q - Quick screen updating for CGA /P - Set the default to Panel-type menus /V1 - Force CGA mode on EGA monitor /NT - No Turbo (Slow Down Cursor) /RA - Round Absolute (e.g. 1.6 to 2., -1.6 to -1.) /CTR - Centers the column identifiers /MY=x - Sets the Currency sign to x (instead of $) /BK=x - Set screen blankout period to x seconds /TP=x - Set column header character to x /DV=x - Set column division character to x /MONO - Changes colors to white on black (CGA card) /SP - Suppress the column and row borders /SET=$MGBF - Set the default colors (single digit Hex) (M)enu, (G)raph, (B)ackground, (F)oreground /DIR=Path.. - Set the Path to the WKS files /AUTO=File.WKS - Specify the worksheet to be loaded when the program is started Example: A> ASEASY /H2/DIR=C:\Data [ENTER] Starts AS-EASY-AS for a Hercules type monitor/card combination, using the second page for graphics, and instructs the program that the data files will be located on drive C, in subdirectory "Data". ------------------------------------- RUNNING AS-EASY-AS FROM ANY DIRECTORY ------------------------------------- 1. Set a DOS environment variable (ASEASY) to the drive and path of the ASEASYAS .EXE, HLP, PRT and MSG files (Note that these files should be in the same directory). This can be done at the DOS prompt by typing: SET ASEASY=Drive:\Directory and pressing [ENTER]. The command may also be included in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file so the variable is set automatically every time you start your computer. 2. Make sure that the directory, where the ASEASY.EXE file is located, is included in your system's Path command. If done correctly, typing ASEASY and pressing [ENTER], from any directory, will start the program. ------------------- Developer's Package ------------------- Version 4.00 of AS-EASY-AS supports the development and use of Add-In programs. These programs can either be self-standing executable programs that automatically shell to DOS but do not involve the AS-EASY- AS worksheet in RAM, or they can be developed to access the current worksheet data. TRIUS is pleased to announce that a developer's package is now available for AS-EASY-AS. The package provides the information necessary to develop Add-ins for AS-EASY-AS, Ver. 4.00i and later. You may order this package using the ORDER.ME file form, on this diskette, or by calling TRIUS to charge your purchase to you VISA or Mastercard. The Developer's package (which is not shareware) includes: - A registered copy of AS-EASY-AS (manual, disk, etc..) - A Developer's manual that contains all the information necessary to develop Add-ins. - A developers disk which contains the ADDIN.TPU Turbo Pascal 5.5 Unit, to interface thr Add-in to AS-EASY-AS, and the source code for simple Add-in applications. If you are interested in developing your own Add-ins, for AS-EASY-AS, take advantage of the opportunity to obtain the Developer's package TODAY! -------------------- Ordering Information -------------------- If you have not already ordered your registered copy of AS-EASY-AS, you may do so using the order form in the ORDER.ME file, or by calling TRIUS, Inc. and charging your purchase on your credit card. You may also order your copy on-line by calling our TRIUS Support BBS at (508) 794-0762 [2400,N,8,1 - 24 hrs]. If you live outside the US and Canada you may want to check the list of international dealers in the help file, or contact TRIUS, Inc. for a dealer in your country. Purchasing through these dealers can save you the delay and inconvenience which may be involved in dealing with currency conversions and international shipping and in many cases will provide you with faster technical support. ------------------------------ Files Included with AS-EASY-AS ------------------------------ The following files are included on a distribution disk obtained directly from TRIUS, Inc. If the AS-EASY-AS diskette you got from a shareware source/distributor, did not contain all of the files described below, please let us know. Note, however, that from time to time the contents of the diskette will change, with regards to the sample worksheet files and other utility programs may be added. ++ ASEASY.EXE Main Program File ¿ Absolutely necessary to ++ ASEASY.MSG Opening Message File Ù run AS-EASY-AS. ++ ASEASY.CFG AS-EASY-AS Configuration file ¿ ++ ASEASY.HLP Help File ³ Useful but not ++ HTREE.EXE Runs Help File from AS-EASY-AS ³ necessary for * ASEASY.PRT Printer Control File Ù program to run. ++ ASAU400.COM Compressed file Containing all files marked with an asterisk. * GRAPHS.WKS Graphics Demonstration ¿ * DFILE.WKS Simple Name/Address DataBase ³ Sample Worksheets * LINK.WKS Sample Linked Worksheet ³ Others may be * LNK.WKS Used with LINK.WKS, above ³ included also.. * STRINGS.WKS Sample String Functions ³ * USRFUNC.WKS Sample used defined functions Ù ++ READ.ME Start-Up instructions (This file) ++ ORDER.ME Ready-to-print order form ++ LICENSE.DOC Please Read This!! ++ VENDOR.DOC Info on Distributing Shareware Copies ++ YESNO.COM Part of Set Up ++ SETUP.BAT Automated SetUp File * PRINTDOC.EXE Prints Documentation from Help file * LNDSCAPE.EXE Sideways-Like Add-in * LNDSCAPE.DOC Documentation for LNDSCAPE.EXE * PSETUP.EXE Graphics Printer Setup Add-in * PSETUP.DOC Documentation for PSETUP.EXE ++ These files should be listed on your screen when you execute the DOS DIR command for the AS-EASY-AS distribution diskette. * These files are in the self extracting File ASAU400.COM To extract them, just type ASAU400 and press ENTER at the DOS prompt. If you install AS-EASY-AS using the SETUP.BAT utility provided, you will be reminded to do so. (See section on installation in this file). ---------------------------- Installation of Version 4.00 ---------------------------- The installation of version 4.00 of AS-EASY-AS could not be easier. To Install on Diskette: (2 drive system) ========================================== * Place the AS-EASY-AS original diskette in drive A: * Place a formatted, blank diskette in drive B: * Make sure the current logged drive is A: (Type A: and press ENTER if is is not). * Type SETUP B: and press ENTER. ................................................................. : To extract the Add-in files and sample worksheets, after : : the SETUP procedure, above, is completed: : : : : 1. Format a new BLANK diskette : : 2. Place this NEW BLANK diskette in drive B: (Place : : original AS-EASY-AS diskette in drive A:) : : 3. Type B: and press ENTER : : 4. Type A:ASAU400 and press ENTER : : : : This will extract the compressed files to this new : : diskette. After the process is complete, you may : : copy whatever files you need, for your day-to-day : : operation, from this diskette to the working copy of : : AS-EASY-AS made above. : :_______________________________________________________________: To Install on Hard Disk: ======================== * Place the AS-EASY-AS original diskette in drive A: * Make sure the current logged drive is A: (Type A: and press ENTER if is is not). * Select a directory that will be used for AS-EASY-AS 4.00. If one if one does not exist, you need to create it using the DOS MKDIR command (see your DOS manual). * Type SETUP DriveLetter:\Directory and press ENTER. Note that DriveLetter and Directory, above, should be replaced with your actual Drive and Directory (e.g., C:\ASA4, C:\ASEASY4, D:\ASEASY\VER4, etc.) ................................................................. : To extract the Add-in files and sample worksheets, after : : the SETUP procedure, above, is completed: : : : : 1. Log-on to the new AS-EASY-AS directory (leave : : original AS-EASY-AS diskette in drive A:) : : 2. Type A:ASAU400 and press ENTER : : : : This will extract the compressed files to this new : : AS-EASY-AS directory. : :_______________________________________________________________: *** You may manually copy the files to your diskette or hard disk if you so prefer, without executing the SETUP procedure. If you do so, however, do not forget to execute ASAU400.COM, as explained above, in order to extract the Help file, Add-ins, Samples worksheets, etc. -------------------------------------- Upgrading from AS-EASY-AS Version 3.01 -------------------------------------- If you are upgrading from Version 3.01 (or an earlier version) please note the following: * WKS files generated with earlier versions of the program, should be compatible with the new version. * To make a NEW Ver. 4.00 working diskette or hard disk directory, use the SETUP.BAT procedure (see section on installation). * If you are using a Ver. 3.01 diskette or directory, make sure you delete the following Ver. 3.01 files, before you try to run the new version of the program: ASEASY.COM SPREAD.000 SPREAD.HLP SPREAD.MSG If you do not delete the file ASEASY.COM, you might end up executing the old (3.01) version of the program, every time you try to execute the new version. --------------------- END OF READ.ME ------------------