           Ŀ
                                                                       
                                                                       
              Chron v3.0.1                                             
              An Event Dispatching Program                             
                                                                       
                                                                       
           

       
       Legalities


       Information in this document is subject to change without notice
       and does not represent a commitment on the part of Hilbert
       Computing.  The software described in this document is furnished
       under a license agreement.  The purchaser may make one copy of the
       software for backup purposes.  No part of this manual may be
       reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic
       or mechanical including photocopying and recording for any purposes
       other than the purchaser's personal use, without written permission
       from Hilbert Computing The software and accompanying written
       materials are provided "as is" without warranty of any kind
       including implied warranties of fitness for a particular purpose.
       Hilbert Computing specifically is not liable for any direct,
       indirect, consequential, or incidental damages arising from the
       execution of the Chron software on your computer.

            Hilbert Computing
            1022 N. Cooper
            Olathe, KS 66061

       IBM(R), OS/2(R), Presentation Manager(R) and PROFS(R) are
       registered trademarks of International Business Machines
       Corporation.  CUATM, Common User AccessTM, REXXTM and
       OfficeVisionTM are trademarks of International Business Machines
       Corporation. 3MTM and Post-ItTM are trademarks of the 3M
       Corporation.



       
       Preface

       Thank you for trying Chron.  Chron can be used as a starting point
       for time-based automation tasks.  It was designed to accommodate
       two particular groups of needs as follows:

       Chron can handle the automatic start-up of a number of programs at
       a desired fre quency.  This has been successfully used by a number
       of LAN administrators to schedule the backup of files on the
       server.  Others have used Chron to schedule data base
       reorganizations and other tasks that must be scheduled at off hours
       to minimize the impact to their clients.  Customers have also used
       Chron to schedule the automated backup of important files to a LAN
       server using Chron with the OS/2 XCOPY com mand or to start other
       backup programs.  Still others have used Chron to schedule data
       acquisition and analysis tasks.

       Workstation users have used Chron as a way of setting reminders and
       scheduling follow-ups.  Users of the IBM mainframe products PROFS
       and OfficeVision have used the cut and paste facilities of Chron to
       remind them of meetings.  Since data from a 3270 screen can be cut
       into the clipboard and since Chron can read the contents of the
       clipboard, you can easily transfer host information to Chron to be
       notified of events, even when you are not logged in on the host.
       Chron is not intended to be a full fea tured personal information
       manager, but it can supplement follow-up activities and other
       personal information manager products.

       If you are unhappy with the operation of Chron or find that it does
       not meet your needs, you may return all original materials within
       90 days of purchase for a refund.

       
       Quick Start

       Most people don't like to read user manuals.  Keeping that in mind,
       here is a very brief overview for installation and start-up of
       Chron.  It is still recommended that you take some time in the near
       future to read this manual to become familiar with the more subtle
       features of Chron.

       Installation

       Copy the B1HILB.DLL file to a subdirectory in the LIBPATH.

       Copy the CHRON.HLP file to a subdirectory in the HELP environment
       variable in your CONFIG.SYS.

       Copy the *.MSG files to a subdirectory in your DPATH environment
       variable.

       The executable CHRON.EXE file can be placed anywhere.  If you would
       like to be able to start Chron from the command line without having
       to enter the fully qualified file name, you will need to place
       CHRON.EXE in a subdirectory listed in the PATH environment variable
       in CONFIG.SYS.

       You can then place Chron in a start-up group (OS/2 1.x) or in a
       folder (OS/2 v2.0) if you wish.

       Start-up

       Start Chron from the program group or folder if you created an
       entry for it, or type START CHRON from a command line session.

       The first time you run Chron, you will be asked for the name of the
       file into which the scheduled events will be placed.  There is no
       restriction on the file name.  If you don't specify a path, the
       current path information will be used.  It is recommended that you
       fully qualify the name of the file, so you can be assured of
       creating this file in the directory where you want it.

       After Chron has started, you will notice that two windows are
       created on the desktop.  The smaller window is the main window for
       Chron.  It contains the current day and time and the number of
       pending events.  From there, you can create and manipulate the
       events as your needs demand.  The larger sizeable window will
       contain all of the messages that have been scheduled and whose time
       has come.  This window is called the "Posted Bag" since it
       logically contains a bag of events that have been posted (aka
       dispatched or executed).  You can manipulate the events here as
       well.

       Entering Events

       Once Chron has been started, you can select the Event/New menu item
       from the main Chron window to create your first event.  If you are
       scheduling a program event, you will be required to enter the name
       of the program.  That information is entered in the properties
       dialog and is selected using the Event/Properties menu item from
       the event window.  If the program is not in the PATH environment
       variable, you will be required to enter the complete drive and path
       name.

       The time at which the event is posted is changed using the
       Event/Time dialog or double-clicking the mouse on the time or date
       static text on the event window.

       Refer to the on-line documentation or the other sections of this
       manual for more information.


       
       Full Installation Instructions

       For those less familiar with OS/2, this section provides a more
       detailed explanation of

       the procedures needed to install Chron on your system.

       Overview of Files

       The Chron product is made up of five files.  CHRON.EXE is the main
       executable and contains the code to implement the function specific
       to the product.  B1HILB.DLL contains the code that is general in
       nature.  Both files are required for Chron to func tion.  CHRON.HLP
       contains the on-line hypertext help.  Although this is not required
       for Chron to function, it is recommended that this is available.
       B1HILB.MSG and CHRON.MSG contain error and warning message text.
       Again, these aren't required for Chron to function, but without
       them, the warning and error message text will have little meaning.

       Copying Files

       Chron can be installed using the File Manager in OS/2 1.x, the
       drives object in OS/2 v2.0 or using the OS/2 copy command from a
       command line session.  To understand where to place files, you must
       be familiar with a file called CONFIG.SYS.  In OS/2 v1.x, the file
       is in the root directory of the C:  drive, giving it the name of
       C:\CONFIG.SYS.  In OS/2 v2.0, this file is usually found in the
       same place, but may also be found on other drives if you chose to
       install OS/2 on a partition other than C:.  You can take a look at
       the contents of CONFIG.SYS by entering the command START E
       d:\CONFIG.SYS from the command line, where d refers to the drive on
       which OS/2 was installed (probably C) or by starting the system
       editor from a group or folder and opening CONFIG.SYS.

       Toward the top of the file, there will be a line that begins with
       LIBPATH= followed by a list of directories.  You must copy
       B1HILB.DLL from the floppy to one of the subdirectories listed
       following the LIBPATH statement, or you can copy the B1HILB.DLL
       file to a subdirectory of your choice and add that subdirectory to
       the list of files following the LIBPATH statement.  If you do the
       latter, you will have to reboot OS/2 for those changes to go into
       effect.

       The messages files for Chron, named B1HILB.MSG and CHRON.MSG must
       be placed in the DPATH.  In the CONFIG.SYS, there will be a line
       that begins with SET DPATH= followed by a list of subdirectories.
       This contains the directories that con tain data for programs to
       run.  (DPATH is short for "Data Path" and is very similar to the
       APPEND environment variable on DOS systems).  As with the LIBPATH,
       you can change the DPATH line in CONFIG.SYS, but you will be
       required to reboot OS/2 for those changes to become effective.  As
       noted above, these files aren't absolutely required for Chron to
       run, but are recommended for you to get understandable error
       messages.  If you get a warning message that states that the
       original error text is not available, but the error code is xxx,
       then you have not properly copied these files from the installation
       disk.

       The on-line help file is CHRON.HLP.  It must be placed in the HELP
       list.  Similarly, there is a line in the CONFIG.SYS that begins
       with SET HELP= followed by a list of directories.  The help file
       should be copied to one of these directories.  As with the HELP,
       DPATH and LIBPATH, you can alter the HELP variable, but you will
       have to save the CONFIG.SYS file and reboot for those changes to be
       effective.

       The executable file CHRON.EXE can be placed anywhere you desire on
       the hard drive.  It is recommended that CHRON.EXE be placed in a
       directory listed in the SET PATH= statement in CONFIG.SYS, but it
       is not required.  If you do place CHRON.EXE in that path, you will
       be able to start Chron from an OS/2 command line without specifying
       a fully qualified name.

       After you have copied the files to your hard drive, you are ready
       to optionally install the product in a program group (OS/2 1.x) or
       create a program object for Chron (OS/2 v2.0).  Follow the
       instructions that came with your OS/2 package for instructions on
       setting up program objects or entries on program groups.

       Initial Start-up

       If you have installed Chron into a program object or on a group
       window, you may start Chron by double-clicking on the icon.  You
       may also start Chron by issuing the START CHRON command from the
       OS/2 command line prompt.  There are no optional command line
       parameters from Chron and any entered will be ignored.

       Once the product is started, there will be two windows presented on
       the screen plus a dialog box prompting for the name of the file
       that will contain the list of events created by you.  You can place
       this file anywhere you want and give it any valid OS/2 file name.
       If you do not fully qualify the file name (meaning give the drive,
       path and file name), then Chron will use the current drive and
       directory to fully qualify the name of the file.  This may cause
       this new file to be placed where you don't want it to be, so it is
       recommended that you enter the full name.

       Unless you are upgrading from a previous shareware version of
       Chron, this file should not exist.  If the file does exist, you
       will be presented with a dialog box stating that fact.  If you are
       upgrading from the Shareware version of Chron, it is OK to press
       the Yes button on the file.  While the file format for Chron events
       has changed from prior versions, the Chron v3.0 code will recognize
       old file formats, convert it automatically when it reads the file
       and save it in the new format.  You do not need to take special
       action when upgrading.  If you are not upgrading from a prior
       release of Chron, then you should have no events file.  Press the
       No button and enter the name of the new file into which you want to
       store the events.

       After you enter the information in the dialog for the name of the
       events file, you will be left with two desktop windows associated
       with Chron.  The smaller, non-sizeable window contains the current
       date and time and the number of events that have been scheduled.
       This is the main window for Chron and contains all of the menu
       items to fully control its operation.  The other window is a called
       the "Posted Bag" since it contains the event text for those events
       that have been posted.


       
       Basic Event Manipulation

       This section will discuss the basic manipulation of events within
       Chron.  After reading this, you should be able understand what an
       event is and how to create, modify and delete them from Chron.

       Creating Events

       What is an event?  Simply stated, an event is the entity that Chron
       schedules, but that doesn't really tell you much!  At the current
       release, Chron supports two types of events:  messages and
       programs.  Message events contain all of the scheduling infor
       mation such as its time to be displayed and how often you want it
       to be redisplayed (the frequency).  They also contain the message
       text to be displayed.  The message text is required for
       message-type events.  Program events contain all of the information
       that a message event does, except that the message text is
       optional.  Program events also must contain additional properties,
       such as the name of the program to start, the default directory and
       any command line parameters to the program being scheduled.

       To schedule a new event, select the Event/New menu selection from
       either the main Chron window or the posted bag window.  You will be
       presented with a sizeable window that is used to cre ate the event.
       You must fill in a title for the event.  It can be any text that
       briefly describes the event.  You can then choose the frequency
       with the combo box.  Initially, this is set to schedule a One Time
       event, meaning the event will be scheduled for execution once.  You
       can choose from hourly, daily, on weekdays only, weekly, every two
       weeks, monthly, or yearly.  You also need to choose the type of
       event as message or program using the other combo box.

       You then can enter the time at which you want the event to be
       scheduled.  This is done using the Event/Time menu item, the
       accelerator key for that menu item, Ctrl-T, or you can double click
       on the text with the date and time.  When you select the time in
       one of these ways, you will be presented with the date time dialog.
       You can select the time of day at which to schedule the event in a
       combination of ways.  The slider con trol will allow you to
       position the time of day at the appropriate spot.  You can change
       the time by one hour by clicking the "bar" area of the slider
       control.  You can change the time by five minutes by pressing the
       arrow buttons on the slider

       control.  You can also select a time using the combo boxes on the
       dialog.  The month is selected using the listbox on the right of
       the dialog.  The year is changed by pressing the left or right
       buttons in the lower right corner of the dialog.  The day of the
       month is changed by pressing the button that corresponds to the day
       you want.  Once you have entered the desired date and time, you can
       press the OK button.  You will be returned to the event window with
       the date and time text updated to reflect your selection.

       You can then enter the message text in the multi-line edit box at
       the bottom of the event screen.  You are limited to 64 kilobytes of
       text.  Chron requires you to enter text for a message-type event
       (otherwise, what's the point), but it is optional for program-type
       events.  The message text for a program event is useful for
       displaying operator instructions or for notification of when a pro
       gram has been started by Chron.

       Program events require that additional properties be entered before
       the event can be scheduled... namely the program to execute.  This
       is filled in using the Event/Properties menu selection.  When this
       is selected, you will be presented with a dialog, very similar to
       the dialog used in OS/2 v1.3 for creating entries in program
       groups.  Fill in the name of the program, the default directory and
       any command line parameters that are required for its operation.
       If you are scheduling a batch file or REXX command file, you will
       need to enter C:\OS2\CMD.EXE for the program name and /C batchfile
       for the command line parameters, where batchfile is the name of the
       command as you would enter it from the command line.  This version
       does not yet automatically recognize batch files.  Once the desired
       entries have been filled in, you can press OK to dismiss the dialog
       and return to the event window.

       You now have all of the information needed to schedule an event.
       Either select the Event/Schedule menu item, or press the OK button
       with the mouse.  The event win dow will be removed and the main
       Chron window will be updated to reflect that another event has been
       scheduled.

       This sounds a bit complex at first, but the consistent and very
       visual nature of Presen tation Manager applications should make
       this process fairly straightforward after a couple of times.  If
       you forget to enter a required piece of information, Chron will
       display a dialog box that explains what is missing.

       
       Changing Existing Events

       After you have scheduled one or more events, you can change them in
       any way you like.  To display the list of currently scheduled
       events, select the Event/Change menu item from the main Chron
       window.  You will be presented with a dialog that contains the
       titles of all of the events scheduled sorted in execution time
       order.  To the right of the currently highlighted event, you will
       see summary information about the event.  As you select the events
       from the listbox, the summary information changes to match the
       selection.  This feature allows you to quickly scan the pending
       events merely by dragging the mouse pointer across the items in the
       listbox.

       If you would like to bring up an event window to modify or further
       inspect the event, either press the Edit button or double click the
       entry in the listbox.  At this point, the event editing is the same
       as creating a new event.

       Note that this event window is non-modal.  This means that you are
       not required to complete the edit of the event before doing
       something else with Chron.  You can have multiple events out for
       edit, you can create new events, delete existing events -- even
       minimize the event and come back to it later.

       Duplicating Existing Events

       When you duplicate an event, Chron creates an exact copy of the
       selected event.  There is no connection to the original event.
       There are two distinct events that can be inde pendently
       manipulated.  You can duplicate an event by highlighting it on the
       change dialog and pressing the Duplicate button.  The now-familiar
       event window will be dis played to allow you to alter some of the
       fields if desired.  When you have completed editing the event, you
       schedule it as you would a newly created event.  You can also
       duplicate an event that has been posted by making it the active
       window in the posted bag by clicking on it and selecting the
       Event/Duplicate menu item from the posted events bag action bar.

       Viewing Outstanding Events

       An outstanding event is one that has been selected for editing,
       duplicated, or is in the process of being created, but has not been
       scheduled.  In other words, there is an event window open.  Chron
       gives you the option, among other things, of minimizing the event
       and deferring the scheduling of the event until a later time.
       These deferred events are called outstanding.

       In OS/2 v1.x, the event would be placed as an icon on the desktop.
       However, in OS/2 v2.0, there are various ways to handle minimized
       events.  The default is to not display the minimized icon anywhere.
       The only way to restore (or what OS/2 v2.0 documen tation calls
       surfacing) a minimized window is to bring up the list of started
       objects via Ctrl-ESC and select from the window list, or double
       click on the icon on the folder from which it was started.
       However, outstanding events are not placed in the OS/2 v2.0 window
       list and do not have their own icon in a folder, and so would be
       hidden forever.  In the most currently available release of OS/2
       v2.0, you can collect all minimized icons in a single window, or
       you can display minimized icons on the desk top on a per
       application basis.  The Chron application also added another
       option.  You can also select the Event/View Outstanding to have all
       of the minimized outstanding event windows restored.

       Viewing Posted Events

       For the same reasons noted for the outstanding event windows, the
       posted bag, once minimized, may not be accessible on OS/2 v2.0
       systems depending on your choice of settings.  Since the icon for
       the posted bag shows the number of posted events in the bag (up to
       9), if the posted bag icon is on the desktop, you will be able to
       see at a glance the number of outstanding events.  The Events/View
       Posted Events menu item will restore the minimized posted bag.
       Even in an OS/2 v1.x system, this can be useful if the window gets
       lost in a clutter of other windows on the desktop.

       Exiting Chron

       When you would like to shut Chron down, you may do so in a variety
       of ways.  You can select the Close item from the system menu of the
       main window or the posted bag or select the Event/Exit option from
       the main Chron window.  Regardless of the method used to close
       Chron, it will avoid loss of data my making sure there is no
       unsaved information.  First, Chron will confirm via a dialog that
       you really intend to exit.  If you answer yes, Chron will ask every
       outstanding event window if it is OK to close.  If there have been
       unsaved changes to that event window, it will ask if it is OK to
       discard the changes.  All outstanding event windows must agree to
       close before the Chron application will close.  This is similar
       operationally to shutting down the OS/2 operating system in that
       all windows must reach a consensus before allowing the shut down to
       complete.

       About

       The About box displays information regarding the release and fix
       level of Chron.  It also displays the copyright information.  When
       reporting problems with Chron on the Hilbert Computing bulletin
       board, please include both the release and service level
       information found on the About box, so that we can better meet your
       needs.


       
       Customizing Chron Options

       Chron allows some flexibility in its operation to better meet your
       needs.  These options are all changed using the Options menu on the
       main Chron window.

       Chron Defaults

       The Options/Chron Defaults menu item will allow you to change
       configuration options that apply to the operation of Chron and all
       events in general.  At the top of the dialog there are a series of
       seven check boxes bounded in a group that are labelled with the
       days of the week.  This gives you the option of what you consider
       to be weekdays.  If your work week runs from Tuesday through
       Saturday, then you may choose to con figure valid weekdays to be
       those days.  This option effects only those events that are
       scheduled for execution on weekdays.  You must select at least one
       valid weekday.  The default for the valid weekdays are Monday
       through Friday.

       The valid weekdays are used when rescheduling an event.  If you
       change the list of valid weekdays, then those events scheduled for
       weekday execution will not be auto matically changed.  However, the
       next time they are posted, the computation of when to schedule that
       event next will honor the weekdays set.  Note that Chron will also
       let you schedule a weekday event initially on a day that is not a
       valid weekday.  Valid weekdays are used only when Chron reschedules
       the event after it is posted.

       This dialog also contains a check box to restore the windows when
       an event is posted.  This refers to the posted bag window.  When an
       event is posted, a new window is created (or refreshed for events
       already in the bag) as a child of the posted bag window.  If this
       option is selected, the posted bag will be restored (what OS/2 v2.0
       calls surfaced) and the message associated with the event being
       posted will fill the client area of the posted bag.  This serves to
       notify you when an event has been posted.  If this option is not
       selected, the posted bag will remain in whatever state it was in
       before, with the newly posted informa tion placed in the bag.  The
       default for this option is on.

       Another checkbox on this dialog allows you to delay the write of
       events to disk.  If there are a lot of messages and pro grams being
       started by Chron at the same time, there will be contention in the
       disk I/O due to the programs being started and Chron trying to
       rewrite the changed information to disk.  This option allows you to
       defer writing the Chron events list to disk until 15 seconds after
       the minute if information in the list of events has been changed.
       The only disadvantage to this option is that there is a period of
       time, up to 59 seconds, where you may lose changed data if OS/2
       crashes.  Since this is a very remote possi bility it is
       recommended that this option be turned on to reduce I/O contention
       between Chron and the program events trying to start.  However,
       since data integrity should be the primary design goal for any
       application, this option defaults to off.  The delay of write to
       disk does not conflict in any way with the lazy-write feature of
       OS/2.  They work independently of one another.

       The final checkbox on the Chron Defaults dialog box is the option
       to sound the alarm when an event is posted to the bag.  If you are
       using Chron to schedule reminder mes sages, it is most likely that
       you will want this option selected to serve as additional emphasis
       that an event has been posted.  Some customers find the alarm
       annoying, so the option is provided here of turning it off.  The
       default when Chron is installed is to sound the alarm when an event
       is posted.

       Event Defaults

       Chron allows you to fill in default values for new events.  The
       Event/Defaults option will allow you to fill in values for the
       event frequency, the event type and the session type (e.g.  OS/2
       Fullscreen, OS/2 Windowed, etc.) for program type events.  As the
       new event is being edited, you are free to make any changes to any
       of these defaults.  This is merely added as a convenience to fill
       in the values you will use most.

       Events File

       This dialog prompts for the name of the file on disk that is used
       to store the events list.  This is the same file that was entered
       when you first installed Chron and it prompted for the list of
       events.  It is unlikely that you will need to change this value.

       If you decide you would like to move the events file to a different
       location, there are a couple of ways you can do this.  If you
       change the name of the events file, then that file will be used the
       next time Chron needs to save the event list.  However, Chron will
       not write out the events file until it has changed.  Therefore one
       technique would be to:

          Use the Options/Events File menu item to change the name of the
           file in which to store events.

          Select the Event/Change dialog and select an event for edit.
           Press the OK button on the event window.  This will cause the
           list of events to be written to disk (either immediately if you
           have the delay option turned off, or within a minute if you
           have the delay option turned on).

       After you are sure that the new events file has been written, you
       can erase the old file.  If you want to get fancy, you can use
       Chron to schedule the old files to be deleted some time in the
       future, perhaps after scheduled backups are taken.


       
       The Posted Bag

       As mentioned above, the posted bag is a desktop window that
       contains the message text for those events that have been posted.
       However, the posted bag is more than a con tainer for posted
       message windows.  You can also handle most of the functions of
       Chron and most event manipulation from the posted bag window.

       The posted bag allows you to effectively use Chron as a follow-up
       list manager.  All of the message type events that have been posted
       are tasks that require your attention.  You can either defer taking
       action and reschedule the event for a later time, or you can keep
       them in the posted bag as a "to do" list.

       This section will document the function of the posted bag, so that
       you may choose to use it in a way that best meets your needs.

       General Function

       The function of the posted bag is consistent with the multiple
       document interface found in many popular graphical word processors.
       First, you select the event with which you would like to work using
       the mouse to click on the window.  This will give it input focus,
       meaning that its title bar is highlighted and any action taken from
       the menu bar will apply to that event.  Note that the menu items
       are disabled until you have selected the event with which you would
       like to work.

       Once you have selected the posted event window with which you would
       like to work, you can select one of the actions under the Event
       menu item.  The Event/New selec tion works as it does from the
       Chron main window.  Refer to the section on Creating New Events for
       an explanation of how to enter a new event.  The Event/Edit
       selection works the same as pressing the Edit button from the
       Change dialog on the main win dow.  Refer to the section on
       Changing Existing Events for a detailed explanation on how to alter
       an existing event.  The Event/Duplicate selection works the same as
       pressing the Duplicate button from the Change dialog on the main
       window.  Refer to the section on Duplicating Existing Events for a
       detailed explanation on how to create a copy of an existing event
       and edit it.

       The Event/Delete option will completely remove the event from
       Chron.  If this event has been reschedule to be dispatched at a
       later time, and you select the Delete action from the menu, then
       the event will be removed from the posted bag and from the list of
       pending events.  You will be presented with a dialog to confirm the
       delete before it will be removed from Chron.  The Event/Close
       action will remove the window from the posted bag, but will not
       remove the event from the pending list, if the event has been
       rescheduled for a later date.

       One way to distinguish between a Close and a Delete of an event
       from the posted bag is to use an example of using Chron to manage
       follow-up items.  If the message is in the bag, it remains as a
       item that needs to be taken care of.  If you chose to defer action
       on that message until a later time, you can close the event from
       the window.  When the message is scheduled for execution next, it
       will be placed back in the posted events bag to remind you that
       action needs to be taken.  Once you have completed the task that
       Chron is reminding you to do, you can use the Event/Delete menu
       item to completely remove the event.

       Using the Clipboard

       The text from the posted event windows in the posted bag can be
       placed into the Pre sentation Manager clipboard.  This is done by
       selecting the text you wish to copy using the mouse or keyboard and
       selecting the Edit/Copy menu item from the posted bag.  That text
       can then be placed in another event, or into any other application
       that has access to the Presentation Manager clipboard.

       Note that Edit/Copy is the only option available, since the
       contents of the posted bag are read only.

       The Edit menu item on the action bar of the posted bag is used for
       placing information into the clipboard.  It should not be confused
       with the Event/Edit menu item that will present an event window
       that is used to change the contents of an event.

       Arranging Windows

       As multiple events are placed into the posted bag the contents can
       become cluttered.  To arrange the windows in a cascading manner
       from the upper left corner to the lower right corner, use the
       Windows/Cascade menu selection.

       The Event Window

       Most of the interaction with Chron will be done through the event
       windows.  These are the sizeable, non-modal windows that contain
       the information that makes up an event.  Most of the main functions
       of the event window were discussed in the section on Cre ating
       Events.  Since this same window is used for editing existing
       events, duplicated events as well as new events, it was felt that a
       more focused discussion of the event window was needed in its own
       section.

       The event window can be sized during editing.  When the size of the
       frame window is changed, all of the controls in the window adjust
       their size to fill the area.  The mes sage text will automatically
       word wrap to adjust to the new size.  If there are hard carriage
       return characters, then the text may not wrap as intended.  This
       occurs most often in the case where the text for the message box
       was pasted from another applica tion such as a 3270 screen from the
       IBM PROFS product.  Sizing the window to make the message box wider
       can make the contents more readable.

       The event windows are non-modal.  A modal window in Presentation
       Manager forces you to complete the activity within the current
       window before proceeding to other activities within the
       application.  Dialog boxes are the most common source for modal
       windows.  While modal windows make sense in many areas of an
       application, they tend to be inflexible.  The better alternative,
       when it makes sense, is to use non-modal windows to enable the
       customer to complete tasks in their choice of order.  Multiple
       events windows can be open and "under construction" at any time.
       If you are in the middle of creating or changing an event, you can
       switch over to the posted bag, for example, to copy some text into
       the clipboard and copy it back into your message window.  While it
       was not in the original design intent of Chron, some customers have
       used open event windows as a computer version of the 3M Post-ItTM
       notes into which they can type information.

       Event Window Controls

       The event window contains a set of Presentation Manager control
       windows into which you can type or select information.  The first
       single-line entry field contains the title of the event.  This
       should be a brief description of the contents of this event.  This
       title is used in two distinct places.  It is the text that appears
       in the change dialog when the Event/Change menu item is selected
       from the main menu.  It also appears in the title bar of the posted
       event windows contained within the posted bag.  This title does not
       have to be unique, but to avoid confusion, it is recommended that
       each event have a unique title.

       The type of event is selected using the combo box to the right of
       the Type:  label.  This specifies whether this is a program or
       message event.  As with all Presentation Man ager combo boxes, you
       can either press the drop down button and select the type with the
       mouse, or you may tab to the combo box and press the first letter
       of the choice.  In this case, you may press P for Program events or
       M for message events.

       The following combo box, labelled Freq.:  determines the frequency
       with which the event will be posted.  This choice can be selected
       from the drop down or using the first letter of the option as with
       all Presentation Manager combo boxes.  The choices are One Time,
       Hourly, Weekday, Daily, Weekly, Every Two Weeks, Monthly or Yearly.
       This frequency is used after an event is posted to determine when
       to schedule the event for the next post.  One Time events are
       scheduled to be posted once, after which they are removed from the
       list of pending events.  Weekday events are scheduled to be run at
       the same time of day on the next weekday.  A weekday is defined to
       be any one of the days listed in the Options/Chron Defaults dialog.
       They default to Monday through Friday, but can be changed to
       reflect your work week.

       Rescheduling a monthly event presented an interesting problem.
       Generally you would expect a monthly event to be rescheduled to run
       at the same time and day of the month on the next month.  However,
       when you schedule an event on one of the last few days of the
       month, an interesting thing happens.  If you schedule a monthly
       event to run on, for example, the 31st of March the event can't be
       rescheduled for the 31st of April since there are only 30 days in
       that month.  If Chron schedules for the 30th of April, then it will
       be scheduled after that posting to run on the 30th of May. Well,
       there are 31 days in May, and Chron has no way of knowing whether
       you wanted execution to be scheduled on the 30th or 31st.

       This monthly scheduling problem is handled in the following way.
       If you schedule an event within the last five days of the month,
       Chron assumes that you are scheduling that event relative to the
       end of the month.  In other words, if you schedule the event above
       on the 31st of March, Chron interprets that as running on the last
       day of the month.  Chron would continue to post that event on the
       30th of April and the 31st of May. Similarly, if the monthly event
       was scheduled on the 28th of March, Chron would logically treat
       that event as being scheduled on the fourth to the last day of the
       month for all months.  If this implementation of scheduling monthly
       events is not what you need, contact us here at Hilbert Computing
       and request a design change for future releases.  At this point,
       this implementation has met the needs of Chron customers.

       The remaining event frequencies should be self-explanatory.

       
       Event Window Menu

       The event window menu items let you further refine the contents of
       the event.

       Setting the Time

       The time at which the event is scheduled to run is set by the
       Event/Time menu item.  Alternately, you can press the Alt-T
       accelerator key or double click on the static text containing the
       time and date.  When any of these three methods are chosen, the
       user is presented with a dialog that is used to set the date and
       time at which the event will be scheduled.  The details of entering
       dates and times are explained in the section entitled Time Dialog
       below.

       Event Properties

       Certain events types have additional information specific to that
       event type.  In this release, only program events require
       additional information before they can be sched uled.  Program
       events require that at least the program name be entered.  This is
       entered in the dialog that is presented when the Event/Properties
       menu item is cho sen.  This dialog also allows you to enter
       optional values for parameters to the program, the default working
       directory, and the session type for the program.

       This dialog is patterned after the program properties dialog found
       in the group win dows of OS/2 v1.3.  Those customers who have used
       this version of OS/2 should find this dialog very familiar.

       Since messages do not require any additional information, this menu
       selection is dis abled for message events.  This implementation may
       seem a bit awkward at this current level, but this will provide
       growth opportunities for other event-types in future releases of
       Chron without changing the interface to those other event types.

       Scheduling the Event

       Once you have entered all of the information about the event, you
       can place the event into the list of pending events by selecting
       the Event/Schedule menu item.  Other methods of scheduling the
       event include pressing the accelerator key, Ctrl-S, or by pressing
       the OK button with the mouse.  All three methods accomplish the
       same result.

       If you have selected a time to schedule the event that is the same
       as, or previous to the current date and time, Chron will pop a
       dialog stating that the event is past due.  If you press the OK
       key, the event will be scheduled to execute at the top of the next
       minute.  If you press the Cancel button, you will be returned to
       the event window to further refine the time and date.

       Closing the Event

       If you decide that you do not want to schedule the event, you can
       remove the event window with the Event/Close menu selection.  You
       may also close the event by press ing the Cancel button.  If you
       have made changes to the event window, Chron will present a dialog
       asking you if you are sure that you want to close the window.

       Using the Clipboard

       The event window has menu items that allow you to use the clipboard
       to cut, copy and paste information to and from the message text
       window.  The Edit menu item lists the three operations.  Regardless
       of which control on the event window contains the cur sor, these
       menu selections always operate on the message text window.

       You may also use the CUA-compliant accelerator keys:  Shift-Del to
       cut to the clip board, Ctrl-Ins to copy selected text to the
       clipboard, and Shift-Ins to paste from the clipboard.  If the
       message text multi-line edit control on the event window has input
       focus (that is, if your cursor is in the message text window), then
       the accelerator keys work the same as the menu items for Cut, Copy
       and Paste.  Otherwise, the accelerator keys will work on the window
       that currently contains the input cursor.  This enables you to use
       the keyboard to move data to and from the entry field for the
       title, but allows the mouse selection of the menu items to operate
       on the more likely choice of the message text window.

       
       Time/Date Dialog

       The time dialog is a complex dialog that allows you to enter both
       the date and the time at which you want an event to be scheduled.
       This dialog contains several controls that are explained below.
       Once the date and time have been entered, press the OK button to
       dismiss the time dialog.  You will be returned to the event window
       and the date and time text will be updated to reflect your
       selection.

       Selecting Time

       There are three ways to select the time on this dialog.  The
       simplest and most direct is to move the slider control to the
       desired position.  As the slider is moved, the time is dynamically
       updated in the combo boxes to reflect the time at which the event
       is to be scheduled.  You can increase or decrease the scheduled
       time by one hour by pressing on the half-toned area of the slider
       control.  You can increase or decrease the time by five minutes by
       pressing the arrow keys on either end of the slider.

       The second way by which you can select the time of day is to
       directly enter the time in the combo boxes.  The third way is to
       press the drop down button on the combo box and select the time at
       which you want to schedule the event.  Using either of the last two
       methods require that you also indicate, with the radio buttons,
       whether the time is AM or PM.  Military (24-hour) time cannot be
       entered directly in the hours combo box

       Note that regardless of the technique or combination of techniques
       that are used to select the time, the slider control, combo boxes
       and the AM/PM radio buttons are all tightly synchronized.  Changing
       one will immediately change the others.

       Selecting the Date

       The month and year on which to schedule the event are selected
       using the controls on the lower right of the dialog box.  The month
       is chosen from the list of months.  The year is changed by pressing
       the buttons directly to the left and right of the year.  Pressing
       these buttons will change the year by one.

       The day of the month is selected by pressing the desired day on the
       calendar with the mouse.  At this release, there is no way to enter
       the day of the month using the key board only.  If there is a need
       to enter a day without a pointing device, contact Hilbert Computing
       by bulletin board or by voice and request a design change and we
       will accommodate your request in the next release of the product.

       Past Due Events

       If Chron has not been started in a while, it is possible for
       scheduled events to be past due when Chron is finally started.
       After all of the events are read from the event file, if there are
       any events with a scheduled time that is later than the current
       time, you will be presented with a dialog listing those past due
       events.  If you would like to resched ule that event for the next
       appropriate time, highlight the event and press the Reschedule 
       button.  Rescheduling works as follows:  The event frequency is
       checked and the event is repeatedly rescheduled without being
       posted until the date is later than the present time.  There is one
       exception.  Past due events that are scheduled to be posted one
       time are rescheduled to be posted five minutes into the future.
       This delay in posting gives you ample time to reschedule the event
       for an appropriate time, or to delete the event if that is more
       appropriate.

       If you change your mind, and wish to not reschedule an event after
       you have resched uled it in the dialog, highlight that event in the
       rescheduled listbox and press the Ignore button.  When you have
       rescheduled the events that you want, press the OK button.  Those
       past due events that were not rescheduled will be posted at the top
       of the next minute.

       
       Support for Chron

       Support for Chron is available in one of two ways.  The preferred
       way is to login to the Hilbert Computing bulletin board at 8N1,
       9600 v.42 bis or lower.  The phone number is (913) 829-2450.  You
       can leave a message indicating your needs, questions or code defect
       report.

       Periodically, Hilbert computing will place new service levels of
       Chron that fix reported code defects and provide minor
       enhancements.  These are placed in the CUSTOMER file area on the
       bulletin board and are available for download without charge.  This
       area is available only to registered customers.  The Sysop for the
       Hilbert BBS will have to authorize you as a customer after the
       first time you logon.  When you receive your Chron package, it is
       recommended that you logon to the BBS and leave a message stat ing
       that you are a registered customer.  If you aren't the same person
       that originally ordered the product, please indicate the company
       and/or the person who ordered the product so you can be identified
       as a registered customer.  There will be no explicit notification
       via mail of service level updates.  You may want to check the board
       every few months to see if there have been any code changes or
       fixes.  You can use Chron to schedule a monthly reminder to check
       the Hilbert Computing bulletin board if you like.

       You may also call the voice number for assistance at (913)
       780-5051.

       Support for Chron v3.0 will continue until six (6) months after
       release of the next release level (v3.1) or version (v4.0).  Free
       upgrades to the next release of Chron will be available to all
       customers who purchase Chron v3.0 within six (6) months of the next
       release of version level.  Upgrade policies for those customers
       purchasing Chron prior to six months before the next release have
       not been determined.  Customers will be notified of that policy and
       pricing when it is put into effect.

