ChartTamer Version 1.01a (c)Copyright 1992,1993 Software Excellence By Design Inc. All Rights Reserved Welcome to ChartTamer! ----------------------- ChartTamer is a powerful and very easy to use chart creation program. You can create presentation quality Bar, Pie, Area, Line, and a variety of other chart types. Special effects include the ability to add any bitmap as a background to your chart. This is perfect for company logos, photos of the subject the chart covers, or use a custom 3D bitmap and tile it behind your chart for a unique look. Total control of color, fill patterns, and more is just a mouse click away! ****** Important Files ***** ----------------------------- ChartTamer uses customized versions of files that are provided with the Visual Basic Professional Edition 1.0 and 2.0 versions. These files are: 1. GRAPH.VBX 2. GSW.EXE 3. GSWDLL.DLL 4. THREED.VBX It is IMPERATIVE that you replace any of these files on your hard drive with the files contained in the ChartTamer Archive. These files won't interfere with any existing programs you may have, but they are required by ChartTamer in order for it to function properly. The best and safest way to insure proper program operation is to copy the files listed above to your windows/system directory. Then all other programs you have that need these files will also have access to them. In addition ChartTamer was written using Visual Basic Version 2.0, and needs the VBRUN200.DLL file. It is supplied with ChartTamer in case you don't already have a copy. A Note About The Graphics Server Program GSW.EXE ------------------------------------------------ When ChartTamer runs you will notice that there are 2 icons at the bottom of your screen, one for ChartTamer and one for the server. The server is used to speed up the creation and re-calculation of the charts you create. It frees your computers CPU from much of the time consuming graphic calculation operations. If you close the server while ChartTamer is still open, ChartTamer will lose its graphics capability! Program Documentation ---------------------- The documentation for ChartTamer is contained in the Windows help file supplied with the program. ChartTamer is so easy to use that you may never need to refer to the help. If you do, ChartTamer uses Context Sensitive Help, so for any Dialog Box or Menu Item Press F1. Pressing the Help Button in a dialog box will give you the ChartTamer Table Of Contents. Packing List ------------ The packing.lst file contains a list of the files that you should have received with ChartTamer. If you find there is a file missing call our BBS at 602-375-0531, 2400 baud or 602-375-9945 for 9600 baud access. Quick Start Guide ----------------- Since most of you want to take right off with a new program here are a few of the important features that might not be apparent from a quick glance. Quick Data Mode --------------- This option is selected from the Options menu. With it you can change the value of any individual point on your chart. All you have to do is click once on the point that you want to change. The new value will be displayed immediately and will carry over to all chart types. Turn Quick Data on and off by clicking on it in the menu. HINT -> Don't try to use quick data on line or area graphs. It can be very tricky to hit the exact point you want to change. Instead change to a bar chart. It is very easy click on a bar and change its value. Remember if you use Quick Data with a pie chart you will be making changes to the First Data Set Only, since pie chart only use one data set. Quick Data changes the data value in memory only, so you original data is left undisturbed. If you want to make a quick data change permanent you will have to edit your data file by pressing Ctrl + D or pressing the Edit Data tool in the tool bar. Double Click Mode ----------------- By default you can always change the default chart type by double clicking on the current type. Sample Data Files ----------------- ChartTamer includes 3 sample data files you can open and change as needed. They also serve as an example of how to format any ASCII text so you can immediately use it as a ChartTamer Data File. For full information on how to import data into ChartTamer refer to the Windows Help file included with this program. Any questions or bug reports should be directed to: Software Excellence By Design Inc. 15414 North 7th Street #8 Suite 292 Phoenix, AZ 85022 USA (602) 375-9928 Voice (602) 375-9928 Fax We hope you enjoy using this program!