Docs for LATER v2.10 08/31/88

LICENSE AGREEMENT


This program is shareware. It is not public domain. For those unfamiliar
with the concept, shareware means that you are given permission and freely
encouraged to make copies of this program and distribute them to friends, and
to upload them to various BBS's. If you use the product, I request that you
pay me a fee of $10. After all, thats not so much, is it? So please take
the time to make my day. I would love nothing better than to hear from
someone who is using one of my programs. Send me a check always a bad idea>, or just drop me a note if you have a suggestion. And
PLEASE is you find a bug notify me right away!My address is below. Thanks
in advance for being honest!

Richard Tuley
P.O. Box 270522
Corpus Christi, Tx 78427


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DISCLAIMER

!!IMPORTANT NOTICE!!

This program was tested as well as could be expected, but I, Richard Tuley,
assume no responsibility for any errors, omissions, problems etc. This
program is provided 'As Is' without warranty of any kind. Further, I,
Richard Tuley, do not warrant, guarantee, or make any claims of suitability
to a particular purpose with regard to this software. The entire risk as to
the results and/or performance of this software is assumed by you. I shall
not be liable for any direct, indirect, consequential, or incidental
damages including, but not limited to, loss of profits, loss of information
and the like. By using this software you agree to the above terms and
conditions.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A WORD FROM THE AUTHOR

Whew! Well, now that I've gotten the disclaimer out of the way, let me say
that you should find LATER to work quite well for you.The purpose of the
program is to ask for a time to begin execution of another program. Until
that time, the program will display the current time, the time left until
execution of the other program begins, and the time you have selected for
it to be run.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CONTENTS OF THIS ARC

There should be three files in LATER21.ARC. LATER.DOC, LATER.EXE, AND
ALARM.EXE. You are currently reading/viewing LATER.DOC, so we won't worry
about that. LATER.EXE is the program for timed execution, and ALARM.EXE is
simply a noise making program that you may wish to use in conjuction with
LATER.EXE in order to make your computer work as an 'alarm clock'. ALARM.EXE
will make a ringing tone until a key is pressed displayed in the middle line of the screen.> So, you might want to have LATER
execute ALARM at a certain time to remind you of something. If you are using
a Multi-tasker such as DesqView or DoubleDos, you can run something like that
in a background window. Just a thought.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NEW FEATURES IN VERSION 2.0!

Command line paramaters have been added to LATER in version 2.0! To use
them, enter the hours, minutes, and program to run on the command line like
this:

LATER 10 00 CHKDSK C: /F ^ ^ ^ 10 AM>
| | |
| | |
| | -----------------------------------
------- ------------ |
| | |
Hour to Start | |
| |
Minutes To Start |
|
Program to Run...With any
Parameters it may need

You must enter all three items for LATER to begin automatically. If you only
type the time, LATER will prompt you for all entries on the screen as normal.
If you type invalid values...such as 75 for the minutes or 26 for the hours,
LATER will sound the error tone, and return immediately to DOS. So if you
decide to use the command line parameters, make sure you type the correct
time and program name!It should work fine for you. One last thing...if
you type a time to begin that is earlier in the day than the current time,
LATER will *ASSUME* that you wish to execute the program given at that time
*ON THE NEXT DAY*. The screen prompts will ask you if you want to execute
after midnight, the command line is obviously not able to do so. The time left
display should clue you in right away if you made a mistake. As soon as you
press the return key to begin the program, the LATER screen will come up and
show you the 'Time Left' as normal. If the value is bigger than you expected,
check what the start time is...you may wish to re-enter the values.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NEW FEATURES IN VERSION 2.1!

For those of you using multi-tasking programs like DesqView or DoubleDos,
a change has been made in LATER for version 2.1 that will be of interest to
you. These kinds of multi-taskers use a techinque called 'time slicing' to
run more than one 'window' at a time. That is, the computer splits its
attention between more than one task. It sets one task aside while it works
on the other one. Well, all versions of LATER previous to 2.1 were not
taking advantage of this fact.LATER has been enhanced for version 2.1 to
release unused 'time slices' for use by other programs. So what does all
this mean? Its pretty simple.If you are running LATER in a window under
DesqView, DoubleDos, etc. it will not slow down your other windows as much
as before. That is, your system will run faster if you are using LATER under
a multi-tasker than it would before. Nice, eh?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'HOW TO' DOCUMENTATION

The one thing you MUST do before you run the program is to make sure that
you have SET THE CURRENT TIME OF DAY correctly in your computer. This only
makes sense. After all, how can my program do its job of executing a program
for you at a specific time if the time isn't set right?

To run the program type 'LATER' at the DOS prompt. The first thing you will
be prompted to enter is the hour you wish to begin execution of another
program. The current time of day will be displayed below the box on the
screen. Type the hour in military time 2 PM is 14, etc.> the same way you would when you set the system time on
your computer.Please be aware that 23 is 11 pm, but the midnight hour is
represented by 00 hours. The progression of hours goes 23 (11 PM),
00 (Midnight), 01 (1 AM) etc. If you enter a value for the hour to begin that
is less than the current hour , you will see an additional
item appear on the screen asking if you want to begin execution after Midnight.
If you answer this item with a 'N' then you will get a chance to correct the
hour value you typed in. If you answer the question with a 'Y' the
program execution will occur AFTER midnight has been passed when the time
that you enter has 'come back around'. For example, if the current time is
9 AM, and you type 05 for the hours, obviously either you have made a mistake,
or wish to execute the program at 5 am TOMORROW.

Next, you will be prompted to answer the minutes you wish the program to begin
execution on. Type the two digit number you want.

Please remember that when you type the numbers in for both the hours and the
minutes, you need to type a 2 digit number. If you want the program to start
at 8 AM, then type 08 for the hours. If you want 10 am, you may type a 1
and then press the return key instead of typing the 2nd number .
Similarly, if you want 0 minutes, just press the return key instead of typing
in numbers when you get to the minutes prompt.Just remember that for either
hours or minutes, you will need to type a 0 before the 2nd number if the value
you are entering is less than 10. Dont worry, the program won't let you do
it wrong. But if you do it right, you won't hear the error tone.


Finally, type in the name of the program you wish to be executed when the
time you entered has arrived. You can type a program name along with
parameters such as 'C:\'. For example, you might type 'chkdsk c: /f', and
at the entered time, your hard disc drive would do a 'check disk' with the
'fix' option. You may also enter the name of a DOS batch file. For instance,
if you have a .BAT file that does your data backups, you could leave the name
of the batch as the program to be executed. If you decide to leave the
program to be executed area blank, LATER will give you a command shell copy
of DOS. That is, at the time entered, the program will exit to dos and let you
do anything you like. IMPORTANT NOTE:IF YOU LEAVE THE PROGRAM FIELD BLANK
TO GET 'A COPY OF DOS' YOU WILL NEED TO, AT SOME POINT, TYPE 'EXIT' AT THE
DOS PROMPT TO RETURN TO 'LATER' TO NORMALLY TERMINATE *MY* PROGRAM, AND TO
FREE UP ALL THE MEMORY AVAILABLE. I don't know why anyone would want to have
my program wait until a certain time only to drop into DOS, but the program
will allow it.When you enter text in this field, you are in 'insert mode'.
That is, if you back up with the arrow key, text typed will be inserted instead
of overwriting whatever is already there. If you don't want insert mode, simply
press the INSERT key, and insert mode will go off....just like in all the word
processing packages. The arrow keys and backspace key will let you edit any
typing mistakes you may have made. Also, you have 14 characters between where you start typing and the edge of the display box> to enter your
program to execute in.If you need more space than this, make a .BAT batch
file. Type anything you like in the batch file...it can be as long as you
like, and use the batch name in LATER.

After you press the return key in the area for Program to Execute, you will
get a chance to change your selections. A prompt reading 'Any Changes:' will
appear in the bottom line of the box on the screen. If you wish to change
any of your responses, type a 'Y' and you will be able to re-type the
information. If all responses are correct, press return, or type an 'N'.
As soon as you do this, LATER will display the current time and the time left
until it will run the program you asked it to.When the 'time left' has
counted down to zero, the program you asked for will begin to execute.
IMPORTANT NOTE: WHEN THE PROGRAM YOU ASKED 'LATER' TO RUN HAS FINISHED, CONTROL
WILL BE PASSED BACK TO 'LATER' BY DOS. AT THAT TIME, 'LATER' WILL QUIT
**AND CLEAR THE SCREEN!**. SO PLEASE BE AWARE OF THIS. AFTER THE PROGRAM THAT
'LATER' HAS RUN IS FINISHED, THE SCREEN WILL BE CLEARED. SO IF YOU ARE RUNNING
SOME PROGRAM THAT IS SUPPOSED TO LEAVE SOMETHING ON THE SCREEN THAT YOU WANT
TO SEE, YOU WILL NEED TO POSSIBLY MAKE A BATCH OR DO SOMETHING ELSE THAT WILL
PAUSE AFTER THE PROGRAM IS THROUGH, SO THAT YOU CAN SEE WHAT IS LEFT ON THE
SCREEN.

If you decide that you want to cancel LATER before it has reached the time
you gave it to start, or maybe if you notice that you have mistyped one of
the selections, you need only press the ESC key to make LATER terminate.
The '>>>>>Press ESC Key To Return To DOS<<<<<' message is displayed on the
bottom line of the screen after the countdown has begun, so it shouldn't be
too hard for you to remember that one.You may also terminate the program
by typing ctrl-break at any time. Impatient types like me would
want to start over immediately by typing this rather than having to enter
enough items to get to the 'Any Changes:' prompt.

If the program name that you entered is invalid, at the time LATER tries to
execute it, it will get the 'Bad command or file name' message from DOS.
LATER will have nothing to do at that point except to terminate. So please
make sure that you have typed the program name correctly. It would be a
shame to come back later to check on what had happened only to find that LATER
couldn't run the program name you entered.

And thats all folks! LATER is an extremely easy program to run. I hope you
will enjoy it and find it useful!