Text 7229, 81 rader
Skriven 2006-11-03 15:16:05 av Sean Dennis (1:18/200.0)
Ärende: Behind!
===============
Hello, All.

I am so far behind in reading COOKING it's not funny.  I've been very busy with
work, school and working on my two cars (I actually now own three, but the
third one is in limbo due to a title problem).

As for my "MM clone": I will begin working on a very basic version of it soon
enough.  The actual "meat" of the program isn't difficult.  It's getting the
importing, et al. tweaked.

I will be writing this in Virtual Pascal, which this means it will run under
Win32 and OS/2 only for the time being.  Are there any "straight" DOS users out
there?  If so, please let me know.  What I will do is get a basic version
working using VP and then get one running under Turbo Pascal for you.

I'm thinking this:

  - The program will hold over 2.1 billion recipes (a LongInt if anyone cares)

  - It will be a basic text-mode app.  However, I may make everything "single
screen", meaning that you will be able to access everything from a single
screen using keys (like F1 to add a recipe, F2 to search, etc).

  - It will be free.  However, when the program gets to a point to where you
find it useful, a donation would be appreciated.  I will put people who donate
to me into a "credits" screen that will be built into the program, so you will
be IMMORTAL! (or until I lose the source <G>).

  - I will try to take all ideas very seriously and try to implement them. 
However, please understand that I haven't done much with search stuff, but I
have many excellent books and code available to help me.

Now more questions:

  - How many catagories is realistic?  255, 32767 or 2.1 billion? <G>

  - "Single screen" or multiple menus?  My thoughts: it would be a LOT easier
for me to do a single screen w/multiple keys than menu after menu.

  - Configurable color schemes?  I know that I have a few of you that come on
my board that have problems with the colors I use at times, so I think that
would be realistic.

  - Text-based configuration or menu-driven?  My thoughts: text-based would be
a lot faster and easier for me to set up and use, but menu-driven would be
easier for you.  Text-based would let me do the config easier also, meaning
that if I were to add more configurable features, I could do it a lot easier in
a text file.  (If any of you that have ever programmed notice, I'm trying to do
more for speed than size for this program.)

  - English and Metric systems support internally (meaning, hit a button, it
converts the recipe over)?  This will take a little time, but I would be
willing to add it in at a later time.

  - Online help?  Or would just having a printed manual be easier?

  - Printer support?  Virtual Pascal has /VERY/ basic support for printers!  I
can write a simple printer unit (library of reusable code) that will do the
job.  In both Windows and OS/2, printing to a USB printer would be impossible
since DOS/CMD.EXE (in both Win32 and OS/2) cannot see USB printers right.  I
could put in support for very basic printing which is what I would assume
everyone wants.

  - Multilingual support?  I could do this by using a keyword in the config
file and people could translate if need be...

This is just a start.

If it would be easier and better for the echo, I could set up an email mailing
list to discuss this and not disturb anyone in here that doesn't want to be
involved in this.

Last but not least, how about a name for the program? <G> 

Later,
Sean

// sean@outpostbbs.net | Blog: http://meseems.wordpress.com | ICQ: 19965647

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