THE WELCH COMPANY
440 Davis Court #1602
San Francisco, CA 94111-2496
415 781 5700


S U M M A R Y


DIARY: December 9, 89 09:02 AM .......; Rod Welch

Meeting with Morris re Medit and SDS development.

1...Summary/Objective
2...New screen format
3...ºDescription: º
4...ºContacts, References, Control º
5...ºContacts, References, Control º
6...DOSE -- New Command Helps on Memory Issue
7...Setcolor N N -- New Command


..............
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CONTACTS 
0201 - O-0039 0101 Chips & Technologies,      408 434 0600     Lab #528
020101 - Mr. Morris A. Jones,
020102 - Vice President, =Ext. 4283  fax 434 0765

SUBJECTS
Medit Development
User interface/Menue
commands
New SDS format (began
891209)
Graphical User Interface
Line Numbers

0809 -    ..
0810 - Summary/Objective
0811 -
081101 - We talked a lot about SDS design and screen layout today.
081102 -
081103 - Morris did not have a chance to try the program last night or look at
081104 - the new Manual.
081105 -
081106 - We examined several menue systems for ideas:  Windows 386  Design
081107 - which runs under Windows, and Microsoft Word.  Initial problem was
081108 - figuring out what things to make menue items and how some of the
081109 - editing functions would work.
081110 -
081111 - Finally got Morris to work with SDS as a new User and make notes on
081112 - the things he feels could be developed into menues.  After about 20
081113 - minutes, decided he needs to work with it more extensively to get a
081114 - better idea of what it does, in order to design a menue structure.
081115 - The difficulty with this is that he is thinking of just creating a
081116 - menue creation capability within Medit which I would then use to make
081117 - the menues.  Anyway, some progress is being made.
081118 -
081119 - New screen format
081120 -
081121 - He has some ideas about how to create a stand-alone application in
081122 - Medit code which would require less memory and run faster.  Running
081123 - faster is not critical, but Morris pointed out that this could be
081124 - helpful for the large number of XT's using the 8088 still in use.
081125 -
081126 - Taking less memory is very critical and a major advantage.
081127 -
081128 -   Possibly omitting the record id in columns 1 22, would
081129 -   significantly reduce memory use by itself.
081130 -
081131 -
081132 - Morris would like to revise the screen layout entirely.  There would
081133 - be boxes for each primary field.  The date and time stamp of the
081134 - record would be entered in a box (field) that would remain on the
081135 - screen when working on the record, like a template that would at all
081136 - times show the User the identity of the current record.
081137 -
081138 -
081139 - É====================================================================»
081140 - ºDate         Time        Status         Follow up                   º
081141 - ºDescription:                                                        º
081142 - Ç--------------------------------------------------------------------¶
081143 - ºContacts, References, Control                                       º
081144 - Ç--------------------------------------------------------------------¶
081145 - ºSubject:                                                            º
081146 - Ì====================================================================¹
081147 - º We don't know how to apply line numbers or how to create the       º
081148 - º outline structure inherent in the line numbers.                    º
081149 - º                                                                    º
081150 - º Morris thinks line numbers might be simple rather than leveled.    º
081151 - º                                                                    º
081152 - º 0001 º This is to show how line numbers might be treated in the    º
081153 - º 0002 º new environment.                                            º
081154 - º 0003 º                                                             º
081155 - º 0004 º Indentation would be done thus:                             º
081156 - º 0005 º                                                             º
081157 - º 0006 º   This is some indented stuff to show how it would appear   º
081158 - º 0007 º   to provide outline structure to data entry.               º
081159 - º 0008 º                                                             º
081160 - º 0008 º   Line numbers could either show or or not in both on-line  º
081161 - º 0008 º   data entry mode and printed reports.                      º
081162 - º 0008 º                                                             º
081163 - º 0008 º   We could use command window line numers, but how would    º
081164 - º 0008 º   it print.  Users need option to print with or suppress    º
081165 - º 0008 º   line numbering, as with current scheme.  Printed line     º
081166 - º 0008 º   numbers need to be on left side of page.                  º
081167 - º                                                                    º
081168 - º The date field should be automatically entered by the cpu.  The    º
081169 - º time field should be either automatically entered or manually      º
081170 - º entered.  Status (not sure how it works), Follow up would require  º
081171 - º a special screen to enter instructions that would be carried out   º
081172 - º automatically.                                                     º
081173 - º                                                                    º
081174 - º Contacts, References and Control would be separate windows.        º
081175 - º                                                                    º
081176 - º   I expect User would put cursor on one of them to open a window.  º
081177 - º                                                                    º
081178 - º   Within each window, User could make as many entries as needed.   º
081179 - º                                                                    º
081180 - º                                                                    º
081181 - º Multiple control fields could be dropped in at any convenient      º
081182 - º location, as needed -- like this:                                  º
081183 - º                                                                    º
081184 - Ì====================================================================¹
081185 - ºContacts, References, Control                                       º
081186 - Ç--------------------------------------------------------------------¶
081187 - ºSub-subject                                                         º
081188 - Ì====================================================================¹
081189 - º                                                                    º
081190 - º The Control field window could be entered, and loaded essentially  º
081191 - º in the present manner:  Open an index, pick a topic and execute    º
081192 - º the function, which would load the code and the description.       º
081193 - º If Users rely entirely on narrative desciptions, then similar      º
081194 - º sounding descriptions may cause confusion.                         º
081195 - º                                                                    º
081196 - º      We have to design the control fields, so User can make        º
081197 - º      entries by selecting from indexes for each field type.        º
081198 - º                                                                    º
081199 - º                                                                    º
081200 - º How do the memos look?  How are Contacts and References treated    º
081201 - º in published reports?  They can be hidden on line  but not when    º
081202 - º printed.                                                           º
081203 - º                                                                    º
081204 - º How are reports done for say:  Subject x, function y  schedule     º
081205 - º activity z, User w, etc.                                           º
081206 - º                                                                    º
081207 - º                                                                    º
081208 - º                                                                    º
081209 - º                                                                    º
081210 - È====================================================================¼
081211 -
081212 -
081213 - We decided Morris needs a little more familiarity with SDS in order
081214 - to accomplish such a major design change.  He will work with it the
081215 - next week or so, then try to design a stand alone product that does
081216 - what it already does, but with more direct programming.  This might
081217 - occur during his Christmas vacation.
081218 -
081219 - He needs to understand the Control fields better.  How is the idea of
081220 - multiple subjects handled, i.e. one set of narrative pertains to a
081221 - variety of subjects, like cross filing a document?
081222 -
081223 - Call Morris on new version SDS development.
081224 -
081225 -
081226 -
081227 -
0813 -

SUBJECTS
Medit Development
Program interface (call
Lotus direct from SDS,
and Wordperfect)
Wordperfect

1108 -
110801 -  ..
110802 - DOSE -- New Command Helps on Memory Issue
110803 -
110804 - He created the command "dose" which has two modes:
110805 -
110806 -    dose
110807 -    dose /c
110808 -
110809 - It works the same as dos /c except it writes the contents of the
110810 - current Medit session to the disk temporarily until the routine
110811 - accessing DOS ends, then recovers it and deletes the temporary file.
110812 -
110813 -
110814 -
110815 -
1109 -
1110 -

SUBJECTS
Medit Development
User interface/Menue
commands
Color, run in color
for different fields

1408 -
140801 -  ..
140802 - Setcolor N N -- New Command
140803 -
140804 - Morris got very close on completing this thing today.  It will add
140805 - two bytes of memory to every line.
140806 -
140807 - It can do reverse video and blinking.
140808 -
140809 - User can specify alternate error message commands to temporarily
140810 - take over numerous lines on the screen in the manner of the current
140811 - errormsg command.
140812 -
140813 -
140814 -
140815 -
140816 -
140817 -
140818 -
1409 -
Distribution. . . . See "CONTACTS"