User's Guide to Community Bulletin Board

Chapter 2: Welcome to Community Bulletin Board

• Introduction
  • Overview
  • Terms
• How The Application Works
• Entering The System Editor
  • Using Windows 95 To Open Business Manager
  • Using Windows 3.1 To Open Business Manager
  • Once You’re In Business Manager
• Windows 95 Vs. Windows 3.1
  • Program Title Bars
  • Program Menus
• Exiting The System Editor
  • Windows 95
    • The X Button
    • The File Menu
    • The Keyboard
    • The Window Control Bar
  • Windows 3.1
  • Committing Changes
• Using the On-Line Help Function
  • Starting Help
  • Exiting Help
• The Weather Watcher: What is it?

Chapter 2: Welcome to Community Bulletin Board

Introduction

Overview

The Community Bulletin Board application is a useful community service. Callers may listen to a paid advertisement, the current time and temperature, and an Announcement. You sell the Advertisement Spots to merchants or anyone who wants to air an Advertisement on your system. Your system plays a different Advertisement for each call, allowing the Advertisements a large amount of circulation.

You, the Center Owner, record the Announcement (or Announcements) you want callers to hear, such as the weather, local news, community events, or some similar announcement. Other creative Center Owners announce things like obituaries or the time of the high tides (a must for surfers in California). Although these examples may not work in your area, there are a multitude of announcement possibilities.

It is important that you be aware that the Community Bulletin Board application is a two-part application. The first part of the application is the System Editor, which this manual primarily deals with. This is the part of the application that allows you to design, build, and edit the application.

The second part of the application is the part of the application that callers actually deal with—the ‘running’ (working) application. while the System Editor allows you to access Community Bulletin Board for editing and design, the Business Manager program allows you to run the Community Bulletin Board application. For instructions on running your Community Bulletin Board application, refer to the User’s Guide To Business Manager manual.

There is also an optional kit for Community Bulletin Board called Weather Watcher. This kit contains the hardware, software, and manual required to measure and announce the current temperature. Keep in mind that this is an additional option for your Community Bulletin Board application, and that the Weather Watcher kit is not included with Community Bulletin Board.

The purpose of this chapter is to acquaint you with the concepts governing the workings of your Community Bulletin Board system, including:

• How the application works

• How to enter the System Editor

• The differences between Windows 3.1 and Windows 95

• How to exit the System Editor

• Using the On-Line Help function

• The Weather Watcher: What is it?

Terms

Listed here are some terms you need to know, as they appear in this chapter:

Advertisement	The speech recorded by or for the Advertisement Sponsor that plays when a caller accesses the system.
Advertiser	Any merchant, person, or organization that purchases an Advertising from you.
Announcement	The informative speech recorded by the System Administrator, typically a weather or news report.
Caller	Someone calling into the system, who may or may not be a client. They may call in to hear the Advertisements or Announcements, or to change their Advertisement.
Commit	In the context of this application, this is a finalizing procedure. To ‘Commit’ is to finalize and save changes to the system’s structure.
Context Sensitive	Context Sensitive, when applied to requesting Help, means that the help reply relates to the current item, operation or procedure. Within Windows, the cursor or the mouse pointer defines the context either through the current location of the cursor or the item under the mouse pointer.
Icon	An Icon is a graphic representation of a application in Windows. The icon is typically composed of a small picture along with the name of the application below it.
On-Line Help	On-Line means that help is accessible at anytime in the application, unless you’re already inside the Help function itself.
Program Group	A Program Group is a group of related programs in your Windows Program Manager. They will all be contained within a single smaller window in Program Manager.
Speech	A verbal message, recorded on a tree object in this program. A Speech may be a Prompt, an Advertisement, or an Announcement.
System	Your computer, while running the Community Bulletin Board application. It’s a neat little technical term to impress your clients, and it’s also more convenient than saying ‘Your computer, while running the Community Bulletin Board application.’
System Administrator	You, the Center Owner. You call the shots, decide how much to charge advertisers, decide when the system is operating, etc. This program is your domain. Your word is law here.

How The Application Works

You must first get your Community Bulletin Board application up and running, and advertise your service to the public. Then you may contact the merchants or groups in your area that might be interested in advertising on your Community Bulletin Board application.

We shipped Community Bulletin Board to you with three public service Advertisements that you may use until you obtain Advertisement Sponsors. The application also includes some example speeches for the time and temperature, the lottery, and three community Announcements. We’ll talk more about these later.

While your system is up and running, callers access your system by dialing the number of the phone connected to your computer. There are three types of typical calls into your Community Bulletin Board system:

• A call to listen to the Advertisements, time, weather, lottery, Announcements, etc.

• A call from a Sponsor to record an Advertisement

• A call from the System Administrator to record an Announcement, modify system, etc.

Entering The System Editor

You access the Inbound Telenotification system editor through your Business Manager program. The method used to open Business Manager depends on whether you’re using Windows 95 or Windows 3.1.

Using Windows 95 To Open Business Manager

If you have Windows 95, you use the Start button and menu to run most of your programs.

To begin, click on the Start button. When you click on the Start button, you see a list or menu similar to the one in the next figure.

Figure 1—The Start Menu

The Start menu allows you to choose from several different options. As you move the mouse pointer over the options on the menu, you will see that each option becomes highlighted, that is, a bar of color appears over the option. The highlighted option is the one that will be selected when you click with the mouse.

As you can see, the Programs option displays a small arrow on the right edge of the menu. Whenever you see this small arrow next to a menu option, you are being told that another menu displays when the option is selected. You will also notice, that just leaving the mouse pointer on the option will display the next menu without requiring you to click at all. This is a common feature in Windows and program menus.

Now, click on the Programs option.

When you click or just highlight the Programs menu, you will see the next menu as shown in the following figure.

Figure 2—The Programs Menu

Again, you can see that some of the options display more menus. If a menu option does not show the arrow, then clicking on that option will immediately open a window or start a program.

Click on the Business Applications option. You will see another menu as shown in the next figure.

Figure 3—The Business Applications Menu

Notice that none of these options show the arrow. Therefore, selecting one of these options will immediately start that program. This is an example only. Your computer will show the list of programs you currently have installed. The programs will be listed alphabetically, from top to bottom.

Now, click on the Business Manager program option.

Using Windows 3.1 To Open Business Manager

Business Manager Icon

If you’re using Windows 3.1, you must be in Windows 3.1 before you open Business Manager. To open Business Manager, all you need to do is double click on the Business Manager icon in your Business Applications Program Group. You also may click on the icon just once and then press e.

Once You’re In Business Manager

	· Click on the "Applications" menu heading, and the Application Configuration box appears. Select the "Community Bulletin Board*" option by clicking it. A blue bar appears on this option.
	· Now click the "Edit" button, or double click the "Community Bulletin Board*" option. Either way, you enter the system editor for the Community Bulletin Board program.

The Community Bulletin Board system editor window appears as shown in Figure 4:

· To get to the main screen of the editor, click on the "File" menu heading on the menu bar. Next, click the "Tree" menu option. The Tree Edit screen appears as shown in Figure 5:

Figure 5—The Tree Edit screen

The Tree Edit Screen displays a ‘system tree’. This is a graphical representation of the system. The tree that appears now is an example tree, which you will use to practice the skills you learn in this manual. This is a fully functional system, complete with Advertising. This means that you could run the Community Bulletin Board application right now using Business Manager. You or other callers could call into the system and move through it. Calling into your own system gives you a good idea of how the system works. Eventually, you will either modify this tree to customize it for your use, or you will make your own system tree.

Windows 95 Vs. Windows 3.1

Program Title Bars

In general, programs that are written for Windows 3.1 and are run under Windows 95 will behave and look the same. Most will run a little faster under Windows 95 though. However, in two areas you will see a different appearance and slightly different operations. The next two figures show, in order, a typical program title bar in Windows 3.1 and the same program in Windows 95.

Figure 6—Windows 3.1 Title Bar And Menu

Figure 7—Windows 95 Title Bar And Menu

Although at first glance they look the same, look closely at the upper right corner. You will see two buttons under Windows 3.1 and three buttons in Windows 95. Also note that in the upper left corner, Windows 3.1 shows a button whereas Windows 95 shows a small picture (icon). The following chart explains the similarities and differences.

Win 95	Win 3.1	Function
		Maximize Window—Increase the window size to fill the desktop.
		Minimize Window—Remove the window from the desktop but leave the program running
	NA	Close Window—Close program
		Restore from Maximize—Return Window to last size.
		Control Menu—Display Control Menu or Double Click to Close. In Win 95, a small icon is used

Program Menus

Another difference you will see is in the menus used in the programs. This is only a visual difference. The menu works the same way in either Windows 95 or Windows 3.1. The menus shown are typical program menus and may not be used in Business Manager or Community Bulletin Board.

Figure 8—Windows 95—A Typical Menu

Figure 9—Windows 3.1—A Typical Menu

Exiting The System Editor

When you finish editing the system tree, you can exit the system editor so you can do other things. It is a simple procedure to exit the Inbound Telenotification system editor, and you can use the following procedure to do so:

Windows 95

If you’re using Windows 9.5, your program and Windows provide several different ways to stop (exit) Inbound Telenotification.

The X Button

Windows 95 adds the X button on the title bar to all Windows programs. The X button is one way to leave the program. Clicking on this button will close down the program.

The File Menu

This menu, pictured in Figure 10, provides you with options that allow you to manipulate the Client forms in your Client List. From this menu, you can add, delete, or open Client forms or exit the program. Click on the File menu heading at the left side of the menu bar on the program window. A menu heading is the word you find in the white bar along the top of your program window. Using the Alt+F key combination also causes the menu to open.

Figure 10—The File Menu

Exit. The Exit option closes the Community Bulletin Board window when you click on the option, move the highlight to the option and press e, or press Xwhen this menu is displayed.

The Keyboard

You can also press Alt + F4 to exit the program.

The Window Control Bar

You may click on the control bar (the small program icon) at the upper left corner of the program window to display the control menu, pictured in Figure 11. Then choose Close. You may also just double click on the control bar to close the window.

Figure 11—The Control Bar Menu

Windows 3.1

If you’re using Windows 3.1, to exit out of the program, you may also use the Exit button, the Exit option in the File menu, the Alt + F4 key combination or the Window Control Bar. These methods are described in the previous section of this chapter.

The main difference between Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 in exiting the program is that Windows 3.1 doesn’t feature an X button on the title bar. Also in Windows 95 the Control Bar is replaced with a small icon, but it works the same way.

Committing Changes

If you made changes to the system tree but did not commit these changes, the following advisory message appears:

· Clicking the "Yes" button commits the system changes, and closes the system editor. You then return to the "Business Manager" window.

· Clicking the "No" button allows you to exit the system editor without committing changes to the system tree. This means that all of the changes you made during the editing session are abandoned, and the system tree remains as it did before you entered the system editor.

· Clicking the "Cancel" button allows you to return to the system tree without committing any changes. This means that you stay in the system editor, and may continue your editing session.

Using the On-Line Help Function

If you encounter a problem at any time during the normal operation of your program, all you need to do is ask for Help. The program includes an "On-Line Help" function to answer questions that you might have concerning Community Bulletin Board (On-Line means that it is accessible from anywhere in the program, unless you’re already inside the Help function itself). The Help function contains the same basic information that you can find in this manual.

Starting Help

· To start the Help function, click on the Help button. Using the button saves you from having to select help using the "Help" menu. · You can also activate Help by using the "Help" menu heading from the Menu Bar. A ‘Menu Heading’ is the word you find in the bar along the top of your program window. · The Help function is also accessible from anywhere in the program by pressing the lkey.

Once you activate Help, you can select the topic you want help with from the contents table, or use one of the other Help functions like Focused or Selectable Help, and Key Word Search.

The Help Window displays the On-Line-Help screens. The available Help options are:

· Contents—Help Contents opens the first Help Window, the Help Contents screen. This screen displays the most general of the Section Headings. These headings relate directly to the Chapter Headings in this manual.

· Search—Selecting this option from the "Help" menu lets you look through the Help index (it’s like an index in a book) to find the topic you want Help with. You can enter a ‘Key Word’ (name of topic) into the dialog box or select an option from the option box. Once you make a selection or entry, the "Show Topics" button lights up. ‘Pressing’ (clicking on) the "Show Topics" button retrieves and displays a more specific list of topics. You can view a topic by ‘selecting’ it with your mouse (clicking on the topic) then ‘pressing’ the "Go To" button.

The Key Word Search is a highly useful function if you know (or have a good idea of) what you’re looking for.

· About—Selecting this option from the menu allows you to see the "Credits" of the program. These are like the credits you see at the end of a movie or TV show. Clicking the "OK" button allows you to close the "About" dialog box.

Exiting Help

To exit Help, all you have to do is close the Help Window. There are three ways you can do this:

1. Double click the window control box.

2. Select the "Close" option from the Window Control menu.

3. Select the "Exit" option of the "File" menu in the Help Window.

The Weather Watcher: What is it?