Mountain Software Presents:

The Recipe Box
Version 3.2 / Released August 1, 1992
By Anthony W. Watson


SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:

The Recipe Box will run in ST Medium or ST High resolution, and should work
on any ST as long as there is at least 200K of free RAM available.
(Appears to work on the TT in ST resolutions as well!)

WHAT YOU SHOULD HAVE AND WHERE IT SHOULD BE:

INFO.TXT - This text file
RECIPE.PRG - The Recipe Box program file
MAKEFORM.PRG - A small program for creating a registration form.
               I would prefer that you register using this program as
               it tells me some things about your machine. I'm trying to
               compile a list of which machines this program runs on. This
               program will help me determine the cause of some problems.
RECIPES - This is a folder containing the recipe data (i.e. CH1_RC2.BOX) and
          the configuration file (CONFIG.BOX). These files MUST be in this
          folder, and this folder MUST be in the same directory as the
          RECIPE.PRG program file.
          (Do NOT put the RECIPE.PRG in the RECIPES folder!)


HISTORY:

The Recipe Box version 3.2 is (hopefully) the last in a series of
storage and retrieval methods for storing recipes...?

1st - Scibbled recipes on any old piece of paper, tore them out of
      magazines,Collected rather large piles of recipes that I never
      bothered to look through due to their bulk.

2nd - Started typing recipes on an old typewriter, then placing them
      in a 3 ring binder for storage.

3rd - Purchased my Atari 600XL, started typing recipes and
      storing them using the Indus GT word processor.

4th - Wrote a program called The Antic Cookbook for the Atari 130XE
      (January 1991, START magazine) Simple but helped out a lot!

5th - Purchased my MEGA STE. Used the ST XFORMER II  130XE emulator to
      run the Antic Cookbook. Worked but was slow...

6th - Setup a database in Wordflair II for storing recipes. Output was
      nice, but was clumsy, and at times a little slow. Also had some
      trouble with the program bombing, and messing up the data.

7th - Wrote my first ST program, The Recipe Box version 1.0. Once
      again a simple program. It worked O.K., had rather simple
      functions, used the menu bar, but was generally not much
      to look at!

8th - Wrote version 2.0 of The Recipe Box. Created a new user
      interface, greatly improving the 'LOOK' of the program. Basically
      identical to version 1.0 other than the interface.

9th - Wrote versions 2.0-2.3 of The Recipe Box. Fixed many bugs, and
      continued to add new features. Version 2.2 and 2.3 were never
      released due to continual changes, I never had the oppurtunity to
      release them.

10th - Wrote version 3.0. Essentially an updated version of version 2.0,
       however the 'LOOK' was about the only thing left from that version!
       All operations were recoded. New features of version 3.0 include:

       A. Simplified controls - Operations were beginning to get
          overly complex in version 2.3. Every button had two functions
          depending on which mouse key was used to select it. It was
          confusing and difficult to remember! Version 3.0 has only
          single function buttons, except for scanning or scrolling
          operations which use the mouse keys to move up or down.

       B. Added a HELP menu, for assistance. Was faster and more
          convenient than having to leave the program and go read a
          documentation file. Also, it didn't take up the space a
          printed documentation file would have.

       C. Added the ability to load Assistant Chef and Meal-Master recipes.

       D. Added the ability to save a chapter as a text file,for
          exchanging recipes with friends, or for storing lesser
          used recipes.

       E. Added selectable formats, to allow configuring The Recipe
          Box to personal preferences.

       F. Cleaned up the code, adding improved error detection, and
          many features that most folks will probably never see.
          But it's there just in case.
          (One bug still exists that I'm aware of, the program will
          bomb if you try to run it from a WRITE-PROTECTED floppy
          disk. Don't do it!)

       G. Added the ability to resize a recipes ingredients. Also
          recipes are all converted to a consistant display format.
          You may enter ingredient quantities in decimal or
          fractional form, but they will be converted to a fractional
          form in the final file.

       H. The editor for entering recipes, has been greatly improved.
          Word wrap, and cursor controls are now included.

11th - Wrote version 3.1. Here are some of the changes from version 3.0:

       A. Smoother Scrolling. Went through 4 different scroll routines
          until I came up with this one. Surprisingly, it's faster/AND
          takes up less memory? Also, scrolling has been added to the
          custom file selector.

       B. Search Function. You can now search for the occurrence of any
          string in the recipe titles. This allows you to more easily
          track down all the recipes that have, for example, the word
          'chicken' in the title.

       C. Monochrome Color Inversion. I had a couple of requests for a
          way to swap colors on a monochrome monitor. So here it is.

       D. Batch Printing. You can now print up to 10 recipes at once.
          You can choose a 65 line page, which will only allow you
          to print as many recipes as will fit on one page.
          (Great for making a Cookbook), or you can choose to print
          one recipe per page. This should help you folks who own
          laser printers?

       E. More Editor Controls. You can now go immediatly to the Top,
          Bottom, left or right of a recipe, or to the top/bottom of
          the screen, WHEN ENTERING/MODIFYing a recipe.

       F. Deleted Meal-Master/Assistant Chef Imports. Program was growing
          too large to accomodate the plans I had for these features.
          Therefore, they were removed from The Recipe Box. They will be
          'Reborn' in a new program titled 'The Recipe Converter', where
          I'll be able to improve the quality of the recipe conversions,
          and hopefully add more formats to the possible conversions.
          (Meal-Master, Assistant Chef, Computer Chef, and possibly Qbook
          are planned for inclusion into the first release)
          The chapter import/export functions of The Recipe Box was
          modified to accept the new format. You can still load version 3.0
          chapters, but you can't import version 3.1 into version 3.0!

12th - Well, version 3.1 had some 'MAJOR' bug-a-boos!
       Here's whats new in version 3.2:

       A. Fixed the problem of not being able to enter 'even' numbers into
          a recipe! Now you can enter ALL letters, numbers and symbols!
          (Boy, did I goof on that one or what?)

       B. Fixed the problem that caused some printers to only print the first
          line of a recipe. It was one of those things 'I' knew wasn't right
          but it had worked O.K. until now? Oh well, no one is perfect! It
          SHOULD work now...

       C. Rewrote all of the button routines, and added some special routines
          in an effort to speed things up a little. Nothing major but it does
          help! (I hope I don't create new bugs with this one! Ha. Ha.)

       D. Added a feature in the Batch print menu for printing a
          'shopping list'. Essentially it's just a list of the ingredients.
          I personally didn't want to include this, because it didn't meet my
          own standards of what I felt it should do, and I currently don't
          know of any better way of doing it? But a few of you felt that this
          was 'REALLY' important, so I threw it in! A couple of things to
          point out, it ALWAYS dumps text as ASCII regardless of which print
          format you have selected! Also, it only works on the recipes in the
          batch list, not for the currently displayed recipe!

       E. I've had a couple of people ask me why I removed the 'alien' recipe
          imports from version 3.0. Primarily, I wanted to expand on the idea
          more so than I could within The Recipe Box. I'm currently working on
          a 'Recipe Converter' program to convert between several recipe
          formats. I also felt that some people may be interested in
          converting recipes EVEN if they don't use 'The Recipe Box'.
          (Heaven forbid! Lets hope not! Ha. Ha. Ha.) So a seperate program it
          will be!

       F. Finally figured out a way to tell if a floppy disk is
          write-protected or not. Hopefully, this will fix that bug?

       G. Rewrote the resizing/formatting section of the program. If you
          tried to enter an amount such as "2 6-ounce cans" you would have 
          lost the '6-' and the recipe would have shown "2 ounce cans". I 
          fixed this bug after stumbling over this one while entering a 
          couple of recipes.

       H. Modified things a little to obtain as many 'speedups' as I could.

       I. Reworked the help menus to answer questions as they occur. This
          should help you folks who won't take the time to read the help
          menu or read the Document files! They can be turned off if 
          you prefer.

       J. Converted all operations back to total mouse control again! This
          should ease operation of some of the newer functions.

       K. Made the mouse pointer selectable. Seems some folks didn't like the
          way it disappeared when viewing a recipe? I did, but decided to let
          you make your own decision.

       L. When selecting GDOS fonts, the previously chosen fonts are now
          displayed instead of starting out with the first fonts everytime.
          Now you can look at the GDOS fonts just to see what you have set.

       M. Added a custom printer format. This will allow you to set up the
          control codes you need for your specific printer.

       N. Modified the recipe export formats. This will ease distinguishing
          between the 40 column single recipe format and the 80 column 
          chapter format. You will no longer have to know which is which, the
          program now determines that for you. Also this greatly improves the
          way the program checks to make sure it is a recipe file!


I sincerely hope you find this program useful. I've invested a great
deal of time into it and have tried to incorporate every request
I've heard from users of the earlier versions into this one. And I've
tried to make it simpler to operate, and more bullet proof in the
process. I would appreciate any comments whether positive or
negative regarding this program, and if you have an interesting idea,
let me know maybe I'll include it in a future version.

Registration for Version 3.2 of The Recipe Box may be obtained
by sending TWENTY DOLLARS ($20) to:

                          Anthony Watson
                          6911 NE Livingston Road
                          Camas, WA, 98607

Thank You!
Enjoy!

Anthony Watson
_____________________________________________________________________
If you need assistance or have furthur questions you may leave E-Mail
to Anthony Watson at any of the following locations:

         The Mosh Bit -    Forem Net   #648
         (206) 574-1531    Atari Net   51:3/9
                           Fido-Net   1:105/139

         The Bear Cavern - (206) 574-1146

         GEnie Address:  A.WATSON6   (I do not call Genie often!)

         Anthony Watson, 6911 NE Livingston Road, Camas, WA.  98607
_____________________________________________________________________
My sincere gratitude goes out to all of you who have registered the
earlier versions! (You don't realize just how close I came to abandoning
this entire project!) You have inspired me.....
