About

ScribePro is a Windows based editor for Scribe database files. Scribe is a text based database written by Jack Levy for the Hewlett Packard 48 series calculator and can be found on his HP48 page. Some of the features of ScribePro 1.0 include:

Windows 95/NT 4.0 style interface
Context sensitive right mouse button menus
Ability to edit header names without losing attached data
Ability to delete headers and attached data
Printing of files using True Type fonts
Ability to select a working directory
Easy keyboard navigation and data entry
Header names limited to 22 characters

There were additional features planned for ScribePro, the biggest being adding support for Arnold Moy's Bank database and auto-wrapping of the data field to allow for a maximum of 33 characters per line. These were scrapped after I lost the source code for ScribePro due to a corrupt backup. This means that there will be no updates, bug fixes, nor any other releases beyond this one. I was also going to release the source code with the final release, but this won't happen either.

ScribePro was developed using Visual Basic 5.0 Professional (SP2) and tested on Windows 95 (OSR2 and OSR1-SP1) and Windows NT 4.0 (SP3).

License:

ScribePro, associated programs, and its documentation are provided "as is", and are subject to change without prior notice. The author gives no warranty of any kind with regard to the software or documentation, either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The author shall not be held liable for any damages, including any general, special, incidental, or consequential damages arising out of the use or inability to use any or all of the included programs.

Permission to copy ScribePro as a whole, unmodified package is granted provided that the copies are not made or distributed for resale (excepting nominal copying fees).

Installation

ScribePro will work from any directory. The MSVBM50.DLL, COMCTL32.OCX, and COMDLG32.OCX files need to be moved to the following locations, depending on which version of Windows you're using (i.e. Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.0):

For Windows 95: Place all three files in the Windows\System\ directory.
For Windows NT: Place all three files in the Winnt\System32\ directory.

Usage

General

ScribePro is a fairly simple program to use. There are just a few basic things to remember. The Data field automatically wraps text, but does not insert a line feed needed by Scribe to indicate a new line. You must manually start a new line by using ENTER on your keyboard. The second thing is that a header must be selected (highlighted) for any data entered into the Data field to be associated with that header.

The tab order has been set up to allow easy keyboard navigation using the TAB key, or SHIFT+TAB to go backwards. When ScribePro is first opened, the NEW HEADER button is highlighted. Pressing TAB once take you to the Header field. Pressing TAB again takes you to the Data field. Pressing TAB once more takes you back to the NEW HEADER button.

The tool buttons are self-explanatory. If you don't know what a button does just hold the mouse cursor over the button for a second or two to find out what it does.

File Menu

New Closes the currently open file, if any, and creates a new untitled file

Open Opens a existing file. Although you can open files with pretty much any file extension besides files with the standard *.DF file extension, unless the file has the format of a Scribe data file you will either receive an error or the file will not open correctly.

Save Saves the current file, prompting for a file name if the file has not been saved before. Allows you to save as a *.DF file or *.txt file.

Save As Saves the current file as a different file.

Print Prints the contents of the current file using the Windows default printer. To print to other printers you must first set the printer you want to print to as the default.

Preferences Allows you to specify the following settings:

ASCII Header: Specifies whether or not an ASCII header is added to the file and allows you to edit the ASCII header to suit the setting on your calculator. Default is to add an ASCII header with the translation mode set to 3 (all characters), angle mode set to degrees, and fraction mark set to period (.). Refer to the HP-48 manual or the FAQ for comp.sys.hp48 for other possible settings.
Default Font: Specifies the font and font size to use when printing a file. Default is 11 point Arial.
Working Directory: Specifies the initial directory that ScribePro will look for and save files to. Default is C:\.

Remove Registry Settings This removes the settings (from Preferences) in the Windows registry for ScribePro. This is to allow ScribePro to be removed from the computer without leaving unnecessary settings in the registry. ScribePro will still function following the removal of the registry settings, but will return to the default settings describe under Preferences.

Exit Exits ScribePro.

Edit Menu

Cut Cuts the selected text from the Data field.

Copy Copies the selected text from the Data field.

Paste Pastes text into the Data field an the current cursor position.

Select All Selects all text in the Data field.

Headers Menu

The headers menu also shows up when right clicking in the Header field.

New Header Adds a new header to the Header field. Header names are limited to 22 characters. If the header is longer than 22 characters, it prompts you to try again. If the header is still longer than 22 characters, the header is truncated to 22 characters.

Remove Header Removes the selected header and that header's data from the file. Prompts for confirmation.

Edit Header Edits the name of the selected header. If the new header name is longer than 22 characters, it prompts you to try again. If the header is still longer than 22 characters, the header is truncated to 22 characters.

About Menu

About ScribePro Information about ScribePro.

Bugs

You can e-mail me with a bug report, but most likely I won't be able to to much about it after losing the source code. However, you may want to post the bug report in comp.sys.hp48 for the benefit of other users. If you do have a problem, first check to make sure that the files used by ScribePro are of the correct version. You can check the version of the files by either right clicking the file and selecting Properties, or by selecting the file and pressing ALT+ENTER.

SPRO.EXE: Version 0.99.0012 (this was the last executable made)
MSVBM50.DLL: Version 05.00.4319 or greater
COMCTL32.OCX: Version 5.01.4319 or greater
COMDLG32.OCX: Version 5.01.4319 or greater

I recommend making backups of all Scribe files that you wish to edit using ScribePro. You know, just incase.

Right now I only know of one bug, printing. I can't seem to track it down. It works on my system under Windows NT, but doesn't work under Windows 95. They both access the same printer, so the difference must be in the print drivers.