Home

- ShiftCal

1. e ShiftCal ShiftC a Jop File Edit Settings Help m July 2012 Ee RSR the Firefighter Calendar 8 9 410 411 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 version 6 3 29 30 31 User Manual 2012 T Wesley Erickson ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar version 6 3 by T Wesley Erickson We have the technology ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar 2012 T Wesley Erickson All rights reserved No parts of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any means graphic electronic or mechanical including photocopying recording taping or information storage and retrieval systems without the written permission of the publisher Products that are referred to in this document may be either trademarks and or registered trademarks of the respective owners The publisher and the author make no claim to these trademarks While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this document the publisher and the author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions or for damages resulting from the use of information contained in this document or from the use of programs and source code that may accompany it In no event shall the publisher and the author be liable for anyloss of profit or any other commercial damage caused or alleged to have been caused directly or indirectly by this document Printed April 2012 in Warner Springs CA Special thanks to Publisher
2. 2012 T Wesley Erickson ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar ShiftCal will run and automatically load the Camp Pendleton Fire Department event file m i cpfd2010 396 records edit X Date Message Pri a 7 1 2010 BA 1 7 2 2010 A 5 1 7 3 2010 BS 1 b 7 4 2010 A 5 1 7 5 2010 8 5 1 7 6 2010 A 6 1 7 7 2010 B 4 1 7 8 2010 A 7 1 GADODOE Muti dose Create a shortcut These commands can easily be assigned to a menu or desktop shortcut this allows the user to automatically load an alternate event file on startup To create a desktop shortcut that runs ShiftCal and loads an alternate event file first create a generic desktop shortcut to ShiftCal exe e lt Right click gt on the desktop e Select New Shortcut to display the Create Shortcut dialog e Click on the Browse button and navigate to C Program Files Erickson ShiftCal6 ShiftCal exe e Click on the Next button and give the shortcut a name e g CPFD Msg e Click on the Finish button 2012 T Wesley Erickson Advanced Topics 80 To modify the shortcut to load an alternate shift schedule lt Right click gt on the desktop icon click on Properties then select the Shortcut tab The Target edit control will contain the full pathname to ShiftCal exe Append the following to the contents of the edit control A space e A quotation mark The letters d The full pa
3. 2012 T Wesley Erickson ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar 13 3 Editing ShiftCal ini Manually Here be dragons feel free to skip this section of the manual unless you want to delve into some serious esoterica The information contained in the ini file s may be edited with any text editor like the Windows Notepad do not use a word processor which places formatting commands in the file We suggest making a backup copy before any editing is performed Open some of the sample ini files in Notepad to see how the elements that define program behavior are stored Some items accept a numeric value or a named color while others accept Boolean True or False values The following tables list some of the available options Those which can be set from within ShiftCal exe from the Settings menu appear in red those which can be set from CalMod exe appear in purple The remaining options can only be set or modified by manually editing the ini file contact technical support for details Note that some settings like FormWidth and FormHeight are saved by executing Settings Save Settings even though there isn t a FormWidth or FormHeight menu option Shift Schedule Default Value NumberOfPlatoons ShiftRotation ACABABABCBCACACABABCBCBC 12 30 75 NumberOfPlatoons is self explanatory DaysinRotation is the number of days in a complete shift rotation ShiftRotation is a string of characters which defines the shift rota
4. K d Our beta testers particularly Bruce Kass Kassebaum who spent T W Erickson Enterprises countless hours helping us to bring you a quality product Managing Editor ae Embarcadero Technologies for their excellent RAD Studio this T Wesley Erickson program was written using Delphi XE2 Technical Editors TurboPower Software for their superb libraries and tools which Mary C Erickson greatly facilitated the production of this application In an extreme gesture of generosity the TurboPower crew placed the source code to many of their products in the public domain they are currently maintained on SourceForge Jordan A Ramirez EC Software developers of HELP amp MANUAL which was used to produce this document Contents Table of Contents Introduction 1 ll Features 3 1 NewW inthis TOlO a Se ie acceded setae tak road cate DEE da deal cased den DE de dada ue ue ee dem De ceeds 4 2 The Standard Disclaimer 2 2etesesdeeeh ccs sgeg gege os ont EE ne tat ov nt tante dut tenta rente Pen de See 4 Oo Trademarks E Nee Edge Ee E 5 Il The Bad News 7 1 Classes of fC O NSO Ee ne ren EE 8 STEIN RT ET ER 8 Agency LEE 9 Business License tieandadiadendnuntes id nt nriad an sade ed due EE ne E E a a nnte tenu del ad rad re teaser ten asini 10 2 Pay Up careia A AES EE AAAA SA ANE A EA 10 IV Installation 11 1 System Requirements ccccecececeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeseeeeeeeseeeeeeeseeeeeeeseeeaeeeseeeaeeeseeeaeeeseeeaee
5. to occur on a specific date e g the 15th of the month or to occur on a specific day of the week e g the last Friday in the month If the user leaves the program running on the desktop the date will automatically roll over at midnight unless the user has selected a date other than Today 1e if the user has selected a specific date the program will not seize control The user can print monthly and annual calendars with event messages if desired daily organizer pages and business card sized pocket calendars 2 2 The Standard Disclaimer T W Erickson Enterprises warrants the medium diskette or cd rom on which the product is distributed to be free from defects in workmanship and materials in normal use for a period of ninety 2012 T Wesley Erickson 5 ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar 2 3 90 days after the date of original purchase Liability is limited to replacement of a defective diskette or cd rom No replacement warranty applies to promotional distribution media T W Erickson Enterprises disclaims all warranties with respect to this software and documentation whether expressed or implied including any implied warranties as to fitness for any particular purpose functionality or data integrity The software is licensed on an as is basis The entire risk as to its quality and performance lies solely with the user T W Erickson Enterprises reserves the right to change the contents and features of this progr
6. 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 28 29 30 31 AB AB May 2010 June 2010 III ACT lilas 6 zial Al 5 6 7 8 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 9 1011 12 13 a4 as 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 38 19 20 21 22 23 24 1617 18 19 20 21 22 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 2930 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 27 28 29 30 AB 50 32 88 ou 2012 T Wesley Erickson 2 ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar 7 10 7 11 Print Use this option to print the calendar specified in the File Print Options dialog by default the program prints a monthly calendar for the current month Print scaling is automatic the program will attempt to create printed output that resembles the on screen display Some print settings are read from the current display settings including printing of messages display of grid and centering of dates if Center Date is specified messages will not be displayed or printed The user may be prompted for some settings e g the program may ask if day numbers should be centered or if grid lines should be printed To apply full screen settings select the Autoscale option from the Settings menu This will scale the user s full screen font settings to print like the f
7. 9 10 11 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 29 30 31 26 27 28 29130 31 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 28129 30 31 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 pe lus EU ac peg 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 19 20 21 22 23 24 25116 17 18 19 20 21 22 November 2012 December 2012 m MY 2013 February 2013 1 11213145 LE 4 5 6 7 8 9 i0 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 CUBE 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 44 12 43 44 15 46 17 9 40 41 12 73 14 15 13 14 15 46 17 18 19 70 14 12 13 14 15 16 48 19 20 21 22 23 24 16 17 18 19 20 24 22 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 E ABC 25 26 27 28 29 30 23124 25 26 27 28 27 28 29 30 31 24 25 26 27 28 2012 T Wesley Erickson 4 ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar Print Organizer pages Using the double sided print option available in most current printer drivers this option will print individual pages for insertion into an organizer notebook binder The output will scale to fit common paper sizes as well as user specified custom sizes Here is an example of organizer page output 29 Wednesday CC e Thursday The user will b
8. Check your work When you have completed setting up your Shift Rotation and selecting your Colors check your settings by applying them to the calendar Click on the Apply Rotation button and compare the screen display 2012 T Wesley Erickson ER ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar to your calendar If they match you are almost done If they do not recheck your settings Save your settings Perform a File Save to keep your changes or a File Save As to save the settings to a new ini file Make sure that the ini file is saved into the ShiftCal program directory If you want this file to open automatically every time that ShiftCal starts save it with the name ShiftCal ini Named Color Platoons Named color platoons may require an extra step the user may have to refresh the dialog by clicking on either the Apply Rotation button or the Set Hide Colors button This will display a button for each named color represent by the characters in the Shift Rotation edit control i CalMod utility for ShiftCal File Help Number of Platoons 3 Days in Rotation 3 7 1 42010 Shift Rotation RYK Apply Rotation Hide Colors Start Date fr July 2010 41516 7 828 9 11 12 13 14 15 16 18 19 20 21 22 23 25 26 27 28 29 30 Retreat Start Date 41 42010 Background Black Blk Red Red Yellow vel ail For further information on named col
9. 11 8 2010 Dept Anniversary 11 11 2010 Veteran s Day 11 25 2010 Thanksgiving Day 12 21 2010 Winter Solstice a ere Ceccoccea 2012 T Wesley Erickson ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar In this mode the user may select one or more records and select an operation from the local menu that appears when the user right clicks on a record M ShiftCal Tr 80 records multi Date Message 10 31 2010 Halloween 11 7 2010 Daylight Time ends 11 8 2010 Dept Anniversary 11 11 2010 Copy selected records 11 25 2010 12 21 2010 12 25 2010 12 27 2010 Set Repeating Event HAS E cose Save selected records Delete selected records Notice that the Multi Edit button says Edit this is the mode that will be selected if the user clicks on the button Selecting multiple records Multiple contiguous records can be selected by holding down the lt Shift gt key and using the lt Up gt and lt Down gt cursor control arrow keys Multiple non contiguous records can be selected using the standard Windows lt Ctrl gt click command More information on multi record mode and local menu options can be found in Multi Record Mode 2012 T Wesley Erickson Menu Options File s 7 Menu Options File The File menu provides access to typical Windows operations 7 1 New Use the File New menu option to create a new event file enter the desired filename in the New Filename edit control then click o
10. 3 ShiftRotation ABC StartDate 01 01 05 Colors APlt Red Alnv White BPIt Blue Binv White CPlt Lime Cinv Black Numbered platoons Shift Schedule NumberOfPlatoons 3 Days InRotation 3 ShiftRotation 123 StartDate 01 01 05 Colors 1Plt Red 1Inv White 2PIt Blue 2Inv White 3Plt Lime 3lnv Black 2012 T Wesley Erickson 10 ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar Named color platoons Shift Schedule NumberOfPlatoons 3 Days InRotation 3 ShiftRotation RLG StartDate 01 01 05 Colors RPlt Red Rinv White LPIt Blue Linv White GPlt Lime Ginv Black Images The user may specify images graphic files to be placed in Monthly Annual and Organizer calendars Monthly filename of image to appear on monthly calendars ScaleMonthly controls scaling of Monthly image filename of image to appear on annual calendars ScaleAnnual controls scaling of Annual image file of image to appear on Organizer pages ScaleOrganizer controls scaling of Organizer image Entries in the Images section should look like this Images Monthly D myfile jpg ScaleMonthly True Annual D Fire Dept Company4C bmp ScaleAnnual True Organizer C Users lt usernam e gt Pictures Fire Dept logo bmp ScaleOrganizer True If the pathname contains spaces the quotation marks are required otherwise they are optional Scaling is true by default so if you want ShiftCal to size your images to fit you do not need to make a Scal
11. 8 910412345678 6 47 48 19 20 24 22424 22 23 24 25 2627 15 16 17 18 19 20 24 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 9 10 14 12 13 14 15 sl EE HKH EI E biet DE 29 30 6 27 28 29 30 34 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 pas BAE S MT WT ES su 7 w 7 6 som t wre s November 2012 December 2012 2 123 ZEN 123 4 4507891923 45678 da a5 to 17 18 19 20 42 93 44 45 16 19 8 40 84 a2 33 s4 a5 RES Map 45 46 4 1 DP d als 7 H az 25 24 25 20 Z7 4n to 20 2422 23 Dalee 47 to o9 20 24 2 ken 1718 1920212 28 29 30 31 25 26 27 28 29 30 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 r oi s mr were ss wT F s 3o 31 ABC smrwre sos asc The user may specify a single line header in printer portrait mode or a multiple line header in printer landscape mode if the Autoscale Font option is selected the user s Title and Header fonts are scaled to fit otherwise the Wallet Font settings are used The Offsets button opens a dialog which allows the user to specify printer offsets to accommodate printer variations E EI Print Options Monthly Annual Organizer Wallet From Year Title November 2010 www shiftcal com Erickson Enterprises All rights reserved V Print Year after Month Name V Print Day of Week abbreviations V Print Platoon Color Legend Of a The Offsets button opens a dialog which allows the user to specify printer offsets to fine tune the position of wallet calendars on the printed page 2012 T Wesl
12. Firefighter Calendar Notes on Shift Schedule NumberOfPlatoons most Fire Service agencies use a three platoon system we support two to six platoon systems DaysinRotation can vary widely three platoon systems are usually 3 9 or 24 Start Date any date on which the rotation described in ShiftRotation starts and repeats every DaysinRotation days ShiftRotation can comprise letters A Platoon numbers Platoon 1 or named color identifiers Blue Platoon Labelling system Valid platoon labels ABCDEF Numbers 123456 Named color KLRGYP The named color labels stand for blacK bLue Red Green Yellow and Purple Config encompasses a wide variety of elements including the following StartMaximized os Start program in full screen mode CenterDateMax 0 Center dates when maximized StayOnTop Jo Force program to top of z order ShowHints o Display fy over help Display messages MsgFormOnOpen 0 Show message form on startup ShowRecCount_ 0 Display number of records in event file ReverseUpDown 0 Reverse Up Down controls click behavior Full day of week names abbreviated if 0 Some elements of Config are set from within the program and are saved when the user issues a Settings Save Settings command others can only be changed by manually editing the ini file 2012 T Wesley Erickson Setting Up ShiftCal 16 Colors consists of one of the following sets of e
13. Sections Keynames and Values appears in Elements of ShiftCal ini We have provided a utility named CalMod exe to facilitate the editing of the shift schedule and platoon colors a discussion of CalMod exe appears in Using CalMod exe Some program options can only be activated or modified by manually editing the ini file A list of properties and description of their use can be found in Editing ShiftCal ini Manually Elements of Shiftcal ini ShiftCal ini files follow the Windows convention of Sections Keynames and Values Section Keyname Value A Keyname must appear in the correct Section or it will be ignored If an entry for a Keyname does not appear in an ini file a default value will be used If a Section does not appear in an ini file default values will be assigned to all Keynames for that Section Shift Schedule The shift schedule displayed by ShiftCal is defined by the following elements Default Value NumberOfPlatoons ShiftRotation ACABABABCBCACACABABCBCBC 12 30 75 NumberOfPlatoons is self explanatory ShiftCal supports two six platoons DaysinRotation is the number of days in a complete shift rotation ShiftRotation is a string of characters which defines the shift rotation StartDate is the date on which ShiftRotation begins ShiftCal supports shift schedules of two to six platoons identified by letters e g A Platoon numbers e g Platoon 1 or named colors e g Blue Platoon The number o
14. Service Shift Schedule NumberOfPlatoons 6 Days InRotation 42 ShiftRotation CDEFAAABCDEFFFABCDEEEFABCDDDEFABCCCDEFABBB StartDate 12 31 01 Colors APIt Red Alnv White BPlt Gray Binv Black CPIt Yellow Cinv Black DPIt Blue DInv Black EPlIt Lime Elnv Black FPIt Purple Finv White For examples of how ShiftCal can accommodate unusual situations follow these links to the web site Camp Pendleton Fire Department Rotating Days Off Houston Fire Department Debit Days and use of event file to display shift information Oceanside Fire Department cell phone wallpaper background image Seattle Fire Department Debit Days and use of event file to display shift information Tracy Defense Depot Unique Federal shift schedule United States Postal Service six platoon system for postal clerks CalMod Utility CalMod exe is an application that allows the user to create view and modify the ini files that define shift schedules CalMod is automatically installed on the user s computer if the user selects the Typical install option or selects CalMod from the custom install option CalMod can also be downloaded from the web site separately if the user does not have access to the setup program the link appears on the Download page at www shiftcal com download htm Detailed instructions for CalMod appear in Using CalMod exe 2012 T Wesley Erickson Setting Up ShiftCal 5 2 Manual Edit The co
15. a line under the appropriate Section The following example assigns the color red to the A Platoon assigns Value Red to Keyname APIt Colors APIt Red If a Section does not appear in the ini file or if a Keyname and Value does not appear in a Section the program will use default values For example if there are no entries in the Fonts Section or if the Fonts Section does not appear in the ini file the program will use Segoe Windows 7 and Vista or Arial Windows XP and 2000 Keynames and Values must be entered under the correct Section or they will be ignored Values can be text numeric or Boolean where 1 True and 0 False the type must be consistent with the Keyname i e a text value cannot be assigned to a numeric Keyname ShiftCal ini Settings A ShiftCal ini file may contain any or all of the following sections Shift Schedule defines a particular shift schedule Config defines program behavior and displa defines the color used to display each platoon Images specifies images files to be placed in printouts Fonts defines the typeface used for program elements Shift Schedule consists of the following elements NumberOfPlatoons Number of platoons usually three DaysInRotation Number of days in one entire shift rotation ShiftRotation String of characters defining the shift rotation Arbitrary date on which ShiftRotation starts 2012 T Wesley Erickson 15 ShiftCal the
16. button 2012 T Wesley Erickson Menu Options File s 7 7 Print Options This option displays a multi tab form for choosing a printout type and for setting the user s preferences EM Print Options Monthly Annual Organizer Wallet From Year uly sl 2010 To Year July 2010 Tite Tite for printed calendars V Print Year after Month Name V Print Day of Week abbreviations Print Platoon Color Legend Print Foldable Calendar The following table lists the available print formats Monthly print one or more monthly calendars print an annual calendar using calendar date as start month print daily organizer notebook pages Wallet print pocket sized calendars on business card stock Select the tab corresponding to the desired output and specify the settings The From Month and From Year reflect the date displayed in the calendar edit as required The available options vary with the selected print format For example although the From Month and From Year are required in every case the To Month and To Year are not required for an annual calendar so they are inactive The Title is optional if it is blank the calendar will stretch to fit the available space To print the month and year e g July 2010 check the Print Year after Month Name box To print labels for days of the week check the Print Day of Week abbreviations box To print legend ide
17. cds hfd2xdisp cds hfd mstr cds Hibbing2010 cds hol2009 cds LA LA IS Fileto open eng co insp cds _ hol2010 cds _ Holidays cds _ Holidays 01 cds _ public education cds _ C12 cds _ C20090820 cds _ C20100310 cds SC20100315 cds SC20100403 cds sfd2x20 cds ShiftCal cds shiftcalv cds shift trades cds Tr 56 cds LI LI a uw ut _ I _ Tr abe cds _ Tr abc short cds _ Training cds _ training a cds _ training b cds _ training c cds _ usps cds _ vac hol cds v CDS Files cds NA Files that have the Read Only attribute set may be opened but they may not be edited To prevent the user from attempting to edit a read only file some program and menu options will be disabled when a read only file is open 2012 T Wesley Erickson Menu Options File 32 7 3 Ini File The File Ini Ale menu option is used to select and apply an alternate shift schedule ccas ksc ini champaign ini charlotte ini clarksburg ini clearwater ini councilbluffs ini cpfd ini culvercity ini desoto ini eagleriver ini ebbettspass ini fairfax ini fargo ini Call s Homegroup BP Computer amp Local Disk CH cs Data D Archive E grandledge ini amp groomcreek ini henrico ini hibbing ini houston ini o kennewick ini kern_co ini la_city ini la_co i
18. define the calendar colors click on the Set Colors button this will open the color portion of the form S CalMod utility for ShiftCal File Help Number of Platoons EM Retreat Start Date Days in Rotation E 41 2000 Start Date 71 2010 Shift Rotation ABCE E 7 d RU Backgroun amp PI ES July 2010 Ss B Platoon C Platoon Notice that since the value in the Number of Platoons edit control is 3 there are three platoon color buttons labelled A Platoon B Platoon and C Platoon If the entry in the Shift Rotation edit control had been 123 or some other numbered rotation the buttons would have been labelled 2012 T Wesley Erickson Editing INI files 94 Platoon 1 Platoon 2 and Platoon 3 Click on one of the platoon buttons to set the colors for that platoon The left image below shows the new grayed dialog that opened when we clicked on the A Platoon button the center image shows the dialog after we selected our A Platoon color scheme and the right image shows the use of inverse color Normal Inverse Normal Inverse IN amp Platoon Color A Platoon Color LES z z Platoon Inverse A Platoon Inverse C white DI C write DI Dk Cancel Inverse C Platoon Color fe Lime X C Platoon Inverse Click on the Ok button to close the dialog and return to the main CalMod form Repeat the process to select the colors for the other platoons
19. font characteristics in normal mode maximize the program set the maximized font characteristics and save your settings Alt S V 9 6 Wallet Font Select a font for printing business card sized calendars The default settings is Arial at a size of 7 points if this setting is changed perform a test print before printing on business card stock By default header information is printed in gray but the user may set the font characteristics for wallet calendars printed in printer Landscape mode by selecting Settings Autoscale Fonts to display the first line in the user specified Title font and subsequent lines in Header font 9 7 Autoscale Fonts Scale full screen font settings to display proportionally in normal screen mode The Center Date setting will reflect the user s full screen choice This settings works best when the calendar is sized to approximately half screen size or larger Although it will scale to smaller sizes messages will be difficult to read 9 8 Start Maximized Check this menu option and save your settings Alt S V to start the program in fullscreen mode 9 9 Center Date Check this menu option to display and or to print dates in the center of the grid squares The user may specify different Center Date options for normal and maximized mode If Center Date is active messages will not be displayed 9 10 Show Grid Check this menu option to display and or to print the calendar grid If t
20. g paydays The Repeat Event dialog makes it easy to generate future copies of an existing event If the Message dialog is not displayed select Edit Messages By default the message dialog is in Edit Mode Switch to Multi Record mode by clicking on the Multi button at the bottom of the dialog the entire current record will be highlighted to confirm that multi record mode is active Access the local menu by lt Right clicking gt on the desired record note this also selects the record and choose Set Repeating Event from the local menu to display the repeat dialog Specifiy valid From and To dates enter a value in the interval edit control then click on the Apply button to create the new records 2012 T Wesley Erickson e ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar 12 1 4 1 12 1 4 2 Daily or Weekly If you want an event to repeat by a specific number of days or weeks choose the Daily or Weekly tab as appropriate ge Repeat Event 01 06 2012 Payday Daily Weekly Monthly Yearly Duration From 01 06 2012 Repeat Every 2 To 01 06 2013 Week s Apply Edit the From and To dates as required and enter the desired interval in the edit control To repeat the appointment every two weeks the user may either Select the Daily tab and enter 14 for the number of days or e Select the Weekly tab and enter 2 for the number of weeks Cl
21. in Windows XP or 2000 C Program Files Erickson ShiftCal6 ShiftC al even dC Documents and Settings Us erName Application Data Erickson ShiftCal6 CPFD cds The same command in Windows Vista would look like this C Program Files Erickson ShiftCal6 ShiftC al even dC Users Us erName AppData Roaming Ericks on ShiftCal6 CPFD cds 2012 T Wesley Erickson Advanced Topics To issue the same command using the Run option on the Windows Start menu browse to the ShiftCal directory select the executable file then click on the Open button The Run dialog will return and it will contain the full pathname to ShiftCal exe in quotation marks 2 Type the name of a program folder document or Internet resource and Windows will open it for you Open C Program Files Erickson ShiftCal6 ShiftCal exe OK Cancel Browse Append a space the command line switch d and the full pathname to the cds file enclosed in quotation marks for Windows XP or 2000 dC Documents and Settings Us erName Application Data Erickson ShiftCal6 CPFD cds Windows Vista users will add the following string dC Users Us erName AppData Roaming Ericks on ShiftCal6 CPFD cds Here is the Run dialog after appending the d switch and the path to the cds file Type the name of a program folder document or Internet resource and Windows will open it for you on AppData Roaming Erickson ShiftCal6 cpfd2010 cds
22. length of one entire shift rotation in the Days in Rotation edit control Think of this as the number of days from the beginning of a cycle e g for A Platoon until the beginning of the next cycle common values are 3 9 and 24 The Start Date is fairly arbitrary it is the date on which the Shift Rotation defined in the next edit control begins Shift Rotation is a string of letters or numerals that describes the actual rotation The user may elect to use letters numbers or named colors to identify the platoons letters are by far the most common The program recognizes letters from A F for lettered platoons 1 6 for numbered platoons and the following characters to represent named color platoons Black Platoon Blue Platoon R Red Platoon 2012 T Wesley Erickson ss ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar Green Platoon Yellow Platoon P Purple Platoon Key point the method used to identify platoons later in Colors must be the same as the method used in Shift Rotation The most trivial method would be to set Start Date for January 1 of the current year then copy the letters from your calendar starting on January into Shift Rotation until you have copied one entire shift rotation The number of letters in Shift Rotation will be the same as the value entered in the Days in Rotation edit control Once the shift schedule is defined the user can proceed to setting the platoon colors 13 2 2 Setup Colors To
23. of ShiftCal the same validation code will work with both versions Data files may appear in the My Documents folder or in the ShiftCal program directory users of older versions of ShiftCal will be accustomed to maintaining data files in the program directory C Program Files Ericks on ShiftCal6 ShiftCal ini Although ShiftCal can access ini files in any directory including over a network users in a shared environment may not have the necessary access rights to create or edit files in a particular directory To quickly locate and edit ShiftCal ini use the Windows Search or Find Files command depending upon your version of Windows Click on Start Search For Files or Folders enter shiftcal ini then click on the Search Now button Double click on the filename in the right pane to open it for editing in Windows Notepad The following is a brief overview of the settings used to customize ShiftCal for a particular shift schedule detailed information on editing ini files can be found in Editing ini files Contents of ini Files A ShiftCal ini file consists of Sections Keynames and Values A Section acts as a header for a category of settings it is surrounded by square brackets and appears on a line by itself 2012 T Wesley Erickson Setting Up ShiftCal 4 Colors A Keyname defines an attribute which is linked to a specific Section A Value is assigned to a Keyname with an equals sign by placing it on
24. the upper right corner The Pri field allows the user to specify a priority for the message all messages receive a priority 1 by default When multiple messages are displayed on the same date a message can be moved up or down in the list by changing its priority Selecting a message for edit To select a message for edit from the calendar the user may e Double click on the desired date or Right click then select Edit Record The first message on the user specified date will be selected note the pointer to the left of the current record M ShiftCal Tr 83 records multi Date Message 10 11 2010 Columbus Day 10 31 2010 Halloween 11 7 2010 11 8 2010 11 11 2010 11 25 2010 12 21 2010 Winter Solstice 12 25 2010 Christmas Day popppas 6 4 1 Using the navigation bar The navigation bar provides a convenient method for moving around the event file and for performing edits 2012 T Wesley Erickson ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar The message form uses a navigation bar to provide quick access to database operations The navigation bar operates in two modes Normal or Display mode Dececes and Edit Mode ss eee Wes The four buttons on the left use glyphs that are similar to the controls on a VCR and allow the user to move around the file e Go to first record e Go to previous record e Go to next record e Go to last record The remaining buttons control the editing of
25. to users with dial up service When the Annual tab is selected the Semi Annual check box is displayed this will generate in a six month calendar beginning with the month displayed in the From edit control M Print Options Monthly Annual Organizer Wallet From Year January z 2010 uwen Title Title for printed calendars V Print Year after Month Name Print Day of Week abbreviations V Print Platoon Color Legend Images 2012 T Wesley Erickson Menu Options File e Semi annual calendars are arranged in a 2 x 3 array or a 3 x 2 array depending upon the aspect ratio of the printable region Annual calendar portrait mode Semi annual calendar portrait mode Chihuahua Valley Fire Dept 19 20 21 22 26 27 28 29 30 31 51617 14 12 13 14 10 14 24 25 31 Chihuahua Valley Fire Dept July 2012 August 2012 September 2012 October 2012 ee tte E m e zo e ie e Chihuahua Valley Fire Dept August 2012 September 2012 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1121314 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 EE e 9 10 71 1213 14 s 6 7 sl ojom 2 31 4 51 6 7 8 71 8 ohne 112 4 7 1 2 3 4 1 15116 17 18119 20 21 12113 14 15 16117 18 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 8 9110111112113114l 5 6 71 8
26. tray Some printers have a straight through paper path to avoid curling the paper as it passes through the printer These two different paper handling options require different handling to properly print foldable calendars If your printer uses a straight through paper path less common check the Straight Paper Path checkbox For both types of printers select File Print to print the first side of the foldable calendar on three sheets of paper a dialog will appear directing the user to place the printed sheets back into the input tray For reversing printers more common pick up the sheets from the output tray and place them in the same orientation back into the input tray Do not rotate the sheets For straight through printers less common pick up the sheets from the output tray rotate the stack end for end longitudinally e g toward the user s body and place the stack in the input tray Click on the Ok button to print the other side of the sheets Remove the sheets from the printer fold them in half and staple the stack together Depending upon the size of the sheets used you may need a long reach stapler We prefer to use letter sized paper cut in half the individual sheets are 5 2 x 8 2 yielding a finished calendar that is 5 2 wide by 44 high see image below For increased durability consider enclosing the folded calendars in a sheet of heavier paper e g light card stock or construction paper Chi
27. 012 T Wesley Erickson tos 0 Index cds file 24 30 31 33 34 35 67 77 ini file 13 19 20 32 83 97 sA e absolute dates 70 Acrobat 36 agency use 9 B business use 10 C CalMod 19 83 91 92 93 96 clipboard 66 colors 85 93 command line 81 commands 23 24 configuration 85 context sensitive 50 66 67 controls 21 copy selected 66 customize 73 83 D date roll over 4 day number 70 day of week 71 delete selected 67 directory 13 disclaimer 4 display 85 download 11 s Edit Find 64 2012 T Wesley Erickson Edit Find Date 53 Edit Find Text 54 Edit Messages 50 Edit Set Date 54 Edit menu 50 edit mode 27 50 editing 26 exit 49 F features 3 fee 7 8 9 File Exit 49 File Ini 32 File Merge 33 File New 30 File Open 31 File Print 49 File Print Options 36 File Save 34 File Save As 35 File Menu 30 91 find date 53 find text 54 font 88 gesture 24 graphic 88 H Help About 60 Help Contents 59 Help Validate 59 Help Menu 59 91 history 103 images 88 ini file 83 installation 11 Installshield 12 ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar K keyname 83 keystroke 23 sl large format 36 license 7 license fee 1 local menu 50 66 67 manual edit 97 merge 33 message 24 message file 30 31 33 34 35 67 77 messages 26 50 mouse 24 multi record mode 27 50 64 68 N named color platoons 4 na
28. 11 25 2010 Thanksgiving Day amp 12 21 2010 Winter Solstice 12 25 2010 Christmas Day ta ba F ba ba ba F Fa e taeele Edt close The user may then activate the local menu to display the following menu options Copy selected records copy date and text of selected messages to the clipboard Delete selected records permanently remove selected records from event file Save selected records to file save selected events to a new message file Set repeating event create duplicate records which repeat in the future The local menu is activated by lt Right clicking gt or by pressing the Local Menu button on the keyboard 12 1 1 Copy Selected Records To copy the date and message of one or more records to the clipboard e Display the Message form Alt E M e Activate Multi Record mode click on the Multi button or press Alt M Select the desired records using the mouse or keyboard Bring up the local menu lt Right click gt or press the local menu key e Select Copy Selected Records The information from the selected records is now on the Windows clipboard and can be pasted into another application e g an email message Judicious use of the Edit And Date or Edit And Text menu options can result in a subset of the data file containing records that meet the user s criteria to facilitate a copy operation 2012 T Wesley Erickson ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar For exa
29. 31 2011 Captain s Meeting _Daily Weekly Monthly Duration Apply Repeat using O Day Number Day of Week 5th Monday EI 2012 T Wesley Erickson ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar 12 2 12 2 1 Startup Options ShiftCal supports three command line options on startup e Display an alternate shift schedule Ss Load an alternate event file e Display a user specified date Specify image files to be inserted into printouts The ability to load an alternate shift schedule on startup allows the user to create menu or desktop shortcuts that run ShiftCal and automatically load another agency s shift schedule e g a neighboring agency with whom you share training facilities Since it is possible to run multiple instances of the program simultaneously the user can display two or more agency s calendars side by side The ability to load an alternate event file on startup allows the user to create menu or desktop shortcuts to alternate event files e g Vacation Holiday Training etc If a valid date is passed to ShiftCal on the command line the calendar will display that date on startup The following examples show ShiftCal exe being called by its full pathname C Program Files Erickson ShiftCal6 ShiftCal exe For users that need to exercise command line options frequently we suggest adding the ShiftCal working directory to the PATH statement With the working directory on the PATH the pro
30. 7 2010 Daylight Time ends 11 8 2010 Dept Anniversary 11 11 2010 Veteran s Day 11 25 2010 Thanksgiving Day 12 21 2010 Winter Solstice 12 25 2010 Christmas Day PEBETEESE LJ at ba es pmd tel tae te D 4 If the user selects multiple records the display will look similar to this Date 10 11 2010 10 31 2010 11 7 2010 Daylight Time ends 11 8 2010 Dept Anniversary 11 11 2010 Veteran s Day gt 11 25 2010 Thanksgiving Day 12 21 2010 Winter Solstice 12 25 2010 Christmas Day LJ manam 4 PEBEREESES To select contiguous records hold down the lt Shift gt key and press the lt Up Arrow gt or lt Down Arrow gt key To select non contiguous records hold down the lt Ctrl gt key and click on the desired records To delete multiple selected records hold down the lt Ctrl gt key and press the lt Del gt key 2012 T Wesley Erickson 53 ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar 8 2 Context Sensitive Menu The context sensitive menu allows the user to perform the following actions e Copy selected records to the clipboard in text format Delete selected records permanently from the event file e Save selected records to a separate event file Set repeating appointment To bring up the context sensitive local menu after selecting one or more records press the local menu button on the keyboard or perform a lt Right mouse click gt To return to Edit mode click on the Edit butto
31. H IEN 92 Setup COlOFS Aeaee E EEE EEE SEE EEEE E EE EEEE 93 Retreat Start Date EE E E T T T T 96 3 Editing ShiftCal ini Manually TTT 97 History 103 Appendix Windows Colors 104 Index 106 2012 T Wesley Erickson 1 ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar 1 Introduction ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar was written for emergency service agencies that work 24 hour shifts It is easily customized for any regular platoon based schedule of two to six platoons ShiftCal is commercial software it is not public domain see The Bad News for details We encourage users to download the program and to try out its features we hope that you will find the program useful and that you will elect to pay the license fee If you do not find this program useful simply erase all files and you have no further obligation to us If you received the program on a promotional disk from T W Erickson Enterprises you may either e Erase the files and keep the disk or Pass the disk on to another user This product including the manual and all related material is copyrighted and contains proprietary information 2012 T Wesley Erickson Introduction 2 2012 T Wesley Erickson 3 ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar 2 Features The program runs on current 32 bit and 64 bit versions of Microsoft Windows e g Windows 7 Vista XP and 2000 and provides a wide range of features including the following e Easily and extensively config
32. Name and optionally Year Day of Week labels e Today button e Annual calendar button e f Ce Spin Controls for month and year The Message Form The Message Form displays the contents of the current event cds file Date 10 11 2010 10 31 2010 11 7 2010 11 8 2010 4 11 11 2010 Veteran s Day 11 25 2010 Thanksgiving Day 12 21 2010 Winter Solstice 12 25 2010 Christmas Day PASE BEC BE ba pmb tah tt pmt at tat tes D 4 The Message Form contains the following elements e Windows Form Controls System Menu Minimize Maximize Restore and Close e Message grid Date Message gt 7 4 2010 Independence Day 7 5 2010 SCBA 7 6 2010 Ground Ladders 7 7 2010 Safety Meeting 7 7 2010 Eng Co Inspections 7 8 2010 EMT Recert 7 9 2010 EMT Recert 7 10 2010 EMT Recert me pat pm NI pmt bb mm 2012 T Wesley Erickson 23 ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar e Menu bar ORCOOCE Mu lose The Menu bar consists of the following elements e Navigation bar este Multi Edit button Close button Some features use local menus accessible via a right mouse click or by pressing the local menu button on the keyboard these are documented in Advanced Settings 6 1 Keystroke Commands Start ShiftCal by double clicking on the desktop icon or by selecting the ShiftCal application from the ShiftCal FF Calendar menu Use the cursor co
33. Windows XP or Windows 2000 may elect to download and to install the program using the InstallShield One Click Install web deployment option which uses an Active X control to reduce the size of the download This option is particularly useful for those who are using dial up access to download the program from the web site The One Click installation proceeds exactly the same as the full setup program For more information on the InstallShield One Click Install web deployment option see http support installs hield com help oneclick defaulthelp htm Web deployment requires Microsoft Internet Explorer version 5 or greater The user may have to temporarily change a setting in the browser as follows e Select Tools Internet Options then select the Security tab e With the Internet Zone active click on the Custom Level button e Change the Initialize and script ActiveX controls not marked as safe option from Disable to Prompt Once the browser is updated activate the web deployment option by navigating to the web address in the email message you received when you filled out the download form at http www shiftcal com userform htm If you did not receive an email message containing download directions contact Tech Support During installation if you are presented a dialog that asks if you want to accept the Installshield certificate click on Yes Key point after the installation is complete change the browser security se
34. aecaes Calendar Font ke Message Font ie VOEUI d 2 Vu E Autoscale Fonts REENEN KEREN EEN EEN Start Maximized eege geuREee dE EE SE enine iadi Center Date deca ERC ee ege Show Gi BE Show DO eege EE eee acd Highlight Current Leading Trailing TEE Show Messages es Ge Vgl TE Stay Om Top eege ed ss 2012 T Wesley Erickson Contents m XIII XIV XV 1 Mu lti R cord Mode scciescsecececcecicadecevcscoaeeastecd Rate SEENEN ENEE Eeer e erg 64 Copy Selected Records Delete Selected Records Save Selected Records to File Set Repeating Appointment ninnnnannnnnnnrnnrneneneeneeneeneeneennennennnte DailyOr Week ge es cts acheive a ld hte i ame tar et Monthy OF e EE AbSolut Dates A0 eegene ed ee ee Ed EE ee Ed E Relative Dates 2 Aender eg ed A M EEE STD FAN mates re Se RC Res and 2 Startup CDI He ees EENEG Alternate Shift Schedule aa a e roe enr men dE 73 Alternate Event File 5 5 585 ce ctenc sessed sc nescceztecstasndeshng S 77 User specified Date mm mmnnnnnnnennnennnnenmnnunnunnnennennannaneaneanennennennenaenaanennennnnnenennennennannnnnnne 81 Editing INI files 83 T Elements of Shifteal ini 002 cccceecccccccaes cedeeedecccseescecdegetacccoatsezeceuedesceaeYsseccegssazccantsszeceassaccceats 83 SHEE SHS UNO ES RE ee ee PRE 83 Config Colors Images Fonts Vista 2 Using CalMOd exe 2 stat eewetcceteeesteasewetceeteeecdeaeecetcceteuecdeasewebccerveccecebewenccetewers 91 Setup Shift C
35. am and documentation at any time Since any software product can be expected to change over time T W Erickson Enterprises assumes no financial responsibility or lability for errors that may appear in the documentation for features that are added to or removed from the software or for any inconsistencies between the actual versus documented features and performance of the product Trademarks The following trademarks mentioned in this manual are the property of their respective owners Windows and MS DOS are trademarks of MicroSoft Corporation Lotus is a trademark of Lotus Development Corporation Compuserve is a registered trademark of H amp R Block CP M is a registered trademark of Digital Research Inc Apple is a registered trademark of Apple Computers Inc IBM PC XT AT PS 2 are registered trademarks of International Business Machines HP HP110 Portable Plus and Hewlett Packard are registered trademarks of Hewlett Packard Turbo Pascal Borland Pascal Delphi and DBase are registered trademarks of Borland International PKZIP PKUNZIP and PKLITE are registered trademarks of PKWARE Inc Avery is a trademark of Avery Dennison Corporation Adobe and Acrobat are registered trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated ShiftCal is a registered trademark of T W Erickson Enterprises 2012 T Wesley Erickson Features 6 2012 T Wesley Erickson ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar 3 The Bad News The Firefighter Calendar i
36. ar is assumed The year may be entered as two digits or four digits a two digit year greater than 75 is assumed to be from the last century which a two digit year less than 75 is assumed to be in the current epoch The date format corresponds to the format set by the user in the Regional Settings applet in the Control Panel The following examples assume the user s date format is mm dd yy or mm dd yyyy and ignore the path to the executable file ShiftCal 04 01 displays April first of the current year ShiftCal 11 26 83 displays November 26 of 1983 ShiftCal 07 07 07 displays July 7 of 2007 ShiftCal 06 14 2011 displays June 14 of 2011 2012 T Wesley Erickson Advanced Topics 82 Here is an example of the Windows Run dialog showing the user specified date November 26 2008 2 5 Type the name of a program folder document or Internet 1 resource and Windows will open it for you C Program Files Erickson ShiftCal6 ShiftCal exe 11 26 Open And here is the resulting calendar displaying the specified date File Edit Settings Help MIE November 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 RJ 27 28 29 30 2012 T Wesley Erickson ss ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar 13 13 1 13 1 1 Editing INI files This chapter contains more detailed information on editing ini files A discussion of the elements that comprise an ini file the
37. cal menu also allows the user to create repeating messages i e future dated duplicates of an existing message This is convenient for creating regularly occurring entries such as birthdays pay days or union meetings Messages can be set to repeat after a specified number of days or weeks or can repeat monthly or annually on a specific date or day of the week e g the third Thursday or the last Saturday of the month see Repeating Appointments for details Command line Options We also provide command line options which allow the user to e Load an alternate shift schedule on startup Load an alternate message cds file on startup e Display a user specified date on startup e Specify image files to be inserted in printouts See Startup Options for details 12 1 Multi Record Mode When the user first displays the Message form it is in Edit Mode Notice that only one field in this case the Message field is highlighted and that the words edit mode appear on the title bar In this mode the user can make changes to the date message or priority of an entry iM ShiftCal Tr 83 records multi Date Message 10 11 2010 Columbus Day 10 31 2010 Halloween 11 7 2010 Daylight Time ends 11 8 2010 11 11 2010 Veteran s Day 11 25 2010 Thanksgiving Day 12 21 2010 Winter Solstice 12 25 2010 Christmas Day et bald 4 Us sede E e g 2012 T Wesley Erickson 65 ShiftCal the Firefighter Cale
38. calendars wide by four high in annual mode or a 2x3 grid two calendars wide by three calendars high in semi annual mode 2012 T Wesley Erickson Menu Options File 4 Key point the grid used to print annual or semi annual calendars is a function of the printable region not the printer orientation For example if the user specifies margins in printer landscape mode that yields a printable region that is taller than it is wide annual calendars will print as 3x4 and semi annual calendars will print as 2x3 Chihuahua Valley Fire Dept January 2010 February 2010 March 2010 April 2010 KL Suz 911011112113 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 erof D w a u o D ba m u m Ki amp ry 28 29 30 31 25 26 27 28 29 30 AB AB ee Wa P a SE ut E a 1 1 213 14 5 21314156 7 8 6 7 amp 9 10 11 12 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 16 17 18 19 20 21 221 20 2112212324 25 26 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 27 28 29 30 Likewise if the user specifies margins in printer portrait mode that yields a printable region that is wider than it is tall annual calendars will printer as 4x3 and semi annual calendars will print as 3x2 Chihuahua Valley Fire Dept nn Mach 2010 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2
39. cds _ training a cds _ training b cds _ training c cds _ usps cds vac hol cds vy CDS Files cds A 2012 T Wesley Erickson Menu Options File s Select an event cds file to be merged into the currently open file The user will be asked to confirm the merge 1 Merge vac hol cds into C20100403 cds yes ne The events from the merge file will be added to the current file The merge process prevents duplicate entries if the date and message of a record in the merge file match an existing record in the current file that record will be ignored regardless of the priority setting A new record consisting of the date on which the merge was performed and the name of the merge file will be inserted into the current file Date 4 3 2010 4 4 2010 4 4 2010 5 9 2010 5 15 2010 5 31 2010 elzleledel mis L Subsequent attempts to apply the same merge file to an existing file will result in no records being merged duplicate records are ignored however a record will be created documenting the attempted merge If the user attempts to merge into a file marked as read only an error dialog will be displayed 7 5 Save Use this option to save events to the hard disk using the current file name Although the events are saved when the program is closed the data resides in RAM while the program is running As a result any system failure that causes the computer to lock up co
40. e prompted for a From date and a To date Since odd pages appear on the right side of a book by convention this print option may append an additional page at the beginning or end of a print job to assure that both sides of each page are printed An exception would occur when rolling over from a month with an odd number of days into another month a blank page will be included to preserve the odd page on the right convention 2012 T Wesley Erickson Menu Options File a Print Wallet Calendars This has been a fairly popular option with some users licensing the program solely to print wallet calendars Using commonly available business card stock with ten cards per sheet this option prints six months on one side of one or more sheets then prompts the user to return the pages to the input tray to print the other side Wallet calendars can be printed in printer portrait mode which yields landscape calendars or in printer landscape mode which yields portrait calendars www shiftcal com Erickson Enterprises All rights reserved July 2012 August 2012 1234567 1234 B 9101112151415 6 7 8 91041 45 16 4748 19 20 21 42 43 14 45 16 47 48l 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 19 20 24 22 23 24 25 29 3034 6 27 28 29 3034 surwresfsurwres www shiftcal com f 123456 uly 2012 August 2012 September 2012 23 4567 817 8 91014420 LK a ee E a ESA 1 9 4044 1213 141514 15 16 17 18 19 20 8 9401112134415 6 7
41. e user can also move from field to field and off of the current record by pressing the lt Tab gt key to move forward and lt Shift gt lt Tab gt to move backwards x W To undo changes before they are posted press the lt Esc gt key or click on the Cancel button To close the message form press the lt Esc gt key again or click on the Close button More information on the navigation bar can be found in Using the navigation bar 2012 T Wesley Erickson 51 ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar Multi Record Mode Multi Record mode is activated by clicking on the L mp Lu button yielding this display M ShiftCal Tr 80 records multi Date Message 10 11 2010 Columbus Day 10 31 2010 Halloween 11 7 2010 Daylight Time ends 11 8 2010 Dept Anniversary 11 11 2010 Veteran s Day 11 25 2010 Thanksgiving Day 12 21 2010 Winter Solstice 12 25 2010 Christmas Day popppag Note that the entire record row is highlighted and that the button label has changed from Multi to Edit Key Point the highlighted record is not selected yet In this mode one or more records may be selected for one of the following operations e Copy one or more records to the clipboard Delete one or more records e Save records to a new file e Set a repeating appointment 2012 T Wesley Erickson Menu Options Edit 52 Select a record by clicking on it the display changes to this Date 10 11 2010 10 31 2010 11
42. e user needs to access different shift schedules or wants to display the shift schedules of two or more agencies simultaneously To create a desktop shortcut that loads an alternate shift schedule first create a generic desktop shortcut to ShiftCal exe lt Right click gt on the desktop e Select New Shortcut to display the Create Shortcut dialog e Click on the Browse button and navigate to C Program Files Erickson Shiftcal6 ShiftCal exe e Click on the Next button and give the shortcut a name e g CPFD e Click on the Finish button 2012 T Wesley Erickson Advanced Topics To modify the shortcut to load an alternate shift schedule lt Right click gt on the desktop icon click on Properties then select the Shortcut tab The Target edit control will contain the full pathname to ShiftCal exe Append the following to the contents of the edit control A space e A quotation mark The characters i The full pathname of the desired ini file e A quotation mark 2012 T Wesley Erickson ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar 12 2 2 The contents of the edit control will now be similar to this on one line in Windows XP or 2000 C Program Files Erickson ShiftCal6 ShiftC al even iC Documents and Settings Us erName Application Data Erickson ShiftCal6 CPFD ini Windows Vista would look like this on one line C Program Files Erickson ShiftCal6 ShiftC al ev
43. eXxx entry Fonts The following list describes the various font groups supported by ShiftCal Default 2012 T Wesley Erickson Editing INI files 102 TtlFontName Title font for printed calendars HdrFontName Header font for month name CalFontName Calendar font day numbers MsgFontName Message font text messages WalFontName Font for printed wallet calendars DOWFontName Day of week abbreviations Each font group also has the following attributes Font size in points FontStyle Font style normal bold italic FontColor Font color set in CalMod exe For further details on ini file settings contact Support 2012 T Wesley Erickson 103 ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar 14 History ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar is one in a long series of computerized calendars and other Fire Service specific software by T Wesley Erickson The first Firefighter Calendar was written for the HP 41 hand held calculator it was published in the PPC Journal in August of 1984 Shortly thereafter it was published as a macro for Lotus 1 2 3 release 1A in the Safetynet Forum of Compuserve to determine the Platoon On Duty for a specified date When Lotus added string manipulation functions in release 2 0 a macro was no longer required and it was published as a function that could be stored in any cell of a Lotus 1 2 3 worksheet Specialized versions have been written for the Hewlett Packard HP110 Por
44. efaces are mono spaced meaning that all letters take up the same horizontal width like your old manual typewriter but most typefaces nowadays are proportional each letter takes up only the width it requires plus a little for readability The Font Style allows the user to specify whether a font is displayed as normal bold italic or bold italic 2012 T Wesley Erickson Editing INI files 90 Fonts are normally selected using the standard Windows font dialog which allows the user to specify the typeface e g Anal style e g Bold Italic and size e g 10 points The user may select a font color for some options e g page title and calendar header but the platoon colors will override any user selected color for the calendar itself Font style Segoe UI Regular Scxipt MI 3 Segoe Print Italic J Segoe Script al Semibold E ST Bold J Segoe UI Symbol Bold Italic Sample AaBbYyZz The user may define different font settings for normal and maximized full screen display For further details on font settings contact technical support 13 1 6 Vista This section contains settings specific to Windows Vista and newer Default Enables Vista Aero glass effect AlphaBlend Enables translucent forms Transparency of main form 0 255 Transparency of child forms 0 255 To enable transparency set GlassFrame and AlphaBlend to true and se
45. elerator key combination Alt S V The following settings are stored in the current ini file when a Save Settings is performed 2012 T Wesley Erickson Menu Options Settings 58 Config section show fly over help when mouse cursor loiters over a control Fonts section The name style size and in some cases color of the following fonts e Title font e Header font e Calendar font e Message font e Day of Week font e Wallet font Normal and maximized settings are saved for the Header Calendar and Message fonts 2012 T Wesley Erickson s ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar 10 Menu Options Help Display the help file validation control or About box 10 1 Contents Display the contents of the help file beginning with the Contents page Contents index Search Fa gt 2 Introduction 2 File menu 2 Edit menu 2 Settings menu 2 Help menu 2 Event Files E Repeat Event 2 INI Files 10 2 Validate ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar Version 6 for Windows 7 Vista XP and 2000 1983 2010 T Wesley Erickson ShiftCal by T W Erickson Enterprises is a platoon based perpetual calendar for emergency services working 24 hour shifts it is easily customized for any regular rotation of two to six platoons ShiftCal is shareware it is not public domain This product including the documentation is copyrighted and contains proprietary infor
46. en iC Users Us erName AppData Roaming Erickson ShiftCal6 CPFD ini Click on the OK button to save your changes double click on the desktop shortcut to launch ShiftCal using the alternate shift schedule Note The user also has the option of assigning a keystroke combination in the Shortcut key edit control The shortcut key can be a letter a number or a function key which is not currently assigned to some other function Windows automatically adds lt Ctrl gt lt Alt gt if the user selects a letter or a number To assign a different combination of lt Shift gt lt Ctrl gt and or lt Alt gt to a letter or number or to a function key the user must manually enter the desired combination The keystroke combination cannot conflict with an existing key combination Alternate Event File To load an alternate message cds file from a DOS prompt or from the Windows Start Run dialog use the command line switch d followed by the filename of the event file shiftcal dcpfd cds Note for advanced users the ShiftCal directory can be added to the PATH statement so ShiftCal exe can be invoked from a DOS prompt or from the Windows Start Run dialog without typing the full pathname If the event file is not in the current directory include the full pathname placing the path to the program and the path to the event file in quotation marks To load the an event file named CPFD cds from the ShiftCal directory enter on one line
47. er preferred but not required Setup exe The most common method of distribution is the Installshield application setup exe available for download on the web site The same application appears on the distribution CD ROM To install the program run setup exe as follows If you are running Windows 7 or Windows Vista right click on the installation program setup exe and select Run as Administrator from the context sensitive local menu You will be asked to confirm that the program should be allowed to make changes to your computer If you are running Windows XP or 2000 double click on the installation program setup exe The installation program will create a menu entry named ShiftCal FF Calendar in the Program menu and will optionally create a desktop shortcut Unless the user specifies a different location the program will be installed into the following directory C Program Files Ericks on ShiftCal6 Until the user modifies ShiftCal ini the program displays a 56 hour work week that features Fours and Sixes see Setting Up ShiftCal for details Several shift schedules ini files are included with the Firefighter Calendar and others are available for download from the web site If you would like to share your ini file with other users attach a copy of it to an email and send it to the following email address support shiftcal com 2012 T Wesley Erickson Installation 12 4 3 Web Deployment Users running
48. eseeeseeees 11 2 SPU BE E 11 3 Web Deployme ni oeoa ns en Na REEE AA EEE iN EANET NNNNA 12 V Setting Up ShiftCal 13 T Cea RUN EE 19 R ICH IEN 20 VI Running ShiftCal 21 1 Keystroke Commands ccccececeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeseeeeeeeseeeeeeeseeeaeeeseeeaeeeseeeeeeeseeeneeeseeeaeeeseeeseees 23 2 Mouse ed TER 24 3 Gesture el ul EE 24 4 Handling Events Messages KEREN KEE RRE KEREN KEREN KEREN EEEE nennen nennen 24 Using the navigation bat sccvisccesssccsescsececicscctvetecevceuctvenncnccecedecncucecvstecevstusevectenscuseseceesecsvstetevscuctresndaveecelscnensesvanecedie 26 Multi Edit button ne O E E wena uenstaanetecoucnctaited tvavasacusscsoseauecevaapauvaaangeuscocntedseaters 27 VI Menu Options File 30 VW TUTE 20 7a 9 WEE 31 3 Wb ITM 32 d M rpe eege eege Ee RER Ee Re cctcacescacesatzccteandecces 33 LEE 24 2012 T Wesley Erickson I ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar Vill XI XII MN o TU z gt D wn D i T 10 Print irsestin disease au meute E Leed ies ot t WH CV EE 3 Find Text Siesta EE E EENS Ae 4 Set CN Menu Options Settings AN OO P WO DD ch zech sch ech sch sch sch ao a fF WON 17 Save Settings Menu Options Help 1 Contents eege ee ANNE NES NEE ENN SKI E E 3 About 5 E E EEEE EEE Function Key Shortcuts Advanced Topics Tithe Eent eege Ge Header Font 2 icctccccseaccecttecasecostaccestaeansccaacactact
49. ey Erickson 45 ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar FE g Wallet calendar margins Current Printer HP Photosmart C5200 series v Orientation Portrait Resolution Top offset 600 dpi o z Left offset Reset 0 S Sr 0 Positive offsets move the printed output down or to the right negative offsets move the printed output up or to the left in either Portrait or Landscape mode To save the settings for the current printer orientation portrait or landscape click on the Save button At the present time settings are saved for only one printer we intend to add support for multiple printers in a future release BC Offset can be used to adjust the spacing between individual cards on the printed page to compensate for output that creeps towards the leading or trailing edge of the paper as it comes out of the printer To close the dialog and use the current settings click on the Ok button 2012 T Wesley Erickson Menu Options File 4 7 8 Printer Setup This option displays the standard Windows Print Setup dialog Printer Name HP Photosmart C5200 series X Properties Status Ready Type HP Photosmart C5200 series Where USB001 Comment Paper Size The user may select any valid Windows printer and specify properties like page size orientation two sided printing or printer specific options Note that some printer parameters e g paper size and orientat
50. f characters in ShiftRotation must be the same as the value in DaysinRotation When defining ShiftRotation lettered platoons are represented by the letters A F numbered platoons 2012 T Wesley Erickson Editing INI files 84 are represented by the numerals 1 6 and named color platoons are represented in ShiftRotation by the following letters The same labelling system must be used here and in the Colors section the user cannot mix for example lettered and numbered platoons Examples The most trivial three platoon system would be to work one day then have two days off e g 24 hours on 48 off Shift Schedule NumberOfPlatoons 3 DaysinRotation 3 StartDate 01 01 95 ShiftRotation ABC Los Angeles City works three shifts every other day then has four days off the entire rotation is nine days long Shift Schedule NumberOfPlatoons 3 DaysinRotation 9 StartDate 01 01 95 ShiftRotation ABCBCACAB A typical 4 s and 6 s rotation members work four shifts every other day followed by four days off then another four shift work cycle followed by six days off for a total rotation length of 24 days Shift Schedule Number of Platoons 3 Days in Rotation 24 Start Date 12 30 75 Shift Rotation ACABABABCBCACACABABCBCBC The user is not restricted to trivial repeating schedules examine sample data file CPFD INT to see how it can be used to display RDO s in a distinctive color 2012 T Wesley E
51. g a lt Right mouse click gt See the discussion on Multi Record mode for more details 8 4 Set Date This options allows the user to set the calendar to any valid date between January 1 1700 and December 31 3000 Enter Date M d yyyy 03 06 L o 11 Ge If the user enters a date that precedes the Start Date in the ini file the calendar will display in monochrome Dates in future years may be displayed in monochrome if the user has not entered a current validation code Like the Find Date option leading zeroes are optional two digit years greater than 75 are considered to be in the last century e g 84 means 1984 while two digit years less than 75 are assumed to be in the current epoch e g 10 means 2010 2012 T Wesley Erickson 55 ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar 9 9 1 9 2 9 3 9 4 Menu Options Settings The Settings menu allows the user to customize the appearance and behavior of the program Title Font Select a font name size and style to be used for the title on printed calendars The title string can be set permanently in the ini file or it can be set in the Print Options dialog An entry in the Print Options dialog will override an entry in the ini file If the Title edit control in the Print Options dialog is blank no title will be printed and the calendar will expand to take up the space formerly allocated to the title Header Font Select a font t
52. g will return and it will contain the full pathname to ShiftCal exe in quotation marks xs Ba Type the name of a program folder document or Internet resource and Windows will open it for you C Program Files Erickson ShiftCal6 ShiftCal exe Append a space the command line switch i and the full pathname to the ini file enclose the whole string in quotation marks This is XP 2000 iC Documents and Settings UserNama Application Data Ericks on ShiftCal6 CPFD ini In Windows 7 or Vista the string would look like this iC Users Us erName AppData Roaming Erickson ShiftCal6 CPFD ini Here is the Run dialog after appending the i switch and the path to the ini file 5 Type the name of a program folder document or Internet resource and Windows will open it for you Open Erickson AppData Roaming Erickson ShiftCal cpfd ini 2012 T Wesley Erickson ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar ShiftCal will run and automatically load the Camp Pendleton Fire Department two platoon shift schedule iM ShiftCal cpfd File Edit Settings Help EE July 2010 11213 gt 6 718 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Create a shortcut Needless to say a 90 some character command is not particularly convenient to enter manually However the command can easily be assigned to a menu or desktop shortcut This is particularly useful if th
53. gram can be started from the Start Run dialog or from a DOS prompt by entering shiftcal exe rather than the full pathname For further information contact Tech Support Alternate Shift Schedule To display an alternate shift schedule from a DOS prompt or from the Windows Start Run dialog use the command line switch i followed by the filename of the ini file shiftcal icpfd ini Note for advanced users the ShiftCal directory can be added to the PATH statement so shiftcal exe can be invoked from a DOS prompt or from the Windows Start Run dialog without typing the full pathname If the ini file is not in the working directory include the full pathname placing the path to the program and the path to the ini file in quotation marks To load the ini file named cpfd ini from the Application Data directory tree the user would type the following on one line for Windows XP or 2000 C Program Files Erickson ShiftCal6 ShiftCal exe iC Documents and Settings Us erName Application Data Erickson ShiftCal6 CPFD ini In Windows 7 or Vista the command would look like this 2012 T Wesley Erickson Advanced Topics C Program Files Erickson ShiftCal6 ShiftCal exe iC Users Us erName AppData Roaming Erickson ShiftCal6 CPFD ini To issue the same command using the Run option on the Windows Start menu browse to the ShiftCal directory select the executable file then click on the Open button The Run dialo
54. h specify page orientation and margins using File Page Setup Chihuahua Valley Fire Department July 2012 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 2012 T Wesley Erickson s ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar Print multiple monthly calendars Print multiple monthly calendars using the From and To edit controls To print calendars for January February and March of 2010 Monthly Annual Organizer Wallet Title Title for printed calendars Print Year after Month Name Print Day of Week abbreviations Print Platoon Color Legend Print Foldable Calendar Print Foldable Monthly Calendars This option prints two calendars per page on both sides of three sheets to make a foldable annual calendar Monthly Annual Organizer Wallet Year 2010 Year 2010 Title Title for printed calendars Print Year after Month Name Print Day of Week abbreviations Print Platoon Color Legend v Foldable Calendar 2012 T Wesley Erickson Menu Options File 40 When the user selects the Print Foldable Calendar option an additional checkbox appears Straight Paper Path By default the program is set to print to common ink jet printers which reverse the paper from the input tray to the output tray e g the printed surface is face down in the input
55. he Firefighter Calendar e Double click on the desired date or Right click then select New Record File Edit Settings Help File Edit Settings Help GJE November 1 E November 2010 11213 4151617 gt i 9 10 New Record 111121131415 16 17 Edit Record 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 28 29 30 A Message Form similar to the following will appear M ShiftCal Tr 83 records multi Date Message 10 11 2010 Columbus Day 10 31 2010 Halloween 11 7 2010 Daylight Time ends 11 8 2010 gt 11 11 2010 11 25 2010 Thanksgiving Day 12 21 2010 Winter Solstice 12 25 2010 Christmas Day elelelelalelel 4 a pet pat pat tt D The user s selected date will already be entered and the cursor will appear in the Message field Type in a message and confirm entry by one of the following methods e Click on the check mark x in the navigation bar at the bottom of the form e Move off the record by clicking on a record above or below the current record e Move off of the record by pressing the lt Tab gt key twice The message will appear in the date grid on the calendar If the message is too long to fit it will be 2012 T Wesley Erickson Running ShiftCal truncated and followed by an ellipsis Multiple messages can be assigned to any date If there are more messages for a particular date than will fit into the calendar grid an asterisk will be displayed in
56. he user elects to print a monthly calendar and the grid is not active the user will be asked to confirm that the grid should be suppressed 2012 T Wesley Erickson ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar 9 11 9 12 9 13 9 14 9 15 9 16 9 17 Show DOW Check this menu option to display day of week labels on the screen To control printing of day of week labels check the box in the Print Options dialog instead Highlight Current Check this menu option to display the current date in inverse colors The colors for the date and the background may be modified with the companion utility CalMod exe or by manually editing the ini file with a text editor like Notepad Leading Trailing Check this menu option to display dates from the previous and or next month in gray This option affects screen display only printed calendars do not include leading trailing days Show Messages Check this menu option to display and or to print messages in monthly calendars Messages will not display or print if the Center Date option is active checked Show Hints Check this menu option to display fly over help when pausing over controls on the calendar or on the message form Stay On Top Check this menu option if you want the program to always be at the top of the z order even when not active Save Settings Select this option to save user specified settings to the current ini file The user may also use the acc
57. huahua Valley Fire Department January 2012 5 12 19 26 2012 T Wesley Erickson In ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar Print Annual Calendars This options prints an annual calendar on a single page in a 3 x 4 array or a 4 x 3 array depending upon the printable region Annual calendars are normally printed with the day numbers centered in the calendar grid An exception would be a large format calendar e g for wall display In this case the user might select Autoscale Fonts from the Settings menu or print from full screen mode to print dates and messages A user who does not have access to a large format printer should check with local photocopy shops many of which have an HP Designjet for printing documents up to 22 inches wide or wider Typically these shops require Adobe Acrobat pdf files Although ShiftCal does not natively produce Acrobat files yet there are many Acrobat printer drivers available online some for free Posting an Adobe Acrobat file online is an excellent way for a licensed agency to distribute calendars to members here is an example of a large format 22 x 34 wall calendar http www shiftcal com cpfd cpfd2010 annual d pdf Here is an Adobe Acrobat file consisting of twelve monthly calendars in one file http www shiftcal com houston hfd2010 pdf Notice that the file sizes for these calendars are 32 Kbytes and 46 Kbytes respectively this makes these files readily accessible
58. ick on the Apply button to create the repeating appointments Monthly or Yearly Events that repeat on a monthly or yearly basis may be absolute or relative An absolute event is one that always occurs on the same day number e g Christmas is December 25th A relative event is one that occurs on a particular day of the week e g Thanksgiving is the fourth Thursday in November 2012 T Wesley Erickson Advanced Topics To accommodate these possibilites the monthly and yearly tabs have a slightly different format with radio buttons to allow the user to specify whether the repeat date is absolute Day Number or relative Day of Week EI Repeat Event 07 04 2012 Independence Day Daily Weekly Monthly Yearly Duration From 07 04 2012 To 07 04 2017 Apply Repeat using Day Number Day 4th Day of Week Note We suggest limiting repeated appointments to prevent the event file from becoming overly large If a large event file is causing poor performance when moving between dates turn messages off using Settings Show Messages or Alt S S navigate to the desired date then turn messages back on using Settings Show Messages or Alt S S 12 1 4 2 1 Absolute Dates This option is used for events that fall on the same day number The date and message are derived from the record that was selected when the user invoked Set Repeating Appointment In addition
59. ion may be set in either this dialog or in the Page Setup dialog A printer driver with a Preview feature is very convenient because it allows the user to experiment with various settings and see the results without committing the trial to paper We recommend that users consider installing an Acrobat printer driver this allows the user to generate Adobe Acrobat pdf files for distribution by email This is also the format required by many photocopy print shops to print large format calendars There are several free Acrobat printer drivers available on the Internet however we use a commercial product to take advantage of advanced features like scripting batch mode operations and automatic email 2012 T Wesley Erickson ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar 79 Page Setup This option displays the Windows Page Setup dialog This dialog allows the user to select the paper size and orientation and to specify the left right top and bottom page margins Printing of annual and semi annual calendars is a function of the printable region which is specified in this dialog If the printable region excluding margins is wider than it is tall the program will print a 4x3 grid four calendars wide by three high in annual mode or a 3x2 grid three calendars wide by two calendars high in semi annual mode If the printable region excluding margins is taller than it is wide the program will print a 3x4 grid three
60. l advise that the program will Apply subset of ini file settings This option can be used to render several shift schedules in the same size and font settings for screen capture e g for cell phone wallpaper To restore normal behavior press the lt F6 gt function key again a message box will advise that the program will now Apply all ini file settings Merge This option merges the contents of one event file into another eliminating duplicates When this menu option is selected the File Open dialog is displayed the title bar will display Merge Message File D A gt Computer Data D SC Prn gt DES Search SC Prn A Lis S L CH e New folder FE e d cpfd Organize Lil Recent Places hol2010 cds Tr 56 cds Libraries E Documents ad Music ee Pictures S Videos Homegroup Ba Computer amp Local Disk C cs Data D caw Archive E grandledge di houston seattle _ bldg insp cds _ cpfd2X18 cds _ cpfd201X cds _ eng co insp cds ext systems cds hfd2x20 cds hfd2xdisp cds hfd mstr cds Hibbing2010 cds J LJ J Lo File to merge vac hol cds _ Holidays cds _ Holidays 01 cds _ NewFile cds _ public education cds SC12 cds SC20090820 cds SC20100310 cds SC20100315 cds SC20100403 cds sfd2x20 cds ShiftCal cds shiftcalv cds shift trades cds J LJ LJ Ud Ld UJ _ Tr abe cds _ Tr abc short cds _ Training
61. lements Lettered platoons e g A Platoon valid identifiers are A F APIt Red Alnv White BPIt Blue Binv White CPlt Lime Cinv Black Numbered platoons e g Platoon 1 valid identifiers are 1 6 1Plt Blue 1Inv White 2Plt Red 2Inv White 3Plt Lime 3lnv Black Named color platoons e g Blue Platoon valid identifiers are K L R G Y and P RPlt Red Rinv White LPIt Blue Linv White YPIt Yellow Yinv Black The user may assign any Windows named color to the color variables see Appendix I Images contains the filenames of images to appear in printed calendars Monthly filename of image to appear on monthly calendars ScaleMonthly controls scaling of Monthly image filename of image to appear on annual calendars ScaleAnnual controls scaling of Annual image file of image to appear on Organizer pages ScaleOrganizer controls scaling of Organizer image Fonts consists of a font name style size and in some cases color for each of the following program attributes title on printed calendars text in calendar grid Wallet business card calendars Day of Week day of week abbreviations 2012 T Wesley Erickson ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar The user specified font attributes from the Settings menu are saved when a Settings Save Settings command is issued Several font attributes are saved separately for full screen e g maximized display and normal e g non maximi
62. m features for the term of the license At the end of the license term a licensed user reverts to an unlicensed user Unlicensed users are granted permission to use the program for up to six months after which time they must either pay the license fee or remove the program from all computers with no further obligation to us 2012 T Wesley Erickson The Bad News 8 The License in a nutshell The gist of the agreement is this your payment authorizes you to access all current program features for the term of the license It does not authorize you to distribute calendars for profit or gain If you as an end user violate the licensing agreement we ll tell your Mom Just so we re clear we may elect to pursue legal remedy Key Point The license does not authorize any user to distribute calendars for profit or gain this is permitted only under a strict commercial licensing agreement based on the number of calendars to be printed or distributed 3 1 Classes of License For licensing purposes we recognize three classes of users e Personal use an individual private user e Agency use a Fire Service or non profit agency Business use a for profit business enterprise Individual users with a current license may install the program on all of their personally owned computers Agencies with a current license may install the program on all agency owned computers Businesses with a current license may install the progra
63. m on all business owned computers 3 1 1 Personal License The fee for a personal use license is twenty dollars 20 for the first two years and five dollars 5 for each subsequent year Why does the initial license cost more The initial fee covers our overhead in creating a new licensee database maintenance generating and transmitting a unique validation code assisting new users in setting up their shift schedules and providing technical support We gladly provide support to all of our licensed users and to non licensed users on a time available basis but we spend a substantial portion of our non programming hours helping new users set up their shift schedules Whenever we encounter an unusual shift schedule we make a point of posting it to the web site for the convenience of other users The real reason since technical support requests drop off after the first year we thought we d give you a break 2012 T Wesley Erickson 9 ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar 3 1 2 Why do I have to pay a renewal fee after the first two years We re in business to make money not that we re doing a very good job of it What do get for paying the license fee Payment of this fee grants the user license to install the program and to activate all current program features on all personally owned computers and to print unlimited calendars during the license term for personal non commercial use or distribution We maintai
64. mation all rights reserved See the accompanying documentation for configuration instructions and registration information File process a file or print a calendar Edit enter edit and browse events Set customize display options Help display help or the About box To activate all available program features enter the validation code in the edit control and click on the lt OK gt button Validation All program features will be available until the validation code expires typically one year 2012 T Wesley Erickson Menu Options Help 60 10 3 About Blatant commercial message don t say we didn t warn you amp About ShiftCal ShiftCal Firefighter Calendar Version 6 1 5 T W Erickson Enterprises email support shiftcal com Copyright 1983 2010 T Wesley Erickson All Rights Reserved To view your serial number and expiration date double click on the graphic 2012 T Wesley Erickson ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar 2012 T Wesley Erickson Function Key Shortcuts 62 11 Function Key Shortcuts Several function key shortcuts are available for the user s convenience The following table lists the features assigned to the various keys F1 F2 F3 F5 F6 F7 F8 i F9 F10 The Help file contains basic instructions on how to use the program for more detail refer to the User Manual Several function keys activate the Annual Calendar a pop up window that sh
65. mmercial use or distribution 2012 T Wesley Erickson The Bad News 10 3 1 3 Business License The fee for a non profit agency or for a for profit business varies with the intended use contact Support for details 3 2 Pay Up We currently accept payment by check or money order in U S funds by PayPal or by purchase order Agency Use We accept PayPal transactions for all classes of license To pay for a Personal Use license via PayPal click on the the PayPal button on the following web page htto www shiftcal com paypal htm To use PayPal for other classes of license contact Support For more information on any of these options please contact Support 2012 T Wesley Erickson 11 ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar 4 4 1 4 2 Installation ShiftCal is available by download from our web site at http www shiftcal com The current version of the program is always available on the web site licensed users are granted access to download periodic updates to the current version T W Erickson Enterprises occasionally makes promotional copies of the installation disk available to hand out at Fire Service events System Requirements To use this product you must have the following e An IBM PC or close compatible running Windows 7 Vista XP or 2000 e Approximately 4 megabytes of hard disk space for required files 10 MBytes for full install A color monitor resolution of 800x600 or great
66. mple to send an email containing the dates of union meetings e Use Edit And Text with a search string of Union Change to Mul Record mode by clicking on the Multi button e Review matching records to decide if some or all should be selected To copy some records hold down the lt Ctrl gt key and click on the desired records To copy all records click on the first record hold down the lt Shift gt key and press the lt Down arrow gt key e Copy the highlighted records to the clipboard using the local menu e Create a new email and paste the dates and times into the body 12 1 2 Delete Selected Records To delete one or more records from the event file e Display the Message form Alt E M Activate Multi Record mode click on the Multi button or press Alt M Select the desired records using the mouse or keyboard Bring up the local menu lt Right click gt or press the local menu key e Select Delete Selected Records Judicious use of the Edit And Date or Edit And Text menu options can result in a subset of the data file containing records that meet the user s criteria to facilitate a delete operation For example to delete all references to Vacation e Use Edit And Text with a search string of Vac Change to Mul Record mode by clicking on the Multi button Review matching records to decide if some or all should be deleted e To delete some records hold down the lt Ctrl gt key a
67. n the Edit label changes to Multi Find Date This option searches the event file for records matching a user specified date User Date Enter Date M d yyyy 11 26 2010 Lo 1 Geet The program uses the International Date Format specified by the user in the Regional Settings applet in the Windows Control Panel Leading zeroes are optional e g if the user s date format is mm dd yyyy April 1 2009 can be entered as 4 1 9 04 01 09 or 04 01 2009 November 26 2010 could be entered as 11 26 10 or 11 26 2010 The year is optional and may be entered as two digits or four digits A two digit year greater than 75 is considered to be in the last century e g 84 means 1984 while two digit years less than 75 are assumed to be in the current epoch e g 09 means 2009 2012 T Wesley Erickson Menu Options Edit s 8 3 Find Text This option displays all records that contain text specified by the user in the following mput dialog The user may enter a full or partial search string the search is not case sensitive e g Eri will match Erickson serious and verify This option is useful for identifying multiple records that meet a specific criteria e g all records containg Vac These records can then easily be deleted or saved to a new file by selecting all records in Multi Record mode then making a selection from the local menu accessible by pressing the Local Menu button or by performin
68. n a fairly liberal personal use policy the user may print calendars for himself herself family friends and yes even crew members Printing calendars for the whole platoon or needless to say for the whole department does not fall into the personal use category let them pay their own license fee This license does not authorize the user to activate program features on someone else s computer or on computers at a fire service agency a non profit agency or a business The license also does not authorize the user to distribute calendars for profit or gain Agency License The license fee for a Fire Service Agency varies with the number of paid safety members Members Fee less than 20 25 per year 21 60 50 per year 61 100 75 per year 101 200 100 per year more than 200 Contact us We recognize the dedication of volunteer firefighters and we offer a discount to volunteer departments and to agencies with a combination of paid and volunteer firefighters Please contact us for details Discounts are available for large agencies contact Support for details Why do I have to pay a license fee every year We re in business to make money not that we re doing a very good job of it What do get for paying the license fee Payment of the license fee grants the agency license to install and to activate program features on all agency owned computers and to print unlimited calendars during the license term for non co
69. n the Open button Zi Create New CDS File E e Wi Roaming Erickson ShiftCal6 4 Search ShiftCal6 Organize v New folder z fl Recent Places Name Date modified Type Libraries ShiftCal cds 3 3 2010 4 02 PM CDS File E Documents ad Music E Pictures E Videos s Homegroup jE Computer amp Local Disk C a Data D Archive EI New filename NewfFile CDS Files cds X The new file will contain a single record comprising the date of creation and the name of the file the filename NewFile appears in the title bar of the form D NewFile 1 record edit Date FASEB ECs 2012 T Wesley Erickson 31 ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar 7 2 Open iM Open CDS File gO Ak gt Computer Data D SC Prn selte Search SC Pm Organize New folder The File Open menu option is used to open message cds files Note the program automatically opens shiftcal cds on startup To open an event file select it in the dialog then click on the Open button 33 I S Recent Places Libraries A Documents ad Music ee Pictures S Videos Homegrou s Homegroup BP Computer amp Local Disk C a Data D amp Archive E A cpfd A grandledge houston seattle _ bldg insp cds _ cpfd2X18 cds _ cpfd201X cds eng co insp cds _ ext systems cds _ hfd2x20
70. nd click on the desired records e To delete all matching records click on the first record hold down the lt Shift gt key and press the lt Down arrow gt key e Delete the highlighted records using the local menu 12 1 3 Save Selected Records to File To save one or more records to a new event file e Display the Message form Alt E M Activate Multi Record mode click on the Multi button or press Alt M e Select the desired records using the mouse or keyboard e Bring up the local menu lt Right click gt or press the local menu key e Select Save Selected Records to file and provide a filename Judicious use of the Edit And Date or Edit And Text menu options can result in a subset of the data file 2012 T Wesley Erickson Advanced Topics 68 containing records that meet the user s criteria to save to a new file For example to archive all references to Training e Use Edit And Text with a search string of Train Change to Mul Record mode by clicking on the Multi button Review matching records to decide if some or all should be deleted To select some records hold down the lt Ctrl gt key and click on the desired records e To select all matching records click on the first record hold down the lt Shift gt key and press the lt Down arrow gt key Save the highlighted records to a new file using the local menu 12 1 4 Set Repeating Appointment Some events repeat on a regular basis e
71. ndar To change to Multi Record Mode click on the Multi key the highlight will extend to the entire record and multi mode appears on the title bar Date 10 11 2010 10 31 2010 11 7 2010 11 8 2010 11 11 2010 11 25 2010 12 21 2010 Daylight Time ends Dept Anniversary Veteran s Day Thanksgiving Day Winter Solstice Key point although the record is highlighted it has not yet been selected that is it is not been identified to the application for special handling To select a record click on it with the mouse notice that the pointer in the left column changes to indicate its selected status i ShiftCal Tr 80 records multi Date 10 11 2010 10 31 2010 11 7 2010 11 8 2010 11 11 2010 11 25 2010 12 21 2010 12 25 2010 PES fes gt Daylight Time ends Dept Anniversary ty Veteran s Day Thanksgiving Day Winter Solstice Christmas Day LJ miles pmt foma pat ba D 4 2012 T Wesley Erickson Advanced Topics 66 To select multiple records for a copy delete or save operation the user may either e Hold down the lt Ctrl gt key and click on multiple non contiguous records or Hold down the lt Shift gt key and use the lt Up arrow gt or lt Down arrow gt key to highlight contiguous records iM ShiftCal Tr 80 records multi Date Message 10 11 2010 Columbus Day 10 31 2010 Halloween 11 7 2010 Daylight Time ends 11 8 2010 Dept Anniversary 11 11 2010 Veteran s Day
72. ni lincoln ini lorain ini lt marcoisland ini marinco ini Ini file to open seattle ini melbourne ini ncharleston ini ncrfa ini norco ini o oakridge ini ocs ini paducah ini palmbeachco ini pauma ini phoenix ini pinellas ini pittsfield ini plainville ini prineville ini sacto ini sanmiguel ini santaclara ini santapaula ini satellite ini savannah ini simpson ini tristate ini usps ini Select the desired ini file then click on the Open button The calendar will display the shift schedule and the name of the ini file will appear in the title bar of the calendar GE July 2010 27 28 29 30 1 5 6 7 8 11 12 13 14 15 18 19 20 21 22 25 26 27 28 29 4A 5 2012 T Wesley Erickson 2 9 16 23 30 33 ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar 7 4 Some users utilize an easily recognizable feature that clearly indicates that the calendar is not displaying the user s normal shift rotation e g a white background for the normal calendar and a gray background for other rotations When opening a series of ini files it is sometimes desirable to maintain the current size and font settings e g to ignore the size and font settings in the ini files to be loaded To turn off resizing and font changes press the lt F6 gt function key a message box wil
73. ntents of ShiftCal ini can be manually edited with a simple text editor like the Windows Notepad Do not use a word processing program which will place formatting commands in the file rendering it unusable We suggest that the user make a backup copy before making changes to an ini file It is also a good idea to examine some of the sample ini files installed with ShiftCal to get an idea of how they work before making changes To temporarily comment out a keyword or value place a semicolon at the beginning of the line Config FullMonthName 0 For more information on editing ini files see Editing ShiftCal ini Manually 2012 T Wesley Erickson 21 ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar 6 Running ShiftCal The Calendar W ShiftCal File Edit Settings Help GE July 2012 E 11213 ES 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 The calendar consists of the following elements e Windows form controls System Menu Minimize Maximize Restore Close and menu File Edit Settings Help ia ShiftCal Lo een File Edit Settings Help e Title Bar DEI July 2010 ale and of course the Calendar Grid 11213 Wis 6 7 8 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 2012 T Wesley Erickson Running ShiftCal 22 The Title Bar contains the following elements e Month
74. ntifying platoons check the Print Platoon Color Legend box To print a foldable annual calendar check the Print Foldable Calendar box 2012 T Wesley Erickson ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar Insert images in printed calendars To place an image on monthly calendars annual calendars or organizer pages click on the Images button this will display the Image Files dialog D ShiftCal images quint jpg Image filename Image filename Organize v New folder S Recent Places 5 prn_reg2 png EL PNG image 235 KB Libraries SE Documents GR PEG image a Music 109 KB El Pictures repeat png S Videos GE PNG image 45 1 KB H rptdaily png ki TE PNG image 49 5 KB K3 el rptdate png amp Local Disk C PNG image 50 8 KB cs Data D a Archive E rptdow png DAC mana File name quint jpg v All png jpg tif gif bmp 2012 T Wesley Erickson Menu Options File 3 The selected image jpg png Dt ot and bmp appears in the preview pane D ShiftCal images quint jpg Image filename Image filename The Scale radio button resizes images automatically to turn scaling off select the Not button For one time use click on the Ok button To set default images click on Save then Ok Print a calendar for the current month The program will print a single calendar for the current mont
75. ntrol arrow keys to change the current date move the highlight left previous day right next day up previous week or down next week The current date will wrap to the previous or next month as required To step forward or backwards one month press the lt Page Down gt or lt Page Up gt key To step forward or backwards one year hold down either the lt Shift gt key or the lt Ctrl gt key and press lt Page Down gt or lt Page Up gt To step forward or backwards ten years hold down both the lt Shift gt and lt Ctrl gt keys and press lt Page Down gt or lt Page Up gt To return to the current date today at any time press the lt Home gt key Any user selected date other than the current date is temporarily saved as the User Date To return to the User Date at any time press the lt End gt key To repeat a keystroke command hold the key down the command will repeat slowly then gradually increase in speed 2012 T Wesley Erickson Running ShiftCal 2 6 2 Mouse Commands The user may navigate with the mouse using the Today button the spin control in the calendar header and the mouse scroll button To select a date in the current month click on it To return to the computer s current date click on the button To display a pop up annual calendar click on the button or press lt F3 gt To close it press lt Esc gt a To step forward or backwards one month click on the up or d
76. o display the month name and year in the calendar header Shiftcal retains separate Header Font settings for normal and fullscreen mode the user may specify completely different font characteristics for each mode Set the desired font characteristics in normal mode maximize the program set the maximized font characteristics and save your settings Alt S V Calendar Font Select a font to display calendar day numbers Shiftcal retains separate Calendar Font settings for normal and full screen mode the user may specify completely different font characteristics for each mode Set the desired font characteristics in normal mode maximize the program set the maximized font characteristics and save your settings Alt S V Message Font Select a font for displaying messages on monthly calendars Shiftcal retains separate Message Font settings for normal and full screen mode the user may specify completely different font characteristics for each mode Set the desired font characteristics in normal mode maximize the program set the maximized font characteristics and save your settings Alt S V 2012 T Wesley Erickson Menu Options Settings 56 9 5 DOW Font Select a font to display the day of week letters in the calendar header Shiftcal retains separate DOW Font settings for normal and full screen mode the user may specify completely different font characteristics for each mode Set the desired
77. on __APIt Red Primary color for A Platoon BPit Blue Primary color for B Platoon 2012 T Wesley Erickson ER ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar FrameColor Frame color for printed calendars For numbered platoons e g Platoon 1 Pit Red Primary color for Platoon 1 Inverse color for Platoon 1 Inverse color for Platoon 2 Green Primary color for Platoon 3 Since ShiftCal supports up to six platoons there are additional numbered variables through 6PIt and Glnv For named color platoons e g Blue Platoon Primary color for Black Platoon Inverse color for Black Platoon Primary color for Blue Platoon Inverse color for Blue Platoon RPIt Red Primary color for Red Platoon Inverse color for Green Platoon YPIt Primary color for Yellow Platoon Inverse color for Yellow Platoon PPIt Primary color for Purple Platoon Inverse color for Purple Platoon GPIt Primary color for Green Platoon For a list of valid color names see Appendix I 2012 T Wesley Erickson Editing INI files 100 Examples To demonstrate how the platoon variables are used we have taken a simple three platoon system 24 hours on 48 hours off and generated the contents of the Shift Schedule and Colors sections of an ini file for each of the three types of platoon identifiers Lettered platoons the most common Shift Schedule NumberOfPlatoons 3 Days InRotation
78. or does not have to match the named platoon color although it s hard to think of a good reason why they wouldn t at least resemble each other In these examples we have used Lime because the pastel lime green is easier for color deficient people to distinguish than the normal Windows green 2012 T Wesley Erickson 13 1 4 13 1 5 Editing INI files 8 For more information on color settings contact technical support Images The user may specify images graphic files to be placed in Monthly Annual and Organizer calendars Monthly filename of image to appear on monthly calendars ScaleMonthly controls scaling of Monthly image filename of image to appear on annual calendars ScaleAnnual controls scaling of Annual image file of image to appear on Organizer pages ScaleOrganizer controls scaling of Organizer image Entries in the Images section should look like this Images Monthly D myile jpg ScaleMonthly True Annual D Fire Dept Company4C bmp ScaleAnnual True Organizer C Users lt usernam e gt Pictures Fire Dept logo bmp ScaleOrganizer True If the pathname contains spaces the quotation marks are required otherwise they are optional Scaling is true by default so if you want ShiftCal to size your images to fit you do not need to make a ScaleXxx entry To print an image at its native resolution set the appropriate ScaleXx key to False Graphics images are placed as follows If the use
79. or platoons or on color settings in general contact technical support 2012 T Wesley Erickson Editing INI files 96 13 2 3 Retreat Start Date ShiftCal will only display dates in color that occur on or after the Start Date in the ini file If you want to display calendars for previous months or years you need to set an earlier Start Date This formerly required a little trial and error but CalMod handles the details for you The Retreat Start Date button and edit control are located on the right side of the CalMod form if they are not visible click on the Set Colors button to display the full CalMod form M CalMod editing ocs ini File Help Number of Platoons 3 Days in Rotation 24 Start Date 01 07 2010 Shift Rotation ACABABABCE CACACABABCBI Hide Colors Jenisch 4 Platoon El July 2010 a B Platoon C Platoon 4151671819 11 12 13 14 15 16 18 19 20 21 22 23 25 26 27 28 29 30 Enter a date close to the desired start date in the edit control then click on the Retreat Start Date button The value in the edit control will be repeatedly decremented by Days in Rotation until Start Date precedes the user specified date Click on the Apply Rotation button to see the results of your settings compare the calendar at the bottom of the application to your calendar When you have confirmed your settings save your changes using File Save or File Save As
80. own button on the month left spin control a To step forward or backwards one year click on the up or down button on the year right spin control To repeat a spin control command hold the mouse button down the command will repeat slowly then gradually increase in speed The rate of acceleration can be set in the ini file 6 3 Gesture Commands ShiftCal supports gesture commands on touchscreen PC s running Windows 7 users of earlier versions of Windows may emulate gesture support to a limited extent using the mouse or other pointing device The following gesture commands are supported Next month draw a horizontal line from right to left draw a horizontal line from left to right draw a chevron pointing towards the right Previous year draw a chevron pointing towards the left Return to current date draw a circle on the screen These commands can be emulated in all supported versions of Windows 2000 XP Vista and 7 using a mouse or other pointing device by holding down the primary mouse button and moving the mouse as described for touchscreen computers For example to move to the next month hold down the left mouse button and drag the mouse from right to left releasing the mouse button at the end of the stroke 6 4 Handling Events Messages Create a new event To create an event e g message or appointment when the calendar is displayed the user may 2012 T Wesley Erickson 25 ShiftCal t
81. ows twelve monthly calendars beginning with the month currently displayed in the main application The user may use the usual navigation keys arrow keys lt Page Up gt lt Page Down gt lt Home gt and lt End gt to change the months displayed in the annual calendar To jump to January of the current year hold down the Ctrl key and press the lt Home gt key To return to the user s date the month displayed in the main application simply press the lt Home gt key To jump to the last date to which the user navigated press the lt End gt key For example if the user had stepped forward to the year 2015 then pressed lt Home gt to return to the current date he or she could immediately jump back to 2015 by pressing the lt End gt key The lt F5 gt key toggles font scaling for printing on and off we suggest leaving it on If the user turns font scaling off he or she is responsible to assure that user specified text sizes will fit in the available space for printing If you still insist on turning scaling off just remember that Bob s warranty is in full effect You re a Big Boy now The lt F6 gt key toggles full or partial processing of ini files when the user performs a File Ini File operation Sometimes it is desirable to open multiple ini files in succession without having the application resize change fonts or reset the date To turn off most settings press the lt F6 gt key a message advise the user tha
82. r background color LdTr Leading trailing dates color Numbered Platoons _1PIt Red Primary color for platoon 1 Named color Platoons Primary color for Black platoon Inverse color for Black platoon Primary color for Blue platoon Inverse color for Blue platoon RPIt Red Primary color for Red platoon Inverse color for Red platoon Primary color for Green platoon Inverse color for Green platoon Primary color for Yellow platoon Inverse color for Yellow platoon Primary color for Purple platoon White Inverse color for Purple platoon The color Keynames must correspond to the type used in ShiftRotation in the Shift Schedule section the user cannot mix for example lettered and numbered platoons Examples Here is a sample shift rotation implemented using letters numbers and named colors 2012 T Wesley Erickson ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar Lettered Platoons the most common Shift Schedule ShiftRotation ACBCBABAC Colors APlt Red Alnv White BPIt Blue Binv White CPlt Lime Cinv Black Numbered Platoons Shift Schedule ShiftRotation 232313121 Colors 1PIt Red 1Inv White 2PIt Blue 21nv White 3Plt Lime 3lnv Black Named color Platoons Shift Schedule ShiftRotation RYG this corresponds to Red Yellow Green Colors RPlt Red Rinv White YPIt Yellow Yinv Black GPlt Lime Ginv Black Note that the display col
83. r has specified a graphic for Monthly or Annual calendars and the page setup includes a Title the image will be placed at the left edge of the Title bar If the Title is blank the image will be placed at the left edge of the Page Header month name If the user has specified an graphic for Organizer pages the image will be centered between the previous next months at the bottom of a Portrait mode page and centered between the current month and the day number at the top of a Landscape mode page Examples appear on the website at www shiftcal com Fonts This section contains the settings that define the fonts used to display and to print calendars and consists of the following categories 2012 T Wesley Erickson ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar MsgFontName Message font for text WalFontName Font for printed wallet calendars DOW FontName Day of week abbreviation in header Default for Windows XP and 2000 is Arial Each category also has a FontSize and FontStyle attribute Font size height is described in points a printer s point is 1 72 The actual size on the screen or on a printed page may vary depending upon the amount of space around each letter The space above and below a typeface is called leading pronounced Iedding and is a holdover from linotype machines that used molten lead to create blocks of text for printing The spacing between characters is a function of the type style some typ
84. records e To create a new record click on the D button To delete the current record click on the button e To edit the current record click on the al button e To confirm an edit and save changes click on the button e To cancel edit and discard changes click on the x button If Show Hints is active in the Settings menu fly over help is displayed when the mouse pointer is over each button e First Record e Prior Record e Next Record e Last Record e Insert Record e Delete Record Edit Record Post Edit e Cancel Edit 6 4 2 Multi Edit button The Multi Edit button on the Message form is used to toggle between two modes for selecting records 2012 T Wesley Erickson Running ShiftCal ER The Message Form opens in Edit mode only one field column of the current record is highlighted and edit appears in the title bar Date 10 11 2010 10 31 2010 11 7 2010 11 8 2010 11 11 2010 11 25 2010 12 21 2010 Christmas Day pococorag L ba ba put pub put pub bal ba I Ke The user may edit the contents of the highlighted field by simply typing a new entry Note that when in Edit mode the Mulit Edit button says Multi this is the mode that will be selected if the user clicks on the button In Multi Record mode the entire row is highlighted and the word multi appears in the title bar Date 10 11 2010 10 31 2010 11 7 2010 Daylight Time ends
85. rickson ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar 13 1 2 Config The following options affect the behavior and display of ShiftCal Display month and year in header Scale normal calendar to look like full screen Display days of week when maximized Start program in full screen mode Force program to top of z order Display fy over help Display full screen amp print long day of week names 13 1 3 Colors This section contains the information that ShiftCal needs to display dates in the correct platoon colors It also allows the user to set a background color for the calendar grid and to set the color for leading trailing day numbers For each platoon there are two settings the normal platoon setting and an inverse setting The inverse setting is normally white so the current date appears as a white number on the platoon color background When the platoon color is light e g Yellow or Lime the day number may be difficult to read To make the day number more visible we set the inverse to a darker color Example a black day number on lime green is much more visible than white on lime green Lettered Platoons 2012 T Wesley Erickson Editing INI files 86 Primary color for A platoon APIt Alnv Inverse color for A platoon BPit Blue Primary color for B platoon Binv Inverse color for B platoon CPI Primary color for C platoon Cinv Inverse color for C platoon BkGr Calenda
86. s this is particularly convenient for users that want to display shift schedules for multiple agencies simultaneously Refer to Startup Options for details 2 1 New in this release ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar has evolved over time to incorporate features requested by users Some of the improvements in this release are as follows Support for Windows 7 including gestures Support for Windows Vista including Aero interface e Improved page setup paper size orientation and margins Improved output scaling for printed calendars e Ability to embed graphics in printed output jpg png bmp tif and gif HTML Help instead of older WinHelp e Many minor code revisions Recent releases incorporated the following features Improved date navigation keystroke and mouse Support for numbered and named color platoons e Repeat Appointment dialog for recurring events e Automatic date roll over at midnight e Display and print events in monthly calendars Print wallet calendars and personal organizer pages The user may rotate the mouse scroll button to change the calendar date a month at a time there are also additional shortcuts for navigating through dates Platoons may be identified by letters e g A Platoon by numbers e g Platoon 1 or by named colors e g Blue Platoon We have added support for repeating events Messages may be specified to repeat by time interval e g every two weeks
87. s commercial software It is not public domain Some program features are only available to licensed users or on a trial basis to new users Use of this program in any derivative work including screen displays or printed calendars for commercial distribution is prohibited except as provided under specific licensing agreement Exception users may post calendar images on a personal or agency sponsored web site if the user or agency holds a current license In this case we would appreciate a link to our web site similar to the following Calendar generated by ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar Html code for the link above might look like the following on one line Calendar generated by lt a href http Awww s hiftcal com gt ShiftCal lt a gt the Firefighter Calendar Serial Number When a new user downloads the program a temporary validation code may be issued to allow the user to test program features When a user or agency or business pays the license fee a validation code is issued which will enable all program features for the term of the license In either case a serial number is embedded in the validation code A serial number is not a license it is simply a means to identify a particular user who may become a licensed user at some time in the future User License A license is granted for a specific time license term upon payment of the license fee Licensed users receive a validation code that enables progra
88. t the level of transparency desired 0 is completely transparent 255 is opaque Although transparency is supported in Windows XP and Windows 2000 the full Aero effect requires Windows Vista any version above Home Basic a P90 or better CPU and video graphics hardware capable of supporting the Aero interface 2012 T Wesley Erickson ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar 13 2 Using CalMod exe CalMod exe allows the user to easily set up or to customize an ini file to define a particular shift schedule Menu options in CalMod exe as as follows File Menu create a new blank ini file open an existing ini file for editing save current edits to the open file save the open file with another name close the program and return to Windows Help Menu display the contents of the Help file display blatant commercial message The Set Colors button toggles between Set Colors and Hide Colors depending upon whether the color selection portion is displayed 2012 T Wesley Erickson Editing INI files 92 13 2 1 Setup Shift Rotation The CalMod form makes it easy to define the elements of the Shift Schedule section M CalMod utility for Shift ss File Help Number of Platoons 3 Days in Rotation 3 Start Date FA 2010 Shift Rotation ABC Apply Rotation Set Colors El July 2010 a Enter the number of platoons 2 3 4 5 or 6 in the Number of Platoons edit control Enter the
89. t the program will now process partial ini files This setting is intended to allow the user to load a different shift schedule using the current size font settings centering etc To restore normal operation press the lt F6 gt key again The lt F7 gt and lt F8 gt keys control the degree of transparency of the application forms and windows 2012 T Wesley Erickson s ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar This is a feature of Windows Vista but it can be enabled in Windows 2000 and Windows XP by adding an entry to the ini file Simply add a Vista section to the ini file add a key named AlphaBlend then assign a value of 1 Vista AlphaBlend 1 Save your changes reload the ini file and use lt F7 gt to make forms more transparent and lt F8 gt to make them more opaque The main form calendar is treated separately from the rest of the forms which share the same level of transparency Save your desired transparency by selecting Settings Save Settings from the main menu Note that use of the transparency feature in Windows 2000 and Windows XP may compromise performance in particular windows will maximize and resize rather slowly 2012 T Wesley Erickson Advanced Topics 64 12 Advanced Topics Local Menu ShiftCal supports several local menu operations in multi record mode such as copying multiple records to the clipboard deleting multiple records saving multiple records to a file The lo
90. table and Portable Plus computers including a version on ROM as part of a collection of useful DOS utilities as well as versions for Apple and CP M computers Early DOS versions including one posted to the Safetynet forum on Compuserve used cloner technology to store configuration information inside of the executable file to facilitate distribution throughout an agency Unfortunately this technique is reported as virus like behavior by anti virus software so we changed to storing the configuration information in a Windows style ini file The PC version has undergone many changes from character based DOS versions to the current Windows release which is written in Embarcadero RAD Studio XE2 Delphi XE2 2012 T Wesley Erickson Appendix Windows Colors 104 15 Appendix I Windows Colors The user may assign any of the Windows colors to ShiftCal color variables Windows named colors Black Maroon Green Olive Navy Purple Teal Gray Silver Red Lime Yellow Blue Fuchsia Aqua White Windows environment colors MoneyGreen SkyBlue Cream MedGray Scrollbar Background ActiveCaption InactiveCaption Menu Window WindowFrame MenuText WindowText CaptionText ActiveBorder InactiveBorder AppWorkSpace Highlight HighlightText BtnFace BtnShadow GrayText BtnText InactiveCaptionText BtnHighlight 3dDkShadow 3dLight Info Text InfoBk 2012 T Wesley Erickson ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar 2
91. thname of the desired cds file e A quotation mark 2012 T Wesley Erickson at ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar 12 2 3 The contents of the edit control will now be similar to this on one line for Windows XP and 2000 C Program Files Erickson ShiftCal6 ShiftC al even dC Documents and Settings Us ername Application Data Erickson ShiftCal6 CPFD cds The Windows Vista edit control will contain C Program Files Erickson ShiftCal6 ShiftC al exe dC Users Us erName AppData Roaming Ericks on ShiftCal6 CPFD cds Click on the OK button to save your changes double click on the desktop shortcut to launch ShiftCal and load the event file Note The user also has the option of assigning a keystroke combination in the Shortcut key edit control The shortcut key can be a letter a number or a function key which is not currently assigned to some other function Windows automatically adds lt Ctrl gt lt Alt gt if the user selects a letter or a number To assign a different combination of lt Shift gt lt Ctrl gt and or lt Alt gt to a letter or number or to a function key the user must manually enter the desired combination The keystroke combination cannot conflict with any other Windows key combination User specified Date To display a user specified date include the date on the command line as a parameter Leading zeroes are optional e g 4 1 or 04 01 the year may be omitted in which case the current ye
92. tion StartDate is the date on which ShiftRotation begins ShiftCal supports shift schedules of two to six platoons identified by letters e g A Platoon numbers e g Platoon 1 or named colors e g Blue Platoon When defining ShiftRotation lettered platoons are represented by the letters A F numbered platoons are represented by the numerals 1 6 and named color platoons are represented in ShiftRotation by the following letters Red R P__ Pupe 2012 T Wesley Erickson Editing INI files 98 The same labelling system must be used here and in the Colors section the user cannot mix for example lettered and numbered platoons Config The following options affect the behavior and display of ShiftCal exe FullMonthName Display full month name 3 letters if false Display month and year in header D ShowDOW isplay day of week letters in header 1975 Controls handling of two year dates F F A ShowDOW Max True Display days of week when maximized CenterDate True Center dates in calendar grid Display fly over help Calendar height in pixels at startup True i StartMaximized alse Start program in full screen mode True Colors The following settings control the color in which each platoon is displayed The user can choose from three different systems for identifying platoons letters numbers or named colors Lettered platoons e g A Platoon are by far the most comm
93. to the obvious application of annual holidays like Independence Day and Christmas Day it is useful for tasks like creating entries for people who are paid on the 1st and the 15th of every month 2012 T Wesley Erickson ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar The following dialog will create an entry for Christmas day from 2008 to 2013 EI Repeat Event 07 04 2012 Independence Day Daily Weekly Monthly Yearly Duration From 07 04 2012 To 07 04 2017 Apply Repeat using Day Number Day 4th O Day of Week 12 1 4 2 2 Relative Dates This option is for events that fall on a particular day of the week The day of week and message are derived from the record that was selected when the user invoked Set Repeating Appointment 2012 T Wesley Erickson Advanced Topics It is particularly useful for events that occur for example on the first Monday of the month or on the third Thursday Here is an example for union meetings that occur on the third Thursday of each month 01 26 2012 Union Meeting Daily Weekly Monthly Yearly Duration From 01 26 2012 To 01 26 2017 Apply Repeat using Day Number 4th Thursday F Last occurrence in the month A special case is an event that falls on the last occurrence in the month of a particular day e g the last Friday in the month to use this feature check the Last occurrence in the month box 1
94. ttings back to their former settings A detailed description of the process appears on the web site at http www shiftcal com webdeploy htm 2012 T Wesley Erickson 13 ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar 5 Setting Up ShiftCal Settings that define a particular shift rotation and control program behavior are stored in an ini file the program reads the contents of ShiftCal ini on startup By default the program displays a 56 hour work week fours and sixes with a 24 day cycle The user may define any number of ini files for different shift schedules Several ini files are included in the standard installation and others are available for download from the web site To display your agency s shift schedule on startup copy your desired settings to ShiftCal ini The location of data files varies somewhat depending upon the user s version of Windows Windows 7 and Windows Vista use a new AppData folder and include local and roaming folders C Users Us erName AppData Roaming Erickson ShiftCal6 ShiftCal ini Shift schedule ini files in Windows XP and 2000 are located under the Application Data folder C Documents and Settings Us erName Application Data Ericks on ShiftCal6 ShiftCal ini Key Pont since both of these paths are hidden by default we suggest using the CalMod utility which automatically places your ini files in the correct location Users of older versions of Windows may need to use a previous version
95. uld result in a loss of data A message is displayed to advise the user that the File Save operation is complete 2012 T Wesley Erickson 35 ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar 7 6 Save As Use this option to save events to disk with a different file name This is useful to save selected records to be used as a merge file or simply to make a backup copy The program will offer a default filename consisting of the letters SC plus the date in year month day format to accept this name click on the Save button i Save CDS File As i OD D gt Computer Data D SC Pm gt 4s Search SC Pm Organize New folder tt e E Documents a _ hfd mstr cds _ C20100315 cds _ training b cds a Music _ Hibbing2010 cds SC20100403 cds training c cds E Pictures __ hol2009 cds _ sfd2x20 cds _ usps cds Videos hol2010 cds ShiftCal cds _ vac hol cds _ Holidays cds _ shiftcalv cds s Homegroup _ Holidays 01 cds L_ shift trades cds _ NewFile cds _ Tr 56 cds _ public education cds Tr abc cds amp Local Disk C SC12 cds Tr abc short cds cw Data D _ SC20090820 cds Training cds es Archive E C20100310 cds jE Computer Ld Ld Ld uw training a cds i II ShiftCal event file EE Save as type CDS Files cds v Hide Folders To save the file with a different name type the desired name in the edit control and click on the Save
96. ull screen display Exit Close the program and exit the current event file is automatically written to the hard disk 2012 T Wesley Erickson Menu Options Edit so 8 Menu Options Edit The Edit menu allows the user to view and edit events to search for records that match a particular date or search string and to set the calendar date 8 1 Messages The Edit Messages menu option displays the Message Form for browsing or editing The first record corresponding to the calendar date or nearest match will be highlighted by an arrow in the left column and the Message field will be highlighted for editing M ShiftCal Tr 83 records multi Date Message 10 11 2010 Columbus Day 10 31 2010 Halloween 11 7 2010 Daylight Time ends 11 3 2010 11 11 2010 Veteran s Day 11 25 2010 Thanksgiving Day 12 21 2010 Winter Solstice 12 25 2010 Christmas Day 1 1 1 i 1 1 1 1 elzlelede lc 7 H Edit Mode The message form defaults to Edit mode each time it is displayed notice that just one cell contains the highlight If the user types an entry it will replace the highlighted entry Edit mode can be activated manually by pressing the lt F2 gt key or by double clicking on a field Edits do not take effect until the user has moved off of the current record or has clicked on the Confirm or Post Edit button To move off the current record press the lt Up Arrow gt or lt Down Arrow gt key Th
97. urable by the user Supports two to six platoon systems e Uses the system date on startup e User may specify a past or future date Scrolls forward or backwards by days months or years e Returns to today or user specified date with one keystroke e Displays and prints monthly or annual calendars e Displays and prints event messages on monthly calendars e Produces two sided daily organizer pages Produces business card sized wallet calendars e Easily generates repeating events e Places images in printed calendars jpg png bmp tif gif On startup the program utilizes the computer s internal clock to display a monthly calendar for the current date Shown here is the display for November 26 2012 ge ShiftCal o 2x File Edit Settings Help ell November 11213 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 RJ 27 28 29 30 a e The user may enter a valid date as a command line parameter see Startup Options for details The user may scroll forward or backwards by days months or years returning to the current date with one keystroke at any time For users that need to display a variety of shift schedules alternate shift schedules ini files can be opened while the program is running shift schedules of two to six platoons are supported 2012 T Wesley Erickson Features 4 Alternate shift schedules ini files can also be assigned to desktop or menu shortcut
98. vigation bar 26 nomenclature 21 numbered platoons 4 O options 97 organizer 36 P payment 10 personal use 8 print calendars 49 print options 36 Q quit 49 R relative dates 71 repeat daily 69 repeat event 68 repeat monthly 69 repeat weekly 69 repeat yearly 69 retreat 96 S save selected 67 screen display 57 search 53 54 section 83 serial number 59 set date 54 settings 97 Settings Autoscale Font 56 Settings Calendar Font 55 Settings Center Date 56 Settings Header Font 55 Settings Highlight Current 57 Settings Leading Trailing 57 Settings Message Font 55 Settings Save Settings 57 Settings Show DOW 57 Settings Show Grid 56 Settings Show Hints 57 Settings Show Messages 57 Settings Start Maximized 56 Settings Stay On Top 57 Settings Title Font 55 Settings Wallet Font 56 Settings menu 55 setup 13 19 20 92 93 96 setup exe 11 shareware 1 7 shift schedule 13 32 73 83 92 97 ShiftCal 103 shortcut 73 77 start date 96 startup 73 77 81 style 88 subset 64 2012 T Wesley Erickson system requirements 11 ae touch 24 trademarks 5 typeface 88 U user specified 81 validation 7 validation code 59 value 83 W web deployment 12 2012 T Wesley Erickson TW Erickson Enterprises P O Box 128 Warner Springs CA 92086 0128 ey
99. zed display CenterDate center day numbers in grid or place in upper left corner ShowGrid turn row and column lines on or off ShowDOW turn day of week labels in header on or off For example the user may want dates to be centered for a small on screen display but placed in the upper left corner in full screen mode so messages can be viewed Both settings are saved so the program will automatically switch between the two modes when the user maximizes or restores the application ini File Examples A simple three platoon shift schedule 24 hours on 48 hours off using lettered platoons Shift Schedule NumberOfPlatoons 3 Days InRotation 3 ShiftRotation ABC StartDate 01 01 05 Colors APIt Blue Alnv White BPIt Black Binv White CPlt Red Clnv White 2012 T Wesley Erickson Setting Up ShiftCal 18 A three platoon shift schedule work 3 shifts off 4 days using numbered platoons Shift Schedule NumberOfPlatoons 3 Days InRotation 9 ShiftRotation 232313121 StartDate 01 01 05 Colors 1Plt Lime 1Inv Black 2PIt Blue 21nv White 3Plt Red 3lnv White A three platoon shift schedule using named color platoons Shift Schedule NumberOfPlatoons 3 Days InRotation 3 ShiftRotation RYK StartDate 01 01 05 Colors KPIt Black Kinv White RPlt Red Rinv White YPIt Yellow Yinv Black 2012 T Wesley Erickson 2 ShiftCal the Firefighter Calendar A six platoon system United States Postal

- ShiftCal

Contents

Download Pdf Manuals

Related Search

Related Contents