ENCORE (Alarming Software for the Tandy 200!) by Dr. Laurence D. Preble I admit it. I am a fan of Tandy's portable computers. When the new Tandy 200 became available, I was one of the first in Louisville to own one. Even my wife Peggy is happy because she gets to keep the 'ol Model 100! One of the handy features of the Tandy 200 is the built in Alarm function. You can have a message printed on any date at any time. Even if the computer has been turned off, it will turn itself on, emit a long beep and then give you a stored message at the appointed moment! You just enter the date, time, and message into your NOTE.DO file and the computer does all the rest! The only drawback of the Alarm feature is that once the message has been delivered and acknowledged by you, it does not repeat. It would be handy to have some messages repeat on a daily basis such as, "WAKE UP!" It would be great to have some messages repeat on a monthly basis such as, "Pay those BILLS!" Finally, it would be nice to have certain messages repeat each year such as, "It is your Wedding Anniversary!" Of course, you could go back to your NOTE.DO file and retype the day, month or year as necessary for each message that you want to repeat. That, to me, is drudgery. And drudgery is what computers are supposed to eliminate! Right? That very thought led to the birth of ENCORE, a little program which eliminates the aforementioned drudgery in an unusual way. ENCORE will read your NOTE.DO file every day and reset the day, month or year of any messages you designate. Best of all, ENCORE itself can be installed and then forgotten. That is right! You do not have to RUN ENCORE more than one time. From that moment on, ENCORE automatically turns the computer on at midnight, RUNs itself and then shuts itself and the computer off! The entire sequence takes a minute or less. INSTRUCTIONS: - Creating Alarms. First, we must create some alarms in your NOTE.DO file. The "TANDY 200 Owner's Manual", on page 22, tells you how to set Alarms. Alarms which you do not want to repeat are entered in the NOTE.DO file in the following format: DD/DD/DD,TT:TT:TT,A,Message DD/DD/DD is a date; it must include all six digits (even the year) separated by slashes. TT:TT:TT is a time; it must include all 6 digits (even the seconds) separated by colons. A is an "alarm flag," just a cue to let the computer know that this line is meant to be an alarm. Message is any message you want displaye. For Example: 09/20/85,15:30:00,A,Call TOM for his birthday! On September 20, 1985 at 3:30 P.M., the Tandy 200 will turn itself on (if it is off), give a long beep and display "Call TOM for his birthday!" The display can be erased by holding the SHIFT key down and pressing the LABEL key. To make an alarm repeat either daily, monthly or yearly, you must enter an additional code or "FLAG" into the note file on each ALARM line which you wish to repeat. The new format is: DD/DD/DD,TT:TT:TT,A,* Message Now pay attention! You will notice that the format is the same except that * appears right before the Message. Well, you do not actually type a *. In place of the *, you will substitue a special code which tells the computer whether to repeat the alarm daily, monthly, or yearly. There are three special codes for three different repeat cycles. To make the code which tells the computer to repeat the alarm on a daily basis, hold down the SHIFT key and the GRPH key together. Next press "D" key. Note that you are now pressing three keys simultaneously to generate this special code. The code generated wil be displayed on your screen and will look like this: m To make the code for a monthly repeat cycle, hold down the SHIFT key and the GRPH key together. Next press the "M" key. Another symbol will be displayed on your screen and will look like this: v To make the code for a yearly repeat cycle, hold down the SHIFT key and the GRPH key together. Next press the "Y" key. Yet another strange looking symbol will be displayed on your screen. It will look like this: ~ Remember, the special code must appear right after the last comma and just before the message. Failure to follow the exact format described will not produce correct results. For example: 09/20/85,15:30:00,A,~ Call TOM for his birthday! The Special Code inserted above would be the code for a yearly repeat cycle. Encore would check this entry every day. When 1986 rolls around, the entry would be changed to: 09/20/86,15:30:00,A,~ Call TOM for his birthday! Another Example: 08/15/85,07:00:00,A,m Time to wake up! Since this alarm has a "daily repeat" code, ENCORE would change this entry at midnight to: 08/16/85,07:00,00,A,m Time to wake up! Therefore, this alarm would be activated every day! - Installing ENCORE To install ENCORE, just type in the listing. Be certain that absolutely no typographical errors are made. Next save the program to the name "ENCORE." Finally run the program. After about a minute or less, the computer will revert to its MAIN MENU. From now on, ENCORE will RUN itself each midnight. To DISCONNECT ENCORE, enter BASIC, type in the word POWER. Then exit to the main MENU. ENCORE is now disconnected.