README.TXT from Intl. Open EIS Pak 1.0a for Windows

• Microsoft Excel Microsoft International Open EIS Pak for Windows, version 1.0a
• Microsoft Excel for Windows, versions 4.0 and 4.0a

SUMMARY

The following is the contents of the International Open EIS Pak for Windows README.TXT which is located in the EIS subdirectory after you install Microsoft Open EIS Pak for Windows.

MORE INFORMATION

*** Microsoft Open EIS Pak Version 1.0 (International) README File ***

This file contains additional information for the Microsoft Open EIS Pak. The following information is included:

* Notes on the Microsoft Excel EIS Builder

   - Using International Versions of Microsoft Excel
   - Using Online Help
   - FILEFNS files
   - Tips and Techniques Examples
   - Halt Tool Changes
   - Alternate Installation of the Run-Time Files
   - Moving or Deleting Files
   - Restoring Minimized Applications While Using DDE Links

   - Starting the Sample Application
   - Default Directories and Files

*** Notes on the Microsoft Excel EIS Builder ***

Using International Versions of Microsoft Excel

The version of the Microsoft Excel EIS Builder contained on these diskettes was tested with the following eleven language versions of Microsoft Excel 4.0 for Microsoft Windows:

Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, and Swedish.

When creating an EIS application in a language other than English, the authoring facility will still operate in English. The application which is created for the end-user, however, will operate in any of the language versions of Microsoft Excel listed above.

The first time you run the Microsoft Excel Builder, the system checks which version of Microsoft Excel you are running. If you are running a version other than English, macros in the REPLACE.XLA file are run so that the EIS Builder is made compatible with your version of Microsoft Excel. To be able to run the EIS Builder, you then need to open the AUTHOR.XLA file after the substitution is done. REPLACE.XLA will remain open until you exit Excel.

It is important that the language information you give in the Localizer dialog box match your Windows settings. You can use the Windows Control Panel to verify these settings. It is also important that you don't modify the default List separator in the Control Panel for the EIS Builder to run properly.

When creating an application with the EIS Builder, you may notice that some dialog boxes contain mixed language buttons. This is due to the fact that these buttons are used in both author/user modes of the Builder. This does not cause any functionality problems, and will not be displayed to the end-user.

Most of the materials contained on these diskettes (including the sample application) are in English. They will run, however, with the eleven versions of Excel listed above. Most of the concepts discussed in the User's Guide are also independent of any particular language or environment. Some specific examples may require different syntax if used with a non-English version of Microsoft Excel.

When you distribute applications created with the Microsoft Excel Builder, it is important that you also distribute a copy of EIS.XLA, XTACTION.XLA, and EISUSER.HLP (Microsoft Excel EIS Builder Runtime files) as set up on your hard disk *after* REPLACE.XLA is run.

Applications created with one language version of Microsoft Excel and/or one set of country settings selected during authoring will require some manual editing to be run under different Microsoft Excel version and/or country settings.

If you are running Portuguese Microsoft Excel, Reports and Views Manager are not available in your version, and are therefore not accessible by the Microsoft Excel Builder.

If you are running Portuguese or Spanish Microsoft Excel, Q+E is not included in these versions and you won't be able to handle queries in the Microsoft Excel EIS Builder.

Using Online Help

The Setup gives four options regarding Help: English, French, German, and None. Any of the Help versions will run on top of any Microsoft Excel version. If you choose None, you will get an alert message when Help is invoked. The Help is written for the authors of EIS applications, but in some cases, end-users may be able to view the topics. Alerts are translated and these provide end-user instructions.

It is recommended that you pick one language version of the Help as a substantial amount of information is not available in the printed documentation. If you wish to prevent end-users from seeing this information, simply remove the *.HLP files from their directory.

As you begin using the Microsoft Excel EIS Builder, you should spend a few minutes reviewing EIS Builder Help. Much of the detailed information you need to know on actions, arguments, dialog box options, settings details, and other important topics is readily available through the online Help facility. Whenever the EIS Builder is loaded, Help may be accessed by choosing the EIS Builder Help command from the Microsoft Excel Help menu. If you want to access context-sensitive information for a specific dialog box, click the Help button in that dialog box.

For step-by-step instructions on using EIS Builder Help, see "Before You Begin" in the Microsoft Excel EIS Builder User's Guide.

FILEFNS files

The Microsoft Excel Builder requires two optionally installed Microsoft Excel files to be able to run properly. If the files for your language are not present on your hard disk, you will need to run the Microsoft Excel Setup again to install them. Information for these files is available in your Microsoft Excel Help file.

These files and the directory in which they are located are listed below:

Language    Excel 4 directory Filefns.xla Filefns.dll
********    ***************** *********** ***********
Danish      BIBLTEK              FILFUNK.XLA    FILFUNK.DLL
Dutch       BIBLIO               ESTFN.XLA      BESTFN.DLL
English     LIBRARY              ILEFNS.XLA     FILEFNS.DLL
Finnish     KIRJASTO    IEDFUNK.XLA    TIEDFUNK.DLL
French      MACROLIB             ICHFNCT.XLA    FICHFNCT.DLL
German      MAKRO                ILEFNKT.XLA    FILEFNS.DLL
Italian     LIBRERIA    UNZFILE.XLA  FUNZFILE.DLL
Norwegian   BIBL        ILFUNK.XLA    FILEFNS.DLL
Portuguese  BIBLIOTE    [*see note]   [*see note]
Spanish     MACROS               [*see note]    FUNARCH.DLL
Swedish     MAKROBIB              FILFUNK.XLA   FILFUNK.DLL

       Excel and is installed during the Microsoft Excel Builder
       Setup. The file name is the same as for the English version.

Tips and Techniques Examples

To assist EIS developers with creative design techniques, an additional application has been created. This application may be found in the Examples directory (the default is C:\EISPAK\EXAMPLES).

This application features online discussion of special techniques used to create the user interface. To get the most benefit out of this application, start by loading the Microsoft Excel EIS Builder (AUTHOR.XLA). Once loaded, open the application by selecting the Open command from the EIS menu, and select XAMPLS.XLA. (Note: The Queries Help topic indicates that the examples XLA file is called EXAMPLES.XLA. The correct file name is XAMPLS.XLA not EXAMPLES.XLA.)

Halt Tool Changes

When you are creating an application with the Microsoft Excel EIS Builder, you may wish to test the application using the Run command on the EIS Menu. When the application is being run from within "author mode," a single icon appears on a Halt tool bar in the upper left corner of the window. By clicking on this icon or pressing CTRL+H, the application being run halts and you are returned to author mode.

If the application being run uses the standard Microsoft Excel menu, the developer may also return to author mode by choosing the Halt command from the EIS Menu. The application will then be halted, and the Halt command will change back to the original Run command.

Should you wish to hide the toolbar, it may be hidden by clicking in the upper left corner of the toolbar. In order to return to author mode, you must either select the EIS Halt command, or enter CTRL+H.

Alternate Installation of the Run-Time Files

The Microsoft EIS Builder utilizes three run-time files. These files may be freely copied to users who do not have a licensed copy of the Microsoft Excel EIS Builder. Such users, however, will require a licensed copy of Microsoft Excel.

These files are:

EIS.XLA         = the main EIS macro

XTACTION.XLA    = the dialog box and functions for crosstab tables
                  on EIS Views

EISUSER.HLP     = the Windows Help file for users of an application
                  built with the Microsoft Excel EIS Builder

If instead you wish to have a single copy of these files on your hard disk, they may be copied to your Microsoft Excel Library directory (C:\EXCEL\LIBRARY in English, for other language versions of Microsoft Excel, see the directory information in the FILEFNS files section of this document) and deleted from other locations. Files may be copied using a DOS COPY command or the Windows File Manager. Whenever a user's EIS application files is opened and these run-time files are not present in the same directory, the application will automatically look in the Microsoft Excel Library directory for these files.

Moving or Deleting Files

Should you wish to delete or "uninstall" any of the Open EIS Pak applications, the files may simply be deleted. The Open EIS Pak files do not require any changes to *.INI files, however, deletion of files may result in your being unable to run the software. If this occurs, simply reinstall the software using the Setup program on your diskettes.

Should you wish to move any of the Open EIS Pak files to another location, they may be copied provided that all files in old directories remain together in the new directories, and that the new directories adhere to the structure noted in the default file directory listings later in this document. The only exception to this pertains to the Run-Time files, described above.

Restoring Minimized Applications While Using DDE Links

To use a Perform DDE action, you must activate the application in which the action is being performed, and restore the application if it is minimized. The Activate Application action in the Inter-application action class should be used to activate the application.

The commands needed to restore an application vary between applications. In general, use a Perform DDE action which contains the keystrokes necessary to restore the application. For many windows applications, an operation of % r (equivalent to Alt - space - r) can be used.

*** Files Included with The Microsoft Open EIS Pak ****

When you run Setup from the Setup disk, all the files you need to run the sample application and the Microsoft Excel EIS Builder are copied.

To save space on the disks, many files shipped with Microsoft Open EIS Pak are compressed. Compressed files are identified by a "_" in the file extension. These files cannot be used directly with Microsoft Windows or Microsoft applications; they must be decompressed before use. When you run Setup from the Setup disk, these files are automatically decompressed.

Starting the Sample Application

The Microsoft Open EIS Pak diskettes contain one sample EIS application. An application profile is included in the Pak. The profile provides important information on the design considerations and unique aspects of the demo, as well as start-up information. The sample application requires Microsoft Excel 4.0 or later. In order to ensure that it works properly, check to see that the directory containing Microsoft Excel is included in your DOS path. The DOS path is typically included in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. If you are using Microsoft Word for Windows, the subdirectories containing this application also needs to be included in the DOS path.

    To Start         Open File
    ----------------------------------------------------------

    EIS Builder         ..\EISPAK\AUTHOR.XLA
    EIS LTD Demo          ..\EISPAK\EISLTD\EIS_DEMO.XLA

List of Microsoft Open EIS Pak Files

The following table lists all Microsoft Open EIS Pak files on the disks in the Microsoft Open EIS package. Files are grouped by directory. File distribution is the same for both disk configurations (1.44 megabytes (MB), 1.2 MB).

Microsoft Excel EIS Builder Files

Default Directory: C:\EISPAK

Decompressed Files

Microsoft Excel EIS Builder Tutorial Files (See chapter 2 of the Microsoft Excel EIS Builder User's Guide)

Default Directory: C:\EISPAK

Decompressed Files

Microsoft Excel EIS Builder Tips & Techniques Example Files

Decompressed Files

English International Savouries Sample Application Files

Decompressed Files