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DTCALC24.TXT
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			Date Calculator, version 2.4

		Distributed as Freeware from Spyder Software
				April 1995


INSTALLATION:

You will need the following three files to run Date Calculator:

DATECALC.EXE	(the executable program file)
MSAFINX.DLL	(Dynamic Link Library for DateDiff and DateAdd functions)
VBRUN300.DLL	(Visual Basic 3.0 run-time DLL; sorry, this file is not 		 included in the distribution ZIP file)

You may put the DATECALC.EXE file anywhere on your system; however, MSAFINX.DLL
needs to be in your \WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory.

The VBRUN300.DLL file is required to run programs (such as this one) that have
been created with Microsoft's Visual Basic, version 3.0.  The VBRUN300.DLL file
is rather large (389k) and thus is not included in the distribution ZIP file.
VBRUN300.DLL may be downloaded from CompuServe, America Online, the Internet,
and many local bbs's.  VBRUN300.DLL should also be in your \WINDOWS\SYSTEM
directory.


USING DATE CALCULATOR:

To run Date Calculator, you must first enter a valid date.  The valid date
format will depend on your system's International date format settings (see the
section titled 'INTERNATIONAL DATE FORMAT SETTINGS' below).

You may either manually enter a date of your choice or you may click on the
"Today" button to automatically enter the current date.  IMPORTANT:  Make sure
you press the ENTER key if you manually typed in a date.

Date Calculator will beep and display an Invalid Date Error message if you enter
an illogical date or if you enter a date in an invalid format.  If you made a
date entry error, you can either use the BACKSPACE key to overwrite the bad date
and then re-type the date in the date input box, or you can click on the "Clear"
button and start over with a fresh date input box.

Once you have entered a valid date, Date Calculator will then display the Day of
Week for the date you entered.  Date Calculator will also display a message if
the date you entered is within a Leap Year.


DATE CALCULATION OPTIONS:

Next, Date Calculator will allow you to select among the following options:

1.  Age in Years
2.  Difference in Days
3.  Future or Past Date
4.  Julian Number

Age in Years:
Click on this option to calculate the Age in Years (i.e., for a person born on
the date you entered).  The Age in Years option calculates the number of whole
years between the date you entered and the current date.

Difference in Days:
If you click on this option, Date Calcuator will then ask you to enter a second
date.  Simply enter the date in the same manner and format as the first date you
entered.  As with the first date you entered, you have the ability to either
manually enter a date of your choice or automatically enter the current date
with the "Today" button. Again, make sure you press the ENTER key if you
manually typed in a date.  Once a valid date has been entered, Date Calculator
will then calculate the number of days between the first date you entered and
the second date you entered.

Future or Past Date:
If you click on this option, Date Calculator will then ask you to enter a
number.  If you enter a positive number, the resulting date will be x days later
than the date you entered.  Correspondingly, if you enter a negative number,
the resulting date will be x days before the date you entered.  Due to the
limitations imposed by the Visual Basic development environment, future/past
date outputs can only range between 31 December 0099 and 31 December 9999.  You
will receive beep and a Date Out of Range error message if you enter a number
that violates the allowable range.  After entering a number that results in a
valid date, Date Calculator will display the resulting future or past date in
the Calculated Date text box.  Date Calculator also shows the Day of Week of
the calculated date and will display a message if the calculated date is in a
leap year.

Julian Number:
A Julian number is the sequential number for a particular day within a given
year.  After clicking this option, Date Calculator will tally the number of
cumulative days within the year of the date you entered, starting with the first
day of January.  Thus, the first day of January 1 would be Julian number 1, and
the first day of February would be Julian number 32.  Likewise, the 31st day of
December would be Julian number 365 in a non-leap year, whereas the 31st day of
December would be Julian number 366 in a leap year.


INTERNATIONAL DATE FORMAT SETTINGS:

You can check your International date format by running the Windows Control
Panel (usually found in the 'Main' Program Manager group).  Just double-click on
the International icon (this is the icon that looks like the planet Earth).  To
change your date format, click on the "Change" button within the 'Date format'
section of the dialog box.  You might want to enable the 'Century' option by
simply clicking on the option box.  This will give you a full 4-digit value for
the year when you click on Date Calculator's "Today" button.


REVISION HISTORY:

Version 1.0:
The first version of this program was released in July 1994 as JULIAN.EXE. This
program featured only the Julian Number and Age in Years functions.

Version 2.0:
In early August 1994, I totally revised the user interface.  Specifically, I
added a label box to display the day of the week and Added the "Difference in
Days" and "Future or Past Date" functions.

Version 2.1:
No functionality nor user interface changes.  I simply remembered to include the
MSAFINX.DLL file in the distribution ZIP file.  (This DLL is required for the
operation of the Difference in Days and Future or Past Date functions.)  Please
accept my humble apology for those who attempted to use version 2.0 without the
DLL and found that these functions did not work.

Version 2.2:
Released in late August 1994, this version featured no functionality nor user
interface changes.  I simply revised the Help Contents documentation and the
DATECALC.TXT documentation file and changed the program icon and icon picture
to correspond with the release version number of the program.

Version 2.3:
Released in October 1994, this version featured some noteworthy functionality
and user interface changes.  These enhancements were made to facilitate features
requested by users.  Specifically, the program now features a "Today" button
that allows the user to automatically enter the current date in the 'Enter Date'
input box.  Also, the program was modified to show the day of the week for the
calculated date (also shows whether the year of the calculated date is a leap
year).  I also significantly revised the Help documentation and the DTCALCxx.TXT
documentation text file.  I also included my Internet address in the 'About /
Comments' message box.

Version 2.4:
Released in April 1995, this version uses standard text box controls instead of
the MSMASKED.VBX controls for the date entry boxes.  I did this fix to eliminate
the problems experienced by persons who were using Date Calculator with an
International date format setting that was different than the standard U.S.A.
format (month/day/year).  Oddly enough, Visual Basic's Date$ function ignores
Windows' International date settings and returns a date in the format of
mm/dd/yy regardless of the Control Panel's International date settings (maybe
the eggheads at Microsoft should take a look at this?)  To complicate things
further, the MSMASKED controls only permitted subsequent editing of the date
value passed by the "Today" button when the value was passed as a string.  I
figured the easiest way to fix this was to scrap the whole MSMASKED thing and
revert to the standard text box controls.  The need for this fix was brought
to my attention by numerous requests from Date Calculator users all over the
world.


THANKS TO THOSE WHO HAVE SENT IN IDEAS!:

Special thanks go out to Gaetan Fortin of France, Bob Mitchell of Canada, Rodolf
Cilinger and Klaus Droske of Germany, David Poyner of Australia, and Dick
Brudzynski from Michigan in the U.S.A. for their ideas about how to improve
Date Calculator.


COMMENTS?:

Date Calculator is distributed as freeware.  This means it was written purely to
facilitate my own learning of the Visual Basic programming environment.  If you
like Date Calculator or have a constructive idea for a future enhancement,
please send me your comments via e-mail to CompuServe id # 74511,2226 or
to my Internet address, which is:  brenth@tyrell.net.  If you really like Date
Calculator, please send me a picture post card of your home town.  My snail-mail
address is:

Spyder Software
Attention:  Brent
14613 West 65th Terrace
Shawnee, Kansas  66216
U.S.A.
