GENERAL Version 5.0
Copyright (C) 1992-2001 by Allen D. Miglore.  All rights reserved.
GENERAL is a trademark of Allen D. Miglore

GENERAL is published by Synergetic Data Systems, Inc.
                        2195 Talon Drive
                        Latrobe, CA 95682
                        Phone: (530) 672-9970
                        Fax:   (530) 672-9975
			Email: sdsi@synergetic-data.com
			http://synergetic-data.com

Version 5.0B1 (Beta 1) released Jan 25, 1999
        5.0B2 (Beta 2) released September 20, 1999
        5.0B3 (Beta 3) released December 1, 2000
        5.0B4 (Beta 4) released May 10, 2001

        5.0.00 released June 7, 2001
	5.0.01 released June 26, 2001
	5.0.02 released July 11, 2001
	5.0.03 released September 4, 2001
	5.0.04 released April 15, 2002
	5.0.05 released May 1, 2002
	5.0.06 released November 19, 2002
	5.0.07 released April 21, 2003
	5.0.08 released July 7, 2003


****   INSTALLATION GUIDELINES AND PROCEDURES  ****


INTRODUCTION

GENERAL Version 5 is a set of files which all begin with the
letters "gen".  A basic rule of thumb is that all these files
must be installed into a single directory which is accessible to
Business Basic via normal directory searching.  When first
executed, GENERAL will create subdirectories TMP and LIB under the
directory where it is installed.  This is used for work files
while reports are being created.  Since GENERAL and the work
files are in the same directory tree, it is necessary that
GENERAL be installed on a file system or disk drive with adequate
space.  As the work files can get quite large, you should
probably have at least 5MB of space available, and possibly more
if your files are large or the number of users who will be
producing reports is high.

Note also that General must be able to find the BBx4 or PRO/5
compiler and lister programs with a simple OPEN command, so
it may be necessary to add the BBx4 or PRO/5 directory to the
prefix, or move the programs to an accessible location.


PERMISSIONS

Users who will use GENERAL must have read/write access to the
main directory, and read/write/execute access to the TMP
subdirectory.  In addition, users must have read/write access to
the files gen5 and gen5mst, and read access to all other gen* files.


DICTIONARY MANAGEMENT

GENERAL's dictionary file is called gen5mst.  It contains not
only file dictionary definitions, but also stored commands and
reports, and user command history.  The media that SDSI ships
contains a basic dictionary file, with definitions for the sample
files included with the package.  This dictionary file is named
gen5mst.sds.  Upon execution, GENERAL will see this ".sds" file,
and will do one of two things:

       If a gen5mst file exists, the gen5mst.sds contents will be
       merged into the existing gen5mst file, via a simple
       READRECORD/WRITERECORD copy, with overwrite protection.  The
       .sds file is then erased.

       If no gen5mst file exists, the gen5mst.sds file is renamed
       to gen5mst.


INSTALLATION PROCEDURES

If you are updating a prior gen5 installation, be sure to backup
the files in the current gen5 directory before installing this.
With this backup, you can proceed to install gen5 over the top of
an existing gen5 installation.  You should also ensure no users 
are running gen5, nor will start gen5 during the install.

If you are upgrading from gen4, you should install gen5 into a
different directory, then copy GEN4MST to gen5mst in the gen5
directory BEFORE running gen5.

From a Unix download:

1) If this is a new installation, then you should determine
what directory GENERAL will reside in, and if necessary, create
that directory and establish proper permissions with these
commands:

   mkdir /general-directory
   chmod 777 /general-directory

2) Make the GENERAL home directory the current directory:

   cd /general-directory

3) If on Unix, make sure that permissions won't be changed incorrectly:

   umask 0

4) Move the download file into the general directory.

5) Uncompress the download file:

   uncompress *.Z

6) Extract the files:

   tar xvf <downloadfile>


From a Windows download:

Just execute the self-installing .exe file, which is an Installshield
executable.  You will be prompted for an install directory during the
process.


From CD on Unix:

1) Mount the CD in a manner that allows lowercase file names.  For a table
of common mount commands, see the Installation Procedures section in the 
appendix of the manual.  A pdf version of the manual can be found in the 
gen5\doc directory on the CD.  This manual can be viewed or printed on
any system that has the free Adobe Acrobat Reader installed (most Windows
computers, especially those used for Internet access, have this software).
If you don't have it, a Windows version can be installed from the acrobat 
directory on the CD.

2) cd to the gen5/unix directory in the CD mount location.

3) execute the installation script:

   sh install.sh

This will prompt for the directory in which to install General, and the
version (BBx or ProvideX) to install.

From Windows CD:

Locate the gen5/win-bbx or gen5/win-pvx directory on the CD (as appropriate
for your environment, and execute setup.exe.  This will prompt for a 
directory in which to install General.


Start General:


Start Business Basic, with at least 512 pages (not necessary under ProvideX,
since memory is allocated as needed).  Make sure that the GENERAL directory 
is accessible.  RUN "gen5"

General will prompt for a serial number/activation key.  If you have not
purchased a key, you can press F2 at this prompt (or ESC-2 on BBx) to
run it as a demo for up to 30 days.  If you enter a valid activation,
General is branded and will no longer prompt when started.

As delivered, there is one user code: GEN.  You may add user codes from 
the USER menu option.  At least one level 9 user must be added before you 
can delete the GEN user.


5.0.01

Corrected a problem with launching a report from outside of General using
STBL settings.

5.0.02

Corrected a problem with run-time variable replacements (like [[@MASK]]),
where the replacement value contained quotes and it was used in an expression
needing quotes, like STR(NUM(PHONE):[[@MASK]]).

5.0.03

7/16/01 - Corrected a problem with STBL-based run-time variable replacements
which resulted in an error 47 in gen5-rpl.

7/16/01 - Found the following issue with Excel DDE exporting:

Excel 2000 has an option to disable DDE.  It is in the Tools, Options dialog, 
on the General tab.  If "Ignore other applications" is checked, then DDE 
exporting to Excel will fail.  General will report that it can't start Excel.

7/17/01 - If the file gen5mst is located in a directory other than the
main General directory, then the rename of gen5parm.sds to gen5parm.fil
upon first execution will fail, and the default parameters will be used
rather than those specified in gen4parm.fil.

7/17/01 - A problem with exporting to Excel directly via DDE, when a file
is specified without a .xls extension, is was corrected.

9/4/01 - To prevent accidentally turning on debug mode with the former
escape sequence Esc-Esc-0, the sequence has been changed to Esc-Esc-D,
and this method of run-time debugging is now only available to users
with an access level of 9.

9/4/01 - Corrected a problem in Prompt mode calculation entry, where the
expanded window would always be displayed after returning from a paste
operation, even if the resulting calculation would fit in the normal window.

9/4/01 - In configuration entry, the language code can now be entered in
either upper or lower case, and will be validated against the presence
of a gen5msgs.xxx file with a lower-case extension.

5.0.04

10/18/01 - fixed a problem in altfile usage causing an error message
about hdr/ftr exceeds program limit.

4/15/02 - fixed a problem with ON "[[prompt]]" file names, where the
file name entered in reponse to the prompt was ignored, and instead the
file was created with an internal marker as its name (11111nnnn99999).

Changed Windows distribution format to a zip file from a Windows self-
installing executable.

5.0.05

4/25/02 - changed no-dup to work when a no-page keyword is present

5/1/02 - changes to support FACTS 7.2 release

5.0.06

5/29/02 - added genptrs.pvx to pvx version distributions

5/30/02 - Corrected a problem with the generation of BEGIN commands
from Prompt mode reports, where non-quoted data is not automatically quoted,
which could cause a problem if the BEGIN value matched part of a BEGIN
conversion operator (CND, for example).

5/30/02 - Corrected the over-matching of BEGIN/END parameters as noted above.

5/30/02 - Corrected error 26 while printing the recap page if a run-time
prompt for a number contained a default value, like [["Enter number","N2","10000"]].

7/24/02 - removed DDE [NEW] command to Excel export, which was causing a
second workbook to be generated and left on screen.

7/24/02 - Added more wait logic to the DDE retry of Excel exporting in order
to accomodate systems that take longer the 1 second to initialize Excel
but less than 10 retries to obtain a DDE connection.

10/10/02 - Changed custom header/footer code to properly handle literals
with run-time replacements without truncation if the replacement data
exceeds 14 bytes.

11/19/02 - Changed default header code to properly handle run-time replacement
lengths without offsetting header data following the replacement.

?/?/? - Corrected an error in FACTS licensing code added in 5.0.05, when
auto-running a report using the variables X$, O$, and Y$.

5.0.07

1/3/03 - corrected problem with providex copies>1 printing as one character
per line.

1/27/03 - Corrected @key display in dictionary field maintenance record
view for 64-bit files.

2/6/03 - Corrected F2 record scrolling in dictionary field maintenance
record view for 64-bit files.

2/11/03 - Corrected error 23 in gen5vdto at 6330, due to incorrect reference
to a GBL("!DATE") under providex.

3/4/03 - Corrected message issued when a run report private to another user
is loaded.  It was a message about an unavailable report, possibly in use
by another user.  The correct message indicates the report is private to
another user.

3/24/03 - Corrected an error 26 when using a CALL in a date field
expression.

4/16/03 - Corrected a long-standing bug in referencing summary level
data between break levels in footers, such as GSUM(YTD.SLS,1) in a 
level 2 custom footer.

5.0.08

4/24/03 - Corrected a problem with altfile key references surrounded
by double quotes, possibly causing an error 46, or simply no report
data.  Single quotes worked, but double quotes were incorrectly
interpreted.

5/9/03 - Corrected an obscure error if at least 9 run-time variables
were referenced in a report.  An error 26 occurred in gen5-rpl.

7/7/03 - Corrected an error when a report was produced with no output,
and no recap page, and was sent to the ON PREVIEW device.

7/7/03 - Corrected an invalid syntax error if a report contained a title
with a plus (+) sign, such as 'TITLE "THIS + THAT"'.

5.0.??

9/29/03 - corrected old problem with @CALC field and type code of a single
open paren (, such as 'N,L12,2,P,(', resulting in type code invalid error.

9/30/03 - corrected problem with Gen's use of "title" mneumonic wiping out
customer's 'title' choice.

3/19/04 - corrected problem where default date in a prompt was getting 
reset to current date.

7/20/04 - corrected an old problem, just discovered, where a starting
key value was not honored in a two-pass report.  Few report designs
require two passes.

