Easy Street 2.7f Copyright 1993-1995, SouthTech Computing All Rights Reserved Portions Copyright Microsoft Corp., Pinnacle Publishing, Inc., and Apex Software Corp. Thank you for trying Easy Street! This is a fully functional shareware release. It helps you track your stock market investments, and features automatic download of quotes and other financial information. We hope you will find it valuable and easy to use. **************************************************************** INSTALLATION: **************************************************************** 1. Download the EZSTREET.ZIP (or EZSTR.ZIP) file. 2. Unzip to a TEMPORARY directory or two 3.5" 1.44 MB diskettes. Do not unzip to the same directory you plan to install Easy Street. 3. If you are installing the new version of Easy Street over an existing version, please backup your data and programs prior to proceeding. Note: it is very important that you backup the EZCOMM.INI file and the MODEMS.DAT file if you are installing the new version of Easy Street over an existing version 2.7 or later. These two files have settings unique to your installation. When you install a new version of Easy Street they will be overwritten by the new files sent out with every version of Easy Street. To retain your unique settings, omitting the need to setup your modem again, when you have completed installing the new version of Easy Street, copy these two files back to your Easy Street directory. 4. Under Windows, select the File menu Run option. Under Windows 95, click the Start button, and choose Run. Run the setup.exe program from the temporary directory or diskette. 5. Answer the prompt for the name of the directory you want to install to. Do not install Easy Street to the same directory you unzipped it to. 6. The Windows VSHARE.386 or DOS SHARE.EXE program must be loaded to use Easy Street, if you are not using Windows 95. If you get a Sharing Violation error when attempting to start up Easy Street, add VSHARE.386 to the SYSTEM.INI file OR SHARE.EXE to the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. VSHARE.386 is preferred. Windows 95 users can ignore this step. VSHARE is automatically included in Windows 95. VSHARE.386 in SYSTEM.INI file: In more recent installations of Windows VSHARE.386 is included to handle file sharing. It can be found in the Windows/System subdirectory. It is loaded when Windows starts up from a command in the Windows SYSTEM.INI file. You can verify this by checking the [386Enh] section of your Windows SYSETM.INI for the entry 'device=vshare.386'. If this option is specified and VSHARE.386 is located in your Windows/System subdirectory, then the sharing requirements of Easy Street are met. If the option is not included in the SYSTEM.INI file, then add it, ensuring the VSHARE.386 file is available. OR SHARE.EXE in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file: Add the following line to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, before the Windows startup command: C:\DOS\SHARE.EXE /L:500 /F:5100 This addition assumes your DOS directory is C:\DOS. If this is not the case, substitue the correct DOS directory in the command line. Ensure the SHARE.EXE program is in your DOS directory. 7. WINDOWS 95 USERS: you will probably need to copy the GRAPH.VBX, GSW.EXE and GSWDLL.DLL files from the EZSTREET directory to your WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory. 8. If you installed the new version of Easy Street over an existing version, please remember to restore the EZCOMM.INI and MODEMS.DAT files that you previously backed up in step 3 to the Easy Street directory. If you did not remember to backup these two file, it is not a big problem, just use the Easy Street menu options Settings|Port and Settings|Modem to set up your modem again. 9. Run Easy Street and review Help for more information. Note: you MUST use the setup program to uncompress the files and install them to the proper directories. Also, installing the new version of Easy Street will not affect existing portfolio data, except when loading the existing data into Easy Street. When loading existing data (pre-version 2.1) into Easy Street, a data conversion process will automatically be performed. It is recommended you backup your existing data and programs prior to installing this version of Easy Street, although Easy Street will automoatically make a data backup prior to conversion. If you have suggestions, questions, or problems, contact: SouthTech Computing P.O. Box 951947 Lake Mary, FL 32795-1947 Voice: 407-321-4871 CompuServe: 72315,16 **************************************************************** REGISTRATION **************************************************************** This is a fully functional copy of the Easy Street software. This version of Easy Street is distributed as shareware. You are encouraged to use Easy Street on your desktop computers at home and at work, and on your notebook computer on the road. You are also encouraged to share Easy Street with your friends and associates, and to post it on any bulletin boards, on-line forums, or FTP sites that you frequent. We ask that you distribute the entire Easy Street package with all (and only) the original files in the original condition in which you received them. You may not sell or charge others for using Easy Street. SouthTech Computing retains full and exclusive rights of ownership and distribution of the Easy Street software. If you find Easy Street to be useful and continue to use it after a reasonable evaluation period, you are encouraged to register your copy. The registration fee is $30.00 US, payable by check in U.S. funds drawn on a U.S. bank, or by international postal money orders in U.S. funds. North American residents include $3.00 for shipping/handling, others include $5.00. Florida residents please include 6% sales tax ($1.80). Registered users will receive the latest version (3.0) on diskette along with a printed user guide. You will also be notified when new releases become available. Easy Street v3.0 includes a Financial Statement capability as well as other enhancements. Easy Street's financial statement provides asset and liability tracking. Through the Easy Street Financial Statement, you can know within seconds your Net Worth. In addition, you can use a cash or trading account to record all stock purchases and sales. Portfolios can be assigned to Accounts to reflect your current portfolio value in your Financial Statement. To order direct from SouthTech Computing, please complete the registration form, which can be found in the Help, and make checks payable to SouthTech Computing. COMPUSERVE SHAREWARE REGISTRATION You may register on-line through the CompuServe Shareware Registration Service. To access CompuServe Shareware Registration, use GO SWREG. The Easy Street shareware registration ID is 6999. CREDIT CARD ORDERS ONLY You can order with MC, Visa, Amex, or Discover from Public (software) Library by calling 800-2424-PsL (800-242-4775) or 713-524-6394 or by FAX to 713-524-6398 or by CIS Email to 71355,470. You can also mail credit card orders to PsL at P.O.Box 35705, Houston, TX 77235-5705. Ask for Easy Street, product #14176. THE ABOVE NUMBERS ARE FOR CREDIT CARD ORDERS ONLY. SOUTHTECH COMPUTING CANNOT BE REACHED AT THESE NUMBERS. Any questions about the status of the shipment of the order, refunds, registration options, product details, technical support, volume discounts, dealer pricing, site licenses, non-credit card orders, etc, must be directed to SouthTech Computing at the address shown below. To insure that you get the latest version, PsL will notify us the day of your order and we will ship the product directly to you. **************************************************************** IMPORTANT! **************************************************************** If you were using a previous version of Easy Street, you must review your modem setup under the Settings menu, Port option, Modem option, and Session option. The modem setup has changed extensively. Refer to the Changes in version 2.7 section of this README.TXT file or Help for additional information. Note: when selecting the model of your modem, if you do not see the exact model, select the closest one. Testing has shown that you should use the Auto-reliable or MNP-4 mode entry for your modem if there is one listed and your exact modem model is not listed. Special note to U.S. Robotics modem users and other users of 14.4 or greater modems, Easy Street now works at the higher baud rates. When setting the baud rate under the Settings|Port option, consider the following recommendations: set the baud rate to 57.6Kbps for 16550 UART chip set, 38.4Kbps for a 16450 UART, or 19.2Kbps for an 8250 UART. **************************************************************** Changes in version 2.7f **************************************************************** 1. A new Quotes History Report is included on the Reports menu. The Quotes History report option enables you to print out quote history for all securities or a selected security. In addition, you can specify a date range for printing quote history. The Quotes History Report shows the stock symbol and name, the date and time of the quote, the high, low, and close bids, and the amount of change and volume. This option can be found on the Reports menu as well as the Price History window. 2. Corrected a problem that prevented current quote for a security from being updated after downloading quotes immediately after adding the new security to a portolio. **************************************************************** Changes in version 2.7e **************************************************************** 1. Corrected fatal error that would occur after automatic quote download if the main program window is minimized on the task bar under Windows 95. 2. Corrected problem that prevented current quote for a security from being updated after downloading quotes if the user is in a time zone different than the time zone of the reporting exchange. This correction is related to the change in version 2.6b that uses the actual quote date reported from CIS and the exchange instead of the date in the user's PC. **************************************************************** Changes in version 2.7d **************************************************************** 1. Corrected 'Illegal Function Call' message on startup if Auto Dial Frequency set to anything but zero. 2. Miscellaneous cosmetic fixes. **************************************************************** Changes in version 2.7c **************************************************************** 1. Corrected 'Device Unavailable' error when trying to connect to Compuserve using a comm port other than COMM1 and another program or mouse driver is active on COMM1. 2. Changed Settings|Color to enable extended color dialogue that allows user defined colors. **************************************************************** Changes in version 2.7b **************************************************************** 1. Corrected the 'Split' transaction so that it adjusts historical quotes prior to the date of the split. 2. Corrected the Securities|Delete function so that if transactions are deleted, the securities record number of shares and amount invested are also cleared. **************************************************************** Changes in version 2.7a **************************************************************** 1. Corrected Port settings dialogue so that it always loads the previously saved settings. 2. Modified to handle use of CompuServe character set 'ANSI' instead of 'ASCII', which caused previous versions to time out during logon. 3. Made main Easy Street window and portfolio display sizeable. When screen is resized, the portfolio window is resized in proportion to the main window. Columns on the portfolio dispaly are also sizeable. Settings for screen size and column widths are retained between sessions. Made similar change to the Unrealized Gain display (under Transactions menu). Also changed the View Transactions History display columns to be sizeable and horizontally scrollable (to view possibly hidden columns), but these settings are not retained between sessions. **************************************************************** Changes in version 2.7 **************************************************************** 1. Implemented new communication controls/drivers with new port and modem setup dialogues. To setup the new communications capabilities on your computer: a. Select the Settings|Port menu option. Enter the appropriate port settings for your computer. For US Robotics 14.4 (or most other 14,400 or greater modems), set the baud rate to 57,600. For slower modems, set the line speed to the maximum speed of your modem. Standard settings for CompuServe are 7 data bits, Even parity, and 1 stop bit. Set Flow control to RTS/CTS flow control. Set Echo off. Set the comm port to the correct comm port for your system. Set DTR on. Set RTS on. Save your port settings. Settings are saved in your Easy Street directory in file EZCOMM.INI. b. Select the Settings|Modem menu option. Select the make of your modem, i.e. USR, Hayes, etc. Select the model of your modem, or the closest one. NOTE: testing has shown that you should use the Auto-reliable or MNP-4 mode entry for you modem if it has one. If you are not sure of your modem brand, select Hayes Compatible. To view/changes the modem settings for the selected modem, select the Utility|Edit Settintgs menu option from the modem setup dialogue. Save your modem settings. Settings are saved in your Easy Street directory in file EZCOMM.INI. NOTE: the first time you run the modem setup dialogue, if your modem doesn't respond when you press 'OK', turn it off and back on, then try again. This may be due to an incompatible default. c. Select the Settings|Session menu option. If you were previously using Easy Street, these settings should already be set. If you are a new user, enter your CompuServe ID, password, and CompuServe access number. This dialogue is also where you enter the modem autodial frequency. Save your settings. These settings are saved in your Easy Street directory in file EZSTREET.INI. You should now be ready to dial CompuServe to download current quotes, company info, or historical quotes. If your modem has trouble connecting, you may need to try a different modem make/model, or you may need to adjust the default modem initialization string provided for your modem. 2. Quotes|Import/Export options: now include functionality to import/export two file formats, comma delimited and quote quote qualifiers. The Quote qualifier format was added for users of the international currency format where decimal identifiers are commas. 3. Updated to handle international currencies and dates. **************************************************************** Changes in version 2.6b **************************************************************** 1. Added notification of waiting e-mail and ENS news in the current quotes report. 2. Fixed current quotes print button to print entire report, not just first couple of pages. 3. Added menu option under 'Reports' to view last current quotes report. 4. Added menu option under 'Reports' to view last communications log. 5. Adjusted the get quotes script to handle recent changes in message CIS formats, including fix to allow download of DJ 30 quote. 6. Modified get quotes to record the last change date/time reported by CIS instead of current PC time. 7. Adjusted logon scripts. 8. Splits no longer adjust historical quotes database. 9. Import quotes and Get Historical Quotes (from CIS) now update the security current quote if imported/downloaded quote is more current than the current quote of the security. 10. Get company info no longer hangs if invalid company symbol is entered. Note: it won't continue downloading a list of multiple copmanies, but instead logs off immediatlely without hanging the modem. In this case you will have to retry the download after removing the bad symbol from the list. 11. Miscellaneous cosmetic fixes. **************************************************************** Changes in version 2.6a **************************************************************** 1. Corrected Portfolio report to display totals correctly. Formatting was only showing 1000s of dollars. Also added decimals to number of units and added a column for current quote amount. 2. Modified Transaction Summary report to include decimals with unit quantities. **************************************************************** New for version 2.6 **************************************************************** 1. New feature to allow downloading company information or historical quotes for multiple securities in one session. This is accomplished by making multiple selections on the Portfolio display window. To use the new multiple selection feature for Company Info and Historical Quotes: a. Open the portfolio containing the securities you wish to update. b. Move the mouse pointer to the extreme left area of the first column of the row containing the security to be selected. The cursor will change from an arrow to a 'check mark'. c. While the cursor is a 'check mark', click in the leftmost area to select the highlighted security. Do not click on the check box unless you wish to change the 'force display' status of the row. The force display status box for 'view all' is independent and not affected by multiple selection. d. Repeat the selection process for each security to be included. To unselect a security, just click again in the selection area. While selecting multiple securities, the highlight bar changes from blue to red. Selected securities are displayed as red on white, or white on red if currently highlighted. Unselected securities are displayed in the normal blue on white colors, or black on red if currently highlighted. e. Select either the 'Securities/Get Company Info' option or the 'Quotes/Historical Quotes' option to download company info or historical quotes for the selected securities. All the securities will be updated in one session. Two new menu options under the 'Securities' menu are provided to 'Select All' securities and to 'Unselect All' securites. 2. New feature to allow deletion of all transactions and/or quotes for a security. This feature is useful if you frequently import quotes from another source and would like to delete the existing data before re-importing. The 'Securities/Delete' option now includes a dialogue that lets you specify whether to delete the security (along with all its related quotes and transactions), only the quotes, only the transactions, or quotes and transactions, leaving the security information intact. Highlight the desired security and select the 'Security/Delete' menu option. Check the appropriate boxes and press 'OK' to proceed, or press 'Cancel' to cancel the deletion. Note that if you select only 'Security', then quotes and transactions are also deleted. It is not possible to delete a security and leave the quotes and transactions. You will receive a confirmation message to verify the action you specified before proceeding. **************************************************************** New for version 2.5 **************************************************************** 1. New feature to allow copying security info between portfolios. to use the new feature, first open the portfolio to which you want to copy security information. Then, select the 'Securities' menu, then select the 'copy' option. From the file select dialogue, select the portfolio file from which you which to copy security info. Then select the security or securities to be copied from the list. Finally, specify what data to copy, i.e. just the basic security info, quotes, and/or transactions. Press 'OK' to complete the copy operation or 'Cancel' to cancel. 2. Minor correction to the logoff/disconnect routines. 3. Corrected floating point rounding errors for fractions of units bought and sold. **************************************************************** New for version 2.4 **************************************************************** 1. You can now specify the default portfolio to be opened when Easy Street is started. Before, Easy Street always opened portfolio 'MAIN.PFO'. Now, you can open a portfolio, select the 'File/Default' menu option, and specify the currently opened portfolio to be the portfolio that is opened when Easy Street is started. 2. New Auto-Update feature. This feature lets you specify a list of portfolios to be updated whenever the 'Current Quotes' (download quotes) option is selected. To enable this feature: a. Select the 'Settings/Auto-update' menu option. b. Click the 'Add' button. c. Select a portfolio file to be added to the list and click 'OK' d. Repeat b and c for each portfolio you want to add to the list e. Click the 'Auto Update Enabled' checkbox on f. Click the 'OK' button Now, each time you select 'Current Quotes' (or click on the get quotes toolbar icon), Easy Street downloads quotes for the currently open portfolio, then proceeds to download quotes for each portfolio in the list. If the currently open portfolio is also in the list, it is skipped, that is it will not update the same portfolio twice since it was already updated. To temporarily disable the feature without modifying the list, simply turn off the 'Auto Update Enabled' checkbox. This will cause Easy Street to only update the currently open portfolio and not process the entire list. When you want to resume auto-update, turn the 'Auto Update Enabled' checkbox back on. Note: the reports that are displayed after each download are written to file 'ezqrpt.txt' in your Easy Street directory. This file can be viewed with a text editor such as Windows Notepad and/or printed. 3. Communications routines enhanced to implement the above new features and for improved handling of the communications port to better handle a wider variety of modems and settings. 4. Changed quote download routine to handle recent change in CompuServe response to 'xxxx not found' message when an invalid symbol is included in the portfolio. **************************************************************** Fixes in version 2.3 **************************************************************** 1. Changed to correctly handle price data conversion for users with different Windwos Control Panel currency formatting options. **************************************************************** Fixes in version 2.2 **************************************************************** 1. Comm port setup for historical quotes and company info changed to be consistent with current quotes. 2. Portfolio report lists all owned securities, not just the ones displayed on the portfolio screen. 3. Automatic new user e-mail notification feature removed. **************************************************************** New for version 2.0 (see help for details) **************************************************************** 1. New moving average graph (Quotes menu) 2. New unrealized/annualized gain calculation (Transactions menu) 3. New portfolio history display/graph (Securities menu) 4. New notes database capability (Securities menu) 5. New voice/sound options for price download (Settings menu) 6. New option to force include securities in portfolio view 7. Enhanced table/grid displays 8. Enhanced graph options and printing 9. Enhanced price download report with price alerts 10. Modem setup now supports 14.4KB line speed 11. Right button on portfolio view now pops up security edit window 12. Click on price history graph point reveals data detail screen **************************************************************** EASY STREET FILES AND DIRECTORIES **************************************************************** NOTE: EZSTREET refers to the directory in which you installed Easy Street when you ran the Setup program. WINDOWS\SYSTEM refers to your Windows System directory and could be named differently on your system. FILE DIRECTORY ---- --------- EZSTREET.EXE EZSTREET EZSTREET.HLP EZSTREET MODEMS.DAT EZSTREET PERS.MOD EZSTREET PFO.MOD EZSTREET README.TXT EZSTREET GRAPH.VBX EZSTREET GSW.EXE EZSTREET GSWDLL.DLL EZSTREET SETUP.EXE EZSTREET SETUP.LST EZSTREET DING.WAV EZSTREET EZF0.WAV EZSTREET EZF1.WAV EZSTREET EZF2.WAV EZSTREET EZF3.WAV EZSTREET EZF4.WAV EZSTREET EZF5.WAV EZSTREET EZF6.WAV EZSTREET EZF7.WAV EZSTREET EZF8.WAV EZSTREET EZF9.WAV EZSTREET EZFALERT.WAV EZSTREET EZFDOWN.WAV EZSTREET EZFGETQ.WAV EZSTREET EZFHAVQ.WAV EZSTREET EZFPOINT.WAV EZSTREET EZFPORT.WAV EZSTREET EZFUP.WAV EZSTREET EZM0.WAV EZSTREET EZM1.WAV EZSTREET EZM2.WAV EZSTREET EZM3.WAV EZSTREET EZM4.WAV EZSTREET EZM5.WAV EZSTREET EZM6.WAV EZSTREET EZM7.WAV EZSTREET EZM8.WAV EZSTREET EZM9.WAV EZSTREET EZMALERT.WAV EZSTREET EZMDOWN.WAV EZSTREET EZMGETQ.WAV EZSTREET EZMHAVQ.WAV EZSTREET EZMPOINT.WAV EZSTREET EZMPORT.WAV EZSTREET EZMUP.WAV EZSTREET EZMEMAIL.WAV EZSTREET EZFEMAIL.WAV EZSTREET CMDIALOG.VBX WINDOWS\SYSTEM COMMDLG.DLL WINDOWS\SYSTEM MMSYSTEM.DLL WINDOWS\SYSTEM MSAES110.DLL WINDOWS\SYSTEM MSAFINX.DLL WINDOWS\SYSTEM MSAJT110.DLL WINDOWS\SYSTEM MSMASKED.VBX WINDOWS\SYSTEM TRUEGRID.VBX WINDOWS\SYSTEM VBDB300.DLL WINDOWS\SYSTEM VBRUN300.DLL WINDOWS\SYSTEM VER.DLL WINDOWS\SYSTEM PDQCOMMX.DLL WINDOWS\SYSTEM PDQCOMM2.VBX WINDOWS\SYSTEM In addition, Easy Street creates an EZSTREET.INI file, an EZCOMM.INI file, and an EZPLIST.LST in the EZSTREET directory the first time it is run. A MAIN.PFO portfolio database file is also created in the EZSTREET directory the first time Easy Street is run. Any other portfolio files you create are created in the directory you specify when you create them. Each time you download quotes, Easy Street creates a file called EZCOMM.LOG in the EZSTREET directory. If you are installing over a version prior to 2.1, the MAIN.PFO is automatically upgraded. Other portfolio databases are upgraded the first time they are accessed by the new version. To uninstall Easy Street, delete all the files in the Easy Street directory. The files in the WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory are common files used by many Windows applications. It is not recommended that you delete the files in the WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory unless you are absolutely sure they are not used by any other applications. **************************************************************** Special note to users of Visual Basic or applications that use Visual Basic GRAPH controls: **************************************************************** Easy Street version 2.7 includes an upgraded distribution version of the Pinnacle Publishing Graphics Server and ChartBuilder graphing custom control. The new version of the graph control is not compatible with the version shipped with Visual Basic or any applications that use that version. (The version shipped with Easy Street is a distribution version and cannot be used for VB development. To obtain a licensed development version of the new graph controls, contact Pinnacle Publishing directly at 206-251-3513.) As a workaround, Easy Street installs the new graph DLL and VBX files into its own application subdirectory and does NOT replace the versions installed into the WINDOWS\SYSTEM subdirectory by VB or other VB applications. The original graph controls are still accessible to VB or other VB applications. Unfortunately, there is a potential conflict because both versions of the graph controls use the same internal module names. According to Pinnacle Publishing, this should not cause a problem as long as Easy Street is always run before any other VB application that use the earlier graph controls. This problem will be resolved in a future version of Easy Street that incorporates new versions of the Pinnacle Publishing Graphics Server and Chartbuilder custom controls when they are available.