--------------------------------------------- =========================================== Tolkien Calendar based upon BIRTHDAY! millennium version 3.20 (22.08.2000) =========================================== --------------------------------------------- ======== Contents ======== Notification Tolkien Calendar Distribution System requirements Contents of this archive Installing the program Using the program Date formats About TC author About B!m authors ------------ Notification ------------ BIRTHDAY! millennium / Tolkien Calendar IS DISTRIBUTED "AS IS". NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND IS EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED. YOU USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. THE AUTHOR WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR DATA LOSS, DAMAGES, LOSS OF PROFITS OR ANY OTHER KIND OF LOSS WHILE USING OR MISUSING THIS SOFTWARE. ---------------- Tolkien Calendar ---------------- This program is the calendar of the events depicted in J. R. R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" novel and the calendar of Imladris adapted for the Gregorian reckoning. It is based upon a freeware program called BIRTHDAY! millennium and basically is its special edition which uses the original program's features with special data and new interface. It reminds you about great Middle-earth events as they are listed in "The Tale of Years" (and several other sources) and allows you to reckon the time as the Elves did by the Reckoning of Imladris. The unique algorithm of precise correlation of our two calendars is based upon Tolkien's own ideas and is described in calendars.htm file. You can also use TC to remind about your friends' birthdays, for example about JRRT's one. Tolkien Calendar allows you to change its interface by using 'skins' which you can create yourself. They can be of any size and form. You can find an instruction about the creation of one at the original B!m Site (the only difference is that in Tolkien Calendar you don't need to zip the files, TC skin consists of four unarchieved files) Status bar shows current Gregorian date, time and a running line where you can insert aphorisms or your favorite JRRT quotes. You can change notification period from 1 to 364 days and set up an autoexit delay. The program can start once a day, show one running per start and has the great realization of manual and automatic scrolling. TC minimizes in icon in system tray. There are many date formats. You can choose sound file for the notification of present events. ------------------- System Requirements ------------------- Nothing special but color depth should not be less than 16 bit. Preferred screen resolution is 800x600. ------------ Distribution ------------ This program is distributed freely (FREEWARE). You may not rent, lease, sell, modify, decompile, disassemble or otherwise reverse engineer or gain profit out of this program. ------------------------ Contents of this archive ------------------------ birthen.exe - the program itself calendars.htm - an article about Middle-earth and our calendars and their correlation holidays.txt - data file with LotR events messages.txt - data file with elven calendar events readme.txt - the text you are reading right now aboute.bmp } cursor.cur } an additional skin tolkien2e.bmp } tolkien2e.bsd } ---------------------- Installing the program ---------------------- To install the program you are to create a program folder on your computer (for example, C:\Program Files\Tolkien Calendar) and copy all the files included in this archive there. Next you are to run the program file in that folder. Answer two questions. Tolkien Calendar will run. ----------------- Using the program ----------------- Brief tips on various window elements are available by moving the mouse pointer over them and holding it there for some time In more detail about: w i n d o w h e a d e r: double-clicking on the title ("Tolkien Calendar") the window will be moved to the upper left corner of the display Pressing the [>>] button will bring down the menu (you may also open it by pressing Ctrl). There are also three buttons on the right: [!] - shows the authors info window, [_] - hides the window of the program, [X] - quits the program m e n u: Help | Hide | Exit - shows help file, minimizes and quits the program. Options > Birthdays | Holidays | Planned events | Aphorisms - open windows for editing files with the dates for each of message windows. Options > Settings... - allows you: - start the program in hidden mode ('Hidden on start'); - make the program start once a day ('Run once a day'); - show/hide tooltips ('Tips off'); - enable/disable autoscrolling of the messages ('Autoscrolling'); - set up the autoexit delay ('Exit after...'). You can stop autoexit any time by clicking on autoexit countdown or pressing Esc key; - see only one running per program start ('One running per start'); - disable past days notification ('Hide Yesterday's messages'); - fix the notification period from 1 to 364 days ('Remind before'); - change scrolling and running speed ('Running speed'); - define sound files for current notification messages for significant dates and planned events separately ('Sound'); For better results I recommend you to use these settings: "Autolisting", "Exit after 20 seconds", "Don't show Yesterday" and "Remind before 2 days". Options > Skin - allows you to choose the skin - main skin (Options > Skin > Default) or other TC Skins (you can find them on B!m site). By the way, you can do Skins yourself (on the site too). w i n d o w i t s e l f: The window of Tolkien Calendar is divided into 2 message parts: 'Today in Midle-earth' (Significant dates) - in this window you are reminded of great Midle-earth events; 'Calendar of Imladris' (Planned events) - in this window the current date in elven calendar is shown. If not all the messages can be placed in the message window ('Today in Middle-earth' or 'Calendar of Imladris') arrows appear offering you to scroll messages. You can do it by two ways: - by clicking arrow; - by moving the mouse while pressing the left mouse button (cursor becomes a hand). If there are messages of a current day the Icon placed in the system tray will be flashing until you move the cursor in the window of the program. You can update the program window by pressing F5 key (it is needed after editing the files with dates). You can bring the program window to a foreground by clicking the left mouse button (or by pressing Alt+Ins, Alt+Del hides the window). Also you can call the menu of BIRTHDAY! millennium by clicking the right mouse button. h y p e r l i n k s: You can insert hyperlinks in your messages, enclosing them in tags <>. Thus, by clicking the mouse pointer on your messages you may open a webpage, a file for editing or any application. For example: 01/04 It is time to read "The Lord of the Rings" again! 05/05/2000 Must write to a fellow tolkienite Mo1 Visit the Tolkien Calendar webpage ------------ Date Formats ------------ Although Tolkien Calendar has a complete list of glorious and significant Middle-earth events, you may add your particular ones (for example if you're absolutely sure that Gollum's birthday is April 1 and are eager to celebrate it) Full description of date formats: DDTTNN/MM/YYYY SS where: DD - day of month 1-28 (29,30,31); TT - day of week Su, Mo, Tu, We, Th, Fr, Sa; NN - number of the weekday of the month (0-5); if the number is 0 or absent it means the nearest weekday of the month; if the number is 5 it means the last weekday of the month; MM - month (1-12); YYYY - year (4-digits); if the year is bigger than the current the message is not shown; SS - Text of the message. All possible date formats are listed below: DD DDTT DDTTNN DDTTNN/MM DDTTNN/MM/YYYY DD/MM/YYYY TT TT/MM TT/MM/YYYY TTNN TTNN/MM TTNN/MM/YYYY If your date format is wrong the program will show an error message with the filename and the line number. Be attentive! --------------- About TC author --------------- Tolkien Calendar as a whole, the calendars correlation theory and the calculations behind it, as well as the "Tolkien Calendar" skins were created by me, Elenhil Laiquendo (also known as Boris Shapiro) in 2000-2003. I thank J.R.R. Tolkien for his books, Shihali Ramichu and others for their help, and the undermentioned authors for their great program and their kindness. E-MAIL: elenhil@pcweek.ru WEB: http://www.elvish.org/gwaith/calendar/calendar.htm ----------------- About B!m authors ----------------- Please, do not bother them with Tolkien, they're just ordinary mortals ;) Programming Oleg Pehovsky Support Alex Kuchmin Special thanks to Sasha Pavlova for the initial graphic interface. E-MAIL: birthmil@pisem.net WEB: http://graphica.newmail.ru Hope that you will find Tolkien Calendar useful!