README.TXT for Dan Bricklin's demo-it! 2.0 for Windows
--------------------------------------------------

This file last updated on: 06 December 1995
and refers to the version 2.0 built 01 December 1995.

Table of Contents
	- Welcome and Thank You!
	- Special Deals
	- Running the Samples
	- Technical News
	- File Listing and Descriptions

================================================================
Thank you for purchasing demo-it! - the demo builder for Windows.
You can use this versatile tool for self-running or interactive
demos, tutorials, electronic brochures and many other sales
presentations.  Please READ ON for more information and SPECIAL DEALS.

* Make sure that you send in your demo-it! registration card (you
can mail it to us or fax it to 908-389-9227).  This entitles you
to FREE tecnical support, upgrade and special product information,
and a chance to win FREE software.

* If you are having difficulties with demo-it!, please check the
following:
	- Read this file in its entirety - your answer may be here.
	- demo-it! has great on-line help. We've tried to address
	  most features and issues.
	- As a registered user, you can contact our technical
	  support department at
		
		Technical Support: 800-987-4937
				   8:00 AM - 8:00 PM EST
				   503-639-3946 FAX
	  
	   Please provide as much detail as possible.
====================================================================

* SPECIAL DEAL #1: Do you want even more help to create professional
looking demos?  We now have Dan Bricklin's Templates for demo-it! - 
your key to quick demonstrations.  The Templates provide you with
pre-defined events, transitions, text styles, color schemes, callouts
and leader lines.  You literally just point, click, and replace!.
It contains five separate beautiful templates, each for a different
look and feel for your various demos and presentations.  Plus - 
we've included lots of clip art to help you with your buttons and
slides: You'll get circles, hands, dots, arrows, and more.  These
templates normally sell for $199.  As a registered user of demo-it!,
the price is $99 - a full $100 off the retail price.  CALL TODAY AT
800-447-1995 to order your copy of Dan Bricklin's Templates for demo-it!

* SPECIAL DEAL #2: Do you need even more compression for your demo files?
Lifeboat's new utility, DMR-2-DMX, provides for two additional levels
of compression over and above the standard DMR file format.  The list
price for this great utility is $199, but it is being offered to demo-it!
users for the low price of $89.  CALL TODAY AT 800-447-1995 to order your
copy of DMR-2-DMX - the compression utility for Dan Bricklin's demo-it!

================================================================
Running the Samples and Templates:

There are many samples provided with demo-it!.  The Intro,
Overall, Harms, and Bickart samples were created with
demo-it! 1.0C and converted to demo-it! 2.0.  View intro.dmi
(e.g., "c:\demoit20\demoit.exe intro.dmi") or intro.dmr (e,g,,
"c:\demoit20\player.exe intro.dmr") to gain a quick understanding
of demo-it! and how demos are created. OverAll, Harms, and
Bickart provide examples of different styles of demos.

The Samples are run by executing "c:\demoit20\player.exe main.dmr" or
"c:\demoit20\demoit.exe main.dmi" and show many of the new features
found in demo-it! 2.0.

There are two types of demo files: DMR and DMI. DMR files are
runtime files. They are used with PLAYER.EXE. To view them,
either execute PLAYER.EXE with the filename as a command line
argument (e.g., "c:\demoit20\player.exe file.dmr"), or drag and
drop the DMR filename onto PLAYER.EXE in File Manager or
equivalent. DMI files are the files from which DMR files are
created. You load them by running DEMOIT.EXE and using the
File Open command. (To get to the menu when demo-it! is
maximized, click the right mouse button.) The .DMI file will
show you how things are done.
================================================================

Last minute demo-it! technical news:

* demo-it.exe and player.exe are 16-bit Windows 3.1 applications
which have been tested under Windows 3.1 and Windows 95.  Both can
be run under Windows 95.  In fact, you can create a Windows 95 demo
which will run on Windows 3.1 (.DMR files are created as bitmaps
and are platform independent).

* There are several issues to be aware of when using 
chaining (the "Chain a demo" action):

	- The player.exe program now knows to try to load a file 
	with the extension ".dmr" if ".dmi" is specified in
	the path.

	- Do not use the Chain action on a slide that has 
	Animate transitions. (See the problem with animate, 
	below.) Instead, Go To another slide without animation 
	and have the Chain done by a Slide Displayed event. 
	This method of going to another slide to do the 
	chain can be used if other problems (GPF's, for example) 
	show up with Chain.

	- There can be problems if you have a timer (heartbeat or 
	normal) go off while the "Do you want to chain" dialog 
	is displayed. Try to avoid this situation as described 
	above.

* Here are some general issues of which you should be aware. 
(Read them every once in a while as you get more familiar 
with demo-it! and understand their implications.)

	- Objects that appear visible because they are on an overlay 
	may be selected even though you cannot drag them or 
	appear to do other modifications. This can cause much 
	confusion, since they do not have the Visible attribute 
	set to True on the slide on which you select them. They 
	are Visible only on the overlay slide. You may set the 
	Visible setting to make that object come from the slide and 
	not from the overlay. If not, then any changes to the object 
	will not be shown (since the changes are to the value for 
	the slide, where it is invisible, not to the overlay where 
	it is visible), and you will not be able to move the object 
	by dragging it. Unfortunately, the selected object looks 
	just like a normal selected object. If you select an object 
	and changing its settings do not seem to work, check that 
	you have not chosen an object that is appearing because of 
	an overlay. (You can look for a clear Visible setting to 
	indicate this.) (LMB-0378) [Identifiers in parenthesis 
	are the internal number Software Garden is using to track 
	the issue.]

	- Events on invisible objects are triggered. For example, Slide 
	Entered events get triggered. This can be confusing, since 
	creating any new slide, even a blank one, copies the values of 
	all objects. On blank slides, though, the Visible setting is 
	set to False on all objects, but the events list is left 
	unchanged. If such an event is a problem, such as a timer, 
	just remove them from the event list on the new slide. In 
	demo-it! 2.0, unlike the 1.0 versions, all events are listed 
	in the settings box, so you can check all events at once. 
	You must select an object, though, to modify its events. 
	(LBM-0385)

	- There are sometime problems when you author with a system 
	with more than 256 colors (e.g., 16-bit color) and do 
	capturing. The colors may appear incorrect.

	- If you create an object, make a new slide that is a 
	copy, and then press Undo, you may get a GPF. Do not 
	do this sequence. (LMB-0386)

	- The system variables, _HaveSound, _ShiftKeyDown,
	_AltKeyDown, and _CtrlKeyDown, are not really Boolean 
	True/False values. They are really zero/non-zero. This 
	means that a "If _ShiftKeyDown=True" does not always 
	behave as expected. Instead, you should use
	"If _ShiftKeyDown<>False" since False is 0. (LMB-384)

	- Variables linked to line object endpoints get unexected 
	values. Instead of being set with the X/Y of the endpoint 
	they get the width/height of the rectangle enclosing 
	the line, even though they are displayed in the settings 
	box with the expected value. For example, a horizontal 
	line will have an endpoint Y value of 0. Program your 
	Sets and Ifs appropriately to view those values as 
	differences from the start point. (LMB-0383)

	- If no sets have been defined, you are still able select 
	Edit Set. Use New Set instead for the first set. (LMB-0382)

	- When you mouse down on the Stop button on the Stop icon, 
	then drag the mouse off the icon before releasing the mouse, 
	demo-it! should return focus to the main window.  Instead, 
	the Stop icon keeps the focus. You need to click on the main 
	window to give it the focus. (SR-0114)

	- The "...and then" events must all be the same. If you change 
	the first event it does not change all of the "...and then"'s. 
	For example, if you have a "Timer 0.05" event, followed by 
	an "...and then" that was created with the "Insert After" 
	button, and then change the first line to "Timer 1.0", the 
	second line will change from "...and then" to "Timer 0.05". 
	You will need to change all of the original "...and then" 
	lines to the new event to get the desired effect of executing 
	one action after another. (They will return to "...and then" 
	automatically when you make the change.) (LMB-0374)

	- Arrow keys do not move an object in a Set unless the "+" Set 
	button is pressed for the object. (LMB-0367)

	- Some undo's of deletions do not completely go back to the 
	original state. This is particularly true for overlays and 
	events that refer to slides and undeleted slides. (LMB-0355)

	- Pressing Enter does not always change the object after having 
	put a new value in an attribute field on the settings box. 
	This includes the Name and Margin fields. Try Tab. (LMB-0325)

	- Some attributes that you can modify using variables in a ".dmi" 
	file do not cause the changes in a ".dmr". This includes the 
	text color. This is because text and other objects are turned 
	into images for use in the ".dmr" file (so that fonts are 
	rendered on the authoring machine). Images do not have those 
	values defined the same way and they may have different effects 
	(e.g., the "text" color of a text object is the "transparent
	color" of an image, and the "background" color of a text object
	is the "overscan color" of an image). Always check out special
	effects in both ".dmi" and ".dmr" files. (".dmx" files should
	behave the same as ".dmr" files.) (LMB-0357)

	- Events can occur between Slide Entered and Slide Displayed on 
	slides that have objects with an Animate transition. This 
	means that a button that is pressed while animating will 
	receive a Click event. In most cases this is not a problem, 
	since all "Go to Slide" actions are postponed until after 
	the animation is completed. However, there is a problem with 
	the "Chain" action which can cause demo-it! to halt. Go to 
	another slide instead and then do the Chain from a Slide 
	Displayed event. This problem with Animate also means that 
	the "Purge Input" action will have not input to purge. 
	(Purge is still useful for slides without animate that 
	take a long time to display because of complex images.)

	- There are cases where the Settings Box is not cleared 
	from the screen when you start running. This occurs when 
	the slide immediately switches to another slide, for 
	example by doing a Go To on a "Slide Displayed" event. 
	Try starting from a different slide to avoid this 
	harmless display problem.  This is only a problem in the
	author mode, not the player mode.

	- Do not attempt to capture bitmaps of demoit.exe in author
	mode with any of its menus displayed.  There are specific
	cases where this may result ina GPF.

	- Do not attempt to capture bitmaps of demoit.exe in run mode.
	This may result in a GPF.  

* Additional issues you should be aware of:

	- If you have changed any values on any tab and then change
	slides before that value has lost focus, the change will
	take place on the *new* slide rather than the old one. Always
	press TAB or click in a new field to make sure that your
	change takes effect before changing slides. (LMB-0151)

	- If you Capture from a program that sets its own color
	palette in 256-color mode, and demo-it! is not minimized at
	the time of capture, the colors captured may be wrong. Minimize
	demo-it! before capturing. (AMG-0192)

	- When PLAYER.EXE starts running a demo, and it is not given
	an explicit slide number on the command line, it starts with
	slide 1, but does not signal the Entered or Displayed events
	for that slide. If you use these events on slide 1 on such demo,
	it will not work as expected. You may use a Timer 00:00.05 even
	to trigger something, or put an explicit reference to slide 1
	on the command line to get around this. (AMG-193)

	- When running with a 16-color screen driver, some of the
	extended colors (that is, those after the first 16) in the
	color popup may not be selectable. (LMB-0170)

	- "Undo" and "Revert" do not undo changes to overlays (adding,
	reordering, replacing, and removing) or to the order of slides.
	(AMG-0056, LMB-0174)

	- When a new object is created, its default name is based on
	the number of other objects in the demo. As a result, if you
	have deleted objects from your demo, any new objects that you
	create may be assigned duplicate names. Simply go to the
	attributes tab and change the name of your new (or old)
	objects. (LMB-0177)

	- Line objects are drawn using the Windows functions and are
	subject to the usual limitations: lines of thickness > 1 must
	be solid, and the thickness of diagonal lines may not match
	what you expect. Arrows and circles, espcially on diagonal
	lines, may not line up with the visual center of the line.
	However, what you see when editing your demo is what the user
	should see when running it; if you want to replace the
	arrowheads with a captured bitmap, you can acheive any effect
	you want. (LMB-0093)

	- The selection handles are sometimes displayed in the wrong
	color or are not properly erased when dealing with hidden
	objects or objects inherited from an overlay. Forcing a screen
	refresh will correct this. (MAS-0026)

	- While testing your demo, the "Run box" can get the focus if
	you click on its titlebar but do not drag it. If this happens,
	you can click on the slide number to send focus back to your
	demo. (AMG-0147)

	- Sometimes Alt-tab will bring focus to the main window even
	if it's been disabled by a modal dialog box. Simply click on
	the dialog box to restore its focus. (LMB-0160)

	- The drop-shadow border setting does not use transparent
	corners (for speed reasons). If you want a "real" drop-shadow,
	use a rectangle behind your object. (AMG-0188)
===================================================================
List and description of installed files:

Executables:
	- demoit.exe		Authoring program
	- keysdll2.dll		Program DLL
	- terx.dll		Program DLL
	- player.exe		demo player (MUST SHIP WITH YOUR
				DEMO)
	- demoit.hlp		Help file
	- readme.txt		Readme file
	- typing.wav		Typing sound file (MUST SHIP WITH
				YOUR DEMO IF YOU USE SIMULATED
				TYPING ACTION)
	
Samples (All .DMI files also have .DMR format file):
	- filmstrp.dmi		Sample of Filmstrip Action
	- hrtbeat.dmi		Sample of Heartbeat Event
	- main.dmi		Main DMI for Samples
	- richtext.dmi		Sample of Rich Text Object
	- scalebmp.dmi		Sample Of Bitmap Scaling
	- trnsitns.dmi		Sample of New Screen Transitions
	- typing.dmi		Sample of Simulated Typing
	- variable.dmi		Sample of the use of Variables
	- wav.dmi		Sample of New WAV Events and Actions
	- intro.dmi		Overview of demo-it!
	- overall.dmi		Example of demo-it! demo
	- bickart.dmi		Example of demo-it! demo
	- harms.dmi		Example of demo-it! demo
	- quichits.wav		WAV file for wav.dmi
	- jbgen7.wav		WAV file for bickart.dmi
	- sample.rtf		Sample RTF file
	- sample1.rtf		Sample RTF file
	- sample2.rtf		Sample RTF file
	- typing1.wav		Default typing sound
	- typing2.wav		Alternate typing sound
	- cursor.bmp		Bitmap of cursor
===================================================================

We appreciate our loyal customers.  If you have any questions or
any ideas for future versions of the Dan Bricklin's demo-it! or
any other Lifeboat products, please contact us at

	LIFEBOAT PUBLISHING
	1163 Shrewsbury Avenue
	Shrewsbury, NJ 07702
	800-447-1955
	908-389-0037
	908-389-9227 FAX


[End of README.TXT]
