                             MBTA

MBTA Evaluation Copy  c 1994 by Peter Neuendorffer.
                                                                  .
Table of Contents     Mbta.exe:

                                Forward                         (1)
                                Installation                    (2)
                                Getting Directions              (3)
                                Bus Information and Options     (7)
                                General Questions              (10)
                                Technical Notes                (10)

                       Database for Mbta.exe:                  (11)
                       Easy.exe:                               (13)

To Register this program:    Send $30.00 to Peter Neuendorffer
1399 Commonwealth Ave Apt 11 Allston, MA 02134   Tel 617-254-2213
Internet petern@channel1.com

           MBTA is software for IBM and compatible personal computers.
           (PC, XT, AT, PS-2, 386, 486 etc.) You need 640K RAM of memory.
           A color monitor is optional, and a serial Mouse is optional.
           MBTA must be installed on your hard drive, requiring 700K of
           disk space for Mbta.exe , and 200K disk space for Easy.exe.


           MBTA Bus gives directions on the Boston Area T public
           transportation system, including bus routes, commuter rail,
           and subways. It accepts about 500 bus and subway stops as well
           as 250 points of interest. It was created using the Pascal
           language of Turbo Pascal, a product of Borland International,
           Scotts Valley, CA.

           To get directions in the main program, you type in where
           you are starting - <copley> for example - and press the Enter
           key. You then type in where you are going- <Inman Square> for
           example, and press the Enter key. You then see the words
           "Searching" in the lower part of the screen. When your route
           is found, it is displayed at the main window of the screen.
           The subway portion of your route is displayed on the map at
           the right in dots (blinking on a color system).

           If for some reason your route is not found, a bright white
           box will appear saying "Route Not Found". The menus in MBTA
           offer information about buses, and listings of the stops so
           you can select starting and destination places without typing
           at the keyboard. MBTA is designed so that if you have a
           Serial mouse installed, you never need to use the keyboard to
           find routes. To get to the main menu, type Alt-M (the Alt key
           held down along with the "M" key), or the Page Up key.

           If you have any questions about MBTA, please feel free to
           phone  617-789-4516, 7PM to 10PM EST, and ask for Peter
           Neuendorffer. The enclosed copy of MBTA is licensed for use on
           one system only, unless otherwise arranged with the author.











                      MBTA.EXE INSTALLATION                     (2)


        Installation for MBTA.EXE is straightforward.
        --------------------------------


           To Copy the files:
           Move to your hard drive.
           Make a subdirectory
           Move to the hard drive and subdirectory.
           Insert MBTA.EXE program disk in floppy drive.
           Copy all files on MBTA.EXE disk to the new subdirectory.
:::::::>   Note: Always run the program MBTA from within this directory.
:::::::>   MBTA.EXE needs the MBTA.EXE file,
           and all files with "drv" extension.


            Example:    <c:>  <Enter>
                        <cd\> <Enter>
                        <md mbta> <Enter>
                        <cd mbta> <Enter>
                        <copy a:\*.*>

             --------------------------------

           Setup program:

           Now run the program MBTASET

           Example <mbtaset> <enter>
           Type Y for yes, N for no to the questions:
               Are you using a color monitor?
               Are you using a serial mouse?
               Do you want to enter place to call "here".
           If you answered Yes to last question, then type
           in a subway or bus stop you with MBTA to call "here".
           This is optional. You may set mouse sensitivity from 1 to 4.
           Left-Clicking the mouse is the same as Enter.
           Right-Clicking the mouse is the same as Escape.


           About this manual:
           The following conventions are used.
           To indicate what you type at the keyboard, words or
           letters are enclosed in brackets, like so:
           <copley> <Enter>  means to type the word copley and
           then to press the Enter key.
           Up-arrow, and Dn-arrow refer to the arrow keys on your key-
           board. They are at the bottom inbetween the numberkeypad
           and the letters on an AT style keyboard.
           PgUp, and PgDn refer to the PgUp and PgDn keys.
           Esc means the Escape key. Enter means the Enter key.
           Right mouse click, Left mouse click means to push the
           right or left mouse button respectively and release them.
           When a word is in quotations, it means a menu item as
           you see it on the screen; for Example:   "Metro".
           Quotes are also used to talk about screen messages;
           for example "Your Route not Found".
           The ::::::::> sign means a point to especially note.






                           GETTING DIRECTIONS MBTA.EXE          (3)


           There are two ways to get directions in MBTA .
           Typing in where you are starting, and enter;
           then typing where you are
           going, and enter.

                Example: <copley> <Enter>    <dudley square> <Enter>

           You also may get information on a stop after typing
           it in by pressing F2.

           The second way is to use the menu system, to wit, the
           Metro option. That way you can choose where you are
           starting and where you are going without typing in the
           name. You can use either the arrow and PgUp PgDn keys to
           do this, or you may use the mouse. Getting to the Main
           Menu is done by typing <Alt-M> or Left-Click the Mouse.
           ---------------------------------------------------------
           Also, from the DOS command line, you may type
           <MBTA from here to there> <ENTER>
           where "here" and "there" are names of stops you wish
           to travel. So from DOS, you could type
           <MBTA from harvard to park><ENTER> to get directions
           from Harvard to Park. THis is a quick method, which
           takes you out of the program after getting directions.


           MBTA recognizes all subway stop names, as well as key
           bus route stops for 100 bus routes. It also recognizes
           commuter rail stop names.

           The program will find the directions. All you have to do
           is  give it the name of your start point and where you are
           going. Many stops do not need a city name. You may print
           your directions, if any, by pressing Alt-P when no menus
           are visible.


     ::::>  In fact, you should not ask for, say
           <dudley square roxbury>. <dudley square> will do.
           If you wanted <acton> you could use that, of course.

     ::::>  MBTA  does not care whether you type capital or lowercase
           letters; it is therefore "not case sensitive".

           Under the Questions and Answers and  Bus information and
           options portions of this manual, you may find out how to
           tailor your request. These sections will also explain why
           certain routes are "Not Found".

           -----------------------------------------------------------------

           To get to the main menu in MBTA , you type <Alt-M>.
           This means to hold down the key marked Alt and then also
           press the M letter key.

           To end Mbta , you can press the <F6> key.

           ----------------------------------------------------------------





           Getting Directions Mbta.exe continued.               (4)
           Using the Menus in MBTA can be fun. Get to the main menu by
           typing <Alt-M> or Page Up  or Left-Click the mouse.
           A menu should pop on the left hand top of the screen.

                                     Metro
                                     Go
                                     Reverse
                                     Info Go
                                     Options
                                     Bus
                                     Commuter
                                     Place
                                     Subway
                                     Telephone
                                     Database
                                     Help
                                     Quit

           GO and REVERSE will execute the route requested at the bottom
           of the screen.

           INFO GO will execute the route requestted at the bottom of
           the screen. However the difference from GO is that the
           directions have a highlighted bar. Move the bar up and down
           the screen and press Enter. (choose a line that has directions).
           Alternate buses or subway for that PORTION of the route will
           appear in the window at the right of the screen. When done,
           press Escape to exit INFO GO.

           TELEPHONE will give you a list of usefule telephone
           numbers. Database, if installed, will allow you to change
           the routes and add your own points of interest. Database
           is described in the database section of this manual.

           METRO
           When you have "Where starting:" and "Where going" filled in,
           you can get your route by moving the Up or Dn arrow keys to
           "Metro" and hitting <Enter>. Or you may simply type the first
           letter of the menu item you desire. This 'first letter' bit
           works for this menu and any second level menu in the program.
           When you are done with this menu, you can 'pop it off' by
           pressing <Esc>, or Right-Click the mouse.

           The Left-Click on the mouse, in fact is always a substitute
           for <Enter>, and the Right-Click on the mouse is always a
           substitute for <Esc>.

::::::::>  Now back to the using the Main Menu to get directions:
           After Selecting Metro: <M>,
           you will now get another menu ontop of the last. Remember,
           any time you want to go back, press the <Esc> key.
           This menu offers you "Boston" "North" "West" and "South".
           Try selecting "Boston", <B>  . Now you have yet another menu,
           offering you parts of Boston, "Allston-Brighton" "Central"...etc.
           Central refers the part of Boston near Park Street station.

           You select again, and you get all the stops in that district.
           By using the PgDn and PgUp keys, or Selection "-up-"
           or "-down-" menu items on this 4th menu, you can page through
           the stops. Select the stop you want, press <Enter>, and Voila!
           The stop name is fed down in to the highlighted bar below,
           just as if you had typed it in the first place.



           Getting Directions Mbta.exe continued                (5)


:::::::::> When using Metro to select stop names, make sure
           "Where starting" or "Where going" is highlighted.
           You can use the Up or Dwn arrow, or push the mouse away or
           towards you to select the one you wish. This is important,
           because the highlighted bar will be the one that Metro feeds
           to when you select a stop.


:::::::::> So to summarize, to get directions:

------>    Highlight "Where starting:" bar, using the Up and Dn arrow keys.
------>    Then get to  Main Menu with <Alt-M> or Left-Click.
------>    Select "Metro"
------>    Select "Boston"   or "North" or "West" or "South"
------>    Select the City on the next menu.
------>    Select the stop with Pg-up, Pg-Dn, "-up-" "-down-" and
           arrow keys.
------>    Press <Enter> when the stop is highlighted.
------>    Highlight "Where going:" bar and repeat the process.
------>    Go back to main menu <Alt-M>
------>    Select "Go"    <Enter>

           Your directions should appear.
           If they don't, your route may involve a 'daytime' bus.
           More on this under Bus Information and Options secion below.

           There are three other ways to select stops from the menus.
           That's the "Subway" option in the Main Menu;
           The "Points" option in the second menu (the one you get to
               by selecting "Metro");
           and, lastly, the "All" option, also at the second menu.
           -----------------------------------------------------------------
           By selecting "Subway", you can choose among the various
           subway lines, and page through a list of the stops on that
:::::::::> subway line. Now's a good time to point out, that the
           stop names are in alphabetical order always off of metro,
           excepting the Subway option, where the stops are in order
           by the way they are on the subway line itself.

           By selecting "Points" you may see various (252 of them) points
           of interest in the Boston area listed. You can click or
           select on any of these just like the stops in the geographic
           listings described above. When you move the Up and Dn Arrow
           keys through this list, a description of the point appears above.

           By selecting "All" you can page through a list of all the stops
           that MBTA  recognizes. This is useful if you know the
           name, but not where it is geographically . It functions just
           like the other stop selection options described above.
           -----------------------------------------------------------------
           That's how you do it. Either type in "Where starting",
           and "Where going" and press enter, or select your route
           from the menus.
:::::::::> The "Reverse" option allows you to get the route going the
           other way. Note the names are even switched at the bottom of
           the screen as well.







                        BUS INFORMATION AND OPTIONS MBTA.EXE    (6)







           This sections will talk about some services that MBTA
           offers besides giving directions.
           Then a discussion about Options you may use to tailor your
           route request.


:::::::::> Before proceeding, one note on a stop selection not mentioned
           already. When you installed MBTA originally, you may
           have entered a "stop to call here". If you did, when
           you select the Main Menu "Metro" option, the second menu will
           have a "Here" option. Selecting this option feeds the 'here'
           stop name back to the command line below. Thus if you had
           specified <park street> when installing MBTA with the
           mbtaset.exe program, "here" would always refer to park street
           station. You can rerun mbtaset at any time from DOS without
           ill effect. Just run it from the MBTA sub directory.



           --------------------------------------------------------------
           From the Main Menu:

           "Bus Info" allows you to find out information about a
           particular route. Selecting this option brings up a prompt
           in the box to the right of the screen where the map usually is.

           You type in a Bus Route No.

           Example: <10><Enter>

           Then you should get information about the Bus Route number 10,
           including last Saturday bus time, last Sunday Bus time (if any)
           and whether the Bus runs on Saturdays, Sundays, Holidays.
           Also the time in minutes between bus runs. Bear in mind that
           this information is averaged from the MBTA bus information
           on this route.
           Also, you will see the stops on this line listed in geographical
           order.

           After you get ther route information, press Enter to see
           a schedule for that route.
           --------------------------------------------------------------
           "Commuter" will ask for a commuter rail number: the letter
           c followed by a number from the list to the left. Then you
           can get information about the commuter rail route.
           --------------------------------------------------------------
           "Place" allows you to find out about a partular stop, namely
           what routes go from that place.
           Example: Select the Main Menu <Alt-M>
                    Select "Place"   <P>
                    Type in a stop name    <allston>







                Bus information and options Mbta.exe continued. (7)



           With both the "Bus Info" and "Place" options, MBTA
           uses fuzzy logic to supply default values.


           If you had the "Where starting" highlighted, and
           a route had been found, the Bus number of the starting
           part of the route would be supplied.
           Thus, you could select this bus number by Left-Clicking
           the mouse, without typing in a route number.
           As well, the "Place" option would have the name supplied
           that is in the highlighted bar, "where starting:" or
           "where going". A Left Click would obtain information on this
           stop.

           --------------------------------------------------------------

:::::::::::>  When your route is not found, it may be because of options
              that are set restricting MBTA's selection process.

              From the Main Menu <Alt-M>, if you select the Options Menu
              <O> , you are given a choice of what I call 'filters' on your
              route.

              By setting these various filters in the Options Menu, you
              effect what kind of stops and routes MBTA will
              be looking for in obtaining your directions. The more filters,
              the pickier MBTA (and you) become as to what routes
              are ok to use.


              The four filters found in the "Options" menu are:

               "Clear All"
               "Time of Day"
               "Wait Mins."
               "Ignore It"
               "Rail"

               These filters restrict the route MBTA can find.
               What do I mean by a 'filter'that restricts?
               An example of a restriction in everyday life might be
               the child who has $50.00 in their pocket earned mowing
               lawns. However Dad has put the restriction that they
               can't spend more than $2.00 on comic books. So when they
               go to the store, they cannot buy much in the way of
               comic books.

               MBTA , can be restricted, to better effect, as well.
               With the "Time of Day" filter set to Evening, it will be
               unable to use any route that stops running after 7 PM.












               Bus Information and Options Mbta.exe continued.  (8)




::::::::::::>  From the "Options" menu,
               "Clear All" resets all filters to off, and sets "Time of Day"
               to "Evening".

               Each time you select "Time of Day" by pressing <T> in the
               options menu, or highlighting the words "time of day" with
               the mouse or arrow keys and pressing Enter or Left-Click,
               you toggle on and off the words "Day" or "Evening" in the
               box to the right. When set to "Evening" you are saying that
               you are travelling after 7 PM. Thus the route must take
               this into account. "Day" means you are traveling before
               7PM and thus all bus routes are fair game.

               "Wait Mins." is also a toggle. By selecting it, you will see
               the words "Short Wait" in the small box to the right.
               When these words are seen, it means you are requesting that
               MBTA only look at bus routes that run every 20 minutes
               or less. If the toggle is off, and there is not the
               words "Short Wait" than any bus waiting time is ok for
               you, and for the MBTA driver. [joke]




               "Ignore It" allows you to give a Bus Route Number that
               you do NOT want to take. Thus Selecting "Ignore It" from
               the Options menu, and typing in <10><Enter> sets a filter
               on Bus No. 10. Any directions from then on will NOT involve
               bus 10. Make sure you don't leave this on by mistake.



:::::::::::::> Typing the letter <s> in the "Ignore It" option means to
               "ignore subway". Thus two bus routes will be found, but
               not subway routes. MBTA will not find a route
               involving three bus trips together.

               "Rail" allows you to tell MBTA to ignore all
               commuter rail routes.



:::::::::::::> The most 'open' filter is certainly to select "Clear All" and
               the set "Time of Day" to Day. This means, find all bus routes,
               ignoring none, with any waiting time, that run in the daytime.
               And that subway routes are ok as well.

               ===============================================================
               ===============================================================












                             GENERAL QUESTIONS  MBTA.EXE        (9)


::::::>        What do I do with this?
           -----------------------------------------------------------
               You get directions by running <MBTA> program.
               You type where you are starting, a place, not an
               address. They hit the Enter key. Then type where you
               are going, and Enter.

               So if you entered in:
                                      Harvard
               And then:
                                      Airport

               This software gives directions from Harvard to the airport.
               -----------------------------------------------------------
      ::::::>    How do I install this on my computer?
                  1, Copy all the files on your demonstration disk to
                     a subdirectory on your hard drive.
                  2, Change to this directory and run MBTASET, answering
                  several easy questions.
                  3, Run <MBTA> from there on.
               ----------------------------------------------------------
      ::::::>  What if I don't know my way around?

                     Select the Main Menu with the <Alt-M> key combo.
                     Then Select "Metro" or Left-Click the mouse.
                     Select an Area, and the a City and choose a
                     stop from the list.
               ----------------------------------------------------------
      ::::::>  How do I get out of the menus?

                     Just press Escape until the menus are all off,
                     or Click on the Right Mouse button.
               -----------------------------------------------------------
      ::::::>  I notice one data file is gigantic:over 400k.
               Can I do without this to save space?
                     Yes. This is the bus time tables schedule. You may
                     safely remove the files Newyork.drv AND the file
                     Kinko.drv to save disk space. But then the timetables
                     will not be displayed.
               ----------------------------------------------------------
      ::::::>    Why won't it find my route?
                  Try setting the "Time of Day" to "Day", instead of
                  evening. You do this from The Main Menu   <Alt-M>
                  By choosing the "Options" menu and selecting
                  "Time of Day".
              -----------------------------------------------------------
      ::::::>   Do I have to use the mouse and menus?
                  No! You can just type in your request for directions,
                  or you can use the menus by using keyboard keys.
                  <Alt-M> gets you to main menu. You move the Up and Dn
                  arrows to the item on any menu you wish, and then
                  press <Enter> key to select that menu.
              -----------------------------------------------------------










                             Questions Mbta.exe continued       (10)


      ::::::::>I have a bus pass. How can MBTA give me directions not
               involving the subway?

                  Go to the Main Menu and select Options.
                  Type <I>. Then Enter. then Escape out of the menus.
                  You should see the words "Ignore Subway" in the
                  box to the right.
                  Now any routes found will not involve the subway.

              ------------------------------------------------------------

                                 TECHNICAL NOTES

               Feel free to ignore this section, as it has nothing to
               do with your use of the program. I just included it in
               case anyone was interested in the process used by the
               program.

               This program uses a tree emulation. Every stop has a
               record in a main list. The Harvard stop for the No. 1
               bus is a seperate stop from the Harvard stop for the
               No. 66 bus, by the way, as are all other distict stops.
               Stop names are  obtained by number reference to a list
               on disk. Attached to the stop name is information about
               that stop. What route, the stop number on the route, etc.
               The list is integrated by "next" pointers.
               The program merely goes up and down this list, looking
               for the information it needs to find a route.

               A driver routine looks for the shortest route, trying out
               every reasonable route, and counting the number of stops,
               always selecting the best one.
               Filters restricting the route are localized in a test
               routine.  When the Evening filter is on, the program
               checks the actual "last bus" time for each route to
               see that it is after 7:00 PM.

               Mbta  does not write to disk, with the exception
               of the creation of the configuration file tdir.cfg
               by the MBTASET program.

               The source for the data is the MBTA bus cards for bus
               routes. For commuter rail, the book Car Free in Boston
               was used - an excellent T information guide.
               Association for Public Transportation.
               (ISBN 0-945990-01-4) The mention of this book in no way
               constitutes any type of endorsement of this software by
               the book's authors or publisher.

               The program was written using the Turbo Pascal 5.0
               integrated language system, a product of Borland
               International, of Scotts Valley, CA.











               DATABASE for MBTA.EXE                            (11)


               Database for Mbta.exe        data entry module for MBTA .

[changing the bus time schedules is not supported at this time]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
GENERAL NOTE: WHEN ENTERING IN PLACE NAMES, DO NOT START THE NAME
WITH THE WORD "THE" AND DO NOT INCLUDE APOSTROPHES IN THE NAME.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
    The Mbta Database option allows you ato edit bus routes ; also add,
    change, and delete points of interest. It may not be enaabled due
    to the system manager's wish. To get to the Database option, press
    Alt-M or Page Up from the main MBTA.EXE screen. Then choose Database
    from the menu.

    Edit Route lets you change bus stops on a bus route, or add new routes.
    Time Edit allows you to enter Time information about a route.
    (If say you add a new route 12 under Edit route, you must
    also fill in the information in Time Edit.
    Points Edit allows you to add a point of interest, or change
    the stop it is assigned to. Delete Point allows you to remove
    a point of interest from the program.

    To edit a bus or commuter rail route:
    First you are asked a route (bus or commuter rail) number
    to edit. Commuter rail should be preceded by a c (ex. c10).
    After you enter in a new route, you must also complete Time Edit
    for this route. When entering in a new route,
    If it doesn't already know the route, you get a blank
    table with menu to right. If it already knows the route,
    a table listing the stops appears with a menu on the right.
    NOTE: the index number is on the left. The Place numbers
    are the order and seperation of the stops on the route.

    Please note that when mbtabase is exited (HALT from main menu)
    You must copy *.out to *.DRV. This only applies if you have
    edited bus routes. Point info is updated when you enter it.

    Add Stop: (a) if stop name is in middle then choose
                   No. place adjust to make room on list
               (b) type in name of stop.
               (c) is it on subway (y) or (n)o
               (d) place on list of bus stops. That is, the places
                   on  route might be 1 2 3 4 5. To insert place on the
                   stop you might choose 3 Increment,1. Thus the places
                   would read 1 2 4 5 6, allowing you to type in a stop
                   between 2 and 4 place on the table.

               (e) choose AREA and CITY for route stop. Other routes
                   are not effected, so you may want to find the stop
                   on another route before entering it here.

    Delete Stop: (a) enter INDEX of stop to delete
    No. place adjust: give it a Place number to start, whether
       to Increment or Decrement, and how much to increment,
       decrement. This will open up a "hole" on a prexisting
       bus route to insert new stop.
    Deleting an entire route is done by deleting every stop on the route.
    Exit: exit route edit when done.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------





    Database for Mbta.exe continued.                            (12)




    Database Time Edit: This should be done for every new route.
           (a) enter bus route number
           (b) enter time for Last Bus   (ex: 100) without
               punctuation
           (c) enter time of last Saturday bus
                  (enter 0 if no service on Saturdays)
           (d) enter Y or N for Sat Sundays holidays. To indicate
               service on Saturdays, but no Sundays or holidays,
               you would enter (c) time, and then N for
               Sat, Sundays, Holidays.
               To indicate no service Saturday Sunday or Holidays,
               enter 0 und "last saturday bus" (c), and
               N for service Sat. Sundays, Holidays.
           (e) time between buses: enter in minutes, indicating
               an average time one waits for the next bus of current
               route.

     You are much more likely to use the POINT EDIT and
     DELETE point options, because they are independent of the
     stops. A point of interest could be anything from
     Al's Barber shop, to Boston Public Library. 250 are already
     supplied, and you may have a total of 500 points of
     interest.

     Point edit:
     To add a point of interest, choose point edit from the main
     menu, and enter in a name. The program will not allow you
     to use stop names.

     If accepted, (new prompt appears) type in stop for that
     point of interest. It must be a currently valid bus stop
     or subway stop.

     Then type in point of interest information- 200 characters
     maximum.

     That's it.

     Delete point:
     To delete a point of interest, type from Delete Point, a
     point of interest you no longer want in your mbta database.
     If it isn't there anyway, the program will inform you.
_____________________________________________________________________
          WHEN DONE EDITING BUS ROUTES, PRESS ESCAPE TO TO EXIT BACK
          TO THE MAIN PROGRAM. YOU WILL BE ASKED IF YOU WISH TO
          SAVE YOUR CHANGES. PRESS "Y" to make the changes effective,
          "N" to cancel all changes since you last entered the database
          option.
_____________________________________________________________________













       THE EASY.EXE PROGRAM                                     (13)


       The Easy program is very simple. Copy Easy.exe onto your hard
       drive. You do not need any other files to run Easy..exe You may
       put it in a directory that is in your path,if you wish and run
       EASY from anywhere on the system.

       To set color and whether you are looking for a Day, Evening,
       or Saturday route, enter the word <set> (without brackets) at
       Where starting. To get directions, enter Where starting and
       Where going. To also play a trivia game, enter <trivia> at
       the Where starting prompt. PRess Escape to exit the trivia game.


















































