
         		     W i n F o r t u n e
                           -----------------------
                              by Dan Finkelstein
		    	      (c) 1997 - ver 1.0

	Thanks for trying WinFortune!  I hope you enjoy it as much as I
enjoyed writing it.  I must admit that this is my first Windows program
ever... I have been programming for quite some time, but it's always been in
text-based programming languages -- Qbasic, Fortran (yes, they actually 
taught us Fortran in school), Pascal, and C.  However, I started to 
doubt the usefulness of these languages, and I finally sat down and 
taught myself Visual Basic.  I must say that I'm hooked.

	Anyway, WinFortune is a simple conversion of a Qbasic program 
I wrote that, in turn, is a simple conversion of the classic Unix program,
fortune.  For those of you who have never experienced this amazingly complex
program, it would display a (sometimes) humorous quote, fortune, joke, 
etc. to the screen, usually when you logged in.  Well, WinFortune is the 
same program (it even uses the same format of data files), except for 
Windows 95.

	So, I hope you like it.  While I wish I could thank the people who
originally wrote all the fortunes and jokes, unfortunately, the program is
basically uncredited, as are the jokes.  Please be advised that I did NOT 
write any of the jokes, and all opinions expressed in the fortune files are
NOT mine.


Instructions
------------

Use of WinFortune is basically self-explanatory.  Extract the files to
a directory, and run the WinFortune.exe file.  The first time you run
it, you will be presented with a basic Windows file list.  Specify a 
fortune file -- one, named "FORTUNES" is included with WinFortune (others,
including the ever popular "offensive" set, can be downloaded from the 
WinFortune webpage).

After selecting a file, click "OK".  There may be a slight delay as
WinFortune scans the file, and outputs the total number of fortunes to 
a data file.  (Depending on the size of the file, and the speed of your 
computer, it may take 30 seconds to 1 minute).

Click "Get a Fortune", and the program will randomly pick a fortune
from the file and display it to the screen.  Click "Choose a fortune 
file" if you want to change your fortune data file.
	
Other Uses
----------

Keeping in the tradition of displaying a fortune when you "log in" to
your computer, I suggest putting WinFortune in your "Startup" folder
(located in your start menu).  To prevent WinFortune from displaying 
the control bar ("Get a Fortune", "Choose fortune file"), you can 
run WinFortune.exe with the "-noapp" option.  
(i.e.:  "winfortune.exe -noapp")  This will display a fortune then exit 
each time you start up 
Windows.


Troubleshooting
---------------

Since this is my first Visual Basic program, I bet there will be bugs. 
If you encounter any that aren't listed below, please e-mail me at
splat@nac.net.  Thanks.

Known Bugs:

  - I get the error saying "A Required DLL, VB40032.DLL is not 
    found", or "OLEPRO32.DLL" not found.

    Solution:  Download the required Visual Basic libraries at
    the WinFortune webpage:  
       http://www.nac.net/~users/splat/winfortune

  - Fortune files saved in UNIX format will not work in WinFortune. 
    The error "This is not a valid fortune file" will come up.

    Solution:  Convert the UNIX format to DOS format using a text
editor.  One that can do this is "UltraEdit" by, IDM Comp, Inc. 
(www.ultraedt.com). Alternatively, you can download the fortune files 
from the WinFortune webpage, which are already in DOS format.

  - WinFortune may lock up after selecting a very large fortune file.

    Solution:  Usually WinFortune is not locked up, but it may seem
that way when scanning the large fortune files.  To prevent this from
happening, you can break up the large fortune files into smaller files.

  - It takes a few seconds for WinFortune to display a fortune.

    Solution:  Again, with big fortune files, the program has to read
through the file to the randomly picked fortune, which causes a small
delay.  Breaking up the large fortune files into smaller files usually 
helps.

Conclusion
----------

	Thanks for trying WinFortune!  If you enjoy this program, please
register it by sending $10 cash or check to the following address:
		Dan Finkelstein
		27 Sweetwood Drive
		Randolph, NJ  07869-1911

	WinFortune webpage:  http://www.nac.net/~users/splat/winfortune/
	E-mail: splat@nac.net
	Dan's homepage:  http://www.naples.net/~nfn02927/