Just finish the second build of the Keyout beta. Thanks
to your bug reports and comments, it's a much more stable
and usable product.
* Rewrote the best-question and proctor algorithms to
make them faster and better.
* Simplified and rewrote the help files. (Hey! How can
you use it if you can understand the instructions?)
* Improved the sample database.
* Made inumerable fixes to several cosmetic and not so
cosmetic bugs.
=====================================================
As alwayes, I'm looking for some brave souls willing to
beta test some automated dichotomous key software I've
written. It's called Keyout and it is in the beta stage
of development.
Features:
* Designers can include graphics and text to explain what
they mean.
* Since all the data is stored in a database, the size of
the key is limited only by the space on your harddrive.
* Has algorithm to determine the best question to ask.
* Has algorithm to rapidly eliminate choices.
* Easily edited, updated, and modified.
* Takes full advantage of the Windows GUI environment.
* Code is available.
* You get me for tech support: bayers at kaiwan.com
* Comes with a sample database key to adult insect orders.
Downside:
* It's big, 3 meg zipped. Hey! Blame Microsoft. Part
of that is the insect orders database.
* Since the key is on a database, I relied on SQL
statements to manipulate the data. It's a little slow.
* The graphics were a bit of a trade off. I wanted
graphics big enough to be usable, but small so that the
database wouldn't be so big.
* I built the graphics editor myself, it's no Correl Draw;
however, you can use the Windows clipboard to import
graphics from other programs.
The deal:
You test the software and report back to me any changes
you'd like to see or bugs you found. I make changes and
release new beta versions. When the product is refined
enough, I release the final version.
Requirements:
You'll need a PC capable of running Windows 3.1.
It was tested on a 486DX/66 with 16 meg of RAM, a P100 with
16 meg of RAM and a 486SX/33 with 8 meg of RAM. The first
two were running Win95, the last one had Windows 3.1. It
ran best on the Pentium. :)
Installation:
1. FTP it from ftp.kaiwan.com It's in the /user/bayers
directory. Download it to your PC's root directory, i.e.
C:\
2. Unzip it with the -d switch to make a temporty
directory.
For example:
pkunzip -d ko_02b.zip
3. If you are updating keyout, deltree the old keyout
directory.
Otherwise Windows won't let you install it.
4. Start Windows. DON'T START ANY OTHER PROGRAMS! Click
on the
FILE menu item. Then click on the RUN menu item. Browse
for
\kotemp\setup.exe. Run it. Follow the prompts.
NOTE! If you're using 3.1 you'll have to exit then restart
Windows to enable the share driver. If you don't, you'll
get an error.
4. Start Keyout and read HELP by pressing the F1 key.
- Jim
--
- Jim
