Running LifeLines for Windows
  Edited: 2001/12/31 by Perry Rapp

(This presumes you have installed it, per the
Install.LifeLines.Windows.txt document)

1)
Double-click on the shortcut on your desktop
for LifeLines.
A DOS window should open, with the title bar
giving the LifeLines version, and with a prompt
in the middle of the screen, asking
What directory holds the LifeLines database ?
enter path:

2)
Enter a name for your first LifeLines database.
It must be a valid Windows directory name
(no slashes, no colon, no quotation marks...).
LifeLines will then create & open this brand new
empty database for you.

This will be a directory underneath your lifelines
database directory, and you can rename it at any
time later by simply renaming the directory -- of
course you should not do this whilst you have 
that database open in LifeLines.

3)
At this point it would be good to load translation
tables so as to use UTF-8 Unicode internally.
However, we only have a limited set of translation
tables prepared at the current time (as mentioned in
the installation notes). If you installed
an appropriate set, then now you may load them
manually into your new database. 

For the US English Windows (codepges 437 & 1252):

From the main menu, choose c (character sets), 
then t (translation tables), then l (load),
then "Editor to Internal", then enter the filename
1252-u.tt
Then choose l (load), then "Internal to Editor",
then enter the filename u-1252.tt
Then choose l (load), then "Internal to Display",
then enter the filename u-437.tt
Then choose l (load), then "Display to Internal",
then enter the filename 437-u.tt

For Central European Latin script Windows (codepages 852 & 1250)

From the main menu, choose c (character sets), 
then t (translation tables), then l (load),
then "Editor to Internal", then enter the filename
1250-u.tt
Then choose l (load), then "Internal to Editor",
then enter the filename u-1250.tt
Then choose l (load), then "Internal to Display",
then enter the filename u-852.tt
Then choose l (load), then "Display to Internal",
then enter the filename 852-u.tt

This use of UTF-8 Unicode for internal data storage
will not have any affect on your ascii data (UTF-8 
stores ascii as ascii), so it will not come into play
until you start entering non-ascii data, or import
some.

This is an area of LifeLines still under development,
and needs to be documented better in the manual, so
please submit questions to the list if you are dealing
with non-ascii data and have problems.

(This step may be omitted if you only plan to use ascii data,
but you should come back & do this before you start dealing
with non-ascii data.)

4)
At this point, your best course of action is to
connect to the Internet, browse to the LifeLines
home page, and begin reading the LifeLines 3.0.7
User's Manual, which explains how to proceed,
adding data and so forth. (I do not know of a 
newer version of the User's Manual at this time - 
of course, if one is available, by all means 
browse to it!)

http://lifelines.sourceforge.net/manual307/index.html

(You are at the Main Menu section now, but you
would be well-advised to read the previous
Introduction to GEDCOM section as well.)

You may also download a copy of the manual -- see
the documentation links near the upper right-hand
corner of the home page (http://lifelines.sourceforge.net).

5)
When adding a new record (eg, a new person to the 
database), LifeLines will cause Notepad to appear.
Enter your information in Notepad -- the following
page of the online manual discusses entering your
first person:

http://lifelines.sourceforge.net/manual307/userguide/first.html


After you have entered the information into Notepad,
save the document by choose Save from the File menu,
and then close Notepad (eg, Alt-F4). Switch back to
LifeLines if necessary, and click on its titlebar if
it is not highlighted. It will have a prompt displayed,
asking whether or not you really wish to add the new
person. Normally you respond y and add your new
person.

6)
Note on menu items: LifeLines 3.0.7 has significantly
more menu choices in many screens than were present in
LifeLines 3.0.2. Many screens cannot fit all choices
on screen at one time. If you see the choice
  ? Other menu choices
in the lower left, as the second to last choice (quit
is always the last choice), then this indicates there
is more than one page of menu choices. You can view
all pages of menu choices by pressing the ? key 
repeatedly; this will cycle through the pages of 
choices one at a time.

There is also an indication at the top of the menu
such as
       (pg 1/3)
to tell you that you are viewing the first page of 
three pages of menu choices for the current screen.

7) 
If you wish to change the colors in the console window
(the "dos" window), here is how. (This is actually not
part of LifeLines, but is general DOS on Windows trivia).
Run the program.
Left-click in the upper-left corner (the system menu,
which is probably a little red box with LL in it).
You should get a popup menu, with Move, Size, Minimize,
Maximize, (a horizontal bar), Close, Edit, Properties.
Click on Properties.
You should get a tabbed dialog - click on the color tab.
Set the upper two radio button choices - foreground
& background color - and when you hit Ok, it should ask
you if this is a change for this window only (ie, only
this time you're running it), or if it is a permanent
change for this shortcut (ie, you'll see the new colors
every time from now on). Choose permanent - you can
always change them later the same way.


 - Perry Rapp


References:

LifeLines on the web:
  http://lifelines.sf.net/

Perry via email:
  puddle@users.sourceforge.net

Mailing list:
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        listserv@listserv.nodak.edu
    with the BODY of the mail containing
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