Flotsom

Installation

Flotsom can be installed anywhere in any directory. Simply open the zip file and double click on setup.exe and follow the on screen instructions. The database will install itself in a subdirectory called flotsomDB. There are no specialized database drivers required for this application to be used as it is based standard ADO.Net drivers that shipped with Windows XP.

If your not using XP, it may be necessary to install the .Net Framework from Microsoft which is available free of charge from the Microsoft website. I do not have an non XP machine, so I cannot confirm the installation of a non-framework machine. I believe the setup.exe should be smart enough to tell if ou have the .Net Framework or not, and if not it will should direct you to the Microsoft website for downloading. Be warned, the .Net framework is quite large at almost 24 megs.

If you just run the installer, Flotsom will be placed under the Program Files directory in a Wickiesoft folder. An icon with a picture of a crab will be placed on your desktop.

First Time Running

The first time you start up Flotsom on a new machine, the configuration wizard will start. You will be asked a series of questions regarding your vessel. Once this is complete Flotsom is ready for use. If you need to change the information you have entered, you can edit your information by selecting Utilities | Setup | Preferences.

If for some reason you need to start from scratch, selecting Utilities | Setup | Setup Wizard will delete any data in the database and allow you to start fresh. Keep in mind that doing this zeroes out the database and any data contained there will be lost if it has not been backed up or printed out.

User Logons

Flotsom can be configured so that when it starts up, it asks you to select a user name. This is done so that if multiple people are entering logs, you can tell who recorded what. I recommend using this as it comes in handy when you are looking back over the logs months later or if you are using the HTML export mechanism to maintain a website.

If there are less than two users created, Flotsom will not ask you to login. To add users select Utilities | SETUP | CREW | ADD. The crew form pops up and there is several pieces of information you can enter. The only one required is NAME. Populating this list will allow you to later run crew manifest reports. When entering data into this form, check the APPLICATION USER checkbox if you want this person to have a logon name. When you are done entering data press the OK button and this user will be saved. To add another user, press NEW. Repeat this procedure as necessary.

If you wish to turn off the logon mechanism, select UTILITIES | SETUP | PREFERENCES. Go to the ADVANCED tab and uncheck the USER LOGON REQUIRED check box then press APPLY.

General Use

Functionality in the application is accessed by the main menu bar across the top.

FILE contains a BACK UP, CHANGE USER, and an EXIT option. EXIT will exit the application, while CHANGE USER allows you to select another user without restarting the application. BACK UP takes you to a screen that will allow you to select a drive and directory to back up your application database.

The LOG option contains QUICK LOG, NEW, FIND and EXPORT options. QUICK LOG allows you to enter just the barest amount of data to record a log, while NEW will take you to the deluxe log form. Much more information can be entered here. FIND is a search mechanism for the logs and it also allows you to look for days in a given date range where no logs were entered. Use this for checking to make sure you haven't missed a day. The EXPORT menu item allows you to take a copy of selected logs from the database and export them into either a text editor or an html template. More details on this will be provided later. EXPORT is not the mechanism used to get hard copies of selected reports. That option is contained on the detailed LOG screen.

EXPENSES is just what it sounds like. If you want to track what you are spending, and where you are spending it, these menu items will allow you to enter and search expeditures as well as add recurring charges that automatically get added into the program at the proper time. This is useful for things like boat payments or health insurance. You will notice that EXPENSES can be added on the detailed LOG form for the given day. Adding expenses directly via the EXPENSES menu item will associate those items with a log for that day if said log exists.

The STATIONS menu item houses CONTACTS, FISHING, GALLEY, LOCATIONS, NOTES, and TO DO functionality. CONTACTS allows you to add, edit, and maintain a list of people. We use it to enter all of the boat cards we recieve while we are cruising. The FISHING options allows you to track fish you have caught. This probably seems pretty lame to most of you, but I was bored. The GALLEY selection allows for the keeping of food and drink recipes. LOCATIONS allows you to maintain the list of places you have entered in your LOG forms as well as your CONTACT lists. NOTES lets you keep and order random pieces of information. We use this section to track where free water may be found in the Bahamas as well as what SSB frequencies are relevent to us.

The INTERNET option allows the user to get NOAA weather forecasts as well as RSS based news feeds. These options only work when there is an active internet connection. Once connected and downloaded, the weather reports and the news stories can be saved locally and reviewed without an active connection.

REPORTS are just what they sound like. They are currently disabled as I am having trouble with Crystal Reports distribution module. As soon as they work, play around with them to get a feel for what each one does.

UTILITIES are just that, utilities. CONVERSIONS will allow the user to move a given amount of units to a different metric. Under SETUP you will find ALERTS, CATEGORIES, CREW, CURRENT ALERTS, EVENTS, and PREFERENCES. ALERTS are used to define things that you need to be aware of. For example, I set an alert to notify me after 6 days pass and I haven't entered a log event that says I checked the oil. We also set up an alert to notify us to change the engine oil after 50 hours of run time. Hopefully you get the idea. CATEGORIES are the expense categories that show up when you enter an expense. These are especially useful in the reporting section. CURRENT ALERTS tell you what outstanding ALERTS there are. EVENTS show up in the main log form and they allow you to define things that you wish to track. For example, we have an event called Made Bread and another called Caught Fish. This allows us to track how often these things occur.

This is a brief explanation of what the application is suppose to do. I hope to have a detailed help file done soon.

Disclaimer

All of this software is provided free. I don't want anything from you and you can freely copy and distribute it. If you like the software drop me an email and let me know what you think. Recommendations for functionality enhancements are always appreciated.

Remember, this software is not warrantied by me or any of the ferrets! We'll do our best to support you if you have questions, but use of these applications are at your own risk.