                  =====================================
                  UK PARISH SEARCH AND LOCATION PROGRAM
                  =====================================

                               Version 2.1

                           by Robert E. Slade

                       robert@robslade.demon.co.uk

This file contains instructions for the set-up and use of the program.
Please also read the terms and conditions of use set out in TERMS.HTM.

The program is designed to produce a list of UK parishes that lie within
a specified distance of a given location.  The main use is for genealogists
who wish to produce a list of parishes adjacent to their parish of main
interest, where stray ancestors may have settled.

There is NO CHARGE for the use of this program, but if you find it to be
useful then you are invited either to e-mail your opinions to the author at
the above address, or send a picture postcard from your local area to:
R. E. Slade, 14 Bridge Street, Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, BA15 1BY, UK.

Similarly, if you experience any problems or wish to be kept informed of
any future versions, send an e-mail to the author who will add you to the
list.  Suggestions for improvements are always welcome.  Be assured that
your e-mail address will remain private at all times, and will not be shared
with spammers or any other third party.


REQUIREMENTS
============

The program was initially developed on a Toshiba T3100 with a 286 processor
and 640K of RAM memory.  Versions from 2.0 will run only on 32-bit processors
meaning that you will need a 386 or above.  In the unlikely event of
requiring the program to run on a 286, please contact the author with details
of your system and he will do his best to produce a compatible version.


INSTALLATION
============

Installation is straightforward and may be achieved as follows:  Once the
program file PARISH.ZIP has been downloaded and copied to the root directory
of your C: drive, then it must be unzipped into a directory named PARISH.
The following commands from the DOS C:\> prompt will install the program:

C:\> MKDIR PARISH
C:\> UNZIP PARISH.ZIP -D PARISH

Users of Winzip or Windows95 may find that this process is automatic after
clicking on the ZIP file within file manager.

The file PARISH.ZIP contains the four file:s README.TXT (this file), the data
file PARISH.DAT, the program executable PARISH.EXE and the list of Chapman
county codes in CHAPMAN.TXT.  Once successfully unzipped, the file PARISH.ZIP
may be deleted.

For versions 1.0 and 1.1 the program could be run from any DOS prompt.
Please note that versions 2.0 and above require that the program be run
from a DOS window (under "Main" in your Program Manager).  The program may
be switched to full screen using ALT-RETURN, but the DPMI windows memory
manager must be installed for the program to work correctly.  The program
has been tested under Windows 3.11, and there is no reason why it should
not also work under Windows 95 or Windows NT.

If you wish to run the program on a non-Windows machine, then please contact
the author who will do his best to provide you with an appropriate memory
management system.


INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE
====================

Using the program has been made as simple as possible.  Once the
installation instructions (above) have been successfully completed,
the executable file PARISH.EXE will reside in a directory named PARISH
on the C: drive.  The program looks for the data file PARISH.DAT in its
current working directory, and therefore must be run from the directory
containing this file.  The following commands issued from the C:\> prompt
should start the execution of the program:

C:\> CD PARISH
C:\PARISH> PARISH

Again, this may be automatic under Windows95 or similar.

The main menu contains four options:

     (1) List surrounding parishes    (3) Configuration menu           
     (2) Calculate parish distances   (4) Show list of Chapman codes   

The main options are (1) and (2), but first it is necessary to explain
(3) and (4), and to understand the use of the search menu which appears
under both (1) and (2).

(4) Show List of Chapman Codes
==============================

The Chapman codes are three letter abbreviations for the counties of England,
Wales and Scotland.  The county in which each parish is located is given in
terms of these codes.  This menu option simply prints a list of the codes
against the full names of the counties.  The file CHAPMAN.TXT contains the
same information.

(3) Configuration Menu
======================

The configuration menu allows the user to change a limited number of
parameters affecting the behaviour of the program.  The current value of
each parameter is shown in square brackets, and selecting the appropriate
menu option will toggle that value.  Currently, the three choices available
are:

    (1) Screen scrolling [on|off]
    (2) Sort new lists by [distance|alphabetical order]
    (3) Units of distance [miles|km]

Hopefully these are self-explanatory, but it is worth mentioning that lists
are always intially extracted and displayed in alphabetical order, and only
sorted if required by option (2).  Make sure that you choose the required
sorting criteria before extracting a list, since it is not currently possible
to change your mind after the list is displayed.  For longer lists and slower
machines the sorting process may be particularly slow, so bear this in mind
before sorting lists containing more than, say, 100 items.

Screen scrolling (1) turns on the "--- Press RETURN >" prompt at the end of
each screen.  In fact, any alpha-numeric key will cause output to continue,
by there are two special cases: 'q' (quit) will cause output to terminate
(useful if you have spotted your required parish in a long list of possible
matches), and 'c' (continue) temporarily turns off scrolling until the end
of the current list.

Option (3) gives the user the choice of working in miles or kilometres.

Search Menu
===========

The search menu is presented to the user from options (1) and (2) of the
main menu.  A choice of four search options are offered:

  (1) EXACT; if you know the precise name and spelling of the parish.
      This option is only recommended for names which are short, or for
      names which would produce too many matches in a substring match
      (such as FORD as a complete name).
      
  (2) SUBSTRING; to match all names containing a certain substring.  This is
      the recommended method of searching.  Try to think of a substring
      which will not produce hundreds of matches i.e. to find HIGHWORTH,
      the substring WORTH would be better than HIGH.

  (3) START OF NAME; to match all names beginning with a certain string.

  (4) SOUNDEX; to match all names which sound like your chosen parish.
      Soundex matching is a widely used method of matching names which
      "sound alike".  Usually applied to surnames, its use here is limited
      to the first name of any parish.  Useful if you are not certain of
      the spelling of your parish eg. BORFARD will match BURFORD.

Note that options (1) and (3) are much faster than options (2) and (4),
but this is only likely to be a consideration if you are using a very
slow machine.

The result of each of these searches will be a numbered list of matching
parish names, showing a three letter abbreviation for the county and
country of that parish eg. 7 WIL (ENG) PURTON denotes the parish of Purton
in Wiltshire, England as being the seventh item in the list. If the number
of matches is greater than what is considered to be an average screenful
(about twenty), then another substring is requested to reduce the number of
matches to twenty or less.  Note that a substring is requested regardless
of the original searching method.

This process continues until the number of matches is twenty or less,
in which case the user is asked to choose between them.

All searches are case insensitive.

(1) List Surrounding Parishes
=============================

This is probably the most useful option, and may be used to make a list of
parishes within a specified distance of a central parish.  First of all, the
user is required to use the above search menu to identify a parish on which
the search for adjacent parishes will be centered.

Once the central parish is established, the user is asked for a distance
in miles or kilometres.  The database is then searched for all parishes within
that distance, and the matches printed out giving distance from the chosen
parish, county and parish name.

Once the search is complete, the user may choose from a menu to output
the list to the screen, output the list to a file, return to the
configuration menu or exit back to the main menu.  Should the user require
the list to be output to a file, then a file name is requested.  If the file
already exists then the user may either type an alternative name, or press
RETURN to overwrite.

(2) Calculate Parish Distances
==============================

The straight line distance between any two parishes may be calculated using
this option.  Two parishes are identified using the search menu, and the
distance between them is calculated.  Be careful when choosing the search
method since the same method must be used to identify both parishes.


ERRORS
======

Hopefully, there isn't too much that can go wrong!  The only error
handled by the program is insufficient memory which produces the message
"Cannot malloc".  This error is only likely to occur on a machine without
much free memory, or when an extremely long list of parishes is made.

System errors will occur unless the program is run under the DPMI of a
suitable Windows operating system (see System Requirements).

Any other error should be reported to the program author.

	Robert Slade, December 1997.
	robert@robslade.demon.co.uk
