July, 1999

Tool Bar Management
One very important managing tool in the McCormick product is Tool Bars. These buttons that lay across the top of your screen are both "screen savers" as well as "macro" drivers. This is used to load user pre-defined forms or macros. The 6-12000 WIN products have 11 of these Tool Bars.
To set-up or modify a Tool Bar, right click on the button that you wish to modify and you will get a pop-up menu with the following choices:

1) Delete
2) Rename
3) Snapshot
4) Macro
5) Keyboard

Delete erases all information and makes the Tool Bar Button blank. Rename allows you to re-name a Tool Bar Button to a different name. Snapshot allows you bring up forms as defined by yourself. The way that this works is you load and position the various commonly used forms on the takeoff screen, including the items and/or assemblies in the correct location if you bring up a data base form. When all is exactly where you want it, you "right click" on the appropriate Tool Bar Button and then "left click" on "Snapshot" and you have saved or "snapped" the form setup. Now, any time that you want that form setup brought back, just "left click" on that Tool Bar Button and the takeoff screen will re-load. Want to change it? Just re-position the form(s) and snap again.
Macro is the ability to set up a serious of keystrokes to the Windows menu by clicking on a Tool Bar Button. To do this, right click on the Tool Bar Button you wish to use as a macro and then left click on "Macro". You will then be asked to enter the Macro. As an example, the Tool Bar Button "Workspaces" as delivered to you is a Macro. The way that it was built was to enter the following Macro script. {F10}TW. The {F10} puts the focus on the Windows menu, the T brings opens the "Takeoff" pull-down and the W opens Work Spaces.
Keyboard mapping is the ability to tell your computer keyboard, in takeoff mode, to use different keys for different functions. As an example, in takeoff mode with one data base open when gone in through a Tool Bar Button has the Q key moving up a line, the A key moving down a line, the Z key counting counts, and the V key inputting Lengths. This is controlled by keyboard mapping. As delivered, when you click on Keyboard Mapping, you will have the choice of 1 window takeoff, 2-window takeoff, or three-window takeoff. (four, five, etc. can be built in the edit area of the program) To use, just select the number based on the number of takeoff forms that you have set up within that Tool Bar Button and you have re-mapped your keyboard. Please note that the only time that keyboard mapping will work is when you have come into takeoff using a Tool Bar Button. If you come in through the regular Windows menu, it does not work.
When you build a new Tool Bar Button, do a right click on the chosen button and you will be asked to give it a name. Upon naming the button, it automatically snapshots and closes. If you want to map the keyboard or make it a Macro, you then re-open it with a right click and proceed as indicated above.

Windows Classes
McCormick has recently added additional basic classes as well as has created a class for the data base administrator for its Windows 3000, 6000, 8000, and 12000 estimating product. To see the class schedule, see page four of this letter.

Basic estimating
Our standard class for the past three years, this class takes the estimator all the way through the program starting at "Jobs" and finishing at "Bid Summary".
Some of the areas covered in this three day "hands on" lab are:
1) How to set up template jobs and then paste to new jobs.
2) How to edit and create tool bar buttons including the setting up of macros.
3) Direction on managing as well as setting up additional work spaces.
4) Quick and easy ways to build items and assemblies
5) How to do block work including inserting, moving, and copying items and assemblies in the data base.
6) Basic estimating functions including counting and rolling with probes, mouse entry and keyboard "data entry"
7) Using the standard reports for different types of extensions
8) In depth training on the Bid Summary including building burden tables, bond tables, and setting up additional user-definable quote screens.

Data Base Administrator
For the person who is responsible for the program, this intense three-day class is a must. Requirements are that you have attended the basic class or, have been approved by McCormick management to attend this class.
This class is based on the WIN 6000, 8000, and 12000 and we have a limitation of just six people, each on their own machine.
Persons who attend this advanced class will work on the bottom level of the program.
Included in this class is:
1) Keyboard mapping
2) Item and Specification building, copying, etc.
3) Report Generating
4) Building Scheduling reports
5) Building Graphs
6) Color management
7) Ways of launching both Win and Power Probes
8) Networking "challenges"
This highly technical program is set up to have two or three different McCormick staff persons work with the students in their area of expertise.
This class is not for every company. If you are using the product as it was shipped and are comfortable with how it is setup, don’t change it. However, if you have needs that are not in the basic setup, this program is for you. If you have any questions regarding either of the two classes, call the Arizona office. For a full and up-to-date schedule of classes, go to our website at WWW.McCormickSys.Com.

Toys
In response to some who say we talk too much about playing and not enough about product, we have cut back on telling you abut the fun stuff. In this issue, we will not talk about Erik’s new toy, Todd’s new toy and the toy he bought to pull it with nor will we talk about Jack’s latest flight South of the border where a new "wing eating" species of tree was discovered....

TRA-SER Interface
The long awaited TRA-SER interface in now completed and will be included in the next release.
Considerable time has been set in the design, coding, and testing of this important module. Based on requests from our users, the two most important interface features are the ability to import more than one item at a time and the ability to assign a specific data field from TRA-SER to a specific data field in the WIN product.
Now, because of the insert ability of the McCormick WIN product, you can insert blank spaces into the WIN product and then import an entire list of items from TRA-SER into that blank area. This allows you to keep all "like" items and assemblies all together.
Regarding the ability to define specification fields, you now have the ability, through a "transfer setup" form, to define the data that is imported and to which line of the WIN product it writes to. For example, you can keep the "generic" name that you use and, in a separate specification line, put in the Trade Service name. In addition, you can also bring in the Manufactures name, the catalog number, etc.