                 -= skWare's Home Improvement Trivia Game =-



skWare's Home Improvement Trivia Game 



Introduction

skWare's Home Improvement Trivia Game (skHit) is a trivia game based on the
  Home Improvement TV Series. Users can play this trivia game either by using
  the traditional ANSI interface or by using a Web Browser and the HTML
  interface. The System Administrator is able to modify the ANSI help and any
  of the HTML templates. In the registered version of skHit the system
  administrator is able to provide their own questions. 

  Usage of this software is covered by skWare's  [  license.htm ] Software
  License which you should read at some stage and you should also check out
  skWare's  [  warranty.htm ] Software Warranty. You may also want to check
  out the  [  trademrk.htm ] Trademarks page at some stage. 

  You should definately read the  [  changes.htm ] Change Log.. 

  You can also check out  [  http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~steved ] skWare
  Online for the latest information on this program and also the others
  written by skWare. 


Installation/Upgrading

skHit is shipped with a GUI Installer. All you need to do is unzip the file
  in some temporary directory and start the install.exe program. This will
  install skHit on your system and backup a previous version if found. It will
  also perform updates to the user database if this is required. 

  The installation process creates a backup directory in the WINS default
  directory called skware-backup-yyyymmddhhttss where:- 
    
    yyyy  =   Current year      
    mm    =   Current month     
    dd    =   Current date      
    hh    =   Current hour      
    tt    =   Current minute    
    ss    =   Current secound   
    
  

  The backup directory is only populated with files if the installer finds an
  old copy of a file that it is either going to replace or delete. This has
  been done so that you use the backed up files as an aid is customising such
  things as the html templates or restoring your own question database. 


Important Upgrade Notes


    1. You will need to integrate any changes that you have made to the html
      templates. You will find a copy of your old template files in the backup
      directory. 
    2. You will need to intergrate any changes that you have made to ANSI
      help file. You will find a copy of the ANSI help file in the backup
      directory. 
    3. If you have customised the questions for skHit you will need to
      restore your own questions. You will find a copy of your questions in
      the backup directory created by the installer. To do this you should
      copy the files skhit.dat and skhit.txt from the backup directory back to
      your WINS data directory. 
    4. Once you have completed using the files in the backup directory it
      can be deleted. It is suggested that you copy the backup directory it to
      diskette for archival purposes before deletion. 
  


 [ configuration  ] Configuration File

The operation of the game is controlled by the configuration file. This
  configuration file is called skware.cfg and must be in your WildCat data
  directory (eg. d:\wc5\data). The instalation process automatically creates
  this file if it does not exist and adds default entries as required. If the
  file already exists then only new configuration items will be added to this
  file and current settings such as your registration code will be preserved.

  The file skware.cfg is an 'ini' type file the contents for the [skhit]
  section are described in the following table. 

                                                                            
                                                                            
  Parameter        Description                                              
                                                                            
                                                                            
                                                                            
  [skhit]          This is the section header and is used to seperate       
                   parameters from other programs.                          
                                                                            
                                                                            
                                                                            
  RegCode          Once registered this parameter should contain your       
                   registration code as supplied by skWare. In the          
                   shareware version this should contain the word           
                   "SHAREWARE" without the quoutes.                         
                                                                            
                                                                            
                                                                            
  StartPoints      This is the number of points given to a new player. It   
                   is also the number of points given to a player when      
                   they start a new day with no points.                     
                                                                            
                                                                            
                                                                            
  QuestionsPerDay  This is the number of questions a player is allowed per  
                   day. If this is set to 0 then the questions allowed per  
                   day is unlimited.                                        
                                                                            
                                                                            
                                                                            
  RightPoints      This is the number of points a user will get if they     
                   answer the question correctly.                           
                                                                            
                                                                            
                                                                            
  WrongPoints      This is the number of points a user will loose if they   
                   answer the question incorrectly.                         
                                                                            
                                                                            
                                                                            
  HomePageLink     This is the link to your home page. It is used by the    
                   Home button so that the user can return quickly to you   
                   home page.                                               
                                                                            
                                                                            
                                                                            
  MenuPageLink     This is the link used by the menu button so the user     
                   can return quickly to the games menu page.               
                                                                            
  

ANSI Help File Customisation

You can totaly customise the ANSI help screen shown to users when they
  select [I]nstructions from the main ANSI menu. To do this all you need to do
  is modify the skhit_help.prm found in the default language directory (ie.
  d:\wc5\language). 


HTML File Customisation

The HTML interface uses WINS type templates and can be totally customised by
  the system admninistrator. To do this you should modify the supplied
  templates (in http\skware\template and below) to suit your needs. The
  templates supplied are discussed in the following table:- 
  
  
  Template File      Used By                                                
  games.htm          This template is used when the user clicks on the      
                     menu button. It provides a common html based menu for  
                     all of skWare's games. This template is common to all  
                     of skWare's html games supporing the menu button.      
  hit\help.htm       This template is used when the user clicks on the      
                     help button.                                           
  hit\lost.htm       This template is used when the user does not get the   
                     correct answer to the question.                        
  hit\main.htm       This template is used for the start of the game.       
  hit\nogames.htm    This template is used when the user trys to enter the  
                     game and no longer has any more games left for the     
                     day.                                                   
  hit\nopoints.htm   This template is used when the user trys to enter the  
                     game and no longer has any more points left for the    
                     day.                                                   
  hit\topten.htm     This template is used when the user clicks on the top  
                     ten button.                                            
  hit\won.htm        This template is used when the user gets a question    
                     rright but does not make it to the top ten.            
  hit\won10.htm      This template is used when the user gets a question    
                     rright and makes it to the top ten.                    
  

  
  
  

  There are certain sections of the template files such as the button section
  near the end of each template which you should not change in any way. If you
  change parts in one of these sections the program may not function as
  expected.


Adding Your Own Questions

In the registered version of skHit you are able to add your own questions.
  To do this you should edit the file skhit.txt that is in your wildcat data
  directory. The format of the file is as follows:- 
    1. The question to ask. This can be a maximum of 139 characters long. 
    2. The correct answer. This can be a maximum of 70 characters long. 
    3. Alternate answer 1. This can be a maximum of 70 characters long. 
    4. Alternate answer 2. This can be a maximum of 70 characters long. 
    5. Alternate answer 3. This can be a maximum of 70 characters long. 
    6. A blank line. 
  

  When the program is next started it will detect that there have been changes
  made to this file and import them into the database that the program uses.
  It will also randomise the correct answer as it is importing the questions.
  You must ensure that you follow the format of this file exactly as failure
  to do so could result in the program not working correctly.
  


Registration

There are several ways to register skHit. These are:- 
    * To Register skHit print the file register.txt fill it in, and send it
      and the required amount to the following address:- skWare
      PO Box 9559
      Wellington
      NEW ZEALAND 
      
    * If you want to pay by Credit Card (either Mastercard or Visa) to can
      either print the file ccreg.txt fill it in and send to the address above
      or fill in the form and email it to  [ 
      file:///client?message&mailto:steved@ihug.co.nz ] skWare. 
      
      
    * You can also register online at  [ 
      http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~steved/ol_reg.htm ] skWare Online - Online
      Registration. 
      
      
    * You can also register online at the SRU Shopping Mall. To do this:- 
        * Goto to  [  http://www.srupc.com/mall ] http://www.srupc.com/mall 
        * Click on the mall entrance button 
        * Select Winserver Add-ons and utiliies 
        * Select Skware Software (Steve Davies) 
        * Select the desired programs from the list presented. 
      

  With credit card registration handled directly by skWare you will be charged
  in New Zealand Dollars (NZD) as skWare is based in New Zealand and the
  archaic banking rules prevent use from doing otherwise. If you use the SRU
  Shopping Mall to register you will be charged in US Dollars (USD). At
  present 1 USD is approximately $2NZD. 



             Copyright (c) 1997-2001 skWare, All Rights Reserved
                         Last Update 22 January 2001 

