Dexter README File
==================

Dexter is a card database and deck builder for
the collectable card game "Magic: The Gathering".
You can use Dexter for keeping a list of cards
you own, designing and saving decks, and looking
up and searching for specific cards.  Features
include a simple drag-and-drop interface and card
information on all editions and expansion sets up
to Tempest.

Dexter requires Windows 95 or equivalent.

THIS PRODUCT IS NOT PUBLISHED OR ENDORSED BY
WIZARDS OF THE COAST, INC.  Wizards of the
Coast (R), Magic: The Gathering (R),
Antiquities (R), and Arabian  Nights (R) are
registered trademarks of Wizards of the Coast,
Inc.  Alliances TM, Chronicles TM, The Dark TM,
Fallen Empires TM, Homelands TM, Ice Age TM,
Legends TM, Mirage TM, Tempest TM, Visions TM,
and Weatherlight TM are trademarks of Wizards
of the Coast, Inc.

Upgrading
=========

If you're upgrading from a previous version of
Dexter, Dexter tries to convert your existing
decks to use the new card library according to
your card names.  If the card names have changed
(probably corrected), Dexter doesn't know what
the card is.  In this case, Dexter creates a
blank card in the new library using the card name
from your old library and saves a list of these
cards in a deck called "Cards Not Upgraded".  At
this point, if you can figure out what the card
ought to be, you can change the blank card to
match the real card (which would fix all the
cards in your decks); or maybe keep the "Cards
Not Upgraded" deck and replace those cards in
your decks as you come across them.

Dexter is not really designed for custom cards
(i.e. cards you have created yourself).  When you
upgrade Dexter, custom cards will not be in the
new library, so they will become blank cards
(title only) and be listed in "Cards Not
Upgraded".

Usage Notes
===========

You can copy deck lists between Dexter and other
applications using the Windows clipboard.  The
clipboard operations in Dexter are under Import
and Export.  To email a deck to a friend: from
Dexter, export the deck to the clipboard, switch
to your email program, start a new email message
or load a partially composed message, position the
insertion point, and click Paste from the Edit
menu.  The method for pasting in a deck may vary
depending on the email editor you're using.  For
instance, from MS Word and WordPad, you have to
click Paste Special and then select Unformated
Text.  To receive an emailed deck from a friend:
from the email message, use the cursor to select
the deck (including the deck title), click Copy
from the Edit menu, switch to Dexter, and import
the deck from the clipboard.

The searching is pretty flexible, but perhaps not
obvious for non-trival searches.  The magnifying
glass button in the main window searches the
library for all matching cards.  The same button
in a deck window searches the deck for a single
card by name -- you can perform the other search
on the deck using the menu.  The find all matching
cards search combines all the search criteria you
specify.  You can search for text and/or
particular card attributes.  There are several
pages of attributes, which are accessable via the
tab buttons.  The attribute check boxes are "three
state," which means they can be checked (find this
attribute), unchecked (don't find this attribute),
or indeterminate (don't care).  Example: to find
all blue or white non-artifact "dragon" cards,
enter "dragon" where it says Type and uncheck the
red, green, black, and artifact check boxes.  You
might be inclined to check the blue and white
boxes, but this will find cards that are both blue
AND white (not cards that are just blue or just
white).

"Beasts" at the bottom of the deck window is the
the number of creature cards (i.e. summons and
artifact creatures -- I used "Beasts" rather than
"Creatures" so it would fit in the box). "Spells"
is the number of non-creature and non-land cards.

Bugs
====

If Dexter crashes when it's starting up, you might
not have enough memory.  Dexter has fairly modest
memory requirements so I didn't bother checking
if there's enough.  However, if you only have 8 MB
or less of memory and 10 MB or less of free hard
disk space (which Windows uses as virtual memory),
you may have to increase your free hard disk space
to 15-20 MB.  I think Dexter also crashes if you're
running in less than 256 color mode.

Dexter was designed using a 1024x768 display, and
as a result several things are a bit truncated at
640x480.  If you can't read all the text in a card
window, you can drag an edge to increase the size
of the window, or simply maximize the window.
Also, at 640x480 you can only see part of the
rightmost deck column.  This is just card
information that you can get by viewing the card
itself.  I didn't want to add more scroll bars
because they cluttered up the display and aren't
really essential.

The print command in the decks window menu is
(still) not functional.  You can print decks by
exporting the deck to a file, opening the saved
deck with a word processor, and printing from
there.

If you have decks that are sorted by card type and
color, after importing cards, the cards in these
decks will be out of order if the imported card
information changes any of the sort criteria. You
can resort your decks by exiting and restarting
Dexter.

Mirage and Tempest introduced some new rules and
card types that are not specifically handled by
Dexter.

Uninstall
=========

Dexter doesn't have an uninstall option.  To
remove Dexter from your system, delete Dexter's
files and directory, the destop icon, and the
start menu item.  Dexter does not set any
registration entries, and does not install any
files to the Windows directory.

Author
======

Eric Tauck
1304 Deerpass Road
Marengo, IL 60152-9644
U.S.A.

Email: warp@earthling.net
Phone: (815) 568-1110
