The HELP menu bar option provides you with the ability to view Help information (this data) and also has several other options:

The Contents option displays the data in this Help file.

The About option displays information about the release level of the Compugene Membership System that you are running.

The Full msg option will display message numbers along with the descriptive text of any error or procedural messages that you receive while running the system. The message numbers will give you a pointer into the messages document which gives further information about the various informational, warning, and error messages that can be produced from the application. The message option you set is retained across uses of the application, so that once you set a message option, it remains that way until you reset it.

The View pgm settings menu option will open up the Notepad function and display your latest registry values. Do not make any changes to the file from Notepad, since they will not take effect; simply use it as a checking mechanism if necessary. You should close Notepad when you are done viewing the registry values and before you go back to work in the application.

The View log menu option invokes the Windows Wordpad utility to display the contents of the database.LOG file for the database that is currently open. This .LOG file contains messages that display at the bottom of the main window and also other messages that do not normally display. Viewing the log can sometimes help you diagnose problems. Be aware that the database.LOG file that is used throughout a session is the one that is opened first during the session. For example, if you open the program with database AAA, then messages will be logged into AAA.LOG. If you then open database BBB without closing the program and restarting it, messages will continue to be logged in file AAA.LOG.

The Error Messages option allows you to enter the number of an error message and get further information on that message. You can also get further information about an error message in the following ways:
- When you click the Help button on a displayed message window.
- When you click the F1 key on your keyboard while a message window is displayed.
- When you click a message number in the log window at the bottom of the main window (Note: the log window must be displaying the most recent messages, so scroll to the top of the log before clicking a message)

The Features option displays which features you have installed with your current version of the system and which features you do not have installed. To find out about features you may desire but do not have installed, please contact Compugene Software.

The Updates option displays the version of the system that you are running and a list and description of the latest program updates that are on the version you are running.


Help can also be obtained from almost any displayed window that currently has the focus by pressing the F1 key on your keyboard. In addition, many windows have Tool Tips enabled, a feature which allows you to get further information by moving the mouse over a particular button or entry area.